Your Financial Stupidity Has To Stop Today!

7:51Dave Ramsey:So I want a solid foundation laid, the things he's never going to do again, and the two of you see every single dollar every month for the rest of your lives. Neither one of you are in control. Both of you are in control. Okay? Lastly, you need to sell the car. That was suicide. You put a bullet in the gun and put it to your head. You need to sell this car immediately. Stupid on steroids. You cannot afford a$30 ,000 car. You've got to get rid of this now. Oh, my gosh, girl. That makes his sports betting look smart. When you put it up beside this car, oh my gosh, neither one of them are smart. I hate sports betting.

8:35Dave Ramsey:Oh, I hate them too. I don't know. And who's the number one victim of sports betting? 25-year-old males.

8:42Rachel Cruze:Yes, yes. You got this, Shelby, you guys. 25-year-old males. You got this.

9:00Dave Ramsey:When you're drowning in credit card debt and collectors start threatening lawsuits, a rep from some call center debt relief company can't protect you. A lot of so-called debt relief programs leave people wondering, am I actually protected if I get sued? When all you've got is a legal plan added on as an upsell, of course you feel stuck. But Guardian isn't another debt relief company. They're real attorneys. And with Guardian, you're assigned an attorney from day one. That means if a creditor sues, you're not scrambling, and you're not hit with surprise legal fees. Now look, I'm telling you straight, debt settlement isn't pretty.

9:39Dave Ramsey:I'd rather see you get out of debt the old-fashioned way. But if you're out of options and you're staring down bankruptcy, Guardian gives you real protection and a path forward. Guardian's attorneys have helped over 55 ,000 people across the country settle more than$600 million in debt. Not with gimmicks, with legal expertise. So if you want real help instead of a sales pitch, go to guardianlit.com slash Ramsey. That's guardianlit.com slash Ramsey. Attorney advertising. Results may vary and no specific outcome is guaranteed.

10:30Dave Ramsey:Christina is in Nashville. Hi, Christina. How are you?

10:34Rachel Cruze:Hi, Dave. Thank you so much for taking my call today. Sure.

10:37Dave Ramsey:How can we help?

10:39Rachel Cruze:I'm going to do my best to get through this without crying. I am 46 years old, and my husband and I were married for 27 years, and he passed away suddenly in a motor vehicle accident this past June. Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. So we have been Dave Ramsey fans for a very long time. I homeschool and we're actually graduating our last child this May. And they've all been through, you know, Financial Peace University. So the question that I have is I'm looking to probably having to go to work this summer now with the loss of his income. And just I feel like with my age, it's probably the most responsible thing to do.

11:24Rachel Cruze:Um, but I do have some life insurance we received from, um, his, uh, employer who was, uh, um, uh, he was a Franklin firefighter. And, um, then we also had a personal life insurance policy and he was never super trusting of investing. And so I don't really have a lot of experience with it, but I have a family friend who is a financial advisor. And so he suggested that I, invest like$100 ,000 back in October just to start kind of learning on. But, you know, a lot of people say not to make any big decisions for that first year. And so I'm coming up on that year mark and needing to start making some decisions about, you know, going back to work.

12:09Rachel Cruze:And well, it's not really going back to work. It's really going to work full time for the first time. And so I'm just a little, need some reassurance that, you know, the markets right now are a little scary, but. Markets are always a little scary.

12:26Dave Ramsey:How much is the total life insurance process?

12:29Rachel Cruze:The total was$500 ,000. And right now I have$100 ,000 invested in mutual funds. and then I have the other$400 ,000 in a high interest account. Do you have any debt? We have no debt except for the car that he actually bought me just before he died. How much do you owe on the car? $20 ,000.

12:58Dave Ramsey:Okay. And you don't owe anything on your home?

13:02Rachel Cruze:No, we actually paid our house off in 2015. Wow. He was in the Army, and we did a lot of house flipping when he was military and were able to just keep getting more and more sweat equity. We did the work all ourselves.

13:17Dave Ramsey:Wow. Well, it's, I mean, it takes a year to even breathe well, and you're just now getting where you can take a deep breath. And so you've been very wise and very careful, good for you. Um, and, um, you know, you've walked with this last, last child through the graduation, which is getting ready to come up here and a lot of milestones and a lot of tears. Um, so, uh, yeah, I think your family friend gave you some good advice to dip your toe in the water and kind of get used to it, uh, a little bit with a hundred. That's not a bad idea. And, um, uh, um, the second thing is there's two, two things that come to mind immediately.

14:05Dave Ramsey:One is pay off the car today. Okay. You don't need to be carrying a car payment, not when you've got that money. So you should take a little bit of that money out of that high yield and pay that car off today. Okay. Okay, that's easy. Okay. You're not going to regret that, and very few people would say that was dumb. Okay?

14:20Rachel Cruze:Yeah, that payment has been, like, choking me every month. I'm like, oh, my gosh.

14:25Dave Ramsey:Exactly. Now, when you start your career, what's your plan there?

14:33Rachel Cruze:I'm hoping to get into some sort of a high school counselor for homeschoolers, potentially. I do have some background with working from home in medical transcription, so I could possibly even do just a medical office. Okay.

14:51Dave Ramsey:With what you've investigated so far, do you think you can make enough to live on without touching this money?

14:57Rachel Cruze:um i think so i think um if i can get something that were to pay about twenty dollars an hour i think um working full-time i could do that um i do get a small pension um which is about five hundred dollars um how have you been living during this year um so we had some savings about fifty thousand um is what i have in there right now and so um I get Social Security survivors for my son, and that will end in May. And that's when my biggest stressor is, is that$1 ,800 is going to go away. And that's really been what's kind of been carrying me so that I don't have to really dip into our savings or the insurance.

15:40Dave Ramsey:Well, I would make plans to create an income large enough to at least live on as your first stage. And then your second stage, create a career for this next phase of your life. for you. So, you know, what do you want to be when you grow up? You know, I mean, this is, this is chapter two. It isn't a chapter you wanted to write, but it is chapter two. And so, you know, let's make, you know, not just survival, let's go flourish. And, you know, that'll be part of your healing and process and everything. Yeah.

16:16Rachel Cruze:And the wild thing, Christina, is just like high level math, kind of it's that, what is it, the rule of 72 that your money doubles every seven years. And so, you know, the 500 ,000 in seven years will be a million if you don't touch it. And then in 14 years, it'll be 2 million, right? So if you could find something that you really could put your heart in, that you're passionate about, that you love, that you're good at, you have a good work environment, you're excited to go, right? And you do that for the next, you know, 10, 15 years, this money's going to serve you really well at that point, right?

16:46Dave Ramsey:You know, you're going to get into 65 and have two or three million dollars if you watch what you're doing. Now, that assumes that the money is invested better than it is now. And that's what you're calling about. So let's go. Let's go finally to that. OK. Now, when you're investing, it's. I always think about the very first time I got behind the wheel of a car. And my dad told me to push down on that to go and push down on that to stop. you know and I didn't know what I was doing and I wasn't very good at it and I threw gravel from the driveway up against the house and everything spinning the tires you know everything but but that didn't last long that was a five minutes of that level of inexperience and then within 10 minutes um we're you know we're learning the a little bit and then you know by obviously by the time you're 16, you're driving the car on the road and passing a driver's test.

17:44Dave Ramsey:And, and, you know, now I'm 65 and I don't have wrecks. And so, you know, I mean, you know, so what's that mean is the first time you do something, it is natural and wise to be fearful. That's normal. But it doesn't mean it's bad to learn how to do it. The first time you rode a bicycle, but then when you were teaching your children to ride a bicycle, they were afraid, but you weren't because you could hold the seat for a minute, number one. And then number two, when you let them go, you knew they weren't, you know, you knew their life was not going to end. They were just going to fall over maybe.

18:21Dave Ramsey:Okay. Now they may act like with a drama, but you know, but still, so this is like that your financial advisors holding your seat for the first a hundred thousand here going. And then as you learn more and personally, emotionally experience more of the market's going up and the market's going down, then you're going to get used to riding a bicycle. You know? And so I would have you learn as fast as you can learn and get comfortable by sitting with the financial advisor that you're using or getting a SmartVestor probe, RamseySolutions.com, because they're going to have the heart of a teacher. Whoever's helping you with your money must teach you.

19:03Dave Ramsey:Okay. You must learn. And it's not complicated. That's the good news. Because in that knowledge is going to give you comfort.

19:13Rachel Cruze:And high level that he just put$100 ,000 in mutual funds. That's good. Was that you, Christina, saying that? Or was that his advice? No, that was his advice. And that's great. So it's those types of accounts of diversification that you want, Christina. You always want to stay away from anything, single stocks or something new like crypto or something like that. You want something that is very diverse. So index funds, ETFs, good mutual funds, anything in that category is really going to be a safe bet overall.

19:45Dave Ramsey:Just get you some good growth stock type mutual funds, but learn about the fund that you're putting the money in. Like has it been open since 1932 and in the last 27 years has had two down years and 25 up years? That gives me a lot of comfort. Oh, okay. That's a track record I can relax with.

20:17Dave Ramsey:If you run a business, you already know this. Bad information leads to bad decisions. And right now, AI is everywhere. But AI is only as good as the data behind it. The best AI is built on the best data. That's why I recommend NetSuite. NetSuite is the number one AI cloud ERP and more than 43 ,000 businesses run on it, including us here at Ramsey Solutions. Their AI isn't bolted on, it's built in. And it connects everything that runs your business. Accounting, inventory, customer data, all in one place. Because when your numbers are connected, AI actually works like it's supposed to. NetSuite's AI helps flag cash flow problems, spot inventory issues, close your books faster, and cut down on manual reporting.

21:13Dave Ramsey:If your revenue is at least seven figures, go to netsuite.com slash Ramsey for a free product tour. That's netsuite.com slash Ramsey.

21:39Dave Ramsey:Are you sick and tired of working so hard but having nothing to show for it? You know, the rat in the wheel feeling. Run, run, run, run, run, run. Get nowhere, have a heart attack and die. I'm so stuck, Dave. Well, you don't have to live that way. Our Every Dollar Budget app helps you find extra money every month and helps you build a personalized plan to get out of debt, become wealthy and outrageously generous. In just 15 minutes, we're going to help you find thousands of dollars in hidden margin. You're going to feel like you got a race. It always happens. It always has. And every dollar really helps you work the Ramsey plan step by step by step by step while you're putting your budget together.

22:16Dave Ramsey:You're going to hear things pop up on your screen that looks suspiciously like you're listening to this show. So check it out. Don't live normal. Normal sucks. Go start every dollar for free in the App Store or Google Play. Stephanie is in Olympia, Washington. Hi, Stephanie. How are you?

22:37Rachel Cruze:Good. How about yourself?

22:38Dave Ramsey:Better than I deserve. What's up?

22:41Rachel Cruze:I am calling to ask your advice on if I should keep working my part-time job in order to pay off our debt faster, or if I should stick to my plan of quitting my job probably in the next month so that I can focus on being a stay-at-home mom and homeschooling our kids. was this the original plan is this what you are you already homeschooling i was homeschooling this year we put our kids in because we moved at the end of august so it was a bit too chaotic and um we stopped homeschooling put them in school i work remote so i'm at home but yeah the original plan has always been that i'm sorry if you work remote

23:24Dave Ramsey:You're out and you're at home and it's part-time. How many hours do you work at home?

23:29Rachel Cruze:Probably 12-ish a week. Why does that prevent you from homeschooling?

23:35Dave Ramsey:It doesn't.

23:37Rachel Cruze:It doesn't. Well, I'm pregnant right now. I'm 17 weeks pregnant with our fourth child. So it's more managing the home, homeschooling, being able to focus on that. I kind of hit a point where I felt like I'm being pulled too many different directions, which is partly my own doing. I do a lot. But this is the first time my husband just got a new job. So this is the first time that his income is like pretty settled. Like he's in his career. It feels really good.

24:05Dave Ramsey:Good. And what does he make? I'm working right now.

24:10Rachel Cruze:He makes about 47 an hour. So I think our take home, we don't know. He just got the job. But I think our typical take home is going to be around 83 to 85.

24:20Dave Ramsey:Yeah, that sounds right. Okay, good. And how much debt do you guys have?

24:25Rachel Cruze:What was the question?

24:26Dave Ramsey:How much debt?

24:28Rachel Cruze:How much debt? We have about$28 ,500, not including our home.

24:35Dave Ramsey:On what?

24:37Rachel Cruze:We have a personal loan for$14 ,500 that we used to buy him a car. This was about a month ago. And to pay off a little bit of credit card debt. And then we have one credit card that has about$12 ,400. and the other one that has about$300 on it. And then we own a rental home as well. So we owe about$257 on that. If you sold that, what is that worth? It's probably worth around$360, depending on what the market does over the summer.

25:12Dave Ramsey:If I had three kids with one on the way and I don't have time to work three hours a day, I don't have time to manage a rental property. I'm going to sell that property and use that money to clean up everything.

25:25Rachel Cruze:Pay off the debt, yeah. And Stephanie, could you work through this? That's in my husband's plan. Yeah, I'm on board with him. I would do that because that'll take stress off you guys. And then that gives you the ability to stay home with no bills.

25:36Dave Ramsey:And here's the other thing. You also have to stop being inconsistent in your approach, okay? Here's what I mean. Dave, we've been working hard to get out of debt. Two weeks ago, my husband bought a car on a loan.

25:48Rachel Cruze:Yeah, and then he...

25:49Dave Ramsey:Hello, that doesn't come out of the same mouth, does it?

25:54Rachel Cruze:Yeah, and then he also went and bought a mower this last weekend for like$1 ,200. So I forgot that one. We also have that.

25:59Dave Ramsey:Okay, the stupidity has to stop. Otherwise, it's going to bleed out.

26:04Rachel Cruze:Yeah, I think my struggle is that I feel like with our income, he thinks we'll just sell the rental and we'll get out of debt. But I've just watched a sort of pendulum.

26:12Dave Ramsey:Selling the rental and getting out of debt is only smart if you stop borrowing money and buying crap you can't afford.

26:19Rachel Cruze:so it does not justify him buying a mower and a car.

26:24Dave Ramsey:Yeah. So you guys have other issues that aren't just debt issues here. The two of you need to get aligned on where we're going to spend our money and that we're not borrowing money anymore, period.

26:36Rachel Cruze:Yeah, and I think that I'm more on that side. I know, I can tell. Well, eventually we'll get there.

26:41Dave Ramsey:No, no, you're not either.

26:42Rachel Cruze:I'm a spender, too. Honey, you're not going to eventually get there. No, she's saying that's what her husband is saying. Yeah. So Stephanie, what I would do tonight is I would have you two sit down, put the kids down and just say, hey, where do we want to be in two years? What's a perfect world for us in two years? Okay. Perfect world is we have no debt. We have very little stress financially because he's making a great income. We're budgeting it together. We have goals. You're home. Homeschooling your kids. You got a two-year-old at that point running around. Like you guys need to paint a picture of where you guys want to go.

27:16Rachel Cruze:Because here's the thing. And here's what the red flag, honestly, during this whole call that got me that I'm like, well, crap, it's the$1 ,200 mower. So to me, that's saying that this isn't a big expense like we need, not that a car loan is justified. But I can see how people are like, my car broke down and I panicked and it was in crisis and we needed a new car. That was a flippant$1 ,200 purchase that was just kind of made. That's the mindset that has to change between you guys, that we have to be so focused and so buckled down that we know exactly where every single dollar is going. and if we pay off this rental, we are agreeing for the rest of our lives that we are not going back in debt because you're exactly right, Stephanie.

27:52Rachel Cruze:If your habits don't change and you guys just have a little fairy wand that sweeps this debt off, which is the equity of the home, 100 % and I don't want all that hard work to go backwards. So there has to be agreement. The agreement is we never borrow money again

28:07Dave Ramsey:and so when we sell this rental

28:09Rachel Cruze:and we pay off this and yeah, that's the end of it and then Stephanie, if I were you, what else I would do? is since you're only working 12 hours a week, I probably would work up until baby comes because you're not gonna be homeschooling the kids in the summer. We're in April now. And so, you know, May's coming, kids will be out of school. Like I just know it's hectic with kids in May. It's just nuts. So get done with the school year, continue to work, work through the summer a few hours a day. And then when baby comes and starting in August, then say, I'm not gonna be, you know, if you guys choose to not work in August, then do that.

28:40Rachel Cruze:But I would keep your job personally through the summer if I were you. Okay. What did you want to say, Dave? Okay.

28:48Dave Ramsey:So another way of looking at this is the reason you're having to ask a question about whether or not you need to work while you're pregnant and you're homeschooling is not because of the income. It's because you continue to buy lawnmowers and cars you can't afford. Yeah. So you're actually working for those things.

29:16Rachel Cruze:Yeah, and I don't want to work for those things.

29:18Dave Ramsey:And so if you don't want to work, those things have to stop. Yeah. Permanently. And so that's the two of you saying, Sharon and I had this meeting, and, you know, Zig Ziglar used to say that if you want a good marriage, you've got to figure out that you're both on the same side. And so, yeah, we're both on the same side, And the side is we want to be where Rachel painted two years from now. And in order to get there, we have to be in agreement on what the path to get there looks like. And it's no more borrowing. If we're going to sell this rental house and wave the fairy wand and clean this up, then there's no more borrowing.

29:57Dave Ramsey:Because I'm not going to be sitting here thinking about I need to work part time while homeschooling because we can't control our spending. And that's exactly what's going on. And that's what has to stop.

30:09Rachel Cruze:And you know what? That's the part of debt that is so frustrating when you talk to people is that they're working and they're working for crap. They're working for stuff, not for the value system at which they want to live.

30:22Dave Ramsey:I mean, a number of times I've talked to a lady who wants to quit and go home, be with her kids. Yes. And I'm like, how much? You know, we work the math all the way down. It's$400 is all it is. And the van payment's$400. Sell the stupid van. The only reason you're working is for the van.

30:36Rachel Cruze:Just to pay the van. Right. That's all you're doing.

30:38Dave Ramsey:Sell a stupid van and go home with your kids. Yes.

30:40Rachel Cruze:Yep.

30:40Dave Ramsey:You know, and so it's, well, I need the van. Not you. Well, you know, you can't have it both. Okay. You got to decide which one you want. You want the van or you want to work.

30:47Rachel Cruze:And work for your values, people. Yeah. Do that. Let that be the driver and not stuff and all this crap.

30:54Dave Ramsey:Set that desired future out there two years like she was talking about. Paint that in detail and then work to get there.

31:00Rachel Cruze:Yes.

31:27Dave Ramsey:At Ramsey, we don't partner with companies chasing trends or pushing gimmicks. Trust is earned. And that's why we send people to Fairwinds Credit Union. See, a lot of banks rely on teaser rates, marketing hype, and fine print. But that's not how Fairwinds operates. They've been serving members for 75 years, and you don't last that long by cutting corners. You last by serving people well. There's a reason their name is on the studio wall. They've built products that help you manage money intentionally, not pull you into debt. If you're looking for a practical way to organize your money the Ramsey way, check out the Fairwinds Smart Bundle.

32:08Dave Ramsey:It pairs a high-yield savings account for your emergency fund with a checking account that doesn't drain your balance with fee after fee after fee after fee. Open your Fairwinds Smart Bundle today at fairwinds.org slash Ramsey and get the Ramsey Be Weird debit card. That's fairwinds.org slash Ramsey. Insured by the NCUA.

32:46Dave Ramsey:Lucy is with us in Detroit. Hi, Lucy. How are you?

32:52Rachel Cruze:Good. How are you guys today?

32:54Dave Ramsey:Better than we deserve. What's up?

32:57Rachel Cruze:So I wanted to know what kind of student loans I should be pulling out for school and how should I be financing for school?

33:06Dave Ramsey:How old are you?

33:08Rachel Cruze:I'm just turned 20.

33:10Dave Ramsey:Okay. Are you in school?

33:12Rachel Cruze:Yes, I'm in school currently. I'm finishing out my prerequisites for nursing.

33:17Dave Ramsey:You're finishing out your what?

33:20Rachel Cruze:My prerequisites for nursing school. Okay.

33:22Dave Ramsey:Okay.

33:23Rachel Cruze:Yes.

33:23Dave Ramsey:And then you've got a long, you've got four years left after that, right?

33:28Rachel Cruze:Yep. Yep. How are you paying for it now? Just the prereqs? It's a lot of it. I'm going to community college to save money. And a lot of, almost all of it is covered by like pass fund financial aid. Okay. So I was just got done with talking to an advisor and she told me I could do like the bridge to BSN. program at a local university, and it only took like two years to get my BSN, and that might be a lot cheaper instead of just transferring straight in to university. How much would that program be? Do you know? For that program, it's around$8 ,000 to$15 ,000. A semester or year? Or total for two years?

34:18Rachel Cruze:For per semester.

34:19Dave Ramsey:And it's four semesters?

34:22Rachel Cruze:Yes.

34:22Dave Ramsey:Okay. All right. Are you working at all?

34:26Rachel Cruze:Yes. I'm currently a pharmacy technician. I make about$22 an hour. Right now I'm working 20 hours a week only because the classes are getting pretty hard. So I'm just kind of trying to balance it out with the homework and stuff that I have.

34:44Dave Ramsey:How are you able to live on 20 hours a week? Are you living at home?

34:49Rachel Cruze:So I just actually moved back in with my dad. He was closer to the schools, and we kind of came to an agreement that, like, you know, nothing is going to get in my way, and, like, you know, he's going to be chill and everything, so I can just finish school and then save up to move out.

35:07Dave Ramsey:Okay, so you're going to be able to live there for free while you go to school?

35:12Rachel Cruze:Yes. That's good. As of right now, but he has brought up rent, so that's been kind of an issue as well.

35:20Dave Ramsey:Okay. Well, I mean, first thing we have to do is be able to eat and have shelter. Okay. Then the second thing we have to do is be able to pay for school. And so what I would do, I think your counselor is probably giving you pretty good advice. I'm going to look for a lot of different ways to get that degree and any possible grants. But we're not going to tell you here at Ramsey to get a student loan of any kind. We're going to tell you to avoid that at all costs, okay? Because even if you don't graduate because something happens and you're not able to graduate, you still have the student loan.

35:58Dave Ramsey:Student loans are forever. You cannot get rid of them. They're a pain in the butt. I will tell you that your career choice of nursing is incredible as far as upside potential, lots of flexibility you're going to be able to do a lot of different things you'll be able to take a 40-hour work week plus er on the weekends and make 150 200 thousand dollars a year if you'll watch what you're doing as you as you grow this career over time so you've got a great field that you've chosen for a lot of reasons so i want to encourage you to do that the other thing is if you can get any kind of nursing certification the cheapest possible way and get employed at a hospital or a large medical practice, they'll probably pay for your tuition to continue.

36:47Rachel Cruze:Yes, absolutely. I know some people that work in the local hospitals in the area and have already been offered positions as a pharmacy tech. The only issue is that they're not really flexible on scheduling. I don't care.

37:02Dave Ramsey:If you're a pharmacy tech at the hospital and they're paying your tuition, you make the schedule work, kiddo. yeah you go do it that's a fifteen thousand dollar raise per semester right so you suck it up and make

37:18Rachel Cruze:the schedule work that's great money for two years lucy and it's gonna do anything you can be working nights and go i mean you can you can do anything for just two years you know what i mean like that's how i would look at it is i mean how how quickly two years goes you know you think about we're in 2026. 2024 was just like for just a snap. I mean, it was just so fast. So do that. But if you have to cash flow any level of it, I mean, on the low wind, I know eight grand is what you said per semester, but oh my gosh, if you could make, which I wouldn't want you to do this, but I'm saying you could make two grand door dashing.

37:48Rachel Cruze:You know what I mean? Like you could find the cash to be able to cash flow and just talk to the financial aid office and say, hey, can I pay per semester, right? And look at it. But when you can get a job, what you're saying, in your field, working in any level of institution that is in there that's going to help pay for school, like that's A1 for me.

38:05Dave Ramsey:Dive in. That's it. And then get that degree and then get the next degree, you know, go LP, go RN, go all the way through the whole process and, you know, keep moving up and keep moving up, keep adding to your education as long as they're paying for it and you just work. And you're going to be able to do so well as you do this. And so my point is you're making the least money you're ever going to make right now. If you'll stay on this track, but, but roll up your sleeves and do what it takes to get this for free. Yes. Take that, uh, farm pharmacy tech over there at the hospital and they pick up your tuition to be a nurse.

38:41Dave Ramsey:Absolutely. All day long. And, uh, Oh, I can't go to happy hour. Well, you didn't be at a happy hour anyway. You need to be doing this stuff. So this is good. Yeah, absolutely. And, uh, and you know, if your dad wants to charge too much rent, then go get you a roommate and move out. But if he's giving you something reasonable, it's 50 bucks or something, just whatever. But if you're hustling like that and he's able to help you by just providing housing, that's a big help. And you just take every one of these little tidbits and you put them all together and it keeps you from borrowing. But no student loans.

39:16Dave Ramsey:No student loans. You've got to figure out a way to work around that. You have to slow down your process or you have to change your number of hours you're working or you have to change where you're working or how you're working or something, but no student loans. You can do this. You can figure it out. And when you do, you're going to look back, and the 27-year-old version of you is going to really like this 20-year-old version of you because we talk to the 27-year-olds with$100 ,000 in student loan debt every single day, and they don't like their old self. They're pretty pissed at their 20-year-old self, and you don't want to do that.

39:50Dave Ramsey:So good question. Really good. I'm excited for you, Lucy. Jane is in Phoenix. Hi, Jane. How are you?

39:58Rachel Cruze:I'm doing well, Dave and Rachel. Thanks for taking my call.

40:00Dave Ramsey:Sure. What's up?

40:02Rachel Cruze:All right. So we are on baby step two. We have about 36K left in consumer debt. My husband makes about 6K a month, and I'm a stay-at-home homeschool mom. We have had just kind of a crazy series of events happening, and our emergency fund is drained due to our fridge, range, dishwasher, Both vehicles all breaking within the last two months. And my husband got a new job, which, praise God, you know, has brought in money to help with some of those things. But his stepdad passed away, and the funeral is out of state. And just for him to get there, it will take about$500,$600 due to flights and then a hotel.

40:41Rachel Cruze:So I'm calling to see. I want to honor our parents. He wasn't extremely close with his stepdad, but we want to honor our parents. And I don't want to, you know, encourage him to go or not go if that is not wise financially. And then, yeah, and he's also just kind of wrestling with it, too. We're really trying to stay on track to get this paid off. I would go. I would go. You got the$500, right? We can sell one of our beater cars is what we can do.

41:07Dave Ramsey:Yeah. Yeah.

41:09Rachel Cruze:I would do that.

41:10Dave Ramsey:I would go.

41:11Rachel Cruze:Man, you guys made it so easy. All right. You never regret going to a funeral.

41:15Dave Ramsey:Well, especially something like that. The stepdad, yeah. It's not$5 ,000, and we're not flying 16 people to Italy. I mean, it's$500, and you're sending just him to be really near his mom, because his stepdad he wasn't that close to to start with. And he's not going to be there very long. Yeah, I hear you.

41:40Rachel Cruze:I think it just, I wanted to make sure, because the emergency is gone, and we have like my whole kitchen is torn apart still. So just we wanted to be wise and not say, oh, emotionally. Yeah, but in four months, your kitchen will be fixed. You guys will be on track paying it off, and you don't want to look back and think, golly, what we could have done.

41:58Dave Ramsey:You can't unring this bell. Yeah. So, yeah, you've got to do that one.

42:03Rachel Cruze:It's a good question. I appreciate the dedication, Jane.

42:05Dave Ramsey:Yeah, the way you're framed up the question and the amount and the situation is why we gave the answer we gave.

42:35Dave Ramsey:running a business is hard work you're the ceo the accountant and the sales team You don't have time to moonlight as your own benefits department. That's where Health Trust Financial helps. In fact, health insurance is one of the biggest and most confusing line items in your budget. And most of you are overpaying because you're stuck figuring it out alone. You don't have time to figure out all the fine print about networks and deductibles. My friends at Health Trust Financial have been helping Ramsey listeners for over 20 years. Their focus is simplifying health insurance and serving people with empathy.

43:15Dave Ramsey:No pressure, no games. They give you clear, unbiased advice that fits your life and your budget. Most of their clients save hundreds of dollars every month. That's real money you can put back in your business or into the baby steps. So stop wasting your time, your energy, and your money. You run the business. Let HealthTrust Financial handle finding the right health insurance. Go to HealthTrustFinancial.com today. That's HealthTrustFinancial.com.

43:59Dave Ramsey:Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. I'm Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality. My daughter is my co-host. Sadie is in Rochester, New York. Hey, Sadie, what's up?

44:12Rachel Cruze:Hi. So I am currently about three-quarters of the way done with baby step number two. I've kind of worked my way out of a little over$150 ,000 worth of debt.

44:26Dave Ramsey:Wow, good for you.

44:28Rachel Cruze:I have a job and a half. Good for you. I like to say I do have a full-time and a part-time job. I'm ready to move. I'm ready to get out of New York. I would like to move south. With the sale of my home, I could finish off baby step number two and number three. My question is, though, after that, I mean, I do have a lump sum after both of those items are completed of about$75 ,000. I could either buy a house and have that comfort, but have it be gone, really, the 20%, or I could rent and invest in a rental property. The location that I would like to head is Tourist Nation. So an Airbnb or a rental or even an apartment home would not go unrented.

45:28Rachel Cruze:But my problem is I feel like I'm a bit of a control freak, and I want that comfort of having something that's mine. But I am also losing that half job. My full-time job is a remote job, so I'm able to take that. Okay, so what do you make at your full-time job? So I'm at 67-ish. And what do you make at the part-time job? Roughly$25 ,000.

45:54Dave Ramsey:Doing what?

45:56Rachel Cruze:So I'm admin, admin for a church office, actually.

46:00Dave Ramsey:Okay. And you're talking about moving. Where's your ideal place? If you bought a home and settled in, not Airbnb, but you just bought a home, what would be your ideal location in the south? I really want to be on the beach somewhere in South Carolina.

46:17Rachel Cruze:Okay. I mean, we have joked Myrtle Beach, just outside of Myrtle Beach, though, I mean, somewhere like Conway or somewhere like that would be my ideal living situation.

46:27Dave Ramsey:Yeah, okay, I like that. You said we. Who's we?

46:30Rachel Cruze:But that gives me the opportunity. So I do have a little bit of a muddy situation. I have been married for a year and a half, but we've never combined finances, not for lack of trying on my part. there just is that hindrance. And we've had the discussion of perhaps we just, you know, we continue on. I mean, the relationship is great. You know, we don't have any questions. I carry the financial, the household finances. He is on the road a lot. He's got his own business. He's got, you know, a lot of debt of his own that he handles. So when I say we, I do mean My husband and I and his two girls both will be college age here fairly soon.

47:20Rachel Cruze:He does have college accounts set up for both of them already. So that is not something that out of the proceeds of this house. I do you guys. I don't know. You're probably making a face at me. I'm not taking the consideration combining. Do you guys both own that home? No. It is mine premarital. It's yours. Okay. So when you buy the home in South Carolina, is the plan that you are just going to be buying it and he'll just be living in there under your name? I believe at that point I have kind of given a smidge of an ultimatum to say there will be a combined account. There will be a combined finance, you know, home account.

48:07Rachel Cruze:I mean, it can't just be, especially because I am losing income with the move. I'm not saying I'm losing the income to be able to adequately care for the house.

48:19Dave Ramsey:He's not got any money to add to the down payment then?

48:23Rachel Cruze:No. No, he does not.

48:24Dave Ramsey:Okay. All right. Yeah, I think I'm selling it and I'm buying a home in South Carolina. And I think you already know that what's best for you is for the two of you to combine your finances. and have full transparency and full weight together. And whether his name is on the title or not, in most states, a married couple that buys a home, the spouse has marital interest in the house anyway. In the event of a divorce. And so you're probably putting that$75 ,000 at risk, so to speak, potentially. I mean, you could show a paper trail that you brought that money to the table from the thing in the event of a divorce and probably work it out.

49:11Dave Ramsey:But I don't know. But anyway, I think the better answer is to combine and go buy you a house, kiddo. And I think you'll also pick up some side work because I don't think you're going to – it's not like there's no churches in South Carolina that need some admin help. Like there's a church on every corner in South Carolina. So I'm open to gig work.

49:34Rachel Cruze:You know, I did a lot of Uber and, you know, DoorDash and things when I was first starting out the baby stuff. And we actually have a Ramsey approved realtor that we're talking to down in South Carolina already. So, I mean, I think we're taking the right steps. Yeah, but I would play of letting go.

49:50Dave Ramsey:Pay off all your debt. Use whatever's left for your baby step two and three and then use the balance for your down payment. And, yeah, take all your proceeds and do that and combine your finances. and I think you're setting up a good life.

50:04Rachel Cruze:Yeah. And ideally with what he's making a year, right, in a perfect world as you combine, that's the power of working together financially. Not only do you get the relational benefits of, we really do think your marriage gets better when you become one in every area of your life, including your money, but also the financial, because yes, he does have debt, you said, but if you guys together combine both incomes, worked to pay off debt, your fund and retirement together, you're just going to get ahead financially so much faster when you're working together, even if he does have some debt and you may, you guys may have to pay some of it off.

50:36Rachel Cruze:But, but gosh, both of those incomes working in one household and looking at it as a household income is going to be so helpful.

50:44Dave Ramsey:Yeah, that's incredible. So guys, we keep telling you this over and over and she's obviously heard us say this too. So we're not talking to her anymore at this point, but just to remind everybody out there that, that when we did the largest study of millionaires ever done in North America, airtight research, what we found over and over and over again is that 82 % of the millionaires say that one of the reasons they became millionaires is working together in tandem, full disclosure, full transparency, pulling the wagon together with their spouse. That means that only a handful of millionaires become millionaires in spite of their spouse.

51:28Dave Ramsey:and so as I said earlier you know Zig Ziglar used to say marriage is best if you understand we're both on the same side and so we're on the same side the enemy's not in the house the enemy's outside the house if we're going to have a fight with something it's outside of here and we together are going to go conquer that land that territory and we together are going to expand and we together are going to grow and we're going to set a vision of what we want the next five years to look like and then take the steps to get there, the desired future and what must be true to get to that desired future together.

52:03Dave Ramsey:That alignment is not only so healthy for your relationship, it also is the highest data point for you to become wealthy.

52:30so

52:42Rachel Cruze:buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll ever make but too many people base the decision on opinions or what the market is doing that week.

52:51Dave Ramsey:Churchill Mortgage has been our trusted partner for over 30 years because they do things the Ramsey way. A lot of people think buying a home starts with going to a bunch of open houses, but if you're buying a home the right way, you start with a budget and a trusted guide like Churchill before you even think about house shopping. Churchill will show you the real numbers, not what a bank will approve. Buying before being ready is how people end up house poor and stressed out.

53:20Rachel Cruze:Churchill will tell you the truth and they won't push you into more house than you need. And once you understand what you can actually afford, you can move forward with clarity and confidence.

53:31Dave Ramsey:So if you're ready to buy a home, choose the right guide and stick to a plan. Go to churchillmortgage.com and get started. That's churchillmortgage.com. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591.

53:43Rachel Cruze:NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender.

53:52Dave Ramsey:Buying or selling a home is a big deal with all the clickbait headlines and TikTok discussions out there. You get a lot of bad info. It's hard to know what's really happening. Well, we're here to make the latest trends easy to understand. Median house prices went up a little to$403 ,000 last month, which is typical as we head into the spring season. Mortgage rates are down a little bit more, down to 5.43, down from 6.1 that we saw last February. To learn more about the housing market trends and to get free tools to help you buy or sell with confidence, go to RamseySolutions.com slash market or click the link in the show notes.

54:31Dave Ramsey:Sarah's in Seattle. Hi, Sarah. How are you?

54:34Rachel Cruze:I'm great. Thanks for having me. Sure.

54:39Rachel Cruze:I'm recently in a divorce. I've been divorced for about a year now and have three kids all going to college next year. Financially, I'm doing pretty good. I own my home outright. It's a million-dollar house. I have about$8 ,000 in the bank. I make$85 ,000 a year, and I'm kind of nervous about college. Each kid has a college account with about$60 ,000 in it, But, you know, even though they're all three are going to a state college, that's$120 ,000 for four years. And I'm responsible for half of half. So a quarter of that is$90 ,000 for all three. And I just really don't know how I'm going to do that.

55:23Dave Ramsey:I'm sorry. You're responsible for half of half, not counting the college funds?

55:29Rachel Cruze:No, including, I mean, yes, yes. Because you're responsible for 90, but you have 60? No. I'm responsible for 90, because, you know, it's$30 ,000 a year for each kid. And they're going to each be there for four years, right? So that's$120 ,000 each. And then we have$60 ,000 for each. So that leaves them$60 ,000 for their dad to pay half and me to pay half. That's$30 ,000.

55:57Dave Ramsey:And they're not planning on doing anything, the kids aren't?

56:04Rachel Cruze:Well, I mean.

56:05Dave Ramsey:Like working?

56:07Rachel Cruze:Oh, well, of course, they all work. They pay for all of their activities. We pay for their tuition and their food. And, of course, where they live, and that is more than tuition nowadays. So it's kind of putting me in a rough spot because I thought we did good planning financially for their college. And come to find out, it's not even really half. It's almost half. But, well, Sarah, there's a little bit of me that's like, well, if we can't afford the college, then I don't know if that's where they can go. So maybe they go to a community college for two years and then transfer. And that cuts it in half or more than half, you know, and academic scholarships.

56:50Rachel Cruze:I mean, I don't know what else to do.

56:51Dave Ramsey:I mean, they can work while they're in school was my point.

56:55Rachel Cruze:Yeah, they definitely can.

56:57Dave Ramsey:And they will pay for part of it.

56:59Rachel Cruze:It will.

57:00Dave Ramsey:Yeah. You're right.

57:01Rachel Cruze:It will. My question is, because I own my house, and would you ever think about, should I refinance and just pull a little bit of money out and just pay for it? No. Okay.

57:16Dave Ramsey:We need to work this out. We need to buy a college that we can afford between what you can put in, your ex-husband can put in, the college funds can put in, and the kids can put in while working while they're there. Those are your form numbers that you can enter into the equation, and then that will tell you where we can afford to go to school. Oh, and by the way, where they live, are you talking about the dorm or getting off-campus apartments?

57:41Rachel Cruze:Oh, a dorm. We're going the cheapest route, so the dorms. Okay, good. I mean, that's$15 ,000 a semester, including food.

57:49Dave Ramsey:Yeah, that sounds right.

57:51Rachel Cruze:Or no,$7 ,500 a semester. So what school are we talking about? Washington State, the cheapest school, one of the cheapest schools in the state. Yeah. That's in-state tuition.

58:02Dave Ramsey:No, I didn't think it. The numbers you were giving me weren't some kind of crazy numbers. They're very reasonable. But it's just that it adds up because, as you said, the tuition, I mean, the dorm and the food is as much as the tuition. And that's normal.

58:16Rachel Cruze:Yeah.

58:17Dave Ramsey:Yeah. Okay. And so they're not within driving range of either one of you, are they, where they could live with y 'all?

58:25Rachel Cruze:No. No, unfortunately, no. It's like five hours away. But would you ever, like if I were to get married again and move out of my home into another home, would renting out my house and using that be something? I mean, because I am dating somebody pretty seriously now. I mean, that was another option. Well, I could do that.

58:49Dave Ramsey:I don't think a million-dollar house is a rental house usually.

58:53Rachel Cruze:Well, in Seattle it is. It's a small house. I mean, you'd be shocked at what a million-dollar house looks like in Seattle.

58:59Dave Ramsey:No, I'm not shocked at all. I'm just saying that's a fairly expensive rental property even in Seattle. Okay. I'm not unaware of the Seattle prices. They're very expensive. Right. But, you know, you have a million dollars on the table there. If you had a million dollars sitting in the middle of your table, kitchen table, and you were getting married and you had kids going to college and you were thinking about buying another home, you wouldn't say, oh, I'm going to use this money to buy a rental. Right. You would say, I'm going to use this money for the next home and the kids going to college. Rental wouldn't even be on the list of options.

59:38Dave Ramsey:The only reason rental is on the option is by default because you already own it. It makes you think about that. Correct. Yeah, and Sarah, I would say, too, when you break it down per semester what extra they're going to need,

59:50Rachel Cruze:Because they're going to be able to get through this 60 for the first two years. So you saving some money, you don't have to have that money tomorrow. It's in two years. So I understand you make 85 a year, but what can you set aside for two years to contribute?

1:00:09Dave Ramsey:And what can they set aside for two?

1:00:11Rachel Cruze:And then your husband, your ex-husband. And so as you guys all kind of form this together, the good news is, again, you have some time on your side. This is not 60 grand that you have to have tomorrow. It's really in two years is when it's all going to be due.

1:00:27Dave Ramsey:And all of that is reduced by the 60 ,000 being used up is reduced by they don't need as much because they are working.

1:00:34Rachel Cruze:Right, that they don't even use it all.

1:00:36Dave Ramsey:Hey, Sarah, you got a four-year degree?

1:00:39Rachel Cruze:I do not.

1:00:40Dave Ramsey:Okay.

1:00:42Rachel Cruze:Now my ex did.

1:00:43Dave Ramsey:Yeah, okay. I have one. My wife has one. And everyone that I know just about in my personal life that is successful, that has a four-year degree, worked while they were in school. Right. It's like a normal thing.

1:00:59Rachel Cruze:And my kids do work. All three of them do. They've worked since they were 14 years old. I'm not suggesting they're lazy. I'm suggesting there's actual mathematics that are able to help this solution, help you with this solution.

1:01:11Dave Ramsey:And so, and it's really good for their character. And Rachel, we found when we were doing a bunch of the studies and some of the research when we're putting together the Borrowed Future, the student loan debacle, which she's not talking about student loans, but the Borrowed Future documentary that we got all the awards on. One of the things we found was that kids that work actually end up with higher grades.

1:01:31Rachel Cruze:Yeah, higher GPAs. Yeah. And Sarah and I would be asking them at Washington State, what can they be doing? Could they, because by the time they're a junior, and again, this is when the money kind of starts to like, okay, by junior years when we're going to need some cash, can they, you know, be an RA in the dorm, right? And part of their housing is paid for because of that. Like what creative things in the next two years while they're on campus can they figure out that they can plug into the university to help pay for some of this for the last two years of their school? So there's some ways around it to get creative.

1:02:01Dave Ramsey:I just ran into a family member the other day that I hadn't talked to in years and reminded me that he went to college free because he was a janitor. They hired him as a janitor and employees got free tuition.

1:02:13Rachel Cruze:Yep.

1:02:15Dave Ramsey:It's like, there you go. Unbelievable. I mean, that's so simple. The RA thing, a lot of people did, right? Yeah. The resident assistant, right? A lot of people did that. And, you know.

1:02:25Rachel Cruze:And even scholarships, I don't know, like just getting creative. Your brother worked in a mattress store

1:02:29Dave Ramsey:selling mattresses. He's currently our family.

1:02:32Rachel Cruze:Talk about a conspiracy.

1:02:34Dave Ramsey:All these years later, All these years later, he's still our family advisor on mattress purchases.

1:02:40Rachel Cruze:I know. And I need a corner. You know the conspiracy about mattress stores?

1:02:46Dave Ramsey:About mattress stores?

1:02:48Rachel Cruze:The whole thing is like, who literally goes to a store to buy a mattress? Most people don't, but they're everywhere. So it's like, what's really happening? What's really happening? Oh, now. It's a Rachel conspiracy theory. That's a good black hole to go down.

1:03:02Dave Ramsey:Yeah, they're all laundering mafia money. You never know. No, I don't think so.

1:03:09Rachel Cruze:But they're everywhere. That's the weird thing. How many people you see going into a mattress store? Not a lot.

1:03:12Dave Ramsey:I've gone in there and purchased mattresses myself. That's what I'm saying. Your mother bought a couple the other day. But Daniel did.

1:03:18Rachel Cruze:Daniel works, and he's a great source with my conspiracy. I need to corner him.

1:03:22Dave Ramsey:He's a member of the Illuminati. He'll never tell you.

1:03:33Thank you.

1:03:49Dave Ramsey:You know, one of the first things I discovered working in the financial world is how absolutely devastating it is when the breadwinner of a family dies and there's too little life insurance or none at all. Grieving families are suddenly left behind scrambling to pay bills and trying to make ends meet. I also discovered that there are a lot of ripoffs in the life insurance world, like that whole life crap posing as an investment opportunity. What you need is level term life insurance, usually 10 to 12 times your income, which is the smartest, most affordable way to protect your family. The key is finding an independent broker who represents a ton of companies and works for you, not for the insurance company.

1:04:31Dave Ramsey:This is exactly what my friend Jeff Zander and his team at Zander Insurance are all about. They shop the term life companies to find you the best options, and they've been around for over 95 years. so you know they'll be there when you need them. Xander is the real deal, and that's why they've handled all my personal insurance for over 25 years. I trust them, and you can too. Visit Xander.com for instant online quotes, or for a more personal touch, give them a call at 800-356-4282.

1:05:28Dave Ramsey:The Ramsey Show Question of the Day is brought to you by Why Refi. Defaulted private student loans don't define you, but dealing with them does. Y-Refi helps you refinance into a low fixed rate payment you can afford so you can take control of your money and get back to working the baby steps. Go to Y-Refi.com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y-R-E-F-Y.com slash Ramsey. Might not be in all states.

1:05:54Rachel Cruze:Today's question comes from Dave in Massachusetts. My wife and I have two kids. Our oldest is currently in college at a state school, so we are paying in-state tuition. Our youngest is a senior and is looking at colleges in a different state. which means higher tuition. We own a second home in that state, but it's not our residence. Should my wife and I get a divorce so we can change one of our permanent residences to that state and keep the other permanent residence in our state? Doing so would save us over$100 ,000 by paying in-state tuition for both kids. My wife and I love each other very much, and the paperwork wouldn't change our relationship.

1:06:36Dave Ramsey:Wow.

1:06:37Rachel Cruze:I don't know if I've ever heard this question before.

1:06:39Dave Ramsey:I've heard it for different reasons that were similar.

1:06:43Rachel Cruze:Get a legal divorce to pay for the out-of-state college tuition. Oh, Lordy. No, Dave. No, Dave. I think if you can't afford the out-of-state tuition, y 'all can't afford the college. Oh, here's an idea.

1:06:57Dave Ramsey:Tell your kid no. Oh, there's a shocking concept. you're before you divorce your wife maybe you just tell your kid no oh my gosh how about no you can't go you can't go to school over there no that that settled i mean that's a lot easier no dude you're weird i mean who talks about divorcing their wife to get in-state tuition

1:07:27Rachel Cruze:For a kid for four years.

1:07:29Dave Ramsey:Because you can't tell your own spoiled kid no. That's whacked.

1:07:34Rachel Cruze:Oh, man. Yeah, Dave. I don't think that. Sorry, Dave in Massachusetts. Not you, Dave. That can get confusing quick.

1:07:42Dave Ramsey:Both of us are whacked, but for different reasons. Oh, my gosh.

1:07:46Rachel Cruze:Oh, yeah, Dave in Massachusetts. Nope. Nope. Nope. I would not go through a divorce.

1:07:51Dave Ramsey:I wouldn't even tell your wife you had that thought. That would be dangerous. you could wake up dead.

1:07:59Rachel Cruze:Oh, my gosh.

1:08:01Dave Ramsey:I mean, oh, man.

1:08:02Rachel Cruze:I wonder how many people do that, though, try to scam the system and like...

1:08:05Dave Ramsey:Well, people do it. I've heard of people like they don't want to pay alimony. They want to keep getting the alimony from the previous marriage. And if they get married... Oh, they lose the alimony. So they won't get married. So they just act like they're married. Sure, sure. Never get married. Sure, I hear that. Or if we get divorced, we get... Her disability insurance will double. So we're going to get divorced so that we get twice the money from disability. Okay. Whatever. I've heard the opposite. All these different things happen.

1:08:30Rachel Cruze:Like we need to get married for military purposes, like to have whatever spousal thing. You know what I mean? Like I've heard that kind of stuff. Yeah. But never for a kid's college. Wow. You know, Dave, you never, you know. Yeah.

1:08:41Dave Ramsey:Dave. It's a new one. You have your priorities really screwed up. And so let's just start with telling your spoiled brat child no.

1:08:50Rachel Cruze:I don't think the spoiled brat 18 year old is asking his parents to get divorced. This is the dad.

1:08:54Dave Ramsey:You're asking him to pay$100 ,000 to go across a state line.

1:08:57Rachel Cruze:Yeah, but this is the dad's idea. Dad wrote it in. I know. Dad wrote in the divorce. I blame him, Dad. I'm blaming Dad.

1:09:04Dave Ramsey:No. Because an 18-year-old, I wanted to go out of state. I agree. The whole thing, the child's behavior is the father's fault, too. So let's just go with that.

1:09:12Rachel Cruze:A child wanting to go to an out-of-state school is not— For$100 ,000? Is not—oh, probably over the course of four years. But I'm just saying, this is the, don't you blame this on that 18 year old. This is the dad's idea. So no.

1:09:30Dave Ramsey:I'm going to blame it on the whole dysfunctional family. Yeah. All right. Wow. Hannah's in Rochester, New York. Hey, Hannah, what's up?

1:09:40Rachel Cruze:Hi, I'm just calling to ask a question about my student loans and what I should do. Okay. So I'm currently a registered nurse, and my work actually pays$150 a month towards my loans.

1:09:57Dave Ramsey:What's the balance on your loans?

1:10:00Rachel Cruze:$4 ,500.

1:10:02Dave Ramsey:Oh, wow.

1:10:04Rachel Cruze:I just have to pay the minimum for them to keep paying it, which is only about$62 a month. So I didn't know if I should pay it off and not have the minimum payment. You have the$4 ,000 in the account? No, not right now.

1:10:25Dave Ramsey:You're an RN. Why not? You make good money, don't you?

1:10:29Rachel Cruze:Yeah, we bought a house, and we are getting back to doing better budgeting.

1:10:37Dave Ramsey:Okay, good. So your question really is when I get back to better budgeting, do I put more on the student loan than the minimum payments given that the employer is paying some of it?

1:10:48Rachel Cruze:Yeah.

1:10:49Dave Ramsey:Yeah. I would put all I can. I'm going to list all of my debts. Do you have other debts other than your home and the student loan?

1:10:56Rachel Cruze:We just have about$1 ,000.

1:10:59Dave Ramsey:No car payments?

1:11:01Rachel Cruze:No car payments and our house.

1:11:03Dave Ramsey:Okay. We have a house payment. Okay. So I'm going to list the two debts, the$1 ,000 and the$4 ,000. The first thing I'm going to do is pay minimum payments on the student loan and attack the$1 ,000 and get it gone in about a month. And then I'm going to attack the student loan aggressively. But during those several months that you're knocking the student loan out, you're still going to get some of the benefit. But, no, I'm not going to keep the loan around like a pet.

1:11:25Rachel Cruze:For four years.

1:11:26Dave Ramsey:For an$1 ,800 a year benefit. Okay. Yeah. The biggest thing is you want to be clear of this thing, and you want to have a complete, fresh, clean start. Okay? Oh. Good for you. Thanks for asking the question. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Roger's in Branson, Missouri. Hey, Roger, what's up?

1:11:51Rachel Cruze:Good afternoon. I've got a question for you, Dave.

1:11:55Dave Ramsey:Okay. I've got$750 ,000 in cash. I've got a million dollars in an IRA, and every year I've got to take money out of that, anywhere from$43 ,000 to$47 ,000. The required minimum distribution, so you're over 73. Yes, I'll be 76. Gotcha. I just paid$14 ,000 in income tax, which is fine. I have no debt. I have two credit cards. The only thing I get on there is gasoline, and I pay that off as soon as the bill comes. I never paid interest on a credit card. I got a house, about$900 ,000 that's worth. That's paid for. How much of your million? So you got a couple million dollar net worth. Way to go, man.

1:12:44Dave Ramsey:About three million total. Yeah, congratulations. How much of that did you inherit? None. I take that back. My mother passed away. I got$60 ,000 about four years ago. Wow. And I put that right in the bank. So you're one of the great American millionaires that did it starting from nothing without inherited money. Congratulations, sir.

1:13:06Rachel Cruze:Well, you're the fault for that.

1:13:08Dave Ramsey:I listen to you. My question is, what do I do with the$750 ,000? I have no children. My newest car is a pickup truck. It's 10 years old. My wife's car is 23 years old. We live very well on 32 acres of beautiful land. And I just don't trust banks, which is bail-in, bail-out.

1:13:34Rachel Cruze:Stock market to me is like Vegas.

1:13:37Dave Ramsey:Well, what's your 401k in, honey? It's with an insurance company, a major insurance company. And you trust insurance companies more than banks?

1:13:49Rachel Cruze:No, the financial part of it.

1:13:52Dave Ramsey:I put a million dollars in there 20 years ago, and I've been getting this money back and back, and there's still over a million dollars in it.

1:14:00Rachel Cruze:So it's worked out pretty well.

1:14:04Dave Ramsey:But I mean, insurance companies are less stable than banks.

1:14:08Rachel Cruze:Well, according to the report I get from the insurance company, they're loaded with money, billions and trillions of dollars.

1:14:17Dave Ramsey:Well, that would be true, but so are the banks. Anyway, the answer to your question, sir, is I do not have any money in insurance companies. All of my money is invested in mutual funds in the stock market and in banks, in high-yield savings accounts. And so if you're literally sitting with that money stacked in your bedroom, you need to do something with it.

1:15:11Rachel Cruze:Hey guys, George Camel here. Listen, we need to talk about your phone plan because for a lot of you, it's like a bad roommate. You know the one. Unpredictable moods. Always asking for money. Hard to get rid of. And they never do the dishes. And that's what the so-called big wireless carriers are like. They're counting on you overpaying forever. But Boost Mobile flipped the script. You can unlock up to$600 in savings per year over the big guys when you switch to Boost Mobile on their unlimited plan. There's no contracts, no hidden fees, and no surprise emails saying, hey, your bill went up because reasons.

1:15:43Rachel Cruze:You see, with Boost Mobile, you bring your phone, keep your number, and pay just$25 a month. $25. And that price is locked in forever. So if you're thinking, okay, George, that all sounds great, what's the catch? There isn't one. Boost Mobile backs it up with a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means you can try it without feeling trapped. People, kick the bad roommate out. Head to BoostMobile.com slash Ramsey to make the switch today. That's BoostMobile.com slash Ramsey. Based on average annual payment of AT &T, Verizon, and T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan as of January 2026.

1:16:14Rachel Cruze:See website for full details.

1:16:31Dave Ramsey:Aria is in Phoenix. Hi, Aria. How are you?

1:16:35Rachel Cruze:Hi. I'm doing good. How about yourself?

1:16:37Dave Ramsey:Better than I deserve. Is it Aria? Is that correct?

1:16:40Rachel Cruze:Yeah, it's Aria.

1:16:42Dave Ramsey:Okay, cool. How can we help?

1:16:44Rachel Cruze:I just kind of had a question. So a couple years ago, I got into a car accident that wasn't my fault, and we should be settling here soon. I don't know the exact amount of money that I'll be getting, but I know it'll be close, if not over,$100 ,000.

1:16:59Dave Ramsey:Wow.

1:16:59Rachel Cruze:I'm 22. Yeah, it was a pretty bad accident. Are you recovered? Are you okay? I didn't break anything, but I do have long-term damage, and I had a traumatic brain injury because of it.

1:17:14Dave Ramsey:Okay. So is it affecting your income potential or anything like that?

1:17:20Rachel Cruze:Not anymore. I was out of work for about four months, but since then I've been back at work. So, like, I'm physically capable to work and, like, mentally capable to work, but I do have issues with, like, my long-term and short-term memory. And then I have some issues with my spine and some nerve damage around my back and my neck.

1:17:39Dave Ramsey:Do you think you're going to need any of this money to take care of you?

1:17:45Rachel Cruze:Yes.

1:17:46Dave Ramsey:Okay. In what regard? What would you use it for?

1:17:51Rachel Cruze:Well, probably more like chiropractic care. Because like I said, I'm pretty okay for the most part, but I do still have chronic pain basically for the last three years. um it's a bad bad wreck after my accident yeah it was so i got t-boned um i got hit my driver's side i was taking a left on a green light like i was going about 40 miles an hour and he and i was his brick wall and he hit right in my driver's door all right so um what's the chiropractic costing you um well i'm not going there right now through my attorney i was in care for about a year and a half. So this was back in 2023.

1:18:32Dave Ramsey:I mean, if you're going forward, if you're going forward, if you need some chiropractic care, what's it going to cost you?

1:18:39Rachel Cruze:I don't know because I can't afford it right now, like copays and stuff through my work. I don't even know if my work covers chiropractic care. I know I can do it independently for like probably a hundred bucks a month.

1:18:52Dave Ramsey:Okay. So, and you make what?

1:18:54Rachel Cruze:I make$21 an hour.

1:18:56Dave Ramsey:Okay. All right. So what I'm going to do is look at your budget, if I'm you, and find out about the chiropractic care, what it's going to cost you, what it's going to cost you out of pocket, because you're going to need some adjustments apparently as you go forward, right? Yeah. Okay. If you can cover that out of your income, then that frees up the$100 ,000 or whatever to invest. If you can't, then as you invest that, you're going to have to consider that you're going to need some off of it for your care. Right. Best case scenario is you don't need this money and you can invest it, leave your hands off of it and let it grow.

1:19:34Rachel Cruze:So my question with that is after my accident, I was out of work for about four months and I didn't qualify for any disability or anything. And so I got into some debt and then the car that I got after my accident, I had it for about a year and the transmission went out on it, and so it got repossessed because I couldn't afford a car payment and fixing it. So I have about$18 ,000 in debt from the car because I didn't have it for very long, and then also having to take out personal loans and using credit cards just to survive. How much is the car repo of the 18? I owe, I think, just under$11 ,000 on it now.

1:20:16Dave Ramsey:They'll probably settle that for around$3 ,000 cash. But you need to get that in writing. Call and say, I can make you a cash offer to settle this. I can't pay the whole thing. Would you take$3 ,000? And they're going to argue, and you're going to argue back, and you're going to come in back and forth and then give them a check and be done with it. But it would be pennies on the dollar, okay? And then your other stuff you can clean up for how much?

1:20:44Rachel Cruze:I mean, that would be like the remaining$8 ,000-ish. Now, some of it is in collections, though, so I don't know how that works.

1:20:51Dave Ramsey:I would call and get a payoff and pay it off when you get the money, okay? So somewhere around$12 ,000 of your$100 ,000 is going to go, and you're going to be debt-free. Now, what are you driving now?

1:21:05Rachel Cruze:I drive a 2006 Hyundai Tucson.

1:21:08Dave Ramsey:Is it paid for?

1:21:10Rachel Cruze:Yeah, I got it from a family friend. So it's in my name. It's paid for. And then it has some fixes I need to do on it. But I do want to get a new, like.

1:21:20Dave Ramsey:You may need to move up a little in car. So you may want to take some of this money to move up in car. So if you sold that car and put$10 ,000 with it, then you'd have a pretty decent car. Okay. And pay cash. No more debt. Okay. But so now we've used$22 ,000 of your$100 ,000. mm-hmm okay and then you need to set an emergency fund aside that you don't touch except for rainy days so you need probably ten thousand dollars to do that so now we've used 32 all right and so you're going to have somewhere around seventy thousand dollars or so to invest long term but you'll have an emergency fund an upgraded car zero debt and that that if you don't have anything hovering over you, then you probably can cash flow your chiropractic.

1:22:15Okay.

1:22:16Dave Ramsey:That makes sense?

1:22:18Rachel Cruze:Yeah. One of my goals, like, just because of the money and I'll be able to with it, is I want to go back to school and I want to get my institution license, but I want to move back to my home state where all my family is. So I don't know if it's smart for me to use part of that money to move there.

1:22:36Dave Ramsey:Well, a little bit, but keep it very, very conservative. this money's going to go away quickly because we've almost spent a lot of it already just you and me talking okay so you have to be very careful because it'll it'll four thousand and five thousand dollar itself away how much is the school do you know so i have a twelve thousand dollar um school

1:22:59Rachel Cruze:fund for my grandparents that i'm able to use okay when i was looking online just at current prices It's probably going to cost total price, because it's a two-year program, about$23 ,000. For all two years? For the two years. For the two years. Okay, great.

1:23:14Dave Ramsey:And then what does that career pay when you get that completed?

1:23:18Rachel Cruze:When I was looking at jobs in the area, it's anywhere from$25 ,000 to$32 ,000 an hour.

1:23:25Dave Ramsey:Not much return on that. You get$25 ,000 to$32 ,000 an hour at Target without getting the degree.

1:23:34Rachel Cruze:Not really, because I have to get a certification license, and I have to...

1:23:39Dave Ramsey:No, you can work at Target without getting the certification license and make as much as you will after you pay$23 ,000 for this license. So maybe you need to tool up and school up in something else that pays better. Okay. Doesn't pay much.

1:23:58Rachel Cruze:I mean, that was like starting, though, because I would like to get my, like I said, license and laser hair removal. But once I get my advanced aesthetics license, I mean, there's other avenues I can go. That's kind of just like my pinpoint.

1:24:12Dave Ramsey:You need to have a$40 an hour goal here. If you're going to spend money for education, it needs to take you to$40 pretty quick. And I don't know that world, so I don't know if that's possible. Yeah, I'm not sure I'd have to do. Yeah, I mean, you're going to have to really, because you can't just spend$25 ,000 on a certification and then make$25 an hour when you can make that without a certification at Target. That's what I'm saying. So that's not a good investment. If it's$25 and it puts you into a program that in a few years you're making$40, okay, I'm with that. But you don't have to make$40 out of the gate, but you've got to be thinking this through long term as to where this is taking you.

1:24:59Dave Ramsey:But yes, generally speaking, if you think through education and it's going to cause your income to increase substantially due to the education, education would be a good use of this money.

1:25:10Rachel Cruze:Yeah. And I think thinking long term to saying, OK, you know, a goal would be in five years to be making 60 ,000 or 70 ,000, you know, whatever that is. And then you back out from there. So, yes, to your point, you may be starting at a position that's 28, but you see a path forward that's very clear that after a year of this, I can step up to 32 an hour and then I step up to 35. And then, you know, it may take you a year or two, but don't let the end goal be making 35 a year for the rest of your life. So you want to be making more. And, again, for that certification purposes, make sure you get the ROI out of it.

1:25:46Rachel Cruze:But yeah, my biggest word of caution is plan all this out. Because just like you said, Dave, I'm like, you'll spend$10 ,000 here and there. And within five, six, seven transactions, it's gone. So stretch it as far as possible with a really strict plan in place and put yourself on that strict plan. So if you're going to move, I'm only going to spend this much moving. So a moving company that's going to help me has to stay within this budget range.

1:26:33Dave Ramsey:Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality. My daughter is my co-host today. Elizabeth's in Wichita, Kansas. Hi, Elizabeth. How are you? Good.

1:26:46Rachel Cruze:How are you?

1:26:47Dave Ramsey:Better than I deserve. What's up?

1:26:51Rachel Cruze:Well, I'm thinking about selling my house.

1:26:55Dave Ramsey:Okay. I have$150 ,000, around$150 ,000 in equity. Mm-hmm.

1:27:06Rachel Cruze:And I'm thinking about finding a house to buy cash.

1:27:12Dave Ramsey:For$150 ,000? mm-hmm you can what's that look like in wichita kansas well around you know smaller towns around

1:27:25Rachel Cruze:it's not it it wouldn't be a shack it would be it would be nice enough like a step up from a shack

1:27:35Rachel Cruze:is it good like a good like a good house that you'd be happy in for the foreseeable future Okay, good. Yeah, something that we would be happy in.

1:27:44Dave Ramsey:We?

1:27:44Rachel Cruze:Or I would.

1:27:45Dave Ramsey:Okay. Oh, I. Is there a we or an I?

1:27:49Rachel Cruze:There's a we. My husband and my four children.

1:27:56Dave Ramsey:Okay. Four kids and 150. Yeah. Wow.

1:28:02Rachel Cruze:And what's the motivation for this, Elizabeth? What's the home you're currently in that you're not satisfied with? Well, we are very satisfied with our home. It's beautiful. It's big. But I'm looking for ways to simplify. Okay. Yeah, that's great.

1:28:23Dave Ramsey:How old are your kids?

1:28:2714, 11, 6, and 2.

1:28:31Dave Ramsey:And how many square feet is in the home that you currently live in?

1:28:35Rachel Cruze:uh we've added a couple bedrooms so as of right now around like 3 200 square foot

1:28:41Dave Ramsey:and the 150 000 cash home will buy what kind of square footage

1:28:47Rachel Cruze:um i mean i would say probably around 2 000 square foot so it would be a big downsize but we can also we're good at adding square footage your husband's in the construction business He's not, but he works well. I mean, he can do those things. I grew up with parents who did rentals, so they know everything. This house, we added two bedrooms. We added egress windows. And, yeah, so we can do those kinds of things. So I'm just curious, but why would you downgrade to add on if you already have? I wouldn't necessarily. I mean, as long as we were comfortable, as long as we had enough bedrooms. Okay. I've got two girls and two boys, so, you know, we can share bedrooms and whatnot.

1:29:40Dave Ramsey:Yeah. What's your household income?

1:29:43Rachel Cruze:My husband makes$130, and that's gross. He's a UPS driver, so he works a lot.

1:29:52Dave Ramsey:And the balance on your current mortgage is what?

1:29:55Rachel Cruze:$205.

1:29:57Dave Ramsey:And you guys are how old?

1:29:59Rachel Cruze:He'll be 36, and I'll be 34 in June.

1:30:03Dave Ramsey:Okay. All right. Well, there's a lot of windows through which you could analyze this when someone says they want to simplify. Yes, for sure. If you want to be debt-free and have no mortgage and you're willing to give up the extra comfort that the$3 ,200 versus the$2 ,000 house has, To get to that goal, that's one version of Simplify. Another version of Simplify is more of our friends, the minimalists. And you're just like, we want a simpler life in general. And one of the benefits of that is we don't have any debt. That's fine. Because what you're describing your current life as is not anywhere near out of control.

1:30:48Dave Ramsey:It's definitely very conservative. There's nothing here, you know, like...

1:30:53Rachel Cruze:Y 'all could buckle down and pay this off in two and a half, three years if you wanted to.

1:30:57Dave Ramsey:What if you put$50 ,000 a year on the debt and you were done in four years?

1:31:01Rachel Cruze:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think my motivation is that with four kids and my husband working so much, I really, I want to live more. I want to have more, I want to have more room to just spend time together and, you know, go to the lake, go fishing. And that means he doesn't have to work as much. Is that what you mean? So he could pull back on work hours. Yes. And be home more if you do. Okay, that's starting to make sense. That's a piece of the, okay, I get that. Okay. Yeah. And I stay home and I homeschool the four kids. So we're always together, but he's not there.

1:31:43Dave Ramsey:How many hours a week does he work?

1:31:47Rachel Cruze:that's a good question i mean he definitely he he doesn't get home before eight most nights most nights he's out he's out driving till till eight okay could he back off his hours elizabeth and you guys still financially be okay i'm i'm sure that we could it would just you know like for a season it just sounds like it probably i would think from a logistical standpoint, it probably would be easier to cut back on some hours for a few years and be present at home while there's the kids going and then maybe pick it back up.

1:32:21Dave Ramsey:So he's working two jobs.

1:32:26Rachel Cruze:He works UPS. Oh, you said that. You said that.

1:32:29Dave Ramsey:Okay.

1:32:30Rachel Cruze:Yeah. So he doesn't have the option. He doesn't have the option of cutting back then. He's got to finish the truck run. Yeah. He's working what he has to work.

1:32:38Dave Ramsey:So he's working 12 hours a day, five days a week?

1:32:42Rachel Cruze:Approximately. Yeah.

1:32:45Dave Ramsey:So you've got Saturday and Sunday to go to the lake.

1:32:48Rachel Cruze:Yeah. Yep. You know, the house, I will say the house is a lot of upkeep. That's another con for it. I think that it just takes a lot of our time.

1:32:58Dave Ramsey:So will the other one.

1:33:01Rachel Cruze:Right.

1:33:02Dave Ramsey:The 2 ,000-square-foot house is going to have as much upkeep as the 3 ,200-square-foot house.

1:33:07Rachel Cruze:I really thought I was going to call you guys and you were going to be on my side. I'm not against you. I'm not against you.

1:33:14Dave Ramsey:I'm just still haven't found the root. We're poking holes. I'm still looking for the root motivation. For a minute there, I thought you were trading the$3 ,200 for the$2 ,000 to get your husband back. But he doesn't really have that option. He can't, unless he quits his job, he can't cut his hours.

1:33:32Rachel Cruze:Yeah. I mean, you know, he kind of.

1:33:37Dave Ramsey:He can take a different route?

1:33:39Rachel Cruze:Yeah. Yeah, for sure. He cover drives most of the time.

1:33:45Dave Ramsey:Okay, so he could take a different route and back his hours down. Why don't we just do that?

1:33:50Rachel Cruze:Do it for six months, Elizabeth, and just see how it feels. And if it's off and you guys are like, no, then he can ramp back up and then put the house for sale, and that's great. It just feels like a lot of work.

1:34:01Dave Ramsey:If you want to do it, what you're proposing is not evil. I'm just trying to figure out if it's going to give you what you want or if you're out of the frying pan into the fire here. And so, you know, like, yeah, I got my husband back, but now these kids are all crammed in this shoe box and I can't breathe. Right. You know, and now I'm –

1:34:23Rachel Cruze:And I don't have a pantry. And I don't have all this.

1:34:24Dave Ramsey:And I can't – you know, the stress level of four large teenagers in this house that's approximately half the size is different. I mean, I'm okay with it, but I'm not sure if the tradeoff is what you think it is. That's what I was trying to dig around and find out. We were not against your idea. We're just trying to figure out why.

1:34:44Rachel Cruze:The debt-free show. She's like, Dave Ramsey's going to love this. I'm going to be debt-free. It's going to be an automatic yes. And we took the whole segment for you, Elizabeth.

1:34:51Dave Ramsey:There you go.

1:34:51Rachel Cruze:Either way, you're great.

1:35:14Rachel Cruze:Hey guys, I've got big news. The Ramsey Show is going on tour, and this is your chance to be more than just a listener. You get to be part of the show. So hear questions asked live and experience the kind of momentum that only comes from being in the room. We'll be in Charlotte, Denver, Phoenix, and Anaheim with a limited number of seats in each city. So last fall, we completely sold out in 72 hours. So do not wait. Get your tickets at ramsaysolutions.com slash events or by clicking the link in the show notes.

1:35:57Dave Ramsey:One of the best things you can do for your finances is to have a really good tax pro in your corner that you trust. They'll help advise you the best moves to make your situation for your small business, especially if you've had some big life changes. Check it out. It's that time of year, folks. Go to RamseySolutions.com slash tax pro to find CPAs and enrolled agents who are Ramsey trusted. They've been vetted by us. You'll love it. RamseySolutions.com slash tax pro. And you can find a pro in your area to help you if you've got a complicated return. Scott's with us in Casper, Wyoming. Hi, Scott.

1:36:35Dave Ramsey:How are you?

1:36:36Rachel Cruze:I'm well, Dave. Thank you. Listen, my wife and I got married 45 years ago with$200 in the bank, and we owed about$15 ,000. We're 69 now. I just retired. I've got about a little over$6 million in a traditional IRA, and I'm not clear on exactly what I should do with it. I can defer it until I'm 73 and take smaller or just take normal distributions at that point. I could just cash it out and pay the taxes, or I could cash it out, I believe, and put it into a Roth IRA. And my question is very simple. Which one of those might be the best for my situation?

1:37:27Dave Ramsey:Well, as you know, at 73, you've got required minimum distributions, RMDs, okay, that they're going to require you to begin to pull down a certain percentage every year on your 401ks. And that's going to create a huge income for you because you've done so well. Congratulations. I mean, wow. Look at you, man. Well done. Very well done. Okay. So that we know is coming unless we go some kind of scorched earth thing, which I'm not going to recommend. So I would just brace yourself and get ready for that. Do you need any of the money in the meantime?

1:38:02Rachel Cruze:We don't have any debt.

1:38:04Dave Ramsey:Okay. Do you have any other money other than this$6 million 401k?

1:38:10Rachel Cruze:Yes, sir. Probably around$14 million in U.S. equities and ETFs and roughly$25 million in real estate. All of that's debt-free. Good night. What did you do for a living? That would be a story. Many different things.

1:38:32Dave Ramsey:Okay, so...

1:38:33Rachel Cruze:To be honest, what we did was we just saved...

1:38:35Dave Ramsey:Okay, here's your... Good for you. Congratulations. You have absolutely slayed the dragon. I mean, this is amazing. Beautifully done. So starting with, you know,$15 ,000 in debt, and we got married 45 years ago, and this is where we are. So you're a classic...

1:38:48Rachel Cruze:You're a$45 million now.

1:38:49Dave Ramsey:You're a classic American millionaire. I'm just so proud of you. Well done. Now, if you roll the$6 million all to a Roth IRA, 100 % of it you will pay taxes on that year, ordinary income. And that's going to make you puke. All right. When you see that, when you see that tax bill, cause it's going to be a$2 million tax bill. Okay. And so sit down with your tax professional and I'm sure you have one and start unpacking how we can move some of the 6 million for a few years to some period of time to get it all to Roth. I don't care if it's 10 years, five years 20 years where you can stomach the tax bill you can actually pay the tax bill and roll all of it pay the tax bill out of your other assets yeah and that's what i would do and so if you rolled the six million hmm this is something to think about look at this with your tax guy you might go scorched earth on this one if you roll the whole thing over and pay two million out of your equities and pull it out and pay your taxes, you now have$6 million growing for the rest of your life tax-free.

1:40:03Dave Ramsey:And when you place a beneficiary on it and you and your wife die and you leave it to your kids, they don't pay taxes on it. And it's not an inherited IRA that has to be withdrawn. Like if they get a traditional, if your kids get a traditional IRA handed to them, they have to withdraw it over the next 10 years. and under the Biden Secure Act. And so they're going to pay taxes on it within 10 years. I see. If you roll it all to Roth and you pay the taxes now, the growth on it tax-free will cover the tax bill within just a little while. That's right. And so I have moved mine. I did it more gradually than that, but I've got all of mine in Roth, and I did it so that it grows for me tax-free, but I'll probably never use it and you'll probably never use this.

1:40:58Dave Ramsey:And so it will go to Rachel and her siblings when I die completely tax-free and they have no required distribution on it. So they can let it grow tax-free. It can just sit there and it could get really awesome because that$6 million in seven years, you're only 69, will be$12 million. And in seven more years, 14 years from now, which is statistically you're likely to live that long, that$6 million will be$24 million. All tax-free. So it might be worth having a little bit of throw up in the back of your mouth and writing a tax check out of your other assets right now and doing it all in one year.

1:41:45Rachel Cruze:So visual.

1:41:46Dave Ramsey:Well, I just it makes me puke to think about giving the government two million dollars because they're so freaking stupid. But but yeah, it's just and it's my freaking money. It's not theirs. And then you've already paid taxes on taxes like the rich kiss my butt. And so liberals. And so anyway, the you know, you got it's just ridiculous.

1:42:09Rachel Cruze:So anyway, welcome everyone to the show.

1:42:12Dave Ramsey:I do, too, because you need to be educated. But the, wow. So, yeah, I want you to sit down with your tax guy and look at that idea. Because when I moved this stuff to Roth, I did it for the reason of it grows tax-free for me. But the actual huge benefit is that it's a great estate planning tool then to have your stuff in Roth. Because your kids don't get hammered with the required distributions either.

1:42:40Rachel Cruze:Do you still have to pay, what's the estate tax though? over 25 million would they start to have to pay yeah he's got estate tax problems that are different

1:42:47Dave Ramsey:yeah but but if a roth moves over roth is taxable on a state tax also even a state tax both of them are that doesn't state tax is different this is income tax that we're talking about yeah but he's got an estate tax problem i'm sure you've got an estate tax planner and if you don't you need to get one tomorrow um because you're definitely over all your exemption levels so um but yeah Way to go, dude.

1:43:10Rachel Cruze:That's amazing.

1:43:10Dave Ramsey:Man, you have absolutely killed it.

1:43:12Rachel Cruze:I love the like subtlety of I've got six million here and you're like, have you got anything else? It's like, yeah. 25 million. Another 40 million. Another 14 in ETS. Casper, Wyoming.

1:43:24Dave Ramsey:There you go.

1:43:24Rachel Cruze:Well done, Scott.

1:43:25Dave Ramsey:But these are the millionaires. These are America's millionaires. And when you guys are watching political stuff and they say that the rich should be taxed, that's the guy you're talking about. And it's not your money. It's his money. He worked his whole life starting from nothing and invested wisely and built this. And so taxing him on his death and taxing him on his growth and taxing him and taxing him and taxing him and taxing him and taxing him. And he didn't do anything to you, you know. But this guy right here is my hero. I mean, this is amazing. This is what we teach all of you to go be.

1:44:05Dave Ramsey:But then you need to be aware that there are forces in the marketplace that don't like that, don't like you to be successful. So you have to fight against the estate tax problem. You have to fight against the income tax problem. And you have to fight against you to make all these decisions on your investments to keep the stinking government's hands off, thieving hands off your money. And so, but Scott, I'm just mad for you right now because it's a$2 million bill you're getting ready to pay. I think you're going to want to do it all at once though.

1:44:33Rachel Cruze:And it would be ordinary income. So what, it'd be 35? What is that? 35%.

1:44:38Dave Ramsey:35%. Yeah. So it's going to be$2 million. I mean, it's going to be every bit of it, I bet you. It's a lot. But the thing is, I mean, if that$6 million grows.

1:44:50Rachel Cruze:Oh, 100%. Yeah.

1:44:51Dave Ramsey:You know, 20%, like last year, the market was up 24%, right? So if it's sitting in just S &P 500, so that'd be$1.2 million next year that he got back, and it's all tax-free. And the sooner you get tax-free started, the sooner it benefits you. So I think I'm going to want to do it now. I've got to crunch the numbers a little bit more, but I think I'm going to want to do it now.

1:45:26Thank you.

1:45:51Dave Ramsey:Hey guys, Dave Ramsey here. Every day on this show we help people work through real money problems and figure out what to do next. Now you can get that same kind of help anytime with Ask Ramsey. Ask your money question and get answers built on Ramsey principles we use on the show. Whether you're making a decision or just want something explained, Ask Ramsey is here to help. It's fast, simple, and free to use. Go to RamseySolutions.com and try Ask Ramsey today. That's RamseySolutions.com.

1:46:44Dave Ramsey:Teresa is with us in Washington, D.C. Hi, Teresa. How are you?

1:46:50Rachel Cruze:Hi, Rachel. Hi, Dave. So my husband and I are in baby step three, and I want to spend$400 on a new kitchen appliance. And my husband and I talked about it. He's listening right now. Hi, my love. Hi, Teresa's husband. If it was a good idea or not. Okay, how much do you guys have saved? We have$1 ,800 right now in our savings account. And we have the cash in our checking account to cover it just fine. Okay. And what's the goal for the three months? Like$1 ,800 to what? We were just saying that we needed to write down a number for that. We only just finished Baby Step 2. Probably around$20 ,000.

1:47:40Dave Ramsey:And what's your household income?

1:47:43Rachel Cruze:About$50 ,000.

1:47:45Dave Ramsey:$50 ,000. Okay.

1:47:47Rachel Cruze:Yes. Hopefully that will be increasing soon. But like why and how much? Changing jobs and changing career situations.

1:47:58Dave Ramsey:OK.

1:48:00Rachel Cruze:Yeah.

1:48:01Dave Ramsey:So how much how much do you think it'll change?

1:48:04Rachel Cruze:I don't know. We would have to start before we could predict that.

1:48:08Dave Ramsey:OK. All right.

1:48:11Rachel Cruze:What's the appliance? I'm just curious. It's a flour mill. Oh. So like milled wheat into flour.

1:48:19Dave Ramsey:Yeah, I got one I'll sell you used.

1:48:22Rachel Cruze:Oh.

1:48:23Dave Ramsey:I got a five-gallon bucket of that stuff in the closet from two years ago when Sharon had this fad.

1:48:30Rachel Cruze:I promise I'll use it. Yeah, that's what she said. I promise I'll use it. I believe you will. I will. I promise.

1:48:40Dave Ramsey:It's all healthy, too. It's all healthy. It is.

1:48:43Rachel Cruze:It is.

1:48:43Dave Ramsey:They don't let any of the little glutens in it. It is. There's no little glutens and no little COVIDs. It's all COVID and gluten free. Oh my gosh. You people.

1:48:53Rachel Cruze:Teresa, you should have called Sharon. She would have been on your side. You should have called Sharon. Put her on. Put her on. I know. I know. I'm going to represent her. I'm serious.

1:49:01Dave Ramsey:I'm going to go home and get the thing before she gets home and send it to you.

1:49:04Rachel Cruze:You should. That would actually be a great one.

1:49:06Dave Ramsey:That would be so funny. And Sharon wouldn't miss it because she wouldn't know it's gone.

1:49:12Rachel Cruze:That would be funny when you get off.

1:49:14Dave Ramsey:Eight months from now, she'll be going, hey, where's my little bread thing?

1:49:17Rachel Cruze:Give your address to Kelly.

1:49:18Dave Ramsey:I gave it to a lady in Washington, D.C. that was more deserving.

1:49:21Rachel Cruze:I'll go. I'll sneak it for you, Teresa. So here's the thing.

1:49:25Dave Ramsey:Here's the thing. The thing that we always have to manage when we're managing these decisions is not the actual little issue of 400 bucks, but what it represents in our behavior, in our standards, and in who we are. Okay. And so, you know, what Sharon and I would have said when we were at your place is we would have said, if this isn't an emergency, we can't do it because we don't yet have an emergency fund.

1:50:01Dave Ramsey:And it is very odd that I actually own one of those things.

1:50:04Rachel Cruze:How long did it take you all to get out of debt, Teresa? How long are we all doing Baby Step 2? Four years. I know. See? Almost for the day. It's so much sacrifice.

1:50:14Dave Ramsey:I know. But the point is that you have to have your filter system that says,

1:50:19Rachel Cruze:Yes, you do.

1:50:19Dave Ramsey:I'm going to make my decisions based on this set of – on this framework. Yes. And on this value system. And so, you know, you've been using the baby steps as your framework for making the decisions. And it would say that this is not an emergency. Don't do it. Although, mathematically, it's not that big a deal.

1:50:39Rachel Cruze:You guys could and you're going to be fine.

1:50:41Dave Ramsey:You could do a lot of stuff that people could do.

1:50:44Rachel Cruze:Yeah, but you don't want it to derail you is what you're saying.

1:50:46Dave Ramsey:The thing is, I don't want to – I just don't – you've reset the way your brains work on money in a positive way, and this messes it up. I mean, this has fallen off the wagon. Wow.

1:51:00Rachel Cruze:You think it's falling off the wagon? Yeah, for sure. They're not going into debt for it, though.

1:51:03Dave Ramsey:No, but I mean they're not going to make the decision through that framework. I wouldn't do it. I would not buy it. because it's not an emergency. It's not an emergency.

1:51:13Rachel Cruze:But it's something that she's going to be using in the kitchen.

1:51:16Dave Ramsey:You should not be buying luxury items that aren't an emergency.

1:51:19Rachel Cruze:It's not$4 ,000. It's$400.

1:51:20Dave Ramsey:It's not$400 ,000 either. It doesn't matter.

1:51:23Rachel Cruze:But I'm saying for four years of their lives, they've been sacrificing to get out of debt. Okay? And then we always say when you get out of debt. So we have a tie.

1:51:31Dave Ramsey:Rachel says buy it. What are you going to do? I say don't. I've got one in the closet. And I think it's fine.

1:51:35Rachel Cruze:Oh, no. Hold on. We have some audience. Who's a yes?

1:51:38Dave Ramsey:The audience is saying don't buy it.

1:51:40Rachel Cruze:Oh, no. Oh, I got one.

1:51:41Dave Ramsey:Oh, I got one thumbs up. We got a bunch of thumbs down.

1:51:44Rachel Cruze:We got a lot of thumbs down. Oh, shoot. Audience participation.

1:51:46Dave Ramsey:Rachel, you're losing. Shoot. You're losing. You're so kind and gentle.

1:51:51Rachel Cruze:It's not that I'm kind and gentle. It's that I'm like the hard work and the exhaustion of what they've gone through.

1:51:57Dave Ramsey:Which means I need a homemade bread machine.

1:52:00Rachel Cruze:Listen, I'm telling you.

1:52:01Dave Ramsey:That's what all this hard work was for.

1:52:03Rachel Cruze:Listen, I don't do it, but people that do it.

1:52:06Dave Ramsey:They don't. They put it in their closet.

1:52:08Rachel Cruze:They love it. I know. I know someone personally. Shoot. I wish this was something that.

1:52:17Dave Ramsey:Whole grain pancakes and muffins galore for about 90 days. Hadn't seen them since.

1:52:26Rachel Cruze:Oh, man. We lost the enthusiasm on the latest health fad. Man.

1:52:33Dave Ramsey:Teresa, it's fine. That's fine. We're not making fun of you. We're making fun of me.

1:52:38Rachel Cruze:But it's not a need.

1:52:40Dave Ramsey:It's a want. So if your emergency fund was completed and you could put it in the budget, yes. Your emergency fund isn't completed, I wouldn't do it. I also wouldn't upgrade your couch for$400. I wouldn't upgrade your anything else for$400. It's not an emergency until you get this done. We stay gazelle intense until we finish baby step three. And that's what will get you to where you want to be. you've lived like no one else so that later you can live like no one else and buy a bread maker, buy a mill. It's a mill. It's a mill. You mill your own grain.

1:53:14Rachel Cruze:Yeah. I don't even want to ask questions. I don't want to add it. I'm so not in.

1:53:17Dave Ramsey:You're going to have to get your mom to get it out and show you.

1:53:19Rachel Cruze:I know I will on Easter.

1:53:20Dave Ramsey:She might give it to you. You never know.

1:53:22Rachel Cruze:And I'd give it to Teresa.

1:53:23Dave Ramsey:You might need it. Well, you could get Teresa's address and just ship it on over there.

1:53:27Rachel Cruze:Get it just in case.

1:53:29Dave Ramsey:You know, that's, that's funny. And the, the grain, It's like a five-gallon bucket of paint. It's a five-gallon bucket, plastic bucket full of grain in the closet.

1:53:37Rachel Cruze:And the grain, it's not like. It's like grain.

1:53:39Dave Ramsey:It's like grain. Like you went out in the field and picked the grain.

1:53:42Rachel Cruze:Like the stem?

1:53:43Dave Ramsey:No, it's the seed. It's the seed of the grain. It's grain.

1:53:47Rachel Cruze:Yeah.

1:53:47Dave Ramsey:It's real. And it's apparently pretty dormant because it's been sitting there a while.

1:53:54Rachel Cruze:Oh, man. It's so hard when that's just to think of. You can't make this up. It's hard when it's like.

1:53:59Dave Ramsey:This is first world problems on steroids right here.

1:54:02Rachel Cruze:It's your thing when people are very passionate about it. For a minute, they are. They're there. And then they're not. This is what they do, you know?

1:54:13Dave Ramsey:We definitely got the fever for it for a minute.

1:54:15Rachel Cruze:Because I bet she does sourdough. I bet she makes sourdough with it, right? Can you do that or is that different? No, no. No, that's a feeder. Sourdough's a feeder. Yeah, shoot. That's different. Okay, I'm going to stop. I'm terrible at this stuff.

1:54:25Dave Ramsey:Yeah.

1:54:26Rachel Cruze:Oh, Teresa.

1:54:28Dave Ramsey:It's fun. And it's not going to kill you if you do it. But I will say. But if you're calling us to break the tie between you and your husband, Rachel's on your husband's side and no one else is. I mean, Rachel's on your side and everybody else is on your husband's side.

1:54:41Rachel Cruze:But we do say sometimes to families that have kind of been done in a debt-free scream, like, well, what are you going to do now that you're debt-free? You know what I mean? Like, we do ask that.

1:54:48Dave Ramsey:Buy a bread mill.

1:54:49Rachel Cruze:Well, I'm just saying the idea of getting past baby step two is an event. It is a thing. And so if there's something that is reasonable that you can pay cash for, that you're like, okay, yes, we're saving at the emergency on time, but in the checking account we have this, and I could do a little splurge to celebrate that we're debt-free. I don't know.

1:55:07Dave Ramsey:Yeah. You have a tie on the air, and off the air you lose. The audience is not with you. I'm trying.

1:55:18Rachel Cruze:Trying, Teresa.

1:55:19Dave Ramsey:Oh, Teresa, that's fun. I would have guessed wrong. I thought she was going to buy the$400 expensive blender, the Vitamix.

1:55:28Rachel Cruze:Oh, the Vitamix. I don't know if that's$400.

1:55:29Dave Ramsey:That's about$400.

1:55:30Rachel Cruze:I will say we got an air fryer.

1:55:32Dave Ramsey:Okay.

1:55:33Rachel Cruze:That's pretty life-changing. It wasn't$400, but it was pretty great.

1:55:37Dave Ramsey:Okay. Well, there you go. Wow. I don't have one of those.

1:55:40Rachel Cruze:That's the kitchen supply segment.

1:55:43Dave Ramsey:I remember when I was a kid and we moved and we had a box that sat on the side of it. Seldom used kitchen appliances.

1:55:49Rachel Cruze:James, I bet y 'all have a mill.

1:55:50Dave Ramsey:Which is the sign you need to be a minimalist.

1:55:53Rachel Cruze:James, do you have a mill?

1:55:54Dave Ramsey:Not yet, but it's probably going to happen soon.

1:55:56Rachel Cruze:Okay, yeah. I feel it.

1:56:03Thank you.

1:56:32Dave Ramsey:You spend hours researching before making a major purchase like a home or car, but it's also a good idea to put in the work searching for the right insurance coverage. To protect your biggest assets, I recommend using Ramsey Trusted Pros. Whether you're looking for car, home, or any other type of insurance, Ramsey Trusted Providers have been coached and vetted to serve you like we would. Find what you need at RamseySolutions.com slash insurance.

1:57:17Dave Ramsey:Scripture of the Day, Luke 11, 9-10. And so I say to you, ask and it'll be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. The one who seeks, finds. And the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Tony Robbins says successful people ask better questions. And as a result, they get better answers. So question. It's April Fool's Day. When we're recording this, this is April the 1st.

1:57:44Rachel Cruze:I was about to do a thing.

1:57:45Dave Ramsey:You were? Okay. And I'm just wondering if the bread making thing was an April Fool's joke.

1:57:50Rachel Cruze:No, I was going to be like, guys, during the break, Dave was talking about how he loves taxes. And he just wants to pay more.

1:57:57Dave Ramsey:I want to pay more in taxes. Yeah. I'm a closet liberal.

1:58:00Rachel Cruze:Or you show me your credit card or something. You know what I mean? That could be a good April Fool's joke. Yeah, nobody would believe that.

1:58:07Dave Ramsey:It won't work.

1:58:08Rachel Cruze:I should have told you I applied. I don't know. I should have come up with something.

1:58:12Dave Ramsey:There's no telling what you might have done.

1:58:15Rachel Cruze:There was such an opportunity today, America, that I missed out on. So I apologize.

1:58:17Dave Ramsey:Well, I think the bread maker thing was a complete, I think that lady was a complete.

1:58:21Rachel Cruze:No, it wasn't. No, Teresa wanted a bread maker.

1:58:24Dave Ramsey:She really did. I believe it. Or a meal. She wanted a meal. Okay.

1:58:29Rachel Cruze:Lisa, let's see if Lisa's in a room.

1:58:31Dave Ramsey:I may have got punked there.

1:58:32Rachel Cruze:No.

1:58:33Dave Ramsey:But I may have thrown my wife under the bus, which is something I don't do on the air, too. So that's not good. You'll have to apologize later. That's a problem. Lisa in Springfield. Hey, Lisa, what's up?

1:58:44Rachel Cruze:Hi. I first want to say thank you, because if it hadn't been for me listening to you for the last, I don't know, decade or so, I would be in a much worse situation than I am now. I am trying to figure out where to start. I'm a little overwhelmed with my finances. It's not bad.

1:59:11Rachel Cruze:So my husband and I have listened to you for a long time. And we had Xander insurance. And the only thing I regret is that I didn't up it when his pay was upped because he probably doubled his pay by the time when we first signed up for it. And then he died on our vacation in an accident. Oh, wow. Just last summer. I'm so sorry.

1:59:31Dave Ramsey:Oh, my.

1:59:32Rachel Cruze:And so we are baby step millionaires. We're in good shape. So I had some life insurance. I have a business that started as a hobby. I homeschool my three kids and I started my business while homeschooling my kids. And I am very good at what I do, but not necessarily good at all the stuff that comes with business that you don't know about until you're like in the middle of it. And then you're like, oh, you're supposed to do this. Oh, you're supposed to do that. So I've been untangling that, but it was never a priority between homeschooling, running a farm. And my husband made a very good income.

2:00:06Rachel Cruze:We have no debt. Our homes paid off. It didn't matter. Mine was like a lucrative side hustle. But now I lost his income, the insurance, the health insurance, and all I have is my side hustle. And I don't want to just burn through our life insurance money. How much life insurance money did you get? $800 ,000.

2:00:30Dave Ramsey:Okay. And everything's paid for. Were there other investments? I paid off.

2:00:33Rachel Cruze:I use some of that because I have an investment house that I owed 120 on, um, which I totally regretted taking out that loan after I did it. We cash flowed it, total remodel of it. Um, but I use some of that life insurance. So I have like six or 700 ,000, I think in cash and then a million in 401ks, but I'm only 50. So I can't touch any of that. Right.

2:00:55Dave Ramsey:Okay.

2:00:59Rachel Cruze:My business, like I've been overwhelmed. I've not been doing a great job taking care of my business. Luckily, I have some great employees. And I've always needed to get it a little more under control. But between homeschooling and everything else, it just was never a priority. It felt too overwhelming. Well, one of them is engaged to be married. She's going to be 21 in a few weeks. and then 17 and 14. They were, yeah, 17 and 14 boys.

2:01:28Dave Ramsey:And so what happened to the$700 ,000? Where is it?

2:01:36Rachel Cruze:So I got a SmartVestor Pro to help me put together all the investments. So right now he's got it in a mutual fund. There's like$600 ,000, I think, and I have like$100 ,000 in my bank account, which I didn't realize how bad my percentage was.

2:01:54Dave Ramsey:And so what does it take you a month to live?

2:01:57Rachel Cruze:That's my problem. I don't even know. Like at first I was like, we're just going to breathe. We've got money. And now I'm starting out eight months in. I'm like, okay, we've got to figure it out. And I don't hardly even know where to begin. I know it sounds terrible, but I've never actually budgeted it. I only did it in my head and kept a running total, and we've always lived so far below our means that it was fine.

2:02:20Dave Ramsey:Well, let's start. What do you need in food? What do you need in food a month?

2:02:26Rachel Cruze:I don't even know.

2:02:28Dave Ramsey:Oh, yeah, you do. Tell me what you need in food.

2:02:31Rachel Cruze:A month, maybe$400.

2:02:35Dave Ramsey:You have two teenagers and you. No,$400 is not enough.

2:02:40Rachel Cruze:You probably spend two to three a week, do you think, on groceries? Maybe. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know.

2:02:46Dave Ramsey:Okay, so you need$800, all right. $900. And you don't have a house payment. And how much does your electric bill run?

2:02:53Rachel Cruze:Well, when it's real high, it's about$1 ,400.

2:02:56Dave Ramsey:Okay. And how much is your water bill? It's on well, right?

2:03:00Rachel Cruze:Yes, I don't have a water bill.

2:03:01Dave Ramsey:Okay. Do you have a gas bill?

2:03:06Rachel Cruze:No, only on the rental house and the rental property.

2:03:09Dave Ramsey:The rental house is a separate issue. I'm asking what it takes to operate your home. Okay. Okay. Rental house is a support itself. It's got a renter in it, doesn't it? Yeah, it's a short-term rental. Good. Okay. And so you just begin to ask questions like I was asking you, and you fill out the form on every dollar in the budgeting app, and you'll look up and see how much you've got. And so I think your$600 ,000 can create$60 ,000 a year pretty easy, and I think you might be able to live on that. And then your business creates some more.

2:03:41Rachel Cruze:My question is, how do I untangle my business? Because some of it, like my Venmo and my PayPal, that's how my clients pay me, sometimes I use it for personal, but mostly I use it for business.

2:03:49Dave Ramsey:You need to completely separate your business from your personal. Two separate accounts. I have a personal account and a business account. Personal Venmo, business Venmo. Personal debit card, business debit card. And don't do anything in business with the personal, and don't do anything in the personal with the business. Keep them completely separate. And then you get less confused.

2:04:12Rachel Cruze:When it's your home, it's more confusing because the business is at my home.

2:04:17Dave Ramsey:It's not confusing at all. When something happens in your home that's business, you know what it is and you know what's not. Put it in the business account. If it's business, if it's not, do it out of the personal account. Where it's located doesn't matter.

2:04:37Rachel Cruze:What kind of business is it, Lisa? I raise dogs. You what? I raise dogs. You raise dogs? Yeah. Yeah, I raise dogs. You're a breeder. I think I, yeah, I gross about$500 ,000. Okay. What kind of dog? That's not what I net. Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, and Cavaliers.

2:05:01Dave Ramsey:Okay. Yeah, these are expensive pups. Okay.

2:05:05Rachel Cruze:Yeah, we do all the health testing and all the stuff.

2:05:07Dave Ramsey:Yeah, and all of that is a business. And you have the cost of the breeding and the vet bills and the food and the cleanup and everything else and the cost of your staff, and you have the income created by the sale of the dogs. None of that is at home. It happens to be on your location there at the farm, but that's all. So you can separate this out and run it separately, and you need to. Just make sure you're making a profit. but make sure you don't have this$500 ,000 hobby.

2:05:36Rachel Cruze:No, it does make a profit.

2:05:38Dave Ramsey:How do you know? You don't even have a set of books.

2:05:43Rachel Cruze:Well, I do have QuickBooks.

2:05:45Dave Ramsey:Okay. But what's going into that? Are you putting personal stuff in QuickBooks?

2:05:51Rachel Cruze:Not my, I have somebody that does all that for me. We started doing that about three years ago. She helped me untangle everything. Well, almost everything. I'm almost there. Yeah, I think you're closer than you think.

2:06:01Dave Ramsey:Yeah, okay. So here's the thing. Your stress level is going to go way down when you get this cleaned up, when you get the tangles combed out of this hair. But there's still a few tangles left, and they're tied into your grief story and into this tragedy, and they're adding to your pain. And so the cleanliness of organization, extreme organization, is going to lower your anxiety level.

2:06:29Rachel Cruze:Yeah, and stay on the line, Lisa. that Kelly will pick up and we'll get you every dollar for a year to start doing just on your personal side of running your home to start putting in those numbers.

2:06:39Dave Ramsey:That puts us out of the Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

2:07:00. . . for those years. All right. Thank you.