It’s Time To Go Scorched Earth on Your Debt!

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ramsey Show – “It’s Time To Go Scorched Earth on Your Debt!”

In this compelling episode of The Ramsey Show, host George Camel and co-host Jade Warshaw delve deep into the transformative journey of eliminating debt through aggressive strategies. Emphasizing the "scorched earth" approach, they provide listeners with actionable advice to conquer their financial burdens, irrespective of past mistakes. Through real-life caller stories, expert insights, and motivational success tales, the episode serves as a beacon for anyone striving to achieve financial freedom.

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1. Jackie from Jersey: Navigating Family Financial Support

Situation: Jackie reached out seeking guidance on helping her sister secure a mortgage after their mother's passing. Her sister, having been the primary caretaker, lacked a steady income, making traditional mortgage approval challenging. Jackie's husband was hesitant to co-sign, fearing long-term financial implications.

Advice Provided: Jade Warshaw and George Camel emphasized the risks of co-signing at an older age, highlighting potential constraints on retirement. They advised exploring temporary housing solutions, such as allowing her sister to stay until she gains financial footing, rather than intertwining finances by co-signing a mortgage.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [02:42]: “...you are taking on this mortgage for yourself. It's going to stifle your ability to retire because you're going to have to pay this entire mortgage.”
• Jade Warshaw [06:49]: “She needs to learn how to become independent...”

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2. Dennis from New York: Strategic Investing Post-Emergency Fund

Situation: Dennis, a new participant in the Ramsey program, was working on his emergency fund (Baby Step Three) and sought advice on investing excess savings earmarked for a future down payment on a home.

Advice Provided: With a five-year timeline for purchasing a home, George recommended investing the surplus in low-risk options like index or mutual funds to leverage potential growth. Jade highlighted the disparity in income versus housing costs in high-priced areas like New York City, advising Dennis to aim for a significant annual saving target to amass a substantial down payment.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [12:00]: “...you can invest it in something like an index fund, mutual fund to help that money grow at a much higher rate than a high yield savings account.”
• Jade Warshaw [13:34]: “$600,000 house but you make $60k.”

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3. Tom from Seattle: Assisting a Son's Career Transition Without Adding Debt

Situation: Tom called in concern about financing his son's pursuit of an engineering degree required by his employer for career advancement. With Tom and his wife approaching retirement, he grappled with how much financial support to provide without jeopardizing their own financial stability.

Advice Provided: Jade Warshaw encouraged clear communication and setting boundaries on financial assistance, suggesting they donate a portion rather than funding the entire endeavor. George Camel highlighted the importance of ensuring that the son remains financially independent and cautioned against enabling perpetual dependence.

Notable Quotes:

• Jade Warshaw [15:48]: “...debt is. No, is not on the table and it shouldn't be on the table for you.”
• George Camel [07:16]: “Debt free is about making progress with your marriage and your money.”

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4. Linda from Madison, Wisconsin: Overcoming Debt Amid Health Challenges

Situation: Linda, a 58-year-old veterinarian, shared her struggle with managing debt after being diagnosed with uterine cancer and transitioning to early retirement with limited savings. She faced substantial medical bills and credit card debt.

Advice Provided: George Camel advised Linda to use her substantial savings to eliminate her debt immediately, thereby freeing up monthly cash flow. Both hosts emphasized the mental and physical relief of being debt-free and encouraged maintaining a strict budget post-debt repayment to rebuild savings and invest for the future.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [34:26]: “So you could pay off all of your debt today using that money.”
• Jade Warshaw [38:34]: “You've got paid for cars. You've actually accomplished quite a bit.”

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5. Brooks and Shannon from Dillsburg, Pennsylvania: A Six-Month Debt-Free Victory

Situation: Brooks and Shannon celebrated their remarkable achievement of paying off $145,000 in debt within six months. Their journey included eliminating business-related debt from a food truck and a mortgage, accelerated by disciplined budgeting and multiple income streams.

Advice Provided: Their story underscored the effectiveness of the "scorched earth" approach—focusing all available resources on debt repayment. The hosts commended their tenacity and strategic planning, illustrating how focused effort can lead to swift financial liberation.

Notable Quotes:

• Brooks [63:09]: “We paid $145,000 in six months...”
• Jade Warshaw [64:50]: “...if you buy a house before you can really afford it, you're not going to be thinking about equity.”

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6. MacKenzie from Pittsburgh: Balancing Debt Repayment with Family and Finances

Situation: MacKenzie sought advice on whether to sell her current home to expedite debt repayment, considering relocating to a more desirable area. With a substantial mortgage and other debts, she pondered leveraging home equity to manage financial obligations.

Advice Provided: Jade and George debated the necessity of selling the home, suggesting that with MacKenzie's substantial income, aggressive debt repayment without divesting assets might be more beneficial. They emphasized prioritizing mortgage and high-interest debt while planning for future relocations post-debt elimination.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [43:05]: “...it’s going to take you one year longer. If you sell the house, it'll take you one year shorter.”
• Jade Warshaw [45:57]: “...you have a great income and I want you to see that it's going to cause a level of discomfort to do this.”

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7. Tate from Bellingham, Washington: Early Financial Planning vs. Market Challenges

Situation: Recently graduated Tate discussed his desire to purchase a home in a high-cost area, feeling pressured by societal expectations to buy rather than rent at his age.

Advice Provided: Jade and George advocated for patience, emphasizing that waiting to purchase a home until financially ready is prudent. They highlighted the importance of building a robust financial foundation through saving and maintaining flexibility in life choices without succumbing to external pressures.

Notable Quotes:

• Jade Warshaw [79:08]: “...life is a journey... enjoy the ride.”
• George Camel [81:09]: “...they’re trying to do this in their two years…”

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8. Tax Strategies Segment: Maximizing Financial Efficiency

In addition to caller interactions, the hosts provided a succinct segment on tax optimization strategies aimed at reducing tax liabilities before the year's end:

1. Adjust Paycheck Withholding: Aim to minimize tax refunds by aligning with actual tax obligations, thereby retaining more monthly income.
2. Defer Income: Postpone income recognition to the following year when possible to reduce current taxable income.
3. Maximize Retirement Contributions: Increase contributions to traditional 401(k)s and IRAs to benefit from pre-tax deductions.
4. Understand RMDs: For those over 73, ensure compliance with Required Minimum Distributions to avoid penalties.
5. Utilize Gift Tax Exclusions: Strategically gift money within annual exclusion limits to support loved ones without incurring taxes.
6. Leverage Tax Deductions and Credits: Optimize deductions by pre-paying property taxes or charitable contributions where applicable.
7. Consult a Tax Professional: Engage with trusted tax advisors to navigate complex tax landscapes effectively.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [53:03]: “If you're getting like we get our three grand refund every year...”
• Jade Warshaw [56:33]: “...convert your retirement accounts to Roth has its tax advantages.”

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9. Ramsey Success Stories: Celebrating Financial Triumphs

The episode concluded with inspirational stories from Ramsey graduates who achieved debt freedom through unwavering commitment and strategic financial planning. These narratives served as powerful testimonials to the efficacy of the Ramsey method, motivating listeners to embark on their own journey toward financial liberation.

Notable Quotes:

• Tom [64:50]: “We did not use insurance money to pay off the mortgage. The insurance money went to rebuild the house.”
• George Camel [72:15]: “There’s a lot of firsts in this debt free screen.”

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Conclusion

The Ramsey Show episode “It’s Time To Go Scorched Earth on Your Debt!” masterfully interweaves listener stories with expert advice, illustrating that with determination and the right strategies, debt can be decisively eliminated. Whether grappling with personal loans, supporting family members, or overcoming unforeseen financial setbacks, George Camel and Jade Warshaw provide a roadmap to financial sovereignty, inspiring listeners to take bold steps toward a debt-free life.

Transcript

[George Camel]

Live from Ramsey Network, it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create amazing relationships. I'm Ramsey personality George Camel joined by Jade Warshaw, best selling author and we are here to help you take the right next step for your life and your money. So give us a call at 888-825-5225 and we'll try to get you the help and hope that you need. Jackie's going to kick us off in New York City. What's going on? Jackie?

[Jackie]

Hi there. Hi everyone.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's going on?

[Jackie]

Well, I would love to be able to help my sister obtain a mortgage. Since the death of my mom in August, she finds herself in a position of needing a place to live. I want her to move very close to me in the same town hopefully. And unfortunately, because she was my mother's caretaker for the last six years, she did not have an income.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Jackie]

My husband does not want to co sign on a mortgage for her.

[Jade Warshaw]

Why not?

[Jackie]

Having a hard time with that when.

[Jade Warshaw]

He told you that. What did he tell you?

[Jackie]

He told me, I'm 62 years old. We just paid off our own home. I do not want my name on another mortgage for the rest of my life. I'm having a hard time with that as a reason because it's. It most likely would be a temporary situation.

[George Camel]

What do you mean temporary?

[Jackie]

Well, I would assume that once my sister is settled and with a job that she would be able to take over the mortgage, I guess refinancing and I guess getting his name off of that mortgage.

[Jade Warshaw]

How old is your sister? No, you're 62. How old is she?

[Jackie]

I am actually 60. She is going to be 62 in February.

[Jade Warshaw]

Gotcha.

[George Camel]

Does she have income now?

[Jackie]

She has a very small pension that she's collecting on. She started that early because of leaving her latest job.

[George Camel]

And she have any money to her name?

[Jackie]

No.

[George Camel]

Jackie, do you see the writing on the wall that your husband sees? You are taking on this mortgage for yourself. It's going to stifle your ability to retire because you're going to have to pay this entire mortgage.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Jackie, first off, I'm sorry that you lost your mom. You. It says on the screen that you live in New York. What does it cost? I'm just trying to get my head around the numbers.

[Jackie]

I'm sorry, I actually don't live in New York. New York would be the biggest city closest to me. That was the question.

[Jade Warshaw]

So where you live? Where you live?

[Jackie]

Jersey.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And what does, what you're looking at what does it cost.

[Jackie]

As far as for her to buy a home?

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, I mean, for her to live in a house that she needs or wants to. I mean, you're the one saying that you should buy or something. So I'm just trying to see what you guys have looked at that would suit her needs.

[Dennis]

Her.

[Jackie]

Her buying a home would be contingent upon selling the selling of my mom's house.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sure. And what would you guys get for that?

[Jackie]

And I would say that approximately between 80 and $90,000. I am one of seven. So we are all on the deed. So it's 17 of. Of the entire sale. And I have also agreed because I'm.

[Jade Warshaw]

Can I Clarify? Is the 90,001 seventh or is that the 90? 90,000 split seven ways?

[Jackie]

I'm sorry, no. 90,000 would be 1 7. All of us would probably collect.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, got it.

[Jackie]

Possibly, yes. Okay, so we're trying to sell the home now. So in other words, her obtaining a home close to me would be contingent upon the sale of my mom's house.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sure.

[Jackie]

I have also agreed because I'm in a position where I don't work, I don't have to. We're well set.

[Jade Warshaw]

Can I ask a question?

[Jackie]

Sure.

[Jade Warshaw]

If you want your sister to live very closely to you, because that's in one hand. And then you've got your husband who gets a vote saying I do not want to sign and co sign for a house, which by the way, I agree with. I'm pretty sure George 100 agrees with too. What would it look like if she could she stay with you guys for a while until she could you guys set a limit of time and say, hey, we want you to live here or we want you to live on this side of town or on this side of the country, whatever it is. What if you stayed with us for four months or whatever you guys decide, talk to your husband and until you get a job on this side of town. And then when you get a job, the house sales, you'll move into your own place. What would something like that look like?

[Jackie]

Probably not doable simply because of the pet situation. There are two dogs and a cat. That one being my mom's pet and my sister's dog as well.

[George Camel]

So can she afford to take care of these pets?

[Jackie]

She can. I mean, right? I mean, are you asking me if she would give them up?

[George Camel]

I'm not asking that. I'm saying it sounds like she's broke and then these pets are adding an extra expense and now she's going to jump into home ownership. I'm wondering if she can rent somewhere instead. Why does it have to be she needs to buy her own house or else?

[Jackie]

Well, unfortunately, from what I understand about renting, you're having to meet so much criteria of having a job for the past six months or that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, there's way more, let me tell you this, there's way more criteria needed to buy a home than to rent a home. To rent a home. I want to make sure basically that you can afford the rent. And that way if you have debt to pay off or other things to get in place, you have the time to do that. Whereas if you're going to buy, there's really quite a bit that needs to be in line first. And based on what you're saying, it doesn't sound like she has that in line. At the very least, being able to put a down payment, it sounds like she's quite far from that. And so here's what I would do.

[George Camel]

I would take her, take her 90 and park it in a high yield savings account, let her rent for a year and something that's, you know, an apartment, maybe a small home if it's reasonable in your area. And then once she has income and has proven that she can make all these on time payments, maybe then you at least help her buy the home. Not financially, but just from a support standpoint, walking through all the pieces of it. But I would not intertwine your finances. If you want to gift her some money to do this, that's fine, but do not sign any piece of paper.

[Jade Warshaw]

Because the truth is, think about, and I'm not saying this in any negative tone, but she hasn't worked for quite a while and she's 62 years old and she's moving to a new area of town and has to find not just a part time job but a job that is going to support her as a single woman. And that could take some time. Do you know, does she have any other debt or do you know anything else about her financial situation?

[Jackie]

No, I mean she has no other major debt. She might have like maybe 300 in credit card debt. That's something that she pays the minimum balance on.

[George Camel]

Okay, well, we're the really at the bottom of this, Jackie, is we want to make sure that she can sustain her own life and that you're not artificially propping her up for the rest of her life because that's not fair to her. She needs to learn how to become independent and kind of grieve the life that she had as a caretaker and go, all right, I got to do this on my own now. And I got to pay my own bills. And that means I'm going to have to go to work foreseeably. Who for? No. Who knows how long. She might have to work into her 70s at this point.

[Jade Warshaw]

And it's not fair to your husband either, because the truth is you guys have built a life together and it's allowed you to get to this point. And it's okay if he says, and he is smart for saying, I am 60. I'm 62. I don't want to put my name on somebody else's debt. It's not smart to co sign for someone else's debt. And that's really what this comes down to.

[George Camel]

He knows you guys are going to have to pay that bill for the rest of your lives or eventually sell it. It's going to cause more relational turmoil. So we need to figure out a way for her to do this on her own. Thanks for the call. This is the Ramsey Show.

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[George Camel]

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm George Camel, joined by Jade Warshaw. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Well, today is 1111.

[Jade Warshaw]

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[George Camel]

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[Jade Warshaw]

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[George Camel]

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[Jade Warshaw]

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[George Camel]

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[Dennis]

Hey. Hi George. Hi Jade. How you guys doing?

[George Camel]

Great. How are you?

[Dennis]

I'm doing good. I'm new to the program. I'm up to baby step three. I'm raising my three to six months emergency fund.

[Tom]

Awesome.

[Dennis]

Now my question is for the next as I move forward, do I put the rest of the money I want to save for a down payment? Do I put that in a high yield savings or can I put that in a low risk investment like SPY or something to let it grow?

[George Camel]

What's your time horizon for this purchase? Are you looking at buying a home in the next two years or six years?

[Dennis]

No, at least five years minimum.

[George Camel]

Okay. If you're looking at a five year plus time horizon, you can invest it in something like an index fund, mutual fund to help that money grow at a much higher rate than a high yield savings account. And the reason for that time horizon is if you're below that, if you're talking a year, two year, three years, there's a much higher chance you could lose money right before you go to make that purchase. So five years plus we've seen in the market you're likely going to make money and so that's a great move. You're talking five years out. How much are you looking to save.

[Dennis]

Up here in New York? It's quite expensive for a house like 600 minimum. So I don't like and I didn't map it out exactly, but you're probably.

[George Camel]

Looking at a six figure down payment.

[Dennis]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

How much can you save each year based on your current income?

[Dennis]

Current income, about 13, 14,000 a year. Yeah.

[George Camel]

Okay, so if you get aggressive, could you save 20 grand a year for five years with that invested, you'll have a healthy six figure down payment.

[Dennis]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

That'll get you there.

[Dennis]

Like. Yeah, I'm gona have to up my income a little bit and then over.

[Jade Warshaw]

Five years I think so.

[George Camel]

I mean I Would hope your income goes up. What do you do for work?

[Dennis]

I'm in financial. Healthcare services.

[George Camel]

Awesome. What do you make?

[Dennis]

Financial? Yeah. Right now about 65.

[George Camel]

65, okay. Yeah. I mean, that's a great income, but for New York City, that's tough. It's an ultra high cost of living area. And so I would try to up your income. That would be my goal, to get that core income up over these next five years while I aggressively try to save as much of my income as possible. All right, that's the goal, man.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's the goal.

[George Camel]

I hope that helps. Not easy in New York City, Jade. I mean, people call from California or New York and they go, hey, your housing parameters don't work. And we go, the math isn't broken. The. The math of your reality is broken. Where you want to buy a $600,000 home, but you make 60k.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. I'm hoping he lives outside the city in somewhere, you know.

[George Camel]

Yeah. I mean, I got, like, a lot of friends out there, and they live in the, you know, suburb of New Jersey and they commute in.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

And, you know, it's a. It's a good life. If you want to be a homeowner, that's kind of the game you have.

[Jade Warshaw]

To play 100% and. Yeah, especially making sure that payment is no more than 25%. That's a key piece of this because.

[George Camel]

If you make four grand a month and your payment is 2,500amonth, you're not going to be able to survive and pay for anything else. Tom is in Seattle. Up next. What's going on? Tom?

[Caller]

Hi. Hey.

[Dennis]

Thanks for taking my call. I just need your opinion and if you can give me some guidance on the following.

[Jade Warshaw]

Come on, Tom.

[Dennis]

Huh?

[Jade Warshaw]

I said, come on. Let's hear it.

[George Camel]

She was excited for.

[Dennis]

Okay, good. I'm. I'm 61 years old. I'm going to retire in four years. Our son graduated with a degree in chemistry two years ago. He. His company has told him that he needs a degree in engineering, which he wants to pursue. So it's going to be two years full time. And I know he can do it, but my question is, my wife and I paid for everything on the first degree. I'm close to retirement. How much assistance do we give him?

[Jade Warshaw]

It's up to you. You don't have to give him any. And that's the thing. I want you to walk away from this, from if you guys have it to give and it makes sense with the plan that you've created. Yeah. You can decide what that is. But paying for education, especially paying for it in full really is a privilege. And it's something that you get to decide if you want to do it or if you don't want to do it. And there's no guilt if you say, I don't want to do this, but you do need to have that conversation. It needs to be really clear. And I would be very forthcoming on ways that he could pay for it himself so that he doesn't go into debt. And I think that's the most important thing that you could do is say debt is. No, is not on the table and it shouldn't be on the table for you. However, your mother and I are only going to pay for x percent or 0% or whatever you guys decide. What are you thinking about?

[Dennis]

You know, I'm just, I'm kind of lost because he just, it. He kind of sprung this on us.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Dennis]

You know, I think, you know, we've got, we're debt free. Houses paid for. We got six, about 600 in IRISM, 401ks, another 450 in cash and mutual funds.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's your house worth?

[Dennis]

House is worth about 300 to 320.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Dennis]

And you know, household income right now is about 185.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow, great job.

[George Camel]

If you wanted to do this, could you cash flow it as part of your budget versus taking money out of your investments or savings?

[Dennis]

Yeah, I think so. With my work, it's, you know, it's, it's a driver's error. It's a draw against commission. So I get four big settlements a year.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, what's it going to cost?

[Dennis]

I am thinking 40 to $50,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

And when you say he just sprung this on you, what does that mean? When did he, when did he say it?

[Dennis]

Oh, like two weeks ago. Listen, he said he'd had a, had a talk with his boss who just kind of laid it on the line for him.

[George Camel]

Well, can I be honest? I think it's ridiculous that the employer's not paying for this. If Dave Ramsey said, hey, we want you to do this job, it's going to require this degree. Go get it, son. Go pay 50 grand. I'm not doing that. Usually if the employer wants you to do it, they're going to foot the bill for it.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's a really good point. There's another point that I'm thinking of, which is I'm trying to put this in a delicate way because if it was sprung on him, then I can see why he's Springing it on you. But there's also a part of it that to just be like, hey, I need $50,000, makes me feel like maybe he doesn't understand just how much money that is. And it might be good for him to pay for a good chunk of this and feel that so that it's not just, oh, I can just up and get the degrees I need.

[Dennis]

I.

[Jade Warshaw]

You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know your son. You do. But there's part of that that I do want him to understand. This is a lot of money. Money. It's like our parents told us, money doesn't grow on trees. Like, you have to go out.

[George Camel]

And what happens if he tells the boss, hey, I can't afford $50,000 for this degree? What's going to happen?

[Dennis]

Well, okay, the, the way they, the way they put it to him is that his career, his future with the company of progressing is limited without a degree in engineering.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, and did he know that when.

[George Camel]

He stepped into this role?

[Dennis]

No, he did not. And he's. He has been. He's. The company he works for is a very well known worldwide electronics manufacturer.

[Jade Warshaw]

Gotcha.

[George Camel]

Okay. I might. I mean, it might be time for a career change where the ladder's higher. While keeping his chemistry degree. I don't know. But I would not just foot the bill for this without doing a lot more research and pushing back. So there's some conversations to be had with his boss and then he with you. And we gotta figure out if we're gonna do this and if we're gonna do it, we gotta do it debt free. Thanks for the call, Tom. This is the Ramsey Show.

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[George Camel]

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Jade Warshaw. Open phones at 8.8882.55225. Before we get to the phones, today's question of the day is brought to you by why Refi? Why Refi? Refinances defaulted private student loans. Defaulted meaning when the borrower can't make the required payment. So if that des and you've got private student loans, contact why Refi. They can offer you a low fixed rate loan built for you. To help you get out of this, go to wirefi.comramsey today. That's the letter y r e f y.com Ramsey may not be available in all states.

[Jade Warshaw]

All righty. Today's question comes from Antonio in Washington, D.C. he says, I'm 26, finally graduated as an electrical engineer, and I'm about to start working in 2025. So I'm trying to plan out what happens in the next year. One of those concerns is leaving my parents home and finding my own place. Good for you. My worry, however, is that I am not sure if I should do this by renting or by buying a space. I know the consensus is never rent, but I see it as a stepping stone of sorts. A place of your own while not being able to comfortably purchase a property yet. Very smart this is, considering the mortgage, the maintenance, taxes, et cetera. My idea is to rent for one to three years while I build my career and income streams and then consider buying a small property to call home. Is this the correct way of thinking or are there things I'm not thinking of? Antonio, I think you hit the nail on the head. You're a smart dude.

[George Camel]

He thinks he's the crazy one, when in reality, everyone else is crazy for telling you that renting is a waste of money. You should need to buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy. Full in sync on this one.

[Jade Warshaw]

I know. Thank you. Thank you, George, for the setup.

[George Camel]

He's spoken like a true electrical engineer.

[Jade Warshaw]

I know.

[George Camel]

He's like, I don't know the mathematics. They're not computing. You're like, you're right. You're right, Antonio. You don't need to buy a house just because you're out of mom and Dad's rent for a while. Get out of debt, get the emergency fund in place, get a nice, healthy down payment, and then once you feel ready financially and emotionally, go ahead and buy a small property to call home, as he says. Very good there. And here's the other thing. You don't know what's going to happen with relationships in the meantime. You might get married. And she decides, I hate this little house that you Bought. I wouldn't have done it if I were you. So I think it's wise to wait and see a little bit. As you know, there's nothing wrong with buying a house at 29 instead of 26 or even 35 instead of 30.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, the good news is we've got a real estate home base for him waiting on him when he's ready. And it's waiting on you too. If you're thinking about pulling the trigger on a home. We've got a wonderful real estate home base. You can find it@ramsey solutions.com real estate. They can actually help you if you're buying or selling whatever your real estate needs are. It's a nice little hub there that has everything you're looking for.

[George Camel]

That's right. Including, you know, there's tools, resources, calculators, articles. But I also did a course. Jade.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

On for first time home buyers.

[Jade Warshaw]

Tell me more.

[George Camel]

Check that out. Well, there's I walk through, you know, little, little quick videos to help you understand what it's going to take, what all the pieces of the process are. Oh, I love. It's the course I wish I had before I bought my first home.

[Jade Warshaw]

I love a video. It's different when you hear somebody saying it versus trying to read it. I don't know why. When it comes to things that have those. That many details.

[George Camel]

Oh yeah, Videos. Our team did a great job making it visual, making it clear, helping you understand all the. What the heck is escrow. What's going on there? We break it down for you, go to ramseysolutions.com real estate to get access to all of those resources.

[Jade Warshaw]

You probably made it funny too.

[George Camel]

We tried. There was a men in Black reference that I'm very proud of in that including VHS tapes. So, you know, I gotta make it fun if I'm involved. I want to pigeonhole myself as a guy who cannot be boring.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good job.

[George Camel]

That's what I try to do. All right, let's go to the phones. Matt is in Baltimore. How can we help? Matt?

[Dennis]

Hey, guys. Big fan. Great to be on with you.

[George Camel]

You as well.

[Dennis]

So I'm currently debt free myself and I'm working on paying off about $41,000 of my wife's debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Dennis]

Now we split everything down the middle, making minimum payments. But I am a disabled veteran and I work part time, so I have a little extra money in my pocket. About 12,000. I'm sorry, 1200amonth, which I spread load between my son's college fund, a down payment on a house and building my retire. Building my emergency fund.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Dennis]

So my question is whether you think it's smarter to spread loan my extra unspoken for income across different savings accounts or if you think I should attack each thing individually.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, first off, it's Veterans Day, so thank you for your service every day of the year. We're appreciative of that. What you said. I know you have another question there, but what you said about you and your wife kind of threw me off from the very beginning, to be quite honest. When you said that you're debt free but your wife isn't, that was kind of like my signals went off because here we really, really believe in combining money and doing that. If you're a married couple. So my question is, how long have you and your wife been married?

[Dennis]

So me and my wife have been married about four years.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Dennis]

And that problem kind of became twofold, one of which is she wasn't really handing her finances very well, and she hid that from me until very recently.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Dennis]

And we don't share one bank account. We just. We just combine it for all the household bills.

[George Camel]

So you pay half of her minimum payments?

[Dennis]

Yes.

[George Camel]

And then she pays half of all household bills. You pay half?

[Dennis]

Yes.

[George Camel]

Do you guys make the exact same amount of money?

[Dennis]

So I make more with my benefits.

[George Camel]

Okay.

[Dennis]

So I try to help out with a majority of it.

[George Camel]

Doesn't that feel unfair, though, if she doesn't make the same exact amount but you're splitting things equally? I feel like if I'm her, I'm going, hey, this isn't fair. I'm paying two grand out of my three. You're paying two grand out of your four. You know, do you see how, like, there could be some relational problems with that? Some resentment?

[Dennis]

Yeah. So we. She has. She has, you know, we have the household bills. She has her personal car. That's 16,000. Then she had to consolidate a consolidation loan to cover 25,000. So she's paying for her car, and I'm paying the insurance, and I'm paying half of her debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

What? When you told me earlier that she was hiding. I actually have two questions for you. When you told me earlier that she was hiding debt from you, I want to know how much she hid and how long that went on. Then I want to know what you guys have done to rebuild trust. Because what I don't want is depending on what you tell me, there could be a situation where I understand that you guys have. If you've been working with a counselor, maybe there's a separation Going on. But I also want to know what you guys are doing to rebuild that trust.

[Dennis]

So she had, you know, various credit cards for. For buying product, as well as lifestyle payments. Like just regular. Regular payments that she was putting on a credit card and then just paying the minimum payment.

[Jade Warshaw]

And how much did. Was that to the tune of, like, what type of debt did that rack up?

[Dennis]

So that ended up racking up about $25,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And that's the consolidation to get all.

[Dennis]

To get all that consolidated and pay off all her cards.

[Jade Warshaw]

How did you find out about it? Did she tell you or you discovered it?

[Dennis]

So a little bit of both. Basically, what had happened was, you know, the rent goes up, the daycare goes up, things like that. And she came to me saying she couldn't pay her half anymore. So I went over her finances to see where the trouble was or what we could cut out, and I realized she had about, you know, $300 a month payment spread across, like, four different cards.

[Jade Warshaw]

Got you. And so what'd you guys do? You went to counseling?

[Dennis]

No, I took the consolidation loan out to pay everything off to make her solvent. And then splitting that, it's about 400 change a month cuts her half down to about 200amonth.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[George Camel]

She's paying that off about putting extra. But you're not.

[Jade Warshaw]

Listen, that's great. If you notice, I have veered completely away from your monetary questions because I care mostly about your marriage. And it bothers me that what this is telling me is you still don't trust her because this thing happened, which is a big deal, by the way. I'm not minimizing that at all. But it's caused you to say, oh, my gosh, you did this without me knowing. You're not good with your finances. I don't really trust you. So we're going to keep it separate. I'm going to control my half, you control your half, and I'll also chip in. Right. So there's this. This is not a good way going forward. And my encouragement to you is don't let it go on like this. You guys need to get with a counselor and figure out how to mend this so that you can be back on the same page again. Because it's very hard to accomplish a singular goal when you're on two different paths. And I want you guys on the same path so that you can combine, you can support each other. There's no kind of, like, animosity. There's no resentment. There's no. On her end, there's no guilt because once she said, hey, I did this, I'm sorry, please forgive me. She's not going to be. You guys aren't going to be able to move forward until she knows, okay, this guy, we're back on the same page. There's trust there again. And I'm not saying that that's going to happen overnight, but I want you to work towards that.

[George Camel]

Marriages are either growing together or they're growing apart. And I want to see more unity. I want to see you make progress with your marriage and your money. And that's going to take unity. That's going to take one bank account, one budget. We're getting out of our debt. This is we, not us. And you and me. That's how to do it, right? Thanks for the call. Happy Veterans Day. This is the Ramsey Show.

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[George Camel]

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm George, she's Jade. We're here to help you with your life and your money. Call us at 888-825-5225. Linda is up next in Madison, Wisconsin. Linda, how can we help?

[Caller]

Hi, thanks. I'm glad to get be able to get some really good advice. I have a pretty difficult situation. My question is what is the best strategy for me to pay off my debts given my current circumstances?

[Jade Warshaw]

What are your, what are they?

[Caller]

Yeah, so I'm 58 and I was diagnosed with cancer two years ago.

[George Camel]

Oh my goodness. What kind?

[Caller]

Yeah, I'm doing well, praise God. Uterine cancer came, you know, blindsided, of course. So I was a making really good money as a veterinarian and, you know, working on trying to save a nest egg when all this happened and because of everything, I decided to take an early retirement and I was fast tracked onto full Social Security disability.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

In 2022. So. But unfortunately I hadn't saved a large nest egg, you know, by this time for retirement.

[Jade Warshaw]

What did you have?

[Caller]

Well, well, right now this is, this is where I'm at. I, I own a house. My home. No, no mortgage.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good.

[Caller]

It's a brand new construction house. So I literally just moved in.

[Jade Warshaw]

Nice.

[Caller]

I.

[George Camel]

What's it worth?

[Caller]

That's another story. I haven't had it appraised, but I'm thinking I could probably get 250.

[George Camel]

And you live alone?

[Caller]

I live alone. No kids. I own my car.

[Jade Warshaw]

So are you debt free completely?

[Caller]

No. So this is. No, this is. My fear is I do have approximately $35,000 in debt right now, of which 24,000 is on a credit card that I had used where I went over budget on the house. About 3,900 is for special medical care and supplements on a credit card. Neither of those credit cards are, they're interest free right now.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

But, but that will end next June.

[Jade Warshaw]

The medical and then the credit card that you're putting the medical stuff on, is that an ongoing expense that you're using that for or was it kind of a one time deal?

[Caller]

One time deal. So I'm done with that. And then I, unfortunately I had to have a high deductible insurance in 2024. So now I'm going to have a total of, right Now I'm at 7100 of medical bills that are going to be coming due next year. And my complete and entire life savings is 97,500.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And so my question is, what strategy would you recommend I use to pay off this debt and rebuild savings or work on that?

[George Camel]

How much do you have in savings? Where's the 97,000 stored?

[Caller]

I have it in a high yield Savings account at 4.8% interest at that time.

[George Camel]

So you could pay off all of your debt today using that money.

[Dennis]

Correct.

[George Camel]

It would just leave you with less in savings. That would still be a fully funded emergency fund.

[Caller]

Correct.

[Jade Warshaw]

How are you doing with that?

[Caller]

And it will be living expenses for. My living expenses are quite low except for I actually spend a lot on groceries and supplements because I have to buy, you know, organic food and brass.

[George Camel]

What's your SSDI income? What is your total income each month?

[Caller]

3,117.

[George Camel]

And what are your monthly bills if you exclude the debt payments you need to make? Let's say you were debt free today. How Much would your total expenses be per month?

[Caller]

So my total expenses are coming out around 2,500.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, good.

[George Camel]

That's without the debt.

[Caller]

Without the debt.

[George Camel]

So let's say you took your 97 in savings, you subtracted your 35 in debt, you were debt free tomorrow. Less stress, better for your health. That leaves you with 62,000 for your emergency fund, correct?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

And then you'd be able to cover all your bills with about 600 bucks left over.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's your, what's your out of pocket max every year for your insurance?

[Caller]

Well, starting on January 1st, I'm going to be on Medicare.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

So I have a very. That'll help. And I. It's only, it'll be 255amonth and they cover a lot. I mean I'm gonna still have some.

[George Camel]

Co pays and things, but that'll be life changing.

[Caller]

I should. That is part of that 2,500.

[George Camel]

Okay, good. So if Linda, if I was in your shoes, truthfully, I would get rid of this debt today. Today, using your savings. I know it's going to knock it down. I know it's your life savings, but that's also going to free up 600 bucks. You could put in a savings account to add to that to start to cover some of these expenses.

[Caller]

That's what I was wondering.

[George Camel]

And I mean the risk here is you got to live off of 3,100 bucks for the rest of your life. Right. Do they have a cost of living increase each year with that?

[Caller]

They do. You know, it's based on the government, but they do have a cost of living increase. I mean technically I could, I'm trying to make it work. I could get a part time job or something. I mean I'm not completely disabled, but I'm trying not to do that because one, it's just more stress on me and two, if I don't have long.

[George Camel]

I would be focusing on your health right now for sure. What is the prognosis? You know, is there a way you beat this? What does the doctor say?

[Caller]

Well, originally it was bad. I mean I was like, that is bad. You know, we're talking about grade three, stage four.

[George Camel]

Wow.

[Caller]

So I was an overachiever right out, right out the gate. But I am on immunotherapy which has been just a game changer, lifesaver. I'm in complete remission and I'm doing everything like I'm doing all the naturopathic stuff that you can imagine.

[George Camel]

Yeah, we are so glad to hear that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Great.

[George Camel]

And I truly think that debt has a physical weight on our bodies. And I think when you pay this off today, you are going to feel so much better. Emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually, all of it. And then your job is to get on an every dollar budget.

[Caller]

I knew that you were going to say, oh my gosh, you like failed epically. No, no, I'm so far behind.

[Jade Warshaw]

Linda, Linda, there is always, there's always a measure of peace that can be achieved. Always, always. And you've got actually, you know, you, you have the money to do exactly what George said. You can be debt free. You've got a paid for house. To be able to say that is amazing. You've got paid for cars. You've actually accomplished quite a bit. You may have done it in a roundabout way, but the most important thing is you're healthy and you've got your life back.

[George Camel]

Exactly. And beyond that, now we gotta make sure we're living on less than we make. We're on a written budget, we have margin left over instead of being right to the line every month. And that's what's going to happen when you pay off this debt and that extra 600 bucks. We need to just keep living like that didn't exist. Let's pile away into savings, maybe even investing long term. You can jump on Ramsaysolutions.com and get in touch with a smart vestor pro who can teach you how to invest this money. So instead of a 4% rate of return in your savings, you could get 12%. I mean this year we've seen 38% returns in the market, Linda, so your money could grow for you. I mean, you know, if you continue to live a healthy life, you know, 30 years from now, I want to see this money grow for you to have an even better retirement than you thought possible.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you know, based on what you said, I probably would encourage you to start working part time again. That's definitely not going to hurt you financially. It's going to help you financially and if you're healthy enough to do it, it'll give you some great purpose as well.

[Caller]

So, yeah, yeah, I, I'm just trying to enjoy every day right now and I am enjoying everything.

[George Camel]

Yeah, that'll change your perspective.

[Caller]

Needed this advice. I'm so glad I got to talk to you because it's been weighing on me like, you know, all these different ways I could go about it. But I've been watching your shows and learning a lot and I, you know, I've got my written budget, I've Got. I've got things down to the penny, you know, I know exactly what's going on.

[George Camel]

So, Linda, hang on the line. We're going to send you a whole year of every dollar so that you can budget the Ramsey way and get over this as soon as you're out of debt today. It's going to feel so good, man.

[Jade Warshaw]

Linda, what a lady.

[George Camel]

What a gift I'd be giving myself. Going through what she's going through and has gone through. I want a life of freedom. Okay, get rid of those brain calories and replace them with something much better. Linda, we are cheering for you. We hope you continue to have good health and call us back if you need any help. This is the Ramsey Show.

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[George Camel]

From Ramsey Network. This is the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I'm George Camel, joined by Jade Warshaw, and we're taking your calls at 888-825-5225. If you want to talk about your your life and your money, this is the show for you. If you're looking for something else, I don't know why you're here, but we're glad you're here.

[Jade Warshaw]

Glad you're here.

[George Camel]

Stick around. Maybe you'll enjoy it. Mackenzie kicks us off in Pittsburgh. How can we help today?

[Caller]

Hi.

[Linda]

How's it going?

[George Camel]

Great. How are you?

[Linda]

I'm well, thank you. So I had a quick question. My husband and I, we bought a House in 2020 for an extremely low price and we got a really good interest rate on it, 3%. It's not in the area that we would like to stay long term, but we are in debt. So we're not planning on moving right now. My question is, would it be wise to sell our house? And because of the market and the work that we've done to it, we would make a significant amount of money off of it. Would be why? We are. We bought it for 70,000 and we're estimating 140,000 selling it. And we owe 65 on it currently.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, what kind of debt?

[Linda]

So we have, obviously the $65,000 mortgage. We owe $27,000 on one car, 11,000 on another, and 70 on our student loans combined. What's your household income? 166,000. That is new. That started happening in September.

[George Camel]

Awesome. Great income. So let's walk through two scenarios. One is you stay in the house and you aggressively pay off the debt. How quickly making 166 could you pay.

[Linda]

Off 100 grand in debt? I mean, pretty quickly.

[George Camel]

Two years, 50k a year.

[Linda]

Yeah, I would say that's definitely possible.

[George Camel]

Okay.

[Linda]

The other part of that is my parents are moving and they are looking to rent out their house now that they're currently living in and they're moving into another. So I was thinking, what if we rented my parents home and then used the income from our home to pay off almost everything. We would just have a little bit of student loans left and we could get that paid off in like a few months.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you like the house? Do you like your house that you live in?

[Linda]

I like our house, but I don't particularly like the area. We live in town and I want to be somewhere more secluded. So in the future we do plan on moving.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Can I. I'm gonna ask a question. I know it's gonna be hard to handle. Answer, but just try your best. If you didn't have this debt, right, if there was no $109,000 of debt, would you be so pressed to leave or rent right now to get out of that area?

[Linda]

No, but we would definitely be looking for a house.

[Jade Warshaw]

You'd be looking. Okay. I'm trying to. What I'm trying to assess is if this is feeling like a. A way to get out of debt quickly and kind of avoid pain, but possibly at the expense of. I mean, you've got some nice equity in this house and doing things that you wouldn't normally do, like rent. Because in your situation, you shouldn't necessarily have to rent again if you wanted to move to a different house. That's just what I'm looking at.

[George Camel]

If you sell the house, you're probably going to get about 60k after paying off the mortgage and realtor fees and closing. Okay, so you're going to knock out a little over half the debt, which is great. And you'll knock out the rest of the debt in a year. So really what we're talking about here is one year difference. If you stay in the house, it's going to take you a year longer. If you sell the house, it's going to take you one year shorter. So it's up to you. This is not an on fire situation where I go, you got to sell the house. That's, that's a drastic last ditch effort to get out of a bad situation. Nothing is on fire here. Your mortgage payment is probably not that large compared to your amazing income.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I probably wouldn't do it if I were in your shoes. I think that the idea to get out of that area, I think that's good and I think it's in your head. But I don't, I'm with George. I don't think it's on fire. And I like when people walk through this process, especially when we're talking about cars that we can't afford. It's, it's just a good lesson in, okay, this is what it really cost me. I can actually feel the cost of 27 and 11 and $70,000.

[George Camel]

It's an insurance policy to never go into debt again. When you sacrifice to pay it off over two years and honestly, one year after that, you could pay off the mortgage if you continue down that path. So now we're talking about three years from now, we'll be completely debt free, including the house. That gives us a lot of options.

[Jade Warshaw]

When we move and your motives just change. I mean, truly, we don't realize how much debt kind of pushes our motives forward. And then when it's gone, it's like, oh, wait a minute, things look different now. And so there's part of that that I'd like for you to experience because I really think that right now even this debt is clouding your motives slightly. But George is right. Sitting on a paid for house makes you think of the whole thing a lot differently. And so I'd like for you to be able to experience the situation that you're in debt free. And I'd also love for you to build up the habits to keep it that way by paying this off.

[George Camel]

What are you guys paying for your mortgage right now?

[Linda]

$590 a month.

[George Camel]

America is mad at you right now. I just want to let you know, we're not happy.

[Jade Warshaw]

Way to go.

[George Camel]

What would Your parents charge rent if you moved to their place?

[Linda]

I mean, I don't know the exact number. I'm guessing because of the area, it'd probably be about 1200amonth.

[George Camel]

So you're paying way less now.

[Linda]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

So I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze on this one. Just to get you out of debt a little bit faster, I would use that amazing income, live on little of it as you can to cover the bills and throw the rest of the debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

I mean, with a $590 mortgage, you guys should have a lot of this.

[George Camel]

Money on margin left over with that 166 grand.

[Linda]

Yeah. And we've been paying off debt. We had about like $12,000 in credit card debt that we paid off and we're starting to work on and like attack these things. But I got a little excited thinking we could expedite it.

[George Camel]

It is exciting too when you look at all the ways you could get out of debt faster. But selling the house, that's a big one with a lot of numbers on the end.

[Jade Warshaw]

Can I take you to task a minute? How long did it take you to pay off the 12,000 in credit card debt?

[Linda]

So it was kind of a process. We actually, we have a one year old and we initially were going to go like Gazelle Intensity. And then I found out I was pregnant and I was not going to get a paid maternity leave. So we paused, decided to save for my maternity leave. So I would say it took us maybe like 4 months to pay off her credit card.

[Jade Warshaw]

But this was after, after the baby.

[Linda]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes. Okay. Because she's 1 years old. My point is, and I, like I said, I'm taking you to task. My point is, I don't think you guys have, I truly don't think you've been willing to embrace what it will take to pay this off. You have a great income and I, I want you to see that it's going to cause a level of discomfort to do this. And I think before you were searching for a way that it wouldn't be discomfort. It's like, okay, we could sell this house. Oh, just move my parents house, that'll be better. And so I don't want you to search from place to place to find how this is going to be the most, how it will give you the most comfort to do this because you may end up putting yourself in a worse situation trying to do that, like paying double for rent than you are for a mortgage that can be paid off in a year. So that's Kind of what I want to leave you with is you will feel this.

[George Camel]

I would, I would just stay put where you are, Mackenzie. I mean, you guys are bringing home probably 10 grand a month. Yeah, about so think about this. If you can live off a five and put the other five toward debt, that's 60 grand a year in debt payoff, you're done in less than two years. That's some napkin math to get you excited about this.

[Jade Warshaw]

And that's no side hustles.

[George Camel]

Yeah, that's without doing anything extra. I could live off five grand. We could do this. So that's what my goal is. Sit down with your husband tonight, do an every dollar budget and go, okay, we make ten grand. It's disappearing right now into a little bit of laziness, a little bit of comfort. Let's really get on this thing and be done in 18 months. Let's have a big hairy, audacious goal so that we can move on with our life and have our home and our dream location one day. This is the Ramsey Show.

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[George Camel]

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[George Camel]

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm George Camel joined by Jade warshaw. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Well, tax day isn't until April, but there are some really important moves you can make before the end of the year that will affect what you owe. And we're all about trying to help you pay the government less legally.

[Jade Warshaw]

I feel like I have to respectfully my spectacles on for this.

[George Camel]

We're about to get nerdy, but so we got seven quick tips. We're going to make this painless and you might even learn something. So what's tip number one, J?

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, number one, check your paycheck. Withholding. That's a good one. The goal is not to. The goal is to not have a big refund. That just means you're overpaying to the government. Right. Every single month you're giving them too much. So you need to adjust your withholding to get as close to zero as possible. And again, I'm saying that you do not want a tax refund every year. That's what we're talking about here.

[George Camel]

If you're getting like we get our three grand refund every year. You just gave the government an interest free loan that should be coming back into your paycheck every month to tune of almost 300 bucks a month. Next tip. Income is taxed only in the year you receive it. So if you can defer any income until January 1 or later to save on this year's tax bill. So you might be self employed and you've got vendors that are paying you, you might say, hey, can you pay me January 1st? And that way I have less income this year that will be taxed. That's one way to do it. If your employer allows that caveat, consider whether that extra income will push you into a higher tax bracket next year. So if you kind of know what next year is looking like. Yeah, you can figure out what's going to happen there.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's good to note though that the way the tax brackets work, if you are pushed into a higher tax bracket, your whole income is not going to be taxed at that rate. Just the amount that places you into that bracket, if that makes sense.

[George Camel]

So you hit the 22% bracket. Well, you're not paying 22% on the entire amount.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[George Camel]

It's just on an amount over a certain. So that, that's a helpful tip. People think, I don't want to make more, Jade, I'm scared. I'm like, no, you're not paying that much more in taxes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Making more money is a good thing. Yes, please. Okay, keep going.

[George Camel]

What's the next one?

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, number three, let's save by contributing more to tax advantaged retirement accounts. You know what I'm talking about? 401ks, 403bs, IRAs. That could be traditional. You want to do these you want to do traditional 401ks and traditional IRAs that are funded with pre tax dollars. Okay. So that you can write off the contributions as a deduction.

[George Camel]

That's right. You can't deduct like a Roth 401k contribution. You've already paid taxes on it. But the pre tax stuff, the traditional side, you can save some money there in your taxes. Next one, if you're 73 or older, you can withdraw. You need to withdraw from traditional retirement accounts to avoid penalty.

[Jade Warshaw]

True that.

[George Camel]

So these are required minimum distributions, RMDs, as they call it in the biz. And there's a minimum you have to withdraw every year. And here's why. The government wants their peace. So if you got these traditional accounts that have been sitting there, the government's like, hey, when are you gonna take money out to pay U.S. taxes?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, they want that tax money best believe it.

[George Camel]

Another reason why I love the Roth, you already paid the taxes, so there's no RMDs on that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I had somebody. This is a sidebar. I had somebody on social media, George, that was like, hey, my, my plan is I do all traditional and I'm just. When I just before I retire, I'm going to go back through and convert it all to Roth. And I was like, wait, wait, wait.

[George Camel]

You're gonna have the biggest tax bill of all time?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, of all time. Yeah. It was a scary thing. I hope she read my comment.

[George Camel]

Yeah. Would not recommend. Oh, boy. Okay, what's the next one?

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, the next one is. Let's use gift tax. The gift tax exclusion to avoid filing a gift tax return. For instance, if your gift is greater than the gift tax exclusion amount, the remainder goes towards lifetime gift exclusion.

[George Camel]

I believe it's like, I don't know, 17 grand per person, per child or whatever per person. So you can really move a lot of money around and gift it without ever needing to file for that gift exclusion lifetime, which is millions and millions of dollars.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[George Camel]

This really does not apply to a whole lot of people out there. All right, next one. Take advantage of tax deductions and credits. Now, we've all heard about deductions and credits, but you can really reduce your taxable income by doing a bunch of things. So, for example, paying property tax in full by December 31, you could write off property taxes when you file. If you pay your January mortgage bill early before December 31st, you can deduct the interest portion of that payment. Making charitable contributions to receive deductions. Keep that List there. There's EV tax credits you can file for energy efficient home upgrades. So a lot of things you can do. But this is really for those that itemize, which because of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, the standard deduction almost doubled for everyone. So it made way more sense for people to do standard deduction versus itemize. So less and less people are doing that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Are you tax deduction or credits? I like a credit.

[George Camel]

Oh, well, you know, I feel like the deduction will lower your taxable income. The credit is taking some money off the bill.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. I kind of like that.

[George Camel]

Feels better to get the money taken off the back end of the bill.

[Jade Warshaw]

It feels like a coupon.

[George Camel]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Or like some sort of a deal.

[George Camel]

I don't know why, but I'm not eligible for a lot of credits these days, you know, so it's fine.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, number seven, should I go to this? Okay, we just talked about this. Converting retirement accounts to Roth has its tax advantages. You'll get tax free growth on your retirement savings, which we talked about in tax free withdrawals at retirement. The thing is, when you're going to do this, we really say this should be like a baby step seven activity because again, you're going to, you're paying attention. Yeah. And depending on how much you had in traditional accounts that you're converting over, it could be, you know, decent. Definitely something to plan for.

[George Camel]

Yeah. So you're better off using that money toward getting the home paid off. All that. That's why it's a baby step seven thing to do.

[Jade Warshaw]

And that's why you need to do a healthy mix throughout the years.

[George Camel]

That's right. And one final bonus tip for you. Connect with a Ramsey trusted tax pro. These are the folks that can help you do things the Ramsey way. They're not going to tell you to do stupid stuff like go buy $100,000 car because it's a write off. Our Ramsey trusted tax pros are not going to steer you in a bad direction. They're going to help you save the most money and do it by the book and take out all the jargon and confusion and stress out of the taxes. So if you have questions, reach out to a tax pro, Ramsaysolutions.com taxes. They'll help you save money on taxes now and in the future.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right. Was that quick and painless? I felt a little, I felt a.

[George Camel]

Little discomfort, but yeah, it wasn't fun. But it wasn't painful either.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right. No pain.

[George Camel]

Some, you know, some weirdo out there enjoyed that some accountant, some spreadsheet loving guy was like, yeah, let's go. All right, let's go to Fort Worth, Texas up next. Kara joins us there. What's going on, Kara?

[Dennis]

Hi, I My husband and I just found out recently that I parents are in a bit of debt and don't have really any savings and both of them are living on a fixed income due to medical diagnosis that.

[George Camel]

Leave them.

[Dennis]

On disability and Social Security for their income. And just wanted to know the best way to help them out of that. We found out just recently that that debt had been enrolled in a debt relief program. So it was almost $40,000 that was enrolled last year and year to date. Now I think of these seven different debts, three of them are settled in payments made. Two of them have reached an agreement and are in progress on making those payments. But unfortunately the last two are the largest totaling almost $25,000 left that are in advance negotiations and I believe a lawsuit has also been filed for that.

[George Camel]

What is their income?

[Dennis]

So income with. So they're both on Social Security due to disability and there's also some long term disability coming in that totals about 5,500amonth.

[George Camel]

So that's their fixed income. And what are their monthly expenses?

[Dennis]

So they do still have a mortgage that's about 1650amonth. They are currently making payments to the debt relief program of about 650amonth. And then everything else, bills and food comes out to total including the mortgage and the debt release program comes out to about right, right at the 5,500. It comes pretty close every month.

[George Camel]

Okay, have you had a conversation with. Which is part of saying hey mom and dad, you're broke. Here's like let's look at the numbers. Do you see the reality of your situation? Have you had that conversation?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dennis]

So that's where the conversation started is I mean my parents are scared.

[George Camel]

Are you guys in a place to help them financially? Like if you were to cover the 25 grand they owe to get out of this lawsuit and be. Could you just gift that to them?

[Dennis]

We do have money available like that.

[Caller]

Is sitting in a non retirement investment.

[Dennis]

Account that could be used to essentially pay that off.

[Jade Warshaw]

I don't know the process of what baby step. I was going to ask her what baby step she's on, but that's okay.

[George Camel]

We're getting to the line. This is a tough one. If you want to gift it to help them out of the situation and then say you're never going to debt again. There's, there's going to be some strings attached if we do this. Yeah, but otherwise they're going to have to do this on their own and use their income to do it, which means lowering their lifestyle and potentially trying to do some part time work, which might be difficult with their situation. No easy answers here, that's for sure.

[Jade Warshaw]

No.

[George Camel]

This is the Ramsey Show.

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[George Camel]

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm George Camel, joined by Jade Warshaw. And from time to time we have some guests that want to celebrate their debt free journey. They come visit us here at our headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. And Brooks and Shannon have chosen to do that. Welcome guys.

[Tom]

Thanks for having us.

[I]

Thank you.

[George Camel]

This is exciting. Where are you from?

[I]

Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, just outside of Harrisburg State Capital.

[George Camel]

Awesome. And how much debt did you pay off?

[I]

We paid 145,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Whoa. Tell us more because I have a.

[George Camel]

Feeling this is great news. All right, how long did this take?

[Tom]

Six months.

[I]

Six months.

[George Camel]

And what was your range of income during that time?

[I]

62, 000 to 144, 000.

[George Camel]

Okay, I got a lot of questions here. That is a lot to pay off in six months. Yeah. What did you pay off?

[Tom]

Well, there's about 35, 000 for the food truck, for the business.

[Jade Warshaw]

Nice.

[I]

And then you're looking at weird people.

[George Camel]

You paid off the house.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow. Wait, can I set this up for the listening audience right quick? Because the truth is, you guys came up to me on the break and they were like, hey, Jade, I don't know if you remember this, but you and Rachel were hosting and it was kind of a help us decide what we should do. I think we call it this or that. Yeah, pick a side, Whatever. And it was between paying off your house or like remodeling your backyard. Correct. And based on what you laid out, I think Rachel and I were like, do the backyard. And it was going to. Cuz you're like, we could do the backyard or it'll take us two years to pay off the house. I feel like you told us.

[Tom]

Correct.

[Jade Warshaw]

And now it hadn't been two years. So what happened?

[I]

We just started playing around with the calculator and realized because I was a photographer for 10 years, and I said, if I retire and go back to work, I'm an actual tech writer. And I'm like, if I go back to work and we put everything and.

[Tom]

Just go after it. And yeah, you know, the first goal was, well, what if, what does it look like if we can pay off the house by the time our oldest is graduates from high school. Okay, we can do this. Well, what about the youngest once he graduates?

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Tom]

And then boom, boom, boom. And then we found like, what if we do this in six months? If we do this, we do this. We do this. Holy smokes. Yeah, let's just go after it and, you know, just be tenacious with it. And we didn't go gazelle tents. We went scorch earth and nothing is left.

[George Camel]

Can you walk me through this? Because I'm like trying to do the math and it's, it's hurting my brain as to how you paid off 145 grand in six months, making 144.

[Tom]

So the 35 was from retained earnings from the business. I had the cash on hand, but I was reluctant to spend it just because that's that safety net. Just in case anything happens and you know, like you all say just, just pay it off and it's better off for it. And we are.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes, that's right.

[Tom]

And thankfully we just sold it last week. We closed on it, so.

[George Camel]

Oh, wow. Are you done with the food truck business?

[Tom]

It just didn't work out.

[Jade Warshaw]

What kind of food was it?

[Tom]

It's just, you know, pub, pub food, you know, burgers, fries, things like that. It just, it's a tough industry. We own and operate a craft brewery. So that was just a addition to it. And it's just, it's a tough industry to live and work in and so we just decided to, to move on because it wasn't working. So focus on other food. That was much more profitable and mainly less stress for me.

[George Camel]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's in your, what's in your hand?

[Tom]

That would be our lucky lobster. This is our hazy double ipa. Listen.

[George Camel]

Wow. So this is good marketing. I was wondering, I was like, is this guy drinking on the clock here?

[Tom]

Not yet.

[George Camel]

Okay.

[Tom]

I think we'll have the first.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's for after the debt free screen.

[George Camel]

Absolutely. I love it. So you, you paid off the 35, the food truck with retained earnings. What about the mortgage? How'd you knock that out in six months?

[I]

So like I said, I went back to work in the corporate world. I also got a part time job and then I also work at our tap room. So a lot of it was on my shoulders.

[Tom]

It was.

[I]

But we knew it was for.

[Jade Warshaw]

We're.

[I]

Because we're going, we're going big.

[George Camel]

So this was all you, this was all cash flowed through income?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[George Camel]

You didn't sell anything to get rid of this. You didn't have saving. You just went, we're going to put every dime we can from our income and live off a very little.

[Tom]

All the tips we earned from the tap room, everything. I mean we were scouring the couch cushions just to get a couple quarters here and just we have a goal and we're going to be tenacious at it and we're going to get after it and mission accomplished.

[Jade Warshaw]

That. I mean, I'm just tripping because you guys, you went from a two year horizon to six months. Yeah, yeah.

[George Camel]

Just by crunching some numbers and going, we could do better, we could do better.

[Tom]

It's all about the budget. Yeah, all about the budget.

[Jade Warshaw]

And now you don't have a payment in the world.

[Tom]

No.

[Jade Warshaw]

So, so what's next? How do you, how do you celebrate that?

[Tom]

Well, I mean we're. Mama needs a new car first and foremost, we've been driving Hoopdies. I mean, my entire life I've been driving paycheck cars.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Tom]

I kind of like them because you don't have to worry about getting them damaged. You know, the first thing that you do when you buy a new car is someone scratches up against it in the parking lot.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, you got park in the back.

[Tom]

You know, with the, the new house, we have, you know, we haven't finished the. Completely finished the basement off. So the bar is going to go down there and then possibly Europe as well too. So.

[Jade Warshaw]

So no backyard. The backyard.

[George Camel]

What happened to the pool?

[Tom]

There was never a pool. But it just, you know, you, you put different priorities on things and which is the most most important.

[Jade Warshaw]

Nothing wrong with that.

[Tom]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

And the basement bar has clearly been the prior.

[Tom]

Well, you know, it's. Well, and getting back to, you know, to the, to the new house. So we actually lost our original home. So the home we paid off, we lost in a fire.

[George Camel]

Oh, my goodness.

[I]

January 2023.

[Jade Warshaw]

Holy moly.

[George Camel]

No way. We got a photo of it. Oh my goodness.

[I]

So that's 15 minutes after I called.

[George Camel]

Wow.

[I]

91 1. That's the day after.

[Jade Warshaw]

Were you in the house?

[Tom]

We were at home at night and.

[Jade Warshaw]

At night?

[I]

Yes, 10 o'clock at night. Thankfully, we were up watching TV just.

[Tom]

Before we went home. And long story short, it started in our garage and we had a door with a doorbell and we had no notice of the fire except the doorbell rang.

[I]

The doorbell rang. We got up to see what's going on. We thought, you know, who's at our.

[Tom]

Door at 10 o'clock at night on a Monday night?

[I]

We walked to the back door where the doorbell would have been, and we heard something weird. He opened the garage door and the complete.

[Tom]

The garage was completely.

[George Camel]

Who rang the doorbell?

[I]

Nobody.

[Tom]

The Lord did.

[Jade Warshaw]

The Lord rang that bell. Holy smoke.

[George Camel]

In my head, I was like, please tell me there was nobody at the door. That would be a literal miracle.

[I]

And the next day the fire marshal, you know, asked, what did you see, smell, hear? And we're like, we had no idea the house was on fire until the doorbell rang.

[George Camel]

Is that a feature on the doorbells now where if there's like smoke and.

[Jade Warshaw]

Fire, that was the hand of the Lord.

[Tom]

Maybe that's something we need to look into for business.

[George Camel]

Wow. Okay. So what happened after that? Does the insurance company write you a big check?

[Tom]

They did. So we had the choice whether we wanted to sell off the land and then buy a house somewhere else or rebuild a new to Us house. And we got to design the house of our dreams within budget. And it's the house we live in. We often say we paid off the old house. The current house which we live in is the gift the Lord gifted to us and will propel us to do marvelous things in the future. And actually, one thing Shannon left out as we were walking away from the fire, to this day, I can still remember her saying to our boys, something good will come from this. Something good will come from this. And it really has put us into a financial position to do a lot of. A lot of good things within our community. Because our community. I can't say enough about. We can't say enough about loved us.

[I]

They.

[Tom]

We don't close us.

[I]

They how. I mean, we literally only had our.

[Jade Warshaw]

You lost everything.

[I]

We lost everything.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Tom]

I mean, you can go from living high in the hog. Life is great. To being homeless in a matter of an hour and not having anything change your perspective.

[Jade Warshaw]

What perspective did that give you? Because few people will experience that.

[I]

Yeah. So honestly, that became our why. How our community responded floored us. And we're like, we need to give back even more now. And so that motivated the why. And honestly, it was just stuff.

[George Camel]

Yeah.

[I]

Our boys can all be replaced.

[Tom]

The four things that needed to get out of the house got out without any harm. We can replace other things. We can replace the cars, we can replace this, replace that. It doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter.

[I]

And I want to tell people who are listening, we did not use insurance money to pay off the mortgage. The insurance money went to rebuild the house.

[George Camel]

Yeah.

[I]

This was hard work. A lot of sacrifice.

[Tom]

I mean, the long, long days, long nights, working every Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday, just. Just to reach our goal. And you two are.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're. You got all four of you. Because I see the boys there. You guys are incredible people, an incredible family.

[George Camel]

And you give new meaning to the word scorch dirt, which you used. I want to just point out the irony is rich here. Let's get. Let's get the boys up here. What's going on, guys? Names and ages.

[Tom]

So this is Colin. We call him tank. He's 14. Here, why don't you go by Mom? And this is Ian. We call him E or Big E. Big e. So he's 12, Tank is 14.

[George Camel]

Wow. And these young men got a front row seat to a lot of sacrifice, a lot of life change, some trauma, but here they are, resilient, persevering, and they're going to live lives of Debt freedom. Thanks to mom and dad's hard work.

[Tom]

Absolutely.

[George Camel]

All right, count it down. We've got Brooks and Shannon, Collin and Ian from the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area. 145,000 paid off in six months. House and everything after it burned down. And they rebuilt making 62 to 144. Count it down, guys. Let's hear a debt free scream.

[Tom]

Let's go, guys. Ready?

[Jade Warshaw]

Three, two, one.

[George Camel]

We're debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

Free.

[George Camel]

There's a lot of firsts in this debt free screen.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow. Wow.

[George Camel]

And cracking the can. That's a first for me. It might become a tradition. Wow. That was incredible. Inspiring. Guys, this is the Ramsey Show.

[Linda]

Hey, guys, it's Rachel Cruz. And guess what? It's my favorite time of year. The lights, the music, the decorations. I mean, I love it all. And as a natural spender like myself, it's really easy to overspend. And I want to do all the things and give my family the kind of holidays they'll always remember. And at the same time, I don't want to look back at my bank account in January and think, oh, what did I do? So that's why I use the EveryDollar budgeting app. It helps me plan for all of my spending. And that's what a budget is. Then once I have my plan in place, I don't have to worry about overspending. I am free to spend guilt free and have fun doing it. Plus, with Every dollar, you can customize your budget however you want. So whether it's buying gifts, hosting dinners, or even turning your living room into a winter wonderland, every dollar helps you plan for it all. So you guys go out and create some great holiday memories with your family without the stress of overspending. Download the Every Dollar app for free today. Go download it today.

[George Camel]

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Jade War. I got to mention, we just met our debt free screamers out there, and Shannon is an Air Force vet. So I wanted to say a very happy Veterans Day. Very thankful for the service and sacrifice of so many today.

[Jade Warshaw]

Indeed.

[George Camel]

And not to be outdone, Jade, there's a much lesser holiday. It is singles day.

[Jade Warshaw]

Ooh, tell me more.

[George Camel]

That rests in the shadows of Veterans Day, apparently. 11, 11. 1, 1, 1, 1. All single, I guess the same single digits. So for all of our. All of our single friends out there, I see some hands being raised in the booth from our friend Will.

[Jade Warshaw]

But it has nothing to do with relationship status.

[George Camel]

It does.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, it does.

[George Camel]

It has almost everything to do.

[Jade Warshaw]

Tell me more.

[George Camel]

That's it. We just, you know, it's the largest shopping day in the world, apparently. This is what I'm told again. And we love any excuse to give our folks a great deal. Whether you're single or not, these deals apply.

[Jade Warshaw]

So it's not about the digits.

[George Camel]

I don't know. I'm not in charge. You think they put me in charge of the holidays?

[Jade Warshaw]

I don't know.

[George Camel]

National Pizza Day. I'm not in charge of that. But today only, we figured, you know what? Fine. Let's give the people a great deal. So today only, we've got deals as low as 10, 11 bucks in the Ramsey Solutions store. Popular questions for Humans. Thanksgiving edition. Total money makeover. Baby steps, millionaires. Building an on anxious life from our friend Dr. John Deloney. Ken Coleman's Get Clearer Career assessment. So many deals, just 11 bucks. So today's a great day to just go ahead and start stocking up before the holidays.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is your book $11?

[George Camel]

I don't think we're there yet.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think mine is.

[George Camel]

Maybe we'll get there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Okay.

[George Camel]

Check it out. One day you'll have to see for yourself. I don't know what they put in there. They don't. Again, they don't put me in charge of this stuff. Ramsaysolutions.com store find out for yourself. Or if you're listening on YouTube and podcasts, click the link in the description. All right, Tate joins us up next in Seattle, Washington. How can we help Tate?

[Dennis]

Hey, guys. Just want to say I'm a really big fan.

[George Camel]

Appreciate that.

[Dennis]

So I'll try to make this. I'll try to make this quick. So backstory. I recently graduated college six months ago and got a really good job and just became debt free and just maxed out. Me and my wife, our Roth, Ray. Yeah. We're soon to do an hsa, and in January, we'll max out both our Roth, our age for 20, 25, and doing our, you know, a 401k and everything.

[George Camel]

You guys are crushing.

[Dennis]

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. All this baby steps work.

[George Camel]

Yeah. You're doing much better than I was after graduation. I'm impressed. I want to be like you when I grow up. Okay, so what's your question today?

[Dennis]

So we want to buy a house, but we're kind of just. We're kind of just. The market's not good, so it's not looking good, and we don't know what to do. Like, we plan on saving up about 50 grand this year.

[George Camel]

Okay.

[Dennis]

And I don't know if that's even enough to put for a down payment for where we live.

[Jade Warshaw]

What are you looking at? How much do the houses cost? That you're looking at about.

[Dennis]

For a small house of a thousand square feet that was built like, you know, like in the 70s, it's about $400,000. And there's only probably about a handful out there.

[George Camel]

And this is the Seattle area.

[Dennis]

It's actually in Bellingham, Washington. Yeah.

[George Camel]

Okay. Which is. Which is a pretty, you know, high cost of living area. Some big companies over there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Have you done the. Have you done the math? We've got a really great calculator of basically, how much home can I afford? And you can plug the numbers in and see, okay, what do I need to put down? And. And basically you can work backwards to say, how do I get this payment to where it's only 25 or less of my take home. Have you done anything like that yet?

[Dennis]

Yes, we have. That would. That it would take us a few years. Like two years.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And what's the amount?

[George Camel]

Hold on. Is that a long time for you, Tate?

[Dennis]

I guess. Yeah. I feel like I'm behind in life.

[Jade Warshaw]

How old?

[George Camel]

You just graduated.

[Dennis]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

Okay. How old?

[Dennis]

I'm 20. I just turned 27 a week ago.

[Jade Warshaw]

Can I tell you a secret? That's not even a secret, but it might make you feel better.

[Dennis]

Sure.

[Jade Warshaw]

What if I told you that my husband and I rented for 10 years before we bought a house and we didn't explode or burst into flames? Just letting you know because you got to be able to afford it, right?

[Dennis]

Yeah. But you don't think we're missing out?

[Jade Warshaw]

No.

[Dennis]

Building equity every year. I could put like 30,000 in my.

[George Camel]

Well, you know what I wish? Let's build a time machine. Let's go back in time, buy a house when it was $14,000 in order to build more equity. There's a lot of things we wish we could do, right? The best time to plant the tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today. But that doesn't mean that you should get impatient and entitled and go, we got to get it in now, because we're throwing away money on rent. Learn to have patience. You're 27. Go talk to a 60 year old, and they'll. You'll see. There's a level of, I guess, maturity that happens where you go, okay, not everything's going to happen on my timeline. And I remember 8, 27, feeling like time's running out. I have one year to do this in my career and hit this financial goal or else. And then five years goes by in an instant. You're like, oh, okay, plus, more patience than I thought.

[Jade Warshaw]

Plus, there's the whole thought here of if you buy this house before you can really afford it, you're not going to be thinking about equity. You're going to be focused on making the payment every month because it's going to be eating you alive if you even get to keep the house. Right? So you have to run, you have to run this equation for what it is. You cannot. And the truth is you could buy a house before you can afford it, but it'll be a problem for you. So it makes sense to wait in two years in the grand scheme of things is a drop in the bucket.

[George Camel]

And if you don't want a crappy house, like you're kind of talking about this thousand square foot, it's super old. Then don't, then wait. Save up more, get a bigger down payment and that will lower your monthly payment. So that's what I would do if I was in your shoes. And if you don't like the timeline, we got to figure out a way to make more and spend less to create more margin, to save up faster. And so I would just turn this into a math equation that puts some fuel on the fire versus a woe is me shaking our fist at the, you know, the sky gods.

[Jade Warshaw]

You know, it's, it's a fun. Renting is a funny thing. I think that you can really enjoy your renting experience while you're renting. You know what I mean? Like there's more to life in a, in an instant than whether or not you're renting or buying. And I think it's really easy in a moment to kind of base your whole life and like whether or not you deem yourself successful in a moment or not. Right. It's like you're 27 years old, you got so much time ahead of you and you're going to look back on this and go, oh my gosh, it was so funny that I was so rushed at 27 to have a home. Because a lot of times we're compared, like without even realizing it, self conscious, subconsciously we're comparing ourselves to something else we've seen. It's not even really just our race that we're running. We're thinking about what our friends have, we're thinking about what our cousin did or what the people on social media did.

[George Camel]

And yeah, you gotta put blinders on.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, if you couldn't see any of that if all you saw was the race that you have to run in front of you, you wouldn't be so sidetracked by that.

[George Camel]

If we said the average person takes seven years to buy their first home, you'd be like, oh, wow, I'm doing great. Right. So I think we need to look at this glass half full situation and go, man, what a blessing it is to be 27, no debt, maxing out Roth IRAs, maxing out HSAs, and be able to buy a house two years from now in a very expensive area.

[Dennis]

Yeah, I suppose you're right. Yeah, that's, that's a pretty good way to think about it.

[George Camel]

Perspective, man. It's a wild thing when you can change your mindset, but you'll be there in no time. What's the household income.

[Dennis]

After we put our 401k up?

[George Camel]

And just the gross household income?

[Dennis]

150 net.

[George Camel]

Amazing.

[Dennis]

Gross. Oh, gross.

[George Camel]

150.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good. That's great.

[George Camel]

And how long you been married?

[Dennis]

We just celebrated a one year anniversary a few months ago.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, you guys are doing great. You, you need to just take it out.

[George Camel]

Tate is upset.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm mad that you're doing great.

[George Camel]

Yeah, you're doing, you're doing great. Tate. This is a lesson in patience.

[Jade Warshaw]

What do you think that is, George? I feel like more and more we get calls and if I had to sum it up, it's just like this race to get a house and be, you know, have wealth and like it's just this.

[George Camel]

Well, it's the 19 year olds calling and saying, I need a million dollars by 25. And I go, why? And they go, I don't know, I just, I, I feel like I have, I need to, or else I'm behind. I'm like behind on who? Have you listened to the calls on this show? Like people are happy to have a million bucks in a nest egg by the time they retire. Who told you that time is running out and that if you're renting, you're throwing away money? And it's probably a mix of society, parents and tick tock at this point.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, and don't keep me wrong, I think it's you. I think it's great. If you enter into your adult life, you've largely avoided debt, or if you did have it, you paid it off quickly. I think it's great when you're able to walk through the baby steps and get further at a younger age. I think that's amazing.

[George Camel]

I mean, that's the whole goal, the sooner the better.

[Jade Warshaw]

But if you're just this rush to kind of like check these boxes. I just want to remind people to like, life is a journey. Life is a high sing. It's a highway.

[George Camel]

I can't sing anymore because I think we'll get taken off the air.

[Jade Warshaw]

But enjoy the ride. Put the top down.

[George Camel]

Speaking of the ride, it's almost over here if you're listening on YouTube or podcasts. So if you want to finish the show, head over to the Ramsey Network app for a distraction free experience. You can download it in the app store of your choosing or click the link in the show notes to check it out. But this ride's over, Jay. I'm sad to say. It's been fun and so if you're on radio, hang tight, we'll be here. But if you're on YouTube or podcast, go jump onto the app. We'll see you for a whole nother hour of the Ramsey Show. Hey, you're still here. What are you doing? You do know that the rest of today's show is playing right now over on the Ramsey Network app, right? All you gotta do to finish the episode is search Ramsey Network in the app store, Google Play store, or just click the link in the show notes to download the app for free. Yep, you heard me right. For free. Then right there on the home screen, you can watch the rest of today's show. Bada bing, bada boom. Alright, I'm getting out of here. Enjoy. We'll see you on the app.