A Financial Plan Only Works If It Matches Your Reality

Summary

The Ramsey Show – Episode Summary

Title: A Financial Plan Only Works If It Matches Your Reality
Date: December 25, 2025
Hosts: Ken Coleman, Jade Warshaw (plus Dave Ramsey commentary)
Network: Ramsey Network

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Overview

In this episode, Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw, alongside Dave Ramsey, dig deep into the realities of financial planning, emphasizing that a financial plan is only effective if it aligns with your actual circumstances and behaviors. The hosts tackle a wide variety of real callers’ money problems—from overwhelming debt and upside-down RV loans to relationships strained by financial decisions. Through storytelling, candid advice, and humor, they remind listeners that building wealth is possible at any stage, but it starts with facing—and planning around—your true financial picture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Your Plan Must Fit Your Real Life

• Quote: "A financial plan that ignores your reality will never work." (Jade Warshaw, 00:00)
• Don’t shape your budget after unrealistic goals. The team reiterates that tailoring your plan to where you really are—not where you wish you were—is foundational to success.

2. Caller Scenarios: Unvarnished Truths

a. The RV Debt Nightmare

• Caller Jack (Indianapolis) bought a $60,000 RV on a 15-year, 18% interest loan—originally to save money by living in it.
  • After selling other debts, he’s left with an RV loan, now owes $48k, but the best private sale offer is $38k. He considered renting it or selling at a big loss.
  • Ken & Jade’s advice (04:16): Take out a lesser loan—even if terms aren’t great—to clear the high-interest balance after the sale. Move quickly; the RV is depreciating.
  • Jade: "Every moment you wait, it’s dropping in value because you’re in such a bad loan." (05:17)
  • Lesson: Don’t get swept up in dealer markups or buy depreciating assets for living needs.
  • Quote: "Don’t buy new. Ask someone older than you!" (Jack, 07:21)
  • Hosts affirm: Mistakes are research for your future. Don’t see yourself as a failure for one bad call.

b. Dentists Drowning in Student Debt

• Caller Jeff (San Jose): Fiancé and he, both new dentists, have $1M combined student debt and make $170k each (gross).
  • Advice: Grow the practice before buying a house or taking on more debt.
    • Network with successful dentists; avoid debt for partnerships or real estate now.
    • Rent—even if it “feels like throwing money away”—because it buys time and flexibility.
  • Ken: "You almost need to be staying in a place where they’re paying you." (18:16)
  • Fight lifestyle inflation; resist pressure to match peers’ spending and cars.

c. Should I Bail Out My Ex?

• Caller Sam (Birmingham): Owes $33k on a car at 30%(!) interest, $9K back taxes, $5K credit card debt, and wants to help pay off $50k of his ex-girlfriend’s credit cards out of guilt.
  • Hosts’ reaction: Do NOT pay an ex’s debt, especially out of guilt or hope to re-kindle.
  • Quote: "This is like leaving something in someone’s apartment just so you have a reason to come back and knock on the door." (Jade, 24:08)
  • Focus on selling the car—even at a loss—because the interest is crushing; use the “baby steps” program in order.

d. The Home Sale Dilemma (Dallas)

• Caller Brianna: Feels forced to sell home due to debt, despite little equity.
  • Advice: Only sell if it meaningfully improves your ratios or cuts living costs; otherwise, slash expenses, increase income, and make a detailed budget.
  • Jade: "You can afford [the EveryDollar app]; you spend more on pizza delivery." (42:11)

e. Should I Suck it Up in This Tiny Apartment?

• Caller Dustin (Hudson Valley): Couple with one child (another on the way) debating whether to upgrade from a 1-bed co-op while saving for a future home in Indianapolis.
  • Ken & Jade: Stick it out—the forced savings will pay off. Sacrifice now, enjoy later.
  • Memories of struggle become family legend, and the down payment in Indy will be “triumphant.” (49:11)

f. Should I Change My Career After a Job Loss?

• Caller Randy (Spokane): Lost a $200k+ exec job, wants to become a surveyor at $50k/yr.
  • If you’re debt-free, with a strong nest egg, it’s OK to change lanes—even if income drops—as long as you have a plan for transitioning.
  • Avoid draining cash reserves; supplement with temp work if needed.

g. Messy Realtor Pay & Debt (Indianapolis)

• Caller Ashley: Realtor with variable commissions, unclear about how much to hold in savings while on baby step 2.
  • Advice: Err on the side of liquidity with 2 months of business/personal expenses in savings before attacking debt with lump sums. Budget for volatility, but don’t hoard unnecessarily.

h. House Poor and Overwhelmed (Sacramento)

• Caller Chris: 27, about to marry, 65% of income goes to mortgage, negative 20% each month for utilities/food.
  • Hosts: Sell, even if it means losing initial investment. New opportunity in Tahoe is a fresh start.
  • Emotional attachment is real, but “don’t let house memories bury your financial future.”

i. The Budget Buster: Why Can’t I Save? (Harrisburg, PA)

• Caller Leo: Decent income, but can’t stop dipping into savings—energy drinks, hunting, tobacco, etc.
  • Hosts: The right budget is realistic, flexible, and detailed—even budget for the energy drinks (for now).
  • Address self-control and emotional triggers; consider the cost of “small” daily habits.
  • Ken: “You could give yourself a $300/month raise dumping energy drinks.” (124:44)
  • On relationships, don’t delay marriage for the “party” if you have four kids together—get legal protection now.

3. Real Talk: Couples, Money, and Red Flags

• Engagements & Massive RV, Disagreements About Debt
  • If one partner takes on huge, questionable loans and you disagree fundamentally on money management, reconsider marriage or at least pause for deep conversations.
  • Have the “serious talk”—don’t let love goggles obscure money realities.
  • Quote: "Don’t get married until you get on the same page with this stuff." (Ken, 63:18)

4. Teaching & Reinforcing the Ramsey Baby Steps

• Steps repeated to multiple callers (26:02, 27:41):
  1. $1,000 starter emergency fund.
  2. Pay off all consumer debt (debt snowball).
  3. Fully funded emergency fund (3–6 months of expenses). 3B. Save for a down payment on a house.
  4. Invest 15% of income for retirement.
  5. College funding for kids (if applicable).
  6. Pay off the house early.
  7. Build wealth and give like no one else.

5. Mindset: Using Your Mistakes as Lessons, Not Labels

• “Few people get out unscathed when you walk into the real world... That's how we learn.” (Jade, 07:48)
• Shifting from shame to ownership: “Don’t look at it as ‘I ruined my life.’ Look at it as ‘I did a little research, and I’m wiser for it.’”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Normal is broke. Common sense is weird.” – Ken (00:30)
• On the Baby Steps:
  “You do them consecutively in order… If you jump around, it won't work, and you'll be wasting your time.” – Jade (26:02)
• On paying off an ex’s debt:
  “This is like when you go on a date, and you leave something in her apartment just so you have a reason to go back and knock on the door.” – Jade (24:08)
• On emotional house selling:
  “It’s more… just my first home, I just put $100,000 into it, …I was envisioning having my kids here.” – Chris (108:14) “The hardest part is you had a vision for this house—you got taken for a ride—and that sucks. But take the opportunity for a fresh start.” – Jade (110:56)
• On facing bad choices:
  “Don’t get the dealership markups. Don’t buy new, ask someone older than you.” – Jack, the 20-year-old RV buyer (07:21)
• On sacrifice:
  “Two little babies… these are going to be memories you talk about when they’re long gone… You did it. Suck it up now, victory’s sweeter later.” – Ken (49:11)
• On incompatible money mindsets in couples:
  “I think you’ve got love goggles on… sometimes the pressure, you can change parts of yourself.” – Jade (59:05) “Don't untie relationships and money—they're tied together whether you like it or not.” – Ken (61:21)
• On the ‘One Car’ years:
  “We had one car for a decade… and I didn’t buy a second car until we got here in 2022.” – Jade (49:49)
• On hard decisions with a broken truck:
  “Where there’s a will, there’s a way… you can come up with $15,000 pretty quick as a single guy.” – Ken (92:14)
• On repeating mistakes:
  “Don’t jump out of the frying pan and into the fire… don’t take a personal loan to keep an expensive car that almost ruined you.” – Jade (92:01)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic/Caller | Notes | |---------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Opening on risk of a 'normal' financial plan | Living on autopilot keeps you broke | | 01:28 | Jack’s RV horror story | $60k loan, only $2k/month income at the time | | 04:31 | Advice: Sell RV, even with a loss + lesson learned | | | 11:06 | $1 Million in student debt (dentists) | Should they buy, rent, or join a practice? | | 18:16 | “Live above a garage, get a bus pass” counsel | “Every dollar” matters | | 21:44 | Sam’s 30% interest car and ex’s debt | Don’t “knock on the door” with money | | 35:13 | Brianna: Should we sell the house? | Selling only makes sense if it moves the needle | | 44:20 | Dustin, 1-bed apartment with growing family | Suffering now = big wins later | | 62:26–63:54 | Couples & Money: postpone marriage if views conflict | “Press pause, have a serious talk first” | | 66:27 | Employer 401k mismanagement | Questions to ask boss; serious tone needed | | 70:21 | Stopping credit card reliance | Emotional shift from debt to ownership | | 76:32 | HSA/IRA prioritization | Invest in Roth/401k before HSA for retirement focus | | 86:22 | What to do about an upside down, broken truck? | Save $15k to fix or sell, don’t borrow more | | 96:51 | Budgeting on variable income (Realtor) | Keep 2 months' buffer, attack debt with commissions | | 106:54 | Chris, 65% of income on mortgage, moving to Tahoe | Sell, start fresh, don’t be tied to sunk cost | | 117:46 | Leo, gas station addict, can’t save | Direct budget for real habits; get legal on marriage |

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Tone & Delivery

• Direct, supportive, and at times humorous (even when tackling tough subjects).
  • Jade often brings tough love and empathy, especially to young/new listeners.
  • Ken leans motivational but doesn’t sugarcoat (especially around lifestyle habits).
  • Dave peppers in classic “no excuses” accountability, especially on life insurance and estate planning.
• The show consistently reiterates Ramsey “Baby Steps” and values: discipline, intentionality, learning from mistakes, and the freedom found in debt-free living.

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Conclusion

The episode reinforces that no money plan works unless faced head-on—delusions, guilt, lifestyle comparison, or emotional attachment to things like houses and cars only delay victory. The advice is grounded in real-life numbers, open confession of mistakes, and constant reminders that “normal is broke.” With candor, empathy, and a little humor, Ken, Jade, and Dave equip callers and listeners to adjust their plans to reality, not fantasy—so freedom is possible, no matter their starting point.

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For those unable to listen, this summary provides the episode’s full arc, caller insight, practical solutions, key quotes, and a roadmap to aligning your money plan with your real life.

Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, before we get rolling, listen up. If you want to win with money in 2026, you can't keep living normal. Normal's broke. You need a plan. Get a personalized plan and start living like no one else by downloading our every dollar. Today.

[Ken Coleman]

Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio, this is the Ramsey show alongside the fabulous Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman. The phone number is 888-2552-258882-55225. All right, we're gonna get to your calls. They're coming up very soon. Really fun story for my colleague here. You may know her journey. She and Sam are hubs. Paid off, half a million dollars in debt. She gets you, folks. You're in debt. She gets you. She really does. Fun story. I asked her to share. I've gotten to know her and Sam very well. And so that's coming up. You don't want to miss that. Those of you who are kind of on that edge today, you're going, can I do this? Can I make it?

[Jade Warshaw]

You can make it.

[Ken Coleman]

She's going to tell you how it's going to be fun. But first, Jack is up in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jack, how can we help today?

[Caller]

Hey, guys, thank you so much for taking my call. I. I bought a RV for 60,000 on a 15 year loan at 18% interest.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow. Why'd you do that?

[Caller]

I'm realizing how bad of a decision it was. It was to live in, to save up eventually for a house. And I'm realizing like, the interest is 800amonth on just interest. My goodness, only 50 bucks goes to the principal. And I'm realizing It'll be like 16 months before I even scratch the surface under what I borrowed. So I was wondering, because obviously I want to get out of it now. I started the, the baby steps. All I had was like, like a thousand personal loan, 2000 personal loan. I had some student loans, I had some credit cards, but I. I only made 2,000amonth when I bought it. So I don't even know how I got approved for it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right.

[Caller]

One by one. And I got rid of everything except for the camper. My income is about 4,000amonth now. Okay, so where are you living? I'm. I got a job as a truck driver, so. In the truck.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Are you okay?

[Jade Warshaw]

You don't, you don't sound okay.

[Ken Coleman]

You don't sound very okay. To me. And maybe it's just your voice, but I'm just sensing.

[Caller]

I'm really nervous. I'm really nervous. I just.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay.

[Caller]

Yeah, no, I'm good.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, great. Okay, so you've got. Did I understand correctly when you said you got rid of all the other debt except this rv?

[Caller]

Yeah, everything.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, good.

[Caller]

I did make a little mistake. I know you're supposed to save a thousand first. With the first thousand, I put it towards the debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

But yes, I have my $1,000. Everything else is gone.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good.

[Caller]

Except for this camper.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you still owe 60. What's it worth if you were to sell it?

[Caller]

The dealership offered 31.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh Lordy. But what if you were to sell it? Private sale. Have you looked into that?

[Caller]

I have it listed for 38 and I've been trying to call the show for a couple months now. So I owe 48 on it now.

[Jade Warshaw]

You owe 48 on it now. And you could sell it for 31.

[Ken Coleman]

38. I just got it listed at.

[Caller]

I have a list.

[Jade Warshaw]

So you're a 10. It's a $10,000 deficit there. What keeps you from going down to a credit union or going down to a bank or getting any kind of loan to. To. To clear this out? Why don't we do that?

[Caller]

I cancel my credit cards when I removed them and it brought my credit score down pretty low.

[Jade Warshaw]

Uh huh. What about a credit union? Have you gone into a bank to see? Because at this point, here's. Here's my thinking on this. My rationale is there's not a worse loan than the one you have. And this is going. You're going down. You're going from $48,000 of debt to $10,000 of debt. I'm going to take that deal every time. Even if. Even if the terms aren't great. Well, yeah, because you're going to knock it out. You make 4,000 bucks a month. You knocked out the other debt. Why can't you knock out this $10,000 of debt very quickly?

[Caller]

That's true. I was. Because I was trying to rent it as well to see if I could try to get money out of it.

[Jade Warshaw]

But every moment you wait, it's dropping in value because. Because you're in such a bad loan. Right. The interest loan is $800 a month. So you got time is not on your side, my friend.

[Ken Coleman]

Listen, we're coming to you from the Fairwinds Credit union studio. I'd call our friends at Fairwinds and say, hey, I was just on the show with Jade. And here's my situation, and I've made progress. Well, you guys help me out and they can help you out. They will. And to your. To Jade's point, then if we can sell this thing and then they take over the loan for the, the minimal amount you're going to have left, you can knock that out. So you want to get rid of this because this is a depreciating asset. That's why she's telling you that you got to get rid of it.

[Jade Warshaw]

I would only. And for anybody listening who's like, oh, Jay told him to get a loan. She told him to take it out on a credit card. She told him to take a bad loan. We're going down, people. We're going from 48 down to 10. We're not going up. He's not taking a loan to go into debt. He's taking a lesser loan to get out of debt. So that's the difference there. For anybody who's trying to clock something that's not there.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. And now what is this? Is this truck job. What's your opportunity to make more money than the 4,000amonth?

[Caller]

Well, in the beginning, it was like that's what I was getting because I was in training. I also do all the services on his trucks because he owns. He owns a trucking company. So I do all the mechanic work on them for side money on cash when I am at Indianapolis because it is long haul.

[Ken Coleman]

So as we look forward, how much more additional money can you make then than the 4,000?

[Caller]

4 to 6,000amonth, I'd say take home.

[Ken Coleman]

All right. And long term, is this a great opportunity for you to get to the six figure range?

[Caller]

It seems like it, yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. All right, well, what's the lesson here that you've learned? You know, because a lot of times we'll teach out of this. I want people to hear from you today because you're sitting in this calling us with a pit in your stomach. So what's the lesson for everybody else?

[Caller]

Don't get the dealership markups. Don't get the warranty stuff. Don't buy new. Like, ask someone older than you. Yeah, you know, I haven't. Yeah, it's a. I'm. I'm definitely not doing that anymore.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. How old are you, Jack?

[Caller]

I just turned 20.

[Ken Coleman]

20 years of age.

[Jade Warshaw]

You learned a great lesson at a young age, my friend.

[Caller]

I wish, I wish it didn't cost 60,000.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's all. But it's a good lesson to learn. Hey, no one, no One gets that. Let me not. No one. Few people get out unscathed when you, when you walk into the real world, right? You get out of college, you start your life as an adult. Few Jack, get out of this without making major mistakes. That's how we learn. And for you, I want you to look at this. Don't look at it as, oh my gosh, my mistake, I ruined my life. Just look at it as some research you did. You did a little bit of research and you found out that buying an RV and to live in or buying anything that goes down in value is not a good idea. Now you can stick that in your pocket and keep it as a knowledge base for later.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, I love it. Makes me think of the old song.

[Jade Warshaw]

What?

[Ken Coleman]

By Ray Charles? Hit the road, Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more Hit the road, Jack. That's what he's saying to debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's good.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Come on.

[Ken Coleman]

You know, sometimes I think of these old school things. Now if Rachel were next to me, she'd have no idea what I'm talking about.

[Jade Warshaw]

I thought you were going to say something totally different.

[Ken Coleman]

No. Hit the road, Jack.

[Jade Warshaw]

I like it.

[Ken Coleman]

He got on the road in the 18 wheeler. He's getting after it. He's 20 years of age. He learned his lesson. I love his lessons. He did a great job, America. You heard Jack. And he's going to be okay. He's going to do great. He's only 20 years of age. He learned a big lesson. Now he's on the road to being debt free.

[Dave Ramsey]

Statistics show that half of Americans don't have enough life insurance or they don't have any at all. I don't understand this, John. Why don't people want to take care of their family? They think they're going to die or something.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I used to be one of those guys. I didn't even think about it. And one of my buddies said, hey, the only reason to not have life insurance is if you hate your wife and kids. And I immediately went and got term life insurance.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's a gut punch.

[Jade Warshaw]

And.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, you're telling me. And for, for decades, Dave, I've sat across people who've lost a spouse. They've lost somebody important to them.

[Dave Ramsey]

Me too.

[Ken Coleman]

They don't know what to do next.

[Dave Ramsey]

Me too. I mean, you're going to have a crisis here and you know, you got two options while you're sitting and talking to a young widow. She's concerned about how she's going to invest all this money properly and not mess this up or she's concerned how she's going to eat tomorrow.

[Ken Coleman]

That's exactly.

[Dave Ramsey]

These are the two options. And take care of your dadgum family.

[Ken Coleman]

Term life insurance can replace income, pay off debts, cover funeral expenses. So your family can actually have the opportunity to just be sad. Yeah, to just miss you.

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[Caller]

Foreign.

[Ken Coleman]

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show, America. So glad you're with us. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is alongside triple 882-55-5225 is the phone number. Triple 882-55-2225. We go next to San Jose, California. Jeff is there. Jeff, how can we help?

[Caller]

Hi. Yeah, me and my fiance were or about $1 million in debt right now. And we kind of most of it student loan debt, but we still have $1 million. We just don't know how to really tackle.

[Ken Coleman]

My goodness.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is this. What type of degrees did you guys have?

[Caller]

Yeah, we're. We're both Dennis. So I guess that's a good thing. Kind of.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. I can tell you're fired up by that. Bless your heart.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Are you making money? Like, what are you guys making every year?

[Caller]

So what we're told when we go into this is we'll be able to pay it off. Don't worry.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[Caller]

We make about probably average 170 a year.

[Ken Coleman]

That's what you guys are actually paying yourself?

[Caller]

Yes. Before taxes. Before taxes.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, my gosh. 170 gross. And are you separate practices?

[Caller]

We are currently, but we're probably going to group in together and just try to grow, I guess.

[Jade Warshaw]

Did you say 170 each or combined? Okay, okay.

[Ken Coleman]

170 gross each, was it?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And you're living in. Okay, well, San Jose is expensive. That's an expensive part of the country.

[Ken Coleman]

What is your debt? Break it down for Jay. Let's go. You first. You're the one on the phone and you're not married yet. So what's your debt about?

[Caller]

Let's see. 450,000 right now and all student loan.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And no other debt, luckily.

[Caller]

We're both pretty good on that side.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Pretty good or good?

[Caller]

Good.

[Jade Warshaw]

How long?

[Ken Coleman]

How long You've been. How long have you been practicing?

[Caller]

About a year now. We just kind of. We just came out of school. It's just kind of a nervous thing to be a million dollars in debt. Just.

[Ken Coleman]

And how soon enough? No, no, listen, brother, this is real. And I. Oh, this makes me so mad on your behalf. Not mad at you, but people are just selling this. And now you're facing it. It's like staring down the barrel of a gun right now. I can feel it all over you. Well, here's the thing I'm asking about. You're only a year into this based on. I don't know if they teach you any business skills.

[Caller]

Probably not, but unfortunately they don't.

[Ken Coleman]

They don't. Any sense of how big your practice is in its first year? Are you small for first year? Are you medium sized? Do you have any sense of.

[Caller]

I would say we're probably small, getting to medium, hopefully by the end of this. By the end of this build.

[Ken Coleman]

Do you know any dentist at all that are very successful? Huh?

[Caller]

Yes, I do.

[Ken Coleman]

Are you in contact with them on a regular basis? To go, how did you grow your business? No, you need to be.

[Caller]

I'm not.

[Ken Coleman]

You need to be. I'm not kidding you. Jay's going to give you some financial advice. But I was leading you this because let me tell you something. They don't teach you how to run a business. They teach you how to take care of teeth. But taking care of teeth is not enough. To be a successful dentist, you have got to know how to get people in the chair.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, that's right.

[Ken Coleman]

And I want you on the phone. I'm going to give you, as a gift of mine, Christian, at the end of this call, I want to give him the proximity principle. It's worth a quick read. You get the audiobook if you want that. We'll give you whatever version you want. But I want you to be in touch with successful dentists, and I mean successful. And I want you telling them I need your best advice. What would you say to me, where I'm at right now about growing my business and try to replicate this with two or three other successful dentists? Get all that feedback in one bucket and start doing it. Because the quicker you grow this business, the more you can pay yourself. And the more you pay yourself, the easier it is to do what Jade's gonna tell you. I just wanted to give you that. You've gotta be like. And she's gotta be the same way. If you guys combine practices, this can't Be like, wee.

[Jade Warshaw]

We're married.

[Ken Coleman]

And we have to know. You both are. Like, you're the most. I don't want to say desperate dentist we've ever seen, but it's like, you got to get creative in the community and be competitive so that everybody's coming to you to get their teeth cleaned.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, can I ask a question? And this is both to Ken and you, Jeff. So you come out of dental school, you've got all the goods to be able to practice. Are you working for someone else or you started your own thing?

[Caller]

I'm working for someone else, but we're working on a contract to hopefully partner.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is that going to cause you to have to go into more debt? Because that's what I. I'm trying to get a sense of what your next plan is because I don't want you to go into more debt.

[Caller]

And that's why we're trying to hold off, because we're paying more debt. No, you can't.

[Jade Warshaw]

You gotta.

[Ken Coleman]

No, you gotta do your own practice, man. I thought that's what we were talking about. You can't go into debt. It's not worth it.

[Jade Warshaw]

No, like, you got to. You got it. You got to work for someone else until you can afford to do whatever the next step is.

[Ken Coleman]

Is your income fixed, though, after all that big speech I gave? Is your income fixed? Are you able to go recruit new patients and get some of that?

[Caller]

No, not fixed.

[Jade Warshaw]

So you can.

[Ken Coleman]

So you can benefit from hustling like I told you to do? Yes. All right, that's good news.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's all I was trying to get at. And I don't want you to go into any more debt until this is cleaned up. Because again, you're. What you're realizing now is true. Yes, you have agency over this, but there's no guarantees, and there's no guarantees at how quickly this will go. And so going into further debt, I would not advise that looking at the numbers. The hard part for me is you are in an expensive area. What are you paying? Like, what's the. What's the housing situation? Are you renting? Do you own a place? What is it?

[Caller]

We're gonna. We're gonna be owners. Because it doesn't. It almost doesn't make sense to rent because then we're just throwing that.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's not true. What are you doing right now? What's the.

[Caller]

About 4, 500amonth for your place or.

[Jade Warshaw]

Are you guys together already?

[Caller]

Together.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're already together.

[Caller]

It'll be 4, 500. Yep.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

To Rent. But to buy, it's the same.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes, but you're going into debt to get it. You're adding more debt to your name.

[Caller]

We will be. Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you're tied to that. Like you. You gotta pay it. And now you're adding expenses, too. Your life as well. You can't afford to do that. You need to be living as cheaply as possible. And if it's the same price per month, it's not really the same price because your complex or whatever is paying for yard and garbage and all those things. So I don't want to add weight to you of having to replace an AC or having to replace a roof or having to. Do you see what I'm saying?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

So that's. Or adding insurance. You know, all that stuff is really expensive. And so I would continue to rent. You're not throwing money down the drain. You are buying yourself time until you can truly afford to buy. So please promise me. Your homework coming off this call is to promise me that you won't go into debt into this practice right now and that you will not buy a home right now, because that would add insult to injury.

[Ken Coleman]

And I'm going to throw in here, I'm going to challenge you to get a much, much better rent situation. Just try. Find a place over an old lady's garage. I say that all the time, but I'm telling you, I don't think you should. Guys should be paying anywhere near 4, 500amonth. Not now. You guys are so broke. Yeah, you need to be. You almost need to be staying in a place where they're paying you.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're gonna have to fight, Jeff. You're gonna have to fight hard. Because the truth is, you guys have got these shiny degrees. You're in a great profession where there's the potential to make a lot of money. And the people around you, probably the people that you're working with, they're coming in with their Tahoes and their Cadillacs and their Teslas and they get expensive salads and juices for lunch. You don't do that. You eat Lean Cuisine and you drive a Ford Taurus.

[Ken Coleman]

And I would prescribe a lot of fasting for this couple. It's the new craze. It's a biblical principle, and I think it's got some financial advantages here. Y' all need to try fasting three days at a time. You're gonna look great. But you can't even afford to buy cold cuts.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Carl Budding. Do you remember Carl Budding? I don't know. Listen, Jeff, I don't know if you remember when I was coming up. Yeah, the cheapest cold cuts you could buy.

[Ken Coleman]

We're older than these youngsters. But in all seriousness, Jeff, listen, you have got to reduce your living expenses right now. That's one of the biggest raises that you could give yourself. So I'd be. As soon as this rental term is up or whatever's going on, I would be looking to slash those costs. I mean, big time. If. Even if I got a drive aways at this point, I'd rather pay gas. You know, y' all ride together. It's called public transportation. Everything's on the table now, right, Jake?

[Jade Warshaw]

Everything. You get you a bus pass. It's on and popping.

[Ken Coleman]

It's the truth, man. And by the way, you're brown bagging it and you're recycling the bag. Do you know what I mean? That thing's gonna be all crinkled and rinse out.

[Jade Warshaw]

You rinse out the Ziploc bag and you gotta dry it out and use it again.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, like y' all put the.

[Dave Ramsey]

Whoa.

[Ken Coleman]

And broke. I mean, yikes. This is the Ramsey Show. The last thing you need this holiday season is more stuff collecting dust or tech that keeps you glued to screens and up too late. You need better sleep. And that's what you'll get with Casper. Their mattresses are made for deep, uninterrupted rest that keep you cool and comfortable so you wake up feeling ready, not wrecked. Because rest is not a luxury, it's an investment. And the ROI is your well being. So go to Casper.com Ramsey and use promo code Ramsey for 25% off mattresses and 10% off everything else. You get free shipping too. That's Casper.com Ramsey promo code Ramsey exclusions apply. Welcome back to the Ramsey show alongside the incomparable fabulous Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman. My phone number is 888-825-5225. If you want to jump in 88825 5225. Sam is up in Birmingham, Alabama. Sam, how can we help today?

[Caller]

Hey, guys. So I wanted to know if you would honestly recommend that I start with a $1,000 a month emergency fund and. And why? After kind of reading you off some stats here. So I've a 3 Ivy 30% interest rate on a $33,000 car loan. I have 9k in back taxes owed, 5k in credit card debt. Nothing. My ex girlfriend has 50k in credit card debt that I kind of want to help her out with your ex girlfriend? Unfortunately, yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you want to help her with the debt?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Wow.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sorry. I just. That really nice guy.

[Ken Coleman]

I'd like to know more.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Why are we doing this?

[Caller]

Well, you know, she's. It was a six year relationship. I lost her last Q4. I was pushing myself too hard. Finally burnt out after. After about 10 years of extremely hard work. And I just feel responsible for a lot of that. I'm sure some of it's mine. I'm sure a good bit of it might be mine.

[Jade Warshaw]

You used her card? You used her card sometimes?

[Caller]

Well, we were together, you know, like it was a. Like she would help out with, like. I. I don't know. I think someone. I think my car insurance, for example, is on the credit card. Things like this. Right.

[Ken Coleman]

Think so. You don't even know. Listen, how does that change your opinion? Does it change your opinion?

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm gonna say something really controversial right now.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, I'm very excited.

[Jade Warshaw]

She probably rode in your car lots of times. Does she need to help you pay off your car? You know what I'm saying?

[Caller]

Like, you probably.

[Jade Warshaw]

She made, you know, your credit card debt. You may have paid for some things for her. I think. I think what it sounded like. I don't know, but it sounded. You said she got away. It sounds like you're still recovering from this.

[Ken Coleman]

He's dealing with guilt.

[Jade Warshaw]

You still care for her. You might feel some guilt. Obviously you still care for her. But I would. I would not feel any obligation to pay 50k to an example. Is she asking for money?

[Caller]

Not well, not really, no.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you want to know what I think? Do you want to know what I might think as your older sister who cares for you?

[Caller]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is like when you go on a date with somebody. I think this was from Seinfeld. And he would leave something in her apartment on purpose so he would have a reason to come back and knock on the door.

[Ken Coleman]

Brilliant move.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

I feel like this is a reason for you to come back and knock on the door.

[Caller]

Yeah, well, I love her. I mean. Oh, and.

[Ken Coleman]

You'Re not ready to let go.

[Jade Warshaw]

If you could dedicate a song to her right now, what would you dedicate?

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, great question, Sam. Take me seriously. What is it?

[Caller]

Take this. Well, so listen, there's too many to count. I'm writing. I'm writing letters about every day.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, I'm sorry.

[Caller]

To her situation. Look, I know that's the biggest debt, but this 30. This 30% interest rate on this $33,000 car loan is really bugging me. I didn't know what that meant when I signed the contract. I thought it meant 30% of the car's value in total. I didn't know that. That was like, appreciating. Yeah, I didn't know that that was. Every year it goes 30%.

[Jade Warshaw]

I thought you said 3% when you first said it. It's 30%.

[Caller]

No, no, no. It's 30% and it's. It's an Italian car. Oh, okay, Break down.

[Ken Coleman]

I'm sick to my stomach. For you, Sam.

[Dave Ramsey]

You.

[Ken Coleman]

You have to take. Oh, my goodness. What's the snowball? Where are we at on the snowball? Did we get there?

[Jade Warshaw]

No, because your initial question. I'm sorry, I got hung up on your. Your love situation. The initial question was, do I really want him to go down to a thousand dollars of an emergency fund?

[Caller]

Yeah. Is that where I start or where do I start here, guys?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, that is where to start. So let me just go through the baby steps with you right quick, Sam, just so you see how this all fits. And how long have you been listening to the show? Are you a new listener?

[Caller]

I'm a new. I'm a new listener.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Caller]

You guys are on. On my YouTube shorts.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so you only get bits and pieces on that. Thanks for watching. But you only get bits and pieces. So the first step. This is seven baby steps for you to achieve financial peace is what we're talking about. So you do them. All of that. I'm saying you do them consecutively in order to. That's the first thing. You got to do them in order. If you jump around, it won't work, and you'll be wasting your time. The first step is you get $1,000 saved. So if you don't have any money saved, you got to go out, work, sell stuff, and get it done. If you do have money saved, you drop it down to thousand dollars. And then the next, whatever money you had left over is going to go to baby step two, which is you paying off all of your debt except your mortgage. This is all the consumer debt. Okay. And you do this using the debt snowball method. Debt snowball is we list all the debts, smallest to largest. You pay minimum payments on everything, and then any extra money goes to the smallest debt. Does that make sense?

[Caller]

Yep.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, after that, now we stack up that emergency fund. Three to six months of expenses is what we're looking for. You get to decide is it three, four, five, or six after that?

[Caller]

So number three is three or $4,000 a month in expenses.

[Jade Warshaw]

Three to six months of basic living expenses.

[Ken Coleman]

So just for round numbers, let's say you're a number. Let's say you had $5,000 worth of expenses every month. What we're saying is, is that's three months is 15,000, six months is 30,000. You tracking?

[Caller]

Yep.

[Ken Coleman]

All right, so that's what we mean by an emergency fund. We give you the kind of the. We say three months is a minimum. So that'd be 15,000 on this example. That's what she's talking.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right. And it's it for baby step three. It's really about your basic budget. It's not three to six months of paychecks necessarily. It's what it takes to make your house go on a basic level. Okay. Baby step three B. It's B. Because it's not the case for everybody is if you're looking to buy a house now is when we start saving up a down payment for the house. Okay. After that you go to baby step 4. You could do 3B and 4 at the same time if you want to. You're putting 15% of your gross income into retirement funds. So that's your 401k Roth IRA, that sort of thing. Then after that, if you have kids, you're planning for kids, you can put an amount of your discretion towards kids college. We say a 529 or an ESA is where you would do that. And then finally baby step six, if you have extra money in your budget, again at your discretion, you're throwing extra money towards paying off your house early. Most people who do that pay off their house in like 10, 12 years. So that's. And then finally baby step seven, you just live like no one else. You give, you're a happy person and you got no cares. Right. So that's kind of the big cars with cash. Hey, okay, but like, can we talk about.

[Ken Coleman]

I'm dying right now. You did such a good job. Can we talk about this man's car? Yeah, tell us what's the car worth?

[Jade Warshaw]

Paint us a picture.

[Caller]

Oh, man, the car is like 21k. I bought it for a very. I think Dave will appreciate this. So like, I'm 29, I. I have a online business and I bought an Alfa Romeo because it was the coolest car you could get under 30k.

[Ken Coleman]

Love. How much did you pay for it?

[Caller]

Yeah, so all in taxes. I had no down payment. About 33,000. So that's the loan I'm paying off.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

So like.

[Caller]

Yeah, extra.

[Ken Coleman]

So it's worth 21.

[Caller]

I think I can get a little more for it. I think I might be able to get like 24, 26 if I'm luck.

[Ken Coleman]

I mean, you got to. You. I think you got to sell this car right now at 30% interest rate. Jade, I know that's extreme, but he said it's 3%.

[Jade Warshaw]

3%?

[Ken Coleman]

I thought he said 30.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is it?

[Caller]

No, it's 30. Yeah, 30.

[Ken Coleman]

You asked that twice and he said 30. Oh, t h I R T want.

[Jade Warshaw]

Listen, I just turned 41 in my old age. I can't.

[Ken Coleman]

He's paying 30% on this car.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's painful. Yeah. You got to get out today.

[Ken Coleman]

Like, you got to sell it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you have any money saved?

[Caller]

No. I can get some money this month, though. I mean, the income's good.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, you gotta find. You gotta find at least $10,000 so you can get out of this and get yourself a little beater car to drive around until you can save up for a better one. So.

[Caller]

Yeah, but is that, you know, here's the reason I bought this car is the coolest car under 30k. And what do you mean?

[Ken Coleman]

What does that matter how cool it is?

[Jade Warshaw]

What do you make?

[Caller]

Well, I'm 90, 90 $200 a month consistently for two years. Last Q4 before, I was paying myself about 14k a month. Really going overboard with the whiskey and the oyster.

[Jade Warshaw]

Here's what I want you to do. Listen, what a life. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to apply that 9200 to get out of debt. I want you to quickly save up what you can to get out of this car. Buy something cheap in cash. It's only temporary. You're going to be out of debt in a year and then you're going to save up and you're going to buy the same car in cash.

[Ken Coleman]

All right? Jade and I to are going going to look into some whiskey and oysters ourselves.

[Jade Warshaw]

I know that's right.

[Ken Coleman]

For after the show, we'll see what the order looks like, but we'll be right back. This is the Ramsay show. This episode is sponsored by Better Help. The holidays are full of traditions. Some of these traditions we love. Some we just survive. And in addition to the traditions, let's be honest, this time of year can also be a time of noise and pressure and loneliness. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to ask yourself what really matters to you this year. And therapy can give you a space to do just that. To think, to breathe, to ask yourself what do you want this year? And to make room for peace. That's why I recommend BetterHelp. BetterHelp has over 30,000 licensed therapists that have helped over 5 million people worldwide. With an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars. BetterHelp is online, so it fits around your schedule even during the chaotic holiday times. You get online and just answer a few questions and they'll match you with someone who fits your needs. And if your therapist is not the right fit, you can switch anytime for no extra cost. This month, start a new tradition by taking care of you. Visit betterhelp.com Ramsey to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H E-L-P.com Ramsey. Foreign. Welcome back to the Ramsey show alongside Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman. So glad you're with us today as we help you win with your money, win in your profession, and win with your relationships. Triple 882-55-5225 Jade I'm a little excited about it and I, I don't naturally celebrate these things like I should. Super excited. Been dreaming about a show concept for a long time and we've been working on it as a team. The team's done a great job. It's called front row seat with Ken Coleman. And it has, people ask, has it replaced the Ken Coleman show? Yes, because it is a very different format. Imagine you're sitting in on a deep dive conversation with somebody who's a thought leader, someone who has done something extraordinary in their lives. They are a man or a woman of success, and you get to be a part of the audience. And you're sitting around with us asking a question. Well, that is the format, live format. We record it and then also we have a virtual format where people can zoom in, if you will. So we're bringing the audience to the front row seat. That's the concept. It's on YouTube now or wherever you get your podcast. New episode comes out every Tuesday morning. If you want to get better, personally move up professionally and lead effectively, those are the conversations.

[Dave Ramsey]

Wow.

[Jade Warshaw]

How do you, how do you source your, like, guests? How do you pick? How do you select your guests? Because you've had some wonderful guests.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, we have some really fun gifts. And the way it goes down is, you know, we're selecting people within those categories. So, for instance, people that can help experts can help out in the area of personal growth. So that would be an expert maybe on sleep or nutrition or exercise.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. And so we're mixing it up Right. And then, of course, we have people that are professional gurus that can help you on certain soft skills. Like we just had Charles Duhigg. We just recorded that. It'll come out soon. Pulitzer Prize winning author of the book Super Communicators.

[Dave Ramsey]

Wow.

[Ken Coleman]

So we're talking about the three types of conversation. So how do we use those types of conversation to win in our profession, but also win at home?

[Jade Warshaw]

That's so helpful.

[Ken Coleman]

And then, of course, leadership experts. So it's very intentional between those three buckets of content, if that makes sense.

[Jade Warshaw]

So well done, Ken.

[Ken Coleman]

Thank you. I'm really excited about it. It's beautiful. By the way, if you want to check on YouTube, the team did a great job with the set. Looks really, really fun. So the Front Row Seat is the name of the show. Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman. You can get it on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. Let's go to Brianna, who's joining us in Dallas, Texas. Brianna, how can we help today?

[Caller]

Hi, Yes, I have a question. Well, I need some advice. Me and my husband are thinking about selling our home because we're just drowning in debt and we just don't have any other option to try to get out it but to sell our home. So, yes, that's what is.

[Ken Coleman]

What is what has created that scenario where you don't believe you have any other options? Give us some details.

[Caller]

Well, we are just drowning in debt. And I know y'. All, we sell the cars and we looked into it. We owe in one of our cars. We owe like 9,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And we. We try to see if we can sell it, but we will be under. It's really not worth selling is just. I guess right now we just better off paying it off. And the other one is 12,000, and that one as well is negative. So we were like, okay, we might as well just try to hang on to those and try to pay those off. And everything else is loans and credit cards, student loans, IRAs.

[Jade Warshaw]

Go through the other ones. Go through the other amounts for us so we can get a picture of this. So the $9,000 car, the 12,000 DOL. Car. What else?

[Caller]

And then loans, like personal loans, you know, like 20,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

Credit cards is around like 35 to 35 to like 40,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

Student loans is. My husband's is like 73,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. How much are yours?

[Caller]

I don't have any.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good.

[Caller]

And my real. The IRS is like 9,500.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And then I have medical bills. That's like 3,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

What's your combined income?

[Caller]

Combined income is like 10,500 to like 11,000 per month. Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, and have you added up? If you don't know, it's okay. But if I were to ask you on the spot, like how much does this cost you in payments every month? Do you know the number to that?

[Caller]

Like the debt alone is like 4,000, probably a little bit more.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so you're paying 4,000 in payments. And then tell me what's your mortgage? Tell me about the mortgage. Tell me what you owe on it.

[Caller]

The mortgage is like 31, 3100.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And that's what you're paying per month. But tell me how much you bought the house for.

[Caller]

The house we bought it for 386.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's it worth right now?

[Caller]

Is worth like 385. 387.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, sweetheart, if you sell the house, that's not going to give you guys any much money at all.

[Caller]

I know we owe 340 on it right now.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. But after you pay your realtor, there's very little of this that is going to actually solve this problem.

[Caller]

Right. That's what we were like, okay, should we just try to fight for it or should we try to sell it and try to at least get out of it?

[Ken Coleman]

Jade's got something to tell you.

[Caller]

I mean, what I was, we were thinking is because my husband drives like an hour and a half commute to his job.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

So he wanted to move closer to his job because it's, it's a long drive.

[Ken Coleman]

Did you rent for less money in that location? Sorry, Jake.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's okay.

[Caller]

The rent is probably going to be like 2,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Not much different. Well, no, you said you're paying 3, 100 per month.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, yeah, that is, that is actually a huge difference.

[Dave Ramsey]

Difference.

[Caller]

3100 plus H. The HOA.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, that's not including HOA. What's your HOA to.

[Caller]

250 every quarter.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Every quarter. Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

I would consider moving Jade in this situation because that's a long way to commute, number one.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, there's a couple of things. You got that big commute I was going to ask you, is it an hour and a half each way or is that combined? Because if it's 40 minutes, that's not as big of a deal.

[Caller]

But no, it's each way.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, girl.

[Caller]

Yeah, I definitely move into the office three days out of the week. So two days he'll work from home, but three days out of the week he has to drive to the office.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's still a lot. Three hours driving in a day is a lot to get to work. So that's one, that's one green light. It's not the biggest reason because like you said, it's not like he's going in every day, but it is a reason. The biggest reason for me to consider getting out of this house is because it's, it's more than 25 of your take home pay. And at this point you need every dollar that you can get your hands on. Now, right, There is a thought here and, and, and you guys need to sit and talk about this because there's a thought where I go, okay, if you guys really start side hustling, if you start picking up your income, there could be a world when this debt is over that this is not 20, that this is 25 of your take home. You see what I'm saying? That you raise your income and it becomes something that you can keep around. Today though, it's really a problem. So I would say your homework, to sit down with your spouse tonight would be to say what are all the things we can do to make money? What are your opportunities that are directly related to your job and what are mine that are, do you, do you both work?

[Caller]

Yes, we both work. So he has his main job and then he has a part time job on the weekends to make like some extra income. I try to work overtime. I work at a, a daycare so I try to work extra like overtime whenever I can.

[Jade Warshaw]

How consistent can that happen? Is that like a daily thing or is it like a couple times a month?

[Caller]

It varies. It depends on the teachers. Like I just found out I have covet so I have to be out all week.

[Jade Warshaw]

Got you. So what I'd be looking for, when I'm looking for a side hustle, I'm looking for something I can count on. That's the whole point. So I'd be looking, if I'm going to spend the extra hours working, I want something that's like clockwork, I can get it, I can go bust my butt and do it and it's there. So you both need that. And then if something, if you know part time pops up at the, at the job and you have the, the leverage, you know the place in your schedule to do it, you do that too. But right now I want, here's my, my main job and a go to side hustle that's always there. I can work it every day, every weekend. Got it. So that's you guys job to come up with that tonight and then after that. Have you made a budget?

[Caller]

I tried that dollar thing I just downloaded.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, good.

[Caller]

I did like the free trial thing, but I'm gonna have to cancel it because it's like 18amonth.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay, y' all need to stop borrowing money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. You gotta stop borrowing, right?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Ken Coleman]

Like you got in this mess because y' all are trying to do too much and you don't have enough money for it. So if you can't afford every dollar to get a budget, you better get it out on paper.

[Jade Warshaw]

You can afford it. You spend more on pizza delivery. Okay. You can afford it.

[Ken Coleman]

This is the Ramsay show.

[Dave Ramsey]

There's no better time to start protecting your home than right now. This month only my listeners can take 50% off any new Simplisafe home security system during their last chance Black Friday sale. Do not miss this deal. I've recommended SimpleLife for over 10 years and it's simply the best security system you can get for your home. That's because Simplisafe helps stop crimes before they start. Their AI cameras detect threats early and then live. Agents stop them by speaking directly to intruders, letting them know they're being watched and that the police will be dispatched. Simplisafe stands behind their security with an anti theft guarantee and no long term contracts. That's why Simplisafe was named the best home security of 2025 by U.S. news & World Report. So don't miss Simplisafe's biggest sale. Head to simplisafedirect.com and claim 50% off today. That's simplisafedirect.com there's no safe like.

[Ken Coleman]

Simplisafe. Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio alongside Jade Warshaw and Ken Coleman. Dustin is going to start us off here in New York. Dustin, how can we help.

[Caller]

Today? Hi there. Thanks so much for taking my.

[Ken Coleman]

Call. You bet. What's going.

[Caller]

On? I have a question about housing and budgeting, so let me give you a little bit of context. My wife and I are in our early 30s. We've been working baby steps. We've been married about two years and at about the year and a half mark we paid off. We finished paying off around 70,000 worth of.

[Jade Warshaw]

Debt. Way to.

[Caller]

Go. Oh, thank you. And so we currently live in a one bedroom co op in the Hudson Valley which costs us around $1,600 a month. So with that in our budget, we're able to save between three and $4,000 a month and We've been doing that since we got married. And so we're about to have, we have a seven month old now and in the coming May we're going to have our second child. And so that's a lot of people to put in a one bedroom apartment. So to get to a bigger place it would be about $2,400 a month at least in this area, just because it's the Hudson Valley. And so our child care costs are likely to go up in the coming August once paternity and maternity leave is done. And so my question is like, do we stick it out here? Because our long term plan is to move out of state in about two years once my mother in law retires. And so we're saving up for a down payment. But in the same time, that's my question. Indiana, we want to go to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Indianapolis in about two.

[Caller]

Years. In about two.

[Ken Coleman]

Years. How much money have you got saved.

[Caller]

Up? So we currently have around 17,000 saved up. We just finished paying off all of our debt. So we're like, we're just getting started on that saving.

[Jade Warshaw]

Process. But you're saving a lot per month, which is.

[Caller]

Great. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And our living situation really helps with that. We got family nearby and all that. So the location is good. It's just the square footage is not great. And so do I, do I sell our co op in the meantime so that during that two year waiting period we can have a, you know, more expensive but larger place or do we just kind of stick it out in the one bedroom with four.

[Jade Warshaw]

People? I mean, if I would, what I would do is I'd stick it out for as long as I possibly can because the more that you can save on your living is the more money that you can save for a potential down payment. And I don't have to tell you, you're, you need a lot of money saved for a down payment these days. Right. So the more that you can get saved in the next two to two and a half years, that would be my number one goal. Matter of fact, I'd run it back and say, okay, based on Indianapolis home prices and based on what we.

[Ken Coleman]

Want, which I got you over here, whenever you're ready. Whenever you're.

[Jade Warshaw]

Ready. Yeah, we're going to plug that in and then we're going to run it back and say, okay, what must be true for us to move in. And then that's the, that, that is a silk, the silver bullet of what we're saving for next two, two and a half.

[Ken Coleman]

Years. So Kim, I'm your assistant. I'm giving you some numbers. I.

[Jade Warshaw]

Don'T. My computer died, so I don't have.

[Ken Coleman]

It. Okay, I got.

[Jade Warshaw]

You. All right, you got.

[Ken Coleman]

It. It's what I'm here.

[Jade Warshaw]

For. All.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. So in Indianapolis, average price for a 3 bedroom home. I did 3 bedroom. Cuz it's going to feel like a castle to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Him. Love.

[Ken Coleman]

It. Oh, I love hearing the little one in the background. That's real. We like that folks. 230 to 299. 230 up this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Approximately.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. 230,000 to 299,000. Some specifics. If you look at Marion county, because I typed in greater Indianapolis.

[Jade Warshaw]

Area.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. So I'm giving. So this is just. This is the homework you need to do, my friend. But you got Marion county, Median price is 229. Hendricks county, median price is 303. Johnson county, median price is.

[Jade Warshaw]

298. So.

[Ken Coleman]

Let'S. Other surroundings. So.

[Jade Warshaw]

You.

[Ken Coleman]

300. 230 to.

[Jade Warshaw]

300,000. And then let's add a little inflation to that. Let's say 240. Right? That's what I would say because this is two and a half years from now. So you say 240 and then knowing that what you're attempting to do is, is put 25 down. Then you can go in and plug in estimated taxes and insurance and all of that. And that number is what you need to.

[Ken Coleman]

Be. Well, I got it. I got him at. If you guys continue to save, if I was listening correctly, you were saving three to 4,000amonth, you guys can have a shot at getting close to 100,000. Just your savings, not including any equity in the co op.

[Caller]

Right? Correct. Yeah. So.

[Ken Coleman]

I. What's your equity in the co.

[Caller]

Op? We think based upon comps that I've run in the area that I can get around 54, 50 after the sale. And so that brings us pretty close to that 20% down payment with what we have.

[Jade Warshaw]

Saved.

[Caller]

Great. And we're targeting a house in Indianapolis around the 300,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Mark. Love.

[Ken Coleman]

That. That's very doable. And I'm with Jade. Then listen, the babies don't know. This is going to be tough on you and mom. But you know what? Two little babies. These are going to be memories that you two talk about when the kids are long gone for sure. And you're going to be like, we did it. And I think since we're not asking the kids to suffer, you guys aren't really suffering. But it is a form of suffering. And I'm with my partner on this one. Listen, she and Sam, I brag about this. She and Sam had one car for how.

[Jade Warshaw]

Long? 10.

[Ken Coleman]

Years. And how many years after you actually had the money to buy a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Car? Long. Let's see. So we were done in 2018. I didn't buy a second car till we got here, which was 20.

[Ken Coleman]

22, which I don't recommend. I think she's bananas, but she's the real deal. So I'm with Jade. I 100% would suck it up. Their little ones. It's going to be crazy anyway. Two years is going to fly when you get two.

[Jade Warshaw]

Babies. I know. That's.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. The days are long, but the years are.

[Jade Warshaw]

Short. That's.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. And I'm with Jade 100%. I tough it out and then make the triumphant entry into Indianapolis with a really, really nice down payment. And by the way, cost of living there. Fantastic. So, man, you're going to feel like from Hudson Valley to the greater Indianapolis area. Oh, man, what a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Change.

[Caller]

Unless. Looking forward to that.

[Ken Coleman]

Now. Wait a second. Hold on, Dustin. She's got an.

[Jade Warshaw]

Idea. No, it's not an idea. I was just about to throw some bait into the water. Go for it. I was gonna.

[Ken Coleman]

Throw. Go for.

[Jade Warshaw]

It. You said it's a really great cost of living there. And I was going to say unless everybody in New York gets spooked and not going to start going to places like Indiana and Florida.

[Ken Coleman]

Tennessee. Oh, we have some people raising their hands out there. You know.

[Jade Warshaw]

What? I'm. Indiana is the new.

[Ken Coleman]

Tennessee. Are you all. Are y' all leaving upstate New York? I met you all earlier. Is that what you.

[Jade Warshaw]

Did? Yeah, See, that's what I'm saying now. I'm not trying to spook you, but I'm just saying. But they're. The migration is.

[Ken Coleman]

Real. They're more mature. Can we say that they're a little bit more mature in.

[Jade Warshaw]

Age? There are predictions being made. I'm just saying. About another great.

[Ken Coleman]

Migration. Oh, well, we'll.

[Jade Warshaw]

See. We'll see. Times will.

[Ken Coleman]

Tell. Now's the time.

[Jade Warshaw]

Folks. I thought I was setting you. That's why I said I was putting a line in the.

[Ken Coleman]

Water. No, I'm not going to take it. Well, I'll say this. I'll say this. I. When people say they're going to leave this country based on some political change, number one, it's their right to say it. We saw a lot of celebs say it. A few actually did.

[Jade Warshaw]

It. Instead. They just went to.

[Ken Coleman]

Indiana. They went to.

[Jade Warshaw]

England. Oh, I'm just.

[Ken Coleman]

Kidding. The celebrities I'm thinking of. Yeah, but you know, listen, are people going to leave over stuff like that? You better believe it. We saw massive migration from California. We saw it here in middle Tennessee. Certainly a lot of people moving to Florida. It's certainly going to happen, but I don't think. And my brother in law and sister in law live in Indianapolis. So I apologize ahead of time. Of all the places people are going to flee from New York, I don't think it's Indianapolis. I'm not throwing shade at any of my friends. It's a nice area, sir. It's a lovely area, but it's not on the top of anybody's list. Is that fair? Even he's acknowledging me. He's like, well, you make a good.

[Caller]

Point.

[Ken Coleman]

Right? Lovely place to live. Is it a top destination? I don't think.

[Dave Ramsey]

So. I know life gets busy. The to do list never ends. But some things are just too important to put off and making a will is one of them. That's why I recommend Mama Bear legal forms, because I've seen it too many times. Families are grieving a loss and on top of that, they're stuck in court fighting over paperwork. All because someone didn't take a little time to get their will in place. That's not what you want for your loved ones. You want peace, you want clarity. You want focus on what matters most, being present and leaving a legacy. With Mama Bear, you can create your will in just 20 minutes right from the comfort of your home. It's simple, legally binding and doesn't require an expensive attorney or hours of confusing paperwork. And I'll tell you, almost every person who uses Mama Bear says the same thing. If I would have known how easy it was, I would have done it sooner. So don't wait. Go to mamabearlegalforms.com and use the promo code Ramsey to save 20%. That's mamabear legalforms.com code.

[Ken Coleman]

Ramsey. Hey, folks, welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw is in studio with me. 888, 825. 5225 is phone number for us to coach you up. Should be leading on the budgeting and what to do with the debt calls. And I'm going to lead on how to make more money, how to move up in your professional life so we can make more money, more freedom. That's the theme there. So we'd love to hear from you. And how about a question from the Ramsey Network? App. Jade, you up for one of.

[Jade Warshaw]

Those? Sounds good. Let's do.

[Ken Coleman]

It. All right. This is from Ann. She writes rights. I'm engaged, and my fiance just bought an RV for you. Ready for this? Hard swallow. $240,000, but he's not sure how he's going to pay for operating.

[Jade Warshaw]

It. Yikes.

[Ken Coleman]

What? I'm concerned that he may take a loan out so he'll not only have a monthly payment, but also all the expenses and upkeep that go along with owning an rv. My question is, how do I proceed? Because we plan to get married next year and we disagree on money issues.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yikes. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's a big red.

[Ken Coleman]

Flag. Dude went and bought an.

[Jade Warshaw]

RV. I don't think I realized that RVs were this.

[Ken Coleman]

Expensive. Oh.

[Dave Ramsey]

Man.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. That's a.

[Ken Coleman]

House. Oh.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. On wheels, basically.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, but. But doesn't go up in value.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right? Dropping like a rock. Yeah, drop. Dropping like a rock. Okay. You should be concerned. The fact that she's concerned that he's going to take a loan out makes sense. He took a loan out for the rv, so, yeah, he'll probably take a loan out for the upkeep. The biggest issue is they don't degree agree on the money issues. Ken, I don't know about you. I believe that money, it's one of those big overarching themes you've got to be aligned on. It's money, politics, religion, and how you see raising your kids and family, that kind of.

[Ken Coleman]

Thing. I.

[Jade Warshaw]

Agree. And so I agree this is a big one. The best way, I think, to call this out is just to sit them down and say, listen, here's what we've said. Our plans are together. We obviously plan to get married. I. I've started noticing that you and I have different views on how we view money and how we view debt. Can you tell me a little bit more of how you see that playing out in the future and maybe just kind of set them up with some questions. Hey, in the future, when we want a car, what do you think we would do? Would we get. Would we try to save up and pay cash, or do you think we would take out a loan and just kind of ask him, learn more about what he would say? And then you. Once you've heard his response, then you come back and say, okay, well, here's my viewpoint. I think that if we were going to buy cars, I'd like to pay cash. And here's why. And here. And then lay out your side and say, I just Want to have a clear conversation and see, is there a way that we can get on the same page with this? Because this feels like it could cause problems down the line and I don't want that for us. And you just have to have a hard.

[Ken Coleman]

Conversation. Yeah, I agree with everything you said. I'd probably ratchet up the technique.

[Jade Warshaw]

Here. Tell.

[Ken Coleman]

Me. Yeah, I'm gonna go with the. He needs a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Text. What do you.

[Ken Coleman]

Mean? I'm gonna tell.

[Jade Warshaw]

You. You're gonna text him the.

[Ken Coleman]

Questions? No, I'm gonna text him and say we need to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Talk. K. Now you know that that strikes fear. If you didn't have bubbles in your tummy when you receive that text, you will have.

[Ken Coleman]

Bubbles. You need bubbles. Bubbles. We need bubbles. This is a bubbles. This is a bubbles level.

[Jade Warshaw]

Conversation. So you want to create uncomfortability going.

[Ken Coleman]

In. He needs to know how serious it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. This is not a manipulative power play. It is a we need to talk. It's time to define the relationship. Because she says in this question, I am really concerned that we don't see eye to eye. And I think I agree with everything you said. I just would put some seriousness on it. It's not a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Threat. Serious.

[Ken Coleman]

Sauce. It's not manipulation. I'm just saying it needs to be. I don't know that we should be talking about getting married or no, no, I don't know. We shouldn't be talking about getting.

[Jade Warshaw]

Married. If we can't get this, we've.

[Ken Coleman]

Got to press pause on this because this will break us down the road. And this has nothing to do with my feelings for you. I think it's that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Serious.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. So I'm approaching this as if she were my.

[Jade Warshaw]

Daughter. He. Okay, but here's. Here's. Let me push on this a little.

[Ken Coleman]

Bit. There we go. This is why people show.

[Jade Warshaw]

Up. Let me push on this a little.

[Ken Coleman]

Bit.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. I would be afraid because love goggles make you can make you change parts of.

[Ken Coleman]

Yourself. Can you. And this is embarrassing, but give me a real quick 15 second on what love goggles means. I think I know, but I'm not sure I've.

[Jade Warshaw]

Ever. Love goggles are. You see them and everything's perfect because you've got, like, these. You don't notice their back hair. You don't notice, you know, the little things that you get married, you'll start to notice, you.

[Ken Coleman]

Know?

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. So you think she's got love.

[Dave Ramsey]

Goggles. She.

[Ken Coleman]

Did. She doesn't.

[Jade Warshaw]

Now. No, she doesn't. But my point is, if he has love goggles on. If she makes it feel like an ultimatum, then he might change some of his answers in order to get what he want. And I'm not saying, like, maliciously or, like, in a diabolical. I'm just saying that you think sometimes the pressure. Yes, because the truth is, you are your best self when you're in your dating phase. You're your best. Like, you're on your best behavior, and so he could be like, oh, yeah, yeah, honey, you know, we don't have to do.

[Ken Coleman]

Debt. So you think my approach. Help me. How is my approach not. How does she.

[Jade Warshaw]

Then? Because I think if she makes it. I think if she just makes it a conversation and we're talking, she's more likely to get the real answer. But if she puts the stress of, we need to talk, we need to define this relationship, then he could feel the need to be like, well, okay, okay, yeah, yeah, no debt. No debt. That's fine. That's fine. But that may not be really where his heart.

[Ken Coleman]

Is. That I know. Okay, so. Okay, so let's say I go with your approach. I'm not there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yet. Okay, fair.

[Ken Coleman]

Enough. Let's say she has that conversation, and. And then there's no real. There's no real.

[Jade Warshaw]

Outcome. Then I think she can ratchet it up. I think I would.

[Ken Coleman]

Start. So you're okay with that? You like my plan? You just aren't ready to. To push that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Button. Yeah, we're on. We're on, like, level two, and you were coming in hot on, like, medium.

[Ken Coleman]

High. That's fair. And I'll. And listen, I can now say I understand that, but, you know, I was truly coming at it.

[Jade Warshaw]

From. If it's your.

[Ken Coleman]

Daughter. If it's my daughter and she's having this conversation, she says, dad, what would you do? I went, dad. I pushed the dad button, everybody. Oh, Jade, thank you for pulling me off of it a little.

[Jade Warshaw]

Bit. If it was my daughter, I'd be like, let me go talk to.

[Ken Coleman]

Him. Okay. Hello. You just took me and said, hold my beer, and I'm gonna. I'm gonna kick the door down. All right, all right, Very good. But you get my point. I would say this. I think you said it well. And. And I want to. I want to park it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Here.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. Can. Can we park.

[Jade Warshaw]

It? Yeah. That's a.

[Ken Coleman]

Good. Because here's why. You nailed it. On the things that cause marriages to. To splinter and unfortunately break you. You gave a whole list. Kids, faith, politics.

[Jade Warshaw]

Money. Yeah. Excuse.

[Ken Coleman]

Me. And to that point, we have a Lot of new people that are joining this program all the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Time.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes. I'm parking it here because I think it's important that we share with people why this actually happens. There are deep seated habits that come from beliefs, the environment. On all of those issues, you could pick any of this is we're only talking money right.

[Jade Warshaw]

Now. Yeah, yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. But when, when, when you have tooly, when you have two completely different value sets and you mentioned love goggles. Let's just talk about money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Goggles.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. If the two sets of goggles and the way you see money are so different, it literally can cause chaos in your relationship. True or false? Is that too strong of a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Statement? No, I think that's exactly.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. How does it cause.

[Jade Warshaw]

Chaos? Well, you know, think about it. One is, let's filter it through the question. She is a person, obviously a little bit more frugal. She sounds like she's debt averse. She sounds like she understands the value of keeping your income every month. And that might be because it. All of that belief is because of how she's experienced the world up until this point. And then he's the opposite. I'm not saying he's a bad guy. I'm just saying that his beliefs are based on how he's experienced the world up until this point. And when you want somebody to change what they believe based on how they've experienced the world, that is a hard, very hard fought.

[Ken Coleman]

Fight. Yeah, it's. It's their default.

[Jade Warshaw]

Mode. It's their default mode. So you can. It's not just as simple as we'll change. Well, I gotta go back in and I gotta figure out how do I feel about this and what does that mean about me? Because I've always operated like this because of this. So it's not just a surface level.

[Ken Coleman]

Request. That's.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right. Hey, I don't want to use debt anymore. Oh, okay. No problem. Like it's, it's never that. These are. And that's why I say when it comes to these money issues, we do say. Ken, sometimes it might sound a little bit flippant. Get on the same page with your.

[Ken Coleman]

Money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And the point is, it's not a light switch that you just flip up or flip down one day. It's a.

[Ken Coleman]

Journey. I agree. And I would say on all of those issues, I think all those issues should come up in premarital counseling. Can I just put that out there? But I certainly believe, believe money ought to just press pause. Don't get married until you get on the same page with this stuff. I think you're save yourself a ton of stress and everything else. My goodness. It's that important. So just a little relationship thing. We talk about this. Relationships and money, folks. You just cannot untie those. They are tied together whether you like it or not. So really good stuff. All right, quick break. Don't move. More calls. They're all lined up for. We're going to get to them. This is the Ramsay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Show. Don't let big grocery bills spoil your holiday plans. Shop at Aldi first. They've got USDA choice meats like beef, pork, and even your turkey, along with fresh produce, holiday desserts, and more. And you'll find all of them at the lowest prices of any national grocery store. A family of four can save up to $4,000 a year by shopping at Aldi. You don't need a membership or some loyalty app either. So stop overpaying. This holiday season, go to Aldi US to find a store near you that's Aldi US.

[Ken Coleman]

Savings. Based on regional analysis of Aldi versus select competitors. Prices may vary by location, product availability and the market. Welcome back to the Ramsey show alongside Jade Wershaw. I'm Ken Coleman. 888-255-225 is the phone number. It's time for our question of the day. It comes to you by and from our good friends why refi? Why refi? Refinances defaulted private student loans and bills. A custom loan based on your ability to pay. You'll have a payment that you can afford with a low fixed interest rate. You can. You can't get anywhere else. So this will help you stick to your budget and work your debt Snowball. Go to yrefi.com today,/ramsey. That's the letter Y, R, E F Y dot com. Ramsey may not be available in all.

[Jade Warshaw]

States. Alrighty, then. You have to turn your microphone.

[Ken Coleman]

On. That's how that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Works. You do okay. Today's question comes from Tyrone in New Jersey. He says, I work for a small company with less than 20 employees. Recently, I discovered that while my employer has been taking deductions from my check for my 401k, they have been holding the money and making a few small deposits into my account throughout the year and then one larger deposit at the end of the year. Huh. I confronted my employer and their only response was that they were sorry. Does this sound legal or unethical? And is it time to seek new.

[Ken Coleman]

Employment?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeesh. That does not sound.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. It does not sound right at.

[Jade Warshaw]

All. Smells very fishy. Yeah. Because you're missing out on time in the market. If they're not investing the money into the funds that you chose needs.

[Ken Coleman]

To be dealt with.

[Jade Warshaw]

Instantly.

[Ken Coleman]

Instantly. Like sitting down with lots of leaders going, hey, look, I'm immediately. I got questions. Don't go in accusing, but a lot of questions and good questions, good questions. Why has this been happening? Yeah, you said sorry. That implies a mistake. Has it been remedied? What are you going to do about all the back.

[Jade Warshaw]

Stuff? I need to know tone. Because I, I have strong.

[Ken Coleman]

Tone. I'm gonna say serious.

[Jade Warshaw]

Tone. A serious tone. Yeah. I'm not messing around.

[Ken Coleman]

Tone. Oh yeah. Very.

[Jade Warshaw]

Serious.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. The. Let the. I like that you asked this. So I want to set this up.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. The questions themselves take care of the tone. In other words, you don't have to be accusatory, angry. A really pointed, specific line of questions happening pre thought out, maybe right there in front of you on your lap or on your phone. And in the moment you're serious. Serious face. We're not joyful about.

[Jade Warshaw]

This. No, no smiles, no.

[Ken Coleman]

Amiableness. It is seriousness. But I think the questions asked properly make it very serious. They go, this is a person who did their homework. This is a person who has follow up. There is a line of questioning. They, they feel as though they are on a witness stand and that's how it should be. You don't have to be ugly and accusatory because you're hoping to get to the bottom of this and get an actual solution. But by doing this, you're going to find out really quick if this is a fishy situation or if this is a fixable situation. That would be my take. I like.

[Jade Warshaw]

That. I, I love a, a furrowed brow and. But a nod. Yes, like, like, yeah, that, that.

[Ken Coleman]

Way. First question. How did this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Happen? Yeah. Oh.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. And stop talking. Yes, how did this happen? That's a serious question. Then the follow up is, has it been fixed? Will this ever happen again? What happens to the money that I earned? That should have been put like these questions. These questions are going to imply a whole lot of seriousness. That, that would be my posture.

[Jade Warshaw]

And, and, and, and spoken from a.

[Ken Coleman]

Guy, by the way, who's not done it. Well, all right. I mean. Cause I get, I get how the heat should be pretty hot under the hood there. It should be steaming. But can we keep that in and can we ask the questions that way? That helps us hopefully get some real.

[Jade Warshaw]

Responses. I hope so. Yeah, this, this would be, this needs to be dealt with quickly. Would.

[Ken Coleman]

You. Would you seek, I almost might seek an employment lawyer on this. Not, not, not lock up a lot of time. But maybe a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Consultation. I don't think I, I mean, don't get me wrong that this is not, would ever happen here. But let's just pretend I looked at my investments and said, wait a minute, like my thing didn't go in there. I mean I, I would go to my leader and, or you know, who's over HR or whatever and say, hey, here's what I discovered. I, I, I would not be lawyering at this point. I'd be doing what you're doing, which is asking serious.

[Ken Coleman]

Questions. This is the thing though. They've already apologized. And so essentially that's true. We have an admission of, we have an admission of guilt here at this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Point. That's why I wait for the next round. And if I see it again, because my thing is if I see it again, then yeah, well, I'm sorry.

[Ken Coleman]

I should have done a better job asking you if, you know, you've got to go have this conversation with the leader, which they do. I might consult an.

[Jade Warshaw]

Employment. Yeah, I probably would just at that.

[Ken Coleman]

Point. So I know what should.

[Jade Warshaw]

Be. That's, this is, you know what I.

[Ken Coleman]

Mean? Yeah, this is very, gives me a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Look. They, they listen. I don't want to say do.

[Ken Coleman]

Anybody wrong, but they took a loan that smells over.

[Jade Warshaw]

There. That was a.

[Ken Coleman]

Loan. I get it. Let's go to Denver, Colorado next where David awaits. David, how can we.

[Caller]

Help? Hi, I'm starting to work the well, I'm working baby step two and I have been using a credit card for all of my like day to day purchases and I pay that credit card off every month. But I'm looking to stop using it and I'm just a little hesitant to like start carrying a balance so that I have like the money to just use the debit card for other things and then like have to carry that as I pay that one off too instead of just like paying it off. And so I'm not sure like is it something, something where I should like wait a month or two and save up the extra money or should I just go and carry the balance and pay it off as quickly as.

[Jade Warshaw]

Possible? So okay, let me filter it through the baby steps. So when you're paying off debt using the debt snowball method, what we say to do is you pay minimum payments on everything so that you're satisfying whatever your, your debts are for that month you're paying. You know, you're doing the things on Your budget that are necessary for that month, whatever they may be. I mean, everybody pays their rent or mortgage. You pay your groceries, you pay your minimums on your debt, and then the extra money after that goes to paying off your smallest debt. So you do need to satisfy with your own cash the things that the month requires. And which for you, that's going to feel some type of way because you're used to doing that with your credit card. So essentially you're used to taking all of your income and throwing it to your credit card to paying it off. And this month you're going to go, no, I'm going to take my income and I'm going to use it on my life. Life. And what the margin is I'm going to use to pay off that credit card. And what you're going to discover there when you do that is what has been true all along, which is that money was debt and you were borrowing it and now you owe it and have to pay it back. That's what that's going to feel like. You're gonna, you're gonna actually feel that you've been in debt this whole time. Does that make.

[Caller]

Sense?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yep. Yeah. Listen, I'm proud of you. I'm glad that you're. See, you've seen the light. You've had that moment. What caused you to, to go, you know, I don't want to do this.

[Caller]

Anymore. It just like, it's a little hard to plan like when you're. The bill is finished on the 20th of the month, but you don't pay for it until the 15th of the next. And so it seems a lot easier, more simple to manage the other.

[Jade Warshaw]

Way. Well, listen, I want you to have every dollar. That's going to be a great way for you to make this transition into using your own money. And I. Let me just say, and, and Ken, I know you can speak to this when you have been a person who. You've let credit cards run their scam on you, which what credit cards do is they say, hey, we'll make your life easier for you. Easy in the word, in quotes. But what it really does is it steals your confidence to handle your own money. That's what it does. Because you have this crutch that you've been relying on that's always there. It's debt, but you don't feel like it's debt. And then the moment you remove it, suddenly most of us are like, oh my gosh, I don't even know what to do with my own income. It Feels, exposing. And so that you're going to feel that for a moment and then you're going to go, oh, wait, I actually make money and I work hard for my money and I should have the dignity of managing it and spending it in and of my.

[Ken Coleman]

Control. Okay, there you go. And what will change is I was waiting for him to respond because, you know, the, the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Emotion. He's. He's licking his.

[Ken Coleman]

Wounds. He really is. But, you know, I love that he told you. Why this? Why the call, why the change? The stress of living off of that credit card way that a lot of people do.

[Jade Warshaw]

That.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. Well, I'm going to use it for this and then pay it off. And for him. He's not wired for.

[Jade Warshaw]

That. That.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. And I'm just thinking about how light he's gonna feel. Yeah. You know when he just starts to do it this way, the way you've told him, and he goes, okay, now I am in full control. I don't have that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Angst. And you're not behind a month when you do that, you're always behind a month. And so what happens? You put everything on your American Express. And then what happens if you lose your job? Now you just owe the money, but you didn't get your.

[Ken Coleman]

Paycheck.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. So there's, there's method to the madness.

[Ken Coleman]

People. Good stuff. Thank you. Thanks for the call. David, it's going to work. Take a deep breath. Maybe three or four, and it's going to be great. All right, don't move. Quick break. More of your calls coming up. She's Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman. You're listening to the Ramsey.

[Jade Warshaw]

Show. Hey.

[Ken Coleman]

Guys. It's open enrollment time for health.

[Jade Warshaw]

Insurance. And if you have ever felt overwhelmed trying to figure out your health care costs, you are not alone. For a lot of families, health care is one of the biggest line items in the budget. And it gets more confusing every.

[Ken Coleman]

Year. But you don't have to settle. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a biblical and budget friendly alternative to health insurance, and I am proud to recommend them. With chm, you are joining a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Community of believers who actually help share each other's medical.

[Ken Coleman]

Bills. Yeah, it's.

[Jade Warshaw]

True. Members have shared over $12 billion in healthcare costs since CHM started nearly 45 years ago. And it's simple. You choose your provider with no network limits. You submit your eligible bills online, and other members help share your.

[Ken Coleman]

Expenses. CHM has program options for every stage of life, whether you're single, self.

[Jade Warshaw]

Employed, or raising a family. Y', all, open enrollment Has a lot of people scrambling right now, but CHM lets you join.

[Ken Coleman]

Anytime. So go to chministries.orgbudget to check them out. That's chministries.orgbudget. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is in Studio with me, 888-825-5225. Thrilled to have you with us. We're here to coach you up. Let's go to Brandon in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Brandon, how can we help.

[Caller]

Today? So I just enrolled in an HSA this year and I'm wondering if it makes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sense.

[Caller]

Okay. I had a couple of, a couple hospital visits pop up this year and I'm anticipating the same thing next.

[Jade Warshaw]

Year.

[Caller]

Okay. So even with the compounding interest, I'm spending thousands of dollars each year. Does it make sense to still hold on to the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Hsa? Well, it depends. I mean, when you do know that you're going to have qualified medical expenses, it could make sense to pay for them through the hsa. And in that way, you're not, not, you're not taxed on that money. So that could make sense for you. So you're thinking about it more through the lens of your actual health purchases. You're not thinking about it as an investment vehicle, which a lot of our callers do.

[Caller]

Correct? Well, no, I am looking at it as an investment vehicle. I'd like to have it, you know, in.

[Jade Warshaw]

Retirement. Oh, okay. Well, in that case, an HSA is a great idea if you know that you don't go to the doctor much if you're willing to have that higher deductible because maybe you know that you're not going to meet it, that's, that could be great for you. And then, of course, if you're thinking about it as a retirement vehicle, that's great. But it would not be my first choice. It would be what I would do maybe tertiary to a 401k or a Roth IRA and then I'd go in and do an HSA. Have you already maxed out those other.

[Caller]

Options? I have.

[Jade Warshaw]

Not.

[Caller]

Okay. So, yeah, I've been paying for everything out of pocket so.

[Jade Warshaw]

Far. Okay. So if we're looking at it through the, the lens of strictly investing, yeah, I'm starting with a 401k if I have it through my work, you know, start with that. If there's no match, you start with a Roth IRA first. Now, for the use of, hey, I want to filter some of my Iraq, my actual health expenses through this. Then, yeah, you could fund it up to the Point of. Yeah, I know that I'm going to spend, I don't know, $3,000 on health care this year. So I'm going to put that in there and then I'm going to use that HSA to then pay for those expenses. You could 100 do that, but I would not over fund it to the point of investing. Does that make.

[Caller]

Sense?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Okay. It's set up weird where I have to have $2,000 in the regular HSA and then everything AB I can.

[Jade Warshaw]

Invest. Yes. And if you, if, you know, hey, at this point, the $2,000 that are in there, I'm actually going to use that on healthcare care costs this year. And this is a great funnel for it. Yeah, I'm all for that. But as far as you overfunding it to the point that you can then invest the rest, I would not do that until I've overfunded my 401k and Roth IRA. Makes.

[Caller]

Sense. Yeah. And I'm, you know, giving the max up to the match for the 401k and I'm slated to max out the Roth.

[Jade Warshaw]

IRA. Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Great. Good for.

[Jade Warshaw]

You. Yeah. And if you do all three of those, you are what's known as winning at life. That's.

[Ken Coleman]

Amazing. Yeah, congratulations. Thanks for the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Call. Yeah, good.

[Ken Coleman]

Call. By the way, speaking of winning at life, you dropped tertiary out there. I want to just give a little shout out to that. It's a great.

[Jade Warshaw]

Word.

[Ken Coleman]

Tertiary. Yeah, yeah, that's a word, by the way. You figure out how to use that, Right? Drop that in a sentence this week. You get a good brand at work. So there you go. Just call it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Out. Thanks for the call.

[Ken Coleman]

Out. I was impressed. Tertiary. Yeah, Very nice. Word of the day, Connor's up next in Boston. Connor, how can we.

[Caller]

Help? Hi, Ken. Hi, Jade. Love you guys. Thanks so much for taking my.

[Ken Coleman]

Call. You bet. What's going.

[Caller]

On? All right, so my wife and I just got married. We're in the process of combining our finances and I basically have a retirement question. My question is, should we convert the money that we have in our traditional 401ks into Roth or should we just, from this point forward, put money into the Roth 401k.

[Jade Warshaw]

Option? Okay, what baby step are you.

[Caller]

In? We're in baby step 3B. We're currently renting and we're going to be renting for the next couple of years because we're not going to be in the city that we're in long.

[Jade Warshaw]

Term. Yeah, I mean, how much do you.

[Ken Coleman]

Have? Can I ask how Much do you have in your.

[Caller]

401K? Yeah. So across my wife and my accounts, we have about 220,000 in that there. Our household income is about the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Same. Okay, good. Very good. Typically, we would wait until baby step six to make a rollover like that because the truth is, you're going to be on the hook for some taxes associated with that.

[Caller]

Obviously.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right. And with the goals that you have up until this point. In this case, it's saving for a down payment. It could really eat into that goal that you have. So for this matter, you may, you know. Yeah, from this point on, I would do Roth style. That's what I would invest in. But I probably would wait to roll it over until you're ready to fit the tax bill and that it's, it's not going to put a dent in your other very important goals. So, yeah, you could wait till baby step six to do.

[Caller]

That. Okay, great. Thank you very.

[Ken Coleman]

Much. Absolutely love that call. They're, they're rocking. Yeah, love hearing that. Spokane, Washington, near your birthplace, isn't that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right? The City world. Hey, before we go to Spokane. Okay, let me go back to that because somebody might be like, why do they want to do that? What's the.

[Ken Coleman]

Purpose? Oh.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So their, their 401k that they have now, they have not paid taxes on that money. Right. And what they're trying to set themselves up for is a situation that when they get into retirement, they can pull money and not have to pay taxes on it. So if you do a Roth account, you're paying the taxes up front so that when you're 59 and a half and older, you can pull money from that and you're not taxed on it. So most people would like to carry that burden now instead of waiting for later. So that's the purpose of that. And whenever you attempt to move that money that you have not yet paid taxes on it, well, then you will have to pay taxes on it. Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. Yeah, no, good, Good explanation there. Glad you did that. All right. Randy's up in Spokane, Washington. Randy, how can we.

[Caller]

Help? Hi, Ken. Hey. I was recently let go in my mid-50s from an executive position making north of 200 grand a year. And since I'm completely debt free, everything, and I have a pretty good nest egg set aside investment wise, I'm thinking about making a career change that to start out I'd be making maybe 50 a year. The first couple of years later on it goes up, but it's. Something gets me out of the, the corporate Stress and the hassle. I don't have to move. It's right down the road from my house that's completely paid for. Does that sound.

[Ken Coleman]

Weird? No, it doesn't sound weird, given what you just experienced. I mean, when you lose a job like that, that is a real shot. We know from psychology studies that it's the equivalent of losing a loved one. So, number one, I'm sorry that happened to you. Number two, it's not weird for you to be thinking through this. My first question comes down to the transition phase. So financially, can you make ends meet, making this pivot to the $50,000 a year deal? And then how long would you have to live in that.

[Caller]

Situation? Yeah, so I'm cash flowing it all out, and I have access to about quarter million dollars in cash outside my 401k investments, Roth, all that. So my thought is that while I learned this new career path, maybe I pay myself three grand a month out of that month of cash that I have. And we just more simpler than what we were doing.

[Ken Coleman]

Before. Right. So that's 36,000. Jade and I are keeping track of the money. And would that, would that then get you to a place where we've got margin? If I. If you used 36,000 of the 250 that you got set aside, that's what.

[Caller]

My. That's what my spreadsheets tell.

[Ken Coleman]

Me. Okay, now, what is the. I'm just curious, what is this new.

[Caller]

Path? Being a surveyor? A licensed.

[Ken Coleman]

Surveyor. Okay, and so how much.

[Dave Ramsey]

Would. Is.

[Ken Coleman]

It. Excuse me, Is that a government job? Is that like a county level, state level, or is it.

[Caller]

Private? No, it's actually, it's actually, it's a little private company that they have their own little firm and they run a little.

[Ken Coleman]

Business. All right, so 50,000 a year for how long before it goes up? And then what does it go up.

[Caller]

To? Probably the first couple years. And then, and then as you get more experience and you're running your own jobs and everything gets into 70, 80, 90 grand a year. Yeah, well, at that point, it's just me and my.

[Ken Coleman]

Wife. And you've got. In your investment situation, you started off the call saying your investment situation is good. In this situation, I'm okay with this. I just wouldn't limit myself just to the, to the 50,000. I'd be doing some other stuff in the meantime because I really don't want to use any of that 250 I've set aside. That would be my advice. If you love it and you can make that change Then I'm okay with it. It's not my favorite idea, but not a bad idea. This is the Ramsey Show. Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fair Winds Credit Union Studios alongside Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman, and we're going to go to Matt, who's joining us now in Fort Worth, Texas. Matt, how can we help.

[Caller]

Today? Yes, sir. So as of this past Monday, I had a truck that I've been paying on for about two years. I had an auto loan for about $30,000 on it. I owe about 27. Or, I'm sorry, $23,000 on it, and the motor blew up. It's unfortunately just a bad design from General Motors. They've had issues with this vehicle or these motors for substantial amount of years at this point, and I have now fallen victim to said bad design. It would be about $15,000 to have the motor replace, and I'm trying to decide if what's my best option for it before I try to go trade it in. And that. And it'd be upside down on.

[Ken Coleman]

It. You owe.

[Caller]

23. Yes.

[Ken Coleman]

Sir. If you get the motor fixed. If we could snap our fingers and it was just fixed today and it was paid off, is this a truck you'd be happy to drive for a while and could.

[Caller]

You. The truck's in great condition. Other than that, if the motor were to be fixed, there is a company that sells a motor that has the system that caused it to have this issue in the first place deleted. And that's the option that I went and got quoted from when I talked to a.

[Ken Coleman]

Shop. Do you have the 15,000 in.

[Caller]

Cash? I do.

[Jade Warshaw]

Not. What do you have in.

[Caller]

Cash? I. I don't have much. My girlfriend just finished school, and I was basically the primary provider for about a year and a half with.

[Ken Coleman]

Us. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. How old are.

[Caller]

You? About 30 years.

[Ken Coleman]

Old. You're 30. Okay. You complimented. You. You sounded much.

[Jade Warshaw]

Younger. You did. You.

[Ken Coleman]

Did. Why are you the primary provider for your girlfriend? You guys aren't.

[Jade Warshaw]

Married? Is she.

[Caller]

32? No. She's a little bit younger than me. How old is she? She is.

[Ken Coleman]

27. You really don't know how old she is? You had to think about that. That's kind of funny to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Me. That's a different.

[Ken Coleman]

Issue. That's a whole nother deal. Different show. Different show. But I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, you probably need to be on top of that one. Okay. You should. So you need to come up with 15 grand. What do you.

[Caller]

Make. I work in public safety. So last year I made about 70,000. I'm probably on track for about the same this.

[Ken Coleman]

Year. And, and, and if you weren't helping provide for your girlfriend, it's just you, right? Just rent or do you own a home? I mean, what's, what's the situation.

[Caller]

There? No, it would just be renting my normal.

[Ken Coleman]

Expenses. And I'm sorry for following up on this. Is, is she able to support herself.

[Caller]

Now? Yes, she's working full time again. She just started with the, the school.

[Ken Coleman]

Year.

[Caller]

Jade. I, she works as a, a American Sign Language interpreter and she started interpreting with a.

[Ken Coleman]

School.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. All.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. Jade, I don't know where you're at on this, but I, there's, there's a part of me that goes. Because he's already upside down in this, the trade in option to me is just foolish. You're just not going to get anything at all. I'd rather see him working two, three, four.

[Jade Warshaw]

Jobs.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. And come up with 15 grand to get that truck fixed. And then, and then you got to swallow the pill and pay it off. But if it's a good, if it's, if the truck's in good shape other than this defect. Yeah, that. And again, I'm giving you the answer on what I would.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do. Well, yeah, I mean, if you roll out the numbers, if we, if we looked it up and said what could you get for this with the bad engine? I mean, what is it? What would you be.

[Ken Coleman]

Your. Do you have any.

[Caller]

Idea? Yeah, I've been shopping around with a couple different dealerships. I reach out to GM recently because, or, I'm sorry, gmc because they have the highest rebates and stuff right now. And what they say GM would give me.

[Jade Warshaw]

9,000. Okay. I mean, because if you think about it like that and then you add what you would have to kick in to cover the upside down plus to get another vehicle. Do you see what I'm saying? You're still shelling out $15,000, so that's kind of the numbers on it. I, I can't see why you wouldn't just at this point. I hate it, but yeah, I don't think the numbers are good for you either way. So it's. Do you want to keep the car and pay the 15, 000 or do you want to get out of the car and get another beater? Which I don't think you do. I think you'd rather drive the more the nicer car of the two. If you can just get the.

[Caller]

Money. I've tried.

[Jade Warshaw]

That. You can't go into debt for this, I'll tell you that. Like if you end up, if you can't find the money and you end up having to go the other route of, you.

[Caller]

Know.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, if you, because here's the thing, if you do a personal loan to get from upside down, your numbers are going down. And I can, I can advocate for that. Right. I can advocate for you getting out of debt and then having to get a beater car and taking out a personal loan to do that. Right. What I can't advocate for is you taking out a personal loan to keep a $23,000 car that you were already in debt for. Does that make sense? So if you can't come up with the money, you might be going down in.

[Ken Coleman]

Value. But I'm sitting next to a person who, who with her husband, they had one car for how many.

[Jade Warshaw]

Years? A.

[Ken Coleman]

Decade. So where there's a will, there's a way. And what I'm saying is figure out a way to get where you need to get. And I think you can come up with 15 grand pretty quick. A single guy, guy who's able.

[Jade Warshaw]

Bodied. Now, you might have to stop taking care of your.

[Ken Coleman]

Girlfriend. Oh no, that's done. I'm already assuming because she's just your girlfriend. She's a, she's a grown woman. You got problems. Yeah. So taking care of her problems aren't. Isn't your problem. You can't, you know, in fact, you guys have been, you know, playing house for apparently a long time anyway. So no date nights, no nothing. You got to come up with 15 grand stat. Did we lose.

[Caller]

You? No, I'm still.

[Ken Coleman]

Here. Yeah, it's a bitter pill to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Swallow. It.

[Ken Coleman]

Is. But I, I just think the way Jay broke it down is great. And that just again, we're always trying to answer things like what would we do if you were in your.

[Jade Warshaw]

Shoes? If you can get the money without debt. Yes. Keep the car. It's, it's you to your point. It's going to be a great car when you get it fixed. But you can't, you can't do debt. I can't let you take out $15,000 of debt to, and put it with a $23,000 debt. I can't let you do that. And you should say that to yourself too and go back and listen to this call. Right. Don't come off this call and go, oh, I can't get 50,000. I'm just gonna do marinate on it. Because when you do, you're gonna see. Oh, man. The last thing I want to do is go from being $23,000 in debt, you know, to being 30, $45,000 in debt. That would be.

[Ken Coleman]

Terrible. I agree completely. Are you.

[Caller]

Stunned? Yeah, I've tried going that route. I just haven't been able to find a place to be able to do that. I initially did attempt to contact my bank to try for a personal loan because other than the faulty design, I don't have an issue with the truck. I enjoy the truck. I've been driving the truck for two years, and it's been.

[Jade Warshaw]

Great. So then what do you think your option is? Because you're either. You're either not getting the car fixed or you're. Listen, your other option is take the time, however long it takes you to save up the 15,000. And in the meantime, you're taking the bus and you're riding your bike and you're getting Ubers and you're calling up Leroy to. To hit you up for a ride. Like that's. That's your.

[Ken Coleman]

Option. That's what I. That's what I think you got to do. Yeah, I don't think he likes that option. I'm not even sure he heard that. I went through that painstakingly. I think it went in one ear and out the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Other. Listen, it's not fun. That's why it's not fun.

[Dave Ramsey]

Foreign. Hey, guys, Dave Ramsey here. Winning at money is 80% behavior and 20% head knowledge. What to do isn't the problem. Doing it is. In her brand new book, what no one tells you about Money, Jade Warshaw dives deep into the reasons you've been stuck. This book exposes the real emotional fight with money and shows you how to win that battle. Pre order now for $24.99 and you'll get over $100 of free bonus items. Get your copy today at ramseysolutions.com.

[Ken Coleman]

Store. All right, Jade, The All New EveryDollar is here and now. It's way more than just a world class budgeting app. There's a ton of advanced features to help make faster progress with your money. I want you to imagine going on everydollar after going into your app store, Google Play, and you get in there and you spend about 12 to 15 minutes answering specific questions. And then right away, like you were on the air with us, you get recommendations on where you can save money. And it's several thousand dollars. Imagine that. And imagine that you got one of us always on call. That's what this app is. It's a game changer. The average person finds thousands of dollars in margin in the the first 15 minutes. It stays with you. You are with it. It is the perfect partner. Start every dollar for free today. Get it in the App Store or Google Play. It will absolutely be a game changer for you. Ashley is up next in Indianapolis. Ashley, how can we.

[Caller]

Help? Hi. So I'm a Realtor. My commission actually goes through an LLC we just set up, but I have a savings account where I've been putting my salary in. But it's been really sloppy this past year. Wanted to kind of get clear. We're on baby step two. So how should I be using that salary account? Should I put in six months and dwindle it down and replenish it every quarter, or should I have a full year's salary in there before I started attacking the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Debt? Oh, I see. Okay. So are you the only. Is it just you or. You said you're married.

[Caller]

Right? I am.

[Jade Warshaw]

Married. Okay. Does your husband.

[Caller]

Work? He.

[Jade Warshaw]

Does. Okay, what is. What do you bring in a year? And what does he bring in per.

[Caller]

Year? So this year I'm bringing in 130, and he's bringing in.

[Jade Warshaw]

40. Okay, so what does it cost on annual? And we can look at this monthly. Let's. Let's look at it monthly. What does it cost on a monthly basis to make your household.

[Caller]

Run?

[Jade Warshaw]

4,000. 4,000. Okay. So what I would be doing is since you know that it sounds like you're. Whenever you get a big lump sum of money, you're throwing it in savings and you're just kind of filtering in your portion of whatever makes the household run every single month. Is that.

[Caller]

Right? Sort of. So all of my commission goes into the LLC checking account, and then I put in what I know I need to get paid for the next couple of months, which is $2,000 a.

Month.

Month. And that goes into our personal.

[Jade Warshaw]

Account. Okay. And then you're trying to understand. Okay. With the rest of it, can I go ahead and start paying off debt? Or how much do I need to keep.

[Caller]

Aside? Correct. Yeah. Like I should do, like six months and then replenish.

[Ken Coleman]

It. Well, how about we come.

[Caller]

Out. Or if I do a year.

[Ken Coleman]

What if we come at it a different way? How about you tell us how much you have in savings in. Or, excuse me, in the LLC account Right.

[Caller]

Now? Right now we've got 13,000 in.

[Ken Coleman]

Total. Okay. And how much debt do you have and listed out for Jade? Smallest to largest.

[Caller]

Cool. So smallest to largest, we've got five in school.

[Jade Warshaw]

Loans.

[Caller]

Okay. Seven in a motorcycle, 21 in car, and then 22 in credit.

[Ken Coleman]

Card. Okay. A few more questions about that. What's that motorcycle worth if you or he were to sell that.

[Caller]

Today? Oh, he rides it an awful lot, so I don't know. It might be worth.

[Ken Coleman]

Five. Okay. You notice I. You notice I said if I get. I get. I get it. And it's such a small amount, you guys could knock that out so we don't have to get rid of it. What? Okay, so, Jade, you've got a picture of the debt right now. What do you have in the pipeline as far as home.

[Caller]

Sales? So I have two that are pending past their contingency. That'll be about 13,000 this in the next 30 days. And then I also have five active listings. So what are you looking at? Maybe 20 more.

[Ken Coleman]

Thousand. Okay. Okay, that gives you a better.

[Jade Warshaw]

Picture. Yeah, you've got 13 coming, and then maybe another 20,000 in active listings, and there's already 13 there. I probably. If your husband made a little bit more money, I might pull this number back. But if I were you, I'd want, like, two months there. Does that feel.

[Caller]

Right? Two months in the. In the account to know that I'll be.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay? Yeah. So instead of 13, you said 2,000amonth is what you pay yourself. So she's saying.

[Jade Warshaw]

4,000. Four or.

[Ken Coleman]

Five. Okay, leave five. Let's say five, and that gives you eight to put towards.

[Caller]

Debt.

[Ken Coleman]

That. That's what she's throwing.

[Jade Warshaw]

Out. Does that feel like. And then on a regular occurrence, that five, if it goes down, you're always replenishing it to where it's always five. You're. You're paying yourself your monthly amount, plus there's always five in the contingency account. Does that feel.

[Caller]

Good? Okay, so more like an emergency.

[Jade Warshaw]

Account. Yeah, but I don't want it to be confused with your emergency fund, because this really just is. It's kind of like if you have any other sole proprietor, you just want to make sure, hey, there's money coming in. I understand.

[Ken Coleman]

My.

[Jade Warshaw]

My. My income is very.

[Ken Coleman]

Fluctuating. We would call this retained earnings in entre leadership land. Right. And. And so. But what we're also trying to do right now is we're trying to coach you up on what you can do with the 13 that's in there right now and make some headway. You've got a $5,000 student loan that you could knock out.

[Jade Warshaw]

Immediately. Done. And how much Money. Would that free up in.

[Caller]

Payment? Oh, 50.

[Jade Warshaw]

Bucks. Okay, still 50 bucks. 50 bucks is 50 bucks. Yeah. Which is great. And then the next month, my goal would be to knock out this.

[Caller]

Motorcycle.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. That's 12 grand over two.

[Jade Warshaw]

Months. Can I be honest? I'd sell the.

[Ken Coleman]

Motorcycle. Well, I was going that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Direction. I'd get the two. I'd take $2,000 so that you're not upside down and I'd sell it. That's what I would.

[Ken Coleman]

Do. But you said he rides it a lot. That's what. The only reason I. You know what? I do it. I challenge him. Yeah. I challenge him to go get a side hustle. What does he do, by the way, for $40,000 a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Year? Year.

[Caller]

He. So we actually live in Anderson, which is like a smaller market, but he is in training to become an electrician, so he is going to.

[Ken Coleman]

Skyrocket. Okay, you know what? For that. That's where I'm at. I. Yes, Joy. I mean, excuse me, Ashley. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Ashley. I think he keeps it. And. And you guys go all in on this and knock this, Knock this out. But I knocked the student loan out today. I'd cut a check for five grand as soon as I got off the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Phone. Yeah, that's going to.

[Ken Coleman]

Feel. It's going to leave eight in there, Jade, and it's gonna feel real good. Like that's a massive.

[Jade Warshaw]

Momentum. Yeah. And then put the other three on the.

[Ken Coleman]

Motorcycle. That cuts that in half.

[Jade Warshaw]

Essentially. And then the next month. So that means in December, the whole bike will be paid off. And now you guys will be setting yourself up to work on the credit card debt. Now, is it one credit card for 22, 000 or is it littler.

[Caller]

Ones? No, it's. There's two. Two basically split in.

[Jade Warshaw]

Half. Okay, so. Okay, great. So, yeah, I. I would work on right after that. Yeah. Now you got 11,000. One 11,000 doll. $11,000 card. You guys are going to go so fast like.

[Ken Coleman]

This. I love it. I love it. How. What's your anticipated timeline for him to start making the money as an.

[Caller]

Electrician? I think he's due for a raise in six months, but about a year is. And we'll actually know for sure when he'll get in.

[Ken Coleman]

There. I think you guys, if you really get after it, I mean, you're going to be a long way down the line here on paying off this debt. By the time he comes into some really nice money, I think you're.

[Jade Warshaw]

Going to be done by the end of the year. Year. Because I think you're killing it on real.

[Dave Ramsey]

Estate.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Yeah. And I think the more myself.

[Caller]

For not having it done.

[Jade Warshaw]

Now. That's all right. The more you pay. It takes a minute to get the bearings on.

[Ken Coleman]

This. Listen, we're not playing armchair quarterback and looking in the back and looking in the past, Ashley. This. You guys are a great young couple. This debt is very manageable. I'm so proud of you. The thing that made me smile, by the way, Ashley, is when you told me what was in your pipeline. You know, great five houses sitting out there, there. Let's see if we can stack two or three more on top of that. That's a beautiful situation for.

[Jade Warshaw]

You. And if he starts side hustling. Yeah. Mark my words, in 12 months, you're going to be out of debt. He's going to be, you know, increasing his income greatly. You guys are going to be. It's going to be looking good for you.

[Caller]

Right? Well, thank you guys. A whole.

[Ken Coleman]

Bunch. Yeah, you're in great shape. Head up. Right. Super excited. We're going to put you on the spot. Before we let you guys go, what are the chances, Ashley, that you cut a $5,000 check today to pay off that student.

[Caller]

Loan?

[Jade Warshaw]

102%.

[Ken Coleman]

Whoa. How about.

[Jade Warshaw]

That? That's what I'm talking.

[Ken Coleman]

About. That's like a nice birdie putt clap right there. I think that's.

[Jade Warshaw]

Fantastic. I love.

[Ken Coleman]

That. You know what I love about.

[Jade Warshaw]

Her? Get it?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. She said.

[Jade Warshaw]

102%. That means it's happening.

[Ken Coleman]

Ken. I think she's cutting the check right now. That.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is. That's.

[Ken Coleman]

Great. Boy, that feels good, doesn't it? Describe for people. From a. From a. From a person who, with your husband, you paid off half a million. What is it going to feel like to hurt? Describe the feeling for somebody who's yet to do.

[Jade Warshaw]

It. Oh, boy. It's. It's like nothing else because it's never comes back. It's a stress that never has the ability to come back in your life.

[Ken Coleman]

Again. It's deleted. Deleted from the deleted.

[Jade Warshaw]

Files. Yes. Yes. Evaporated. Men in.

[Dave Ramsey]

Blacked. Everywhere you turn right now, you're being told a lie about money that you can't get ahead, that you can't survive without debt. And those lies are keeping you broke. Don't buy into it. Yes, there's a lot of noise and chaos and confusion out there, but there's also hope. The truth is, you have more control than you think. This year, it's time to take back your hard Earned money and your life. And it starts by joining our free live stream on January 8. Me and Jade Warshaw will show you how to go from chaos to clarity with your money, help you break free from debt and change your family tree, all by using the all new EveryDollar app. Plus 10 people who sign up will win $2,000 cash. Don't let this be another year of I can't sign up for free. At EveryDollar.com.

[Ken Coleman]

Livestream, The Ramsey show rolls along from our Nashville area based headquarters. Thrilled that you are with us. I'm Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw is alongside. The phone number is 888-255-2225. Let's go to Chris in Sacramento, California. Chris, how can we help.

[Caller]

Today? Hi, guys. I just want to say thank you for hearing me out. I'm 27 and I'm getting married within a week and I have done debt, no debt. Sorry. But 65% of my income is going to my house and we're drowning about negative 20% per month on our utilities and groceries. And we've cut back and I am debating on whether I sell my home, rent my home. I have an opportunity out of the area for a job that I would be able to live rent free and just trying to figure out.

[Dave Ramsey]

Life.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow. Well, what we know to be True is the $65,000. This 65% mortgage can't continue. So we know that's.

[Caller]

True. Right.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right. So that kind of takes the weight off of our shoulders to know, okay, we can't stay here. And then the question is, what do we do next? Because you said you've got an. Now we can start to say, okay, do we want to do the opportunity that's outside of the area? What does it look like? I think you mentioned renting this house. And so now let's talk about those other options. So is it fair to say that we both agree you can't stay in this.

[Caller]

House?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes. Okay. So now let's talk about what do we do with the house? If I were you, I'd sell.

[Caller]

It. I'd gross about 150,000. I'd probably net after real estate fees, about.

[Jade Warshaw]

135. I like that. What's wrong with.

[Caller]

That? Nothing. It's more. It's just my first home. I just put $100,000 into it, last two years. And, you know, I was envisioning having my kids.

[Jade Warshaw]

Here. Yeah. So there's just the emotional connection to it. How long did you have the.

[Caller]

Property? Two and a half years. I put about $150,000 down on the house when I bought it. And I had a really good management position at a restaurant before, and that's where I'm going to now for the new opportunity. I tried to start my own business and it didn't work out exactly how I hoped. But I'm recuperating my losses and I'm just trying to get back on my feet. I'm currently serving at a restaurant right now, and I've been getting by with that. And me and my fiance, just our net income together, it's just where we're at. We're not, we're not making.

[Jade Warshaw]

It. You're in Sacramento. Why are you guys staying in Sacramento? For jobs that sound like you could do them really in anywhere in any part of the.

[Caller]

Country. Well, and that's where, that's why we're moving it. It's just more of a. Do we rent the home and make a profit per month, about 100, $200. Or do we sell a home, put the entire, you know, met into a money market.

[Jade Warshaw]

Account?

[Caller]

Yes. And make about $400 a month on money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Market. Let's do the latter. Let's do the latter. Because if you have the opportunity to rent somewhere out of the area and they're covering the rent rent, then this is an opportunity for you to start over. Let that money grow, that equity that you're going to get out of the cell of this home. Let it grow over time, because the time is going to come when you want to buy again. I did, I just, I did have a math question on this because I thought I heard you say that you put 150 down on the home. And then I also thought I heard you say that you put 100 into it. Is that right? So you put 250 into this home, but you're only coming out with 135. What happened.

[Caller]

Then? There Bad contractor. I got really jacked up by that. I lost probably about $50,000 and. Yeah. And I mean, I, I'm not a contractor guy. I, I, you know, I was doing my job and I ended up going underneath the house and I just saw problems and I solved problems. Long story short, cost me a lot more. And I was paying the mortgage at the same time as I wasn't living in. So I was, you know, unfortunately paying double for away. Yeah. So it just really drained us down. And then I just paid off all my credit card debt. I had about $17,000 in debt. We're completely debt free. That's our payment.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. So there's. There's some silver linings here. I think the hardest part is you had a vision for this house. You got taken for a ride, and that sucks. And now, as a result, you know, it's not going to be the house that you raise your family in. But I love that you have other opportunities and it. I mean, you can kins here on the. On the career side of this to. To weigh that out. I take advantage of that while you're on the.

[Ken Coleman]

Line. Yeah. Well, Chris, if I heard you right, you've got a really good manager gig you're heading into. So you feel good about.

[Caller]

This? Yes, I'm super confident. It's a nice restaurant and South Lake Tahoe, it's. It's to the 9th. It's like my dream job.

[Ken Coleman]

So. Fantastic. And did you say South Lake.

[Caller]

Tahoe?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes. Oh, man. Man, that's. That ain't a bad place to work. Come on.

[Caller]

Chris. And I'd be going for a bit. Yeah. It just. It all makes financial.

[Ken Coleman]

Sense.

[Caller]

Yep. And it's just. I just. I have. With my business, I've kind of had some regrets on that, and I don't want to have my cart in front of the horse. And I love.

[Ken Coleman]

It. You're asking the right questions. Jay gave you great advice. You do not want to be a landlord from long distance. This is time to move on. This is a clean start, and I think it's great for you. You're going into your dream job in one of the nicest places in the United States to live, and. And you're going to get free of this house, which has just been nothing more than a money pit for you, unfortunately. So, yeah. Sell and move on, my friend. Sell and move on. I love.

[Jade Warshaw]

That. Do you want to take another call or can I highlight this for people? Hey. I want to highlight this because a lot of times people are like, why does it have to. You know, we teach that the mortgage shouldn't be any more than 25%. And I know there's a lot of questions around that. And this is a really great. It's just a cautionary tale of what takes place when you don't heed that advice. Because if you really think about it, it, you know, if you look at your. Your money as a. As a whole thing, you know.

[Ken Coleman]

100%. I love that you've got an orange for our listening audience. She has a. She has a little tangerine in her.

[Jade Warshaw]

Hand. Yeah. And if you think about it as segments.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. We got to cut it up.

[Jade Warshaw]

In A segment, it's going into segments. And so if you think, okay, if you do, let's pretend like, yeah, I'm taking your advice. 25%. Okay, now we got 75 left. And then it's like, okay, if you're a person who values generosity, most of us do. So you give another 10. Now you're at 35. And now you say, okay, well, you've got to Invest. Baby step four, I'm investing 15 now. Before you know, we're already at 50 of our income and we haven't even paid our other bills yet. We haven't done child care yet. We haven't put aside for kids college yet. We haven't, you know, done taking a vacation. We haven't even done anything yet. And we're already out 50. So imagine what it would feel like if your mortgage was at 40% or 45%. You feel that very, very, very, very quickly. So it's, it behooves.

[Ken Coleman]

You. It's a great word. You know, I like a good.

[Jade Warshaw]

Word. It does behoove you to think about, okay, what are my ratios here and is this sustainable long term? Because 65%, like you said, they're burning 20 every single.

[Ken Coleman]

Month. Ain't enough tangerine left over.

[Jade Warshaw]

There. Ain't enough. You got to eat by the time you.

[Ken Coleman]

Do. That is fantastic. That's why I showed up today, for that moment. That was good. Yeah. But it's a wonderful illustration. And, and then I want you to, while we're on.

[Jade Warshaw]

This.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. Also why we give him the advice of don't try to stay, don't become a landlord, don't keep that house because you think, well, I'm going to make 400 bucks a month. I want you to walk through the math, the real math, when people think that that's a good.

[Jade Warshaw]

Idea. Well, I think for him it was more of a sunken cost fallacy. I felt like he thought, well, I put this much into this property. If I hang on to it for a while and keep dumping effort or whatever it is into it, maybe I'll get it out. And for a lot of time, for a lot of us, that's kind of what keeps us locked in to something that's just a bad break. And you kind of have to just eat pith and go, this, this was a bad break. It wasn't a good investment. You know, I got taken for a ride and walk away. And for him going all the way to, from Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe, and now you're going to be a long Distance.

[Ken Coleman]

Landlord. Yeah. Trust me, when he rolls in in that moving van to south, to south Lake Tahoe, he's gonna be like, I don't. I'm not knocking.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sacramento.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. All right. But that's a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Difference. He's gonna be like.

[Ken Coleman]

Forget. You want to leave all that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Behind. Yeah, you want to leave it behind. And he had a bad taste in his mouth. So I think for him to come out out, he's clearing 135. It's not as much as he.

[Ken Coleman]

Should. That's.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right. But it's still money. And it's going to sit in a high yield for however long until they're ready to.

[Ken Coleman]

Buy. I.

[Jade Warshaw]

Agree. And when they buy, they're going to put as much down possible on a 15 year fixed rate mortgage. Hopefully that they can get paid off quickly. He's already debt.

[Dave Ramsey]

Free.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. And so the principle of this whole segment is, do you know what it is? You've been saying.

[Jade Warshaw]

It. Don't eat.

[Ken Coleman]

Pith. There it is. By the way, spell that for.

[Jade Warshaw]

People. P I pith, P I T, H. Is that.

[Ken Coleman]

Right? I think I.

[Jade Warshaw]

Know. Like there could be a hidden letter in.

[Ken Coleman]

There. We did. We got validation. The guys in the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Booth. Great. Yeah, yeah. Think about the ratios of your income. Think about each section like this Clementine I hold in my.

[Ken Coleman]

Hand. Oh, it's clementine. It's even.

[Jade Warshaw]

Better.

[Ken Coleman]

Mandarin. Love.

[Jade Warshaw]

It. That's how we're going to do.

[Ken Coleman]

This. Make sure it's like back to Sesame Street. You laid it out for us. I love it. Good stuff. All right, quick break. She's Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman. We'll be right.

[Dave Ramsey]

Back. If your holiday ham tends to last longer than your New Year's resolutions, then I got a fresh challenge for you. Make this the year you take control of your financial future with an actionable plan. Sound intimidating? You don't have to do it alone. Smartvestor pros are financial advisors who can walk you through what you need to know about retirement planning, wealth management, and anything in between. Find a pro near [e-mail] Smartvestor.

[Ken Coleman]

Ramsey Solutions is a paid non client promoter of participating pros. Learn [e-mail] SmartVestor Foreign. Welcome back to the Ramsey show alongside Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman. Our scripture of the day comes from Philippians 1, verse 6. God who began the good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished. Our quote from Nathan W. Morris. The speed of your success is limited only by your dedication and what you're willing to sacrifice, well, you could put that right on top of the baby steps. You could just lay it over factoids. That's really good. Love it. Okay, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is where we go to see talk to rather. Leo. Leo, how can we.

[Caller]

Help? So I'm having a problem. I make decent money at my job, but I can't seem to save. It doesn't matter if I try, you know, separate accounts that aren't connected to my checking account, you know, and I just cannot seem to save money. To have an emergency fund to pay off.

[Jade Warshaw]

Debts. What happens? You transfer it over there and then you end up just peeping back in there and sneaking the money.

[Caller]

Out? Yeah, yeah, I just keep dipping into it. Whether it's for something important or just something that I want that's not important. I just can't seem to, you know, connect the dots between saving and not using.

[Ken Coleman]

It. All right, Leo, so I got a.

[Caller]

Question.

[Ken Coleman]

Question. I'm asking this on behalf of my friend here. If we were following you around with a documentary crew for a week, what would be the top items that you're spending? The type of things you're blowing money on, you're spending the money on. If we're following you around, we'd go, oh, Leo, he's spending money on this. Give us a top five just off the top of your.

[Caller]

Head. Oh, it's gas station energy drinks, hunting supplies, you know, things that I. I don't.

[Ken Coleman]

Need. That was good. That's good list. Anything.

[Caller]

Else? Not really. You know, when I was younger, it was before I had kids and real responsibilities. It was a, I'll make more money tomorrow. And I carry that over now. And I can't seem to get away from.

[Jade Warshaw]

That. Trying to outer bad spending.

[Ken Coleman]

Habits. I gotta ask another follow up, Leo, if I'm following you. All right, and we're in the gas station parking lot, we're zooming in on the door, and you're busting out of that thing. What do you got in the arms? What do you got in the old bag at the gas station? I'm.

[Caller]

Curious. Oh, usually it's two to three energy drinks, maybe a snack for work and a can of tobacco.

[Jade Warshaw]

Dip. Corn nuts. Mountain Dew right in.

[Ken Coleman]

It. Oh, man, that's disgusting. Say it's not true.

[Jade Warshaw]

Leo. Oh, it'd be.

[Caller]

So. It.

[Ken Coleman]

Is. I gotta tell you, if I was on a desert island and the only thing I had was a bag of Corn Nuts starve, I really would. I'd.

[Jade Warshaw]

Die. They're. They're actually.

[Ken Coleman]

Delicious. So let's help the man out with his.

[Jade Warshaw]

Budget. Okay, so I think I heard you say you had kids. Is that.

[Caller]

Right?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes. How many? Four. Okay. And you're married.

[Caller]

Still? I'm.

[Jade Warshaw]

Not. You're not. Okay, we.

[Caller]

Are. We are dating. We are together. We live in the same house, but we have not gotten married.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yet. Okay, so you have a woman that you're soon to marry. I'm.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes. Okay. Okay. So let's talk about the money first, and then we'll go back to the relationship because we're not gonna speed like. You didn't just say what you just.

[Ken Coleman]

Said. Four.

[Jade Warshaw]

Kids. Okay, so first off, what you really need, I think the solution here is a good, detailed budget. I always say that budgets should be three things. Detailed, realistic, and flexible. And that will really help you out because I think what's happening, like you said, you're kind of spending the money before you get it. And it's like, I can out earn this. I can out earn this. And if you don't, then you end up having to pull back out that savings. So. So we'll make sure that you get set up with every dollar. And what I want you to do, I want you to sit down and create your budget. And I want you to be so detailed about all the things that, you know you spend money on, even the energy drinks. If you know that's something that's part of your life right now as it sits, put it on the budget. If you know, hey, like I buy a hunting knife at least once a month, put it on the. But like, be realistic and honest with who you are are in your spending so that you can begin to see, okay, I see what's going on here. Right. So that's a good place to start. And then obviously, the same way that you're budgeting for all the other things, you budget for things like savings, and you can actually see, do I have money to put aside in savings? Can I live the lifestyle I'm living and still have money to put aside in savings? Right now it seems as though the answer is no. But when you do the budget, you're really going to get a clear picture of what's going on. So that's thing one. One thing, too. I haven't even asked you about debt yet. Do you have any.

[Caller]

Debt? We have two. Two vehicles that I pay for, and I have maybe $2,000 of credit cards that I'm slowly working on paying.

[Jade Warshaw]

Off. Okay, so putting everything into perspective right now, if you do find extra money in Your budget. After you've budgeted for everything right now, the money wouldn't necessarily go to. Towards savings. You'd save up $1,000 and that's it. If you can get a thousand dollars and just set it aside, tuck it aside for a rainy day, that's great. Everything else needs to go towards paying off this.

[Caller]

Debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Okay. Now let's talk about the elephant in the room with this, the.

[Ken Coleman]

Relationship. Because I don't know why mom is not paying for her car. I don't understand it. I don't get.

[Jade Warshaw]

It. Well, I don't understand why mom is.

[Caller]

Not. Don't go to.

[Ken Coleman]

School. Well, I'm with you on that. I'm as traditional as they.

[Jade Warshaw]

Get. Why aren't you guys just married.

[Caller]

Yet? It's 100 my fault. I am. I want to give her everything that I possibly can wedding wise. Like, I want it to be the wedding of her.

[Jade Warshaw]

Dreams.

[Caller]

Yeah. And with. With the money situation. I am not to that point where I'm comfortable spending that money on something like.

[Jade Warshaw]

That. I hear.

[Caller]

That. So it's me holding back. She wants. She's pushing for it, which I have no problem doing it. But I want to be me everything she wants. I don't want her to have to hold back on something. Listen, because we don't have the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Money for it, I 100 honor the idea that you want to give her a wonderful wedding party, but I want you guys to frame that as. That's what it is. It's a celebration. It's a party. You can get married legally and don't nobody have to know but you guys. And then you're at least protected legally.

[Caller]

Huh? She's been looking into that through the courthouse and things like.

[Ken Coleman]

That. How about this? How about you guys just get married and then you can. You can throw a celebration years from now, or you can rededicate your vows and she can put on the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Dress. I mean, spoiler alert. Everybody is married before their wedding day. Everyone. The moment you get the document. Oh, the moment you go and sign the.

[Ken Coleman]

Document. You had me there for a second. I was like, so the idea.

[Jade Warshaw]

That it's like, no, I want to wait until the day. I'm like, we all get married on paper a week or so before we're actually.

[Ken Coleman]

Married. That's.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right. So it's not even like we make it more of a thing than it is. So I think for you guys, it's like, yeah, get married on paper. That way you can do all the things we just talked about with your wife. Yeah, that sounds nice, doesn't.

[Caller]

It? Okay, it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Does. It does sound.

[Ken Coleman]

Nice.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And then you guys can save up for this wonderful party. You can do all of.

[Ken Coleman]

It. How much you think you're spending a month in energy drinks.

[Caller]

Bro? Oh, it's usually about $10 a.

[Ken Coleman]

Day. Yeah. Okay, so we're gonna do 30 days in a month. All right, that's.

[Jade Warshaw]

300. My guy is Ric Flair on those.

[Ken Coleman]

Energy. I'm telling you, man, you need to get rid of the energy drinks. That's a $300 a month raise. Do some push ups, some pull ups, all right? Get some good night's sleep. You won't need an energy drink. I don't need an energy drink. I wake up with the juice, man. Okay, I'm just telling you I.

[Jade Warshaw]

Drank a little bit of coffee, but.

[Ken Coleman]

That'S like two cups.

[Jade Warshaw]

Max. That's a.

[Ken Coleman]

Lot. Energy drinks, two.

[Jade Warshaw]

Cups. All.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. Not energy drinks. Those.

[Jade Warshaw]

Are. Yeah, those are the.

[Ken Coleman]

Tori. But I'm not getting on your health. I'm actually saying. Saying 300amonth. I wanted you to see quickly how you just changed your.

[Jade Warshaw]

Life. That's a big.

[Ken Coleman]

Deal. That's a big raise for you. True or.

[Caller]

False?

[Ken Coleman]

True. You can get rid of the energy drinks. Don't get me started on the.

[Caller]

Tobacco. Well, I'm slowing down on.

[Ken Coleman]

That. I.

[Caller]

Know. Very much.

[Ken Coleman]

So. And that's why I didn't bring it up. I am trying to actually be sensitive. I get that one's harder to kick than the energy.

[Jade Warshaw]

Drinks. If you do this budget. Yeah. I think you're gonna be astonished, and especially when you share it with your new wife. Since you guys are getting married this weekend. I think you're both going to be astonished. And there's something about seeing your behavior on. On paper written out that you go like you clutch your pearls. You're like, I can't believe I've been spending my hard earned money on this when I could have this. And so the what you could have is what? You and your wife, when the time comes, you need to be dreaming that up.

[Ken Coleman]

Together. You're giving all this great financial advice. I'm trying to help him, but in a different category. Yeah, you're my friend. You are Mrs. Clean.

[Jade Warshaw]

Eater.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. Give him some. You do a great.

[Jade Warshaw]

Job. Thank.

[Ken Coleman]

You. Give him a healthy snack instead of the chips at the gas station. What's he taking to the office for a snack? Come on.

[Jade Warshaw]

Ken. I'm glad you asked this. Let me tell you what I want right.

[Ken Coleman]

Now. You would like.

[Jade Warshaw]

It. I take a Granny Smith.

[Ken Coleman]

Apple. And I love a Granny Smith.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sour. Sour. I slice a it up, right? So we got slices. Then I get a.

[Ken Coleman]

Little. Tell me it's peanut.

[Jade Warshaw]

Butter. Jar of peanut butter. It's not just.

[Ken Coleman]

That. We are separated at.

[Jade Warshaw]

Birth. Wait, I'm getting more hemp seeds. So I go apple into the peanut butter into the hemp seeds. Last salted.

[Ken Coleman]

Caramel. I don't know if I need to be that chilled.

[Jade Warshaw]

Out. Salted caramel. It is so.

[Ken Coleman]

Good. Is the hemp seed gonna knock his intensity.

[Jade Warshaw]

Off? No, hemp seeds are. They're a complete protein. They're really high in protein. They're.

[Ken Coleman]

Delicious. I'm learning something new every day. There it is, Leo. There's your healthy snack, man. We just saved you more.

[Jade Warshaw]

Money. Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Man. No.

[Jade Warshaw]

More. Put it in your cup.

[Ken Coleman]

Holder. This is the Ramsey.

[Jade Warshaw]

Show.