Hard Decisions Now Prevent Harder Consequences Later

Summary

The Ramsey Show: “Hard Decisions Now Prevent Harder Consequences Later”

Date: January 6, 2026
Hosts: Dave Ramsey & Jade Warshaw

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on making wise, sometimes tough financial choices now, in order to avoid bigger problems and regrets in the future. Dave Ramsey and Jade Warshaw take live calls, sharing practical, sometimes blunt advice on marriage and money disputes, workplace credit card concerns, debt payoff strategies, car troubles, navigating family responsibilities, and more. Jade’s new book, "What No One Tells You About Money," is spotlighted throughout, emphasizing how emotions and mindset play a profound role in personal finance.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Emotions and Money: Launching Jade’s Book

• Theme: Personal finance is more about behavior and emotions (80%) than knowledge (20%).
• Jade’s Book: "What No One Tells You About Money" addresses emotional barriers like frustration, fear, and shame.
• Quote: “The problem with your money is most likely in your mirror.” – Dave [01:40]

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2. Caller Questions & Advice

A. Marriage in Crisis over a House Move

• Caller: Sandy, Orlando [02:52–07:32]
• Situation: Upgraded house led to marital breakdown; financial stress, dual housing costs, and blame.
• Advice:
  • Focus on marriage, not the house.
  • Recommendation: Intensify marriage counseling; finances are a symptom, not the root.
  • “You got choices. But it starts and ends in the marriage counselor's office right now, today. And yes, you can freaking afford it.” – Dave [07:24]

B. Corporate Credit Card Dilemma

• Caller: Emily, Cincinnati [10:43–15:31]
• Situation: Hesitant to accept a corporate credit card for business expenses, worries about credit impact and liability.
• Advice:
  • Avoid signing for any American Express corporate card due to personal liability.
  • Visa/Mastercard authorized user status generally doesn't impact personal credit, but errors happen—monitor reports.
  • Suggest a company debit card if possible.
  • Handle with a collaborative, not demanding, attitude to remain a “non-difficult” employee.

C. Prioritizing Paying Down Mortgage vs. Liquid Savings

• Caller: Abby, Nashville [16:21–19:44]
• Situation: Conflicting priorities between paying down mortgage and keeping high cash reserves, business income involved.
• Advice:
  • Maintain 3–6 months personal expenses and 6–12 for business; the husband’s $100K liquidity benchmark was “a little high.”
  • Use a % of net business profits for business savings; keep business/personal funds separate.
  • “Baby Step 6 is not Baby Step 2. You can direct some funds toward fun or business growth too.” – Jade [19:44]

D. Student Loan Fraud by Parent

• Caller: Amanda, Houston [21:55–30:34]
• Situation: Mother took out a student loan in her name without knowledge or benefit; strained family ties.
• Advice:
  • Two options: Treat as identity theft (with police report), or pay it and set firm boundaries.
  • Do not feel responsible for parent’s crime; be very clear it is never tolerated again.
  • “If you ever use my name again, go to jail. Yes. You're not gonna screw around. You do. You stay away from me.” – Dave [30:10]

E. Emotional Overspending & Debt

• Caller: Cynthia, Atlanta [33:13–41:12]
• Situation: Grief led to $32K in debt, impulsive shopping, feeling out of control.
• Advice:
  • Recognition is the first step; get accountability from a friend, use EveryDollar for budgeting.
  • Sell possessions to fund debt payoff.
  • Jade gifts Cynthia her new book for emotional support.
  • “When someone loses their son and their heart is broken and they make some spending mistakes, that doesn't make you a bad person...Don't live the rest of your life this way for your sake.” – Dave [41:04]

F. Should You Get Married With Debt?

• Caller: Jamie, Tennessee [44:54–50:24]
• Situation: Considering marriage; fiancé has $8K in debt after job/injury setback.
• Advice:
  • Debt alone isn’t a reason not to marry; misaligned values and behaviors are.
  • Essential to be financially and emotionally aligned; prioritize pre-marital counseling.
  • Four crucial topics: Money, kids, in-laws, and religion.
  • “No, $8,000 is not a reason to not marry the guy. I don’t ever want to talk to you about money the rest of my life. Shut up. That’s a good reason to not marry a guy.” – Dave [49:10]

G. Affording a Home on a Single Income

• Caller: Jake, Baltimore [50:44–52:41]
• Situation: Wants to buy a house affordable on his income so wife can eventually stay home; Baltimore is expensive.
• Advice:
  • Three variables: Increase income, change location, or rethink the stay-at-home plan.
  • “You’re cutting your income in half. You want to stay in an area, and then there’s house prices. You gotta work out one of those three variables.” – Dave [52:41]

H. Home Affordability: Reality vs. Perception

• Segment: Comparing 1950s “American Dream” homes [55:52–63:14]
• Insights:
  • People idealize the past without recognizing how basic, minimal, and “unfancy” middle-class living was.
  • Many today want a “forever home” as a first home, which is unrealistic.
  • Blunt critique of modern debt loads—cars, student loans, credit cards—making home ownership harder, not just prices.
  • “If you don’t...You cannot, on an average income, buy a median price house...But it’s always been that way.” – Dave [63:14]

I. Adult Child, Elderly Parent, & Marriage

• Caller: Chuck, Montana [77:07–85:46]
• Situation: Ready to get married, but mother (67) lives with him and has nowhere else to go.
• Advice:
  • Support elder’s guidance: establish marriage separate from parent.
  • Renting an apartment for mom is preferable to buying another house.
  • Clear boundaries vital for a healthy marriage.
  • “You gotta separate from your mom...That's all. Otherwise, that's gonna cause problems with the wifey, the new wife.” – Jade [84:03]

J. Car Engine Disaster: Repair or Replace?

• Caller: Blake, Rochester [87:38–94:20]
• Situation: Engine blew in a $10K car; repairs nearly $5–6K.
• Advice:
  • Fix as cheaply as possible; selling as-is means a major loss.
  • Next time, buy vehicles known for durability (Camry, Accord, etc.) at this price point.

K. Student Loans: Take Out More or Not?

• Caller: Caleb, Jackson [96:43–102:31]
• Situation: Getting married, bride is starting vet school (potential $120K debt), wants advice about managing student loans and accounts.
• Advice:
  • Combine finances completely in marriage.
  • Strive to cash flow school with aggressive income-earning instead of automatically taking loans.
  • “If debt was not an option, what would I do?” – Jade [103:08]

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3. General Life & Money Guidance

• Kids and Financial Hardship:
  • Phrase things to children simply, with reassurance—"share, don’t scare."
  • [120:41–121:56]
• New Government Accounts (Politics & Finance):
  • Trump’s new savings accounts are hyped but not revolutionary; focus on fundamentals instead.
  • [122:41–124:53]
• Partnerships in Small Business:
  • Avoid formal partnerships—employer/employee or job-by-job is safer.
  • “Anything with two heads is a monster. And the only ship that won’t sail is a partnership.” – Dave [125:56]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Marriage & Money:
  • “23 years’ worth of marriage and a little girl are at stake, not a stupid house.” – Dave [07:32]
• On Emotional Spending:
  • “Your emotions were driving you…this will help you stay motivated even more going into the new year.” – Jade [40:27]
• On First Homes:
  • “Don’t get screwed by these big companies, and set your sights on a first-time home purchase, not a median home price purchase.” – Dave [63:44]
• On Making Debt the Only Option:
  • “You can stop for a minute and...think, what else could I do? You’re not forced.” – Jade [103:06]
• On Independence From Family:
  • “You gotta separate from your mom...That's all. Otherwise, that's gonna cause problems with the wifey, the new wife.” – Jade [84:03]
• On Kids and Financial Struggles:
  • “Share, don’t scare. Less is more.” – Dave [121:39]

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Key Segment Timestamps

• Budgeting & Emotional Barriers: [00:05–02:40]
• Marriage Crisis Over Housing Choice: [02:52–07:32]
• Corporate Credit Card Concerns: [10:43–15:31]
• Mortgage vs. Savings Debate: [16:21–19:44]
• Student Loan Fraud Discussion: [21:55–30:34]
• Emotional Debt After Grief: [33:13–41:12]
• Marriage & Money Alignment: [44:54–50:24]
• Affording a Home Reality: [55:52–63:14]
• Family Entanglements & Boundaries: [77:07–85:46]
• Car Engine Disaster: [87:38–94:20]
• Student Loans - Preventing Future Debt: [96:43–102:31]
• Parenting Through Financial Changes: [120:41–121:56]

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Tone & Delivery

• Direct and sometimes blunt, with an undercurrent of compassion.
• Emphasis on personal responsibility, clarity, and direct communication.
• Peppered with humor, relatable metaphors, and real-world anecdotes.

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Summary Takeaway

Tough financial decisions—whether conversations with a spouse, standing firm on values at work, confronting a parent, or telling your child “no”—are often the keys to preventing bigger problems down the road. Facing reality with open eyes, a clear head, and sometimes with help from a friend or counselor, sets the stage for a future of financial peace, not chaos. And, as Jade’s new book underlines, understanding and handling the emotional side of money is just as essential as knowing what to do with the numbers.

Transcript

[A]

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network and the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio, this is the Ramsey Show. I'm Dave Ramsey. Your host, Jade Washall, number one best selling author is my co host today Ramsey personality. And today is a big deal around Ramsey. Happy New Year to everybody. And this is also the day that Jade's new book, what no One Tells yous About Money is officially here. Here it is. It's here. I'm holding it. It's real and you can order it and it will be sent to you post haste. It is an incredible book. If you've ever known what to do with your money but couldn't follow through, it's not a discipline problem. Your emotions are getting in the way. Frustration, fear, shame, all of that shows up in how we handle our money. And Jade, you cover every.

[B]

I do, I do. In great detail and with much story elements involved. So it's not a boring read, Dave?

[A]

No. I read a book over the holidays that had no story and I felt like I was back in college. It was work.

[B]

It's like a lesson.

[A]

I got it and it was good, the information was good, but I had to work at it a little more because there was no humor and there was no story.

[B]

No, when there's story, there was one.

[A]

Joke in the whole book. I need a joke.

[B]

When a story, you see yourself in it, you've lived it. You're like, oh yeah, I've done that before. I've been there before. I know what that feels like. And it makes it easier to digest and put into action.

[A]

Well, and to go with the stories, of course, is the detailed plan of how to address that. Emotions are real. Personal finance is 80% behavior. It's only 20% head knowledge. The problem with your money is most likely in your mirror.

[B]

It is in your mirror.

[A]

It's in my mirror, yes.

[B]

It's in mine too. It is in mine too. But this book is gonna give you. It's like a. It's a. It's very prescriptive, Dave. It's a diagnostic. So if you're like, what is my problem? What is my logjam? We are going to figure out what it is together.

[A]

There it is. What no one tells you about money. The real key to getting unstuck from somebody who's been there. And it's like having one of us walking with you all the time. You don't wanna miss this. This book will bring finance down to earth. You get your copy right now. They're [e-mail] store. If you're watching on YouTube or podcast, click the link in the description. When I'm out there running around, people say, jade's my favorite. Well, prove it. Buy her book today. So that's what we want to know. That's how we want you to prove it. You have to prove it. You have to prove your love. All right, Sandy is with us in Orlando. Hey, Sandy, what's up?

[C]

Hey. So I have a question. My husband and I lived in our home for 15 years. We, we had an interest rate of 2.7%. Our mortgage payment was $1800. We decided to jump to a different neighborhood because our neighborhood had been changing a good bit in terms of a variety of different things not going the right direction. And we jumped on a new home, on a different house. It's an older home and needs some work. We now have a almost $4,000 a month mortgage payment, 6% interest rate. And we did not really sit down and do our homework. And the house really doesn't meet our functional needs. You have two people who work corporate out of the home every day and we're missing some functional space. And I kind of freaked out because our other home more than met our needs for long term. And my husb got angry and basically said, you need to leave. I'm so angry with you over this. And he's like, if you don't leave, then I'm going to leave about the house.

[B]

Angry with you about the house?

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Because it was your idea.

[C]

Yes. And so then we rented another home in the area because we're bound to this area for schools, for our daughter.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

And so now that's a $2,750 like rent payments. And I still haven't moved in there. And I called the lady and she will let me out. So I've only paid two months and I haven't moved in because I need his help because I can't move a bed, etc. By myself. And so my question is, how long.

[A]

Have you been married?

[C]

We've been married like almost 23 years. And we have no car loads. We have maybe $1,000 on a credit card. We have no other deb that we've always been about.

[B]

This isn't about the debt. It can't be. And it's not about the house. That, that may have been a catalyst.

[A]

We bought a house together. How did it end up being your fault?

[C]

I don't know. Because I think. Because for a long time I had asked to move just because of things that had happened in our original neighborhood. And this. This was just a bad choice financially. It's the wrong house. We should have just stayed where we were to get our daughter through, you know, her last two years of school. But now we have this mortgage payment that's more. And now we have a rent.

[A]

I got all that. You know what? I don't give a crap about your house. Okay?

[C]

I don't know what.

[A]

Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Okay? I don't care about your house. Only thing I want to save is your marriage.

[C]

Okay, well, I do, too, but that's it.

[A]

That's more important. No, no, no, no. That's more important than a house.

[C]

He said if you don't leave, I'm leaving.

[A]

Yeah. So what you need is a marriage counselor, right?

[C]

Well, we started with one and then we've been paying her and then come she's out of network, but which is fine.

[A]

What is your household income?

[C]

I make like 180. And he makes 250.

[A]

Okay, don't talk to me about network and marriage counselors. You pay the freaking marriage counselor. It's the first thing you do. And both of you spend every day with them until you get this figured out. Because if you don't get your marriage straightened out, you're going to go bankrupt. Because you guys are making stupid butt choices left and right based on a broken marriage, not based on anything else.

[D]

Right?

[A]

So the solution is a healing in your relationship and that we together then can decide how we're going to move forward. If you lost the house and moved into an apartment, both of you together, and the lady with the rent sued you, I'd be okay if it saved your marriage.

[C]

Well, there's. I mean, there's no apartments in the area we live in.

[D]

Stop, stop.

[C]

We're confined to an area first.

[A]

Quit coming up with this. Okay? My point is that you're putting the house story at the front of the story. It's at the back of the story. The front of the story is you and your husband. If you solve that, you'll find a solution to the other things. There may be some pain involved based on some of the stupid stuff y' all have done lately, but it's very possible. You left a house that your daughter was in good schools. You can find a house that your daughter was in good schools and you can find something to do. But 23 years worth of marriage and a little girl are at stake. Not a stupid house. I couldn't give a crap less about the house. For that matter, before I worry about your daughter's school, I'm gonna save your marriage. She'll survive somewhere else. Teenagers do it all the time. Pick her little butt up and move her if it saves your marriage. So you've got to get these things in the right order here and quit creating these things where you're boxed in. You're not boxed in. You got choices. But it starts and ends in the marriage counselor's office right now, today. And yes, you can freaking afford it. $300,000 a year. When you've saved up and paid cash for a reliable used car, you want that thing to last. And the best way to keep it running for the long haul is to take care of it with people you trust. That's why I'm proud to welcome Christian Brothers Automotive as the official auto repair partner of the Ramsey Show. At Christian Brothers, they treat you like family. You'll get digital vehicle inspections so you can see exactly what your technician sees. A complimentary shuttle to keep you moving. And every repair is backed by their nationwide nice difference warranty. They've even been ranked number one by JD Power for customer satisfaction among aftermarket full service maintenance and repair providers six years in a row. Visit jdpower.com awards for the details. So if you want your paid for car to keep going and going, trust Christian Brothers Automotive. Visit cbac.com SL Ramsey to find your local shop and get an exclusive Ramsey discount of 10% off your visit.

[B]

10% off up to a $250 value.

[A]

See store FOR detail. Emily is in Cincinnati Hi Emily, how are you?

[C]

Good. How are you?

[A]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[C]

So I work for a large insurance company and they have always offered to give me a corporate credit card and I've always declined. And I've paid for company expenses using my debit card and gotten reimbursed. However, my role has changed. I'm going to be accumulating more expenses and I started asking more questions about the corporate card. They say that it won't affect my credit, but I'm just feeling a little conflicted about having a credit card in my wallet. I don't use credit even if I'm just an authorized user on the corporate account. And so I just kind of wanted to know what your thoughts were on that.

[A]

What type of card is it?

[C]

I have no idea.

[A]

You don't Know if it's an amex. You don't know if it's an amex, do you?

[C]

I don't.

[A]

Okay. If it's American Express, do not sign it.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Their agreement will hold you liable. They are. They're sharks. Okay. If it is a Standard Visa or MasterCard, you're not liable by becoming an authorized user. And technically it's not supposed to report on your credit bureau, but often it gets screwed up and they report on authorized users. Okay. So if they don't pay the bill on time, it may show up on your credit bureau report. If it ever does, pull your credit bureau report once a year. Everybody ought to do that anyway. And if it ever does, check it and have disputed and have it removed because you're not liable on the card if It's a standard MasterCard, unless you sign the bank documents and say, I'm liable. Authorized user does not make you liable.

[C]

Okay, perfect. Well, that's helpful. I've never used a credit card. I've followed your stuff for years. So I really appreciate it.

[A]

Well, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. But I, But I, you know, be prepared if it's a MasterCard or Visa, for it to actually pop onto your credit bureau report, which I've never really understood, but it does happen.

[B]

Well, let's talk about from the other way. Let's suppose it is a amex. What's the conversation that you would have with the employer?

[A]

I wouldn't do it. I'm not signing that. I might figure out some other workaround. They either need to get me a different card or whatever, but that I have had way too many customers over the years that were in deep stuff because some company went bankrupt. And then Amex starts calling them, wanting their money.

[B]

And I also wouldn't want to put it on my personal debit card because.

[A]

Well, that's a problem.

[B]

That's a problem, too.

[A]

If they don't get, you know, if they don't get reimbursed, that's a problem. Especially if it's starting to be a lot of money, like you said.

[B]

Yeah. That messes with your own cash flow.

[A]

Yeah. You just got to make your choices through all that. But I'd stay away from an AMEX corporate card. They are bad. Bad juice. And the other's okay. It's not your card. You're not liable for it. You're just using someone. It's like going to dinner with somebody that has a credit card and they bought your dinner, you know, I mean, that's all it is. Except you can sign for. That's the only difference. But, yeah, you can do that. And, you know, but I suspect they have that. I guess another workaround could be what we have. We have corporate debit cards. Yeah. So, like, you travel, you have a debit card.

[B]

I do.

[A]

You have a Ramsey debit card. Okay. And so we don't ask our people that travel to use their money and get reimbursed. We pay for their travel. So if you're on the road doing a media hit in New York City or something, and you're up there doing Fox and that kind of stuff, then the host and all that junk, whatever it is, put it on. That car service is all on us. And, you know, you just only use it for business things. You don't go buy yourself something on it, you know?

[B]

Yeah, you still submit your receipts and everything is still. It's the same.

[A]

Same as having a company credit card, but there's no possibility of liability because you are an authorized user. But that's the same thing. They could issue that if they have amex. They could issue a company debit card if they really want to go crazy for her on a MasterCard or a Visa platform, and she'd be just fine with that.

[B]

Okay. Taking it a level deeper. Okay, so how much. Okay, this is where my brain goes to this. I agree with everything we're saying. How much does that make her? Does that make her a difficult employee by going to the employer?

[A]

I think her attitude about it is that, okay, yeah. Is what makes her difficult. It's like, guys, I'm just worried about this. Help me. Instead of, like, I demand.

[B]

There we go. Yes.

[A]

I demand something. You can demand somewhere else around here. Okay, we don't do that. But instead you go, hey, help me with this. I'm struggling with this. I don't agree with this. I don't want to be liable. And I understand with amex, I would be. And you can pull up, by the way, folks, you can pull up the Amex thing online. It's not hard to pull it up.

[B]

So go more with the liability.

[A]

That's the help me with this and I'm scared thing. Thank you.

[B]

I don't believe in debt. Debt's wrong.

[A]

Debt's like, yeah, I don't want to be in debt accidentally. Okay. And just having a credit card kind of creeps me out. But I can do it if this is the way it's done, and I'll be okay. But I just want to talk this through, and I don't want to be difficult. I don't want to be a problem. Somebody has that conversation once or twice with us on something, we'd be going, okay, sure, yeah.

[B]

How can you be mad?

[A]

But if they come back, like, 17 times, then it starts. Even if they're nice, it starts to be. You're not listening.

[B]

Get over it.

[A]

So we're not doing this, but, you know, there's a thing that. Somewhere in there. But yeah, I mean, most employers. Now, again, you could be in a toxic work environment. They could use this against you. But that's not. It's not the actual situation that's going to get used against you. It's actually the problem, people, is what's going on there. Abby's in Nashville. Hey, Abby. How are you?

[C]

Good. How are you?

[A]

Better than we deserve. What's up?

[C]

Okay, I just have a question. My husband and I were 24. We built our house about a year and a half ago. So our only debt is our mortgage. We followed your stuff since before we were married. And I just. We're kind of on two different pages. As far as paying extra on our house, I am just. The mindset of, this is our only debt. Let's just knock it out as quickly as we can. Whereas he has a pretty specific number in his head as far as, like, liquid in the bank, that he would like to keep.

[A]

Liquid in the bank in addition to the emergency fund.

[D]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. The part where you followed our stuff, you just left.

[D]

Wait, what?

[A]

I said the part you said, you.

[B]

Follow our stuff when you say liquid. Is it just savings to have savings?

[A]

$100,000 in a savings account?

[C]

Well, we have. We own our own business, so we have a few different accounts. We have, like, a business checking account, a savings account, and then, like a regular checking account, like all of our stuff, like, day to day.

[A]

Okay, so what is the amount he's got in his head?

[C]

He doesn't want to get under $100,000.

[A]

How big is the business? What kind of gross revenues are doing annually?

[C]

Last year we were just under 100. This year we're on track for I'll be real in 2025. Okay. I was talking about 2024. Was under 100 2025. We have not finished our taxes yet. The first two quarters he was at.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Just gross revenue?

[C]

Yes, sir.

[A]

Okay, so $250,000 gross. All right. And what are you going to net on the business, do you think?

[C]

Honestly, I. If I don't, I would undershoot it and say, oh, gosh, I don't even know he is maybe 100 and okay.

[A]

So maybe he's making a hundred thousand dollars a year. What do you make?

[C]

We'll just say that.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, I work part time since we had our baby, so I'm a cosmetologist. This year I'm on track for like 25 or 30.

[A]

Okay. So you're a emergency fund. Should be three to six months of expenses. Your personal checking account, 2,000 or $3,000 flowed in there is enough.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

That's what we have right now.

[A]

In the business itself. In the business itself, the most you would ever need is six months to a year of expenses.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

And so his number's a little high. His number's a little high. What I would recommend he do is this. And this is what we recommend to the entree leadership team, that we coach about 10,000 small businesses. Okay.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

And it's also what we do at Ramsey. We take a percentage of our net profits each month and add to our retained earnings, our savings in the business.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

Okay. And so let's say you made $10,000 a month and you said, I'm going to put 10% away. That'd be. I'm going to put $1,000 in there. If I made 20,000, I'm going to put 2,000. Whatever it is, I'm going to take a percentage of it. The rest of it I'm bringing home. And then I get to decide if I want to pay down on my house. But you need to keep the business savings and retained earnings separate in your minds from your baby step six.

[B]

That also being said now, baby step six is baby step six. It's not baby step two. So you wanting to go hard in the pain as if it were two, you're not fully fair on that either. So some of that money can go towards other fun stuff.

[A]

Growing the business and other things. Yeah, exactly. With interest rates finally dropping, now could be the window you've been waiting for to buy a home or refinance. But don't just rush in blind. Sit down with someone at Churchill Mortgage who will tell you the truth and walk you through a plan to position you better for long term success. Listen, markets go up and down. That's nothing new. But the fact remains, building equity through homeownership is still one of the best ways for Americans to create safety and security in their lives. That's why I've recommended Churchill for decades. Their team of trusted advisors helps you build a simple, clear plan to buy or refinance a home the smart way. So don't let the market or headlines or experts on the Internet tell you when you're ready to buy or refinance a home. You can decide that with guidance from a team who actually cares about your Future. Go to ChurchillMortgage.com today and start your plan.

[B]

This is a paid advertisement.

[A]

NMLS ID 1591 nmlsconsumeraccess.org/al housing lender. Amanda is in Houston, Texas. Hi, Amanda. How are you?

[C]

I am also better than I deserve. Thank you.

[A]

Good. How can we help?

[C]

So I'm calling for some guidance on what to do about some student loans, one of which my mom took out in my name without me knowing.

[A]

Who got the use of the money?

[C]

I don't know. That's the other thing I need help with.

[B]

What's. Who's the option? Would it have been for you or for a sibling? Or for her? Her. For a sibling.

[A]

For she buy a car where they go to Europe.

[C]

I don't think she bought a car, went to Europe, and she didn't spend it on a sibling. But I'm trying to make sense of the numbers. So the first loan that I did know about was for 20,000, but I recall that my tuition was only about 17 for that year. And so there's an extra $3,000. And I kind of brushed it off, thinking, oh, maybe she used for, you know, my living expenses. Well, I learned right before Christmas that she took out a second $20,000 loan, and there's no way that my living expenses were $20,000 for that year because the only thing she was paying was my rent for a very shabby place that was shared with 10 girls.

[B]

How old is this?

[A]

How old are you?

[C]

23.

[A]

So when was this all done? Two or three years ago?

[C]

Yes. Yeah, my last year, which was two years ago.

[A]

Okay, so you're out now, out of school, and you've got a job, right?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

What do you make? What do you make?

[C]

48, plus a couple thousand extra for stipends.

[A]

And then there's $40,000 worth. Two $20,000 loans that you did not sign for. She fraudulently signed your name.

[C]

The first one I agreed to. So I wouldn't say that's fraudulent. I didn't want to.

[A]

It is fraudulent, but you agreed to it. Okay.

[B]

It's just the 3,000. You don't know what happened to that 3,000.

[A]

If you didn't sign it and someone else signs your name, that's called fraud.

[C]

Well, I think I remember signing something, and it was with my school.

[A]

And your mother did not take the loan out. You did.

[B]

Yeah. You took it. You just don't know what happened to the 3,000. Tell us about the second $20,000 loan.

[C]

So, yes, I'm okay. I made peace with the first one. It was against my better judgment, but I've learned that that was my fault, and I've been attacking that, killing it. The second one is what has me upset and angry and confused. And so that total is 20. Just over 21,000 because some interest has occurred.

[B]

Have you seen the promissory note? Because you can go back and see who signed it.

[C]

No. So should I ask that company for it?

[A]

Well, let's. Let's go back a minute. I want to go back. I want to go back to Christmas for a second. So why this conversation sound.

[C]

We have not had a conversation about it.

[D]

Where.

[A]

How did you find out about it?

[C]

Because my bank, like, has a credit alert, credit score alert, and it popped up that my credit had gone down, and I didn't even know I had a credit score because I have no other debt. And the first loan is just through my college, which is not a. Does not take federal money.

[A]

Doesn't matter if it takes federal money. They still report it.

[B]

Still on your credit.

[C]

It's not. That one's not showing up. The one that I knew about with my college, so.

[A]

So it pops up, and you found it there, and you didn't say anything to your mother?

[C]

No.

[A]

Why?

[C]

Because she. We're not on the best terms. I feel like she would just lie or cry about it. She kind of. Of lied to my dad about it. When I asked him about it, she was like, oh, yeah, I wondered about that. I don't know why I've been paying it. Well, she hasn't paid a dollar on it, so if I confronted her.

[A]

Is your dad and mom married?

[C]

No, they've recently divorced, which is kind.

[D]

Of what started this all off.

[A]

I see. Okay. All right. Well, there's two options, all right? And neither one of them are pretty. I'm sorry. Okay. One is you get in touch with the servicing company that's servicing the student loan, and you turn it over as identity theft. Okay.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

That someone stole my identity and opened a student loan in my name. And that someone happens to, sadly be my mother. And I did not sign this debt. You're very sure you did not sign that one, right?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. That would entail taking out a police report and reporting her to law enforcement for being a criminal. Because she is, by the way, a criminal. Okay. Stealing money, using my taxpayer Dollars. I'm the one freaking paying this, okay? Pisses me off. Because your mother's scummy. She's a criminal. So you gotta put her in that bucket and then file a police report. The second option is equally as ugly. Shut up and pay it. I don't like either one of them. Do you?

[C]

No, not at all.

[A]

I'm sorry. But this is what happens with this ridiculous student loan program that we have now. So if you want to dig into it, you can spend a lot of energy and calories and figure out who signed it. But someone signed it, and you're either going to see your little signature there and you forgot about it, or you're going to see the criminal signature there that looks suspicious, like your mother's handwriting. And then you get to still make this exact same decision. Either way, you get to make this decision before I reported her to the police. I'd be very, very sure that you didn't sign it, though. Yeah, but I don't know that they'll put her in jail. I doubt it. I wish they would put some people in jail for doing this kind of crap. Particularly people who steal their own children's identity for their own personal benefit. Some kind. And then cry about it, you know? I robbed a bank. I'm gonna cry about it. I'm so sorry. I don't want to go. I robbed a bank. Oh, my God.

[B]

I mean, it's true. It's true. Amanda, it sounds like you're kind of used to this type of behavior.

[A]

Yeah. Like your mother's nuts.

[B]

Like this is a pattern. It's not just one event that's taken place. And we're here to tell you that this is really bad.

[A]

I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that you're having to face this at 23 freaking years old and decide what you're doing. I can tell you this, okay? If you want to dig into it, you decide to pay it, because I got a feeling that's what you're going to do. Not sure it's what I would do, but I've got a feeling that's what you're going to do. And I'm not judging you either way, because neither one of these are good options, I'm telling you that. But I would have a conversation with your mother in person and say if you ever, under any circumstances, think about, if it even crosses your mind to use my name to borrow money ever again, go to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. I'm gonna send your butt Straight to jail. Now, you'll be a little bit nicer than that, but not much.

[B]

I was gonna say. I don't know if you'd be.

[A]

I'm set the table. Okay. To where this never happens again. Because it's cost you $21,000 to deal with your family dysfunction if you decide to pay it. You don't have to pay it if you didn't sign it. You are not liable for something you didn't sign. Your parents do not have power of attorney over you because they bred you. That is not how the legal system works. Okay? And so unless you have signed a power of attorney, they cannot sign your name, period.

[B]

And saying something firm is not mean.

[A]

You know, but I was being pretty. I was being pretty sarcastic and crazy there.

[B]

But yeah, I don't know.

[A]

I think I'm gonna be very, very clear. Very clear. If you ever use my name again, go to jail. Yes.

[B]

Straight.

[A]

You're not gonna screw around. You do. You stay away from me.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. You gotta lay down the bathroom.

[A]

$21,000 is gonna cost you. Yeah.

[B]

I wish they would try it. Wow. That's different.

[A]

The ones that get me to. I mean people 12 years old. They took out credit card on 12 years.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

$20,000 on a 12 year old ruining ruin. Call your butt to jail for doing that and just set it over there. Just set over there in the jail. That's where you ought to be. Cuz you're stealing money and you're using your own child to do it. What a scumber. You already know the power of generosity and the best gifts make an impact now and eternally. That's what preborn does. And you can trust the to do it well. They don't just offer free ultrasounds. They support pregnancy clinics across the country with ultrasound machines, training grants and evangelism tools. They're faithful with each dollar so moms in crisis can see the life in their wombs and hear the truth that brings eternal life. Because here's the thing. When a mom sees her baby on that ultrasound screen, she chooses life 80% of the time. And your gift of just $28 cover of one ultrasound. Or if you're able, you can purchase an ultrasound machine through preborn and have it placed in one of their clinics so women will choose life for years. Your donation brings hope and truth when mothers feel alone and fear is loud. So I'm asking you to give to preborn today, even just $28 to provide one ultrasound. Go to preborn.com Ramsey or call 855-601-2229 because every baby saved is more than a life preserved, it's a life changed. That's preborn.com Ramsey. Cynthia is with us in Atlanta. Hi Cynthia, how are you?

[C]

You good. How are you?

[A]

Better than I deserve. How can we help?

[C]

Yeah, I make $94,000 before taxes.

[A]

Good for you. What do you do?

[C]

I'm an engine builder for the military.

[A]

Very cool. Good for you. Good, good. So you're in the military or you just work civilian for the military?

[C]

I work at. I work in another place and I just only do military engines and.

[A]

Cool. Okay, good. How can we help?

[C]

I'm like $32,000 in debt and I got. My home is paid for and I gotta pay for Jeep Wrangler, but I bought another car just to drive back and forth to work to save money. But I got like a lot of zip after pay PayPal. You know how you just don't want to spend your money? And I got a personal loan and I just want to know what's the fastest way because at my job I'm already doing like 16% in my 401k.

[B]

So I, I have a feeling. Do you have a stack of money saved somewhere? Do you have money saved?

[C]

I, I did, but I don't know more because after my son passed away I just went on a spending.

[A]

And when did he pass away? Huh?

[C]

20, 18.

[B]

So you said you've got a bunch of.

[A]

So did you borrow money for the car that was cheaper in quotes?

[C]

Well, I got like a seven thousand dollar car loan. I left only seven thousand dollars on it. Now everything is current, but it's just like I'm throwing my money away. I don't know where my money go. Half of the time I'd be like, I make good money.

[A]

Yeah, you do make good money. You make way too much money be this broken, out of control.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

But your heart, but your heart was broken.

[C]

Yeah, I'm out of control, babe. I need help.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Five $600 clothes a week.

[B]

Oh, wow. Yeah.

[A]

My dad used to say that half of solving a problem is realizing there is one. Cynthia, I think you realized it.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired yet?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. Enough to change?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. Because I think you can you make enough money to straighten this out as soon as we straighten you out, Right?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Have you looked at how much it is when you combine it all together? All the buy now pay laters and the personal loans, all that. How much is it?

[C]

Yeah, like I got, I got Them wrote down in a tablet at home. And so I got, like. I came over, y' all came. I saw y', all, like, on New Year's, the day before New Year, and I just went to write down everything that I had.

[A]

Good.

[C]

And I was hoping to get my life together.

[B]

Good.

[C]

And I won't go. I went. I came to the store to return some stuff.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

And I would like to put the money back on my debit card. And my friends said this. The first time I ever seen you go in the store and come out without nothing in your hands. I said, I'm on a budget. I can't do it.

[B]

Okay, so you create. Did you create a budget, or are you just saying you're on a budget?

[C]

No, I created.

[B]

Good.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Did you do it on every dollar?

[C]

That's where I did it at.

[B]

Great.

[A]

All right.

[B]

What did you find? Did you. Did you find. Tell us what you found.

[C]

That I was, like, having, like, I got $3,600, like, into debt, but I have, like, $2,200 left. And I was like, where that money at?

[B]

That.

[D]

And.

[C]

Okay, my friend, like, look on the floor. You got shoes stacked up to the ceiling. You don't even put on your feet. Look in your closet. You wear your clothes one time and give them away.

[B]

That's a friend. That's a true friend, to tell you the truth. So you got $2,000 of margin every single month, and it's just going to crap. Crap, Basically.

[C]

Yeah. And so.

[B]

And did I hear you say it's only $3,600 of debt?

[A]

No.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

32,000.

[C]

No, I got $32,000. But, like, when I pay my stuff off a month, I have, like, that left. But I increased when I was at.

[A]

Work and I said, I'm gonna increase my 400%. You're not married, right?

[C]

No.

[A]

Okay, what I want you to do is I want you to keep this EveryDollar app, and I want you to give your friend access to the EveryDollar app to be your accountability partner.

[B]

Yes. Because she's a good friend.

[A]

And tell her to bust you if you don't do anything except get out of debt.

[D]

Debt.

[A]

No buying nothing, Cynthia. You have enough crap to last you for the rest of your life.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

If you. If you don't do anything except pay rent, work, eat, keep the lights on, you can be out of debt in no time.

[B]

Well, you don't even have rent paid for.

[A]

Yeah, that's right. That's right. I forgot that.

[B]

So how much you. When you look at your budget, how much can you put towards debt every single month? How much extra?

[C]

Well, I had. Well, I got like a $10,000 check coming on tomorrow.

[B]

Okay, great.

[C]

And so I said that I was gonna take that and start it. Well, I got my thousand dollar. And then I said with that $10,000, I was gonna take that because I got like $2,000 of back home taxes and I need to just go and pay that 2,000 and then just go on and start paying of the smallest to the Lord.

[B]

That's right. That's right. So the other 8,000 goes to that. And then if you just continue to take. I think I heard you say you had $2,000 in margin every month. If you take that, I mean, you're going to be done with this by the end of the year.

[C]

That what I want to hear. Okay.

[B]

Or sooner or sooner if you get intense about it because something tells me.

[A]

You do have more margin than shoes and purses. Why don't you put them on ebay?

[C]

That's what somebody else said instead of giving them away.

[B]

Yeah, because it's brand new, basically.

[A]

Yeah, let's put them on ebay. People buy this stuff, man, they'll pay big money for it.

[B]

Yeah. Cause she's. This is not, it's not cheap stuff.

[A]

This girl buys good stuff. I can tell.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think there's a name brand Cynthia laying there in your floor.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Put that on Poshmark. Put that, put that on the nice places.

[A]

Okay. Poshmark is ebay.

[B]

Poshmark. Yeah. That's where you get the nice high end stuff.

[A]

Oh, used.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, cool. All right. There you go. See, I don't know this because I don't do that, but yeah. Good. Very good. Hi, Cynthia. I think you already had a pretty good plan before you called us.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

You were working the stuff we teach exactly the way we teach everything. We asked you, you answered the way we would have told you to do it. I'm very impressed with you.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Okay, now do it. Okay.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Be, you know, act like your friends standing in your back pocket. And so no screwing around. Time to be a grown up. No buying stuff. Don't be walking in. Don't even go in a store. Drunks don't need to go in a bar.

[D]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

So just stay out of the store. You don't need to go there. And don't get on some website unless you're selling something. All you need to do is sell stuff and work.

[B]

Can I give her my book yet? Can I give Her. My book?

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

You're the prime candidate because your emotions were driving you. And this will just help you stay motivated even more going into the new year. So Christian's back there. He'll pick up and give it to you. I think you're the first person I've given this book.

[A]

That's good. Very good.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Hey, and Cynthia, listen, here's the deal. When someone loses their son and their heart is broken and they make some spending mistakes, that doesn't make you a bad person. It just means that your heart was hurting. Okay? You're okay. But don't live the rest of your life this way for your sake. Okay? Okay.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah, but you didn't do a bad thing. You just. You just. Heart was broken. Okay.

[C]

Okay. Thank you.

[A]

Yeah, just go on. And now let's go win. Let's get this mess straightened up and in his memory, instead of having a pile of shoes, let's have a pile of money and get this thing worked out.

[B]

Y.

[A]

That's a different change on that. Yeah. Cuz I got to tell you, the number of times that emotions just like your book, activate. And sometimes it's a broken heart, grieving, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a relationship, the loss of a job, and sometimes it takes people a while, depending on the severity and the weirdness of the situation takes longer than others. But the good news is something happens around New Year's for Cynthia clicked into place and she woke up and thank God, something popped up on Instagram. It was us instead of one of these goobers that are just telling, you know, so far, telling you go in debt or something. Right? And she did everything. She already started doing it all.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Very, very good. Very impressive.

[B]

Take those moments and run with them.

[A]

Amen. I call that a God moment is what I call it. Well done, Cynthia. You call us back anytime, honey. We're here to. To help you. It's what we're for.

[C]

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[B]

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[C]

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[B]

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[C]

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[B]

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[C]

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[B]

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[C]

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[B]

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[C]

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[B]

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[C]

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[B]

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[B]

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[C]

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[B]

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[C]

Check out chministries.orgbudget to learn more. That's chministries.org budget.

[A]

Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fair Winds Credit Union Studio. Jade Washall, number one best selling author Ramsey personality is my co host today. Her new book, what no one tells you about money is out. It's official. You can get it now. We've been pre selling it back through Christmas and everything and now we are here and rocking and it's going out the door. There's a stack of them on the table a minute ago. She's signing them over here, getting them ready to go out to folks, folks, all kinds of good things happening. Jamie is in Tennessee. Hi Jamie, how are you?

[C]

I'm doing good. How are you doing?

[A]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[C]

Yes, just to make my question I guess shorter, what I'm asking is should debt keep me from getting married? So I am currently on baby step number three. Me and my boyfriend have been dating for about a year, a couple months now, and we are very serious about marriage. He unfortunately does have about $8,000 in DEB and as we're talking about a wedding and engagement and all these things, we're just trying to make sure that we're making a good financial decision. So just trying to hear Yalls opinion on that.

[B]

Yeah, I definitely would not say that debt should keep you from getting married. However, going forward, there are some things that you can do to position yourself better. Number one, making sure you're having a conversation about not just the debt and the current financial situation for both of you, but how you see yourselves going forward in the marriage to start getting on the same page if you're not already. So what does that look have you had that conversation of hey, when we get married, here's the way I view debt? How do you view debt? Here's what I think I'd like to focus on. Do we align? Have you had those conversations?

[C]

Yes, we have. And I will say this past year has been a tough year for him because he had an injury and then ended up losing his job. So those conversations were easier before all of that happened and since all of that has Happened. I am. Which I understand he's become a little bit more reserved and doesn't want to talk about it as much, but I guess from my perspective, I'm like, well, I need to make sure that we're entering into this on the same page.

[A]

Very wise. How old are you?

[C]

I am 28.

[A]

Good. Very good.

[B]

He's probably feeling some type of way, you know, when you've lost your job, his confidence is not quite right, and so it's probably defensive.

[A]

But as far as the answer to your question, you're right on track, Jamie. You'd have to be aligned, and here's why. The data tells us that the number one cause of divorce is money fights and money problems. And if we know that going in, then we need to what, avoid money fights?

[C]

Correct.

[A]

And money problems. And what's that mean? It means we need to be aligned, which was the word you used. Okay. It's a good word, Jamie. Very good. And so we need to be in agreement about how we're going to handle our money. So the fact that he has some debt doesn't bother me if he thinks every time there's a bump in the road, every time we hit a pothole, every time things are stressful, we're going to go into debt. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're going to find another side. We're going to find another solution. Okay.

[B]

Or. Or that we're going to shut down and not talk about it if we hit a hard time, which is kind of what you're experiencing now.

[A]

Yeah. So we need to get aligned. And you know, the other thing we found is there's another piece of data I saw the other day that said those that do in depth, like a month or two, several meetings of in depth pre marriage counseling have a very high probability of a successful marriage does not end the divorce, because good marriage counseling will cause the divorce before the marriage happens.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

It'll cause you to split up if you can't get on the same page. And so going deep and going hard on that, that would dig out all of this and be on the same page. And one other thing just to throw in there, it's in the same data set that's out floating around that we've been observing for about 30 years. And you're very wise. The way you're talking about this is proper. Okay. You got a very good balanced handle on it. And the is if you can agree on four things before you're married in depth, your marriage is almost guaranteed to make it. And that's money, that's kids. How many to have and who's going to run the house, whether the inmates are going to run the asylum or not. Right. And it's in laws. How we gonna deal with the crazies on the outside of the house that are kin to us. Okay. And religion. And if you're agreed on all four of those in depth, you almost always will make it.

[C]

Okay. Can I also ask Dave, I guess from a male's perspective as well, how do I go about having these conversations with him right now?

[A]

Just like that. Just like that. Just data say. Data says that if we can be in agreement on the handling of our money, and that's going to require us talking about it, then we're going to have a great marriage. The data says that. And I want to align with that so that we can talk about setting a date. And let's get this done. I'm ready, man. And no, $8,000 is not a reason to not marry the guy. I don't ever want to talk to you about money the rest of my life. Shut up. That's a good reason to not marry a guy. I'm too lazy to work. That's a good reason to not marry a guy. I intend to buy a new car every year and stay in debt the rest of our lives. And you hate debt. That's a good reason to not marry a guy because you're going to be miserable. Right.

[B]

And I'm going to just add, I shut down whenever times get hard. Would be a time to maybe just push pause for a second to figure that.

[A]

Yeah, that is a guy thing in a lot of cases. But it also is a thing to figure out now and how we can do it.

[B]

And you will figure it out. It's just figuring it out.

[A]

Yeah, I think. But you're asking the right questions. But no, we have never told someone to not get married because of debt. We have told people not to get married because of what was going on that caused the debt.

[B]

Right. Behavior.

[A]

The character. The behavior, whatever's going on. And that's a good. Those can be deal breakers. But it's not just Dave Ramsey hates debt. And you can't get married because Dave Ramsey said you can't get married. That's never happened here ever in 40 years of doing this show, and nor will it. All right, Jake is with us in Baltimore. Hey, Jake, what's up?

[D]

Hey, Dave. God is good. I hope you're doing well.

[A]

How can we help?

[D]

Yeah, so I'm 26. I'm married, we're debt free, so praise God for that. My wife and I both work right now and we want to buy a home that we can comfortably afford on my income alone. Since our plan is for her to stay home in the future while we build a family.

[A]

Lord willing, what do you make?

[D]

But in my area, it seems like pricing. What do you mean so high? I make 75,000. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Baltimore is an expensive market, dude.

[D]

I know.

[A]

What do you do for a living?

[D]

The reason that we want to stay around.

[A]

I'm not saying you can't stay. I'm just saying you got to decide what's going to happen happen here. Okay. We want to buy a home on my income, but there are no homes in my area that we can buy on my income.

[B]

That leaves you two choices.

[A]

Get your income up or be in.

[B]

Another area or do something dumb and buy something more, more expensive than you can afford.

[A]

Well, or buy something where she's planning to work. You know, lots of people do that and you just, you know, we don't. What's her. What does she make?

[D]

She makes about the same as me. So together we make about 1, 150 or so.

[A]

Okay. So you and you can afford a house there. Okay.

[B]

Well, I like that you're thinking ahead because a lot of people don't do that.

[A]

Agreed.

[B]

And I, I love that you're thinking that way of here's, here's what we. Our desired future for this. So that's very, very smart. But I agree with Dave. You're going to have to decide, am I. Is there a pathway for me to earn more money so I can save up this down payment and buy this home the right way, or do we have to look at looking out of town? And what does that mean?

[A]

Are we going to be. Or are we going to say we're going to buy a house instead of be at home?

[B]

Yeah, that also, that's an option too.

[A]

That's the three variables involved. You're cutting your income in half, you want to stay in an area, and then there's house prices.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

So you got to work out one of those three variables has got to move or two of them. It's a brand new year and you've probably got a list of priorities for 20, 26. Lose weight, get organized. Finally create a budget and stick to it. And there's one thing people know they need to do, but they keep putting it off. Making a will. So listen, completing your will is one of the most important things you can do to protect your loved ones and your legacy. That's why I always recommend Mama Bear legal forms. I've seen the mess families go through when someone dies without a will. So it's not a someday thing, it's a do it now thing. And making your will with Mama Bear is simple, legally binding, affordable, and it takes just 20 minutes to finish. You can even go back and update it later. So don't put this on your to do list. Just do it. 20 minutes. To protect everything you've worked for and everyone you love, go to mama bear legalforms.com use the promo code Ramsey to save 20%. That's mamabearlegalforms.com, promo code Ramsey. Ramsey. So our last caller talking about affordability on homes reminded me of something. I look at Instagram about once in a blue moon and I happen to look down somehow in my feed. Who knows how that stuff happened? Somebody over there does, but it's not me. A guy is posting a typical TikTok type thing on there. It was Instagram in this case. It said, I wish we could live like this today. It said 1957. And it shows a gentleman standing in front of a home with blue jeans on and rolled up cuffs, a little girl and a wife in a dress and a car sitting in the driveway in front of their home. He said, this guy's a Ford factory worker and he can afford a home, a car, and on a factory salary and his wife can stay home with a kid. And I thought to myself, how are you not looking at this picture? This is an 800 square foot house, track housing into Detroit. I'm looking at the house. It's clapboard. It's not got a brick on it. Okay. It's just cheaply built. It's got one bath.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

No microwave.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It has no pulsating showers or Jacuzzis or skylights. There are no racquetball courts in the neighborhood, and there's certainly not any pickleball courts in the neighborhood. There's not a place to plug in your Tesla. The new car in your driveway is one car, not two. A boat and three sea doos, not six drones and a trampoline in the backyard. The yard is the size of most of you listening's house.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It's 0.18 acres. It's called track housing. You can look it up. Okay. They built them in tracks just as fast as they could build them down through there to fill the factory workers, to give them housing so they could get the factories open and running. Henry Ford did It just like he built Model Ts off the assembly line. He built these houses off this to do the same thing. It's not just Ford. Everybody did it. I mean, all the factories. Alcoa, Tennessee, same thing for Alcoa. Same thing happened in the exact same time. But, you know, if we asked someone that's posting that to live in that house and drive that car, which, by the way, had no air conditioning. Conditioning.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Would have been straight shift. There were certainly no airbags. There was no disc brakes. The car was, you know, drive a 1957 car sometime people, they don't make them like they used to. Thank God.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

That was basically a lawnmower. We have lawnmowers that are fancier than that car now.

[B]

He was, he was trying to make a point, but he did it in a not very swell way.

[A]

The point he was making was inaccurate, is my point.

[B]

Yeah, he, he, he got too drunk. He went too dramatic because. Well, to your point.

[A]

No, his. He was trying to say, you can't do this today. Well, that's right. You can't do that.

[B]

And you wouldn't want to do that.

[A]

You would not. You would not do this today. If we offered it to you, you wouldn't do it. You would say, oh, the American dream is broken. You want me to live in a tiny house.

[B]

What he should have said, which is true, is, gosh, it's. It's taking me longer than I thought to save for the house that I want. And it feels way harder than I thought it was going to.

[A]

Y master bedroom of the one I want is larger than this house.

[B]

Yes. That's why I say the house I want, because that is true.

[A]

My forever house.

[B]

It's taking people longer and it's more frustrating.

[A]

It is frustrating.

[B]

And that's okay to say, but don't. But to your point, over dramatizing it, that's not gonna help you either.

[A]

Well, and to say that something's broken. It's not broken. It's different.

[B]

It's different. It is different.

[A]

It's different. It's a different thing. And so there's two or three things. One is you've got to adjust. Like we told the gentleman a minute ago, some of your variable.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And say, okay, maybe Mom's not at home. If you want to live in an area you can't afford. You know, When I turned 18 years old, I could not. When I turned 24 years old, I could not afford to live in Manhattan. I could not afford to live in most areas of Los Angeles. And that's in early 1980s.

[B]

Understood? Yes.

[A]

Okay. Because I didn't make enough.

[B]

Yes, Understood.

[D]

Yes.

[A]

And so I have to look at that and go, I can't. The math doesn't. Math, as Jade says.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And so that's the thing. One, but the other thing is this, the thing that has screwed a lot of. I think the millennials and the Gen Z's have had a. I think they've gotten a bad rap. And we are not saying, and I am not saying that they're whiners. They've gotten a bad rap for being whiners. What I am saying is this. You're pointing at stuff like an 800 square foot house. That's inaccurate, number one. Number two, you can't point at that. Now, our last caller was not subject to this. I got to set that aside one more time. But most of the time when someone's bitching about affordability, They've got a $1,200 car payment, a $200,000 student loan, and the car Ford has screwed them. They got a $80,000 F150.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

And their pockets are full of Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson saying what's in your wallet? Right.

[B]

I was wondering where you were going with that. And now I got it. Thank you.

[A]

What's in your wallet? What's in your wallet? Well, record credit card debt on those two generations. These large banks have screwed these two generations and convinced them that they have to have what's in your wallet to exist. Boys and girls, let me tell you what's in Samuel Jackson's wallet. A little wagon behind him pulling all the money he made from them commercials selling you crap. That's what's in his wallet. And it's unbelievable. Same thing with the guy, the Capital One guy or whatever is. He does not live in the bank. I just. If you didn't know, he doesn't really live there. Okay.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

This is unbelievable, y'. All. So these companies, car companies, you know, 20% of the cars that left the lot last month were over a thousand dollar a month car pay payments. If you do that and you have record credit card debt and you have record student loan debt, of course you can't afford a house cause you got screwed.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

You got screwed by higher education. A stupid congress keeps making these loans. You got screwed by Capital One.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

You got screwed by Ford and Lexus Credit because you gotta have a car. I have to have a nice car. I have to have something safe for my children. Children. Oh, you're killing me.

[B]

And, and okay, I'm a stand, right. I'm a stand with you and I'm also going to stand on the other side because there's that none of that's helping you. Right. If you have, if you have, you.

[A]

Cannot buy a house with that. And you never have been able to.

[B]

Buy a house and you never have. Yes. And then there's also the side of it, record levels. There's also the side of it where you look at it, you go, okay, 415 is the median. So even if you're like, hey, I'm going to be, be on the conservative side, I'm looking at like 375. Right. I'm, I'm gonna spend around 375. If you make $90,000, which is over, over average. Over average, over median. Over average, not over median, you're still going to have, because of interest rates and because of price, you're still gonna have to put down way more than the 20, you know, than the, the, the 10%.

[A]

Yeah, but here's the thing.

[B]

The percentage that we would say 415,000 against it.

[A]

Yeah, but you're, but that's not first time home. Home buyers. 415,000 is not first time home buyers. 415,000 is the median of all home prices, including mine.

[B]

Yeah. Everything considered.

[A]

So if you take first time home buyers, we talk to the 34 year olds that stand on this stage and say, I'm debt free, I just paid off my house. How'd you do that? I live in a town where 275,000 or 200,000 buys a lot of house.

[B]

A lot of house. Yes.

[A]

And I make sixty, seventy thousand dollars a year, eighty thousand dollars a year. And I bought a house for two hundred and some thousand dollars and I worked my butt off and I paid it off. And it is not fancy.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And the town is not fancy.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And the car they're driving is not fancy. And so, you know, but so if you don't. Yes. You cannot, on an average income, you cannot buy a median price house.

[B]

You can't.

[A]

That is true, by the way. I don't think it's ever been true.

[B]

It's not been true. I'm simply saying that they're both sides of it are true. If you get to the point, like the guy in your Instagram thing where you're over dramatizing it, then you're never going to find the solution.

[A]

Right.

[B]

That's my point. We can acknowledge.

[A]

And that's really kind of what your book is about.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But debt is certainly not helping you.

[A]

So don't get screwed by these big companies. Companies. And set your sights on a first time home purchase.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Not a median home price purchase.

[B]

And it might take you longer than you thought. That's okay too. It took Sam and I and it's in the book. Ten years, Dave, before we bought our first house.

[A]

Oh, that's distressing.

[B]

So that's why I get to say.

[A]

That you want me to wait 10 years.

[B]

Well, you got to do what you got to do to be able to afford it.

[A]

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

[B]

Something.

[D]

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

[A]

That's a gut punch.

[B]

And.

[D]

Oh, you're telling me. And for, for decades, Dave, I've sat across people who've lost a spouse, they've.

[A]

Lost somebody important to them. Me too.

[D]

They don't know what to do next.

[A]

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

[D]

That's exactly.

[A]

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

[D]

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

[A]

Yeah, to just miss you. That's exactly what it's supposed to be. It's saying I love you to your family. Term life insurance, Jeff Zander and the team at Xander Insurance makes it easy and affordable. I've used them personally for 25 years. They're the only people I trust. Go to Xander.com or call 803-42-82. Ari is in Washington, D.C. hi, Ari, how are you?

[D]

I'm good, Dave. How are you?

[A]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[D]

Yeah, so I just had a couple of changes with my income in the past like 14 days and it's all coming down on me at once. So I'm trying to figure that out on top of the fact that I don't think my job is going to be the best fit for me moving forward. Forward.

[A]

So what was the change in your. What was the change in your income?

[D]

So I was originally making about 4, 500amonth, but on top of my hours being cut back down to normal, taking away my overtime, because it was short staff, and now there's not. It's not short staff, so they cut that hours. Plus I signed up for the family insurance to cover the family, so that's taken a lot out now. So.

[B]

So what's your income down to?

[D]

So my income is down to about 3,774. What do you do monthly? So right now I am a banker.

[A]

A banker?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You like work in the branch?

[D]

Yes, I do. I work in the branch as a. As a teller.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Oh, okay, you're a teller and it's.

[B]

You and your family of how many?

[D]

It's my wife and my staff son.

[A]

Okay, what does she make?

[D]

She doesn't make anything right now. She just finished a CNA program in D.C. so. So she's waiting to hear back for the clinicals part and then she'll start applying for jobs there. Meanwhile, she just had an interview today at a bar down the street, so she's going to try and do either serving or bartending. So meanwhile, we've just been doing a doordash to keep things going.

[B]

Okay, and does the doordash fill the gap to get you back to the. The 4. 4,500 you were used to?

[D]

No.

[A]

And we lost you. You're going to speak into your phone, son.

[D]

Okay, yeah, sure. Can you hear me now?

[A]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[D]

Okay, so, yeah, part of the. Part of the reason was I was getting 1100 as well from the. A vocational kind of military educational benefit.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[D]

But I failed one of the classes, so they haven't paid the next term. So I found that out like about a week ago. So I sort everything out.

[B]

So you're used to $5,600 a month and now you're down to 37 there about.

[D]

Yes, ma'. Am.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And how did you fail the class?

[D]

It was. I just was trying to do too much because I was doing the job and then I had Uber. I was doing Uber and everything, but then. And registration came due like this week, actually, so.

[A]

Yeah, but I mean, you knew you were failing the class when you quit the Uber and pass. The class is 1100 bucks a month.

[D]

That's more than Uber and it was just. It was just. It was just not poor. Kind of poor time management, I think, to be honest.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, I think it was. Yeah.

[B]

Tell us about your living situation. Are you. Are you renting and. Or do you own something? How. And how much do you pay a month?

[D]

We're renting and it's about. It's about it honestly been going up the last three months, but this month it was 2000.

[A]

Ooh.

[B]

Yeah, it's tight.

[A]

Okay, so 100% of everything we're talking about is income problems. And I understand how we got to every one of the different pieces of it now. Thank you for giving us clarity on that. And so the answer is going to be 100% fix on the income side. And I don't know exactly what that is for you right now, but your answer is figure out if you can get the military to give you a waiver and restart the class and go retake that class and maybe you can get a pass on that one and get them to give you a little grace and see if they'll do that. See if they have a program for a review on that and get that going again. And this time pass the freaking class. Of course. Course, never do that again. And then the second thing is, what are you going to do to create income? Because it sounds like you need a new job, dude, doesn't it?

[D]

Yeah, yeah. And I. I am looking at things. I was thinking about going into security for the meantime. The ultimate goal, ironically enough.

[A]

I. I hope it's not technology.

[B]

He said financial sector.

[A]

Okay. Yeah. Speak into the phone. You keep dropping the phone or something. I don't know. All right, so, yeah, you've got to create income, Ari.

[B]

Got to really work. Both of you together. Have to do this.

[A]

Yeah. And. And it's not. I mean, the first thing you do is get enough money to eat and keep the lights on, and that's bartending and Uber and those kinds of things. But those are not long term fixes.

[B]

No, it's not a life you can't do that for.

[A]

It's not your way of life. Side hustle is not a way way of life. And so what we want to do then is create a career path that's going to take you both to get that CNA stuff passed. That income will be a lot more than bartending.

[B]

Her path is there. She's just got to see it through to the end.

[A]

Got to get there as fast as we possibly can. We don't want to stub our toe on that. And then You've got to figure out exactly where you're going and what your steps are to get there. So we're going to send you Ken Coleman's book, finding the work you're wired to do. It has in it an assessment. I recommend you take it that. But you need to get very laser focused on where you're going and exactly what the steps are to get there. Because you cannot wallow in this. You do not have the mathematical time. You've got to move forward. Alex is in Baltimore. Hey, Alex, how are you?

[D]

Good afternoon, Dave. Good afternoon, Jay. Congrats on your new book.

[B]

Thank you.

[D]

So my question is, my wife and I have been married for 18 years. We have two teenage children and I recently started a new job where I am getting paid about 60% more than my last job.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Thank you. Thank you.

[A]

What are you doing?

[D]

Well, I actually, I am running a small trade association.

[A]

Cool. And what are you being paid?

[D]

300K.

[A]

Way to go, dude. Congratulations.

[D]

Thank you. So really what I'm doing right now is I'm looking for advice from you both on how I can pay off our remaining debt in order to. And words that you've used before. Dave, level up.

[A]

Good stuff. Well, you know, we're going to walk you right through the baby steps. It sounds like you know them.

[D]

Where are you at this point? You know, I have. I put aside the thousand as you recommended and I am targeting now the debts that we have. But I'm debating on. And one of the questions I have is should I be targeting based on the avalanche method or the snowball method?

[A]

How long you been listening to us?

[D]

Listening slash reading for, you know, a little bit of time.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

You got to know 100% of the time we stay away from the avalanche method. We go with the snowball. And the reason is very simple. The probability of completion is much higher when you get feedback.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And probability completion on the avalanche is very low. Most people don't complete complete it. Avalanche's highest interest rate to small interest rate, highest interest rate to smallest. People say it's mathematically correct. It's not actually mathematically correct when you add in probability of completion, which is a math factor. Okay. Okay. And so snowball, simple. How much debt have you got? Not counting your house.

[D]

Not counting the house. That's easy. It's about. It's about 90k.

[A]

What.

[D]

Admittedly 11 of it is student loans and the rest is consumer debt and a consolidated loan.

[A]

One loan?

[D]

Yes, sir.

[A]

Wow. Was it cars in there?

[D]

No, sir. We don't have Any car payments? We haven't had a car payment in about 17 years.

[A]

So you just put everything on credit card then? Oh my God.

[D]

Without getting into the gory details, we had to make some decisions.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, but you're used to living on 140, right? Right.

[D]

A little bit more than that. Yeah. My math might not be mathing as as you said, but yeah, that's all right.

[B]

But you said you got a 60% increase so let's just pretend it was.

[A]

Only 50% and you put it all on the debt.

[B]

Yeah. There you go. You're done in a year.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

You're going to feel it. Cuz you're not going to be living the life you think you should be living at 300,000.

[A]

Woohoo. Oh crap. Yeah, I got a raise. Oh crap. I don't get to use any of it. I got to clean up the mess from my past.

[B]

Been there.

[A]

The calendar might have flipped, but the way to win with money hasn't changed. Living on a budget, staying out of debt and building wealth intentionally. Now here's the deal. Most banks make their money. When you don't do that. They're fine if you stay broke and frustrated. And that's why I recommend Fairwinds Credit Union Union. They actually want you to win with money. Their smart bundle gives you a no fee checking account, a high yield savings account, and the new Ramsey Be weird debit card that says debt is normal beweird right on the front. It's not just a card, it's a statement. Because every time you use it it says you control your money. Your money doesn't control you. So this year, stick to your plan. Don't chase gimmicks or points. And partner with a credit union that helps you you make progress in the baby steps. Visit Fairwinds.org Ramsey to take control of your money and stay weird.

[B]

Fairwinds is federally insured by the ncua.

[A]

If you're working the baby steps, the best and fastest way to do it is by using EveryDollar. It's more than just a budgeting app. The plan is built right in. You can track your progress. You'll get personalized recommendations and coaching for your situation based on what you're actually doing in the app. And that'll help you free up more money and work the plan faster. It's like having one of us walking with you every day, showing you the next right step. Start every dollar for free. Download it in the App Store or Google Play. Chuck is with us in Montana. Montana. Hi Chuck. How are you? Montana? California. That's different. What's up, Chuck? How are you?

[D]

Hey, Chuck. Dave. Doing better than I deserve. How are you, sir?

[A]

Just the same. How can we help?

[D]

Hey, just want to thank you for your book. The Total money Makeover. My mom gave that to me. It seems like almost 20 years ago now, but really pulled me out of a lot of debt and bad financial decisions. Well, so today I'm 40 years old, engaged to be married in a couple of months.

[A]

Good.

[D]

And it's my mom and I in my house. I owe another 140 left on the house. I have a sizable cash savings, what I want to do. So we're going through marriage counsel counseling. The elder in our church is really pushing us to live alone for at least the first year.

[A]

I like your elder.

[B]

Mm, me too.

[D]

Mom doesn't have anywhere to go. She's retired. So this was my plan, and you could tell me how stupid I am, but to use the cash, I have have to buy another home. And my mom has enough. She gets enough retirement to maintain the current home.

[B]

Is she. Is she ill?

[D]

No.

[A]

How old.

[B]

How old is she?

[D]

She is 67.

[A]

She not have any money.

[D]

She. She just has her union pension, and then Social Security. That's about 2,200amonth.

[B]

And the house, did you guys buy it together or is it totally your name? You pay for everything.

[D]

It's all mine.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

What do you make of your home?

[D]

It's a range, but my. My base pay is 150, but it could. It swings wildly up to about 180.

[A]

And your fiance. Your fiance makes what.

[D]

About 72,000 a year? Okay.

[A]

Okay. Number one, your elder is correct. You do not need to be having a brand new marriage with your mom in the house. She's 67 years old. Years old. She's not a. She's not 88 years old. She's not an Alzheimer's patient. She's not. She just needs to have a life. Okay. Be good for her, be good for you, and it'll certainly be good for your relationship. Good. Good counsel. I like your counsel. Okay, that's number one. So then how do. And that's your. You're in agreement. You're not arguing about that. So your question is, how do we get there most logically? All right, so there's two things. There's. One is how do we solve the short term? And then two is what is a plan that is sustainable? Because likely, if she's in good health in 67, I mean, we probably have a 20 year or a 30 year time horizon here for her.

[D]

Right, I understand. Yes.

[A]

And so what is it we're going to put in place that she can sustain her life during that period of time and then you get to have a life and you love her, you want to take care of her. But, but she doesn't have to come under your roof ever necessarily.

[B]

And I don't think that you have the funds to float to. Yeah, two homes.

[A]

Yeah. You have the income to float her, help her float an apartment for herself. And the two of you either live in this house or you sell it and buy a home that the two of you want. The two of you being your fiance, not your mother. And I think some autonomy for her would give her more dignity and you as well. It's going to be super healthy for your relationship with your fiance, your marriage, your wife. And yeah, you have to do that. And so, but no, I would not, I would not buy today day. I would just rent her something. And if you need to help her with the rent, fine. Now if you did that and she moved to a nice, you know, a nice one bedroom condo that you rented for her, that's just out of pocket for the rent. That's not much money. Okay, comparatively, versus buying a home. Okay. For cash. Now would you all then live in this house, Chuck, or would you all sell this house?

[D]

No, my, my mom would live out her days in the current home.

[A]

And we're suggesting you get her suggested moving her out.

[D]

Oh, well, so, so the elder was saying that try to do a year where it's just you, you and the wife. And then if, if circumstances changed and mom has to move back in, that might be okay. It's not optimal, but we just, we need that one year alone.

[B]

Yeah, you do. That's, that's bare minimum is what he's saying. And what we're suggesting is don't buy.

[A]

A house for one year.

[B]

Yeah. And. And if you can, and if you can live as a couple and definitely you should live as a couple indefinitely is what I'm, is what I'm saying.

[D]

Like I said, the house is worth 550. I owe 140 on it. I currently have saved up 130.

[A]

If your mom was in a one bedroom, nice apartment that you were helping her rent instead of in this house, would you and your fiance stay in this house?

[D]

Yes.

[A]

Okay, let's talk about doing that. That's what I would do. If I were in your shoes. That's what I would do.

[B]

She's not sick. There's nothing that you need to be there to take care of her. So if you can. She's got a whole life.

[A]

She got a whole 65. Okay. Come on.

[B]

Yeah. No, listen. Yes. And you've gotta. Okay, here's what I'm thinking, Dave.

[A]

I'm thinking I'd get a job and you gotta get 67.

[B]

Yeah. And. And, but, but, Chuck, you gotta separate from your mom is what I'm saying, buddy. That's all. Otherwise, that's gonna cause problems with the wifey, the new wife.

[A]

Physical separation and emotional separation. Y' all have been. You're 40 years old. You're just getting married. There's nothing more evil about this. But this is. Your. Your elder is giving you very good relational counsel to get.

[B]

Except a part of a year minimum. It's.

[A]

I would. I would just say separate period.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then. But your. Your fiance knows at some point, maybe you'll have to take care of your mom. Maybe you have to take care of her mom.

[B]

Yeah. Maybe.

[A]

We don't know.

[B]

Never know. Yes.

[A]

We don't know what's coming up. But that's for better, for worse. That's for richer, for poor. That's for in laws in the basement for. And all that. Yeah. And so. Yeah. So. But I'm not gonna plan to be right back here in 18 months. No. That's scary. Listen, if that was. If your fiance was calling me, I'd tell her not to marry you 100%. Unless you had a plan for mom to stay gone.

[B]

Yes. If she called in and said, my.

[A]

Fiance wants to have his mom move back in in 18 months, I would say, nah, that's a pass. Hard pass.

[B]

We would.

[A]

Yeah. I think your elder's being very sweet to you, but also giving you good advice.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Very nice. So, anyway, we're going to be a little tougher. We're going to be a little tougher on you, buddy.

[B]

And it doesn't mean you don't love your mom. It just means that this is. The design is for you to go off and start your own.

[A]

Let me just tell you the chances of Rachel Cruz letting me move in with them at any point in my. Me breathing. Me breathing. The only chance I move in with them is in an urn. In an urn on the mantle. That's the only way I'm moving in with Rachel. I'm just saying.

[B]

And even still, you're in the laundry room. You're in the.

[C]

You're in the.

[B]

You're in the pool house.

[A]

I'm in the pool house. Rocking the pool house. I want to be in the sauna.

[C]

Oh, boy.

[B]

Oh, boy.

[A]

No, it's not happening. The Ramses have pretty firm boundaries on this.

[B]

Very good.

[A]

And we love each other at a distance.

[B]

Yes. Wow. Yes.

[A]

Oh, Chuck. I think you got good people in your life, son. And you got a sweet sweetheart. And you're a good man and you've done a good job taking care of your mom. And the by the way, she's only 67. It'd be awesome if she went and had a thing called a life. That'd be really cool.

[B]

The new 47.

[A]

Yeah. I promise you I'm looking at it in the mirror.

[D]

Sam.

[A]

Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fairwinds credit union studio. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Jade Washall, number one best selling author Ramsey personality is my co host today. Her new book lands on the street. Today. It's out. What no one tells you about money. The key to getting unstuck from someone who's been there, done that and got the yellow T shirt. There it is. Love it. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. Blake is in Rochester new. Hey, Blake, how are you?

[C]

Hey, Dave. I'm excited, but I'm also a little nervous, a little scared right now. So I just wanted to get your feedback.

[A]

We'll give it a shot. How can we help, brother?

[C]

All right, so about six months ago I bought a car in cash and about two days ago the engine blew up.

[A]

Oh, no.

[C]

I don't have a car right now. I spent $10,000 on the car and I can sell it for about $1,000 right now.

[A]

What kind of car car is this?

[D]

It's a Chevy Malibu.

[A]

What happened to the engine?

[C]

There's a cracked piston in it. So.

[A]

Wow.

[D]

That's the. That's the issue.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Yeah. How many miles did it have on it when you bought?

[C]

Had109,000 miles on it.

[A]

Wow. That's unusual.

[D]

Yep.

[C]

Yeah, it's just. It's unfortunate. That's. That's the situation.

[A]

Yeah. So do you have any money?

[C]

I have about $5,000 in cash.

[A]

Excellent. Fix the cost. Fix the car. Well, you don't sell a $10,000 car for $1,000 when it needs. All it needs is a used engine in it.

[B]

Yeah. What will that cost you?

[A]

Go to a salvage yard and buy an engine. A used engine.

[C]

So I have a couple buddies that are mechanics. The used engine is going to cost between 1500 and 2000 and the labor is going to cost about 2 to $3000.

[A]

That's a bit heavy, but.

[C]

Yeah, but I mean, my question is, do I spend like 60, 70% of the car's value?

[D]

Then yes, mix it up.

[A]

Yes. Here's why. Okay, if you sell it for $1,000 now, you take a $9,000 loss. If you put $6,000 into it plus the 1,000, that's 7,000. You could turn around and sell it the next day for $10,000.

[C]

I think I could only sell it for about 60, 35,000 if it had nothing wrong with it because I've had 130,000 miles on it.

[D]

I drive a lot now.

[A]

I don't, I don't think a $10,000 car lost 35% of its value in the period of time we're talking about. With the miles we're talking about.

[B]

Is there anything else?

[A]

Very, very used car. Okay. It's not lost that much in value besides that you're still talking about. You would at least get your money back, you know, you at least get out of it. And so, no, I think you can get more for it than their repairs. I think you got to work on your repair cost, get your repair cost as low as you can possibly get it in labor and in the engine. The engine didn't sound wrong to me. The labor did sound wrong. And so, because what you got to do is you got to do this on the cheap. It's a cheap freaking car. So we're not, certainly you're not going to the dealer and putting a $15,000 engine in the thing. So we're going to fix, fix it. And then the only question is, do we keep it? Okay, you got $5,000 so you can fix the thing. I mean, you got the money to fix it and, and you gotta, you have to, you don't have a choice. Otherwise you're gonna get destroyed here. And, and you may have a really serviceable car. What, what do you happen to know what the engine is?

[C]

Yeah, it's a, it's a turbo engine.

[D]

Four cylinder, cylinder force.

[A]

Okay. Yeah, but the Malibu will hold a six or an eight, won't it?

[C]

There's not a lot of space. I mean, you, I don't know, it.

[D]

Would, it would be tough to put.

[C]

A six or eight in there.

[A]

Okay. I'm not seeing that model in my head very clearly, obviously. Okay. So anyway, yeah, if I put a four back in it, then that may be an engine that, that, you know, a little four shot cylinder that's cheaply Built. If that's the version of Malibu we're dealing with here, then it may be something you fix and get rid of. Okay, okay. But I would try to buy something that has, If I'm spending $10,000 that has a lot more life than a worn out four cylinder engine on 110,000 miles. Okay. Now again, that depends on the vehicle and what we're dealing with here. But you know, you need to research and say, okay, what percentage of 4 cylinder Malibu's are blowing a dad gun piston. And now I'm thinking, okay, see, I've got old Malibu's in my head. I'm old. That's my problem. I'm thinking of an old. But that's a different car. So. Okay. Anyway, yeah, I'm still going to fix this as cheap as possible because I think you can sell it from more than the cost of the repairs plus the salvage. In this case, even if you turn around and sell it and buy something different, then in the future you're going to pay cash for something that has a lot of life left in it. Okay, And I'll use an example. A $10,000 Honda Accord would have a lot of life left in it, regardless of how many cylinders it has. Okay. A $10,000 Dodge Neon might not.

[B]

Nothing.

[A]

Okay. Like I would not do that ever. So as an example, so you got to kind of think through, you know, how. Well, you know, how many of the old version of this car do we see on the highway?

[B]

That's what I do.

[A]

Toyota Camrys, you know, I mean, that's what we're dealing with here. And pickup trucks, you know, that kind of stuff. What is it that you see around then?

[B]

You know, it's got some longevity to it.

[A]

It's got, you know, when you're buying a $10,000 car because all you're buying is transportation. We're not buying sex appeal or fancy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We're just trying to get there, that's all.

[B]

Don't buy a. So Malibu or a Jeep Compass.

[A]

Please. Don't do that. Yeah, apparently don't buy a Malibu. Yeah.

[B]

Don't buy a Mercury Mystique.

[A]

Whoa.

[B]

Did you do that worst?

[A]

Did you do that?

[B]

I, I, I didn't. Listen, I'm dumb, I, I've done dumb things.

[A]

Not that I'm glad you didn't. You didn't do the Mystique.

[B]

The mistake.

[A]

The mistake. The Mercury mistake. Yeah. Wow. I remember those. That's, that was a long time ago.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Wow.

[A]

So, okay, let's talk about that for a second. Guys, so here's the thing. That is not a way of life that we would sign you up for.

[B]

Yes. I'm glad you said that is a.

[A]

Step on the journey of life. Okay. And the step is I'm going to drive like no one else so that later I can drive like no one else. I'm going to wear clothing like no one else so that later I can wear clothing like no one else. I'm going to vacation. Not at all. So that later I can vacation like no one else. I'm going to go to restaurants not at all. So later I can go to restaurants like no one else. It's not a way of living. It's a sprint to get your butt out of the land of broke.

[B]

Yeah. Motivating you to go faster when you.

[A]

Buy a car that is just a getaround car or worse than his car. A hooptie. You buy the $2,000 hooptie. So Joe that works here, you know Joe.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

When it was a point when Joe was working here. Not this Joe, Different Joe. That Joe was gonna drop me off at the car dealership to pick up my car. It was being serviced.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

He pulls around front in a Ford 1994 for Granada.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Oh, God. Land yacht.

[C]

Oh, wow.

[A]

It originally had been red, but now it was slightly more like pink.

[B]

Pink. Oh.

[A]

I got in the thing. The interior was pristine. He bought it from his grandmother for 700. It had 20,000 miles on it.

[B]

She only drove it on Sundays.

[A]

Had 20,000 miles on it. He drove this horrible car. Wow. For a period of time. So that now Joe drives whatever Joe wants to drive.

[B]

He does. Yes.

[A]

And as well he should. All right, let's cut to the chase. It's easy to get discouraged about crazy house prices and interest rates. But when you have the right real estate agent to help you buy and sell the right way, you'll have confidence to make smart decisions. Ramsey trusted agents aren't just experts who guide you through buying or selling. They're people you can trust to have your back from the first call to closing day. Find a Ramsey trusted agent near [e-mail] agent. That's ramseysolutions.com. Caleb is in Japan. Jackson, Mississippi. Hi, Caleb. How are you doing?

[D]

Great. How are y'?

[A]

All? Better than I deserve. How can we help?

[D]

All right, well, I've got a two part question here. The first part is, I'm getting married in two months.

[A]

Congratulations.

[D]

So, thank you. Me and my future wife are asking about specific joint accounts we should be putting together. And then the Second part, she is currently in vet school and so we're racking on about $120,000 of student loans loan debt. So how should we go about attacking that now?

[B]

Okay, is she just starting it or she's finishing up.

[D]

She's just starting her second semester, so she has three and a half years left.

[B]

So you're planning to go into debt on this versus trying to avoid going into debt on this?

[D]

Currently, yes.

[B]

Okay, we're going to come back and talk about that. Let's talk about the, the accounts that you're talking about combined. Combining, that was your first question, correct?

[D]

Yes.

[B]

Okay, so you need, you need a checking account that you're both paid into. Both your monies come into there. That's the account that you do all your business out of. You pay your bills out of it, you get the groceries out of it. It's connected to your every dollar account you need that you're probably going to need sooner than later. A high yield savings account where you would keep your thousand doll emergency fund or where you would keep your three to six months of expense expenses. Something along those lines is going to be what you need. And that's really the main few things that you started.

[A]

It's all you need. We have one checking account in my home. Yeah, I don't have a one checking account at home.

[B]

That's it. And that, that's really it. Further along you might do some other things, but right now that's really it. I want to come back and talk about these student loans because if I can keep you from going into $120,000 of debt, I want to do that.

[A]

Are you already 120 in or you think you're going to go 120?

[C]

So we get about, it's about 4.

[D]

30 grand a year and so we're on track to. I think it will be around that by the time it's over. I'm currently in some freelance work so I'm trying to figure out how to up my income so that we can tackle that while our expenses are so low.

[A]

So what is your career, sir?

[D]

I'm in sports broadcasting.

[A]

Okay, and what do you make.

[D]

Right now? It varies depending on how many games there are, but around the two to four thousand a month. But I do have about four days a week they're open. So I'm currently looking for another thing to actually make this more of a career, not just hobby.

[B]

Right. I'm glad you realize right now it's kind of a part time hobby.

[A]

Yeah, good. Okay. And how old are you?

[D]

I'm 23.

[A]

Cool. And do you have a four year degree?

[D]

I do. I have a bachelor's of business administration.

[A]

Okay. All right, let's go get a business thing moving. And the sports broadcasting be a side hustle because obviously the game or very seldom, if ever during the day. Okay. The weekday. And so let's go get like a job in other words, and get your household income up considerably. And then I bet you could come close to if you guys lived on beans and rice, come close to cash flowing vet school, right?

[D]

Absolutely.

[A]

Yeah. I think that's the plan. Rather than plan to go into debt and develop a strategy on how to deal with this debt that I'm planning to go in instead, let's plan not to go in into it.

[B]

How old is she?

[D]

She's 22.

[B]

22.

[A]

Okay. Well, I mean commender for being in vet school number one, there's very few people that make it into vet school and make it out of vet school that are not smart people. It's a very, very rigorous curriculum. It's very tough, you know. You know, versus a medical doctor has to learn one body and one set of anatomy and so on. You know, vets have to learn a bunch of them. I mean it's crazy. And they make really, really good money out the backside of this potentially. Usually corporate has kind of invaded that space and it's not as good as it used to be. But I've known veterinarians who made a lot more than doctors over the years, MDs. And so, you know, I think it's a great field of study. But what I'm going to do if I'm the two of you is I'm going to figure out a way to live on nothing. Make a pile of money and cash flow this puppy.

[B]

I agree.

[A]

And that's exactly how I would get at this. Hey, and we'll set you up on every dollar as our wedding gift to you guys and get you set up free on it so you can get going. And the two of you sit down, do that budget and follow that stuff process. But man, if I'm you, I'm leaning in hard on the career side of things and I'm going to continue to work the side hustle because that's the dream is to go that way. Yes. But I've been in broadcasting for 40 years and I know a of lot lot of sports broadcasters that don't make a living. Wow. They don't make a living if they're local. Okay. I mean national guys, national gals, you know, they make a living. And a few of the folks, you know, your local television station, maybe that guy or gal makes a living, okay? But broadcasting local high school games, you don't make a living. Broadcast in small town college games, you don't make a living, okay? That's a side. And so until you get that break up into a whole nother level and either end up on your local television station or some kind of a situation where you're able to, you know, actually monetize your sports knowledge, it may take a while. And so in the meantime, I'm gonna go make some money and pay cash for my wife's vet school.

[B]

And if you're a person similar to Caleb and you're kind of on this crest of, of I see debt in the future, but we haven't done it yet. You don't have to go down the path, right? If you're listening right now and your cars just broke down and you're thinking, I gotta go to the dealership and get a new car, you don't have to do that. You don't have to put the repair for your refrigerator on the credit card. You don't have to take out the student loan. You can stop for a minute and.

[A]

Think, think, what else could I do?

[B]

What else could I do? You're not.

[A]

If debt was not an option, what would I do?

[B]

And that's the way you need to think of it. And then you start to become a lot more creative and you start to realize you probably have more time than you're giving yourself credit for it. It may not be as urgent as it feels. It may feel very urgent, but when you stop and think about it, maybe there's some time there that you can take to seek out some other options. So that's just for somebody who's, who's listening in their car right now or sitting on the couch listening, listening to this, thinking about going to take out debt to solve a problem.

[A]

You know, that is a valid thing. And I forget that sometimes because years ago I just said, I don't borrow money.

[B]

Yeah, no more.

[A]

And so since I don't borrow money, it never occurs to me to fix an opportunity that's in front of me with debt or a disaster that's in front of me with debt. And I. So I will never be able to say the words, I was forced to go into debt because I just. We're just. The car's just going to be in the driveway.

[B]

It's not an option.

[A]

Refrigerator, we're just going to have to get some ice and a cooler, I guess, because we can't do that. We don't borrow money. And so what are we going to do? I mean, I remember when Sharon and I were coming out of bankruptcy, and we were so broke, we couldn't pay attention. I mean, we had nothing. We just filed bankruptcy. And the. The stinking roof on the house starts leaking. And worse than leaking, it's going through the light fixture over the kitchen table. Oh, yeah. And so water coming through, electricity.

[B]

It's not.

[A]

This is like a fire hazard. Right. And it's dripping on our kitchen table to remind us every day. It's like, you're a failure. You're a failure. You're a failure. You're a failure. Dripping on my kitchen table. And I feel shame like nobody's business because I've just gone through bankruptcy, right? And I'm like. And I can't afford to put a roof on the house. I don't have any money, so. And I don't borrow money. And nobody would have loaned me money anyway. I just got out of bankruptcy, Right? Somebody would have, probably. But I'm not that. I mean, I was done. So all I did, I just went down to the hardware store and got some of that black tar stuff. And, I mean, just looked like white trash. I just went up and poured it on top of the house.

[B]

Do whatever you have to do to make it.

[A]

And it stopped. It stopped leaking.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then when we put a roof on the house about a year later, I made a little bit of money and I got to where I could breathe, you know, and I put a roof on the house. The roofer's like, what happened to your roof? Who did that? And I'm like, I'm not even talking about it. Not even gonna talk about it. Just shovel that stuff off of there and put a roof on it, buddy. That's just how it works. That's the way it goes down.

[B]

Yes. And you have to, you know, we teach the baby steps, but the first you have, you. You don't mentally walk yourself through this step. You're missing out. You have to decide. I am not borrowing money anymore.

[A]

Done.

[B]

The same way you decide. Hey, I don't rob banks. I don't steal cars. I don't, you know, whatever that moral decision or whatever. I don't borrow money. It's just a way of life.

[A]

I don't burn villages.

[B]

I don't plunder. Yeah. I don't borrow money. When you're stuck in a Cycle with your money. Try, fail, try again. It can feel like you're losing your mind. But you're not alone and you're not crazy. That's why I wrote my brand new book. What no one tells you about money. It turns out money is emotional. And no one's been talking about feelings like fear, shame or guilt keeping you stuck until now. I'm going to tell you about the real fight and show you how to win. Get your copy [e-mail] store. That's ramseysolutions.com store.

[A]

Dale is in Greenville, South Carolina. Hi Dale. How are you?

[D]

Better than I deserve. Happy New Year to y'.

[A]

All. Happy New Year. How can we help?

[D]

So I got a job offer. I'm a paramedic. I got a job offer. It is a contract position on a year to year basis with a three year projection. And I'm having a really hard time deciding if I should take that or stick with my current employer.

[A]

Is it also in paramedic?

[D]

Yes.

[A]

Okay, so you're staying in the same field. The only question is you're going to go contract now. When you go contract, do you lose all your benefits?

[D]

I will lose my benefits with my current employer. I will get benefits on the contract, however, they're not as beneficial. Good.

[A]

Okay. And, and what are you being paid now.

[C]

Currently?

[D]

Well, I work the, the hours. I don't work 40 hour work weeks. I work average 56 hour work weeks and I'm about 85 a year. This job would be about average 42. It's 84 hours a week. But one week on, one week off. And so it's about 95, 96 a year.

[A]

Okay. All right. So it's a better quality of life.

[D]

Yes.

[A]

And it's more money.

[D]

It is.

[A]

Okay. Is there anything wrong with the culture of the organization that you're thinking about joining the municipality or whatever it is?

[D]

No, not, not to my knowledge.

[A]

They're good people.

[D]

What I've heard, heard it's from, from what I know, it's, it's legit position.

[A]

And why would you not do that?

[B]

What's the downside?

[A]

That just the stability. Is that the only downside?

[D]

The stability, yes.

[A]

So the likelihood of them not renewing your contract at the end of three years would be that they didn't need paramedics or you screwed up Christmas?

[D]

Yes, that would be the likelihood.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

The other downside is their 401k is like retirement benefits, stuff like that isn't nearly as good as my current employer. And I'm 36 I got.

[A]

You'll be okay though. You have it available to you and you're gonna make 16 or you're gonna make more money and you've got more time off. So you would do what a lot of people do in your world and that, start a side hustle on those off weeks, right?

[D]

I could, yes.

[A]

I know a lot. I mean, you're not gonna sit on your butt five days a week, are you?

[D]

No, I would just spend time with the kids because I work 3,300 hours for the year of 2025 and.

[A]

Yeah, but I'm talking about this other thing is an average number of hours. Yeah.

[D]

Yes. And so I would still do something.

[A]

Yeah, I would have a side. I mean, I know a guy that's a fireman that he made 80,000 bucks last year on the side gig, you know, building decks. He has a deck building business, you know, and he just has people he subs it out to and he runs the jobs and goes over there when he's off work. And you know, they're doing 72 ons what they're doing, but the same kind of thing, you got a lot of downtime. And so that's what I would do. How long has the other. Why do they have a contract? Why don't they have just. Why aren't they just hiring paramedics? Any idea?

[D]

Because it's a on site medical for a new construction. Construction, Projection construction.

[A]

So what happens if the construction. If the construction runs out, you'd be out of a job.

[D]

Correct. Will they assign you elsewhere when the place is built? I'm sorry?

[B]

Will they assign you to another site or is it just over? Over it.

[D]

That one would be over. However, if there's something around, I could pick something else up if I felt like traveling, which I'm not going to because I got kids and that defeats the whole purpose. Yeah, right.

[A]

Okay, so what do you think? What do you think the build out is on this thing?

[D]

Like how long is it going?

[A]

Yeah, when are they going to be done?

[D]

Three years.

[A]

Oh, so you're out of a job in three years.

[D]

For that one? I would be, yes. And I mean I could find another job pretty quick. The difference would be, you know, what's the pay going to be like?

[B]

My question is, the people that are contracting you for this job, do they contract you for other jobs as well or it's just that on that.

[D]

They could contract me for other jobs. I've never worked for them before though.

[B]

Interesting. I'd want to find that Out. And I want to. If you know anybody who's worked with them, I'd want to know. Know have they ever contracted you for other jobs or has it just been one thing and that's that I, I would want to know more about that.

[A]

Because I gotta, I gotta know where I'm gonna land if I want to do this. I gotta know I'm gonna land.

[D]

In three years, they can absolutely contract me for another job. It's a matter of location.

[A]

I know, I want to know, I want to know what that likelihood is that I'm gonna still be able to do another contract at the end of three, three years. I gotta, I gotta see that. Otherwise this is a three and done. Three and done. This take it takes all the fun out of this. I would not do it for three and done. But three and done and I got a 90% likelihood of finding something within a 40 mile radius. Okay, good. I'm going with that.

[D]

Oh, that, that's not, that's not a problem. Finding another job in a 40 mile radius is not a problem. It may not be with them, but finding another position wouldn't be hard.

[A]

Okay, so there's a shortage of paramedics in your area?

[D]

Absolutely, yes.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Can I ask you a quick question? Did this job find you or did you seek it out? Like were you saying, man, I got to get out of my current gig and you found this or how did it happen?

[D]

Almost a little bit of both. I was kind of looking at something else or trying to find what other what something else that I might be able to do and I did not find this one. A recruiter called me.

[B]

Understood.

[A]

All right. If you are, if you feel really good that you can land somewhere else in a reasonable 85 to 90 range or above at the end of three years that is tolerable without having to lose your life again or having to move your finger family, then this is a good deal. If you don't feel good about that, then this is not a good deal. That's the way it comes down to.

[B]

I agree.

[A]

After all of this, it's all this round the barn twice. That's really what this comes down to. All right. Frank's in Daytona Beach, Florida. Hi, Frank, how are you?

[D]

Hi, Dave. Glad that I. Glad to get on the show. How are you?

[A]

Honored to have you, sir. How can we help?

[D]

Thank you. Yes, sir. My wife and I been married 46 great years and we both work for large corporations. Her for 28 years, me for 38 without changing anything and pretty boring life but we pulled it off. We raised three beautiful kids who are very successful. One of the issues that I have is that I have a nest egg of about $3 million, including a $500,000 house that's paid for. No bills, no debt. My question is, my daughter lives a few blocks away from us. My sons have moved away, they're working in their own occupations. And what I want to know is, is there any way without taking a big tax hit to get my money out of my IRA and stay below the IRMAA and federal income tax brackets? It's I try to stay below the 24% bracket because I'd like to gift it a house, but I would also like to get another house, a house that my wife and I would see the end of our lives. And probably when you pull the money.

[A]

Out of the 401k, you've already analyzed what you're going to face there. You're going to have to keep it under the brackets and under irmaa. And if you do that, you're going to minimize the taxes. But it's all tax taxable. As far as gifting the house goes. You can gift her the house if you move out of this one, give her that house and you buy another one for cash. You can do that for zero taxes with the Unified Estate Tax Credit. You can listen to that later on the podcast. Unified Estate Tax Credit. You and your wife have $15 million each of federal estate tax exemption in the year 2026. You can use some of that against the gift tax and not have to pay gift tax on giving her the half million dollar house. With the Unified Estate Tax Credit, you have to fill out a form, not a big deal, and put an appraisal with it on the house. And then you've used up some of your 15 million each that you have by giving her that half million. And that, that one's easy, the ira, that one's tough. So you can see your tax attorney to figure that out or whoever does your taxes. If they're really good with taxes, they'll be able to do that in their sleep. Everywhere you turn right now, you're being told a lie about money that you can't get ahead, that you can't survive without debt. And those lies are keeping you broke. Don't buy into it. Yes, there's a lot of noise and chaos and confusion out there, but there's also hope. The truth is you have more control than you think. This year it's time to take back your hard earned money and your life. And it starts by joining our free live stream on January 8. Me and Jade Warshaw will show you how to go from chaos to clarity with your money, help you break free from debt and change your family tree all by using the all new EveryDollar app. Plus 10 people who sign up will win $2,000 cash. Don't let this be another year of I can't sign up for free at everydollar.com livestream stream. Our Scripture of the day James 1:22 do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Simon Sinek says communication is not about saying what we think. Communication is about ensuring others hear what we mean. Our question of the day is brought to you by why Refi when it feels like your private student loans have buried your future, why Refi can help dig you out with low fixed rate refinancing and a clear path forward. Go to yrefi.com Ramsey that's the letter Y-R-E-F-Y.com Ramsey not in all states okay.

[B]

Today'S question comes from Taylor in Washington. They say we have our emergency fund and have started paying off our car and our credit card debt, selling anything off that we're not using or that's taking up space. We have two children under six and I keep having to explain to them why we're not making trips to the dollar tree anymore. Weekly trips to the dollar tree. My oldest noticed that I'm selling things and offered to let me sell some of her prized possessions because because she thinks we need the money. My question is, when you were going through tough times with little kids, did you have an open discussion with them about what was going on? And if so, how did you have that conversation? You know, I might toss this to Dave a little bit because for me and Sam, it was just us. We didn't have little kids. It was us going through it. And nowadays if I were teaching that lesson and I feel like it's still something that you're on, you know, talking about for us, it really is just number one. Hey, every time we go out of the house, we don't have to buy something. Like that's just kind of an ongoing thing. They don't expect to buy something every time we go out of the house. And then in my house, Dave, we're just really big on personal responsibility, period. So we have not had to address it in the way that she's having to address it. But I mean, immediately my mind goes to what Rachel Cruz says Which is Cher, don't scare share what's going on? You know, we're selling the things we don't need. We're, you know, we're making good decisions with our money. Not if we don't make this money, this payment, we're all going to be out on the streets. Right. Like, you don't need to go to certain extremes that they can't understand anyway. Six and, you know, four and three and two year olds, they don't understand it anyway.

[A]

Exactly. It would sound more like this. It would be. Honey, it's so sweet that you would want to sell one of your things to help and thanks for being part of the family and wanting to chip in like that, but I don't want you to have to do that. This is something your dad and I are doing because we've realized that we had been doing some things wrong and we're starting to undo them. We're selling some stuff off, we're cleaning up some debt, we're managing our money more carefully and so we're not spending as much as we used to and we're selling off some old things. But we're okay. Everything's fine. It's just a change. And don't let the change disturb you. But we're not gonna be going to the dollar store as much because we're trying to do this. And no, you don't need to sell off your stuff. I'm selling off mine and your stuff's not. Your stuff's okay and the family's fine. You know, like you said, share, don't scare, move off. And it's just your tone. And the weird thing is with little ones and I just spent the week with hours with our grandkids, less is more.

[B]

They move on very quickly in conversations.

[A]

Like we want to go, like get all philosophical and give them a 7 minute diatribe on it. And they wanted one sentence answered so.

[B]

They can move on.

[A]

Yeah, they really have something else to do. They're busy little people. I'm just saying they do.

[B]

Oh boy.

[A]

Isn't that the truth? I mean, they just quick. I mean, I forget how short their attention span is. So it's just, you know, your tone. Honey, dad and I are changing some things. We, we have been spending too much and we're going to spend a little less. And that includes the dollar store stuff. But we're selling off some stuff. But you're fine and family's fine. Matter of fact, we're gonna be absolutely great because we're doing these things and so it's a time to celebrate, in.

[B]

A sense, and they usually completely change the subject. Can I have a snack? Yes. And move on.

[A]

Don't use the word snack. That's like a. It's like a lure in front of a fish. Yeah. All right, here we go. Ann is in Portland, Oregon. Hi, Ann. How are you?

[C]

Oh, my gosh. Happy New Year, Papa Dave.

[A]

Happy New Year. What are you. What's up?

[C]

Is there going to be a baby step 5B with the new Trump accounts?

[A]

No.

[C]

Are you sure?

[A]

It's not that much money. Oh.

[C]

But family can put in $5,000.

[A]

The family can put in $5,000 into a 529.

[C]

Yes, but this one can be a 529 and a Roth IRA.

[A]

It can be anything. Yeah, family can. Family can help with all that. No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't use that. I would not be doing any of this. I'm a fan of some of the things the President is doing. I'm not a fan of some of the things the President is doing. And I think this is a political stunt. I really. We're not doing any. We're not. No. We're not changing for this. It's not that big a deal. You've got other ways to save. It's not as revolutionary as the original Roth was. It's not as revolutionary as the529.9 is. It's none of those things. But it's a. You know, it's a way that somehow we can. $1,000, you know, and that kind of thing. And. Yeah, you can add to it and family can add to it, but just. It's just spreading around the money to get people's attention to a political office. I agree with that. And I personally wouldn't do it. I wouldn't fool with it. I don't think it's worth the trouble. If it was worth it, if you could do a lot with it and be one thing, but. No, I appreciate the question, though. It's very interesting. Yeah. I looked at them and I kind of yawned.

[B]

I don't think it's as big of a deal as people are making it out. And I would agree with you. It's just kind of like a. It's like a squirrel that you can chase. Squirrel.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's like a money squirrel.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Something flashy to get your eye off of something else.

[B]

Yeah, I agree. Yeah. There's worse things you could do, but there's also better things you could do.

[A]

Oh, it's not horrible.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's just not. It's of kind. Kind of like the Acorns app.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

I can put in my spare change into an app. You can put your spare change in a jar. Yeah, but I mean, that's not going to make you rich. A nickel here or 7 cents there, you're burning more calories than that. Screwing with this, it's just crazy.

[B]

The best thing it will do is get people thinking about investing in general, which I think that's good because I think a lot of people go through life and don't really even think. Think about, could I invest?

[A]

If it gets you off the couch and gets you investing because you're. Yeah.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Then I'm game. Anything that gets you going, right? Almost anything.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This is not bad. It's just not big enough to be great.

[B]

A big deal. Yeah.

[A]

It's not huge.

[B]

As. As. That's good. I was gonna make a joke. Yours was better.

[A]

Landon is in Dallas. Hey, Landon, what's up?

[D]

Oh, not much. How are you doing, Dave?

[A]

Better than I deserve. How can we help?

[D]

Fantastic. So my wife and I are both debt free and we are well on our way. Just a couple months away from our six month emergency fund. And I am looking to start a. Getting ready to start a handyman slash remodel business with a friend from church. And I want to know what steps we should both take so that we are both protected from potentially dumb decisions.

[A]

I would not form a part partnership.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

That's the step I would take. I would just say, you know, we're going to work on this job together and if you want to split the profits, that's fine. After you've done 10 jobs that way, if you want to formalize it and say, I work for you or you work for me and the compensation is half the profits, but you own it or I own it, that's fine. Anything with two heads is a monster. And the only ship that won't sail is a partnership. It's a good way to screw things up. There's no reason for this to be a partnership except that that you got a guy you like and a guy you trust that you want to work with. You can do that on an employer employee basis or you can do that on a one job at a time basis without forming a formal partnership. But we coach about 10,000 small businesses, Landon, through Entre leadership. The number of small businesses that a partnership survives over 10 years is very close. Well under 5%. 95% of them are gone. The major exception would be law firms and medical practices. They do partnerships a different way, different structure and so on, and they're much more adept at it. But two guys in a construction business. Still partners after 10 years of doing it. Almost zero. Two guys. A heat and air business, almost zero. Two ladies in massage therapy. Almost zero. You know, I mean, whatever, Whatever. The thing is that we need two of you. It's okay. You don't have to have it. You can just be. I share prophets with a lot of people here, as if they're partners. But we don't have any partners. It's that simple. Good question. Good show, Jade.

[B]

It was fun.

[A]

Well, good show to the gang in the booth. Well done, booth people. That puts us, our, the Ramsey show, in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of.

[D]

Peace, Christ Jesus Jam.