I Have $1,400 To My Name and I'm Considering Bankruptcy

Summary

The Ramsey Show – Episode Summary: “I Have $1,400 To My Name and I'm Considering Bankruptcy”

Date: February 2, 2026
Host(s): John Deloney & Jade Warshaw

---

Episode Overview

This episode features a wide range of listener questions about debt, bankruptcy, home ownership, taxes, wedding budgeting, family conflict, sudden financial windfalls, and major life transitions. John Deloney and Jade Warshaw take calls from people in crisis, celebrating wins and doling out tough love and practical advice in classic Ramsey style. The prevailing theme: no matter how deep the hole, you can get out with intentionality, hard work, and a willingness to face uncomfortable truths—without blaming, making excuses, or chasing shortcuts.

---

Key Discussions & Insights

1. Tackling Overwhelming Tax and Personal Debt (AJ in Charlotte, NC)

[00:43–08:40]

Caller Situation:

• $137k in total debt, including $56–65k owed to the IRS, $70k personal (cars, credit cards, student loans)
• Household income has risen to $220k, causing higher tax bills every year

Advice from Jade and John:

• Pay IRS debt first—it has the power to garnish wages and seize property
• Confirm correct withholdings, especially with multiple jobs and contract/travel nursing income ("You need to look at your withholding and find out why are you not paying enough taxes..." – Jade, 02:14)
• Stop making excuses about higher income—higher tax bracket applies only to the dollars above the bracket, not whole income
• Drastic lifestyle cut: Live on $100k of the $220k; sell the $50k car immediately and buy a $3-4k “beater” car
• Don't worry about credit score—it’s just a “dating game for you and debt” (John, 07:07)
• Attack remaining debts with intensity—use your $13k/mo combined take-home to pay this off in six months.

Notable Quote:
"You're way in the hole. Sell the car. All your credit score is, it’s a dating game for you and debt ... sell the car this weekend, dude. Buy a $4,000 car, and you’re going to be the only dude making a quarter million dollars in your neighborhood driving a $4,000 car. And you’re going to be the only dude in your neighborhood in a year or two who’s completely free." – John Deloney, 07:09

2. Post-Bankruptcy, Car Repossession, and Only $1,400 Left (Renee in Virginia Beach, VA)

[10:31–20:03]

Caller Situation:

• Just filed Chapter 7, car repossessed, $1,400 to name, $3,000/month fluctuating income, $90k student loans remain, $60k credit card + $20k personal loan + $10k car cleared by bankruptcy

Advice from Jade and John:

• If car is repo’d, using last dollars to reinstate it is a losing move (“What in your life changes? They just took it from you because you couldn't make the payments.” — John, 12:59)
• Don’t get another car payment—buy a cheap, used car in cash as soon as possible, even if it means temporarily using public transit.
• Private market cars/deals do exist if you hustle and ask around (“I think the solution for you is to...work like a crazy person...stack up $4,000 and buy a beater.” – Jade, 15:30)
• Long-term: Stop adding to student loan debt and work toward increasing income, even through side hustles/part-time/adjacent fields
• Clean up the mess before chasing “future dreams”—bankruptcy doesn’t change the need for serious behavior change

Memorable Moment:
“It doesn’t matter what your long term goal is right now, because you’re like trying to explain to me and Jade what your beach house is going to look like, and your boat sank out from underneath you in the middle of the ocean. You got to swim to shore first.” – John, 18:27

---

3. Budgeting for a Wedding While in Debt (Amanda in Sacramento, CA)

[21:37–26:25]

Caller Situation:

• Upcoming wedding, both partners on Baby Step 2, $100k combined debt, $200k combined income, $18k wedding budget, only $3k down so far.

Advice:

• Commendation for realistic, cash-flowed wedding budget (“I want to applaud you for that budget.” – John, 23:41)
• Plot out monthly savings and wedding expenses jointly, considering debt payoff as well
• Ok to have joint account for wedding funds, as long as clear boundaries/roles are set (“...kind of like Switzerland, and you put all the monies in there and everybody can see it and there’s full transparency.” – Jade, 25:36)

---

4. Mid-Career Pivot, Reduced Income, and Considering an MBA (Tiffany in Newark, NJ)

[26:31–31:01]

Caller Situation:

• Film industry worker, income drop from $80k → $52k, looking at full-time MBA to pivot careers, thinking about pausing investments to live on savings.

Advice from John and Jade:

• Very skeptical about the ROI of full-time MBAs for film/producing. On-the-job network and experience are usually more valuable.
• “Even if you get a full ride, calculate the lost $52,000 a year income...that sounds really tenuous to me.” – John, 29:32
• Urge to reconsider plan to leave workforce—keep working if possible. Only pursue if zero loans and scholarship covers everything, and part-time work is feasible.

---

5. Car and Debt Crisis After Job Loss (John in Houston, TX)

[33:44–42:43]

Caller Situation:

• 26, $79k debt (car, loans), on VA disability benefits, in school for finance (using VA rehab), can’t find work compatible with class schedule.

Advice:

• Encourage broader job search—even unrelated fields. Work and contributing to society is key (“...getting up and going and contributing to a thing is way more important than making sure it’s in the field you want...” – John, 36:42)
• Sell expensive car immediately—even if upside down (“You’re basically making $4,800 from the VA a year and your car is $48,000. We’ve got to make a move, right? Like this weekend.” – Jade, 38:47)
• Build budget, cut expenses, and get any income possible. Prioritize cash flow and margin, then debt snowball.

---

6. Breaking the Cycle of Borrowing from Family (Shelby in Phoenix, AZ)

[44:29–52:34]

Caller Situation:

• Paid off $50k, $9k left, mother keeps offering “helpful” loans (recent dental, taxes, wedding), feeling tempted to take them

Advice:

• Stay firm—do not borrow from mom or anyone else (“This has nothing to do with her. This has to do with you...” – John, 45:58)
• Communicate clear boundaries: thank her, but refuse further offers
• View growing temptation as “the universe” testing commitment (“Almost always right before I get to the end…the universe sends some huge temptation my way.” – John, 49:20)
• Keep focused; you’re close to finish line, stay intense, and replenish emergency fund

---

7. Common Law, Deeds, and Relationship Security (Jamie in Wilmington, DE)

[54:19–63:39]

Caller Situation:

• Engaged for 12 years, living together in his house (not on deed), seeking security after experience with late father’s estate

Advice:

• Jade: “You’re operating separate lives…unless you’re going to fully commit...you’re getting the spoils of what you guys have put in place.”
• John: “Behavior is a language. He is telling you loud and clear: this isn’t your house. It will never be your house.”
• Two choices: Accept and make contingency plans for your own security, or demand more commitment (ownership, marriage, etc.)

Memorable Quote:
"It just is. But my guess is he has actively kept you off the deed because this is his house that you are living in that he's paying for, that he's going to pass on to his family. And if that's the case, then you get to and you decide to stay with them…you need to make other plans." – John, 63:14

---

8. Windfall of $1.2M Legal Settlement at 24, No Plan (Zayn in Detroit, MI)

[119:09–127:57]

Caller Situation:

• 24, former college athlete, unemployed and living in car, $1.2M legal payout over 6 years, $200k due soon, uncertain/lost

Advice:

• Do not buy a house yet and do NOT tell friends/family about money
• Pay off any minor debt, buy a modest ($20k) car and get an apartment
• Bank the rest of the annual payment in high-yield savings
• Find work immediately, even if “boring”—focus on stability
• Seek counseling for direction & mental health (“...it takes a lot of wisdom to say, hey, I've screwed up..." – John, 122:26)
• Think deeply about who you want to become, not just what to do with the money

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jade, 03:08: “Making more money is not the problem…what needs to happen is you need to look at your withholding and find out why are you not paying enough taxes that you’re owing so much at the end…”
• John, 07:07: “All your credit score is, is a dating game for you and debt.”
• Jade, 15:30: “What I’d rather do is maybe take this $1,400, add a little bit more to it and get a beater.”
• John, 18:27: “It doesn’t matter what your long term goal is right now...your boat sank out from underneath you in the middle of the ocean. You got to swim to shore first.”
• Jade, 25:36: “If you wanted to set up a fund, an account somewhere that’s kind of like Switzerland, and you put all the monies in there and everybody can see it and there’s full transparency, I think that’s good.”
• John, 45:58: “This has nothing to do with her. This has to do with you.”
• Jade, 63:39: "I'm going to be with somebody who's going to care for me now and sets up a plan for me after I'm gone."
• John, 122:29: “I was an athlete my whole life, and I’ve been floundering with who I am now...I screwed that up too. Like, you’re wise beyond your years.”

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• AJ's Tax Debt Call: 00:43–08:40
• Renee's Bankruptcy/Car Repo: 10:31–20:03
• Wedding Budget (Amanda): 21:37–26:25
• Film Career, MBA Question (Tiffany): 26:31–31:01
• VA Benefits Car Debt (John): 33:44–42:43
• Mom Offering Loans (Shelby): 44:29–52:34
• Common Law/Deed Issue (Jamie): 54:19–63:39
• $1.2M Settlement at 24 (Zayn): 119:09–127:57

---

Closing Thoughts

This episode highlights the importance of facing reality, cutting through excuses, and focusing on actions that will result in true long-term freedom—financial, emotional, and relational. The hosts provide not just financial advice, but also perspective shifts and emotional support, always emphasizing personal agency and responsibility.

---

For more resources or to ask your own question, visit www.ramseysolutions.com or call in live to the show.

Transcript

[Narrator/Announcer]

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today.

[John Deloney]

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 John Deloney joined by best selling author, great human being, Jade Warshaw. We're taking your calls on money, work, life, all of it. 888-255-2225 to call in live. Let's go to Charlotte, North Carolina and talk to AJ what's up, AJ?

[Caller]

Hey, how's everybody doing?

[John Deloney]

We're doing all right. How about you?

[Caller]

I definitely need help. I have over 170, 137k in debt and I have 56k with the IRS. And I have an extra 70k with personal debt, including cars, credit cards and student loans. And my problem is with me, my wife, every year we make more money. We owe the government more. And with the 65k that we already owe the government, the interest piles on every month. And I'm at a crossroad because I don't know which one should we start with first? Should it be the IRS or should it be the personal credit? Because every year we go up and bracket with our income, we owe an extra 8,000 that's added on to the debt that we already owe with the irs. So it's kind of like it's a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, why aren't you paying your taxes? Why does it have to be going up is what I'm saying?

[Caller]

Oh, yeah. So she's an RN and I have two jobs. So during that process, I say when we was 23, had somebody think you do our taxes and we got audit. And since we got audit, it's been a ongoing cycle for the last five years of us not getting ahead of the irs.

[Jade Warshaw]

I understand. So why is it that. Okay, let me go back and answer your first question. Yes, IRS debt needs to come first. But going forward, you need to be paying your taxes. And what I don't want to hear you say is that the excuse is we're making more money. It's a good thing to make more money. You don't want to make less money. And if your tax bracket creeps up, it's only for the percentage more that you're making. It's not for your entire amount. Now I'm being taxed on. Do you see what I'm saying? It's just the amount over that bracket that you're being taxed on. So that's an excuse. I Don't want you to keep leaning on that. It's a good thing to make more money. What needs needs to happen is you need to look at your withholding and find out why. Why is your. Why are you not paying enough taxes that you're owing so much at the end of each year and it's stacking up on you. Does that make sense?

[Caller]

Yeah, that definitely makes sense because she's RN and I'm in supply chain, so she had W2, right? Yeah. But then we found out one of her jobs as a traveling nurse, it wasn't a W2, so that way.

[Jade Warshaw]

But you didn't know that until after the fact.

[Caller]

Hey, that's what she told me. I was like, what? One year we owe 15k.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Caller]

And like I said, and we pay every year and we wait till October and then it's just like when we file again, that same 8,000 we just paid. All right. It's going back to this year. So I went and got another job as a manager working night show, and that's an extra 60k. And then it put us over 220. And now we both, like, we don't have no dependence. Is this like, how can we get off the IRS train?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. So the making. Let me go back and say it again. Making more money is not the problem. Making more money. If you're making $220,000 a year, married, filing jointly, great. Woohoo. Like that's.

[John Deloney]

You're rich, brother. You're rich. Thank you. You're rich.

[Narrator/Announcer]

All right.

[Jade Warshaw]

The problem is, yes, you got into some hot water in the past. If she was working as a traveling nurse, she was probably bringing in some nice cash and you weren't paying taxes. That's, that's, that's what got you into trouble. What you need to make sure is going forward, what is the tax status of both of you? Are you on the hook for your own as a contracted individual or are you W2 and your employer is. Is paying such. So knowing that going forward, I think that you guys can sit down tonight and figure that out. Let's talk about how to tackle this debt. IRS needs to come first. Is it 65 or 56? I feel like you said both.

[Caller]

No. So it is 65,296.58 right now. And every month, you know the interest go up.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right. So let's pay fast enough to where you're paying more towards the actual amount. And I want to know, have you sat down and made some sort of a payment plan with them or. Are you just fighting for your life?

[Caller]

We made a payment plan with them. We don't own a house. So like I said, it's just pretty much IW2s. And we pay 1100amonth to them.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. You need to. At $220,000 a year.

[John Deloney]

Triple that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[John Deloney]

Quadruple that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is there. Is there anything to say? And I'm using round numbers here. I'm not thinking about. Is there anything to say? Hey, we make 220. Let's live on 100, whatever that is after taxes. Can you do that in Charlotte?

[Caller]

No, because a car. And that's a thousand a month, too.

[Jade Warshaw]

Your car. How much is your car worth?

[Caller]

Car worth is 50k.

[Jade Warshaw]

And what do you owe on it?

[Caller]

50K.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so today, this weekend. I love that it's the weekend, John, because he's gonna sell right on down there. Yeah. And you're gonna sell that car and then you're going to find. I don't know. With this next check coming up on the 15th, because most of us get paid somewhere between the 1st and the 15th or the 30th and the 15th. You're going to take $4,000 and you're going to buy a beater.

[John Deloney]

Oh, you were generous. I was going to give him three, but four.

[Caller]

I have a question, though. How did it work with my credit? Because I just got the car last.

[John Deloney]

Year, so, dude, you're playing all these crazy games like you're never going to get off the IRS train. You have to pay taxes. If you make money in any country on planet Earth, you pay taxes. And so.

[Caller]

Yeah, no, I was saying about the cars.

[John Deloney]

I know. I'm just saying, like, you're gonna have to pay taxes when it comes to a car. Like, dude, you should not be worrying about your credit score and all that nonsense. You're way in the hole. Sell the car. It doesn't matter. All your credit score is, is your. Is a. It's a dating game for you. And debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay? That's it.

[John Deloney]

So if you don't have any debt, you don't have a credit score. Nobody cares. Nobody. It doesn't matter. But what I'm trying to tell you is you're playing these other games like, how do I get off of this? How do I get off this? You got to go straight through the middle of this debt. Sell the car this weekend, dude. Buy a $4,000 car, and you're going to be the only dude making a quarter million dollars in your neighborhood driving a $4,000 car. And you're Going to be the only dude in your neighborhood in a year or two who's completely free. You know what I'm saying?

[Caller]

Yeah. I like that better.

Yes, definitely.

Yeah. About the personal credit. Worry about that later. Right.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think if today.

[Caller]

Don't even worry about it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Don't even worry about it because it's not doing anything for you. It's playing no role in this. The only thing it's done is gotten you in a heap of trouble. Think about it. It got you in a car you can't afford. You're not. You haven't bought a house. You're a renter. Your credit has it. It's. It's the least of your worries.

[John Deloney]

The government's taking money out of your check, dude.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

You know what I'm saying?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

That is what is your take home every month. Like what do you all bring in?

[Caller]

13,000.

[John Deloney]

Good grief, dude. Figure out how to live off of six. And that's being generous. And take the other $10,000 a month and get this thing paid off in six months and stop owing the government money and then get on with your debt. Jade, what am I missing?

[Jade Warshaw]

I think he's just been majoring in the minors. So it's time to focus on stopping.

[John Deloney]

Over $100 bills to pick up nickels. As Elaine Norton.

[Caller]

If you missed open enrollment, don't panic.

[Jade Warshaw]

Most health plans lock you out for the year if you didn't sign up by December.

[Caller]

But Christian Healthcare Ministries lets you join anytime.

[Jade Warshaw]

CHM offers a simple, flexible and budget.

[Caller]

Friendly alternative to health insurance.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you can join anytime.

[Caller]

That's right.

[John Deloney]

No open enrollment deadlines.

[Jade Warshaw]

CHM is perfect if you're self employed, starting a business or or in between.

[John Deloney]

Jobs because it gives you options without.

[Jade Warshaw]

Those out of control COBRA costs. And CHM isn't insurance. It's a community of believers coming together.

[Caller]

To share medical bills and pray for one another.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's real peace of mind.

[Caller]

You're not just sharing costs, you are sharing community and families have trusted CHM since 1981 with billions of dollars in medical bills shared.

[Jade Warshaw]

You can see any doctor or hospital.

[John Deloney]

You want with no network restrictions.

[Jade Warshaw]

And members say that they save hundreds.

[Caller]

Of dollars a month compared to traditional insurance. So make a change that fits your.

[Jade Warshaw]

Budget and your values.

[John Deloney]

Check out chministries.org budget to learn more that chministries.org budget. All right, let's go to Virginia beach and talk to Renee. Hey Renee, what's going.

[Caller]

Hi, how are you doing?

[John Deloney]

Great. What's going on?

[Caller]

So I recently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. And in the process, my car was repossessed. So right now I only have $1,400 to my name. And I'm trying to figure out if I should use this check to pay, like, the back fees to get the vehicle back or if I should just try and buy a vehicle in cash or a buy here, pay here.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, boy. I'm sorry that you're going through that. So when they took the vehicle, have. Have they already sold it? Is there already a deficit for it or what? What have they told you about it?

[Caller]

The vehicle right now is still on hold, so I'm still able to get it reinstated, but it would eat up that entire cash amount that I have.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Is it just you? Do you have kids? Tell me more about your living situation.

[Caller]

Thankfully, I do not have kids, so I only have to worry about myself. My job is fairly flexible, but I do rely on my vehicle for my job. So it's hard for me to gauge how I should invest or what the budget should be.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, what do you make? What is your monthly budget?

[Caller]

I make about 3,000amonth.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Okay. So you need the vehicle and it's going to cost. What's the exact amount that it's going to cost to get it back?

[Caller]

Roughly fourteen hundred dollars. So it's the. It's everything. Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

And what. I mean, obviously what. I guess my question is, what's changed in your situation? Because I. What I'd rather do is Maybe take this $1400, add a little bit more to it and get a beater. Because what's changed about your situation that you'd suddenly afford this vehicle is basically what I'm getting at.

[Caller]

Yeah, I guess nothing really has changed. I had attempted to put some payments towards the end of the loan, and so I'm already kind of in a deficit as is. And right now, I guess like 1400 is impossible for cash.

It's mostly like vehicles with parts.

So that's kind of where I'm struggling.

As far as what budget would even.

Be wise to look for.

[John Deloney]

But let's say you blow all your cash and get this thing back. You have no emergency fund, right? You have nothing. You just get this car back. What in your life changes? It says you're going to be able to make the payment next month. They just took it from you because you couldn't make the payments.

[Jade Warshaw]

Exactly.

[Caller]

Yeah, that's true.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's the vehicle? What. What's the vehicle worth before they took it? What.

[Caller]

It'S worth $10,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

And what did you owe with.

[Caller]

Like 10,500. And when I looked at the total loan, it said I would end up paying 20,000. And the only reason I've been so attached to it is because it's a Toyota. And I know they can last a long time. So I guess I'm sort of afraid of that.

[Jade Warshaw]

What was the payment before all this repo business?

[Caller]

336Amonth.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so we were struggling to pay 336amonth. Now, I know you said you filed Chapter seven. Has that already gone through? Like, what is. What's that look like for you? What's the payment? Is there a monthly payment that you're making on everything, or did they just take everything? Tell me. Tell me where you're at in that.

[Caller]

I just filed. So they took my vehicle on Thursday and then. Or they took my vehicle on Wednesday, I filed on Thursday and now they won't release it to me.

[John Deloney]

What's your financial picture that you had to file bankruptcy?

[Caller]

Oh, so mostly because of my job.

It's contract work.

So whenever I am working, it's based on clients. And we've been having issues with insurance, with United Healthcare dropping people, so it kind of fluctuates. So when I say, like, I make.

3,000Amonth, that's really just an average.

[John Deloney]

That's not what I'm asking. How much do you owe?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, when you file bankruptcy, it's usually you have a bunch of debt that you're trying to clear out. So we're trying to find out what. What debt did you have and where did it come from?

[Caller]

Oh, it was mostly credit cards. I had probably around $60,000 in credit card debt. I have 90,000 in student loans, 10,000 on the vehicle. And then I also had a $20,000 personal loan.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So the student loans remain. And so what was cleared was the 60, the 10, and the 20. Obviously they took the vehicle. So when you file. They were going to take the car anyway, you know, like that. That was going to happen anyway. So you still got the $90,000 of student loans and now you just have no car to get to work. Right. Is that where we're at today?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so I stand. I stand by what I said. I think they probably took this car. Yeah, they might come after you for a deficit, but I don't think the solution for you is to go back to paying a car payment. I think the solution for you is to go, all right, I've got 3,000 bucks that I make a month. I've got to Work like a crazy person. Even if I need to take the bus for now and I need to stack up like 4,000 bucks, I've got 14,000. Let me see if I can double that. 1400. I'm sorry, let me see if I can double that very quickly. There are $3,000 beaters out there. Just so you know, the car that I drive, It's a Cadillac SRX, the 2013. It's worth fifteen hundred dollars. I've just had it for a really long time. If I sold it today, whoever bought it would be getting a steal, but that's what it's worth.

[Caller]

Well, if you're.

[Jade Warshaw]

So they're out there buying, I'm just letting you know they're out there. So don't. Yeah, you have to look for them, you know, but private dealer, private sale, Facebook marketplace. Go to a church, say, hey, is there anybody here selling a car? I'm in a bad jam. I mean, I got 3,000 bucks who can sell me their car, right? And I think, you know, yeah, look for a Toyota, look for a Nissan.

[John Deloney]

Look for a Honda.

[Jade Warshaw]

A Honda. Don't get a hhr.

[John Deloney]

Hey. Yeah. Or a square Kia.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[John Deloney]

One button that goes. Yeah, just plays house music. Hey. Okay, so what do you do for a living?

[Caller]

I'm a mental health professional. So I work with the youth. They're in home and I help them before they go into like a facility or foster care or something like that.

[John Deloney]

Are you licensed also? Do you have an LPC or an LMFT or something?

[Caller]

I'm working towards that. No, right now I just have a qmhp. I'm getting my master's in order to be in a practice.

[John Deloney]

Okay, so you're continuing to add to this $90,000 student loan debt?

[Caller]

Unfortunately, yes.

[John Deloney]

Okay. Here's essentially what you've done with the bankruptcy. You've never turned the faucet off. And so the faucet that buried you up to your eyeballs in debt that you called and you filed bankruptcy for, they came with a big bucket and took some of that water out, but that faucet is still going full blast.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

You're going to find yourself in this exact same situation. And if you are able to navigate that system, which is a nightmare, helping those kids out, what that means is you have skills that a local school district would want even if you had to go be a teacher on an emergency certification, if you had to go help out at. As a, as a part time social worker. Here's what I'm trying to tell you. You can't just sit there and say, well, they're taking my jobs away and I guess I'm just going to live in La la land. You've got to start taking your skill set and start hitting the streets, trying to find places where you can work and you've got too much value to.

[Caller]

Add to my long term goal.

[John Deloney]

Here's the thing, and I say this in all due respect. It doesn't matter what your long term goal is right now, because you're like trying to explain to me and Jade what your beach house is going to look like and your boat sank out from underneath you in the middle of the ocean. You got to swim to shore first.

[Caller]

Yeah, right. Yeah. Well, I plan to move to a different location to get more clients in.

June, so that's kind of why I'm like, that's great.

[John Deloney]

But even, even if you max out your earning potential, what is the max on your job? 50 grand? 60 grand?

[Caller]

Yeah, that's true.

[John Deloney]

And you're going to owe 125 when you're all said and done.

[Caller]

Schedules. Yeah, I mean, I definitely need more income.

[John Deloney]

You've set yourself up in with, with a, with a vicious math problem. And your heart is too good and your skill set is too necessary for you to chain yourself to this and then go out in the world and say, hey, I'm here to help you get what I'm saying. And so I, I think all you, your future dreams, your clients that you're serving now and in the future, everybody is served if you just hit pause for a second and clean up the mess that you've. The big hole you've dug yourself. You get what I'm saying?

[Caller]

Yeah, absolutely.

[John Deloney]

And you're worth that. It'll be real, real, real, real hard. Jade, people get like a picture of what they want their life to be. And it's like, I'm gonna do anything I can do to get there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

And man, on the way, you find yourself in a real mess.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, she can get out of this mess, though. I believe you can. You've just got to start doing different things if you want different results.

[John Deloney]

You got to stop borrowing money.

[Narrator/Announcer]

If debt collectors won't stop calling and you feel like you're drowning, you don't need another company selling debt relief dreams. You need real world help. And that's why I recommend Guardian Litigation Group. Guardian's not a call center. They're actual attorneys who can step into the courtroom and fight back when creditors try to sue you. Now, look, debt settlement isn't Pretty. I'd still rather have you get out of debt the old fashioned way. But if you're facing bankruptcy and need a way to stop the bleeding, Guardian gives you a path forward. And they don't charge a dime up front. Guardian's attorneys have helped over 55,000 people across the country settle more than $600 million in debt. They'll help you stop living in fear every time the phone rings and take back control of your Life. Go to guardianlit.com Ramsey that's guardianlit.com Ramsey.

[John Deloney]

Attorney Advertising Results may vary and no.

[Jade Warshaw]

Specific outcome is guaranteed.

[Caller]

Foreign.

[John Deloney]

Sacramento, California. Let's talk to Amanda. Hey, Amanda. What's going on?

[Caller]

Hey. Thank you for taking my call. How are you guys doing?

[John Deloney]

We are freezing here in Nashville, but other than that, we're doing all right. What's going on with you?

[Caller]

Me and my partner are getting married in September.

[John Deloney]

Okay.

[Caller]

And congratulations. Thank you. We've been, we've both been on Baby Step two since November, but we have no fun for our wedding, and we still want, we want to cash flow our wedding. So I just want some advice on what the best approach would be moving forward.

[Jade Warshaw]

Cool. I'm excited for you guys. So the weddings in September, you'll kind of have to do a couple of things at once. I think the first point is figuring out what's a fair amount of money to spend in ratio to the debt that you have. So kind of making a realistic number. How much debt do you guys have combined?

[Caller]

Combined, we have 100,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And then what's your income combined?

[Caller]

Combined, 200,000 a year.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Excellent. And so based on that, what do you think? I'm sure there's a number that's floating around in your brain of a fair amount of money to spend on this wedding based on those figures.

[Caller]

Yeah. Yeah. So we already have a budget going, and that's like topping off at 18,000. And we have about 15,000 left of that budget to save. To save? Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

So you've saved 3,000. You have 15 to go.

[Caller]

Well, the 3,000 we have are the down payments on the wedding venue and the caterer.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Okay. I for one, think that's a fair budget if you're committed to paying cash, because I feel like by doing that, you may still also be able to make some individual headway on your individual debts.

[Caller]

Yes, that's what I'm hoping.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

I, I, I, it's gonna sound strange, Amanda, but I want to applaud you for that budget.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's excellent.

[John Deloney]

I thought you were Gonna come in and be like, well, we think we can pull it off for 250 grand. So 18, 18 grand in California tells me y' all are, y' all are squeezing things pretty hard, right?

[Caller]

I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on a wedding. This is my unfortunate, my second, my second wedding. The first wedding was simple, but didn't spend a lot. But we have a lot of family members helping out as well. So that's, I think, why we're able to keep it pretty low.

[John Deloney]

I, I, I think this is a great exercise for both of you to commit to this 18 grand number and do not budge, even if that means you both have to sacrifice something you, you kind of wanted or you really want, like, whatever. But yeah, I'm with, I'm with Jade. I, I think it's a good, I think it's a good move.

[Caller]

Okay, so just continue to follow the plan while saving some money each month to cash flow the rest of the funds throughout the next nine months.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I mean, as much as you can get ahead, you know, part of planning the wedding is understanding what you've got to have, you know, for deposits and have ahead of time. So as much as you can get ahead of that and not feel like you're behind the eight ball, I think that's really good. So maybe sitting down with your husband and kind of plotting out from now until September what each month is going to look like, what each of you is going to contribute. And that way you have a plan together. And then you also are then able to make your plan him for his debt and you for your debt, how much you think that you're going to be able to put towards that. And I mean, it's going to be a little bit, it's not going to be perfect, but at least you kind of have a sketch of what that's going to look like.

[John Deloney]

Jade, I have a question for you. Would it make sense for there to be a single account here that money gets put into? Or I'm going to come up with 9,000 and you come up with 9,000. Ish.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think, yeah. If you wanted to set up a fund, an account somewhere that's kind of like Switzerland, and you put all the monies in there and then everybody can see it and there's full transparency, I think that's good. And then each of you is responsible for certain tasks. Like maybe you're, like, handling all the food and beverage, and maybe he's handling all the, maybe he's handling nothing. Maybe he Just puts his money in the account. That's fine.

[John Deloney]

I like that idea I have. I'm glad you have that perspective. My bias is so skewed because the only people who call me are when they put all the money in the account, and then they break up three weeks before the wedding and they don't know what to do. And so I know that's not the vast majority, but so my. My bias is so skewed. So that's. I think it's a good perspective.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, that's. I'm not opposed to that at all. I was trying to think about how Sam and I did it, and I really don't remember. So I like that idea. It's not bad.

[John Deloney]

Very cool. All right, let's go out to Newark, New Jersey, and talk to Tiffany. Hey, Tiffany, what's going.

[Caller]

Hey. I'm good. How are y'? All?

[John Deloney]

Excellent. What's. What's up?

[Caller]

So I just finished Baby Step three. I work in the film industry, and my income has decreased due to changes in the industry over the past three to five years. So I went from making about 80k a year to now I make about 52k, so bring home like 3200. I feel like I've hit a ceiling in my career. And so I'm preparing to get my MBA to gain more opportunity, but I still want to stay in my field. But I also am not planning to take out student loans. I'm looking at the scholarship route. So my question is, should I pause Baby Step four and stockpile cash to live on, or should I try to start a side business? That's another thing I've been considering to pay my bills while I'm in grad school.

[John Deloney]

The first question is, what is how long have you been working in the industry?

[Caller]

Six years.

[John Deloney]

Okay, so what is an MBA going to give you that you seeing multiple businesses run all at the same time? All like film industry? There's so many different businesses happening all at the same time. I would think you have a grasp on the quote unquote business world that very few people have. What would an MBA get you that.

[Caller]

You don't already have more opportunity, specifically in the world of producing on a studio level. And that's where a lot more of the money tends to come from. And a lot of people who I've kind of talked to who have gone that track, that's been a huge recommendation is to get my mba.

[John Deloney]

Okay, so my second question would be, can you not get your MBA and still continue to work at the same time?

[Caller]

That's the thing. A lot of the scholarships that I'm looking into, you have to be a full time student. So it's not, I guess it's not impossible, but it is. It would be a lot harder where, I'm not sure if how successful I would be if I was still. If I was able to focus full time on the program.

[Jade Warshaw]

And it's two years.

[Caller]

Yes. One program is two, another one is three.

[John Deloney]

Okay. So even if you get a full ride, I want you to also calculate in the lost $52,000 per year.

[Caller]

Okay.

[John Deloney]

So it's going to cost you the tuition. And you're, you're, you know, in the college world, room and board. Right. Like you're, you're gonna stuff to live, you're still gonna have to eat.

[Caller]

Right.

[John Deloney]

And buy a computer and all that kind of stuff, but you're also going to have the missed opportunity of $104,000 in income over two years.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

And so just when you're calculating out the ROI on what you think this is going to do for you and what you think, like you're watching the film industry dissolve underneath you as everyone is across the country is getting into production, putting all your eggs in that basket to the tune of 104,000 bucks, minus two years in the workforce to then circle back. Is it, is that a good ROI downstream? That sounds really tenuous to me.

[Jade Warshaw]

I just have a heart. And I may be totally wrong, Tiffany, but I have a very hard time believing that an MBA in a classroom is going to be better than a on the job experience. Am I wrong?

[Caller]

So the programs that I'm looking at with the film industry being a very much. It's who you know, slash, it's where you go. It's also being able to tap into a very specific. What is it? Like network.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. That's why I'm, that's why I'm like. Seems like being out there, meeting people, being on jobs, being on sets, I don't know, I'm just, I'm. I'm likening it to the music business. I would think that that's far more valuable than being in a classroom being taught concepts.

[John Deloney]

Both Jade and I work with film. Literally folks, men and women from the film industry that are here on staff, that video, everything and all the things all the time, and edit and cut and produce and I don't know a single one of them has an mba.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I'm not trying to. You're there. I'm not, but I just, it doesn't feel it doesn't seem like it's going to return what you think it's going to return. And to John's point, it's a lot of time and money lost. I think if you can find a way to work while doing this and you're getting the getting it paid for for scholarships or for free, fine. But to lose three years without work, I don't know about that. Yeah, I might go back to the drawing board on that plan.

[John Deloney]

And it I, I, I remember a lot of my students went to grad school because they were bored with their current lives or they didn't like their current jobs. And that's not a reason to pause for two or three years, take out a bunch of debt or not make an income. So just think all the way through it.

[Caller]

Foreign.

[John Deloney]

Hey, what's up? This is Dr. John Deloney from my friends at Mama Bear Legal Forms. I spend a lot of time talking with people about anxiety, relationship challenges and all kinds of other things that keep people up at night. One thing I'm always telling everybody is that peace does not come from avoiding hard things. Peace comes from facing hard things and directly walking through them. One of the hard things we all face is is our own mortality. And if you've got kids or people you love, creating a will is one of the most important things you can give them. I'm such a big fan of Mama Bear. When I moved from Texas to Tennessee, one of the first things I did was set up my will through Mama Bear so that my family was protected in my new state. Mama Bear Will help you make a clear, legally valid will in about 20 minutes. They provide step by step guidance that makes getting a will simple. Believe me, if you're ready to love your family in a real impractical and lasting way, go to mamabearlegalforms.com and use the promo code RAMSEY to save 20%. That's mamabearlegalforms dot com use code RAMSEY. You asked and we listened the live like no one else. Cruz is back by popular demand and currently Nashville's covered up in ice right now and I would love to be out on a boat where it's warm. This is your moment to celebrate your debt freedom with Dave and the Ramsey personalities in the Western Caribbean. Share your story with Dave, swap jokes with George, sing karaoke with Jade and play pickleball with Ken and more if you're on Baby Step 4 or higher. Join us March 14, the 21st, 2027. Save up to 300 bucks this week only when you book by February 1st. Cabins are limited. Lock in your spot with a 600 deposit. Click the link in the show notes or go to ramseysolutions.comevents to learn more. Let's go out to HTONE and talk to John. Hey, John. What's up, brother?

[Narrator/Announcer]

Hey, y'.

[Caller]

All.

So I am on baby step one, maybe two and a half. I am $79,000 in debt at 26. I got fired in March of 2025 from my job. I've been living purely on my VA income, which is about $3,000 a month at this point, and I'm still a certified paramedic. I'm going back to school with the VA once again, and I just really feel like I'm behind on life at this point and really don't know where to turn with as much debt as I'm in.

[John Deloney]

Well, dude, I'm glad you called, man. How old are you?

[Caller]

26.

[John Deloney]

26. You got. You got laid off in March. How come you haven't gone back to work?

[Caller]

I have been struggling to find jobs that can work with my schedule as a student. My job that I got fired from worked pretty well with my school schedule, and it really didn't conflict much. And being a paramedic, the only jobs I can really find are with fire departments or private ambulance companies that have pretty oddball schedules that don't really work with school. I have a few interviews with hospitals that are hiring paramedics here in Houston, but I haven't really found much success with getting past an interview.

[John Deloney]

What are you going to school for?

[Caller]

I'm going to school for finance, ironically enough.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, when are you finished?

[Caller]

I'll be finished in October of 2029. Not October. December of 2029.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, so you're just getting started. Yeah.

[John Deloney]

Can I. Can I? So anytime I feel squashed or I feel stuck between an either or decision, one of the things, it's just a practice I run myself through and my wife and I do it is we just dump a bunch of variables on the table just to remind ourselves we're not trapped.

[Caller]

Okay.

[John Deloney]

Because you've trapped yourself.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

You trapped yourself into. This is the only kind of job and has to have this kind of schedule. And I have to get this degree in this area right now.

[Caller]

And I kind of am walked into where I go to school because I'm on VRE as a disabled veteran. So they determine my schooling and everything like that. They consider it vocational rehab, and that's the other side of it.

[John Deloney]

But you can't pause for a year and get your. Get your feet underneath it.

[Caller]

Financially, they would require me to pay back what they've already set forth for school.

[John Deloney]

All right, then if that's the case, then you're going to have to pause looking for paramedic jobs, especially since that's not what you're going to school for. And you're going to have to look at becoming a teller at a local bank, learning finance from the floors, like sweeping the floors on up. You have to let that. You're gonna have to let that dream go for a season, because here's my concern. I can hear it in your voice. This is less. And Jay's gonna walk through the money part of this. But you've stopped believing in yourself.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

And that's like getting up and going and contributing to a thing is way more important than making sure it's in this. The field that you want or you happen to have a certification because of your military, all that kind of stuff. Brother. You need to get up where people see you and they're like, glad that you're there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

Right. Especially if. If you were telling me you're going to go to nursing school or you're going to do something like that would make sense that you're trying to get a job in a hospital right now. You're just pausing the workforce.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

And you're getting a degree in a totally different field. So start getting experience in that field. So four years from now, you've got four years working at a local bank doing stuff or a local credit union, and you got a degree in finance, and now you're ready to hit the road. You get what I'm saying?

[Caller]

Yes, sir.

[John Deloney]

Okay. Jay, talk to this. This good man about his money situation.

[Jade Warshaw]

Tell me about the $79,000 of debt. What type of debt is that?

[Caller]

So I have 14,000 in student loans from paramedic school because I wasn't approved for the GI Bill when I first got out of the service. So I have 14,000 in student debt. I have a $15,000 personal loan that I use to pay off all my credit cards. At the time when I was working, it was. I think the interest rates on. It's only 5%.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

It was a good, good idea at the time because it helped ease a lot of my burden. Instead of paying multiple banks, I was just paying one loan. Understood my. And it's my car. That's $800 a month as well. And that interest rate is 7%.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's the full balance on the car?

[Caller]

38,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Where's the rest. I got 68 here.

[Caller]

The rest is. I think. Let me see my car here. I might have miscalculated on my 48. It's 48, you're right.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes. Okay. So that's the glaringly obvious thing right now. You're basically making 4800 from the VA a year, and your car is 48,000.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

So we have. That's some. The good news is that's something you can make, right, like this weekend.

[John Deloney]

This weekend, brother.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you have any money saved anywhere?

[Caller]

I've spent my whole savings when I first got fired.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

Trying to keep afloat.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so here's what. Here's what I think the plan of action is. First off, we're going to give you every dollar because I think that you don't have a budget. And so Christian's going to pick up. We'll get you every dollar, and that's going to help you see, with the $3,000 that you're currently making, to John's point, you're going to start making more, but today you make 3,000. We're going to see how much margin you have, and we're going to set a plan for how quickly can you save up a little bit of cash so that you can get out of this $48,000 car and into a cash car that you're maybe paying four or five thousand bucks for? That's the plan. And so that's like, I want all forces focused and trained on that mission. And then once you do that, we can say, okay, now we just have 30,000, 29,000 to clear out here, and we're going to start with whatever smallest. If the student loans are broken up to pieces, we'll start with throwing any extra money on that smallest student loan and do it like that. So this is something that you can get out of. What's going to really break you free is income. That's. That is the magical elixir for this entire deal here.

[John Deloney]

So imagine your life, even if you just go get a job making 36 grand, another 3,000 bucks a month. Think about how that changes your life.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

If you suddenly have 6,000 bucks, and especially if you're doing it towards the field you want to get into, even peripherally. Right. Like. Like cleaning the trash bins at a local. At a local credit union. It gets you in the door, right?

[Caller]

Yeah, it does.

[John Deloney]

And so I. I would exhale and put my dreams of being a paramedic to rest and get on about if that's what you want to do finance for whatever reason, if that's what you want to do, I would put all my energy going that away.

[Caller]

Okay.

[John Deloney]

How upside down are you on this truck?

[Caller]

It.

Not that. What do you mean by upside down?

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you owe more on it than it's that than you could sell it for?

[Caller]

It's a 2026.

[Jade Warshaw]

So what could you, what do you think you could sell it for private party?

[Caller]

I'm not even sure on that side.

[Jade Warshaw]

So if it's anything less than 48, that would mean you're upside down. So let's say you owe 48, but when you look it up on Kelly Blue Book, the Kelly Blue Book, it says, I don't know, 46 or 45, that mean that you're 2 to $3,000 upside down on it.

[Caller]

Okie dokie.

[John Deloney]

And don't look to go trade it in. Look to sell it to somebody on Facebook Marketplace and put in the, put in the ad. I'm a veteran selling my truck or my car. It's in great condition. Here's what I'm asking for it and get that sucker sold. And then you'll feel the weight of this just leave your shoulders like almost overnight.

[Jade Warshaw]

And if you are upside down, what you would do is you would just go over to the bank or credit union, wherever you can get somebody to loan you the 3000 or whatever it is. Hopefully you're not upside down, but if you are, that's what you would do because you're going to need the full amount to get the title. So if you sell at private party, you're going to need to put whatever you owe with it in order to get that and get a clean title.

[John Deloney]

So, yeah, so thanks for the call, brother. Thank you for your service. And it feels like you are way behind and you're under a huge mountain. The good news is you're only 26, you got a long way to go, you're in school, you're doing the right things. You just got to get some right things in order and you got to get out from underneath that big giant car payment. This is the Ramsey Show.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Everyone is at risk of identity theft. I don't care if you're a hermit living off the grid, listening to the show on a battery powered radio. All of your data collected by every company you've ever done business with. Lives online. Your bank, your doctor's office, retailers, the apps on your phone, the gas station where you have loyalty rewards, they all store your info online, making them ripe for a cyber attack or data Breach. And no matter how careful we are, once thieves hack a company, they've got that data forever. Meaning you could be victimized at any moment. That's why I've been telling people for almost 20 years they need an ID theft protection plan. And the only one I've ever recommended is from Zander Insurance. They monitor your personal and financial info, even your home title, and take over all the work if you become a victim. It's the most thorough and affordable plan out there. I even have it for my family and our entire team at Ramsey. Visit Zander.com or call 800-356-4282.

[John Deloney]

Welcome back to the Ramsey show and the Fair Winds Crowd Credit Union Studio. I'm John Deloney joined by bestselling author and wonderful human being, Jade Warshaw. Taking your calls on money, life, your relationships, whatever you got going on your work, all of it. Triple 882-55225. Let's go out to Phoenix, Arizona and talk to Shelby. Hey, Shelby, what's going on?

[Caller]

Hi. How's it going?

[John Deloney]

We're doing great. How about you?

[Caller]

Doing good today.

[John Deloney]

Excellent, Excellent. What's going on?

[Caller]

So I am almost out of debt. I'm so close I can taste it.

[John Deloney]

Congratulations. How much have you paid off so far?

[Caller]

Just over 50,000.

[John Deloney]

Oh, my goodness. Amazing job. Great work. What's up?

[Caller]

So I'm almost out of debt, but it feels like my mom wants to keep me in debt. Every little thing that happens, she's offering me money. Oh, just pay me back. $20 a month. Just pay me back. And I don't want to do that. I'm so close. I don't want to take more money, but at the same time, it would really help me.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so this is like, classic temptation. Of course the idea sounds good, but you've already decided it's not good for you to do that, so it's a moot point. Right?

[Caller]

And it's something like she did loan me some money recently. I had emergency dental work done, and I have a thousand dollars saved. No more than that. And it was a point like, I need it done, but my card will decline if I try to pay it. And I'm sitting here in the dentist chair.

[Jade Warshaw]

And so she's. She's offering you the money is what you're saying?

[Caller]

Yes. And I took that. It felt like I gave her a little bit. And now it's bigger things. Oh, you have to pay 3,000 in taxes. Let me loan you money. Just pay me back someday or you don't say yes. I know, and I don't know how to broach that because it's coming from a good place. She wants to help me, and, yes, it would help.

[John Deloney]

This is. This has nothing to do with her.

[Jade Warshaw]

I was going to say thank you, John.

[John Deloney]

This has to do with you, like, because you know who else is sitting right there wanting to offer you money? Visa, MasterCard, local bank. And it's all in the same vein of, I'm not going to borrow money anymore, especially from somebody I've got a close relationship to. That would drive a wedge between us.

[Caller]

Yeah. And I told her, like, I don't want you to be my lender. You're my mom.

[Jade Warshaw]

What did you tell me?

[Caller]

Yes, I would graciously take it. She just wants me to take it. She's like, well, it would help. Let me help.

[John Deloney]

Of course it would help. Of course it would help. But that's not. That's not what we're doing here. Yeah, that's not what we're doing here. And I'd even go back further. I mean, walking into the dentist, that couldn't have surprised you, right?

[Caller]

It was. It was an emergency dental work.

[John Deloney]

I get that it was an emergency, but every dentist I've ever met has some sort of payment plan, some sort of program, some sort of. I can give you 500 today. I can give you a thousand dollars today. It's going to wipe out my emergency fund. And then I'll give you, like, I don't know any dentist that doesn't have some sort of plan, because they deal with that all the time.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, Nobody has dentist.

[Caller]

1200 today and 1200 next week, which I couldn't afford. So she did help me, but now it's even bigger things. She wants to help me pay my taxes. She wants me to get veneers for my wedding.

[John Deloney]

The answer to all that is, I'm so grateful, but no, thank you.

[Caller]

Okay, that's it.

[John Deloney]

And then you are gonna have to go through and get wedding photos without new veneers on.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

You're gonna have to scratch and claw and work extra and do whatever to pay your taxes by, by the way, by April, right? Oh, no, I'm sorry.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

When. When are they. Yeah. By April.

[Caller]

Yes. I need 3,000 by then.

[John Deloney]

Yeah, you can do that. You're so close. How much do you have left?

[Caller]

With the 2,500 my mom just gave me, it put me back up to 9,000 left.

[John Deloney]

Okay. How much do you make?

[Caller]

I make between 60 and 90 in a year. Most of my income is bonus okay. Bonus. But like last year I made a 78.

[John Deloney]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. I mean, I think the biggest part of this conversation is just you making a decision and drawing that line in the sand that you don't borrow money. And when you do that, it just opens up your mind to creating other scenarios for solving your problems. And I think right now, as much as it kind of feels like my mom is doing this, my mom is doing this, I kind of think that you're putting out a radar. Like I think you're putting out a home. What is it a homing signal that it comes to you? And I think that's, that's on you to go. You know, I'm not, I'm not looking for this and I don't want this. And it's just nowhere in my, in my view. And I think that's going to help a lot. And then I think it's just you saying very clearly to your mom, thank you, but please don't keep offering because honestly, I'm tempted by it and I don't want to be tempted. I really want to live a debt free lifestyle and I certainly don't want to owe you money. And I think that's that on that. You got 9,000 to go. You've paid off 50. You've done a great job. I have. There's no doubt in my mind that you can't finish this up and move on to the next steps.

[John Deloney]

And what I'm going to tell you right now is complete and total hogwash. Woo Woo. Okay. This has just been my experience with any sort of finish line, whether it's, I want to get a new degree, I'm trying to lose X amount of pounds, I want to be able to run a certain time on a, on a mile, whatever. The thing is almost always right before I get to the end. And this is. Woo woo. The universe sends some huge temptation my way. And it's. It. I, I've just come to look at it as it's, I'm being tested. Am I really who I say I am? Right. And you're so close to the end and it just feels like there's a huge, like you're so close. You've worked so hard, you've. You've busted your butt to pay off 50 grand and temptation is like, are you really all in on this deal? And I can imagine after 50 grand, making 75. You've been doing this a while, haven't you?

[Caller]

I actually started going crazy at my loans back in this last April.

[John Deloney]

Okay. So my Guess is you're tired now and you're bored of this.

[Caller]

Oh, yeah.

[John Deloney]

Yes.

[Caller]

I make too much money to feel like I have no money.

[John Deloney]

Okay, just keep going. Keep going.

[Caller]

Yes.

[John Deloney]

Keep going through the boring. Keep going through the tired. Keep going through the inconvenience. You're so close. You're almost there. Making 75 grand. When are you gonna be done with this thing? Three months?

[Caller]

I hope so.

[John Deloney]

Will you commit to Jay and I.

[Caller]

That you'll be done last out of the five loans?

[John Deloney]

Do what?

[Caller]

I only have two of the five loans left, so I'm almost. It's there.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's your. What's your margin every month? What are you putting towards this every month?

[Caller]

So where I am in the snowball right now is 5, 10. That's like all my paid off minimums and the new minimums. And I'm throwing maybe another 7, 800 towards a month.

[Jade Warshaw]

7 to 800. What's your take home? Every month.

[Caller]

Ends up being about 4,000 to $5,000. Plus every other paycheck, I get a bonus anywhere between $0 and $2,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Every other check you get a $2,000 bonus. So wouldn't this go a little bit faster?

[Caller]

It feels like I had a lot of moving costs that put a halt in it and last two bonuses have been $0.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, understood. So you're kind of. You're feeling a little bit deflated, I think.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

But I think that the last couple of weeks or even the last couple of months are not an accurate snapshot of the intensity that you have been working this. I think you've just had a couple of things that have really made you feel some type of way. I just want to encourage you to keep going. This is going to be gone faster than you think. I think you just have to remember how quickly you were going before the dentist hit. Because before the move hit, before all those other things. This is going to be gone before you know it. And you're going to feel a major weight off. Hey, don't forget to replace your thousand dollar emergency fund. I think that's also going to help you going forward.

[John Deloney]

And when you don't believe you can do it, remember Jade and I believe in you. Keep going.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Most people just drift through life with their money. No plan, no budget, stuck on autopilot. But winning with money is intentional. That's why I love Fairwinds Credit Union. They've built tools for people who don't want gimmicks or games. Their smart bundle includes a high yield savings account to Help your emergency fund grow and their spend Smart checking account won't nickel and dime you to death with fees like other banks. Plus, it comes with the Ramsey Be Weird debit card, which says debt is normal beweird right on the front of it. It keeps you connected to your budget, and every time you use it, it's a reminder you control your money, not the other way around. Fairwinds Credit Union is for people who are serious about taking control of their money. So if you're ready to stop drifting and start building wealth on purpose, open your Smart Bundle today at Fairwinds.org Ramsey that's Fairwinds.org Ramsey insured by the NCUA.

[John Deloney]

Let's go out to Wilmington, Delaware and talk to Jamie. What's up, Jamie?

[Caller]

Hi.

[John Deloney]

How we doing?

[Caller]

Good. How are you? Thank you so much for taking my call. I'm a huge fan.

[John Deloney]

Of course. Thanks for calling.

[Caller]

So my question is, I have a little bit of a dilemma, and I don't know how to handle it because I've already tried it in a couple different ways. But my fiance and I have been together for 20 years, and I know that sounds a lot. We're not married yet.

[John Deloney]

When did you get engaged?

[Caller]

We have been engaged for 12.

[John Deloney]

Nice. I have so many questions, but I won't even ask them. Go ahead.

[Caller]

Okay. Yeah, that's a whole different topic. So he bought a house about 10 years ago. Well, actually, seven years ago. I've been living with him for 10. Anyhow, when it was kind of a rush closing, and I was never put on the deed or the loan, for that matter, because my credit was never that great. Well, recently my dad passed away within the last five years, and he had everything in order when he passed. And it was. It was a burden off me and my family's shoulders. And I'm trying to do the same, you know, for my kids. I know I'm not going to be here forever, but whenever I bring this up to him, like, hey, I think I should. We should put my name on here in case something happens, he either pushes it aside or he kind of comes up with stuff like, you know, your credit's bad, they're going to come and take the house, or we'll get in an argument. And, you know, it's. He thinks I'm just after it for the house, and I'm not. Now, on a side note, in the deed, there's a clause that is a first right of refusal because it's bumped up against business's property.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

If it. If something Happens they would actually get the first right to buy it if it doesn't come to me.

[Jade Warshaw]

Interesting.

[Caller]

So he could, like, send it to his family, but his family would turn around and say, okay, well, I'll sell.

It to you for dirt cheap.

But they would have the first right of refusal before I would even get it. And I don't know how to address it because I've always brought it up. And like I said, it just keeps pushing aside. But I would like to have some kind of security in knowing that if anything happens to him, that I would be able to have someplace to live.

[Jade Warshaw]

What is. Okay. Yes. Tell me the finance side of it. Who is. Who pays for this?

[Caller]

He pays for the mortgage. Like, when I moved in, the deal was he would pay the mortgage and the utilities and I pay anything extra. Groceries, cable, anything like that.

[Jade Warshaw]

And will that be the fact after you get married as well?

[Caller]

Um, yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

And in your mind, do you guys have separate bank accounts?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so here's what I'm going to say. This is controversial. You're operating separate lives. You're just living in the same house because financially you're separate. You've spent 20 years, 12 years betrothed and have not committed. I can. Part of me understands. He's just going in line with the way everything's always been. You're separate. You're not on the mortgage, you're not on. Therefore you're not on the deed. My money's over here, your money's over there. I can understand why it is that way. So unless you guys are going to fully commit, and when I say fully, I'm John, this is your space. But unless you're gonna do that, you're getting the spoils of what you guys have put in place.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

My guess is.

[Caller]

I'm sorry, go ahead.

[John Deloney]

My guess is, and I can be way out to lunch here, because every state is so different, my guess is you'd have a common law claim to this.

[Caller]

That does not go into play anymore.

[John Deloney]

Okay, well, here's. Here's.

[Caller]

I never looked into that.

[John Deloney]

I would look into it, but here is the. Under the guise of behavior, as a language, I think he is telling you loud and clear, this isn't your house. It will never be your house. You can live here, but this is not yours. You're not going to have a claim to it. Stop asking me about it.

[Caller]

It. Right. Yeah.

[John Deloney]

Okay. And there's something powerful about just clearing all of the ice and snow off the sidewalk and standing firm and saying, this is what this sidewalk Looks like.

[Caller]

So what am I supposed to do? Should I, like, save up and find something just in case something happens to him that I would be.

[John Deloney]

You have to ask yourself, you've. Is he the father of your children?

[Caller]

No, he's not.

Okay.

[John Deloney]

How old are your kids?

[Caller]

They're all adults. They're 27, 25, and 23.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[John Deloney]

Do you have your own retirement, your own savings?

[Caller]

Yes.

[John Deloney]

What does that look like?

[Caller]

Well, my retirement is a pension, and then I actually am on baby step two, so my savings isn't that fantastic right now, but.

[John Deloney]

Well, it should be a thousand bucks. And you're trying to feverishly pay off debt.

[Caller]

Yes. Yeah, I'm on step two, and I'm. I'm rolling with it, and it feels wonderful right now. So I'm hoping that that feeling stays.

For a long time.

[John Deloney]

This is. This is a gross simplification, and I'm going to say it's going to sound rude, and if we were talking in person, I would take a lot longer before I said this, but we've got a compressed time because we're on the radio. Okay.

[Caller]

Yes.

[John Deloney]

You've been playing house for two decades, and at some point the place stops and it feels like you are recognizing, oh, he could go in any day like all of us could, and I'm going to be left with nothing.

[Jade Warshaw]

And just to add to that, what you're requesting is a simple piece of paperwork to be added to the deed. It's easy.

[John Deloney]

It's not at all.

[Caller]

And I even asked him, too, and I was like, well, if you're so concerned about it, then put one of the kids on it. You know, put one of the kids. I mean, I know they're not his biologically, but, I mean, he. He raised him. I mean, we've been together, like I said, 20 years, and my youngest is 23.

[John Deloney]

But.

[Jade Warshaw]

But it's not just that, though. It's not just that he also hasn't married you.

[John Deloney]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Because am I right? I don't want to. I don't want to overstep, but would you have gotten married way sooner if he would have done it?

[Caller]

Well, we were planning on getting married, and that's like. The whole other point is, like, when we got engaged, my oldest was just getting ready to start college, so we did the whole financial aid thing, and it would have really messed up my kids financially. They got a lot of scholarships, they got a lot of grants because I didn't make a lot.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, I understand.

[Caller]

We would have gotten married. That would have screwed up the Kids, financial aid. So you figured, you know, every two years and they were.

[Jade Warshaw]

But it's still been 12 years. But it's still been 12 Years. So again, I'm not trying to overstep, but that is saying something.

[John Deloney]

Yeah. Behavior is a language.

[Caller]

Okay?

[John Deloney]

And so you. Here's the thing. You can't make him do anything. All you can decide is here is what I'm worth, here's what I value and I want to be with people who think I have worth and who value me now and after they're gone.

[Caller]

Okay?

[John Deloney]

Okay. Any self respecting husband. And I'm gonna call him that. Even though y' all aren't officially married, y' all been together for 20 years and. Yeah, whatever. Builds an entire ecosystem so that his wife carries on when he's gone. It's a, It's a shame that. What is it? 70 some percent of households don't have a will. It's embarrassing.

[Caller]

Yeah, right.

[John Deloney]

It's a shame that you would, you would possibly consider that when you die your house is going to go to somebody else and the old girlfriend's just going to be out on her own. It's, it's, it's so shameful. I'm embarrassed on behalf of men everywhere.

[Caller]

Yeah, I mean the property is beautiful, you know, and it's just, it doesn't.

[John Deloney]

Matter if it's a one bedroom shack. It's been y'. Alls. But he's on the piece of paper and anytime you bring it up, he makes you feel dumb for it.

[Caller]

It.

[John Deloney]

Let me say it this way, you're not crazy. You just get to decide what's next.

[Caller]

Okay?

[John Deloney]

Okay. And like Jade said, it's not a, it's very, it's. It's. It's a very low stress thing to add you to a deed.

[Caller]

Exactly.

[John Deloney]

It just is. But my guess is he has actively kept you off the deed because this is his house that you are living in that he's paying for, that he's going to pass on to his family. And if that's the case, then you get to and you decide to stay with them.

[Jade Warshaw]

Great.

[John Deloney]

You need to make other opt and make other plans with savings, paying off debt, getting yourself set up for the inevitable day when one of you till death does your part.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right.

[John Deloney]

Or you can say I'm worth more than this.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm.

[John Deloney]

I just am. And I'm going to be with somebody who's going to care for me now and sets up a plan for me after I'm gone.

[Narrator/Announcer]

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 them 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 Bab more than a life preserved, it's a life changed. That's preborn.com Ramsey.

[John Deloney]

The Ramsey Show Question of the day is brought to you by yrefive. Your private student loan loans are in default. It's time for a plan. Why refi helps you refinance defaulted private student loans into a low fixed rate payment so you can get back on the baby steps and start making Progress. Go to yrefi.com Ramsey that's the letter y r e f y.com Ramsey and it may not be available in all states.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right. Today's question comes from Brianna in Nevada. She says, when I try to explain to my husband what what a waste it is to eat out, he gets offended. I tell him we can eat out for 100 bucks and never see that money again or I can buy groceries for a hundred bucks and that lasts for a week. His response is always, but eating out still fed you, so you survived.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

He's trading the convenience of eating out for our long term goals of paying off debt and saving for a down payment. How can I convince him that eating out is keeping us from reaching our financial goals? Okay, so I think what's actually at play is just two sets of values here. He's willing to go to a certain extent to pay off debt and you're willing to be to go beyond the extent that he's willing to go, if that makes sense. Oh boy. Oh boy. Okay. So I wish these are the ones, John. I wish we had more to It. I'd love to know how much debt they had. I'd love to know what their income is. I'd love to know a little bit more.

[John Deloney]

I want to know who cooks in this house, and maybe it's not great, right?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

We have to eat out.

[Jade Warshaw]

Honestly, Facts. Like, there's. That. That is a real part of it. Some people. Some people eat to survive and eat to live, and other people eat for enjoyment. I'm a person. If it doesn't taste good, I. I just. I don't eat it. I'd rather eat two bites of something that's delicious than a whole meal of something that's terrible. Like, I. I just can't. So my guess is you're probably going about this all wrong. We've got to figure out a way to make this exciting for both people. I'm guessing it's a. I'm guessing you guys never aligned on why we're doing all of this to begin with.

[John Deloney]

That's it. To me, this looks like. To me, like. Like eating out has become the proxy war for the real issue, which is we're not aligned on why this is sacrificing to get to a common goal.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, yeah. And. And. Oh, boy. Let me just tread into this for a second. And the truth is, there's two people, right? He has a set of values. You have a set of values you want to align on. How are we going to do our money? You have to decide which hills you're going to die on, because you're trying to get. In many ways, you're trying to get a little deer to come to you and do these baby steps. You don't want to scare it away. So if everything else is, like, trucking along and it's like, hey, we're making progress. This is just the one area that they're a little bit reticent to. To come on board. Oh, all right. Like, what's a way that we can slowly make that transition versus bashing somebody on the head of. You're doing 99 things I asked you to do. Where's the. And then you're. You're slamming them for the 1%, right? Maybe. Uncommon opinion, but maybe that's. Maybe it's better than we think. Right? Does that. Do you see what I'm saying?

[John Deloney]

Can we agree no appetizers, no drinks, and we don't have to get ribeyes, and do we have to eat out? Does it have to cost 100 bucks? Or can it cost 40? Or could it cost 35? Right.

[Jade Warshaw]

I would just hate for this one thing to be the bone of contention when so many other things are maybe on track or hitting right.

[John Deloney]

And it usually is one of two things. Right. It's that it is somebody that, you know, amazing is the enemy of perfection. Right. It's gotta be perfect. Or this is one of many, many places where they're not aligned. This is just the easiest place for everybody to land.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[John Deloney]

Right. And we fight about. We fight about eating out. We fight about money, but there's. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes. And. And only. Only Brianna knows that if that's the case, one, then 100. There's. There's many things at stake here, but if you can look at the situation and go, it's like my husband making up the bed. Every day, he's making up the bed. He may not do it exactly to the tea the way I make up the bed, but the man is making up the bed. So I'm just going to leave that.

[John Deloney]

Right now and let me flip that around. I make the bed often. It's kind of like whoever's the last one out makes a bed. And I notice sometimes that I come back in after making the bed.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sheila's redone it.

[John Deloney]

It's nicer than when I did it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

And that used to make me mad. I used to be like, oh, I'm not. And now it's like, you know what? She can do whatever she wants if.

[Jade Warshaw]

She didn't say anything. And she just went back in and remaded it.

[John Deloney]

Amazing. We both won. We both won. And here's the deal, Brianna. At the end of the day, you don't have to go out.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. He could go by himself.

[John Deloney]

You don't have to go out to eat. You can say, I'm going to save that money. And I want to stay committed to the goals that we made. And so if you feel like you need to go out, great, great. I'll just stay here and eat the napkins in the glove box because I guess somebody's got a.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's leading by example.

[John Deloney]

I'll just have yogurt and granola and we'll call it or whatever. But you don't have to go. You don't have to go. You've got more autonomy in this thing than. Than you think you do. But I. I don't know. I think there's a conversation beneath this conversation, which is, are we aligned on this deal?

[Jade Warshaw]

I agree.

[John Deloney]

All right, let's go out to San Antonio, Texas, and talk to Lily. Hey, Lily, what's going on?

[Caller]

Hi. Yes, so I am currently enrolled in an online class at gcu. I'm studying for education and they have me with. They put my account, they linked it with like the FAFSA subsidized loan. However, my mom offered to take out equity on the house who. And then pay her back.

[John Deloney]

Okay. What if you stop doing everything that you're doing except for going to school and just doing that somewhere else?

[Caller]

Yeah. So I currently also work full time and the program at GCU is one class every eight weeks and that really works for.

[John Deloney]

Did you say at tcu?

[Caller]

Gcu? Yeah.

[John Deloney]

Gcu. Yeah.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

So a private online faith based university.

[Caller]

Yes.

[John Deloney]

Very expensive, correct?

[Caller]

Yes, yes, it is. And 1, 500 per class.

[John Deloney]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, gosh.

[John Deloney]

Whereas you could get a teaching certificate. And by the way. And I don't want to be that guy, but I'm going to be that guy for a second. I worked a full time job and got two PhDs while working full time jobs.

[Caller]

Okay.

[John Deloney]

It was not fun. And had kids. It was not fun. It's miserable.

[Caller]

Right.

[John Deloney]

And we just like you. You do it for a season and then you get on about your life.

[Caller]

Right.

[John Deloney]

Right. And so you're, you're picking a very expensive place and now it's all the way to where your mom's considering putting her house on the block.

[Caller]

Exactly.

[John Deloney]

Please don't do that to her.

[Caller]

Exactly. No. And that's what I told her. Like, I don't, I don't want to do that.

[John Deloney]

Don't do this to yourself. Don't do this to any. Like, there's, there's. This tells me that you didn't look through a whole bunch of other options because there are other options in your area.

[Jade Warshaw]

Why does it have to be this one in your mind?

[Caller]

In my mind, it's because it's online and it's more flexible.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, so we're just looking for flexible online school. That's the criteria. I love that. That means there's tons of options.

[John Deloney]

Tons of options.

[Caller]

Yes. Yeah. I, I also saw the Western Governors University. G. Yes. Wgu.

[John Deloney]

How much cheaper is that one?

[Caller]

A lot. A lot.

[John Deloney]

A lot, a lot. And by the way, I've worked at multiple faith based universities, private schools. I love them, I'm a huge believer in them. But I'm not a believer in mortgaging your souls for it. I'm not a believer in your mom putting her house on the block for it.

[Caller]

Exactly. Right.

[John Deloney]

And so yeah, I, I would. You feel like you've boxed yourself In. So I. I mean, that's not why you called, but I. I want you to be a teacher. We need more great teachers out there. We really, really do. I don't want you to go into debt up to your eyeballs and then, you know, have your mom breathing down. I. I just. The whole thing seems like a mess.

[Caller]

Exactly. And that's what. Yeah, that is why I was calling, because I don't. I didn't feel comfortable about it.

[John Deloney]

Yeah. And so I didn't hear your original thing. Your FAFSA is linked to who?

[Caller]

So, like, I guess the way I did it, when I applied to gcu, they linked my account to do the FAFSA subsidized loan. So it was already gonna start because I got some money from the Pell Grant. But then after that money runs out, they were going to start putting it on the loan.

[John Deloney]

Yeah, but I bet the Pell Grant will cover. It will cover Western governors.

[Caller]

Exactly. Yeah. Just quick question. Do you guys recommend that?

[John Deloney]

I recommend. Here's what I recommend. Don't borrow money.

[Caller]

Yeah, exactly.

[John Deloney]

And if you start with that as a chief principle, it narrows your options. And if you're really. If you really want to, like, determined to be a teacher, you'll find a way. And it will. You'll be tired and you'll be exhausted, and you'll have to do things that are inconvenient, whatever, but you'll get out and you won't owe anybody anything. So that's what we recommend. But check out. Check out other options if that's your criteria, because there's many out there. This show is sponsored by Better Help. All right, as we head into the new year, I want you to take an inventory of all of the junk you're carrying. You know, all those things you have to do, all those things you think you should do, all of the past hurts, all the past pains, all the past guilt and shame, all of it. When the world feels heavy, it's important to look in the mirror and consider, maybe for the first time, setting down that old weight and choosing not to carry it forward into 2026. Therapy can help you identify the heavy stuff, set it down, and move forward with clarity so you can focus on who you want to become in the new year. If you're thinking about therapy, check out my friends at Better Help. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is one of the leading online therapy providers in the world. Trusted by millions, they have an average rating of 4.9 stars out of 5. And it's easy to fit into your busy schedule because it's totally online. To get started, just answer a few easy questions and BetterHelp will connect you with a licensed therapist who will fit your needs. And if it's not the right fit, you can change at any time for no extra cost. You can't feel lighter without leaving behind what's been weighing you down. Go to betterhelp.com Ramsey to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P.com Ramsey. Buying or selling your home is a really big deal and you want an expert in your corner fighting for you to find the best deal for the right price. The Ramsey Trusted program is the only way to find a top agent you can trust who will help make your home a blessing, not a burden. It's easy. Just compare agent profiles, interview them and choose the right one for you. Find a local Ramsey Trusted Real estate pro for [e-mail] agent or click the link in the description if you are listening on YouTube or podcast. Let's go back to Houston and talk to Dustin. Hey Dustin, what's going on?

[Caller]

Hey John, how are you?

[John Deloney]

I'm good, brother. How are you man?

[Caller]

I'm doing well. It's a pleasure to talk to both of you.

[John Deloney]

You too, man.

[Caller]

A long time listener and a first time caller. I just need some guidance. My question is, would you guys recommend me buying a house even though I don't like the job I'm currently in? I am 28 years old, single, never married and no kids. I have a good down payment of about $93,000, various stock options of about 13,000, 44,000 in an Iraq 18,000 of three to six months of emergency fund and 35,000 in 401k. As you guys can tell, I have been saving money for years at this point and I'm just in a job that I'm not really passionate about and I need your guidance, please.

[Jade Warshaw]

I mean, if you think that there's going to be the opportunity for you to move cities here coming up in the next three to five years. Yeah, I might not, I might not put down roots just yet. What do you think the horizon would be for you moving jobs?

[Caller]

I'm open to it. I've been based here in Houston my whole life and I've always wanted to move cities, make a big change like that.

[John Deloney]

What's holding you back?

[Caller]

Family. My family is. I'm really close to my family and we're all within 10 minutes minute span of each other. Right now, currently live with my mom. So it's been a big blessing being here with her. Just not really sure if I'm ready to make that change.

[John Deloney]

It doesn't sound like it's. You're at a place to buy a house yet. And I. I always have a. Just an internal hesitation anytime somebody says, quote, unquote, they're not following their passion. Unpack that for me a little bit. Do you hate your job?

[Caller]

It's a job. I'm not passionate about it.

[John Deloney]

Okay. What have you created outside of work that makes you feel alive, that brings you joy? That. Hobbies, friends?

[Caller]

Hobbies. Honestly, this investing, as you can tell, I've been. I love investing. I love talking to friends about it. It's something I'm truly passionate about. And originally, whenever I went to school, I went to school for this and things happened and I had to shift gears. Just not really sure where to.

[John Deloney]

Here's what I'd rather you spend energy. And, Jay, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this because you've made similar changes like I have. I would prefer. Here's the thing. Any path you take is going to be challenging. Staying at home, challenging. Buying a house in Houston, staying in a great job that you just don't. I mean, it's just a job. And trading on the side because it lights you up. And hanging out with dudes who like to trade and y', all, like, talk about that. Like, that'll be challenging too. Packing up and moving to New Jersey. You're gonna go with you, right? Or wherever, whatever city you end up in. And just for an adventure, you'll go with you. So your same concerns and insecurities, all stuff will go with you. That's gonna be a challenge. And so you've paralyzed yourself with, I don't know about this, I don't know about that, I don't know about that. I'm interested in you backing all the way out and asking yourself the old Mary Oliver quote, what am I gonna do with my one reckless, tiny little life? Like, who do I wanna be? What do I think is fun? What do I think is adventurous? You've set yourself up financially pretty amazingly. And if. If staying with your family is. Is most important. Cool. It's going to come at a cost. And if going on adventure is most important, that's going to come at a cost. And if safety and security, like, with your job, even though you're not, like, wildly in love with it, that's going to come at a cost. Quitting this and Going all in on a new career, that will come at a cost. So all. All your paths are going to come at a cost. It's just you choosing which one do you want to do. You're not attached to anything else.

[Caller]

Else?

[John Deloney]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

I mean, when I listen to what you said, it's kind of. To me. Obviously, there's no wrong choice here, but the obvious is the life you have. You've been doing that like you've tried it so there's no unknown there. Why not do the thing that's the unknown so you can get some research on that.

[John Deloney]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

If you stay where you are, you learn nothing new. But if you actually go try the things that you're thinking of, maybe I do want a different job. Maybe I do want to change change of scenery. Go actually try it, because Texas will be waiting for you if you ever want to go back.

[Caller]

Absolutely.

[John Deloney]

What do you do for a job now?

[Caller]

I currently work in oil and gas.

[John Deloney]

Okay. Last I checked, that's not going anywhere, right?

[Caller]

No, sir.

[John Deloney]

You're pretty good at it.

[Caller]

I. I believe so.

[John Deloney]

Okay. So finding a place, especially back in Houston, which is one of the oil and gas meccas, wouldn't be super difficult. It might be hard to come right back in with your stock options and same salary and all that, but you'd find your way back because you're good at what you do.

[Caller]

Yes.

[John Deloney]

Fair.

[Caller]

Yes, sir.

[John Deloney]

I. It sounds to me, brother, like you've set yourself up for just a moment as this to either take a risk, like Jade says, you, you know the life. I love that, like you, you, you.

[Jade Warshaw]

Know, you already know this.

[John Deloney]

You know this life. And if it's more. More than not bringing you the life that you want to have, cool. Or you set yourself up financially to really jump off the bridge and see if you can fly, and if you hate it, great. We'll be back in six months. We'll be back in a year. We'll be back in two years. Jade, one thing I hear a lot is people think if I take this job or if I move to this city, it just feels like forever, right? And it's. There's some freedom in realizing, no, it doesn't have to be forever.

[Jade Warshaw]

I mean, specifically in his case, he's single, he's completely unattached. There's nothing keeping him. If he goes to New Jersey and hates it, there's nothing from. Keeping him from saying, well, let me try Montana. All right? I hate that. Let me go to Utah right now. It's different when you, you know, are up and moving a family of four.

[John Deloney]

Right.

[Jade Warshaw]

And everybody's dependent, you know, like, obviously there's things that can make. Create more stakes there, but for a guy like this, this. He's 28. His family will be there. You know what I mean? He's got. Listen, you got all the time in the world. The. The world is your oyster.

[John Deloney]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

I would, I would go try it in your case. Why leave anything on the table? When we used to play basketball back in the day, they'd say, leave it all on the court.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

And it's the same thing. Like, don't be looking back thinking, man, I wish I, I wonder what it would have been like if I had just fill in the blank.

[John Deloney]

And normally we take this call from folks who are 100 grand in debt, who've got kids, got other responsibilities, and we're like, whoa, whoa, slow down, slow down, slow down. This, man, you've done the exact opposite, Dustin. You've built yourself a great diving board platform to jump off from. So, yep, I, I final answer, I say go.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, go.

[John Deloney]

Go do something wild and set a deadline on it. And always feel free to come back. Jade, what's the. What's the big leap you've taken coming here? Coming here. Yeah, me too.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. I mean, all of my career choices have been a leap, but this is the most recent one.

[John Deloney]

Yeah. It was a leap to. For us to pack up from all of our friends and family and move across the country. And then it was an even crazier leap to leave everything I knew to come to this mad house.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think the hardest thing. Well, it might be different for people, but I think the community aspect, like what he said, my family's here, my friends are here. I think that's the hard thing because it takes time to build those. Those things. You can go to a job and have a salary and have a check a month later. Right. You can put money down on a house and have that instantly. But the things that really make life. Life and make you. You are the people in the relationships. And those are things that take a lot of time. And so the risk is greater because it takes time to see. Okay, if I put in and put in and put in, am I going to get the reward after however many years? Maybe you will, maybe you won't.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Right.

[John Deloney]

Well. And my wife, if I could go back seven years ago when we moved to Nashville, or eight years ago now, that. That's what I would tell myself. My wife immediately plugged in with a gang, and it's. It's been amazing. And I've been here eight years and I'm just now settling into. Hey, the power's been off for five days. I got some guys I can call, right?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

And so there is when you pack up and move and you leave family, friends, you have to be highly intentional about saying, not only do I have to get a job and not only do I have to turn the Internet and the power on, I got to get a gag. Welcome back to the Ramsey show and the Fair Winds Credit Union studio. I'm John Deloney joined by Jade Warshaw taking your calls live. Let's go to Las Vegas and talk to Steven. Hey, Stephen, what's up, man?

[Caller]

John, how you doing, buddy?

[John Deloney]

I'm doing good, brother. How can I help, man?

[Caller]

Well, so I've tried to make this brief.

I.

My wife and I were on baby step two. We're making great progress. Matter of fact, earlier today, I made the last payment on the credit card. Got it paid off.

[John Deloney]

Atta boy. Way to go, dude. We did.

[Caller]

We're getting it. Honestly, I'm loving it. And I told my wife, I don't care if I'm a multi millionaire, I'm still gonna be shopping at thrift stores. I don't see the reason to change that.

[John Deloney]

Very good.

[Caller]

Now what's going on right now is with my, it's with my mother in law. She, my wife and I've been married for several years. We have a son. I work so she can stay home and be with our son. And I'm very grateful to be able to do that. She is very, very pushy when it comes to money and she's made some really stupid financial decisions and she's gotten, she's tried to force my hand several times. When we, when we first got married, I lived in Georgia. She moved in with me, of course, after we got married.

[John Deloney]

Are you talking about your w wife or your mother in law?

[Caller]

Who's pushing My mother in law? Lord help us. Not my wife. She. So my mother in law was pushing me to sell my house at a time when the market was down and we'd have been 20 grand in the whole hat. I sold it at that time. She tried to get my wife to leave me if I refused to sell it at that time.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, boy.

[Caller]

And she's pulled stunts like that several times and recently tried to get me to buy a house. And I told her, look, the market is up. If I buy it, the market's gonna correct and we're gonna lose a ton of money.

[John Deloney]

Hold on hold on, hold on, hold.

[Jade Warshaw]

On, hold on, hold on.

[John Deloney]

This has nothing to do with markets like this has nothing to do with any of that stuff. The only thing that matters here is you continuing to give your mother in law's wisdom and her advice and her threats and her demands. All of that is about power. That's not about homeownership.

[Caller]

It is and it's. My wife is kind of a good child, and so she's always been scared to. To not do what her mom says. She's gotten a whole lot better. She's come a long way. I'm really proud of her.

[Jade Warshaw]

How does your mother in law even know the things that are going on in your house? Is your wife telling her? Is your wife talking to her about things that they shouldn't be talking about?

[Caller]

She's not said a whole lot, but she does tell her some things. And early on in our marriage, she told her too much. She's quit doing that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good.

[John Deloney]

Okay? She needs to be the one that tells her mom. Hey, mom, thank you for the wisdom and the advice, but me and my husband got this.

[Caller]

Yeah, and I guess one of the questions. Part of the problem is I told my wife, look, we're gonna have to draw some lines in the sand with your mom and there's gonna have to. If she crosses those, there's gonna be. Have to be consequences.

[John Deloney]

Wait, wait, why. Why don't you just let her mom say what she's gonna say and you'll go on about your lives.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. What's a consequence in your mind?

[Caller]

Well, it's. She's. I honestly don't know at the moment. It's just that she's caused conflict between my wife and I over this.

[John Deloney]

But your mother in law is becoming a proxy war for the real issue, which is are you and your wife aligned on how y' all want to do your life?

[Caller]

We are much more so honestly, the longer we've been married, the more aligned we are.

[John Deloney]

Okay, I want y' all to recenter back on that. My dad and I see different differences in politics. We see differences in economic. We see differences all over the place. And so when I'm around him, you know what he does? He does what a dad should do do, which is he tries to tell me what I need to know.

[Caller]

Right.

[John Deloney]

And. And I get to decide. I'm cutting you off or I can listen. And there, there's been some, Some. Some wisdom in some of the stuff he's told me over the years. In fact, there's been a ton of wisdom And a lot of it, I go, that's great, man. As for you and your house, you and my mom, y' all get to do that. But me and my house, me and my wife, we're gonna do something different. It's great. Right?

[Caller]

Right.

Fair enough. Fair enough.

[John Deloney]

And if he, if she's actively trying to divide you and your wife, that's the real issue is that your wife has to put her foot down on that because that's her mom. Right. And if she won't, then you and your wife have an issue, not you and your mother in law.

[Caller]

And you know, we've come along like, like I said, we don't really have as much, near as much of an issue anymore. I mean, my wife is.

[John Deloney]

Oh, whoops. Go ahead, brother. Sorry, man.

[Caller]

No, sorry. My wife has kind of come into her own quite a bit. She was very scared to make her mom mad when we first got married. She's no longer that way.

[John Deloney]

Sure. And that's common. That's common. Common.

[Jade Warshaw]

So it's gotten better. But something is, it's, even though it's gotten better, you're still pushed to the point of calling a radio show.

[John Deloney]

Yeah. Your mom, your, your mother in law can't force you to do anything legally, morally, ethically. Spirit like you, you can't be, you can't feel forced.

[Caller]

Right.

[John Deloney]

You can just hang up the phone.

[Caller]

Right. Fair enough. I, I, I think that's the place to, I think that's where we need to start. We're working on life's goals and, and we're gonna homeschool our son. And I mean, we're very old school, traditional Christians, conservatives and great.

[John Deloney]

I mean, but it only matters if you and your wife are aligned on this. And then when y' all get aligned on it, then y' all decide together who gets a vote.

[Caller]

Right. And my position is if you're not paying the bills, you don't get a vote.

[Jade Warshaw]

I mean, what does that mean.

[Caller]

If you're not part of our household? I should clarify that because my wife stays home with my, that's what I was thinking.

[Jade Warshaw]

Ok. Okay.

[Caller]

She clearly gets the token. I mean, because she's working regardless.

[John Deloney]

Well, listen, and for whatever it's worth, I've got other men and women in my life who don't pay my bills, that I've given permission to speak into my life. If they see me acting in a way or saying things that they're like, hey, that's not you, or you're about to do something stupid with your money, like I'VE given them permission. I'm not just going to like Lone Ranger this thing. That's how people, like, just ride their horse off the cliff. But all I have to say is first been, you can't do that until you and your wife are aligned on who we are going to be.

[Caller]

That's. That's good advice. I mean, our. Our pastor's been a great help to us, and I've been forever grateful for his wisdom. I've been grateful for you guys wisdom because following the baby steps, I'm. I'm really loving it.

[John Deloney]

Well, that's awesome. But, but, but I think personally, and Dave and I have talked about this over dinner before, multiple times. I think the magic of the baby steps is in married couples, it's a way to force alignment or a ways to not force alignment, but to force discussions about alignment. And when a couple gets aligned, there's just no stopping them. But if one of y' all is all aligned on your values and you're dragging somebody else along on these baby steps and their. And their mother keeps calling to pull you off, and it becomes even a conversation that tells me you and your wife aren't fully aligned on where are we going and who are we going to be? And then who gets a vote into the steps we're taking?

[Caller]

You give me some things to think about.

[John Deloney]

Is that fair?

[Caller]

And.

No, it's very fair. You give me some things to think about. Actually, it's.

[John Deloney]

Can I tell you a way to do this? Because I have a feeling you're going to go home and tell your wife you're not aligned with me, and that would be the wrong way. Not at all.

[Jade Warshaw]

All.

[Caller]

Not at all. Absolutely.

[John Deloney]

Here's what I want you to do. I want you, not her. I want you to call somebody to watch your son for about three or four hours one Saturday morning. You set it up, and then you take your wife and say, I want us to have a dreaming retreat. We're into this baby. We're into this baby steps thing. We're paying off our debts, but we started sprinting before we really counted the cost of how far we're going to run here. Who do we want to be? And you'll dream about what you want your house to look like, what town you want to live in as a part of that. We're going to dream about who gets a vote in our life. And you'll come away from that retreat totally unified. You get what I'm saying?

[Jade Warshaw]

I do.

[Caller]

I love it. My wife will love that, too.

[John Deloney]

Awesome. Excellent. My brother deciding the identity first. I'm going to be the kind of person who takes care of themselves. I'm going to be the kind of person doesn't borrow money. Then I'm going to reverse engineer goals and steps that allow me to get to that identity, not just take off sprinting to follow the next goal. Right. If you chase an identity with action, you'll get there. Okay, picture this. You sit down to do your taxes, but instead of stressing out, you're actually ahead of the game and filing with an affordable software that makes your computer shoot confetti when you're done. Okay, not that last part, but Ramsey SmartTax does make filing easy and doesn't make your bank account cry. Ramsey SmartTax is 100% accurate software that's honest about its pricing and is backed by a company who's been in the business for over 50 years. So go to ramseysolutions.com smarttax to take advantage of early bird pricing and stress free filing. That's ramseysolutions.com smarttax. Hey Catherine, what's up?

[Caller]

Hi.

[John Deloney]

What's going on?

[Caller]

Hi. I am a single mom and my child support ended abruptly last month and I just had, I have a mortgage and I have $77,000 in a HELOC that I just opened and I'm just trying to figure out how to get everything paid, the debt and everything. It's just very overwhelming. I knew my child support would end probably June. I was looking for part time jobs to compensate for the loss, but this was just very unexpected and I just have a lot of stress.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much was it?

[Caller]

The child support was 900amonth. That was a big amount for one kid or two or it was for two. However, he didn't end it when my son turned 18 and I don't know why.

[Jade Warshaw]

The judge or your, the judge or your ex?

[Caller]

The ex husband.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's, what's the court order.

[Caller]

Tell their 18.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so can you fight this if he is choosing not too early? Like what's the, what's the situation surrounding him not paying until 18?

[Caller]

I don't know. His current wife does not allow him to talk to me.

[John Deloney]

My guess is he kept paying on your other child and there was a net dollar amount.

[Caller]

Yeah, possibly once he crossed that net.

[John Deloney]

Dollar amount threshold, it stopped.

[Caller]

Okay.

[John Deloney]

That'd be my guess. Have you contacted an attorney?

[Caller]

I actually went to the child support office building and they said because she's still in high school, under Maryland law he cannot just cut the child support So I had to get an official document from the school and provide it. But for right now, I'm out that extra $900 a month with all these other bills coming in.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, okay, I, I have a feeling, don't get me wrong, he should pay for the, the kids, but I have a feeling there's a lot more that's part of this equation that's making this even tougher. You mentioned a $77,000 HELOC. Can you tell me a little bit more about your personal finance, what you're earning, how old the kids are, all of that stuff.

[Caller]

Stuff? Yeah, sure. My, my kids are 18 and 24. Only the 18 year old lives at home. I own my house. I owe 200 and the first mortgage and 77 on the HELOC.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

I have a $10,000 personal loan I'm paying on. I have a car payment. I owe, I think $20,000 still on my car. I do have $4,700 in savings, so that's good. What do you do for a living? I am a CNA certified nursing assistant.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. What does that bring you in every month?

[Caller]

About 3200.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And how much is your mortgage again?

[Caller]

My mortgage is 1291.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[John Deloney]

Plus the, plus the HELOC?

[Caller]

Yeah. Then the HELOC is 490.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, mama. That's what's getting you.

[John Deloney]

Why did you take out a $77,000 HELOC?

[Caller]

Because I had a credit card debt and the minimum payments were getting up to like 300 of 350amonth.

[John Deloney]

So you traded 350amonth for 490amonth?

[Caller]

Month. Well that, I mean that was just one credit card.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

So overall it was like almost $1,000 in minimum payments.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So we can't, we can't really go back, but the logic there was flawed is what John is trying to tell you. Because now we're paying 1800 bucks a month to live where we were once paying 1,291. And it was way more reasonable with your income. Income. Oh, girly, I think that you put yourself in a really tough spot because this is now your home that's on the line. And it is now half of your income. More than half of your income. So for that reason, unless you see your income going up drastically here soon, you put your house on the line because you, you can't have your, your, your mortgage can't be 50% of your take home pay, pay.

[John Deloney]

How much equity do you have in this house?

[Caller]

Probably 95,000.

[John Deloney]

Oh, so you Barely have enough to even clear the heloc.

[Caller]

Sheesh.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, here's. Here's the options. I'm going to just shoot you straight. Option one is you figure out a way to increase your income drastically. Because here's the thing. Your child's 18. Even if the child support lasted until June, it was still gonna go away, which means by June, you still would have been in the same situation with your income. So while I wish that you were still getting that money, in the grand scheme of it, it's kind of neither here nor there. It was buying you a little bit of time here. So unless we can figure out a path to get your income up very, very much, you might have to sell this house. And when you would sell it, what you would do is pay off the $77,000 HELOC and maybe have a little bit left to clear out some of this personal loan, possibly all of it. It just depends on what the fees are. And then what you could turn around and do is sell your car and use the 4700 you have saved and buy a cash beater, and you're completely square.

[John Deloney]

And you're debt free. And you're debt free.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're debt free, but you're starting from scratch, and you're rebuilding something really new and something really awesome. And I just told you a lot. I just wrecked. I just. I realized what I did. And I don't expect you to go.

[John Deloney]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

I expect you to go home and sob.

[John Deloney]

It's hard.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

But, I mean, when was the divorce?

[Caller]

Oh, 2010.

[John Deloney]

Okay. It sounds like there's been some sort of. I don't say punting, but some sort of kind of bending around reality that over the last, what, 16 years, you've racked up $75,000 in credit cards, bought a car you couldn't afford, tried to keep this house together for the kid. You get what I'm saying? Like, I get it. And, man, I talked to so many folks who've been divorced and are trying to. To hang on to what was and trying to give the kids a good life. And I. All that stuff is admirable and noble, but you just reached a line where, like, the math isn't working for you anymore. You have a. You have a big math problem.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

Are you working full time?

[Caller]

Yes.

[John Deloney]

Okay. Yeah. I guess the other opportunity, like, the other option, like Jade said, is you just try to hang on to everything, and you decide for the next three to five years, you're going to work every overtime shift, you're going to Work Saturdays, Sundays, and you're just going to live that life.

[Jade Warshaw]

And that's going to be. That's a very tough life, sustainability wise, because even if you clear out all this debt, then you would be tackling the mortgage and you're still at 50%. So the margin that you have to put towards this debt, I mean, you'd have to go crazy with overtime and you'd have to do it for quite a while. So just putting that, putting that out there, if you're up for it, more power to you. But it's a journey.

[Caller]

Right, I understand. Yeah.

[John Deloney]

I hate this for you.

[Caller]

It is what it is, I think.

[John Deloney]

Yeah. Have you sat down with your kids and just kind of been honest about here's my financial position.

[Caller]

Yes. I mean, the one that lives with me.

[John Deloney]

Yeah, sure. Okay. Yeah, I mean that. Go ahead.

[Jade Warshaw]

I was gonna say there's part of it. It's a perspective thing. Obviously. I, the suggestions I gave are neither fun, but there's part of that. I, I kind of like the idea of a fresh start.

[John Deloney]

I love that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Could be really a great adventure for you and scary, but also really, really great. The, the, the debt is gone, the mistakes are gone, the kids are gone, and you're just now out here living your best life. That's pretty awesome.

[John Deloney]

Well, and I can say my wife and I did very similar. We sold the house, sold stuff, moved into a dorm. You've made similar sacrifices. And it looked at the time to. My friends and community were crazy and. But it was a path to find freedom and it was the fastest path I could get to. And at that point I was more interested in how fast do I. What's, what's the, what's the fastest way to get to between two lines? Right. I'm just going to fly.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's. And it's not taking a step backwards. It's taking many, many steps very quickly.

[John Deloney]

Forward to get to service. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's a tough pill to swallow, but that's the mathematical reality.

[Caller]

Foreign.

[John Deloney]

Welcome to 2026. Last year is officially in the rear view and you're fired up to finally make some changes with your money. New year, new goals, we love it. But let's be honest, old you said the exact same thing last January and the January before that. And before you know it, those money goals fizzle out faster than the fleeting flavor of Lacroix. So here's the truth. New Year motivation only gets you so far. You need an actual plan. And the good news is you don't have to figure it out on your own. Everydollar builds a personalized plan based on your goals and your real life. And it actually coaches you to stick with it. Plus, the EveryDollar app will help you find extra money hiding in your budget. And trust me, there's always something hiding. The average person finds $3015 in the first 15 minutes. That's basically like giving yourself a raise and a much happier new year year. So don't let future you down. Make them proud. Go download the Every dollar budget app and start for free Right now. Everyone needs insurance. But it can be hard trying to find pros who aren't just looking to make a buck. And it's hard to find agents who know what they're talking about. Ramsey Trust trusted insurance pros are vetted and coached to make sure they're market experts who have your best interests at heart. Go to ramseysolutions.com coverage to find the type of insurance you're looking for and connect with a Ramsey trusted agent. Let's go out to Phoenix and talk to Bridget. Hey, Bridget. What's up?

[Caller]

Hello. Thank you for taking my call.

[John Deloney]

Of course. Thanks for calling. How can we help?

[Caller]

I'm wondering how I should go about paying for a new AC unit for our house. We don't have any cash to pay for it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Alrighty. Tell us what money you do have. What are you earning every single month?

[Caller]

My husband makes $5,939 a month after taxes, before insurance.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

I am a stay at home mom.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And there's no. There's zero money saved is what you said.

[Caller]

Said we have $1,800.

[Jade Warshaw]

1,800.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. What's it going to cost to get the new ac?

[Caller]

We got two opinions. One smaller business guy said it was going to cost about $10,000. And then a more well known business in our area said it would be about 15,000, but that they could offer rebates that could get us down to about 12.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

But I've heard. I'm sorry, I've. I've heard that the rebates can be difficult to get.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sure. So is it completely out? Is it completely dead? You're sitting there in the cold.

[Caller]

It's not completely dead. It's our. It's our air conditioning unit.

[John Deloney]

Is there a possibility you can let it ride for three months since we're in the middle of winter?

[Caller]

There is a possibility, yes. But of course, in. In Phoenix, in the summer, demand gets a little bit higher. The prices of things go up. We wanted to get Ahead of it.

[John Deloney]

Yeah, but. But here's the thing.

[Caller]

It got hot and we need to turn it on.

[John Deloney]

I get that you just don't have the money for it.

[Caller]

Yes.

[John Deloney]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

But there could be time to save money and get it done before June or before May hits.

[Caller]

I am currently using the EveryDollar app and I am in the red. I have only used everydollar app this month. Prior to that, I was budgeting in a book for about six months and I wasn't really getting anywhere.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, tell me about being in the red. What are you seeing that is the issue.

[Caller]

We have a car payment and credit card debt, a little bit of medical debt, and a little bit of private student loan.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

Right now it's about 1,400 in debt a month.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's. That's minimums.

[Caller]

Yeah, that's all minimums.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And then how much is your mortgage or your rent or whatever?

[Caller]

Eleven hundred. But my husband pays an extra $100 on that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So that's definitely not the problem. So we've got about $2,500 here. Tell me where else is the problem? Because we've got a great mortgage. We've got minimums covered. Where is the other 2,600 going?

[Caller]

We're spending about 850 on groceries a month. There's six of us, two adults, four children.

[Jade Warshaw]

Great.

[Caller]

Three. Two of them are teenagers. One of them is in elementary school. Four year old.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yep. I think that's great. So now we're down to 1800. Do you see what I'm doing here? I'm trying to. I'm trying to pinpoint the issue. There's something here. Do you have daycare?

[Caller]

No daycare.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. There's something here that's eating your lunch. You'll be able to see it in every dollar. But right now you're kind of in a point of a little beyond four walls. It's like, okay, I've got to make sure I'm paying the minimums on everything. Obviously I keep food on the table. Obviously I keep the mor mortgage covered. We just covered that. Unless there's some medical thing or a lot of insurance that I don't know about. My goal right now would be a little bit of a storm mode. And I'm not trying to pay anything extra. I'm just trying to figure out what's putting me in the red and is it something that I can tweak and change because we have a countdown clock that's set for like May 1st that we've got to get to. So not only do I have to figure out what's putting us in the red now, the next thing is, okay, where can we bring in more money? Is it something that you can pick up work? Is it something that your husband can pick up work? Let's take some time and brainstorm that out.

[Caller]

Yeah. We are spending about $820 a month in insurance premiums.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And my husband, he is a, an executive sous chef. He works from 8am to 10pm, five to six days a week. He could not pick up anything. I could try to do something. Previously my job, I was cooking as well.

[Jade Warshaw]

Got it.

[Caller]

And now I just, I have to have the flexibility to drop off all the kids at school and pick up all the kids. How many kids really? Four. Three of them are in school and I have my four year old at home.

[Jade Warshaw]

Four year olds at home. Gonna go to school soon for kindergarten, I'm guessing, so. So back to the budget. I'm still having $980 that I'm seeing that's unaccounted for and it's probably going here or there. But that's what I want. I want you to get to the point and you got to of what is like necessity because you guys are in a necessity mode. If it ain't a necessity. Clocking it out of the budget because you can't afford it. You need whatever money you can find that you're going to add together with this 1800 that you already have saved, saved to start to be able to get closer to this $10,000 mark. So it's reverse engineering this math and saying, okay, what do we need to bring in to get $10,000? Really another $8,000 by May. And that's the math problem.

[John Deloney]

And here's the other reality. If you went out today and bought borrowed 10 grand to put this in according to your budget that you've done on every dollar, you wouldn't be able to make that minimum payment. Payment.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh yeah, you'd be now $500 more in the red.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

And so I, I would draw a really firm line and say we're not going to borrow money. What must be true. And by the way, like your husband works like crazy. Kudos to him. It might be for three months for his family. He's got to get up on Sundays and go do, go throw boxes somewhere.

[Caller]

Okay.

[John Deloney]

Or get up in the morning after sleeping for a few hours and go. I don't know what else, but maybe.

[Jade Warshaw]

It'S in the cars. Tell me about your cars.

[John Deloney]

Can you sell that car with a.

[Caller]

Car payment we have, well, we have one four like five seater car. That is what he takes to work, that's paid off and then the one that fits all of us is the one we make the car payment on. That's $686 a month.

[Jade Warshaw]

Huh. What's the total amount you owe on it?

[Caller]

21,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Do you know what it's worth?

[Caller]

I Kelly blue booked it this morning, private party. It was sitting at around 24,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, what about the five seater, what's that worth?

[Caller]

That I have had for a lot of years. It's a 2011, probably only worth 2000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Okay. I think John's right. I think there's going to be some strong discomfort that's going to take place here in the next couple of months. But it's going to be for great gain because to your point, you couldn't afford a debt payment even if you wanted to.

[Caller]

Yeah. The one AC company, the bigger company said that they had a like 18 month, 0% interest financing option. But the smaller, the smaller company doesn't still payment.

[Jade Warshaw]

Here's what I want you to do.

[Caller]

Do.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's still a payment. It doesn't matter if there's no nothing gaining on it. It's still a payment. What I want you to do, I want you to spend, I want you to swap where your brain power is going because right now your brain power is going on what types of payment plans they're offering, what types of debt there could be. What types? Right. I want you to switch all that power and go to. Okay, what can I do? What can I offer myself? What can my husband offer our family in terms of what work, what can I do? You see what I'm saying? Just shift all that over. Because John is right. If you don't take debt off the table, I guarantee you're going to do it.

[John Deloney]

And by the way, if many of those programs that are 18 months, no interest, if you don't pay it off in 18 months, all of that back interest is added to the loan.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[Caller]

And so I do have. I'm sorry, go ahead.

[John Deloney]

No, you go ahead.

[Caller]

We are getting $10,000 in tax taxes back this year. I did a, like a mock okay online.

[Jade Warshaw]

Great.

[Caller]

Should we use that to do it? Otherwise my husband wanted to open a heloc.

[Jade Warshaw]

What?

[John Deloney]

Don't put your house on the block. You have four kids. Please don't put your house on the block.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[John Deloney]

No, that's what I thought.

[Jade Warshaw]

You use what? Girl, you should have told us that from the beginning now.

[John Deloney]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Use that money. Use that money. Okay.

[Caller]

All right, we'll do that.

[John Deloney]

Not a penny more.

[Caller]

Okay.

[John Deloney]

Don't borrow money.

[Caller]

Understood? Okay. Yeah, we're. We're trying not to. Absolutely.

[Narrator/Announcer]

If you've been paying off debt, working the plan, and have reached baby step four or beyond, you've done the hardest part. Now it's time to celebrate. The Live like no one Else Cruise is back March 14 through 21, 2027. Join all the Ramsey personalities and me as we sail to Half Moon Key, Cozumel, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman cabins sold out last time. And they will again lock in yours with a $600 deposit at ramseysolutions.com events. That's ramseysolutions.com events.

[Caller]

Foreign.

[John Deloney]

Of the day is Hebrews 10:35, 36. So do not throw away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. Y' all don't know this, but producer James Childs is one of the hugest Limp Bizkit fans of all time. And in honor of his him, today's quote is from one of his heroes, Fred Durst. Fred Durst says, to walk around with an ego is a bad thing. To have confidence in yourself is a great thing. Shout out Fred. And shout out James, the biggest Limp Bizkit fan I know. Let's go out to Detroit, Michigan, and talk to Zayn. Hey, Zayn. What's up, man?

[Caller]

How you doing?

[John Deloney]

We're doing all right, brother. What's up with you?

[Caller]

So I just. A little backstory. I was an athlete, and then so I left school to pursue a job that I thought was going to be my career. Turned out it wasn't for me, and I got into a little accident, and I'm 24 right now, and I got a $1.2 million case settlement. I don't have much debt, not many expenses. I'm not working anymore. I'm kind of just floating around. I don't have a place to really stay, so I'm kind of just staying in my car for a while. The first check is supposed to be over six years. The first check is coming in a couple days, and I'm not really sure what to do with it.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much will it be?

[Caller]

1.2 million.

[Jade Warshaw]

The first check. I thought you said the 1.2 million is over six years.

[Caller]

Yeah. 200,000 for six years.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. 200,000. It just. Okay. Wow. Okay, so tell me more about. Tell me More about what you were doing. Tell me more about why you don't have anyone around you and why you're kind of living in your.

[John Deloney]

In your car.

[Caller]

Yeah, I was. I was living with my girlfriend, and then I lost my job. I mean, I. I was an accountant, and I just didn't enjoy it, so I left that, and I guess I just.

[John Deloney]

You left it with no other job?

[Caller]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I found out about the case, and I just. I kind of just walked out. Bad decision by me. I drove down to Phoenix. Just also wasn't for me. And so now I'm back in Detroit. I have actually a job interview coming up in a couple days, too, so I'm gonna take that more seriously. I just. I just don't know where to start. Like, do I get a house? Do I.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. How are you feeling? Are you feeling great, or are you feeling like a little down in the dumps?

[Caller]

I'm scared. I mean, I have no idea what I'm doing, what my purpose is, where I'm going in life. And then all of a sudden, I get a big sum of money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[John Deloney]

Sometimes this sum of money is like the legal. The way they say this, legally, is to make you whole. Are you going to have ongoing medical procedures or issues down the road?

[Caller]

Road?

No.

[John Deloney]

Okay. So they just wrote you a check that said, basically, it's like, our bad. Here you go.

[Caller]

Yep.

[John Deloney]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow.

[John Deloney]

Okay. And how old are you, man?

[Caller]

24.

[John Deloney]

You said you were an athlete for a while. Tell me about that.

[Caller]

I played soccer at Purdue.

[John Deloney]

Okay.

[Caller]

And then I. I left that. I went to Detroit Mercy, and then I had a pretty good job at Big Boy, the restaurant corporate. And I was. I was doing pretty well doing the accounting for them, but I was just bored out of my mind.

[John Deloney]

Okay. So I think I. I think if I'm totally honest with you, the chances of this money, you look up in six years, and you have. You're right. Where you are right now, statistically speaking, is very high. So I want to applaud you. I'd hug you if you were standing in front of me. I want to applaud you for reaching out to get wisdom. Like, it.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Take.

[John Deloney]

It takes a lot of wisdom to say, hey, I've screwed up.

[Jade Warshaw]

Up.

[John Deloney]

I was an athlete my whole life, and I've been floundering with who I am now that I don't have that kind of structure. I thought, I want to do this corporate thing. That wasn't for me. I screwed that up, too. Like, you're wise beyond your Year. So I want to applaud you.

[Caller]

Okay, thank you.

[John Deloney]

But I also hear that not, I'm not saying this as a diagnosis, but I hear that underlying, I don't say depression, but dude, you're just running low right now now.

[Caller]

And I'm just trying.

[John Deloney]

Yeah, I, I, I, I think you're worth sitting calling somebody in the local Detroit area and don't tell any of your buddies. You don't have to run your mouth about it, but just go sit down with a counselor and say hey, I just want to talk through some stuff. Yeah, it sounds like you're carrying a lot of weight.

[Caller]

Yeah. And I'm just not really sure what the next step is. Years with my life, I guess.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. I, I think this money hit at a time where there's honestly more important things to deal with. If I were you, just really quickly because I, I want John to talk more about this, but if you have a little bit of debt, go ahead and pay it off with this $200,000. You gotta get yourself an apartment. This is not the time to think about buying a house or anything.

[John Deloney]

Please don't buy a house.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, yeah, just, just get yourself an apartment near where you do life and keep it modest and then just park the rest of it in a high yield savings for right now. The Next check for 200,000, when will you receive that?

[Caller]

Next year? February.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so that's great. This is, you're not receiving this. Oh boy. You're receiving a lot of money. But it could be, it could be worse. If you were getting huge chunks, it could be a lot of damage done. But with this 200,000, treat it like, for now, treat it like this is the money that you live off for the entire year basically until you can figure out what your life is. And John and I love you going.

[John Deloney]

To get a job. I think you having something to wake up and go to every day, even if it's boring, is a really good exercise for you right now. I would put a cap, this is just me, this is old me talking to 24 year old me. I would put a cap and say I'm gonna buy a car for 20 grand or less.

[Caller]

Less.

Okay.

[John Deloney]

Because you're going to want to go out. You're gonna have $200,000 and you're gonna want to go out. You're gonna ask a couple of your buddies and you're gonna end up with a ninety thousand dollar car that will depreciate, you know, off a cliff. Right. But if you go buy a $20,000, car, you get yourself a two bedroom apartment. That's nice, right? And then you park the rest of that money like Jade said, and you go get a job and you go talk to a counselor and start squaring up. Who am I going to be? What kind of man do I want to become over time? And what steps do I need to take to do that? Do, to, I need to go back to school, Do I need to go learn a trade? Like, who do I want to become? And I think you got to dig into some of those answers at the same time. You're living life, you're working a job, you're going out, you're meeting friends, you're dating again. Like you're, you're, you're living this life. And what you'll have that most people don't is a hundred and seventy five thousand dollars cushion in a high yield savings account that nobody knows about.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right. And I'll give you one better, because I don't want to be a complete buzzkill on, on the fact that you've got a little bit of money coming in here. Once you secure a job and it's the job that you think you're going to work for a while, you can take, let's say you secure a job, you're making, I don't know, $120,000 a year, then you can say I'm going to take 60,000 and I'm going to buy myself a car in cash.

[John Deloney]

Yes.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

You know what I'm saying? And that way you've done the fun thing, but for the most part, this is, this is your legacy money. Like you can blow 1.2 million in a hot second. You can blow $200,000 a year in a hot second if you're not smart with it.

[John Deloney]

So, and everyone around you, listen to me, everyone around you is going to tell you to buy a house, buy a car or two, to always pick up the tab. When y' all go out to a restaurant to buy crypto to, they're gonna, everyone's gonna have an opinion. If I got a job, if you get a job and you qualify for it, I'd go, I'd just go ahead and fill up your Roth IRA for the, I mean, you can do some really smart stuff off. You can sit down with a smartvestor pro too. But I would put that money in High Yield savings account and start to square up the question, who am I going to be? What kind of man am I going to be? And because you have found yourself alone right Now I want you to go sit down with a professional. I have done it, and it made tremendous difference in my life. And many of the men that I trust have gone to sit with a counselor, too. I just think that's where you're at right now, brother, because I can hear your voice.

[Caller]

Yeah, it's a blessing, but it's also scary.

[John Deloney]

Yeah, it's awesome. But you're. The fact that your first thought was, I'm going to reach out and talk to a coach first tells me that you're wise. You're wise beyond your years, brother. So I applaud you.

[Caller]

Thank you. There's nobody better. I've been listening to you guys for a while now.

[John Deloney]

That's awesome. Will you make. Will you make Jade and I a commitment?

[Caller]

Yes.

[John Deloney]

You'll. By March 1st, you'll be debt free. You'll have yourself a nice, but not crazy car, and you'll have yourself an apartment.

[Caller]

Yeah, I promise.

[John Deloney]

And you promise you'll have the rest of that in the High Yield savings account and you won't tell any of your other friends this money's coming? Coming.

[Caller]

I promise.

[John Deloney]

Excellent. Now you're on the path, brother. Proud of you, dude. Jade, I don't want to say I'm proud. Like, he got in a wreck and got money or got an accident, but.

[Jade Warshaw]

He'S okay, so that's good.

[John Deloney]

Yeah, I'm glad he's okay, and I'm glad that he's wise and said okay. My life just changed and I don't think I've got the mental or emotional capacity for it. And reach out for help.

[Caller]

Good.

[John Deloney]

If you need to talk to somebody, go talk to somebody. Love you guys.

[Caller]

Bye, Sam.