Don't Take Financial Advice From Broke People

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ramsey Show – Episode "Don't Take Financial Advice From Broke People"

Host: Ken Coleman
Co-Host: George Camel
Title: Don't Take Financial Advice From Broke People
Date: [Insert Date]
Duration: Approximately 75 minutes

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Overview

In this episode of The Ramsey Show, hosts Ken Coleman and George Camel delve into the critical topic of seeking financial advice from individuals who may not be in a stable financial position themselves. The discussion underscores the importance of receiving guidance from financially sound and experienced individuals to build wealth effectively. Throughout the episode, several callers present diverse financial dilemmas, allowing Ken and George to offer tailored advice rooted in the Ramsey philosophy of debt elimination and wealth building.

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Key Discussions and Insights

1. Avoiding Financial Advice from Unstable Sources

Ken Coleman opens the episode by emphasizing the show's mission: to help listeners win in their financial lives, regardless of past mistakes. The central theme revolves around the pitfalls of taking financial advice from those who are themselves struggling financially. George adds a touch of humor and relatability, highlighting his commitment despite not feeling well, symbolizing resilience in financial planning.

Notable Quote:

• Ken Coleman [00:14]: "We want you to win with your money. We want you to win in your work. We want you to win with your relationships."

2. Caller Stories Highlighting Financial Missteps

The episode features multiple callers, each presenting unique financial challenges. Ken and George provide actionable advice, reinforcing the importance of sound financial principles.

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Caller 1: Amber from Houston, Texas [01:40]

Issue: Amber unintentionally added her son's father to the deed of her home during a relationship that eventually ended. The ex refuses to remove his name without demanding either full custody of their son or a hefty financial payout.

Advice Provided:

• Ken Coleman [04:00]: Suggested that Amber confront the ex legally to initiate a quiet title action, ensuring her sole ownership is recognized.
• George Camel [04:23]: Recommended maintaining meticulous records of all interactions and legal proceedings to support her case.

Notable Quotes:

• Ken Coleman [05:07]: "I think there's two tactics here. You just go scored Sterth and come with all the records and let the judge decide."
• George Camel [07:08]: "I can't say it any better."

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Caller 2: Kennedy from Raleigh, North Carolina [11:03]

Issue: Kennedy, a newly graduated cosmetologist, struggles with budgeting due to irregular income streams and uncertainties in client appointments. Additionally, she faces the challenge of moving out with limited financial support.

Advice Provided:

• George Camel [14:23]: Highlighted that Kennedy’s income was unsustainable and urged seeking additional employment to stabilize finances.
• Ken Coleman [17:44]: Emphasized the necessity of increasing income streams before effective budgeting can be implemented.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [17:30]: "How much money are you making off of that? You're making $3 an hour."
• Ken Coleman [14:12]: "I would start doing nails."

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Caller 3: Miles from Fresno, California [32:18]

Issue: Miles considers paying off his $55,000 student loan in full despite family members advising him to make incremental payments. He has sufficient funds but faces pressure from his in-laws who do not contribute financially.

Advice Provided:

• Ken Coleman [32:42]: Encouraged Miles to proceed with paying off the loan immediately, dismissing the unhelpful advice of family members.
• George Camel [34:07]: Supported Ken's stance, calling the opposing advice nonsensical and urging Miles to take decisive action.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [34:07]: "It makes no sense."
• Ken Coleman [35:12]: "If this were a video call, we would have him go right now and do it."

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Caller 4: Paige from Grand Rapids, Michigan [24:04]

Issue: Paige seeks guidance on introducing her goal of becoming debt-free to her husband, who is a farmer and tends to incur debt by purchasing equipment through HELOCs (Home Equity Lines of Credit).

Advice Provided:

• Ken Coleman [26:17]: Suggested initiating the conversation calmly, emphasizing shared financial goals and possibly seeking marriage counseling.
• George Camel [29:05]: Recommended presenting a united front with supportive materials from the Ramsey Show to align financial strategies.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [29:05]: "If he loves you, he better care when he sees you opening up about this."
• Ken Coleman [29:18]: "Let's get him connected in that."

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Caller 5: Beverly from Naples, Florida [53:44]

Issue: Beverly fell victim to a scam where a company overcharged her for book marketing services, escalating costs from $2,000 to $60,000 without delivering promised royalties.

Advice Provided:

• George Camel [56:41]: Urged Beverly to seek legal assistance, emphasizing the importance of fighting fraud.
• Ken Coleman [60:04]: Advised Beverly to persist in seeking representation despite challenges, highlighting the severity of her situation.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [58:37]: "What do you do? Roll up to their house with a baseball bat?"
• Ken Coleman [60:04]: "You have an income of seventeen hundred dollars a month."

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Caller 6: Delisse from Detroit, Michigan [64:17]

Issue: Delisse is contemplating selling her RV, which is significantly depreciating in value. She owes $105,000 on it and is considering absorbing the loss to eliminate a hefty monthly payment impacting her retirement funds.

Advice Provided:

• George Camel [68:08]: Recommended selling the RV quickly to stop the financial drain, suggesting a private sale even at a reduced price.
• Ken Coleman [70:56]: Supported George’s advice, emphasizing the importance of freeing up funds and avoiding further depreciation.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [69:13]: "It's an expensive toy."
• Ken Coleman [70:56]: "That's an RV."

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Caller 7: Holly from Columbia, Missouri [71:04]

Issue: Holly has a history of poor financial management, including bankruptcy, and is now facing anxiety over managing an impending increase in income. She seeks advice on maintaining financial stability.

Advice Provided:

• George Camel [72:08]: Recommended using tools like EveryDollar for budgeting and emphasized strict financial discipline.
• Ken Coleman [73:11]: Encouraged Holly to adhere to the Ramsey Baby Steps and provided resources for structured financial planning.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [78:14]: "You have a right to be frustrated."
• Ken Coleman [72:08]: "A budget is going to be your best friend."

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Caller 8: Grace from unspecified location [75:12]

Issue: Grace struggles with getting her husband to adhere to a shared budget, leading to overspending and financial discord in their marriage.

Advice Provided:

• George Camel [78:37]: Suggested increasing transparency and possibly coupling financial discussions with marriage therapy.
• Ken Coleman [80:16]: Emphasized the importance of addressing the issue collaboratively and seeking professional help to resolve underlying marital tensions.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [82:14]: "All of a sudden, he gets to be scared and you don't."
• Ken Coleman [83:19]: "This will take a while. This is the Ramsey show."

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Conclusions

Throughout the episode, Ken Coleman and George Camel consistently advocate for:

• Financial Independence: Encouraging listeners to take control of their finances through disciplined budgeting, debt elimination, and wise investment decisions.
• Seeking Professional Advice: Highlighting the importance of consulting with financially stable and legally sound professionals rather than relying on potentially unreliable sources.
• Couples Financial Harmony: Stressing the necessity of transparent communication and mutual agreement in financial matters within marriages.
• Avoiding Debt Traps: Warning against high-risk financial maneuvers like excessive use of HELOCs and emotional financial decisions that can lead to long-term instability.

Final Notable Quote:

• Ken Coleman [74:23]: "It's a budget. Every dollar makes it simple."

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Useful Resources Mentioned

• EveryDollar App: A budgeting tool recommended for financial planning.
• Breaking Free from Broke: A book by Ken Coleman offering a step-by-step guide to financial stability.
• Churchill Mortgage Team: Suggested for mortgage-related inquiries.
• BetterHelp: An online therapy platform mentioned in advertisements.
• Fairwinds Credit Union: Endorsed as a trustworthy financial institution.

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Closing Remarks

Ken and George conclude the episode by reinforcing the importance of proactive financial management and cautioning against taking advice from individuals who may not have their financial affairs in order. They encourage listeners to utilize the resources provided, seek professional help when needed, and remain steadfast in their journey toward financial freedom.

Final Quote:

• Ken Coleman [82:49]: "This will take a while. This is the Ramsey show."

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Note: Timestamps correspond to the beginning of the respective sections in the transcript provided.

Transcript

[Ken Coleman]

This is the Ramsey show where we help you win in your life. We want you to win with your money. We want you to win in your work. We want you to win with your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the phone number to jump in. We'd love to coach you up alongside George Camel. I'm ke. And if you've got questions about your money, we'd love those. You got questions about your work? How about the income? I want more income. I want to start something. Should I do it? George and I will take those questions as well as we team up. So I need to point out George is playing hurt today. He's. I'm so proud of him.

[George Camel]

He's hustling so brave.

[Ken Coleman]

He's not feeling well. He's not under the weather, but he's. You're flirting with it.

[George Camel]

I just. I think I didn't play in the dirt enough as a kid.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[George Camel]

So you can look at me and guess that.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, but you're playing hurt. I'm proud of you.

[George Camel]

We're going to make it.

[Ken Coleman]

He's got the sinus issues.

[George Camel]

I'm doing this for America.

[Ken Coleman]

How's your throat?

[George Camel]

I think we're going to be all right.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay.

[George Camel]

I sound okay?

[Ken Coleman]

I think you sound great. So we're cheering for George today.

[George Camel]

I look good, and that's half the battle.

[Ken Coleman]

That's debatable. But he's going to give you his all. I know that. And George and I have a lot of fun. If you're new to us, know that we're going to give you the same answers and coaching you're used to. But we're going to have fun. At least we're going to try today.

[George Camel]

The more you say it, the less I believe you. So let's prove it to him.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, I see. Well, you got the snark already.

[George Camel]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. That's why people come for George. All right. Amber's up in Houston, Texas. Amber, how can we help?

[Caller]

Hi. How are y'all?

[Ken Coleman]

Good. How are you doing?

[Caller]

Good. Good. Okay. So I own a home. I purchased it five and a half years ago. I purchased it because I was pregnant with my son. And at the time, my son's father and I, we were just dating. We never married. I somehow got him on the deed of the home. Unknowingly at the time that that's what was happening. I asked the lender if he could be on the house in some way. She added him to the deed. I did not realize that until two years in When I refinanced my house and we were at the time ending our relationship, he moved out. And he has held the deed over my head since then and will not take his name off. So it's been a few years since we've separ. And we went through custody court and he told me that if I gave him full custody of our son, he would take his name off the house and he. I would owe him no money. And then we had another mediation, and he said if I paid him 100,000, then he would take his name off. So I. I'm going to pay him to get off the house. But what I'm trying to understand is how much does he actually get? What is a fair offer? I know it's you and the lawyers.

[George Camel]

I mean, there's no, there's no math formula here. You know, what did he down with the house when you guys bought it?

[Caller]

Nothing.

[George Camel]

So he put down nothing. Did he make half the mortgage payments?

[Caller]

He did make half the mortgage payments for the two years he lived there. And he helped pay the taxes for those two years.

[Ken Coleman]

That's what I would.

[Caller]

I have offered him. Yeah, I offered to pay. He put in about $24,000, but he wants 100. He said, I will not take anything less.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, well, I want to. I want to be able to dunk a basketball. There's a lot of things I want in life that I'm not going to get.

[George Camel]

He doesn't get to decide.

[Ken Coleman]

This guy's a just a low life. He's a. He's an absolute scumbag.

[Caller]

Yeah. So I said it's a. I think it's a fair offer that I give you what you put in. It's my.

[George Camel]

Has the house appreciated?

[Caller]

Yes, it has. I bought it. It was 300,000. Now it's worth about 425.

[George Camel]

Okay. And after all of your fees, I mean, you could maybe the lawyers decide, all right, he's going to get part of the appreciation on top of what he put in. But no more than that.

[Caller]

Well, that's.

[George Camel]

Which is not $100,000.

[Caller]

He's only put in 24. I put together a very detailed spreadsheet. I put down the down payment, the earnest. I've paid everything to get into the home.

[George Camel]

Is your name on the mortgage solely now?

[Caller]

Yes. He was never on the mortgage.

[George Camel]

Okay.

[Caller]

He was only on the deed, but he's holding it over me, and he says, if you're nice to me, I'll take my name off. If you're mean to me, I'm not going to. And it's. It's been this back and forth.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, that's. That's what I want to dive into for just a moment. The psychology of this.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Other than just closure and what you shared so far, is he being on this deed at this moment causing you any other real grief or problems in life?

[Caller]

Yes, it is.

[Ken Coleman]

How?

[Caller]

Well, because I want to move forward. I'm in a new relationship, and we're planning on getting engaged. And, you know, it's really causing a lot of problems in my new relationship by having this tie to my past.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. And so I was going to tell you to wait him out a little bit, because I think this guy's just a scumbag and I think he's trying to bully you. And I think.

[Caller]

Yeah, 100%.

[Ken Coleman]

I think there's two tactics here. You know, you just go scored Sterth and. And come with all the records and. And get in front of a judge and let the judge decide. I think that's probably the one I was going to. I was going to suggest maybe you wait him out a little bit. But with this new relationship going on, it's. We need to get him, this guy, off and clean.

[George Camel]

So here's the deal. We can't help. You're going to need to get in touch with your lawyer. Do you have one?

[Caller]

I've talked to three.

[George Camel]

Okay.

[Caller]

And they told me that we could go and send him a demand letter. And I told him I was going to get an attorney. And he said, I hope that you do, and I hope we spend every dollar in equity to pay for these attorneys and you get nothing.

[George Camel]

Good. Well, when you win, he's going to have to pay the attorney fees.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

That's going to be part of this deal. So what you're going to likely go for is a quiet title action which will resolve this dispute over the property ownership. And so that. Again, I'm not a lawyer, but that's. I would pursue that action. That's the only way to force him to sign something.

[Caller]

Yeah. Because I do have a lot of evidence. I mean, he. When we went through custody court, he would record conversations that we would have that I did not know. And he would talk about the house and said, when I buy my house and I move out, I will sign my name over. So I have a lot of evidence to show that he's very much said he would take his name off and wanted no money, you know, tried to bribe me into giving me full custody or giving him full custody of our son.

[Ken Coleman]

That's great.

[Caller]

Just been. Yeah, it's been a block.

[Ken Coleman]

What are you planning on doing with this current guy? You guys going to live in this house? Let's say that you get this ex off of this thing. What's the plan?

[Caller]

Well, I would like to keep my home. You know, it's got great schools, it's a great house. And so we would like to get him off and then, you know, be able to move forward and make decisions without having to go to closing with him and.

[Ken Coleman]

No, I get it. I was just curious. I was going to go a different direction if the answer was different, but I'm fine.

[Caller]

Yeah. So he. He has a house and he wants to sell his house and pull the equity out of his and we want to keep mine and then, you know, be able to make decisions after that. But yeah, it's just kind of been a headache to be able to make any decisions with him.

[Ken Coleman]

So of the three lawyers, you need to go back and interview them all one more round and you need to put them under. Under the microscope of. What would you do? Tell me what your next three steps are. How much time you think that's going to take. Tell them about his threat to try to draw this thing out, which, by the way, I think he's full of crap because if he tries to draw you out, he's going to have to pay legal fees. So I wouldn't be scared by this punk. This guy's a punk.

[George Camel]

And I'd keep the meticulous records and all the evidence of everything he said he's going to do. Text messages, emails, phone calls. This is not going to be fun. I hate you're going through this, but it's part of the messiness, you know, when you get involved with someone you're not married to. And I hope you don't repeat that with this next guy. I hope you wait until you're actually married to add him to the mortgage or the deed.

[Ken Coleman]

This needs to turn into a PSA right now, George, for all of the young people that are listening. Or middle aged, I guess. Doesn't matter how old you are and you're thinking about buying a house and you think, oh, it doesn't matter to dot the I's and cross the T's. This story. I hate this. That Amber is the poster child for why we say don't do this.

[George Camel]

I would not buy a house to anyone. I'm not married to family, friends, boyfriend, girlfriend. If we are not legally lawfully wedded. No, thank you. It's going to cause chaos down the line and financial and legal mess. And that's the calls we get on this show. So if you need any further proof, there it is.

[Ken Coleman]

And if you're a dude out there who thinks that what this guy's doing is okay and you think you want to do this, can I just tell you something? You're a turd. And this guy. Well said. This guy needs a visit.

[George Camel]

I can't say it any better.

[Ken Coleman]

This guy needs a visit with me. And a wiffle ball bat. Just smack him around a little bit.

[George Camel]

Hey, a pickleball.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, a pickleball paddle will do some damage, but not really hurting. This is the Ramsey Show. Mortgage rates have dropped. So if you're thinking about buying a home in the next year, contact your local Churchill mortgage team right now. If you wait, more people will be in the market competing for the same homes and potentially driving up prices. Churchill will help you the math to be sure your budget is correct, making your home a blessing and helping you build lasting wealth. Learn [e-mail] Churchillmortgage.com this is a paid advertisement in MLS.

[George Camel]

Id 1591NMLsconsumerAccess.org Equal Housing Lender, 1749 Mallory Lane, Suite 100, Brentwood, Tennessee, 37027.

[Ken Coleman]

The Ramsey show continues. Thrilled to have you with us alongside George Camel. I'm Ken Coleman, Triple 882-55-5225 is the phone number to jump in. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the early Black Friday sale is here. I don't. I'm not. I just don't like where we are at as a culture, to be completely honest, that we gotta have an early Black Friday. But here we are, we're trying to.

[George Camel]

Get it knocked out. You know what I mean? I don't want to be that guy. Now, if you're shopping on Black Friday, you're too late.

[Ken Coleman]

See, there's the problem. This is. This is a sign of the apocalypse. At what point do now we go past early Black Friday?

[George Camel]

Have you seen the movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger and he's trying to get the toy for his kid? Yeah, that's what I feel like is happening in today's world.

[Ken Coleman]

It really is. So, hey, Ramsey Solutions didn't start the problem, but we're going to meet you where you are. So we've got an early Black Friday sale. You can tell I'm thrilled about it. We get your hardcover books for only $12. The audio books for only $8. That's a really good deal. For instance, money's Not a Math Problem by our friend Jade Warshaw is on sale right now. Total money makeover the OG is on sale. And so many more great books. Go to Ramsaysolutions.com store to check out all the Christmas deals. Ramsaysolutions.com store you can click the link in the Show Notes if you are on YouTube or podcast the Show Notes.

[George Camel]

We love goodies down there.

[Ken Coleman]

Lots of good things in the show notes. Let's go to Raleigh, North Carolina. Kennedy is joining us there. Kennedy, how can we help?

[Caller]

Hey, how are y'all doing?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, we're having a blast. What's going on with you?

[Caller]

Good. So what I asked the girl when she called was I just graduated last October with my cosmetology license. And you guys may know or like your wives. Like, it takes a while for like a clientele to build up. So you're not like a guaranteed paycheck, you know, every two weeks, once a month. You're kind of just stepping out. Especially as a Christian, just stepping out. And faith, just knowing that I'm gonna have clients this week that are gonna pop up that didn't know I have scheduled Monday. So to know how to budget but not having a set paycheck for tithe groceries, rent for the salon, rent for my house because me and my sister are just going to move out this coming up Saturday into a house right down the road for my parents. So learning just how to budget everything. But also I don't know what I'm making, you know, one week to the next.

[Ken Coleman]

How long you been, how long you been doing hair full time?

[Caller]

Since March. So I started renting. The rent is 450. I have a girl that rents the other slots. I rent the whole building. She gives me 300amonth. So I just have to pay 150 out of pocket. So I've been paying that two months ago, but I've been doing hair since early March.

[Ken Coleman]

So what have you been averaging since early March? What have you been averaging? Income. What's that look like?

[Caller]

I wouldn't say that it would go over $600 from the salon that I make each month. So I would say somewhere between like 450, 550. Some. Some months it can be closer to a 600.

[Ken Coleman]

How are you surviving?

[George Camel]

How have you made it since March?

[Ken Coleman]

That's well below poverty level.

[Caller]

It is well below. So my rent, like I told you, the rent for that place is 150. So I've been living at home My car is paid for. I don't have any payments that are going out. So just moving out. My rent each month is. I know you guys are gonna laugh. My rent is 375 for the house and 150 for the salon. Mama and daddy told me, they said, I know that you don't have enough for it, but because of the house, it was a good friend of my dad. My dad wants to eventually buy it. So he said, if you, you know, budget, you're smart with it. He said, me and Mama got this wherever there's any lack. But he said if you would say we want to move out. He said, I think it would be a good idea. He said if you guys would like to go ahead and go and we'll cover everything else, you know, as long as you guys are out shopping and blowing.

[George Camel]

You're saying Mommy and Daddy are going to pay your rent if you move out? They'll pay 1200 bucks.

[Caller]

No, so I don't pay 1200.

[George Camel]

I'm saying if you moved out.

[Ken Coleman]

No, she's already told you. They've moved into a house.

[George Camel]

It's 375.

[Ken Coleman]

That was a friend of their dad's. And the rent's 375 for both you and your sister.

[Caller]

Yes, sir.

[Ken Coleman]

All right. But still, you're. I mean, sweetheart, you've put lipstick on a pig. I mean, I'm telling you, you're still absolutely. You had no money even with that rosy picture you just gave us.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

So I don't. I mean, I feel like it's the wrong. I mean. George, I want you to answer a question. But, yeah, you gotta do something in the meantime because there's not much here to budget.

[George Camel]

I can teach you how to budget with an irregular income. But right now, like Ken saying, it's not enough to pay the bills. And so we need to get something more stable. Because right now, let me tell you the math on this. You are making $3 an hour.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. Three.

[George Camel]

Count that. Three.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

There is no job in America paying $3 an hour. You somehow found it. And so you need to go get other jobs while you get clientele. And if that means word of mouth and I get them on a schedule, great. But we're not going to sit around the salon for seven hours a day hoping we get a single client.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, you would be better off. Go ahead.

[Caller]

Sorry. I do have a part time job, so I work at a grill that is right down the road. So my salon, we're out in the country, so I work at A grill that's on the other, like little small town in between, like my house and the swan.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, how much money are you making off of that?

[Caller]

That's no more than 120 once a week.

[George Camel]

Again, you are one shift at the grill. I got to pay the bills.

[Ken Coleman]

Kenny, there's nothing funny about this. And you are just broken up. You are chuckling your head off on the other end of the phone and I don't know how to say, sweetheart, like, this is awful. You need to make more money. You're not making any money at all.

[George Camel]

Is anyone doing salon work full time in your area?

[Caller]

Well, the girl that rents it from me, she just graduated too, so she. We're both quote unquote, full time, but building clientele, so.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, but you just told us you live in this. You live in this little teeny tiny area out in the. The middle of sticks. Is that what I heard?

[Caller]

Not in the middle of sticks, but it definitely is not. Like, like I'm about an hour and a half from Raleigh, more towards the beach. So it is a small town, but it's not out in the stick. But it is definitely.

[Ken Coleman]

I apologize. I was a little loose with my description.

[Caller]

No, you can say. No, you can say.

[Ken Coleman]

Point is, yeah, I think you need to be moving into Raleigh and get yourself a full time job at a very successful salon. Like, you've got to make some moves because I just don't know how much clientele you can build in this little place that you're at. Am I right?

[Caller]

Yes, sir. Without. Yeah, with that.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, that's what we got to steal everybody else's. And now we don't want to. Boy, I tell you what, I can't imagine that would go over well in this.

[George Camel]

I'll tell you what my barber did. Kennedy, you work for a place that's booming, you build up your clientele there, and then eventually you can go out on your own and those people will follow you. Yes, that's what I did. When he kicked, he started off on his own, left his old place that was kind of giving him leads, if you will, giving him the clientele, and then he moved out. And so that's what I think you need to do. We need to stair step this into just going, well, hopefully I'll have, you know, 70 people on the books in a few months because it's been. It's been a while. It's been six months and we're still making a few hundred bucks a month.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. Can you do anything else besides cutting hair like can you do nails? Like, who's doing nails in that little town?

[Caller]

Well, there's nobody that does nails. And people, they've asked me, they're like, would you do that? I know I could. Even though that's not like people get.

[George Camel]

Their nails done once a week.

[Ken Coleman]

We've got ourselves Kennedy. I threw that out there as a hail Mary and I threw a touchdown pass. Start a nail salon this afternoon or do it in your living room, for crying out loud. Little small town, these women need their nails done. We're talking hands and feet. That's. That's money.

[Caller]

Yes, sir.

[Ken Coleman]

So if you can do it, do it. Like, my point is, what you're hearing from George and I is this. Appreciate the budget question, but in order to make a budget work, we must have something to Income. Budget.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

I would start doing nails. And if I could, if I could be the person in your little town that does nails, then I can grow the hair thing too. But boy, oh boy.

[George Camel]

And this is a word of mouth business, so maybe you do a referral bonus if they send someone to you.

[Ken Coleman]

Where women go in your town to get their nails done, well, where I'm.

[Caller]

At, that's where they all come. Because the closest town within would then be maybe driving 20, 25 minutes. So I got some lady who retired. I got some of her clients, but she had a couple girls in there before me. But because they would all quit and leave, then all her clients, because she had a good amount of people, probably, you know, she was booked up. She told me she's booked up every day, so I believe her.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, again, your first reaction was priceless. You said, people have told me I need to do nails. So I think we just found the.

[George Camel]

Next business for you and then you can expand.

[Ken Coleman]

Unless you move away.

[Caller]

Yes, sir.

[George Camel]

Right now you don't have the luxury of doing whatever. We've got to find the thing that's going to pay the bills, then we can expand.

[Ken Coleman]

I tell you what, if I lived in that area, I would invest in her. I'd go, what does it cost? What do we call? What do we need?

[George Camel]

What's the startup?

[Ken Coleman]

How much nail polish? What we need to buy Kelly to get started, I'd want to know. And I'd go, we're starting it today. What do we need? A couple chairs. I'm going to buy the chairs.

[George Camel]

I need a little tub with some water.

[Ken Coleman]

Tub with water.

[George Camel]

The mani pettis.

[Ken Coleman]

I. I don't know what my wife does. I got to ask Stacy, but I think I would go let's start it right now.

[George Camel]

Ken goes more than Stacy. I think we can all.

[Ken Coleman]

True story. Stacy has talked me into a couple pedicures.

[George Camel]

Change your life.

[Ken Coleman]

I don't like it. This is the Ramsey Show. This show is sponsored by Better Help. This month is all about gratitude. And most of us have people in our lives that we're grateful for. One of those people, for me, is the wonderful Marilyn Fannin. She gave me a chance. She taught me poise and professionalism and she challenged me.

[George Camel]

But there's one person that we often don't take time to think.

[Ken Coleman]

Ourselves. We don't always acknowledge that we're barely surviving or that we're moving forward or that we're working towards a better life and better relationships. And in a world where everything seems to have gone bonkers, it's not always easy to be grateful. So here's my reminder to thank the people in your life, including you. And sometimes to do that, we need some professional help. We need to talk to someone trained to help us discover true gratitude for ourselves and others, especially in the holiday season. That's why I recommend BetterHelp. BetterHelp is 100% online therapy and you can talk with your therapist at just about anywhere so it's convenient for your schedule. You just fill out a short online survey to get matched with a licensed therapist and you can switch therapists at any time for no extra cost. This season, let the gratitude flow with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com DeLoney to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H E L p.com DeLoney welcome back to the Ramsey show alongside George Campbell. I'm Ken Coleman. Excited to have you here with us folks. 888-255-225. Today's question today is brought to you by why Refi? Why Refi? Refinances defaulted private student loans. Defaulted means when the borrower can't make the required payments. So that if that describes you and your private student loan, we'd love for you to contact why Refi? They can offer a low fixed rate loan built for you. Go to why refi.com Ramsey today that's the letter y r e f y.com Ramsey it may not be available in all states.

[George Camel]

Today's question comes from Claire in Illinois. My mom has asked me to pay $20,000 of her parent plus loan. My parents had planned to pay a good portion of my school debt so I can be financially independent and set for my future. As I was going into my last year of College. I paused school to take care of my dad who was ill. I also worked to save money to go back to school. My dad passed away and things have changed for us financially. He was the breadwinner and my mom stayed home. She does not have a very well paying job now and has additional debt of about 60,000. I still owe 10,000 on my student loans. She also wants to charge me rent while living with her after graduation. I have a job ready once I get my degree. But I was hoping to live at home to get my financial situation set for my future. The average income for the career I'm pursuing will be 45 to 60k. Am I wrong to ask her to pay her portion? Who loaded? Question here, man. There's been some trauma to the family.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, feels like there's a lot of tension.

[George Camel]

There was a lot of plan. My parents had planned, we planned, we planned. Well, dad passed away, the plans changed, and now with mom's asking you to pay for this Parent plus loan they took out for you. And the Parent plus loans are tricky because parents are co signing for their kids with a very high interest rate and so they are very difficult to pay off. And if you didn't agree ahead of time on who's going to pay, it gets messy. So it sounds like they said, hey, we'll do the parent plus loan. We'll take care of it. Now mom is in a different situation. She's broke and stressed. And so I think, you know what? We go, mom, I'm gonna take this on my shoulders. It may set me back for where I wanted to go, but it's the right thing to do for the family. Yeah, that's my take as the daughter. I'm gonna go, all right. This was a loan for me for my degree. You're probably gonna be making more money than mom is. So I would just go, all right, I'm gonna pay my share as I can.

[Ken Coleman]

I agree. I don't. I wouldn't disagree at all. I think now the tension about I wanted to live home and not pay rent. Mom's making me pay rent. I would also, you know, get over that too. Because if mom, if mom wasn't there, you didn't have that supposed safety net. You'd have to be paying rent.

[George Camel]

So mom punishment. It sounds like mom needs the money.

[Ken Coleman]

I agree. All this is going to require some mature conversation for sure. So interesting stuff, man.

[George Camel]

Also, reminder for everyone out there, get term life insurance in place today. I know. Listen, there's no stat Ken, that says you have a Higher chance of dying. If you get term life insurance in place, there's no correlation. So get it in place because you don't know what life's going to throw at you and it can cause a really difficult situation for your family if you do pass away. So 10 to 12 times your annual income, a 15, 20 year term should do it. To get you self insured by then and head to Zander.com and they can help you get that set up.

[Ken Coleman]

All right. Triple 882-55-5225 is the phone number. Back to the phones. Paige is joining us now in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Paige, how can we help?

[Caller]

Hi, George and Ken. Yes, I wanted to reach out. I just started my journey. I just got introduced to the Ramsey show and everything. So I'd like to start my journey, pay off debt. The only problem, you know, I have a question and possibly asking for some guidance here. How should I introduce this goal, you know, of being debt free to my husband? He is a farmer. We both work full time. He's also, you know, a farmer outside of work and that tends to be, you know, him purchasing a lot of tractors, parts, any equipment to the farm.

[George Camel]

And he's going into debt for this.

[Caller]

Currently he only has one loan out for a tractor but he likes to purchase a lot of the older tractors that need a little work.

[George Camel]

How much is he making off of this farm?

[Caller]

That I do not know.

[Ken Coleman]

I have a sense that you guys have separate finances.

[Caller]

What's that?

[Ken Coleman]

I have a sense that you guys have separate finances. You got your accounts and he has his accounts. Am I right?

[Caller]

That's partially true. Yeah. We do have a joint account that we kind of just throw money into.

[George Camel]

Yeah. This, the joint account is here's what I'm comfortable sharing as part of my life. And then you have separate accounts that go, this is none of your business. Right. I'm my own man.

[Caller]

I'm pretty, I'm pretty open and honest with like the stuff that I have. I don't really have much I have.

[Ken Coleman]

But he's not.

[Caller]

And then a card.

[Ken Coleman]

He's not.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

You just told us he was a little bit more.

[Caller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

And you're just chuckling just like this is just fantastic.

[George Camel]

This is normal. Everything's fine.

[Ken Coleman]

My husband's not telling me what he's got in his account.

[George Camel]

I don't know how much debt he has. I don't know what he makes. And I'm on my journey. You said my journey. That sounds like a solo journey. You're about to go eat, pray Love while he does his thing.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. Paige, we are not. George and I are, but. Well, George is in a bad mood, but he's always in a slightly bad mood.

[George Camel]

I'm in a great mood.

[Ken Coleman]

I'm in a great mood today. We're not trying to be dark, but there's nothing funny about what you're telling us, right? Nothing.

[Caller]

No, it's the hard truth, really.

[Ken Coleman]

And I think you're laughing not because you think it's funny. I think you're straight up worried about it and you're nervous. So, first of all, welcome.

[George Camel]

I also laugh to numb the pain.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. I get it. My therapist is saying the same thing to me before. Do you find that funny?

[Caller]

Right.

[Ken Coleman]

And then I immediately start sobbing and. Yeah. But, you know, here's the point, Paige. I'm trying to kind of get your attention. So glad you called us. The heart of the question is, how do I introduce this to him? And you're gonna have to introduce this to him not as a demand, because you guys are already literally on separate pages. And so I think this has got to be a secondary conversation. George, my take is we bring up the Ramsey way and all that as a secondary item to what we believe is fundamentally the most important conversation. And I might suggest marriage counseling on this, even if he doesn't feel like. And you don't have to go, hey, I'm leaving you, and you're not threatening anything. And I don't sense that from you. You're a very sweet person. I think you're a very positive person. But I think this has to be a. Hey, you know what? I'm rethinking some stuff and blame it on us. Say, I started listening to the Ramsey show, and I actually called, and these guys, George and Ken, said that they, for decades, through this company and through this program, recommended that married people have joint finances. And here's the reason why. And do we have an article or something, George, that we could give her? I know we've got some resources that we could give her to where she could kind of read it and set her up for the conversation. But I would like to give her that if we can do that. And Kelly will help you with that, I'm sure, in some sort of. Some way, but I think that's the first part of the conversation. George, what do you think?

[George Camel]

Well, you want to lead like Ken said. You don't want to be on the attack. He's going to shut down like he probably has before. And so you want to lead with I statements and Then with we statements, not with you. Hey, you need to be more transparent. I don't know what's going on with this farm. You need to say, I don't feel safe financially. I don't know what's going on financially. And I think we could do better as a family. I want to see us build wealth. I want to see us have margin and options and freedom. And to me, that means debt freedom. And I've been following these. These folks at Ramsey, and it's a. It's a common sense show. And if you're a farmer, you're probably a common sense kind of guy. So I would try to level with him in the language he understands and then go into. I've been learning about ways we could handle money that make life a lot easier. Can I show you the plan? And maybe you watch a video, maybe you read a book. You know my book, Breaking Free from Broke. Or go through Financial Peace University and go, what do you. What do you think about this? And start the conversation to where you leave it open instead of a tight, angry conversation. But you also need to lead with the why. Why do you want to do this? What is the emotion that's underpinning all this? And if he loves you, he better care when he sees you opening up about this, and I assume he does.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

Then it becomes, okay, what's the game plan? Now, we both agreed this is where we're at. This is the reality. This is where we want to go. And now we seem to align that this is the best plan to get there. That part's easier.

[Caller]

Okay.

[George Camel]

It's the first part that's going to be more difficult. These hard conversations where he's tended to shut down.

[Ken Coleman]

Let's load him up, shall we, George? Here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking financial peace. Let's get him. Get them connected in that. Let's get them breaking free from broke. Your. Your great book. Let's also do the OG Total Money Makeover. And the reason we want to give you these things, Paige, is because if you just start going, hey, I'm reading this and I'm watching this YouTube video, and you share with him. He may think it's a fad or bad pizza, but if you continue to bring it up and talk about it as a part of this, hey, I want us to get on the same page. Here's why. I think that's going to lead to the ultimate conversation, which is you don't want to have any debt. So hang on the line. Kelly's going to take really good care of you. Paige, we're excited to have you here. Stay with it. Don't guilt him, don't nag him. Just dive into it. And I think he'll get to it at some point. I think he's a common sense guy, and I think he'll. He'll really eventually get to this point where he goes, oh, this makes a lot of sense. So hang in there. All right, quick break, and we'll be right back with more calls. This is the Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys. I'm not a fan of the big banks, and you probably already know which ones I mean, but I do like credit unions, but because they're nonprofit organizations that focus on their members. And I'm proud to endorse Fairwinds Credit Union because they share the Ramsey mission of helping people get out of debt and live generously. In fact, they design products to help keep you from going into debt in the first place. Fair Winds has been in business for over 75 years, and they serve hundreds of thousands of members worldwide. You can feel secure because your deposits are federally insured by the NCUA up to $250,000. It's easy to join, and Fairwinds partners with more than 5,000 credit union locations around the country, so you can bank in person wherever you live. But if you prefer the online experience, you can log on to Fairwinds and do anything you could do at a physical location. So go to Fairwinds.org Ramsey to learn more. And while you're there, look at the combined checking and savings account bundle they created just for Ramsey fans to help.

[George Camel]

You take control of your finances.

[Ken Coleman]

That's Fair Winds. F A I R W I n d s.org Ramsey welcome back to the Ramsey show alongside George Camel. I'm Ken Coleman. Thrilled to have you here. We're taking your questions about your money, about your income, your work moving up, and your relationships. And always thrilled to have you folks with us because we do this show for you. 888-825-5225, 825-5225. Let's go to Miles in Fresno, California. Miles, how can we help?

[Caller]

Hey, good afternoon, guys. Hey. I had a quick question about paying off my student loans. I have about 55,000 left to pay off. I have the funds. I just want to pay it all off at once. But I have family members like, oh, don't do that. Just do big chunks at a time. But if I have enough cushion after I pay it off. I just want to take care of it.

[Ken Coleman]

Do you have enough cushion?

[Caller]

Well, I guess in my standard, I do. So I think after I pay off my loans, my family and I would have about 35,000 left after that.

[George Camel]

Yeah, it's no brainer when you say my family. Like, who are these people?

[Caller]

Oh, my wife, my. And we have a daughter that's almost two. And then my wife's pregnant right now.

[Ken Coleman]

No, no, no, no.

[George Camel]

I'm saying you said, who's. Who's telling you not to pay it off is your wife or like, in law.

[Caller]

No, no, no. In laws. My parents. They say, oh, just do it chunks at a time.

[George Camel]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Follow up, follow up.

[George Camel]

Do they pay your bills?

[Caller]

No, they do not.

[George Camel]

Why are you letting them have a vote and what you do with your money?

[Caller]

I think I just try to. If a big decision like this, I try to get as much information as possible, and then, you know, sometimes that kind of backfires.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, but, you know, the answer is you respect them. And so that's why you called us. Presumably, you respect us as well.

[George Camel]

I would hope maybe not.

[Ken Coleman]

I don't know. I don't know how.

[Caller]

Good advice.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, Yeah, I think we do. Okay.

[George Camel]

It's going to set up your family for success by paying off the loans.

[Ken Coleman]

And you have $35,000 worth cash left over. It's not like you're down to zero. And even then, you know, we would tell you, pay it off, keep $1,000 in your savings for an emergency fund. But this case, you're in great shape. I pay it off as soon as the phone call. In fact, kind of want you to do it while we're on the phone here.

[George Camel]

I don't even understand their. Their financial argument for why to pay it off in chunks.

[Ken Coleman]

We don't care. We're not even going to discuss it because it's not. You made.

[George Camel]

It makes no sense.

[Ken Coleman]

I loved your question. Do they pay your bills? I was going to ask, do they tell you what to wear every day? Are they doing meal planning for you?

[Caller]

They don't know I do all that. No, I take care of my family.

[Ken Coleman]

I know you do, Miles. You know why you called us? Because your gut and everything in you has told you to have a backbone and do what you want to do. But you thought, well, I'll call these two guys and see what they think.

[George Camel]

It's like being in handcuffs and saying, well, don't. Don't unchain all at once. I mean, you want to just take, you know, snip. Off a link here, a link there. Just get rid of it, man. It's not doing you any favors. What's the total payments add up to for these student loans? Every month.

[Caller]

Oh, 700amonth. It's ridiculous.

[George Camel]

You just gave yourself a raise.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. Miles, am I right? You wanted to do this, but you called us for one last opinion.

[Caller]

That's exactly what it was.

[Ken Coleman]

Then do what you were going to do, George. And I agree with you. It's not you agreeing with us. Pay it off. I'm putting you on hold right now because you need to be paying it off now.

[George Camel]

There we go. Inside two minutes, go onto the website and hit pay.

[Ken Coleman]

If this were a video call, like, if we did that, we would have him go right now and do it.

[George Camel]

In front of us and watch him do it 100% to celebrate the payoff.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. You know what we would do then? We'd call. Then we'd make a snarky video. To his parents and his in laws.

[George Camel]

Say, nana, nana, boo, boo.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes.

[George Camel]

I hope they don't say, I'm not trying to disrespect.

[Ken Coleman]

No, I'm kidding. Of course we wouldn't do that.

[George Camel]

I won't rub it in their face. I'm sure they're wonderful people. But again, it's his financial life. He's paying all the bills. He's going to be the one with a freed up 700 payment.

[Ken Coleman]

George, I don't know that I've ever respected your snark more than what you just did.

[George Camel]

I just wonder, am I the crazy one? Am I so common sense that it's now insane?

[Ken Coleman]

No, but I thought I loved how you just went, do they pay your bills? I mean, you challenge his manhood.

[Caller]

Wow.

[Ken Coleman]

He challenged Miles. You're the only guy that I've ever known to get challenged by George on the manhood scale, and George just did it.

[George Camel]

So add that to my resume. Put that on my LinkedIn. Guys.

[Ken Coleman]

Miles, I hope to have you hanging up on us here momentarily to go pay this off. I still see you in the queue.

[George Camel]

Hanging on for dear life.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, Miles, there's nothing else to say, my friend. We're moving on to Paige. Paige is joining us in Kansas City. Paige, how can we help?

[Caller]

Yeah, okay. I didn't think I'd be nervous, actually. I'm like, oh, why?

[Ken Coleman]

You know what George gets us all the time? Everybody's nervous. To talk to George. Just act like you're talking to me. I'm the everyman. What's going on?

[Caller]

Sounds good. Hey, so we are military. We're getting ready to move in the next six months and we'll be buying what will be our third home that we've bought and sold and moved. Wow. And Dave briefly mentioned like, that he didn't fully agree with like a VA loan, but it wasn't the best kind of loan to get. And my. So my question was like, we will be doing probably close to 50% down payment, rolling off the equity of our current home and looking to do a 15 year mortgage. So is it still like. I guess. What is his reasoning behind the VA loan? That it.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, good question.

[George Camel]

Well, generally when people go after these VA loans, they do it because there's virtually no down payment needed, no PMI and no minimum credit score. And so people do it because truthfully, they're broke. And it allows broke people to buy homes, which makes them broker. And I hate that for our veterans. I think they deserve more. And on top of that, there's funding fees between 1.25 and 3.3% of the loan amount, which can make your overall payment and overall interest higher. And so a lot of the times it just seems like, wow, what a benefit I'm getting. And you're actually not getting the benefit you think. There's also strict property requirements and so you also have no equity when you enter the home, which is risky in a market like we've seen the past few years where it hasn't been gangbusters like it was years before. Now in certain situations, which might be yours with 50% down. And if you have a service connected disability, you can get the funding fee waived, which can make these a decent option. Is that you guys okay?

[Caller]

Well, no, we don't have. He's still active duty. Okay, so we don't have. We wouldn't have that. I didn't realize that was attached to the VA loan.

[George Camel]

So here's what I would do. I would contact our friends at Churchill and have them run the numbers. Hey, I want the 15 year fixed rate conventional, and I want to see the 15 year VA loan with our down payment amount and our home purchase price. And they'll show you the numbers, they'll show you what the closing costs are, what your monthly payment will be, and I'd encourage you to go with the one that makes the most sense, that has the least amount of fees.

[Caller]

Okay.

[George Camel]

So if that's the VA loan, it might win in this situation where we go. Okay, that makes sense. But you might find the 15 year conventional with your down payment where you guys Are at might be the better deal.

[Caller]

Okay. Yeah, we're all about.

[George Camel]

It's not a never. It's just that people who tend to trend toward these loans have nothing down and they're broke and they're about to take on way more than they can chew.

[Caller]

Okay, that definitely makes sense.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

Well, thank you for your service.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, absolutely. And well, it sounds like they've done it right.

[George Camel]

Like just can 50% down. That's amazing.

[Ken Coleman]

That's because they're rolling equity and they didn't get upside down, they didn't get too much going on in their previous.

[George Camel]

Stops and they didn't hang on to the properties where they went, well, we should keep it as a rental and be long distance landlords because that's smart.

[Ken Coleman]

That's right.

[George Camel]

And you got three mortgages.

[Ken Coleman]

I could tell you had a warm feeling on your face when she said 50% down and a 15 year mortgage. I mean that warm.

[George Camel]

You did.

[Ken Coleman]

You don't get that question very often on the show. What do you think about this, George? How about 50% down and a 15 year mortgage? You probably thought you were being pumped.

[George Camel]

Honestly, that is a very rare situation to get. Most, most of the time it's hey, we can put 3% down on a 30 year. That's the calls we get. And they have a bunch of debt, no emergency fund. And they think, well, homeownership is the right next step. Because everyone told me, yeah, by all my family. Ken said, we got to buy a house. What are you doing? Why are you throwing money away on rent? I'm tired of that rhetoric. It's causing a lot of people to stay broke and become broker.

[Ken Coleman]

Gonna hit you with a post election a question. See where your head is at. You've seen where mortgage rates are at. You're watching this stuff all the time. Tick back up a little bit.

[George Camel]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Do you have a, do you have a gut a feeling about the real estate market in general for our audience? Because a lot of people are thinking, do I buy now? You know, Fed has kind of moved another quarter point didn't do much. What are your thoughts on real estate and should we buy, should we be sitting?

[George Camel]

I think rates won't change drastically over the next six to 12 months. So if you're sitting on the sidelines waiting for some magic to happen, don't. Because if things do change drastically, I'm guessing home values will spike up even if rates go down. And so you're not going to really get a benefit. So if you're ready to buy A home you're out of debt with an emergency fund and a down payment. Go ahead and buy. Don't wait until, you know, Trump, you know, gets into office in January. Don't wait for the housing market to do a special thing. Just buy when you're ready and don't let anyone else influence you.

[Ken Coleman]

All right, good.

[George Camel]

There it is.

[Ken Coleman]

There it is.

[George Camel]

But I don't think anything drastic is going to happen. Yeah, it's my take.

[Ken Coleman]

I love it. That's essentially your TikTok of the day. That. Because people are out there watching all this stuff, and I thought, I want to see what you're thinking.

[George Camel]

Clip that to your tiktoks.

[Ken Coleman]

There you go. TikTok. TikTok. We got to get out of here. Good hour, George. Always. You held up good.

[George Camel]

I got it. Cantankerous but joyful spirit.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, absolutely. This is the Ramsey Show. Do you ever feel like you're finally making progress towards your goals only to get get quickly distracted by something else in your feed? Well, that's why we created the Ramsey Network app, your single source for content that keeps you motivated. The Ramsey Network app is designed to keep you laser focused on reaching your goals. Loaded with over 7,000 hours of Ramsey shows, this free app is the best place for uninterrupted content and no distractions. Plus, you can search specific questions to get more personalized content in seconds. So for the days you need some extra motivation, you'll have proven advice at your fingertips. It's time to get serious about your goals and shut out the distractions for good. Simply search Ramsey Network in the app store or Google Play. If you're listening on a podcast, just.

[George Camel]

Click the link in the show notes.

[Ken Coleman]

To download our free Ramsey Network app today. This is the Ramsey show, where we help you win in your life, specifically with your money, in your work, in your relationships. 8885225 is the phone number. We would love to Coach you today. Triple 882-55-5225. I'm Ken Coleman. George Campbell is alongside in his Snap Gap kids denim coat. And it's actually Oshkosh.

[George Camel]

B. Gosh, thank you.

[Ken Coleman]

It's a good guess Oshkosh is the better brand. It's been around.

[George Camel]

High quality.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, it's good stuff. Trey is going to start us off this hour in Cleveland, Ohio. Trey, how can we help today?

[Caller]

Yes, sir. So me and my wife are having a bit of a disagreement when it comes to rental properties, and we started off getting into real estate about five years ago. And we purchased our first house and turned it into a duplex. And her, her parents have been in the real estate industry for like 20 years and they have a specific way of doing things. And I recently discovered Dave Ramsey and you know, trying to remain debt free while building wealth. And you know, they, she is more along the lines of pulling, getting a HELOC to snowball, being able to purchase more properties, but I'm more along the lines of, you know, just save money, pay for it with cash. Because if you do the heloc, well, yes, you might be able to buy more quickly. You're not really building wealth, you're just building debt and adding risk, if that makes sense. Right, right.

[George Camel]

So you know what you want to do. We're going to give you the same advice you would give your wife. You have a better chance of convincing her. Why is she not convinced yet? Is she just so starry eyed at the. What's going to happen with this property and all the money she could make?

[Caller]

Well, I think she, she trusts her parents because her parents have been doing it that way for, like I said, 20 years. And then they're more towards the end of, you know, they have a couple, couple dozen properties. And now that about everything's getting to the point where it's paid off. Seeing the big dollar signs at the end of it, and I guess trying to explain to her that you can still do that, but without the risk and paying cash. She just, I guess she wants to expedite it.

[George Camel]

And to her that's the HELOC with the variable interest rate that puts your home at risk.

[Ken Coleman]

How much of a conversation have you had around the risk part? Because it feels like I'm going to take a guess. Tell me if I'm wrong here, Trey. My guess is because that's the way her mom and dad have always done it. She loves her mom and dad. She looks up to them, massive respect. So they have huge influence. But she, because of that, she's never even looked at the downside of this. Is that true or false? It's true.

[Caller]

But, you know, I was, I grew up in a very poor family. And I'm not gonna say I made the best financial decisions in the, in our marriage. And, you know, as we've had kids, I've tried to change the way I do things. So, you know, even though I might have some good points, there's maybe a trust thing there that it might not be the best decision based off that.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay, so you're saying she doesn't trust your Opinion pretty much. Okay, but that's really not the question that I asked. The question that I ask is, have you sat down with her and talked about the risk of all of this and walk through it and forced her to confront it? And when I say forced, I don't mean in your attitude and your posture, but just confronting her with, hey, if this doesn't go well, because you were laying it out beautifully a moment ago and I just wondered if you've actually sat with her and showed her a worst case scenario. Because that's what we would do if somebody called. If somebody called and asked George that question, should I take a HELOC out to get into the rental game? He would walk through all of the risks. And I'm wondering if you've done that with her and you said no, is that true?

[Caller]

Yeah, that's correct.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. Blame it on us. But I don't think that has any that that her trusting you has anything to do with you making a good case. These are facts. George, what would, what would your three or four talking points be for him if you were coaching him up and then going, all right, Trey, head into the kitchen, she's waiting for you.

[George Camel]

Well, most people are either motivated. Motivated by the math side or the emotion side. It sounds like she is again starry eyed with the math on paper going, trey, this is a no brainer. This is a no lose situation. Right?

[Caller]

Right.

[George Camel]

Because she's never gotten burned on a real estate transaction and maybe her parents.

[Ken Coleman]

Haven'T and she's about ready to cash in on some stuff, right? Is that what you told us?

[Caller]

Well, her, her parents have her parents.

[Ken Coleman]

That's my point.

[George Camel]

So there's a fallacy here because I haven't been burned in the past. Everything's going to be fine in the future. And Dave tried that. He went bankrupt doing real estate the risky way and then he restarted and went, all right, I'm only going to pay cash for my next investment property instead of shortcutting it. And yes, it takes longer, but listen, when you get there, that thing, cash flows amazingly with 100% equity. And then you can roll that into the next property and the next one and you move slower but you move with less risk. But it sounds like she is convinced her parents way is the best way and therefore the math may not work here. And so you may need to go, listen, I'm a part of this marriage. I have a vote. I'm not comfortable moving forward with this and putting our home at risk with a variable interest rate. Heloc with extra fees on top of that. Let's just move slow. And if that means we're not real estate moguls by the time we're 40, so be it. We can build wealth despite not having 17 rental properties.

[Caller]

Right?

[George Camel]

But truthfully, people who are into real estate like that, their risk meter is broken. They generally don't have a lot saved. They're not putting money away for retirement. They're just hoping the next house deal works out and that that will provide them their retirement income. But we get the calls when they took out the HELOC and things didn't work out. And so I would encourage you to show her some of those calls from the Ramsey show. You can just Google HELOC rental Ramsey on YouTube and probably find 17 calls where things went sideways.

[Ken Coleman]

What do you think about that one, Trey?

[Caller]

No, no, I like that. I like that a lot.

[Ken Coleman]

Just say, hey, will you watch this clip?

[Caller]

Horror stories.

[Ken Coleman]

Watch this clip with me real quick.

[George Camel]

She's gonna. Well, that's not gonna happen to us because I figured it out. We're gonna do it the safe way. And the truth is, he locks ad risks to your life. And here's a bank can take away your home if you miss or default on a payment.

[Ken Coleman]

And the other thing that I'm concerned about for Trey is that all of the stuff we're telling him I think is potentially effective. The challenge, George, that I'm worried about for Trey is her mom and dad. If they're cheerleading on the other side, I don't know what kind of.

[George Camel]

You don't want to get in the middle of that.

[Ken Coleman]

I think it puts you in a tough.

[George Camel]

You're the bad guy, Trey.

[Ken Coleman]

Is that. Is that possible? That no matter what you say, they're cheerleading on the other, the only result.

[George Camel]

Is that it drives a wedge in your marriage. That's it. And I think you make this conversation bigger than that and say it's not about the heloc. This is driving a wedge in our marriage. We're misaligned on our strategy for building wealth for the next 20 years. And I want to get alignment on that before we make any moves.

[Caller]

No, absolutely.

[George Camel]

That might take some time. I don't know that there's a one conversation that's going to convince you.

[Ken Coleman]

Marriage therapy there. Because here's the thing. The hold that your in laws have on your wife is massive, massive, massive.

[George Camel]

And what does she think this next house is going to do for her? Is this just a stepping stone to get another HELOC for the next One.

[Caller]

Yes. Yep.

[George Camel]

Do you see where this is going? This is going to be an endless chase of more. For what? What is the reason? I want to know why.

[Ken Coleman]

Because her mom and dad.

[George Camel]

Because mom and dad, they've got. I want to build wealth like mom and dad.

[Ken Coleman]

She sees them going, well, we made this, and she wants to do the same thing they did. You. You compound how much she loves her mom and dad, how much she respects them. Plus, mom and dad have a couple of trophies. This is a tough situation for.

[George Camel]

Here's an idea. When mom and dad pass, we'll inherit their real estate portfolio. Boom. We don't have to add risk to our life right now. Let's wait. We'll inherit their hard work and we don't have to put our lives in jeopardy over the next house that's going to make us wealthy.

[Ken Coleman]

Tough, tough conversations.

[George Camel]

Coming.

[Ken Coleman]

Coming for Trey. Hang in there, man. Share your heart. Hold the line because this is going to take a while. I have a feeling. This is the Ramsey show.

[Caller]

Hey, guys, this is Rachel Cruz for Helix Sleep. And I got to say, Winston and I love our Helix mattress. Winston likes a firmer mattress than I do, but differences like that are why Helix has lots of mattress models to choose from. So whether you sleep on your side.

[Ken Coleman]

Your stomach, or your back, Helix has you covered.

[Caller]

And one of the best parts for us was taking the personalized Helix sleep quiz. They matched us with the perfect mattress and it only took two minutes.

[Ken Coleman]

We also got the Glaciotex cooling cover.

[Caller]

Which pulls heat away from our bodies while we sleep. For the coolest, most comfortable sleep we have ever had. Not to mention our mattress and topper were all easy to set up up and the quality is incredible. Plus, Helix offers a hundred night trial and all mattresses come with either a 10 or 15 year warranty. But here's the best part. The Helix Black Friday sale is happening now. Get 25% off all mattresses and get a free bedding bundle on select products. Go to helixsleep.com Ramsey that's helixsleep.com Ramsey With Helix, better sleep starts now.

[Ken Coleman]

Hey, if you're like me, this time of year feels bananas. Thanksgiving just flies by and then you blink and the kids are out of school, family's in town, and somehow there's glitter everywhere. Pure chaos. Let's face it, the last thing you need right now is money stress. If you want to lighten your mental load this year, do yourself a favor and go download everydollar. It's my favorite budgeting app and it can help you create a game plan for your spending so you can focus on what really matters this time of year. Listen, the holiday season is going to be busy. There's no getting around that. But let's be busy enjoying our families instead of stressing out about money. Head over to the App store and download everydollar right now to get started for free. Welcome back to the Ramsey show alongside George Camel. I'm Ken Coleman. 888-825-5225 is the phone number 888 825-5225. So got new people joining all the time. We've taken a couple calls today, people that have been just tracking with us for just a few months. And so if you want to find out more about the baby steps, the stuff we talk about, find out where you are, are you on track? You can take a quick quiz that'll check your progress and you get a personalized plan just for you. This is super encouraging for you. Just clarity to know where you are and where you need to go. So head to the show notes and click on the link titled are you on track with the baby steps? Are you on track with the baby steps? And take that quick quiz and it'll help you out big time. Triple 882-55-5225 is the phone number. Naples, Florida is where we go next. And Beverly joins us there. Beverly, how can we help?

[Caller]

Hi, I'm in trouble and I need some help.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay, we're here for you. What's going on?

[Caller]

Okay. I wrote a book. I hired a company to market it and distribute it and the whole nine yards. And it started off at $2,000 and escalated into $60,000. They never told me in the beginning I had to pay for the printing of the books. They never told me that I had to. They were going to set up a website and they would. They never told me that I had to have a domain and a hosting company on top of that $2,000. So they were just big shysters. The end of it was they kept telling me, yes, my money's coming, my money's coming. They owed me like $140,000 in royalties, which never came. And the end of it was that I did a merchant dispute because they were supposed to do an audio book, which they never did. So I put a $4,000 dispute in on that. And they said that unless I paid up my whole amount that I owed them, which was that $4,000, they would cancel my account, which they did and never did the book. So they canceled my Accounts. Now I'm out $60,000, trying to figure out how to pay it.

[George Camel]

I assume none of this was real. Yeah, I know the royalties weren't there. Did you. There was never a book. Did you ever get a copy? Did people buy the book?

[Caller]

Yeah, I wrote the book. I wrote the book.

[Ken Coleman]

Right, but my question is, if they told you you were owed royalties, that implies that you actually sold the book.

[George Camel]

It takes a lot of book sales to get 140 grand in royalties.

[Ken Coleman]

A lot.

[Caller]

Right? Well, well, they were, they promised on their, their promissory, their, you know, original contract thing that they would distribute 8,000 books.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, but I got the world. Yeah, but I got news for you. Selling 8,000 books doesn't equal to $140,000 in royalties. Both George and I are best selling authors. So, I mean, you just got completely scammed. Do you actually have the book in your possession now, at least the electronic version?

[Caller]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yes.

[George Camel]

Do you have the rights to sell it on your own now?

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Camel]

Okay, so is this publisher a real publisher?

[Caller]

Well, I thought they were.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, no. Have you done any homework to see. Do they actually have. Is this a, is this a phantom company or is this company exists somewhere?

[Caller]

Well, I've been doing a lot of research on this since this happened and I found out that they have six companies, different websites that I can connect to each other. Only one of them is registered in the state of Florida and the other five are not registered in either New York or.

[George Camel]

Yeah, this is a scam company. They might actually put the book out to tell you, oh, look, we actually printed the book, but I would get a lawyer involved. If you want money back to try to. I mean, that's the. You're gonna have a tough time telling the credit card company, hey, can you clear it for me? It was fraud. You spent the money.

[Caller]

Well, the problem is I've been trying to get an attorney and I called the biggest one in the country and they said, no, it's too old because this is going on a year and a half, even though the last final thing was only a couple weeks ago. You know, I've been with, working with them this whole time. And then the next person, the next attorney they call says, well, have you ever been turned down by an attorney? And I said yes. Well, they don't want me. So I've been trying to find an attorney and no attorney will take the case at this point. I, you know, I don't know.

[George Camel]

What do you do for work?

[Caller]

Go about getting. I'm retired okay. And the other. The other problem is I'm 79 years old. So what is your income? 24 years. My personal income and the business is about 1700amonth, which I have one of those debt reduction programs working. Yeah.

[George Camel]

Beverly, you need to never get on the Internet again. You are getting scammed left and right. No, these companies, what they do. Well, what happens is they tell you stop paying your debts, instead, give us that payment, let your credit score tank, let the creditors come after you with lawyers and lawsuits, and then we'll try to settle the debt for less. Right? That's how it works.

[Caller]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, there's red flags in every corner. What can I do?

[George Camel]

And I hate that they. I mean, you were preyed upon by these companies, and so you need to go be on the defense for the rest of your life to go. I'm not going to ever get scammed again. And I'm going to fight to get this resolved. And you may not get a resolution. That's the hard part. You may need to swallow the harsh pill going, this money I'm never going to get back. And it hurt to get scammed.

[Caller]

Yeah. I tracked it to a real person. I found a real person that has a real address and a real house.

[George Camel]

What are you going to do? Roll up to their house with a baseball bat? You got to get a lawyer.

[Caller]

I might. I told him. And the beginning, I said, you know, there's hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

[George Camel]

Yeah.

[Caller]

With a computer. With a computer.

[George Camel]

That's the truth.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

But you gotta. You gotta find some upstart young lawyer who's looking to make a name for themselves.

[George Camel]

And I would contact the credit card company, explain this and say, listen, this was, you know, obviously you took out the debt, so it's not a straight up fraudulent activity, but you were defrauded, and therefore, you have no ability to pay back this debt. Do you have anything in writing saying they were going to give you this 140 grand?

[Caller]

I have a service agreement, yes.

[George Camel]

Okay. I mean, I would find a lawyer who's a year and a half, is not, you know, 50 years old.

[Ken Coleman]

And I hear something in your voice, Beverly, you're like. But you just spouted off one of the great quotes of all time, by the way. One of the truest quotes of all time. That. That hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And I would put that scorn into finding a young lawyer who is not some big firm. And I would. I'd find somebody that's straight out of law school. That, that's looking to make a difference. I'm telling you, I would put that energy into that. That's the only shot you have. You know what your only other option is is, I mean, you're gonna have to pay the 60 back over time. And you have, you have an income of seventeen hundred dollars a month.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Do you not have Social Security and.

[Caller]

A lifespan of 10 years?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I hope you got longer than that. But, but do you not have, do you not have Social Security coming in?

[Caller]

Yeah, yeah, that's part, that's what's.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, that. Oh, I thought you said.

[George Camel]

Well, you said in the business.

[Ken Coleman]

In the business. You said something about your business.

[Caller]

No, the whole, the whole everything is. I mean, that's my, my income. I have. My husband gave me $500 a month to live on and I have a small pension. I haven't worked part time my whole career and then I have my Social Security.

[George Camel]

So.

[Ken Coleman]

Is your husband still alive?

[Caller]

Yes, but the problem is all our money is his money. He, he retired at the age of 50.

[George Camel]

Beverly, you buried the lead here.

[Ken Coleman]

This is a hold of a phone call. Now.

[George Camel]

We didn't, we didn't.

[Caller]

I know, but I can't. He got screwed twice because of this company. I mean.

[George Camel]

What company?

[Ken Coleman]

The same company.

[Caller]

This one that. Yeah. I said he published a book too. No, no, no, but he, they told him that the money's coming. They would. All they need to do is get 14. No, $5,000 to pay the distributor. So I begged him, please let me do it for five days. He says, I'll have the money by Friday. So I says, let me loan that money for five days. I did. Five days, 30, 10 days to turn up.

[Ken Coleman]

So his money, so his money is in this too?

[Caller]

Well, he got his money back. He was able to do a charge back and get his money back.

[Ken Coleman]

This is the problem now. They, you guys, you guys are living separate lives and you're 79 years of age and your husband's like, well, sorry, Beth, that's on you.

[George Camel]

Figure it out.

[Caller]

Yeah, I know, but it's his money and his, you know, his. From his parents that he inherited.

[George Camel]

How long you guys been married?

[Caller]

Really? 40 some years. 40.

[George Camel]

Chances of you guys combining finances after 40. I mean, I hope it happens.

[Caller]

I mean, I don't, you know, you.

[Ken Coleman]

Literally just like gave him a pass. He's like, sorry, Bev, good luck with the sixty thousand dollar debt. I got my money back. I'm over here playing Parcheesian golf with the fellas. And you're stressed out of your mind. This doesn't make any sense to me. Oh, this dude needs to help you out.

[George Camel]

He's your husband. If we don't laugh, we cry. That's a tough situation. Beverly, I'm so sorry. I'd file all the complaints, try to get the charge backs, do whatever you can to fight this, but just know you might not get a resolution.

[Ken Coleman]

This is the Ramsey Show. I've been doing this show for over 30 years and some of the saddest calls I have taken are from situations that are completely preventable.

[Caller]

Yeah. And what's so hard is I feel like one of those, especially the ones that I'm like, oh, it's terrible. Air people that call in and their spouse has passed away suddenly and they don't have life insurance. When you have to think through how am I going to pay my bills.

[Ken Coleman]

In the middle next week. Yeah.

[Caller]

In the middle of all that grief. Like, it's just, it is. It's terrible. So life insurance is the one thing, especially as a mom with three little kids that I'm like so big on for people to get because it's inexpensive. Xander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance.

[Ken Coleman]

And it doesn't cost much because Zander shops among a gazillion different companies.

[George Camel]

It doesn't cost much.

[Ken Coleman]

You just have to admit that someday you're not going to be here. You got to say it out loud.

[Caller]

And you got to say, I'm going.

[Ken Coleman]

To say I love you to my family by taking care of them and taking the time to put this stuff in place. The cost of stinking pizza. To get a free quote, call 800-356-4282. That's 800-356-4282. Or go to zander.com folks, the Ramsey Christmas cash giveaway is here and you could win big.

[George Camel]

We're giving away $500 prizes each week.

[Ken Coleman]

And one grand prize of $5,000. Enter daily for your chance to win at Ramsaysolutions.com giveaway. It's that easy. Plus, our 50 Days of Christmas deals is on right now. Get up to 30% off bestsellers and life changing gifts that won't break the holiday budget. Ramsaysolutions.com store. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. 888-825-5225 is the phone number 888-825-5225? Alongside George Campbell. I'm Ken Coleman. Excited that you're with us. Let's go Back to the phones. Detroit, Michigan is where we go. Delisse is there. Delis, how can we help today?

[Caller]

Hi, yes, I am trying to figure out if I should sell my RV at half and just cut my losses.

[Ken Coleman]

Now tell me more about the RV and what the debt is on it and all the nine yards that we don't know.

[Caller]

Okay, so it's $125,000, 18 foot RV. I now owe $105,000 on it. I've sold, I've gotten out of debt, out of everything else. My house is gone, my car is paid for, all my credit cards are now gone. And so this one thing I had online now for a few months for $85,000 is seeming to go down more and more. Now I have $100,000 from the sale of the house. And I was just wondering if I should just go on and eat that, try to sell it and eat the other costs, which is anywhere from 40 to $50,000.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. Because this RV is going to continue to go down in value. So what do you think? What do you think you should be listing it for? Because clearly 85,000 isn't low enough. If it's been online for a couple months. If you want to get rid of it quickly, we got to lower it. So that would be the difference that you would have to eat. Right. So what do you think the right price is?

[Caller]

Yeah, well, when I went back to the, to the dealer, which I know is the worst place to go.

[George Camel]

Yeah. They'll give you about some pocket change for it.

[Caller]

Yeah, they were talking about 60,000, so. And the one or two buyers that I did have got away from me either because the van wouldn't start at that time because I hadn't been driving it for three or four months. As I say, I moved.

[George Camel]

So not a great first date when you're trying to sell a hundred thousand dollar vehicle.

[Caller]

It wasn't. I'm truly afraid of this whole hundred thousand dollar thing. Plus I understand now that this over $100,000 that I was going to use for my retirement will have a capital gains tax against it. And I don't know what, I don't know how much that will be like, how much should I even put aside for that?

[George Camel]

It depends if it's short term or long term and how long you've held the asset and what your income is.

[Caller]

I just sold my house in April and my income is 150 a year, 160 a year.

[George Camel]

Okay, and where are you living now?

[Caller]

I live in downtown Detroit, Michigan.

[George Camel]

Are you Renting? You said you had the profits from the home. Where'd you go next, right?

[Caller]

I'm renting an apartment.

[George Camel]

Okay, so you're renting an apartment right. Now you have $100,000 from the home sale. Do you have anything else in savings or retirement?

[Caller]

I have a small retirement from the government and probably a pension, I guess. I'm 61, so I'm kind of downsizing everything for retirement in the next five to ten years.

[George Camel]

Okay, well, remember, retirement is not an age. It's a financial number. You need to be able to retire and cover all of your expenses and still have margin left over. So that's the plan I want to get you to. And getting rid of this RV is likely part of that. Why did you get the RV in.

[Caller]

The first place, crazy lady? I got it during COVID I had to get out of the house. Everybody was living with me in the house, and both my parents passed during that time. So it was just an emotional buy. More so than anything. I did make 48 states, but it still was emotional buy.

[George Camel]

Okay, so you owe 105, top dollar. You think you could get 75 or 80?

[Caller]

Private sale. I think so. I'm new to this, so. 75. Yeah, it's at 85 now.

[George Camel]

So, yeah, let's say, worst case, you sold it for 75. You would owe 30 in order to clear the title. So you take 30 out of your hundred thousand profits. That leaves you with 70 grand.

[Caller]

Right.

[George Camel]

But it frees up that giant payment. What's the payment on this thing?

[Caller]

But it's 768amonth.

[George Camel]

Okay, so you'd get a raise right there just by getting rid of that payment and the interest.

[Caller]

Exactly. It's $700 a year for the registration.

[George Camel]

When you got insurance and all the other maintenance. And, I mean, it's. It's a. That's an expensive toy. So I would get rid of it asap. There may be a better seasonality with the RV in your area. I don't know how many people are trying to buy an RV in November.

[Caller]

Yeah, not. I know. I'd have to wait till spring again, but, you know, I just didn't know if it was a good. If you're thinking like I'm thinking, I need to.

[George Camel]

Well, think about it. You make an 800 payment for the next six months until we get into warmer weather. You just spent a lot of money to try to hope to make more profit while this thing continues to go down in value. So I might cut my losses now and take 75 for it instead of.

[Ken Coleman]

I absolutely concur that that is exactly where I was going when I asked you that question. On what do you think the right price is in the open market? Not to a dealer. And let's make this thing attractive and get rid of it. Thankfully you got the cash to be able to get hold on it and get it out of your life.

[George Camel]

Yes. And then we need to figure out for the next five or ten years we need to make up for lost time and start shoveling away money into retirement account so that we have a nice nest egg.

[Caller]

Exactly. Will I get caught on the capital tax thing if I put the money on that? On the van.

[Ken Coleman]

Capital gains.

[George Camel]

Do you know that there's capital gains tax on the sale of your home?

[Caller]

Because generally, first time hearing about it.

[George Camel]

Okay, you may not have capital gains tax. I would talk to a tax pro to have them look into your specific situation. But if it was your primary residence, you were there two out of five years, you know, and you're single, you'll likely have up to, I believe, 250,000 in appreciation without taxes. 250,000 in appreciation.

[Caller]

So if you bought it at 250.

[George Camel]

You sold it at 500, you're fine. What was the purchase price?

[Caller]

I bought it at 285. I sold it at close to 400, I think.

[George Camel]

Okay, so you're likely fine. You don't want to speak out of turn depending on your situation, but. But you're likely not going to have capital gains on that. A hundred thousand that ended up in your account. And even if you did, you're talking 0 to 15% for your situation if you hold it long enough. So again, I'd get in touch with a tax pro, make sure you're fine on the tax side, but I'd use that cash and get out of this RV and never go into debt again on a depreciating asset.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. That there's an rv.

[George Camel]

There's a lot of zeros on the end of RV mistakes.

[Ken Coleman]

So true. Let's go to Holly in Columbia, Missouri. Holly, how can we help?

[Caller]

Hi guys. It's an honor to talk to you. Well, I'm a little nervous, but I'm excited. My question is, I've worked part time my entire life and I've never been responsible with money. I even have a bankruptcy.

[George Camel]

And how old are you?

[Caller]

I'm 32. Yeah, I had a really bad marriage and we did some really bad things with money and just went to a lot of debt. But now I've been offered, honestly, the opportunity of a lifetime. Honestly. And I'm worried and I'm anxious only because I'm gonna be making really good money. And I really don't know how to manage it. So I'm calling in. I've listened to you guys.

[George Camel]

What do you make now? And what will you be making?

[Caller]

Well, right now I don't have a job because I just moved to Missouri. So I'm just now getting back into the workforce. But I will be making 20. 17 an hour.

[George Camel]

$20.17 an hour? Yes, sir.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

So that's about 40 grand.

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Camel]

Okay. And you're going, I don't want to screw this up. How do I make sure I make the most of this?

[Caller]

Okay.

[George Camel]

Is that your question?

[Caller]

Right.

[Ken Coleman]

We got about a minute.

[George Camel]

So here's. Here's the deal. If you can learn to manage a little, you can learn to manage a lot. And so that, that is, you haven't had a great track record, but that doesn't mean you can't improve. And so I'm going to gift you one year of everydollar premium to help with this. And a budget is going to be your best friend. It's going to be the boss, and you're going to be the boss of it when you make it. It's going to be the boss of you during the month. Because you said, this is where my money's going to go. Every single cent of my take home pay is going toward debt. Payoff to the rent, to the bills. And you're going to learn to live on less than you make. That is the key. And along with that, Holly, I'm going to send you my book, Breaking Free from Broke. It's going to walk you through this entire process, start to finish, from how to get out of debt, how to build wealth, how to avoid money traps, and how to finally get control of money instead of it controlling you. But I'm proud of you. You're making great strides.

[Caller]

Thank you so much.

[George Camel]

A new chapter for Holly. Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Way to go, Holly. It's exciting to see you start to make your way and. And do take advantage of this offer that George has given you. This is going to help you so much just to know where your money is, know where it's going. And half the battle is just simply knowing. It feels like a Saturday morning cartoon message that all came back to me. Yeah. This is their Ramsay show. 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.

[George Camel]

They're someone you can trust to have.

[Ken Coleman]

Your back from the first call to closing day. Find a Ramsey trusted agent near [e-mail].

[George Camel]

Agent ramseysolutions.com.

[Ken Coleman]

Welcome back to the Ramsey show alongside George Campbell. I'm Ken Coleman. Thrilled to have you with us. Triple 882-55-5225 is the phone number to jump in. George, what's the best way to make the most of your money?

[George Camel]

Is this a trick question? Because I think it's the budget.

[Ken Coleman]

It is a budget. Every dollar makes it simple. It is our world class budgeting tool. Helps you plan your spending, track expenses, and save for what matters most to you. When you keep a pulse on your spending, you start to be able to make progress on your money goals. And you do all that with every dollar. You can download every dollar for free in the App Store or Google Play or click on the link in the Show Notes if you're partaking on YouTube or your favorite podcast app. All right. Honolulu. Oh, boy. I wish I was there. I'm telling you, Honolulu. You ever been, George?

[George Camel]

No. I'd love to go.

[Ken Coleman]

I didn't think you had been. It's lovely.

[George Camel]

Should we do a couple trips?

[Ken Coleman]

We should. We should absolutely do that. I think you would look great in a Hawaiian shirt.

[George Camel]

Thank you. We'll get matching ones.

[Ken Coleman]

Absolutely. Grace is there. Grace, how can we help today?

[Caller]

Hi. Thanks for taking my call.

[Ken Coleman]

Sure.

[Caller]

I have been working the baby steps for about two months now and I love my budget, but my husband does not. So I'm wondering how I can get him on board. We've talked about it. We've sat down and done the budget together. He'll agree to it. He'll say he understands it and then he'll just blow it up.

[George Camel]

So when you say blow it up, what does that mean? What is he overspending on? Is there a certain category?

[Caller]

It's pretty much nonsense. He'll just try and spend money on things to keep him busy. Working on his car or spending on food and drinks at work.

[George Camel]

And what is your goal by doing this budget? Did you guys agree on why we're doing this?

[Caller]

So that's where I tried to start. And he likes to live life now. He can't really see the purpose of getting rid of all of our debt and then being able to buy a Home and like, really fulfill our dreams.

[George Camel]

Have you told him that it scares you? He's okay living like this? Knowing that you're going to be broke later on?

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Camel]

What does he say when you share your honest feelings with.

[Caller]

He kind of downplays it. He'll apologize and then say he understands it, but his behavior won't change.

[George Camel]

Well, he clearly, he doesn't care about you all's financial future. He's being selfish, going, well, I just want to do what I want to do and no one gets to tell me. And I work hard for the money. Is that about right?

[Caller]

Yes. He actually said that the other day.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, well played.

[George Camel]

Look at that.

[Ken Coleman]

It's like you've done this a time or two.

[George Camel]

I can just hear that. This guy, I know him and he, he means well. He's a hardworking guy. And he's just like, ah, she's always nagging me. I'm just trying to get a little snack.

[Ken Coleman]

Here's no vision.

[George Camel]

I got a little hobby here, working on cars. I got to get the stuff for the.

[Ken Coleman]

So you got to cast vision. You got to cast a vision with this, or else it's just going to feel like a process.

[George Camel]

It's going to feel more like nagging every time. And so number one, if he really. This is. Is this his car hobby, making him money?

[Caller]

No. And it's not like a bunch of money, but it's just one thing after the other.

[George Camel]

Does he have a fun money line item in the budget? Let's say 50 bucks?

[Caller]

I do.

[George Camel]

Okay. How much is it for him?

[Caller]

Well, we share it. It's $300.

[George Camel]

Okay. I think you need to split this out so he knows exactly what his amount is because that's confusing. Do you spend 250 and he gets 50. Do you both spend 300 and you go, well, we're over 300. I would split it out. So you have Grace's fun money and his fun money. And if that's 150 each and that's what you guys agree on, or you get a hundred, he gets 200. It doesn't have to be equal, but you guys have to agree to it. And that becomes the spit shake. Because it sounds like there's two categories. Food and his hobbies. Right?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

If we can get those in check. You guys make. You guys will make progress.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

How much debt do you have?

[Caller]

We have 27,000 that I can track. And then he has a credit card I don't have access to.

[George Camel]

Oh, boy, that's a problem.

[Caller]

It's a military star card. So he can't spend it on anything but, like, gas and anything on post or clothing and sales.

[George Camel]

Okay. But is there a way you can have access for transparency and accountability?

[Caller]

Yes. I've been asking for that for a while. And he just kind of puts it off.

[George Camel]

Hmm. Are you sure he can't make any frivolous purchases on this card?

[Caller]

No.

[George Camel]

Okay. Because I'm thinking, I've been to a gas station. They sell a lot more than gas.

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Camel]

And so I think it's. You have a right to accountability and transparency in your own marriage with what's going on with your money. Money. So I think there's a deeper thing going on here. Usually it's one of three things. It's either there has been a lack of trust and there's a reason they're hiding this. There's been some trauma maybe from the past that makes them kind of want their own separate little parachute in case. And then there's also financial infidelity where there's spending addictions. There could be more nefarious things going on here. And I think you have a right to get to the bottom of it.

[Caller]

I agree.

[George Camel]

And it's. I don't think you need to do this in an attacking way because that's going to get him to shut down. But you do need to say, we have not been on the same page. You agreed that we need to get better with our money. You agreed we're going to get out of debt. We said it was going to take this long to get out of this much debt, this much a month toward the debt. And so far it's been derailed by random frivolous spending.

[Caller]

Yeah. That's very frustrating.

[George Camel]

I think you have a right to be frustrated.

[Ken Coleman]

I do. I think this is a marriage issue. I think this is a. I think this is a sitting down with a therapist if we can't get it hashed out over a nice date night.

[Caller]

It's so funny you say that, because I know that usually this is a symptom. Yeah.

[George Camel]

What was the other conversation about the marriage?

[Caller]

Yeah. Just about what the spending habits and how he reacts to it. Makes me feel how that shows me how he cares and doesn't care. And then it applies to other parts of our relationship, too, where he'll kind of do the same things when it comes to feelings and opening up and. Yeah.

[George Camel]

It takes two healthy people to have a healthy marriage. It takes two emotionally mature people to have an emotionally mature marriage.

[Caller]

And.

[George Camel]

And I'm not. We Only know one side of the story. There's usually three sides. His side, her side, and the truth. But so far, from what you've told me, he's got some work to do to kind of grow up and go, I got married, and that means that two become one. I don't get to live however I want because it affects other people. It affects your future, too.

[Caller]

Exactly.

[Ken Coleman]

And the thing that I'm concerned about. And if he was on the phone, I'd say this. You're not just, you know, buying, you know, a handful of Slim Jims at the. At the convenience store with. With this credit card. There's. It just concerns me greatly.

[George Camel]

And why does he need this credit card?

[Caller]

He doesn't. He doesn't need it, but let's shut it down.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, it's not that simple. He's. He's cut her out of this. This is why this is a marriage. I'm with you, George, but, I mean, she's. This is a relate.

[George Camel]

Well, if he's saying, I'm not doing any spending on it, it's no big deal, then go. All right, let's cut it up then. Let's. Let's. We have our debit card. We're going to use our own money. That was something we agreed on.

[Ken Coleman]

I'd like them to discuss this with a therapist in the room.

[George Camel]

I think we need a third party at this point. Grace, he's not listening to you.

[Caller]

I cut up my credit cards, and it made him so nervous. He was like, what if we need it for an emergency? And I was like, that's why we have the emergency fund. Like, so much money. We don't need it, but it scares him, so I can understand why he thinks he needs.

[George Camel]

All of a sudden, he gets to be scared and you don't.

[Caller]

I know.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, but, Grace, good on you for leading this. You're modeling the way for him.

[Caller]

I'm trying.

[Ken Coleman]

No, listen, you are. Keep doing it. But I do think this is a. This is a therapist in the room. So that we have a objective third party who's a professional and you share your real concerns and your real feelings. He's got to address this, or else this will. If you all don't address it now, meaning he's participating, this will pop back up, and when it does, it will be really bad.

[Caller]

Yeah, that's my concern.

[George Camel]

And I want him to be scared. He should be scared. He should be scared of his financial situation, and this is just exposing it by cutting up costs.

[Ken Coleman]

And he should be scared of what he's doing to his marriage.

[Caller]

Yeah, there we go.

[Ken Coleman]

That. We got some. We gotta rise out of. Grace on that one.

[George Camel]

All right, Grace, you know what to do. It's not gonna be fun or easy, but it's the only path. I wish I could snap my fingers and go, well, Grace, just tell him this one sentence and he'll just.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, this will be hard. This will be hard, but it is worth it. It's worth it.

[Caller]

I appreciate the motivation from you guys. Thank you.

[Ken Coleman]

Listen, listen, we're rooting for. Yeah, listen, we're rooting for you, okay? So hang in there. All right, for all of you listening via YouTube or podcast, this show is about to end. You can head over to the Ramsey network app to finish the show. Distraction free. Go further with all the show there and don't miss what's coming up next. Click on the link in the show notes. For those of you on radio, we will continue. This is the Ramsey Show.

[George Camel]

Hey, you're still here. What are you doing? You do know that the rest of today's show is playing right now over on the Ramsey network app, right? All you gotta do to finish the episode is search Ramsey network in the app store, Google play store, or just click the link in the show notes to download the app for free. Yep, you heard me right. For free. Then right there on the home screen, you can watch the rest of today's show. Bada bing, bada boom. All right, I'm getting out of here. Enjoy. We'll see you on the Apple.