Big Dreams Require Big Sacrifices

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ramsey Show – "Big Dreams Require Big Sacrifices"

Release Date: May 6, 2025
Host: Rachel Cruz & George Camel
Description: The Ramsey Show empowers listeners to build wealth, pursue meaningful work, and cultivate strong relationships by addressing financial challenges and personal dilemmas.

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1. Navigating Familial Resentment and Inheritance Concerns

Caller: Elizabeth from Canada
Timestamp: [01:03] – [08:27]

Issue:
Elizabeth expresses feelings of resentment towards her sister, who is currently benefiting from their parents renting her home. She is concerned about fairness in inheritance and whether her feelings of resentment are justified, especially considering her Christian faith.

Discussion & Advice:
Rachel and George acknowledge Elizabeth's emotions as valid, emphasizing that feeling hurt is natural. They suggest that Elizabeth’s resentment might stem from feeling overlooked or undervalued in her parents' decisions. The hosts encourage her to communicate her feelings with her parents to seek clarity and resolution.

Notable Quote:
"If you let it eat you alive, you're just drinking your own poison." – [03:46] George Camel

2. Managing Business Expenses and Vehicle Issues

Caller: Trevor from West Palm Beach, Florida
Timestamp: [10:37] – [20:10]

Issue:
Trevor shares his struggles with a diesel F250 truck purchased for his handyman business. Over two years, he has spent an additional $7,800 on maintenance, and the truck continues to break down, affecting his business operations.

Discussion & Advice:
Rachel advises Trevor to evaluate whether the truck is a sustainable investment. She recommends selling the problematic vehicle, possibly opting for a more reliable and cost-effective option. Emphasis is placed on avoiding further financial strain and ensuring business stability.

Notable Quote:
"Credit cards... are one of the biggest wealth killers in America." – [12:28] Rachel Cruz

3. Questioning the Necessity of Continued Investing

Caller: Brianna from Illinois
Timestamp: [21:56] – [26:59]

Issue:
Brianna contemplates whether there’s an appropriate time to stop investing. She aims to invest up to $150,000 in her 401(k) to achieve substantial retirement savings, considering the “Die With Zero” philosophy to maximize current life enjoyment and generosity.

Discussion & Advice:
Rachel encourages continuous investing beyond her initial goal, highlighting uncertainties like inflation and unforeseen expenses. The hosts advocate for balancing future security with present-day giving, suggesting that Brianna should maintain her investment strategy to ensure financial stability.

Notable Quote:
"Most people don't know what the future holds. I think a glass half full... I'd rather have too much than not enough." – [25:54] Rachel Cruz

4. Celebrating Mortgage Payoff and Planning Next Steps

Caller: Jeff from Salt Lake City
Timestamp: [27:07] – [31:20]

Issue:
Jeff and his wife have recently paid off their house and seek advice on how to utilize the freed-up funds. They have additional responsibilities, including caring for Jeff’s parents, which adds financial strain.

Discussion & Advice:
Rachel and George commend Jeff on paying off his mortgage, suggesting he redirect the $1,700 previously used for mortgage payments towards upgrading their vehicle and home improvements. They emphasize the importance of creating a budget to allocate funds effectively for future goals and family needs.

Notable Quote:
"What you do with the money now sets you up for the future." – [29:23] Rachel Cruz

5. Balancing Generosity Without Enabling Family Members

Caller: Sierra from British Columbia
Timestamp: [33:48] – [42:21]

Issue:
Sierra is torn between her desire to help her niece with a down payment for an apartment and concerns about enabling her niece's past negative behaviors, including financial dependency and manipulation.

Discussion & Advice:
The hosts recommend structuring assistance in a way that supports Sierra’s niece without fostering dependency. Suggestions include directly paying the landlord to ensure funds are used appropriately and encouraging Sierra to set boundaries that promote her niece’s financial independence and personal growth.

Notable Quote:
"Giving should be intentional, just like spending or saving." – [42:20] George Camel

6. Overcoming Deep Debt and Rental Property Struggles

Caller: Kevin from Springfield
Timestamp: [45:34] – [54:41]

Issue:
Kevin is overwhelmed with $520,000 in total debt, including mortgages and credit cards. He owns multiple duplexes that barely generate income and faces additional pressures from supporting extended family members.

Discussion & Advice:
Rachel advises Kevin to sell his underperforming rental properties to eliminate debt and regain financial stability. She emphasizes the importance of addressing personal financial habits in addition to liquidating assets. The hosts recommend focusing on paying off consumer debt first to reduce overall financial burden.

Notable Quote:
"The real estate transaction doesn't fix the behavior. That's the route you need to get to." – [53:43] Rachel Cruz

7. Strategic Real Estate Investments Before Marriage

Caller: Ryan from Atlanta, Georgia
Timestamp: [56:30] – [68:00]

Issue:
Ryan and his fiancé are preparing to marry and consolidate their finances. They own separate homes and a rental property but are unsure about the best financial steps to take, especially concerning their real estate investments.

Discussion & Advice:
Rachel and George suggest selling Ryan’s primary home to reduce mortgage burdens and using the equity to pay down their fiancé’s mortgage. They advise focusing on one primary residence to streamline finances before expanding into further real estate investments, ensuring they align with their long-term financial goals and family planning.

Notable Quote:
"Once you have the priority in the correct order, you can have as much autonomy as possible." – [63:12] Rachel Cruz

8. Transitioning Business Ownership Without Debt

Caller: Elijah from New York City
Timestamp: [80:21] – [87:55]

Issue:
Elijah and his wife are taking over her mother's successful children's consignment shop. They seek guidance on the legal and financial logistics of transferring ownership, including tax implications and business structure.

Discussion & Advice:
The hosts recommend consulting with a small business attorney and a CPA to ensure a smooth and legally sound transition. They emphasize the importance of establishing a clear ownership agreement, handling tax responsibilities appropriately, and securing necessary insurance to protect the business. Additionally, they advise setting up an LLC to manage liabilities effectively.

Notable Quote:
"Server and tax benefits must be properly managed to ensure the business thrives without unexpected liabilities." – [82:47] George Camel

9. Inspiring Debt-Free Success Stories

Segment:
The show features inspiring stories from listeners who have successfully paid off significant debt in a short period. Micah and Jessica from Smith Station, Alabama, share their journey of eliminating $163,000 in debt within 29 months by making tough sacrifices, including selling non-essential assets like their aircraft and truck.

Discussion & Advice:
Rachel and George celebrate Micah and Jessica’s achievements, highlighting the importance of disciplined budgeting, prioritizing debt repayment, and maintaining support systems. They encourage listeners to emulate their strategies by setting clear financial goals, eliminating unnecessary expenses, and persevering through challenging times.

Notable Quote:
"The hardest part... is reversing the intensity and sacrifice to allow yourself to breathe and enjoy life." – [31:20] George Camel

10. Emphasizing the Importance of Budgeting and Financial Planning

Segment:
Throughout the episode, the hosts stress the critical role of budgeting in achieving financial freedom. They promote the EveryDollar app as an essential tool for tracking income and expenses, reinforcing the necessity of intentional financial planning to prevent overspending and build wealth systematically.

Discussion & Advice:
Rachel shares personal anecdotes about the benefits of budgeting, while George underscores the effectiveness of structured financial management tools. They encourage listeners to adopt budgeting habits to gain control over their finances, reduce debt, and secure a stable financial future.

Notable Quote:
"You have to start telling your money where to go so you can stop wondering where it went." – [63:43] George Camel

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Conclusion:
In "Big Dreams Require Big Sacrifices," Rachel Cruz and George Camel provide actionable advice to listeners grappling with diverse financial challenges. From managing familial relationships and overcoming debt to strategic investing and business transitions, the hosts emphasize disciplined budgeting, clear communication, and intentional generosity as pillars of financial success. Through empathetic conversations and practical solutions, the episode inspires listeners to make informed decisions that align with their long-term goals and values.

Transcript

[Rachel Cruz]

Foreign.

[George Camel]

To you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today.

[Rachel Cruz]

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I'm Rachel Cruz, hosting this hour with my good friend and bestselling author George Camel, also my co host on Smart Money Happy Hour. And we are are taking your calls. So we'll chat about your life, your money, your relationships, your career, anything and everything. So give us a call up first, we have Elizabeth all the way up in Canada. Hi, Elizabeth. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Elizabeth.

[Elizabeth]

Hi.

[Caller]

There you are. I was worried sick. Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

We were so concerned. How are you?

[Elizabeth]

Yes, hi.

[Rachel Cruz]

I'm good.

[Elizabeth]

How are you guys?

[Rachel Cruz]

We're doing great. How can we help?

[Elizabeth]

Okay. I'm really nervous. I'm going to pretend like you guys are just my buddies and I'm talking to you.

[Caller]

Don't worry. We're extra nice to Canadians.

[Rachel Cruz]

We love. We love Canada. So you're great. You're in good hands.

[Elizabeth]

All right, so I need to know if I'm being a baby and if I have wrongful resentment. I am a Christian, so I want to make sure that I have nothing between God and I. And I'm just going to give you guys a quick snapshot. Someone in my wrong to feel resentment. I come from a family of four girls. My husband and I are about to enter baby step number three in about two weeks, Lord willing. So we're really excited about that.

[Rachel Cruz]

Congratulations.

[Elizabeth]

Thank you. Yeah. So my parents have been renting for my sister and her husband for about nine years. They pay well above market rent for our area, and they take care of their kids before and after school. They fix things around their house. They do all their yard work, et cetera. So I've been asked to be the executor of their will. I know the will is going to be divided equally between my sisters and I, so. Poor girls. So divided equally into four. And this is the part it really bugs me. I'm wondering, like, I feel like in some ways my sister has already gotten her share of the will. And it's not even about the money. Like, I just. I can say that my parents are being taken advantage of, but my parents are happy to do all these things for them. And it's kind of like they had disagreement a long time ago that they would take care of their kids. And I don't know, I feel like, am I wrong to feel in some way that resentful towards my sister that maybe she is Being taken advantage of by my. That they're taking advantage of my parents?

[Rachel Cruz]

No, not necessarily. Where. Where are you? Like, in. From a. From a physical location. Are you close to them?

[Elizabeth]

I'm about 40.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Elizabeth]

40 minutes away from them, like. And. Yeah.

[Caller]

So why did they originally rent from her and not another sibling?

[Elizabeth]

You know what? And the thing is, they do. They're fine. Like, they make over. My parents make over a hundred thousand a year. They could have bought a house even by now. Right. Like, they. I don't know why they decided to rent from them. I'm not sure. I wasn't part of that conversation. And that kind of deal they made.

[Caller]

With watching their kids, it almost feels like this is between your sister and your parents.

[Elizabeth]

Yes.

[Caller]

And, you know, if your parents feel taken advantage of, they need to have a conversation with your sister.

[Rachel Cruz]

But they seem like. But they seem fine, correct?

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, they seem fine with it. Exactly.

[Caller]

The only person upset here is you.

[Elizabeth]

I know. I'm the baby, aren't I? Look at.

[Caller]

No, you're not. I think your emotions are valid.

[Rachel Cruz]

You feel hurt, probably.

[Trevor]

Yeah.

[Caller]

I would feel the same way.

[Elizabeth]

Yes.

[Caller]

Is it bad to be resentful? Is it a sin? No. If you let it eat you alive, you're just drinking your own poison. And so that's the part that worries me more, is how do we get you to let go of this and go. This is between them and. And, you know, I feel like this is a confessional. We're the priests here. She's coming to us with this. But I do think there's a level of this where you go, listen, we're all going to get our fair share. We're all going to be fine financially. They're adults. They can make decisions on their own volition. And yes, it can also hurt that your sister got the, you know, the long end of the stick and you got the short end.

[Rachel Cruz]

Where. Sibling order. Elizabeth, where are you and where is she?

[Elizabeth]

So I'm the second oldest and she's the third oldest, so she's right after me in the order.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Elizabeth]

And I know, like, I've spoken to. To even my older sister and then the baby of the family, and they've always. They seem like, okay, like that they have a pretty good gig happening. Right? And I know I have to keep checking my heart. And the thing is, like, both my husband and I have great jobs. We've made great headway in terms of paying off our debt, and I know we'll be okay. And even my husband always says, you know, he's like, we're fine. Like, we wouldn't even want my parents to live with us.

[Rachel Cruz]

Not even that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not the. It's not the actual help that you're longing for. It's almost more of this connection of feeling like, man, I feel like we're working so hard over here and not only has anything never really been extended to us, but also never even asked maybe. Right. So there's a level of. Probably just of hurt feelings of not feeling cared for and seeing your parents still in that parental role for another sibling and not for you. So there's like this like kind of abandonment. Like what? Like, hi, I'm over here. You know, I'm not getting attention. Right. Was that similar growing up for you guys from, like, just say from like a personality standpoint?

[Elizabeth]

Oh, that's a good question. Like, I. I've always been like more the older sister. Like, I think with even my older sister with all of them. So that one. That part. That person.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Caller]

So you were more independent, you needed less attention in general because you're more self sustaining.

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, maybe.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Elizabeth]

And I have, like, I have. I have four kids and my sisters have two and it's like. But I'm. I'm like, that's what I wanted for me. I love to be like, busy and, you know, and we've done fine and I don't know, I.

[Caller]

Would you want to trade places with your sister today?

[Elizabeth]

No.

[Caller]

I think there's our answer. I think that just gives you perspective to know you're only seeing the. The parts that you're jealous of. You don't see the other parts where they go, oh, my gosh, I just want my space. I wish they would. We don't know what's happening on the other side, good or bad. And so it feels like you're festering on this, making up stories and a narrative in your head that they've abandoned you. And I think it's. I think you should have a conversation with them if you feel that way. Otherwise I would just let it go and move on with your life and we'll all be friends and you'll get your inheritance. Now if you're getting zero inheritance and you put in all this work, I'd go, that is unfair.

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Caller]

But everyone's getting their equal share. They just have a different situation.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. And I think it's less about the. Right. The money. I think it's the relational aspect in it all for you.

[Elizabeth]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

The hurt that's there. 100%. So, yeah. So I think that's. Yeah. I mean, yeah, George is right. I think if there's anything that needs to be said for you to say for yourself that you need something, that's fine, but don't go. If you do have a conversation, I would not go in with the motivation of somehow I'm gonna change the situation or I'm gonna. I'm gonna say this so that my parents will then do X, Y and Z. Like, you know what I mean? That. That is the. I mean, I feel like that's an issue that happens all the time where we think, like, okay, I'm going to go into this conversation and what I say is going to change what they're thinking or what they're doing, and you just can't control them. Right. They're still going to do it. But if you, Elizabeth, do have things within you that, like, you're like, I just need to verbally say this for me, regardless of what happens, like, for my healing, I need to say these things out loud, then that is. Then maybe that is a conversation you guys need to have. Or maybe, Elizabeth, you kind of just like, read the cards, own that. Yeah, this hurts and this isn't fun. But there's also a level of, I'm an adult and I. And I, you know, you. You just said you would not change your situation. You wouldn't trade places with her. Right. So. So, no, I don't think you're being a baby. I think that's shameful talk. I wouldn't say that by any means. I think you're hurt, and I think that's totally fine. Right. And so what we do with that, I think, is what's important. So I don't want the resentment, like George said to. That eats. That eats away at your life and your happiness. And so there's like this level of acceptance with our family and dynamics that I think the quicker we can get to the acceptance part.

[Caller]

Yeah, it's like five stages of grief. Maybe you write a letter, maybe you give it to them, maybe you just rip it up. But I think just getting it out on paper would help you move through this instead of just wrestle with it.

[Rachel Cruz]

And that's such a prime example, George, of how with relationships and money and family dynamic, it's really about the actual money. Right. It's about the relationship and the people that are handling it that can be hurtful. So, Elizabeth, thanks for the call.

[George Camel]

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[Rachel Cruz]

Up next we have Trevor in West Palm Beach, Florida. Hey Trevor, welcome to the show.

[Trevor]

Hey Rachel, thanks for having me.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep, absolutely. How can we help?

[Trevor]

Hey, so I've got a car problem for you guys. A little bit under two years ago, I purchased a diesel F250 for around 8200 bucks that I've been using to run my small handyman business. And this thing has just been giving me so much trouble over those last two years. Over the last two years I've spent 7,800 on top of that, maintenance. I know quite a bit. And it's kind of been getting out of control more recently to where now I need another probably 1500 bucks to fix this thing and getting moving again. So what I'm asking is how you would kind of handle the situation if you're me. This is starting to now affect my clients to where I'll have to push off my schedule a little bit because I don't have the truck up and running, running, and that's costing me money there. And I can't continue to keep paying, you know, 325amonth in maintenance. And that number is, you know, kind of growing at this point. So I'm just wondering, I know you guys are against leases. I don't exactly have the money to buy a new car. I also really don't want to go this down this road again and put say 10, 15K into a truck and then just end up buying a truck with all kinds of issues. I mean, this last time I did take it to a mechanic have him check it out beforehand. And he kind of okayed it. But I don't know much about cars. Cars are not my forte. I've kind of gotten killed over this whole thing, to be honest.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, well, it's frustrating that you put almost what the car is worth back into maintenance. Right. And it's still breaking down. It hasn't fixed the issue. So, no, your frustration is totally legitimate. But also, I don't want, because of our frustration to make a stupid financial move, especially when it comes to cars. Because George and I, we talk about this a lot on our shows in smart Money happy hour about how you know cars and car payments, car leases, all of that is one of the biggest wealth killers in America. It's the trap that people get in. So even though your frustration is legitimate, I want to make sure your solution is as well.

[Caller]

Yeah. What year is this truck? How long have you had it for?

[Trevor]

So I've had it for probably 22 months, I believe. I bought it in July about two years ago. The truck had 139,000 miles when I bought it. It's right around 150,000 miles now. So I live in kind of a small beach town community and most of my jobs are not too far. So I don't put crazy miles on this thing each year.

[Caller]

Did you do a pre purchase insp on the truck?

[Trevor]

Sort of. I took the truck while I was on my test drive. I took it to a mechanic and had him inspect it. And I said, hey, I'm thinking about paying around eight grand for this truck. Do you think that's worth it? Based on what you see? Is there anything that I should really be aware of? Essentially I told him, I was like, I don't want to buy it and have a bunch of maintenance. I was like, I just want a truck that's going to run. Give me from point A to point B. It doesn't look pretty. I mean, it's two different colors. But you know, it was getting the job done. So I sort of took it to get a pre inspection, if that makes sense.

[Caller]

Okay. I'm just, I'm trying to figure out what went wrong here where you poured eight grand into it and was there anything kind of red flags along the way? What is it worth today if you tried to sell it? Private party.

[Trevor]

So I've had it listed out there on the market for four grand and I've had people hit me back between 15 and 2500. That being said, I've never, I haven't met with any of those People in person. Like, I haven't actually gotten them to come out and take a look at the truck. So I can't imagine this thing's worth more than two grand, to be honest with you.

[Caller]

How is that possible? Less than two years ago, you paid 8200 and you fixed it up.

[Rachel Cruz]

Where did you buy it from, Trevor? A private party or a dealership?

[Trevor]

I did buy it from a dealership. And to your point, I have probably made some mistakes here, at least in terms of the purchase. I probably should have been more aware. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. So you probably overpaid is what you're thinking, because of the condition it was in. Obviously it wasn't in a great condition. It should have been probably a $5,000 truck.

[Trevor]

Yes. I mean, I'd 100 agree with you. Mistakes were definitely made here on my end. Sure. Which is also why I'm very hesitant getting back into this game. That's kind of why I'm calling you guys, because I don't want to make this mistake again. This has been, you know, I'm not gonna say one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

[Rachel Cruz]

No. But it's frustrating. Yeah. I mean, every month, if you're pouring money into this thing and it keeps breaking, it's not dependable and you're using it for your work legitimately. Right. Not even just getting to and from work. It is your work. It is.

[Trevor]

Exactly.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep. So making sure that this is a sustainable idea. Okay. Do you? Yeah. Financially. Where are you at, Trevor? Do you have any money saved? Anything that's not in retirement?

[Trevor]

I'd rather not acknowledge that if we don't have to. I have money in retirement and I do have some other money.

[Caller]

Outside of that we're trying to figure out. Do you have enough money to go buy a truck in cash? Do you have $10,000?

[Trevor]

Yeah, I do.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. Well, you can buy the truck.

[Caller]

So I would this time do a bunch of research, do a pre purchase inspection, maybe go private party, maybe go independent used dealership and make sure that they're well reviewed. So you're going to do your due diligence this time. And what you're not going to do is go lease a new brand new truck because you don't want issues.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Because there are dumbest things you could do. Yes.

[Caller]

That was not on the table.

[Rachel Cruz]

Unlike your experience, there are cars and trucks out there that go way past the mileage that you're in that are in fine condition. Right. Like you said, they're not pretty. It's not like it's like top of the line everything by any means, but it should get you to point A to point B and stay together and hold together. And this is not.

[Caller]

So we've all had a toxic ex and so this will be your future toxic ex. It doesn't mean all women are like this. It's just the one that you dated. She was something else.

[Rachel Cruz]

She was something. She needed a lot of work.

[Caller]

Exactly. You'll look back and laugh, but you've got the money. And so I would just really start doing your research. What are you making from this handyman business? What's your income per year?

[Trevor]

Yeah, it's close to zero. Essentially it covers my living expenses. Is.

[Rachel Cruz]

But is it.

[Caller]

Do you make 50 grand a year? 100 grand a year.

[Trevor]

I'm gonna go between 24 and 36,000 a year somewhere in that room.

[Caller]

Are you working full time on top of that?

[Trevor]

No, sir.

[Caller]

I'm confused. You're. You're making like $12 an hour in this business. You could go work retail and make more.

[Trevor]

Yeah, yeah, I definitely agree with you. So I worked in the corporate world for a while and I made. I made a little bit of money saved up and I decided I wanted to go pursue this. So I make pretty good money while I work. But I've only been in business for about a year and a half. I'm 26 years old and I can live off 24 to 36,000. I really believe that I could grow this to where I'm making around 100,000 a year in due time. But I probably only work consistently 20 to 30 hours a week. So I somewhat sacrifice a full work schedule with a little bit more free time to where I'm able to learn and do other things. So, yeah, I'm kind of investing in myself long term. I do understand that this might not be the most positive economic play right now, but I do believe in myself to be able to make this worth more down the road.

[Rachel Cruz]

And you're not going to have a.

[Trevor]

Lot of time to put in.

[Rachel Cruz]

And Trevor, you're not going into debt for your living expenses. You're able to cash flow everything. You're not like deep in credit card debt?

[Trevor]

Yes, I'm pretty. I'm pretty intelligent and savvy when it comes to that. And yes, I have. I mean, I do have some credit card debt right now revolving. Not that I paid any interest on. I know that sounds bad, but I paid zero interest in credit cards ever. So essentially I just have my. Run my monthly bills through my. No, I Can't pay the. Yeah, no, I have no issues paying the bills in full.

[Caller]

Why haven't you paid it in full? Said as a rope, like you have a balance, you're carrying month to month.

[Trevor]

For less than 30 days. Yes, sir.

[Caller]

Okay, well, that's a call for another day about how we would recommend running your business. But man, I'm telling you, you run that thing with a debit card, you're going to be spending differently. I would be. You're 26, you're single. I'd be working full time. Because you have goals, right? Your future goals. You want to buy a home one day. You want a nicer truck. That's not giving you issues. You have a home.

[Trevor]

Yes, sir.

[Caller]

You own it, free and clear.

[Trevor]

No.

[Caller]

Okay. You have a mortgage.

[Trevor]

No.

[Rachel Cruz]

But so what I'm getting from you, Trevor, you did well in the corporate world. What was, well, what was your best year when you were working besides you're doing this? What were you making?

[Trevor]

Well, okay, not that well, But I made 80,000.

[Caller]

That's amazing.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. So. So I think I like can picture Trevor, he's in West Palm beach working the corporate world. Best life, working 50, 60 hours, making 80 grand. He's like, what is his life? What am I doing? So you quit, you saved up money is what I heard you say earlier, right? You have savings and retirement and you're doing all of that and you're like, you know what? I'm going to just pump the brakes. I'm going to enjoy life a little bit, start my own business, get a $8,000 mechanic truck and start my own business and slowly grow it and all the things. And I don't think anything in and of itself is wrong. I don't. I want to make sure that you're doing all of this and able support yourself and your business with cash because long term that's going to set you up. And if this business isn't moving faster in the next 12 months, you know, to George's point, you can make more doing something else just from a time perspective too. So some. So some things to think about. But to answer your original question, why you called Trevor. Yeah, I'd go buy a truck.

[Caller]

Cash.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, for sure. Get a 10, $12,000 great truck and yeah, continue living your beach Florida life. Trevor. Thanks for the.

[George Camel]

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[Rachel Cruz]

The question of the Day is brought to you by Wyatt Refi. If you've got duplicates, defaulted private student loans and no one else will work with you, try Y Refi. They help you explore refinancing options with a low fixed rate and a payment plan based on your ability to Pay, go to yrefi.com Ramsey that's the letter y r e f y.com Ramsey may not be available in all states.

[Caller]

Today's question comes from Brianna in Illinois. Is there ever an appropriate time to stop investing? I'm 32 and I'd like to invest up to 150,000 in a 401k with an annual rate of return return of 10%. At 60 years old, your calculator says I would have nearly $3 million to retire with without investing anything additional. If I understand correctly, this will generate $300,000 of interest annually to live off of and still be able to leave the original 3 million. To my family, this seems more than reasonable to live off of, though. I know things will be more expensive due to the cost of living, but I'll have less expenses. My thought was why would I continue to invest? I could apply some of the Die With Zero principles Rachel has mentioned and give more to my children during the times they need it most. If I stop when I have 150,000 in my retirement account. Wow. This is very thought through. Brianna, thank you for this question.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, it is.

[Caller]

I got to really think through this.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, so what I so the Die with Zero book. I've mentioned that I've read it and I really like some of the stuff, man. Some of the things were really interesting that he talks about. I did say I didn't agree with 100%, so I don't think. And when you kind of get to the end of the book, he kind of mentioned, like, there's a little bit of this feeling of, like, okay, doesn't mean, like, you, like, truly die with zero. Like, the goal isn't to, like. Because you can't predict your death. Right. So it's not like, oh, we're gonna.

[Caller]

Just like, if you knew exactly when you would die, that would help.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's right.

[Caller]

Most people don't.

[Rachel Cruz]

That would be. Yes. So that's not the theory. So if you leave money to your kids, which we talk about, you know. You know, a wise man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. It says that in Scripture. So there's something about that legacy that. That I am not against by any means. But the idea is, if you do this stuff early and you start to build wealth and you pay off your home and you do have a surplus from a high income and you're maxing out investments, like, at what point is it just saving to save? Right. And so I think that that is a good question to ask. And I don't know, Brianna, kind of, I'm. I'm going to assume you're, you know, done with everything, because I would want you to pay off your house before any of this other discussion starts to happen. But for those who have, you can kind of start thinking, okay. Yeah. I mean, if I get to the point that I can max out 401ks and all of that is, should I maybe shift after that to investing in things that are not tied up till I'm 59 and a half, so that you have investments that are growing that you can get to sooner without penalty to then maybe help your children if there's enough surplus there when they're in there, you know, when they're 25 or 26, and, you know, if you want to help with a down payment or you want to actually use your money in this life to help your kids when they do need it Most, in their 20s and 30s, I believe. Is that a. Is that a reasonable option? So all that to say, Um, I think there are some ways. If you are doing what you're doing and you're maxing out. I mean, she says invested to $150,000. Oh, oh, maxing it out at. Okay, well, she says $150,000 in a 401k. I wouldn't let the number of $150,000 just leaving. Just having that in a 401k and leaving it. I wouldn't. I would still be investing 15% of my income and still following that. And. But again, if you want to shift from investing in retirement funds after you max out a Roth or max out a 401, have that high of an income to then invest in other things that you can get to before retirement, I would be totally on board with that. Does that make sense?

[Caller]

It does. My confusion remains with the invest up to 150,000, earn a 401k. You can't do that at once. You know what I mean? You can't just throw 150k in a 401k.

[Rachel Cruz]

So I wonder if she's saying that because it's like 22,000. Is that it?

[Caller]

23,000, saying I do this from 32 to this age and then I stop. What would that happen? You know, And I haven't crunched the numbers myself to see if this is accurate. And the 10% is just the average. You're not going to just get that every year. So you're not just going to see 300,000 show up in that account every year. There might be years where it loses money. There might be times where you get more than that. And so we don't know what the future holds. And because of that, I'm kind of a glass half full kind of guy and go, well, I'm just going to invest more. I'd rather have too much than not enough.

[Rachel Cruz]

Right, Totally.

[Caller]

That's a good problem to have. I can give more, I can spend more, I can, you know, bless my kids more with that money. So I would continue investing because you have the margin to do it and in the same breath, enjoy your life, spend some of it, give a lot of it. And so I think the balance is important there.

[Rachel Cruz]

Right.

[Caller]

Otherwise you get a flat tire.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, I'm held up. I'm yes on the 100. She's going to put in $150,000 in her 401k and then stop and then just let it grow. And I would not do that. I don't think that's a wise plan. I would still be putting money in my 401k every single year. And if you have the income again to max it out, that's amazing. Right? I would be doing that. And then if you're beyond that, then you can look to say, hey, how can I get creative with this investing and not just stick with a 401k where it's tied up till I'm 59 and a half?

[Caller]

And at 32, you just truly don't know what Life is going to throw your way. So I'd rather just keep building for the future, knowing that at 32.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes.

[Caller]

I mean, you still got potentially 60, 70 years.

[Rachel Cruz]

Totally. Yes. Yeah, totally agree.

[Caller]

Who knows? We might have hyperinflation one day. A loaf of bread is going to be like rent. You're like, oh, my gosh, I should have invested more.

[Rachel Cruz]

What are we doing? What are we doing? All right, let's go to the phones. We got Jeff in Salt Lake City. Hey, Jeff. Welcome to the show.

[Trevor]

Hey. Thank you so much. It's good to be here.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes, we're glad you called. How can we help?

[Trevor]

So three weeks ago, I'm 46 years old. Three weeks ago, my wife and I paid off our house.

[Rachel Cruz]

Whoa. Jeff, congratulations.

[Trevor]

Thank you. Honestly, I'm a therapist, so I use these words, but it's a weird, open, vulnerable feeling, and it's just one of those things you never thought you'd get, especially the family and finances I came through. My wife's parents were immigrants from Holland Post World War II, so they were very frugal and smart with their money. So we came from different worlds, but honestly, you know how we did it is if we had a little extra money, we just threw it at it. But then our payment was, like, 1,254. And for years, we've just been paying 1700. And it's funny how unexciting, unsexy that is. But all of a sudden, you know, about a year and a half ago, maybe a year and two months ago, I looked at it, and the balance was down to 27. So.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, my gosh. How much is the house worth?

[Trevor]

Probably 800 now.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's amazing, Jeff. Well done. Incredible.

[Caller]

What's your question today?

[Trevor]

So the 1700 that we've been using, I mean, I've been limping a car along for, like, 20 years. Literally, on May 6, tomorrow, it'll be 20 years I've been driving that car. We've withheld putting carpet downstairs. Like, we have 600,000 invested and saved right now and just letting that grow. And we keep contributing, you know, 15% or more like with that money that we've been paying towards the mortgage each month. What do I do with that now? I mean, I have some things I could do. Take care of the house, get another car. But what do you recommend there?

[Caller]

Yes, yes, and yes. I would do it all. And you can increase investing at this point beyond the 15%. You can increase your giving and you can increase your spending. And so I would absolutely be now Cash flowing. All those upgrades you wanted to do to the car, to the house, on top of investing more, you should have the margin to do with that 1700 plus. You probably have more margin where that came from.

[Trevor]

Yeah, it's interesting once you start working on that stuff, how you just feel blessed. Like, I can't even tell you how the Lord's just taking care of us. It's an amazing feeling. So.

[Rachel Cruz]

Well, you guys have been so diligent as well. Right. So, I mean, that's. That's incredible. But, yeah, Jeff, I would make, you know. Yeah. The next goal, probably upgrading the car. If there's some house stuff around that you guys make a list and make like a three to four year. You know, by the time we're 50, what do we want life to kind of look like? And. And I would be using that mortgage payment for those things. And then once you kind of have some of that settled, then you can look and be like, okay, yeah, let's. Let's invest more. Let's. Let's be giving more. I mean, all of it. But yeah, there's some upgrades you guys could be doing here in the next couple of years that you've kind of held off is what it sounds like to get this house paid off.

[Trevor]

Yeah, just sacrifice just to get it done. And it feels good. You know, we're still live, but I want to be totally done with work by the time I'm 60 and do some other things, but, you know, almost 47, so hopefully I'm on the track to do that.

[Caller]

Yeah, I would be tracking all that. Hey, are we on track for this goal of retiring at 60 with our retirement, are we on track to upgrade the car in the next year? With this sinking fund in the budget, are we on track to replace the carpet in the next six months? So start to outline all those goals and make it real in the budget with a line item. That way you don't feel guilty about using that money. You already had the goal. That money had a name already. It's not. Oh, I feel bad. So the hardest part for you, Jeff, truthfully, is going to be reversing this gazelle intensity, sacrifice life and going, oh, we can breathe. We can have fun. We can upgrade the. We don't deserve this car. We've been driving the beater for 20 years, Jeff. Drive the nice car, man. Live like no one else. So later you can live and give like no one else.

[George Camel]

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.

[Rachel Cruz]

Well, I used to be one of those guys. I didn't even think about it.

[Caller]

And one of my buddies said, hey.

[Rachel Cruz]

The only reason to not have life.

[Caller]

Insurance is if you hate your wife and kids. And I immediately went and got term life insurance.

[George Camel]

That's a gut punch.

[Rachel Cruz]

And.

[Caller]

Oh, you're telling me.

[Rachel Cruz]

And for decades, Dave, I've sat across.

[Caller]

People who've lost a spouse, they've lost somebody important to them.

[George Camel]

Me, too.

[Caller]

They don't know what to do next.

[George Camel]

Me too. I mean, you're gonna 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.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's exactly.

[George Camel]

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

[Caller]

Term life insurance can replace income, pay off debts, cover funeral expenses. So your family can actually have the.

Opportunity to just be sad.

[George Camel]

Yeah.

[Caller]

To just miss you.

[George Camel]

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 Xander Insurance makes it easy and affordable. I've used them personally for 25 years. They're the only people I trust. Go to Xander.com or call 800-356-4282.

[Rachel Cruz]

Buying or selling your home, it's a really big deal. It's probably the largest purchase your home that you'll make in your lifetime. And when you're selling it, you want to make sure you get exactly what you can for it. That's why you want an expert in your corner fighting for you to get the best deal with the right price. So the Ramsey trusted program is the only way to find a top agent that you can trust who will make your home a blessing, not a burden. And it's easy. You can just compare agent profiles, interview them and choose the one that you want to work for or work with. So find a local trusted real estate pro for [e-mail] agent or click the link in the description if you are watching on YouTube or listening on podcast. Up next, we have Sierra in British Columbia. Hi, Sierra. Welcome to the show.

[Elizabeth]

Hi there. How are you?

[Rachel Cruz]

Hi. We're doing great. How are you?

[Elizabeth]

Oh, fantastic. I think it's a day of Canada. So thank you for having me. We did.

[Rachel Cruz]

We had a Canadian earlier, so it's good that we're back.

[Elizabeth]

That's right. So, you know, I understand that you guys promote outrageous giving and I am in a position in my life where I'm able to do so. But I also think about cheerfully giving. And where do you draw the line? So I recently had a niece who reached out to me to help her with her down payment on a new apartment. She did state that she just found out she was pregnant. She hadn't told anyone, but just shared that with me. But has a past of asking a lot of family members, including me in the past, for money, potentially for drugs and bad boyfriend experiences. And I feel like there's a bit of manipulation in terms of making sure I'm the only one who's been told about her pregnancy where we don't really have a solid relationship either. But my sister, her mom had passed away when she was seven and unfortunately dad and stepmom didn't treat her well. So I feel some sort of an obligation and like I said, I'm in a position to. But where do you draw the line? Where do you draw the line on being carefully giving? Well, and sort of that, you know, that nagging.

[Rachel Cruz]

Sure. Yeah. Because you don't want to enable. And that's a little bit of the feeling with this situation. So not every chance we have to give is going to be the right situation to give. Just because the opportunity is there doesn't mean that we actually have to take it. And I think this would be a situation that, you know, finding that balance between helping and enabling. You know, on this show, we, we, we are always teetering on that line because a lot comes into play. Right. To decide that actual boundary. There's not this, like hard and fast rule. But I think what you have to discern in the situation is how can you best help her. And I think acknowledging, you know, her situation is hard. Right. And I, I mean, I think there is a level of like, yeah, if she's not done any level of healing or growth, like having having a parent die at a young age like that, and then being in a toxic situation growing up, it's kind of like, yeah, of course this is probably her road. Right. Unless she decides to do something different, and I think that's would be your hope as her aunt, is that she can start to make different choices with her life. Because if she continues to be consistent in these choices, she's going to keep getting what she's been getting and it's not a fruitful PE life. Right. She's right. She's not feeling that. So when it comes to the financial side of it, you know, how can you best love her well, and help but not enable is the big question.

[Elizabeth]

Right. So one of my thoughts was, hey, happy to help, but I'd like to directly pay your potential landlord.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes.

[Caller]

You know, when you said down payment, is she trying to buy a house.

[Elizabeth]

Going to the right place? No, it's. It's for an apartment. So you know how you to put first and last month's rent?

[Caller]

Oh, yeah, I. I do think that is one of the best ways to help is to do it directly because you don't know if she's going to use this for something else. So say, yeah, I'd be happy to help. Give me the landlord's name. I'll work with them directly to handle the deposit.

[Elizabeth]

Okay.

[Caller]

So you could do it that way. You can also say no. That's also an okay answer.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Caller]

I don't know that anyone's told her no.

[Elizabeth]

Yeah. And, you know, she has no one else, like, I think a lot of people have said no, but because of her bad behavior previously.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Elizabeth]

And yeah. Yeah.

[Caller]

She just moves on to the next person. And bank of Sierra was up next.

[Elizabeth]

That's right.

[Caller]

And what's your relationship like with her? Are you involved in her life at all or is it just. You hear from her when she needs money?

[Elizabeth]

We kind of go on and off. So, you know, dad had cut us out of their life. We held financial money from when my sister passed that it wasn't to be given until they were 21. So when we reconnected when they were both her and her brother were 21 to give them the money, they, you know, they were told that we stole the money, but that wasn't the case. Yeah, it's a horrible, horrible. I mean, I could. It would take me days, but I'm so sorry. Anyways.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Elizabeth]

And so they did get the money. And at that point, we thought we were sort of, you know, kindling, you know, building of a relationship that was broken. And then from there it just, you know, she spent the money, I guess within three months and started asking people for money. And we understood that she had a boyfriend in her life that was deep into gangs and drugs. So we, you know, when. When she asked, I said, I'd love to buy your groceries, but can I take you to the grocery store? And then she wouldn't respond to you.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, there you go.

[Caller]

I think this is Your way out is to start giving directly. And if she says nope, then, you know, the red flags were there and you did the right thing and your conscious stays clean.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. And Sierra, what George said earlier too, like, I do want you to have permission that this is your money and you want to see it being used in the best, wisest way. Right. I mean, I think there is a responsibility there. And, and I'll say with the caveat, you know, just because there's a family member who in need and is asking does not mean you automatically have to or you're a terrible person. Right. So you could have your own conviction of that you don't want it. Right. That you don't want to give or your heart may be. And again, I think this is up to you. This is not a right or wrong. I think it's just two different options. It's either like, I don't feel good about this. I don't. The responsibility doesn't feel right to me. I don't like it, and I just don't feel good engaging it. So that's. That is one option. And then the other is that you love her and you're like, no, I do want to be able to help. I just want to do it in the right way. So that right way to me would be be going straight to the landlord and helping with food, shelter, utilities, transportation, like the four walls, you know, helping her in those ways, not going on vacation or something like that and then talking to her and saying, you know, because I love you so much, like, I want to see you do better so you're not having to depend on people for money. So let's look at job opportunities. Let's look at doing a budget. Let's put you through Financial Peace University and go through and learn how to manage money. Like, I also want to give you these resources. You know, maybe you pay for therapy for her.

[Caller]

Right.

[Rachel Cruz]

I mean, like, seriously, I don't know what, what else is out there, but it's like tools to help her become a healthier person. How can we do that and sustain that? Right. So. So that. That's option B, but option A is okay too. Sierra, I want you to feel that. Like, that that is up to you.

[Elizabeth]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

But then there's option B if you feel that way. But I think what you're saying is wise is going, you know, straight to, to the things that you can help and, and even, you know, and it's. And it's so sad, but it is the reality. You know, she's Pregnant. So, like, I don't know what health insurance looks like for her and all of that. So it's like there's a part like we need to understand the reality we live in. Niece, whatever her name is. But also maybe Sarah, you say, I feel like I do want to give, and maybe it's maybe through the medical baby route and you help pay for medical bills, you know, to help with that. Right. So, like, I think there's ways to help her, but also helping her to become a healthier whole person in the process is going to be the best gift that you can give her.

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, I really like that because I think I haven't taken time to do that, and I think I was also struggling. I'm kind of in a position in my life where I haven't always outrageously given.

[Rachel Cruz]

Right.

[Elizabeth]

Like, I've, you know, and I've kind of turned the corner where I feel like I have to. Oh, I can help there. I can help.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes.

[Elizabeth]

Like, I think I was trying to find that balance. And so I think that. But just even having a, you know, we've kind of chatted back and forth and I've kind of gone a bit. A bit radio silent, actually, just to sort of discern and pray about this. I think that answer is just, you know, just having a proper conversation with her and how she can grow and sort of determine from there, but also maybe directly help her with the four walls. We have free healthcare in Canada, so.

[Rachel Cruz]

Baby care shouldn't be good. Okay, good. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. That's fantastic. Yeah. Well, I. I love your heart, Sierra. And I think, you know, this is the thing about money. It's a tool to help, but we want to help and not enable. And with family members, I think it's sometimes that hard line that can happen.

[Caller]

Giving should be intentional, just like spending or saving. Y.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's right.

[Caller]

You're doing this the right way.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, for sure. Sierra, thanks so much for the call. Well, that puts this hour of the Ramsey show in the books. We'll be all right. Dave, you have some strong opinions, possibly? Yeah, I think so. Okay. Because you really prefer credit unions over big banks.

[George Camel]

Well, credit unions, for one thing, are nonprofit, which means that the members, the customers own. Own the credit union. So any profits that the credit union makes goes back into customer pricing so you get better interest rate on savings, cheaper checking and so on, that kind of thing. But what's more important than that, though, is the fact that the customer is the owner, changes the spirit on the credit union. So I find very few credit unions that aren't very customer centric.

[Rachel Cruz]

Well. And I think we have found one that is incredible and that's Fair Winds. They are an incredible credit union that is really out with the heart to help the customer.

[George Camel]

They're the right kind of people with the right kind of values and they've done a really, really good job with customer service and the deals that they're offering. The Ramsey Tribe is incredible.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that the things that we teach they so line up with. And you're right, their customer service is unbelievable. Winston and I just signed up and we got an account. Yeah. And I'm not kidding, it took less than five minutes. Minutes. It was so user friendly. Like the step by step approach was unbelievable. And then the next day my phone rings and it says Fairwinds on my phone. So I answered it and talked to someone there and they said, yeah, they give calls to every new customer. And so again, they just really care about your experience and I, I so, so appreciate that. Plus, anything that you can do at a traditional branch, you can do with [e-mail] or on their app and you'll have free access to over 33,000 atm. Yep.

[George Camel]

Hey, you guys know how much I hate banks in general and so for me to do this is a big deal. Talk to our friends at Fairwinds and check out the combined checking and savings bundle that they created just for the Ramsey Tribe. You guys, it's incredible.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, you guys, it's so easy to join Fairwinds no matter where you live. So go to fairwinds.org Ramsey Fair Winds.

[Trevor]

Is federally insured by NCUA.

[Rachel Cruz]

Foreign. From the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create amazing relationships. I'm Rachel Cruze hosting this hour with best selling author and my co host of Smart Money Happy Hour, George Camel. We are answering your questions. So give us a call at 888-255-225. We'll chat about your, your life, your money, your career, relationships, anything and everything. We are here.

[Caller]

Rachel will get into it. She's not scared.

[Rachel Cruz]

We are here for you. All right, let's have Kevin kick us off this hour in Springfield. Hey, Kevin, welcome to the show.

[Trevor]

Hi. So I just had some questions trying to figure out how to get us out of doubt here. I mean, we are drowning. I've got some charge offs, some credit cards. I've got some rental properties. A couple years ago kind of took a Turn. We were doing well a couple years ago, it took a turn. We have seven kids under our roof right now. My wife's sister had lost two of her children. We ended up having to adopt them, bring them in. So it's been. Since. It's kind of just financially been straining us as, you know, grocery prices going up and all that. So we've got some hard decisions to. I've got some rental properties, got three duplexes. I owe about 268,000 on them. I could probably sell them around 360 to 390,000. And then I've got another house. It's a rental property. I could probably sell those, sell it around 80,000. So I'm just trying to decide whether I should stick with the rental property. You sell the vehicles, what's your total.

[Caller]

Debt outside of the rental property? Put those aside. What's the total consumer debt?

[Trevor]

Total debt would be about 520,000.

[Caller]

That doesn't include any mortgages.

[Trevor]

Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, that does. That includes all the mortgages and credit cards. So I mean, consumer debt, you're looking at probably around 40,000.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Trevor]

Between me and my wife both.

[Caller]

And that's credit cards. There's multiple car loans.

[Trevor]

Yeah. So I've got two vehicle loans. I've got my truck and then my wife's suv. And my wife's suv, we're pretty well got to stick to it because it's the biggest one we've got for transportation for the kids.

[Caller]

And you could clear a hundred thousand profit if you sold the duplexes.

[Trevor]

Yes.

[Caller]

Well, sounds like you just found your get out of jail free card right there. What kind of. What's the net income you're making off of all these rentals per year?

[Trevor]

We're not. So yearly income, we're not making a whole lot. I know. We're. We're bringing in about probably after the insurance and taxes and payments are made, probably around 4,000 a year. So it's not really even more reason.

[Caller]

This is a big hassle. And there's really no ROI because you're not even factoring maintenance and repairs and tenant vacancy and all kinds of other risks. Man, I'd get out of this and get a clean slate if I were you.

[Trevor]

Okay, so the one issue with that is we've got my wife's parents living there right now, and we're kind of trading them for babysitting. My wife's not working because the baby. Babysitting is kind of so high right now. So it just doesn't make sense for her to be able to work. So we're kind of. We're letting them stay there. They're not in great of health. I know. My wife's dad had cancer. He recovered from that, but he's not able to work. They can't afford anywhere. So we're just kind. Kind of like, what are we gonna do with them? So, yeah, it's just. It's very stressful.

[Caller]

Is that one of the duplexes? Do you have one duplex or three?

[Trevor]

We've got three on one lot.

[Caller]

Okay. So could you sell the other ones?

[Trevor]

One of the duplexes? Yeah, probably. That would probably basically just. That would. Yeah. Pretty close to paying them off. If I sold the other two, I.

[Caller]

Would do that for now, just so you guys can breathe, because you said you're drowning, so trying to get your head above water means let's get rid of two of these duplexes, pay off the debt, build some emergency fund. Then we can reassess the situation with the parents after that.

[Trevor]

Okay. All right.

[Caller]

Are the cars worth anything? Are you underwater on both?

[Trevor]

I mean, we're pretty well underwater, the trucks. I owe 42,000. It's probably worth about 30. My wife's car, we owe 27. That's probably worth about 16 or 17.

[Caller]

Oh, you told me you had 40 grand in consumer debt. Sounds like there's a lot more.

[Trevor]

Yeah. So. Yes, there is.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Trevor]

I've got a student loan. I went to school to be a cop, and of course, they don't pay very well.

[Caller]

What's the household income.

[Trevor]

Really? Just my income. Right now we're at 63,000 a year.

[Rachel Cruz]

I thought the kids were helping. I think the parents were helping with the kids. So your wife could work?

[Trevor]

Well, they do, but we're kind of. We're in a mess right now where everywhere she goes, it's. It's just been a nightmare because all the appointments and stuff. Mom can't take him everywhere, so she plans on going back into it. But yeah, we're kind of. We're trying to find something. She's want to go to school and do all that. Yeah, I just word like said we don't know if school should hold off. She should just go back to full time really quick.

[Rachel Cruz]

So what was she doing?

[Trevor]

She was a nursing assistant at a nursing home.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, and how much was she making if she worked full time?

[Trevor]

Oh, probably 32 to 36,000 a year.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, well, so you got truck 42, SUV 27. How much is in credit card debt? How Much credit card debt is it?

[Trevor]

Between me and her, both were right, about 20,000 credit cards.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. And then how much in your student loan?

[Trevor]

Student loan. I'm. It's not very much. It's about almost 2,000.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, y'all are bumping up to, you know, 92,000 in consumer debt making 63. So. Yeah, you can't. So all this rental stuff, Kevin, you guys can't afford it. So you have a rental house too, is that what you said?

[Trevor]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. I would sell everything from a real estate perspective and if the parents that. But you, you know, you told us that, well, the parents have to live here because they're exchanged for babysitting and all, you know what I mean? Like I, all of that I would put an apartment, you know what I mean? And do what you can. Cuz you guys can't keep saving everyone's situation while you're drowning. And so you got. If I were you, from a real estate perspective, you would make, did you say you, you would clear 80k from the house?

[Trevor]

So we, yeah, we would get about. Well, we would get, we could sell it for 80 by 060 on one.

[Caller]

Of the rental house, 1015 off of that, not 100 off the other one.

[Trevor]

Yeah, so this is, yeah, this is my second problem. So on my, my other house I've got right now we got solar and we did not know a whole lot about solar. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

Is that the $20,000 one or is that, is that the $80,000 house or is that another house?

[Trevor]

That's the current house we're in right.

[Rachel Cruz]

Now that you're living in.

[Caller]

What are you going to solar?

[Trevor]

Yes, the solar's at 60,000 right now. I'm saying payments.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, I know. All right, so this is.

[Caller]

Everything must go.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, yeah. 100. Yeah. So I mean I would sell these duplexes. You guys can't afford to keep them. So that gives you a hundred grand. That clears basically all of your other debt with about 8,000 left. And then you're gonna have to work to pay off these solars. Or if you sold the other house and maybe made 20, that would, you know, that would give you guys close to. What is that? $35,000 left and consumers debt. $35,000 for the solar and that's it. I would do that, I would do all of that today, Kevin. And the problem is though, what I'm worried about is that you're selling all these rental properties and you're going to pay off all of this and not feel much. So you can't. You guys have to cut up the credit cards. You guys have to just tell yourself we're not doing this anymore because this isn't going to fix Kevin and your wife. You're like, what we're saying is going to fix the money situation. It's not fixing you guys. And you guys need to be fixed to stop making some of these decisions or you're going to.

[Caller]

Yeah, the real estate transaction doesn't fix the behavior. That's the route you need to get to. But right now, the transactions are a good start.

[Rachel Cruz]

There's a time in your life and did the baby steps for renting, but you don't want to do it forever because when you rent, you're still paying for a mortgage, just somebody else's. Plus, rent means instability in your budget because it always goes up, never down. So when you're ready to buy, make sure you work with a mortgage partner. You can rely on Churchill Mortgage. Churchill is Ramsey trusted to help you make the move from renting to home ownership wisely. Churchill understands that when you buy a home the Ramsey way, your mortgage payment will be a consistent, manageable part of your monthly budget. Plus, when your home is paid off, that was your largest expense. Now it's extra money in your pocket and an asset towards turning you into a baby steps millionaire. Get started on the American dream of home ownership [e-mail] that's Churchillmortgage.com.

[George Camel]

The money and relationships tour is halfway over and the energy in every room has been unreal. Each stop has been packed with real talk, big laughs and life changing moments. Now it's your turn. Come hang out with me and Dr. John DeLoney in a city near you for a night that could change your money, your relationships and your future. This is your last chance to join us in Phoenix, Fort Worth or Kansas City the week of May 5th. Grab your tickets today at ramseysolutions.com tour.

[Rachel Cruz]

One way we have found that this show continues to grow, get more listeners and viewers is because you guys have been telling your friends, your family, sharing these episodes on social media all the things which we are so grateful for. We love to see the show growing, grow because we know that means more people are listening and hopefully more people are finding hope when it comes to their money. So honestly, you guys are the best marketing we have out there. Trusted people that trust you in your life are listening to your recommendations and when you talk about the show, it's, it's huge. It really is. And it helps us so much. So we want to thank you for doing that. So again, subscribe, leave a review, share an episode or two with a friend, and we'll keep getting the word out about taking control of your money.

[Caller]

George, you never know. One day they're going to say, fine, I'll watch the clip. And they go, oh, my gosh. This is actually pretty good.

[Rachel Cruz]

Look at this. Look what I could do with my money. I love it. All right, let's go to the phones. We have Ryan in Atlanta, Georgia, up next. Hi, Ryan. Welcome to the show.

[Trevor]

Hey, Rachel. Hey, Georgia. Hope you guys are doing good and stoked to talk to y'all today.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, well, thank you. Thanks for calling. How can we help?

[Trevor]

Yeah, so I'm. I'm 27 years old. I'm an aircraft mechanic. I make about 70,000 a year, give or take. Take. We get over time and stuff, but I just had a baby about 30 days ago.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, congratulations.

[Trevor]

And thank you. Thank you. So me and my fiance, we're getting married in October. We're not currently married. So I bought a house back in 2023, and she has a house, and her house is bigger. So we moved into her house. And in the meantime, I have my house being rented. And I just wanted to know, like, it was always a goal of ours to get into real estate. We just. I just wanted to get a clear picture if we're doing this the right way and get a little advice on what you guys will do as far as my situation.

[Caller]

Are they both in the Atlanta area? Are they nearby each other?

[Trevor]

Yes, sir. They're about probably like 10, 15 minutes apart.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, that's great. What kind of debt do you guys have? Consumer debt wise, you and your fiance, if you will just say, you know, wife for the scenario. Once you guys get married, how much consumer debt will you guys have?

[Trevor]

Yeah. So luckily we have no consumer debt, just our mortgages.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, that's great. Okay, how much do you owe on your primary?

[Trevor]

So on my home, I owe 177. And on her home shows 270.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. How much is your home worth?

[Trevor]

My home is worth about 225 to 230.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. Honestly, Ryan, if I were you, how. And you're making 80 grand a year. How much does she make?

[Trevor]

She makes 80 as well. She'll be getting a promotion next year. She'll be making. I'm sorry. She'll be making 80 next year. And they'll creep up from there.

[Caller]

You'll be making 150 together come October.

[Trevor]

Yes.

[Caller]

Are you guys going to combine finances completely?

[Trevor]

Yes, sir.

[Rachel Cruz]

And how much are you making on the rental property yours?

[Trevor]

So it's renting out for 1750 and the mortgage is 1160.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Trevor]

About 7000 a year, give or take.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. I'll tell you what I would do, Ryan and George, I'd be curious your opinion. I don't know where you would stand with this. So if I were you guys, Ryan, I'd probably just sell your house and I would take the equity in it, which will be.

[Caller]

It'd be 40.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, yeah. Ish. Yeah, yeah.

[Caller]

After fees.

[Rachel Cruz]

Fees and taxes and stuff. Yeah. And. And I mean, you put it towards your mortgage now, and you guys would have about 210 left on your primary mortgage. And then I would work just to pay it off. And that be your single goal. I mean, you know, because again, you're, you're making seven grand on the rental. It's not a ton. Right. Like, you're not, it's not life changing. Um, so I, if I were you, I would focus on the primary home, get that sold off. And that will take you guys. I mean, depending on how, you know, how hard you're willing to work and focus, maybe 5, 5 ish years maybe. And then from there reevaluate and say, okay, now what do we want to do? Because real estate investing will be beyond baby steps. It's, It's Baby Step 7 really is where I would put it.

[Caller]

So once your primary home is paid off, then save up, pay cash for an investment property.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep. And I say that, Ryan, because, you know, in five years, you guys could have two more kids. You know what I mean? You could have three kids. The way life looks, you know, your, you know, and your priorities could shift. Then when you actually say, hey, we have the ability, we, you know, your income's going to go up. You guys will have a great income. No house payment, nothing. And if you wanted to save, you know, a hundred grand to buy, you know, a fixer upper and let it be your first rental, have at it and do it. You know what I mean? Like, absolutely. Or you could see, I don't know that man, once you're juggling life and there's, you know, kids running around and everything, you're like, you know, just a good mutual fund feels like really easy in life right now and go simple with investing and then maybe get into it later. Right? So it's the idea that it's not a never. And I come from a real estate family. I mean, my family loves real estate. And So I am all about it. But I do want the priorities to be in the correct order just for peace and for you guys to have as much autonomy as possible. So that's what I. I would probably sell wallets and then throw any equity you have at your primary home. You guys get married. I would probably do this after the wedding, by the way. I would probably just like. Yeah, hold it, hold still.

[Caller]

Nothing's on fire.

[Rachel Cruz]

Nothing's on fire. After you guys get married. You know, all of that from a legal standpoint is there. Then, you know, make this move to, to sell your home, put the equity into her home, which you should be on the, you know, the title deal.

[Caller]

That's what I was gonna ask. Are you gonna get added to the deed and the mortgage? Mortgage?

[Trevor]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. That's. That was the goal after we get married. We were gonna combine everything.

[Caller]

I love the idea of throwing that lump sum from the proceeds at her mortgage and then you can recast it or refinance it, but probably you could, you should be able to recast it and just add your name to it with that lump sum. And that'll make that payment so low, you guys will knock that mortgage out so fast, making 150 grand. The mortgage is now down to 2:30 at that point.

[Trevor]

Right. That was actually a segue into. So I have like 80 grand in a high yield savings. And so I didn't know if it would have been smart to like throw it at my mortgage now and then recast it towards a smaller payment. But so based off what y'all are saying, it would make sense to sell and then just throw that entire lump.

[Caller]

Yeah. Anything beyond your six month emergency fund, I assume that includes your. That's all your savings?

[Trevor]

Yes, sir. Yeah.

[Caller]

So anything beyond the six month emergency expenses? Yeah. Once you guys are married, throw that on top of the lump sum from the proceeds, use the extra savings. You'll knock that thing down maybe closer to 200.

[Trevor]

Okay.

[Caller]

That'd be amazing. And you guys still have time. You're gonna cash flow wedding, I assume by October.

[Trevor]

Well, luckily, yeah, we're blessed in that area. Her. Her dad is in a position to help us out with that.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, that's great.

[Caller]

Awesome.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's great. Yeah, I mean, this sets you guys up. Brian really well. I mean, I mean, to get this, the primary mortgage down that low. And how much is the house worth?

[Trevor]

The house is. So she just bought it like not too long ago. It's worth like 3, 308 or something.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's great. But to think that you guys could have a paid off house in what, 4ish years, maybe even. I mean like, it's just wild to think. And then what you guys can do from there is amazing. So if real estate is still what you guys are wanting, then we'd be all about that, just cash flowing it and going slow. We always say move at the speed of cash so it's not going to be fancy and big and great. But my husband's flipping houses right now, George, and there are some nasty houses.

[Caller]

That are, hey, Winston, how's it going? He's like, man, there's some good days, there's some bad days.

[Rachel Cruz]

I know, yeah. So you can find some not great. You know, get a contractor in there, you know, figure it out. But real estate's fun. I think it's a great way to diversify money. Eventually, you know, we're not, I'm not just like, oh, just invest in a mutual fund and sit there. I do like the idea of, you know, you're making money on turn. I don't know, it's fun. Real estate is fun. But I just want you to do it the right way.

[Caller]

You'll have more peace about it.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, for sure. And if a deal doesn't go well, George, you know, you just say, well.

[Caller]

That one didn't take that. When you do it with cash, it just changes the desperate, the desperation involved.

[Rachel Cruz]

It really does. It is wild. Like it, it, he had one that and it sat. And I mean it like it was painful and it was, it was a larger one than what a deal we would normally do. But we had no mortgage payment.

[Caller]

Right.

[Rachel Cruz]

So it's like, you know, you can afford just to let it kind of.

[Caller]

You know, bleeding money. Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

I'm like, seriously, there is something so powerful about it and, but yeah, there's some, there's some nasty houses.

[Caller]

Well, if you just watch Tick tock, you don't see that. All you see is buy my course and I'll show you how amazing this is. And yeah, I worked one hour a week to make all this money. But the reality of it is it's a lot of pain and turmoil to get the reward on the other side.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, for sure. It's a lot of work. Yes. Oh no, it's. And that's the interesting thing, you know, that's, you know, flipping versus is holding. Right. So the investment real estate where you hold and yeah, and that's the thing too is you don't make a ton of money on the rents always. But it's what you, what you make at the buy, right? If you, if you get a. Appreciation kicks in all the time, which is beautiful too. So, yeah, so there's some fun stuff there that is great. Not everyone does it the wisest, smart, peaceful way, so we are slower with it, but it gives you more peace, which is way more of an enjoyable life.

[Caller]

George Amen. This show is sponsored by Better Help. More and more people are becoming aware.

Of the need for mental and emotional health resources.

But over a quarter of those people.

[Rachel Cruz]

Still say they avoid getting therapy due to the fear of judgment.

[Caller]

I know because I've been there.

[Rachel Cruz]

I've sat with hurting people for years and a lot of folks are scared to take that next step. So listen, when people won't get help, it doesn't just affect them. It impacts everybody around them, their families, their workplaces, the entire community. The world is better when people are healthy and whole.

[Caller]

So if you're thinking about trying therapy, contact my friends at Better Help.

Better help is 100% online therapy, so.

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[Rachel Cruz]

They have a network of more than 30,000 licensed therapists with a wide range of specialties.

[Caller]

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[Rachel Cruz]

Listen, good folks, we're all better with help.

[Caller]

Visit betterhelp.com DeLoney to get 10% off your first a month that's better help.

H E L p.com DeLoney Listen guys.

[George Camel]

I've heard just about every excuse for why folks think they can't get ahead with money. So let's go ahead and settle this right now. You get the final say on what happens with your money. That's why you have to start telling your money where to go so you can stop wondering where it went. So if you're going to start winning with money, you have to get on a budget. The easiest way to get started and stick to it is with the EveryDollar budget app. It'll help you make a plan for every single dollar coming in and every single dollar going out every single month. And guess what? It's free. So no excuses. Download every dollar in the App Store or Google Play. Today.

[Caller]

It is time for one of our favorite segments on the Ramsey show in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on The debt free stage. Joining us are Micah and Jessica, which can only mean one thing. You guys are debt free. Can you confirm or deny?

I can confirm.

Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

We love it.

[Caller]

Where are you guys from?

So we're from Smith Station, which is close to Auburn, Alabama.

Awesome. And how much debt did you pay off?

[Rachel Cruz]

So we paid off $163,000. $427. Oh my gosh.

[Caller]

Love it. How long did it take?

[Rachel Cruz]

29 months.

[Caller]

29 months?

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, so great.

[Caller]

That is wild.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, what kind of debt was.

[Caller]

Was an aircraft.

[Trevor]

Whoa.

[Rachel Cruz]

We got a plane.

[Caller]

You know he's serious if he calls it an aircraft.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, an aircraft versus an airplane makes.

[Caller]

It feel like a business.

[Rachel Cruz]

What is the difference? Airplane versus aircraft?

[Caller]

Aircraft is anything that flies airplane specifically.

So it could be like a helicopter would be considered an aircraft.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, but you have an aircraft. Are you a pilot?

[Caller]

I am.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, amazing. So now you have your own aircraft paid off?

[Caller]

Actually, we sold it.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, you got rid of it? After we paid it off.

[Caller]

After we paid it off.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, my gosh. Okay, so it was an aircraft. What else?

[Caller]

A truck.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Caller]

And a vacuum.

[Rachel Cruz]

And a vacuum.

[George Camel]

Wow.

[Rachel Cruz]

And our house.

[Caller]

And our house.

Wait, what?

[Rachel Cruz]

No, your house. You should have led with this vacuum.

[Caller]

Way to bury the lead.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, just the house. The afterthought. I gotta ask paid off the bigger question.

[Caller]

How much was this vacuum that it required going into of debt?

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, it was about $4,000.

[Caller]

Okay, I've heard of these. What are these vacuums? Are they like miracle workers compared to a Dyson?

Oh, yeah, they're. They're pretty great.

It's got to be worth $4,000.

Not worth the debt, but they're pretty good.

[Rachel Cruz]

That is it for your home. The vacuum for your home. Yeah, yeah, you'll have never heard of this. Have you heard of a $4,000 vacuum?

[Caller]

Because someone else was like, yeah, we have vacuum. It's $4,000. What? I don't even know where to buy it for a thousand dollar vacuum. So funny, I don't have access to those.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, I told him I wanted wanted it. So you got it? He said, yes, ma'am.

[Caller]

Put it on the card.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, gosh. Okay, so 29 months. So what happened 29 months ago that caused you guys to change what you've been doing?

[Caller]

So I had gotten a new job several months before that, and it was considerably more than I've ever made in my life. But several months goes by and nothing's changed. Still living basically paycheck to paycheck. And I was like this isn't okay. Something's got to change. So I remembered from high school school, the Dave Ramsey.

[Rachel Cruz]

Wow.

[Caller]

And I was like, hey, we need to do this. And so we did.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, my gosh. Okay, so how much money were you guys making during this debt payoff?

[Caller]

So at the beginning, it was about 160,000 together.

[Rachel Cruz]

Uhhuh.

[Caller]

And then towards the end, it's about 140. Of course now, because the promotions and stuff, we're back up to about 160.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. Okay. So great, you guys. Oh, my gosh. So you were like, okay, we are making great money, but we're literally living paycheck to paycheck. So what would be. Because I'm actually was brainstorming with the team this exact type video content of, like, you know, why wealthy people, you know, people making 200,000, which was basically, you guys are still living paycheck to paycheck because what did it look like for you guys? Was it just payments? Was it just not budgeting? Like, what was life like? So he's the spender. So it was mostly him. Okay.

[Caller]

I love how quickly she threw you under the bus.

It's okay. I'm also the nerd, so there you go. It's my own fault. It was a lot of things. It was. Was. Yeah. I mean, obviously, aircraft truck. I mean, vacuum. Just payments that we had coming through. We didn't do credit cards. I. I never touched credit cards. But kind of the big thing was we were just buying stuff that just really didn't matter.

[Rachel Cruz]

Eating out a lot.

[Caller]

Eating out a lot.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. All the subscriptions. Yep. Just not really saying no. Correct. Basically, if you wanted it, you're gonna figure out a way to do it. Yeah.

[Caller]

You were like a toddler with, you know, a Richie Rich blank check situation.

Yes.

I love it. So what was your life like during that 29 months? Show us the other side of the sacrifice. What did you do?

So the first about six months, which is when we paid off all our consumer debt before we got into the mortgage. It was rice and beans, you know, I mean, like, we weren't eating out hardly at all. We have date night. That was a required thing that we would do, but we cut all the subscriptions up. We didn't buy anything. Like, it was bare bones. Only if we need it, did we buy it.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. We started making a list of stuff we wanted to buy after.

[Caller]

Oh, that's fun. A little wish list.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Wow, that's great. And did you say for the first six months, that was it? That was the mentality.

[Caller]

Right. The first six months was that, and then we got through baby step three, so we hit four, five, and six.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes.

[Caller]

And so that slowed down that kind of mentality a little bit. Let us grow a little bit. But towards the end, I was like, man, this mortgage just really stinks. And so that's when I started talking to her about, hey, maybe we should sell the aircraft that we've paid off.

And that sped the whole thing.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, Yeah. I told him. I said, I'm not telling you to do that. That's going to be your decision.

[Caller]

Yeah.

How did it feel when you sold it?

I was sad.

I Did you kiss it goodbye? Like, what is the process?

But it was close to that.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, how much did you get for it? How much was it? That. So we.

[Caller]

We bought it for 39, but we sold it for 65.

Whoa.

[Rachel Cruz]

Wow.

[Caller]

We got it. Yes. So we got it right before COVID 19.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh.

[Caller]

And so market went crazy high in general aviation. And then unturned that. We put 24, 000 into it.

[Rachel Cruz]

Wow.

[Caller]

New paint job, new stuff inside. All kinds of stuff.

[Rachel Cruz]

Wow.

[Caller]

So you got no aircraft now?

No air? Well, not mine, no.

But you fly one professionally, but you don't have your hobby?

Well, it's actually not what I do for a living.

Oh, wow.

It's just what I do on the side. I do stuff with Civil Air Patrol, so I fly with them. But on primary side, I'm actually it.

Oh, nice. So this was a hobby of yours?

Correct.

That's amazing.

It's a very expensive hobby.

So now what do you do when you want to go fly?

Well, it depends on what I want to do. If it's with Civil Air Patrol, then I have to get a certain mission set for that. And there's all kinds of training requirements and stuff I have to maintain.

So there has to be some purpose behind it versus a joyride.

Correct.

That's probably for the best. Oh, my gosh. I'm so proud of you guys. That's a big sacrifice. I mean, you think about trying to convince a guy to sell his truck. He sold his aircraft.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, he sold his truck, too.

[Caller]

I sold my truck.

[Rachel Cruz]

Whoa. Did it all. You were just like, all the way.

[Caller]

Okay, so how do you convince another guy listening out there, who's going, no one's taking my truck away from me.

[Rachel Cruz]

It may not be a truck, George.

[Caller]

It's always, always. No one's ever, like, no one takes my Prius away from me. No one's ever said that in history.

Yeah, I would say, number one thing, you're living now, you're not thinking seven years from now, so start thinking about what your life's going to be like and then make the sacrifices now so it can be that. And so it's more of a mature mentality.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes.

[Caller]

Micah said, it's so much nicer than I could have.

[Rachel Cruz]

That was good. So good. Oh, man. Okay. Were there people cheering you guys on during this process? Process. Did you talk about it or did you kind of just keep it between y'all? Oh, we definitely talked about it. Yeah, we talked about it. I love it.

[Caller]

We actually led several Financial Peace University classes as coordinators. And so we had our parents and stuff who were happy for us. They weren't necessarily on board with everything we were doing, but they were happy that we were going down this path. So. But really it was each other and just keeping our nose to the grindstone.

[Rachel Cruz]

So to speak, and just doing it. Anybody make fun of you during.

[Caller]

Oh, yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Mainly for the credit card situation. Yeah. Because everyone thinks it's crazy you don't have a credit card. And we're like, we didn't have one to begin. Yeah. That was interesting, too.

[Caller]

What was your retort? What was your big comeback when they would come at you with this.

With the credit cards, Just in general, credit cards, I would point out something that's been brought up several times is obviously statistics. Right. I'm a big statistics guy. Being it. Right. Very numbers or being the nerd. But on top of that, I would bring, you know, what these credit card companies do and who they target with their advertising and who they're going after.

The sliminess of it.

[Rachel Cruz]

All right.

[Caller]

The predatory nature. Oh, I love that.

[Rachel Cruz]

So good.

[Trevor]

Wow.

[Caller]

What's the house worth?

It's about 242,000 this morning.

Awesome.

[Rachel Cruz]

Amazing.

[Caller]

So you guys are well on your way to baby steps. Millionaire. Now we are in baby step seven. That's incredible. What do you tell people the key is to getting out of debt? If there was one thing.

[Rachel Cruz]

So we were talking about this on the way here, what we would say if you asked us. And my take was, invite people into your journey because you get to minister to people that way. Tell them why you're doing what you're doing. And what's so different about Ramsey compared to all these other financial institutions. That was my takeaway with it. Invite people in. Just keep them updated on what you're doing. Keeps you motivated. It keeps you motivated. Definitely. And then you can bring other people in because they'll start asking Questions like, oh, how'd you do this? You get to tell them all about it.

[Caller]

Yeah, that's beautiful. And there's some accountability. It's like, oh, they're going to ask about this.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. We were teaching the classes while we were in, like, baby step three. And we're like, we just sold the truck that we had paid off. And they. Everyone thought we were.

[Caller]

You're walking the talk.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Caller]

I love it. Oh, my goodness. Well, we have a parting gift for you guys. We have two every dollar, premium subscriptions, good for a year. So you can use those, pass it on to the naysayers or the cheerleaders to help them on their debt free journey as well. All right, here we go. You ready?

[Rachel Cruz]

Let's do it.

[Caller]

All right, we got Micah, we got Jessica. 163,000 paid off in 29 months, making 160. And they sold the aircraft, the truck to do it. Count it down. Let's hear a debt free scream.

Three, two, one.

[Rachel Cruz]

We're debt free. I love it.

[Caller]

That'll do it now.

[Rachel Cruz]

I felt that house and everything. Golly. So good.

[Caller]

No words.

[Rachel Cruz]

So good.

[George Camel]

All right, let's cut to the chase. It's easy to get discouraged about crazy house prices and interest rates. But when you have the right real estate agent to help you buy and sell the right way, you'll have confidence to make smart decisions. Ramsey trusted agents aren't just experts who guide you through buying or selling. They're people you can trust to have your back. From the first call call to closing day, find a Ramsey trusted agent near [e-mail] agent. That's ramseysolutions.com.

[Rachel Cruz]

George. You know when you open your phone and you're like in an app, and you don't realize you're there because subconsciously you just end up. Do you ever do that?

[Caller]

There's. You've never said anything more relatable.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, okay. So I looked up the other day, no joke, judge me if you want. I was in every dollar. And I literally was like, subconsciously. The budgeting app. Subconsciously. And I literally was like, I don't even remember opening my phone. I don't even remember how I got here or what I was thinking to get here. But EveryDollar is an app that I use on the daily Instagram. And everydollar.

[Caller]

It's just muscle memory.

[Rachel Cruz]

Muscle memory. It is. I'm like, I don't know, because I love this budgeting app. I really do. And as a spender and as a free spirit, it is the thing that, like, it just keeps me in line. It gives me peace. I even did an experiment where I tried not to budget for, like, two weeks to, like, see, like, you know, And I just. I don't like.

[Caller]

That's Rachel living on the.

[Rachel Cruz]

I know. And I'm a spender, y'all. Like, I, like, I'm, you know, I'm not one of these, like, cheap people in life that I'm like, I love to budget, but I do. I love to budget, and I give every dollar a lot of credit because it helps. And it's just like, I just love this app so much.

[Caller]

So here's the ad. If your muscle memory is leading you to DoorDash and Uber Eats and Amazon, download the EveryDollar app instead.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes. So you can get a whole new rhythm on your phone. So you can be looking at your budget more and more. But it is. If you are living paycheck to paycheck or wherever you are, budgeting is something that is going to help you. It really is. It is a tool. It is a habit to get in. And every dollar helps. And our team's actually hosting a free budgeting training, George. So you're actually going to learn step by step how to use every dollar, how to create a budget, how to stick to it. So spots are limited, but you can sign up for [e-mail] webinar and there'll be a Q and A as well. So a lot of things just to kind of get started. But it is. It is a. It is a habit. I'm glad I have George for my free spirits. So proud of you spending self. It's very helpful. It is.

[Caller]

It's a good, humble brag.

[Rachel Cruz]

Thanks.

[Caller]

You said thanks. It's too late.

[Rachel Cruz]

Like in a job interview where they're.

[Caller]

Like, what's your worst trait?

[Rachel Cruz]

I just care too much. You know, I just care too much.

[Caller]

I budget too much.

[Rachel Cruz]

I just budget too much. All right, let's go to Elijah in New York City, one of my favorite cities in America. Hey, Elijah. Welcome to the show.

[Trevor]

Rachel, George, how are you guys doing?

[Rachel Cruz]

We're doing great. How can we help today?

[Trevor]

Excellent. Excellent. All right, so my wife and I are preparing to start a new chapter in our lives. We're going to be taking over her mom's business. It's a children's consignment shop. We're just kind of curious about what are the logistics behind moving the business over to us, wondering things like, should the business be in one of our names? Keeping one of Us as an employee, is our tax benefits behind that? And also when it does get passed over to us, is there going to be a cost to us? Like as far as taxes go?

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. When is that? Are you guys doing like an official purchase purchase?

[Trevor]

Her mom doesn't want to sell it to us, she just wants to give it to us.

[Caller]

Just gift it. Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh yeah, that's great.

[Caller]

That's nice. So it doesn't cost you anything and this is a physical brick and mortar location? Just one.

[Trevor]

Correct.

[Rachel Cruz]

And what's the real estate there? Does she rent out of somewhere or does she own the real estate?

[Trevor]

She rents.

[Rachel Cruz]

She rents out of it. Okay.

[Trevor]

And we just signed a 10 year lease, so we're gonna be there for a little while.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, that's great.

[Caller]

So what's the structure right now as it starts stands?

[Trevor]

Do you mean like, like a strip mall sort of thing or a single.

[Caller]

Like whose name is on what?

[Trevor]

Got it. So right now it's in my wife's name because we had to update the, the lease. So my, my mother in law said, all right, we'll put it in her name. So it's now my wife's name.

[Caller]

Okay. And is there an operating agreement? Is there something in paper, like a buy sell agreement? What have you guys outlined so far?

[Trevor]

My wife signed a, a lease contract. That's about it for now.

[Caller]

But nothing with the original owners, your family?

[Trevor]

Correct.

[Caller]

Okay, all right. But there's nothing. Is there anything in writing saying that they gifted this to you? I guess that's what I'm trying to get after is. Oh, transfer. It was just a handshake deal?

[Trevor]

Pretty much, yeah. She wants to. My mother in law wants to retire and wants to hand it over to my wife and I.

[Rachel Cruz]

And does your wife have any other siblings?

[Trevor]

No.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, so it's just her. Okay, so there's not like, like a issue of. Yeah. Dividing assets and all of that at, at her parents, you know, death, you know, that, that won't be an issue. Okay.

[Caller]

Have you contacted like a small business attorney to help with this?

[Trevor]

I have not. I didn't even know that was a thing, but that's something I will look into. We have no idea where to start with this.

[Caller]

Yeah, there's, there's attorneys that will specialize in small business or even an estate planning attorney can help help with this. And the things I would want to look into is just making sure that there is some sort of ownership transfer agreement in place and something that is guiding the legal structure. Like is this an llc? Is a Sole proprietorship. There's so many options out there. It is an llc.

[Trevor]

Yeah.

[Caller]

And so is as the LLC been transferred into your names.

[Trevor]

Not yet.

[Caller]

So there would be one piece of homework there. Filing the right paperwork with, you know, the IRS in your state licensing transfers, the lease agreement. That part's done, which is good. Any liabilities? Is there any debt attached to this business?

[Trevor]

No debt at all.

[Caller]

Oh, good. Okay. And then on the tax side, I'd be working with a good tax pro to figure out are there gift tax returns do then. Does your, you know, mom need to file any forms to make sure she doesn't get hit with a gift tax for the sale of this business?

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. What's the. What's the business estimated at, Elijah?

[Trevor]

Do you know as far as, like, yearly profits?

[Rachel Cruz]

Sure. Yeah.

[Trevor]

Yeah. So last year, projected around. It was around 740,000. Wow.

[Rachel Cruz]

Gosh. Is this like a high end?

[Elizabeth]

More or less.

[Trevor]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes. Consignment.

[Trevor]

I never realized how much it actually brought in until I started asking more questions.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. So that. So that was top line. How much is. How much is after everything's paid?

[Trevor]

Not entirely the net. She said between the two of us, it would probably be around353,800.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. And she just isn't needing that money anymore. Like, she. She. She doesn't need any level of stuff. She doesn't need any stock or anything, like.

[Trevor]

No. And. And babysit the grandkids.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. Wow, that's amazing.

[Caller]

What a great situation.

[Rachel Cruz]

I know that. What a phenomenal family.

[Trevor]

I've married into a phenomenal.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, my gosh. And you guys have obviously want the business. Correct. Like, this is exciting to her. There's not like a burden or like a, gosh, we have to take this just from an emotional level level.

[Trevor]

Not at all. No. My wife loves it on multiple levels.

[Rachel Cruz]

Great.

[Trevor]

About two years ago, I got hurt on the job. I was an electrician, so I can't do that anymore. So this is kind of my fallback. And it's something I enjoy.

[Rachel Cruz]

It's amazing.

[Caller]

I love it.

[Rachel Cruz]

So great.

[Caller]

So just to recap, there's three people I would reach out to if I was in your shoes. Number one is that attorney who can specialize in this and help you make sure the. The TE's are crossed, the eyes are dotted. Number two is a CPA to help on the tax side. And lastly, I would make sure you have a good insurance pro in your corner to help with liability insurance. Insurance and, you know, workers comp and whatever other pieces that the business Needs and make sure it's all in your name and you have the right coverages.

[Trevor]

Beautiful. Beautiful.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Caller]

But it sounds like it's as simple as it gets.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Thanks, Elijah. Yeah. And I would say, too, you know, it doesn't have to be necessarily in both names of making sure that your family, Elijah, you and your wife, your will states that the business is put, you know, in your name if. In the event that your wife passes away or something. You know what I mean? Like, if there's clear communication on that ends.

[Caller]

Yeah. That'll bleed into your personal estate planning with this business of what's going to happen with this business one day.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's what I'm thinking. Yep. 100. So that's great, man. That is a. You don't hear that often. It's usually much messier from the financial perspective. Right. Of a lot of parents that build a business. You know, they need that. The sale of that business for retirement. Right.

[Caller]

That's the retirement plan for a lot of these business owners. They didn't invest. They just went, I'm going to build a business, and one day I need the cash. And now it's on the kid to pay or go into debt for this business. And they call in saying, well, my dad said it's a great opportunity. It's valued at a million. Should I take out a million in debt to buy the business? And we're like, no, don't do that.

[Rachel Cruz]

Don't do that. Don't do that. Yeah.

[Caller]

So this is. This is what it looks like when you do it.

[Rachel Cruz]

Well, I know 100%. Yeah. So Elijah is. Yeah. In a very.

[Caller]

Oh, you know what I should do for Elijah is send him a. You think he's still on the line? Hang on, Elijah. Kelly's going to pick up. We're gonna send you the book from Dave, the newest one. Build a business you love. It's gonna walk you through the stages of business, the drivers that move through the stages. And I think you're gonna find it really helpful as you take on this new endeavor, to do it with a lot of wisdom, which Dave will outline in that book.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Caller]

30 plus years of running this thing.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. And it sounds like you guys have a great relationship with her mom who's gifting you all this business. And there's probably a lot of ins and outs of running it as successfully as she has. I mean, she's done this without debt. She makes, you know, I mean, a great return. It's amazing.

[Caller]

I mean, close to seven figures.

[Rachel Cruz]

So that's amazing. I mean, she's really done a great.

[Caller]

Job selling used kids stuff. I'm in the wrong business, but luxuries, they're in.

[Rachel Cruz]

They're in New York.

[Caller]

This is the kind of place my wife would love to shop.

[Rachel Cruz]

I know. I thought I should go forever in New York.

[Caller]

I'm gonna find Elijah.

[Rachel Cruz]

Elijah, we'll find you. And shop for our kids at the store. So. Great. Well, that puts this hour, the Ramsey show, in the books.

[Caller]

Hey, what are you still doing here? You know the rest of the show's happening on the Ramsey Network app, right? So you got to jump over there to continue. You can download it for free. Just go to your app store, type in Ramsey Network, it's completely free, and I'll drop a link in the show notes to make it easy for you. So if you're watching on the app, you're in luck. But if you're watching anywhere else, this show is over for you. So jump onto the app and let the fun continue. All right, Go on now. Don't make it weird. Okay, I got nowhere to go, so you need to go. Okay, bye. Bye, now. All right, this is getting weird over there, guys. What do we do?