My Mom Wrecked My Rental & I Have To Evict Her

Summary

The Ramsey Show — Episode Summary

Episode Title: My Mom Wrecked My Rental & I Have To Evict Her
Air Date: February 25, 2026
Hosts: Jade Warshaw & George Campbell (with Dave Ramsey appearances)
Main Theme: Facing and resolving personal financial dilemmas with a focus on accountability, family, debt management, and difficult conversations around money.

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Episode Overview

This episode highlights real financial problems faced by listeners including the emotional and practical challenges of mixing family and money, debt management, and setting boundaries. Callers seek help with issues ranging from evicting a parent from a rental and the aftermath of hidden debts, to car loan disasters, generosity dilemmas, and tough choices in early marriage or supporting relatives. The advice is rooted in the Ramsey principles: avoid debt, cash flow expenses, prioritize healthy boundaries, and communicate clearly with loved ones.

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Key Segments & Insights

1. Evicting a Parent & Rental Property Damage

[00:28–08:43]
Caller: Brandon (Nashville, TN)

Discussion Points

• Rented his house to his mother who caused ~$20,000 in damages; she has exhausted retirement funds and is unable to pay.
• No rental agreement, insurance, or deposit.
• Feels responsibility due to helping without boundaries.

Notable Quotes

• "Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life." — Jade, [00:13]
• "It's on you... we also need to own that we made a whole lot of mistakes on our own that got us here." — George, [04:29]
• "If you could get a return by that money just being invested, it might be more than if you had a tenant." — George, [07:52]

Advice & Resolution

• Don’t count on collecting damages from mom—take ownership and move forward.
• Use cash flow over several months if possible.
• Consider selling the rental property and investing proceeds, rather than staying in a stressful landlord situation.

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2. Underwater Car Loan and Voluntary Repossession Temptation

[10:26–18:52]
Caller: Cordell (Pittsburgh, PA)

Discussion Points

• Owes $7,100 on a car worth $200, payment of $322/month. Currently drives a car gifted by his mom.
• Wondering about voluntary repo.

Notable Quotes

• "When you hear the word repossessed, what do you think of, Jade?" — George, [17:04]
• "Repossession, guys, is never the answer." — Jade, [17:04]

Advice & Resolution

• Avoid voluntary repossession as it wrecks credit and leaves you liable for the difference.
• Scrape together funds, pay off the car, and sell to minimize loss.
• Start budgeting to knock out all debts quickly.

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3. Hidden Spousal Debt and Financial Infidelity

[21:50–30:44]
Caller: George (Boise, ID)

Discussion Points

• Discovered wife has $24,000 in maxed credit card debt after 15 years of marriage; had been keeping accounts separate.
• Emotional fallout around trust, values, & communication.

Notable Quotes

• "This is straight-up financial infidelity." — George, [23:46]
• "We've gotten off on the wrong track, both of us. I want to change what I'm doing today." — Jade, [28:12]

Advice & Resolution

• Move to full financial transparency, combine accounts, and tackle debt together with methods like the debt snowball.
• Seek to reset the relationship and rebuild trust through joint commitment and micro-commitments.
• Freeze credit to avoid opening new debt.

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4. Wage Garnishment & Old Car Loan Judgments

[33:01–41:35]
Caller: Sarah (Las Vegas, NV)

Discussion Points

• Husband’s wages garnished due to a repo’d car debt, living paycheck to paycheck, with separate finances and poor communication.
• Concerns about broader debt and risk of future garnishments.

Notable Quotes

• "Debt doesn't solve for debt. The only way you can solve debt is to pay it off with actual earned money." — Jade, [37:44]
• "It's like whack-a-mole right now trying to clean up these debts." — George, [40:16]

Advice & Resolution

• Find out exact owed amounts and try to settle for a lump sum if possible.
• Both spouses must unite finances, budget together, and refuse further debt (no HELOC, no new loans).
• Seek extra income through any available means.

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5. Families Overwhelmed by Debt and Medical Expenses

[44:37–53:26]
Caller: Austin (Tulsa, OK)

Discussion Points

• Family of five, $100k in consumer debt (credit cards, student loans, cars), much of which is due to medical costs for children.
• High combined income ($164k), but feeling defeated.

Notable Quotes

• "Your biggest opportunity is with that car payment." — Jade, [48:33]
• "When you got little kiddos as your why, there's nothing that will stop you." — George, [52:39]

Advice & Resolution

• Sell expensive car, downgrade to free up monthly cash flow for debt repayment.
• Switch to debt snowball by balance, not interest rate, for psychological wins.
• Build a medical sinking fund for recurring costs.

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6. Supporting Dependent Family Members Abroad

[55:03–60:45]
Caller: Steve (Chicago, IL)

Discussion Points

• Wants to support mother-in-law in the Philippines without enabling her dependent, jobless brother-in-law.
• She’s reluctant to change living situation.

Notable Quotes

• "You're just enabling his behavior." — George, [56:10]
• "If you can give directly to the need, and that way he can't get access, that's probably the best way." — George, [59:25]

Advice & Resolution

• Offer help only if mom separates from the brother, or provide direct assistance for expenses to avoid enabling.
• Set clear boundaries and communicate expectations.

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7. Handling a Sudden Windfall

[61:24–64:59]
Caller: Jack (Kansas City, MO)

Discussion Points

• 28, single, about to receive ~$730K (judgment + savings). Wants to know what to do with it.

Notable Quotes

• "I would split it across a few areas: give, save and invest, and maybe lock in a house in cash at your age." — George, [62:47]

Advice & Resolution

• Give generously.
• Max out Roth IRA, invest remainder, consider paying cash for a reasonable home.
• Use cash for upgrades and maintain long-term focus.

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8. Radical Generosity Dilemma

[95:44–104:59]
Caller: Melanie (Minneapolis, MN)

Discussion Points

• Wants to gift a $25K trip to family and friends, but husband is hesitant.

Notable Quotes

• "This is the 'live like no one else' part so later you can give like no one else." — George, [101:15]
• "The best way is to pay directly for the trip through the travel agent." — Jade, [101:58]

Advice & Resolution

• Make the offer direct but gracious, possibly via a travel agent.
• Ensure both spouses agree; consider a compromise.
• Embrace calculated generosity, especially when it’s a small percent of net worth.

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9. Building an Apartment for Adult Children (Should I use debt?)

[106:18–111:22]
Caller: Richard (Nashville, TN)

Discussion Points

• Considers using a HELOC or car title loan to build an apartment for daughter/son-in-law to live in and pay “rent.”
• Has cash, just doesn’t want to use it.

Notable Quotes

• "There's all cons, all of them." — Jade, [106:59]
• "You're trying to do a nice thing in a bad way." — George, [110:45]

Advice & Resolution

• Don't borrow (via HELOC or car title) for this; it’s all downside.
• You’re subsidizing adult children—a short-term fix that risks your financial health.

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10. Marriage and Property Ownership Concerns

[86:12–93:10]
Caller: Greg (Texas)

Discussion Points

• Engaged, moving into fiancée's home, but she never wants him on the deed due to family divorce trauma.
• He’s about to acquire $500K in cash and unsure whether to use it to pay down her mortgage, invest, etc.

Notable Quotes

• "What we're really seeing is a trust issue." — Jade, [88:25]
• "The most loving thing you can do is get to the root of that and build trust with her." — George, [92:49]

Advice & Resolution

• Seek honest, compassionate premarital counseling and financial openness.
• Avoid joint financial moves until both are comfortable and boundaries are clear.
• Understand the roots of money fears from both sides before making big financial moves in marriage.

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• "If you go down to the dealership and ask what they think, they don’t have your best interest at heart." — Jade, [18:47]
• "When you silo your money, there is going to be a level of secrecy." — Jade, [24:50]
• "It’s not an attack on her. Start with ‘I’ statements. The way I’ve been leading us when it comes to money has not been great. I own up to that." — George, [15:23]
• "Debt does not solve for debt. The only way you can solve debt is to pay it off with actual earned money." — Jade, [37:44]
• "Live like no one else so later you can GIVE like no one else." — George, [101:15]

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Time-stamped Navigation

• Evicting Mom/Family Loans: [00:28–08:43]
• Underwater Car Repo: [10:26–18:52]
• Spousal Debt/Financial Infidelity: [21:50–30:44]
• Wage Garnishment/Collections: [33:01–41:35]
• Debt & Medical Bills: [44:37–53:26]
• Family Dependency Abroad: [55:03–60:45]
• Young Windfall Investing: [61:24–64:59]
• Radical Generosity: [95:44–104:59]
• Family Apartment via Debt: [106:18–111:22]
• Joint Assets in Marriage: [86:12–93:10]

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Episode Tone & Takeaways

Throughout, Jade and George maintain a candid, empathetic, and oftentimes humorous tone, encouraging accountability while never shying away from hard truths. The recurring calls about family boundaries—whether with parents, spouses, or siblings—showcase the emotional complexity behind financial choices. The Ramsey team consistently re-centers listeners on taking personal responsibility, living within means, refusing new debt, and pursuing generosity with wisdom.

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For listeners:
This episode is a practical guide in navigating the emotional landmines of family money, how to respond to crises rooted in debt, and the necessity of boundary-setting—even when it gets uncomfortable. It's a powerful primer for anyone wanting to marry love and logic in personal finance.

Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[Jade Warshaw]

Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fair Ones Credit Union studio, this is the Ramsey Show. I'm Jade Warshaw. Next to me today, George Camel. You ready to get started, George?

[George Campbell]

I'm pumped. Let's do this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Let's get into it. We've got Brandon, who's here locally in Nashville, Tennessee. See? Hey, Brandon. How can we help today?

[Caller]

Hi, good afternoon. I appreciate you taking my call.

[Jade Warshaw]

Most definitely.

[Caller]

Well, I have a situation where I naively rented out my house to my mother about 13 years ago. And she's fallen on very hard times because of some very bad decisions. And after trying to move her out, we've identified maybe about $20,000 of damage as a very rough estimate that needs to be taken care of. And I'm trying to decide where I should take these funds from.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. I'm assuming she has no money if she's fallen on hard times.

[Caller]

Yeah, that's correct. She. She actually owes more money than she has, so. Very hard times.

[George Campbell]

How long has this been going on?

[Caller]

Well, the past two years. She quit her job. She's been living on. Off her retirement for the past two years, and she has exhausted all of those funds. And as.

[George Campbell]

When's the last time she paid rent?

[Caller]

So this was the last month I talked to her because it was the first month she paid in cash, and I thought that was very suspicious, so I confronted her on it, and she told me she only has enough for one more month of rent. So we've been spending the past few weeks trying to get her moved out so we can get repairs done.

[Jade Warshaw]

Where is she going?

[Caller]

That's still up in the air, either with myself or my younger brother, which isn't. I don't believe either of those options are the best option, but those are the only options we have currently.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is she. Is she. Well, how old is she?

[Caller]

She is 63.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh. So why isn't she working?

[Caller]

You know, there's not a good answer for that. And the answer she's given me, you know, are just not very valid. So I can't. I can't give you a good excuse. It's either health problems or stress problems or mental problems. You know, it's all of those combined. But it doesn't, you know, it doesn't legitimize.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sure.

[Caller]

Her decision making.

[Jade Warshaw]

So there's 20,000 of damages and you're. The question was where do I take the money from. What are your options?

[Caller]

So I currently have about 19,600 liquid stretched across my banking accounts. I also have a paid off truck that I use as my daily driver and I have a Mustang that I currently owe 9,000 on as kind of something I'm a little more sentimentally attached to than the truck. But the truck is my daily driver.

[Jade Warshaw]

What do you what the truck, what's it worth?

[Caller]

It's probably worth 30 to 35,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, wow. So question long term. So your mom, let's say your mom moves out, you cover the 20,000 in damages. What happens next? You bring another renter in who has the propensity to do the same thing. And now you know, again, you're on the hook for however much the damages are. Like, what's the long term play here to not be in this situation again?

[Caller]

Right. Me and my wife are still kind of debating that question, whether it's worth keeping and renting out a little more legitimate with a very detailed lease agreement or selling the property, which I would prefer not to do. But that option is there too, just to make all these problems go away.

[Jade Warshaw]

So here's what I'm thinking. Let's talk about the 20,000 first and then let's talk about George and I can give you some ideas for the long term play on this based on your finances. Yeah. Think your mom has the money? I think continuing to hound her about this is just going to be like you bashing your head against the wall. Fair enough.

[Caller]

Right? So, yeah, I've got the bruises to prove it.

[George Campbell]

You don't have a landlord insurance policy?

[Caller]

No, no. This was strictly just because I was trying to help my mom out and

[George Campbell]

she wasn't a legal tenant then. There was no deposit, nothing signed. Okay. So this is. It's on you. And I think that stinks to realize and we also need to take our part in owning that we made a whole lot of mistakes on our own that got us here. Number one was letting mom live there, kind of knowing that she wasn't in a good financial spot and probably this day would come where she didn't take care of the place, she can't afford to rent and we have to evict our own mother.

[Caller]

Right. Everything you said is accurate. I even let her know if she did move in with us, that I don't want to have her pay any rent. All I care about is her getting back on her feet. So I'm fully acknowledged that this is in my hands and I'm going to have to be the one to solve this problem. So.

[George Campbell]

And she'll likely be your burden financially as well for the foreseeable future.

[Caller]

That's right. As well. That's one of my concerns.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. So yeah, if I'm you, I am going to scrounge together this, this money and I'm going to try to get this stuff done for the cheapest price possible. It's possible that you can do it for 20 for less than 20,000. Maybe you put your own sweat equity in it. I don't know the nature of the repairs. But let's talk about further down the line, the way you mentioned the 20,000, you know, scraping together from here and there. I want to know about financial snapshot and if it makes sense to even keep this rental house. So tell us about you.

[Caller]

Yeah, I'm retired military, so I have a very stable pension that allows me enough to support two mortgages. It's not going to hit me financially at all. Just the big hit is going to be this complete liquidation of all my savings because I only have 19,600 liquid. So it's going to put me back to square one, which I'm trying to avoid.

[George Campbell]

How much are you making a month?

[Caller]

8,700.

[George Campbell]

And then what are your total expenses? Including everything. Insurance, food, bills, all the mortgages. What's your outcome?

[Caller]

3,000. My total income for the month? Yeah, 8,000. My total expenses is 3,000 after bills, not counting groceries, just the bills.

[George Campbell]

So counting everything though, are you spending about five grand a month? You'd say yes. Okay, so you might have 3,000 left over each month? Yes. So we can cash flow this over the next month. Two month, three months to where you're not fully liquidating it all at once. Maybe we spend ten grand now and then another five grand next month, five grand the following month and then we're done. All the while we're using as much of our income to cash flow it versus draining the savings.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, now what's the tell. Tell me about your current residence. What do you owe on that?

[Caller]

We bought this property in 2021 for 300. I think we owe to 80 still left on it. And what's it worth to 62? 61. I'm sorry. Okay, what's it worth? Probably low. 400 maybe.

[Jade Warshaw]

And what about the rental? What do you owe on it?

[Caller]

And what's it worth the rental? We owe 88,000. It's probably worth 240.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

So after selling it and everything, I'd probably pocket 140.

[George Campbell]

What would you do with that 140. If you had that sitting around on

[Caller]

an account, I would like to invest it into the S and P and the Dow or whatever would be best and just leave it there.

[George Campbell]

I love that thing about that plan versus being a landlord. It sounds like you don't love dealing with the physical issues, a tenant, the upkeep and maintenance. So if you could get a return by that money just being invested, and it might. Might be even more than you would have gotten if you had a tenant.

[Jade Warshaw]

I agree with that.

[Caller]

Right.

[Jade Warshaw]

And I don't know if you. I know you said you have a pension, but do you have a nest egg anywhere invested?

[Caller]

I do. I have a small investment with the Roth and the. Or not the Roth. I'm sorry, the S and P and the Dow.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

Not very. Anything substantial worth talking about. It's 6600. But I do have the tsp from my time in the military.

[Jade Warshaw]

Then. I mean, I got to say, based on how this is hitting you as an inconvenience, I could see down the road this contin. This rental continuing to be an inconvenience. I like the idea of you selling it and taking that money and investing it for your future or however you think it would be best spent, especially

[George Campbell]

with mom potentially moving in, you're gonna have your hands full.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[George Campbell]

Home Buyer Edge and seller guarantee are available for qualifying borrowers and select loan types only and not available in all states or locations in MLS ID 1591. In MLS consumer access.org equal housing lender.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, back to the phone lines we go. Where? We have Cordell, who's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hey, Cordell, how can we help?

[Caller]

Hey, how are you doing?

[Jade Warshaw]

Good. What's up?

[Caller]

I have. So I'm in a little bit of a pickle. I have a. I bought a car in 2023, and the car no longer runs. It needs a new engine, and it's been like that for a while. It's been just sitting outside. I quoted the dealership. They said $8,500 to get the. Like, a new engine, but I don't want to put any money into the car at all. And I'm stuck with. I think I owe just around like seven grand. I think I just checked. It's like 7100 on the car.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, wow.

[George Campbell]

And what's it worth in its current state? Nothing.

[Caller]

Yeah, I called the dealership and they said 200. But

[George Campbell]

the car's worth 200. Like, that's what they would give you for it.

[Caller]

That's what they would trade in. Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Did you buy this car from that dealership?

[Caller]

I did.

[George Campbell]

Okay. It feels like you keep going back to an abusive X. Like, of course they're going to screw you on every turn. And so I would not go to the dealership to get this thing fixed. I would go to an independent mechanic and maybe two to get some quotes on what it's going to take to get this thing up and running.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much money do you have?

[Caller]

I don't have anything liquid. A lot liquid. About a thousand. That's about it.

[George Campbell]

What are you driving now?

[Caller]

I have my mom's car she gifted me. So everything's in my name, title and everything. She gifted me her car.

[George Campbell]

It's paid for.

[Caller]

And it runs. It runs. Good

[George Campbell]

is.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's paid for her car that she gave you?

[Caller]

Yeah, it's paid off. There's no payment or anything.

[George Campbell]

So this is great news because it means you don't have to go buy a new car. And whatever we can get for this thing is what we get for it. Now we need to pay off the loan. That's the problem. So we need to come up with a difference or scrape up the cash to get this thing fixed and then sell it.

[Jade Warshaw]

You said you only had $1,000 liquid. What do you have? Non liquid. And what's it in? What's the nature of it?

[Caller]

And, like, my 401k.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Okay. Just making sure you didn't have stocks or, like, some coins sitting around. Okay. Yeah, I'M with George.

[Caller]

We started doing that, but we're not at the point yet where it's like at, you know, we can take out the money for liquid, you know what I mean?

[Jade Warshaw]

Understand. So tell us about your work. Are you working?

[Caller]

I am working, yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, what are you bringing in?

[Caller]

About 50, 55,000 a year.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[George Campbell]

And you have a spouse at home?

[Caller]

Yes, yes, I'm married.

[George Campbell]

Are they working outside the home as well?

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

Okay, what do they make?

[Caller]

Around the same.

[Dave Ramsey]

Great.

[Jade Warshaw]

Thousand dollar income. Great.

[George Campbell]

Make six figures. So this is a solvable problem. Within the next month or two, we could probably scrape up enough to cover this if we live on nothing. So can you keep up with the payment for now?

[Caller]

Yeah, yeah.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Caller]

That's what I've been, I've been trying to do. I mean, what's the payment, the car payment? It's like 322amonth.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So you should be able to easily handle that.

[George Campbell]

On our screen it says should I do a voluntary repo? Is that what you were thinking about doing?

[Caller]

So I called the dealership back and they, I asked them what should I do? And they said your best, that is to do a volunteer with a credit.

[George Campbell]

Oh my goodness.

[Caller]

I said, I just got. My credit just went up 50 points last week. And like we've been really trying to do that and I don't want to do that.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm so glad you didn't listen to them. That is called set. Set you up for failure. So I'm so glad that you called us instead. Yeah, you, you're bringing home over 6,000 bucks a month. You're handling the payment, but we want you to get out of this because obviously it's not running and we don't want you in any debt anyway. So I don't know if you have other debt to speak of that sucking up more of your income, but I would put this kind of as a top priority. My guess is if you listed your debt small to largest, this is probably towards the bottom of the heap.

[Caller]

Yes. Yeah. This is actually the last. This is my biggest bill.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, this is your biggest bill. Okay, great.

[George Campbell]

So you could knock all your debts out pretty quickly making 100 grand. If you guys, it sounds like you have not been on a budget. It's kind of just been spending willy nilly, not really paying attention.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Okay, that's 100% accurate.

[George Campbell]

Now, are you and your wife ready to for some life change? Because we're about to be living differently for a little while.

[Caller]

Yeah, I've been trying to do that

[George Campbell]

was a lot of breath in that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I don't know about that.

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, I would, I would have a real vision casting convo tonight where you say, hey, listen, the way I've been leading us in money, this is not an attack on her. It's start with I statements. The way I've been leading us when it comes to money has not been great. And I own up to that. And it's left us in a real pickle where we have this huge repair that we can't afford and we got all these payments around us. I'm ready to live differently. Are you on board to help us get out of this and stay out? See how that's, that's not an alarming, attacking conversation. And then it becomes the byproduct is, hey, let's get on a budget and just see what our income is going to be this month. See what our expenses are and see where we can do better to cut anything that isn't necessary for the next few months.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And that's what this is going to look like. But it's going to start with the two of you and we'll make sure that you're set up to one. We'll give you every dollar. It's the best budgeting out budgeting app out there. But it's more than that. It's really going to help you stick to the plan. I'm glad you called us because we're going to tell you the fastest and best way to get out of debt and build wealth and every dollar is going to do the same thing for you as well. So Kelly will pick up and get that to you. But the key is, you guys have got to get on this. You guys have got to work it together. It's totally you to do this. So, George, let's talk real quick about repo because I feel like first off, I feel like we're getting more and more calls about that. I don't know if that's just a reflection of the high cost of living right now and people are falling behind on payments that they got when auto prices were super duper high. I'm not really sure what the correlation is there. I could speculate on that a little bit. But repossession, guys, is never, is never the answer.

[George Campbell]

When you hear the word repossessed, what do you think of Jade?

[Jade Warshaw]

It sounds like a demon. It's a possession.

[George Campbell]

Just tie them together when you hear that word. And so here's the problem. Whether it's involuntary or voluntary, involuntary is they show up at your driveway, bad boy.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. But don't do voluntary. A lot of people think there's a difference between the two. Well, I'm just. It's on me. I'm voluntarily giving it up. No, it's still. You're still going to have to go through the same negative process.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. It will destroy your credit. It leaves you liable for the difference after auction. So here's what they do.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

They go sell it for, like, pennies on the dollar to get their. Then they come after you for the difference. And so you're in no better of a spot than if you just continued keeping up with the payments and tried to sell it yourself. That is the goal. To sell it on your own to get way more so that you're at least less underwater.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right. And if there's. Here's the thing. If you are underwater, maybe you have a vehicle that, like I said, you paid too much for. You're underwater on it. Guys, what we would suggest here, always some less debt is better than high debt. Right? So let's pretend you had a vehicle that you spent $30,000 on, and now it's only worth, I don't know, 15, half the amount. You're upside down. We're always going to tell you, go down to the credit union, see if you can get a loan for the difference. See if you can get that. I don't care. You could put it on a credit card for all I care. I just want that number down. I want you to be paying $15,000 of debt instead of $30,000 of debt, is my point. And then from there on, now we can actually work out of this. Now you have a lower monthly payment. So again, that's going to come and work for you on the debt snowball. You have more money to throw out your debts, smallest to largest. That's why we suggest that. But please, please, please never go down to the dealership and ask them what they think because they don't have your best interest at heart.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. It's like making a deal with the devil and then going back to the devil for financial advice.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And thinking he's on your side.

[George Campbell]

Exactly. And so this is not a knock on every dealership in the country, but generally the dealership is the most expensive place to buy a car and get any repairs done.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, they're not your financial advisor.

[George Campbell]

No.

[Jade Warshaw]

And at this point, we're talking about a financial decision, and that's really where the conversation changes. They want to sell you a vehicle. They're in the vehicle business.

[George Campbell]

But you go back to the devil, you know? Yeah, a lot of devil references here. A lot of demons. I apologize to the kids watching.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. What's wrong, George?

[George Campbell]

I'm so angry at these people are getting hosed. I talked with a guy in the street last week. 28% APR on his car loan.

[Jade Warshaw]

Lordy, lordy.

[George Campbell]

Because their credit shot. And what do they do? They say, well, hey, we can work with you. What kind of payment you looking for? If they say those words, run. You are about to fall for a borderline scam.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

And they'll extend the loan. Hey, 72 months, 96 months. Whatever you want, we can make it happen.

[Jade Warshaw]

Guys, let me tell you, a cash car, that's where it's at.

[George Campbell]

Can't be underwater on that.

[Jade Warshaw]

You can't be underwater. And I would rather drive a cash car that's 10 years old than have a payment that's going to keep me broke for the foreseeable future. I'm just saying.

[Dave Ramsey]

This is Dave Ramsey. We all want to know that the money we give to charity is doing something that matters. That it's making a real change, giving someone lasting hope. And here's one way to make sure of that. Give to preborn. They're the real deal. Proven transparent and changing lives every day. I trust preborn and you can too. They're on the front lines of the battle for life. Partnering with clinics to offer free ultrasounds to mothers in crisis. Because when a mom sees her baby on that screen, something changes. It's not just a decision anymore. It's a person. And 80% of the time when a mom sees that ultrasound, she chooses life. Your $28 gift provides one of those Ultraso just 28 bucks to be the reason someone chooses life. And at every clinic, the gospel is shared. Giving moms the chance to choose life and find real hope in Christ. $28. One ultrasound, one heartbeat. One mom who realizes she's not alone. That's the kind of life changing impact your giving makes through preborn. Go now to Preborn.com Ramsey or call 855-6012. That's Preborn.com Ramsey.

[Jade Warshaw]

So one of the best things that you can do for your finances is to have a really good tax pro in your corner that you can trust. They'll help advise you on the best moves to make for your situation or for your small business, especially if you've had some big changes in your life in the past year. So go to Ramsey Solutions.com taxpro to find CPAs and enrolled agents that have been vetted by the Ramsey team. You need this. All right, let's go to George, who's in Boise, Idaho. Hey, George. How you doing? Doing well.

[Caller]

Thank you.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, no problem. How can we help today?

[Caller]

So I was. I just started talking to my lender. We. My. My wife and I bought our first home a little over a year ago, and he was reaching. Interest rates have kind of gone down, and we talked about possible refinance in the future. And he did a soft credit pool and was kind of running me through options. And I come to realize that my wife is in about $24,000 of credit card debt that I was naively unaware about. I knew she had some debt, but I didn't know it was that bad. Where there's four cards, three of them that are about like, 99% max, almost maxed out.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow.

[George Campbell]

Well, you say naively. Why didn't she tell you?

[Caller]

I'm not 100% sure.

[Jade Warshaw]

How long have you guys been married?

[Caller]

It'll be 15 years this April.

[George Campbell]

And how long has this debt been laying around?

[Caller]

Some of it, you know, five years or so. And I just was not aware that it was that bad. I don't think it was that bad, but I think it's just one of these things where she just uses the card and doesn't really think of the repercussions. Again, I'm not 100 sure, but I've been trying to.

[George Campbell]

This is beyond, like, I'm casually using a card. If you've maxed out three credit cards without telling your spouse, this is straight up financial infidelity. You know, the way I say it,

[Jade Warshaw]

do you combine your money, or are you guys doing the separate deal?

[Caller]

We've been doing separate. This is obviously what I thought would work best, and we just. I'm the majority income breadwinner, and I cover mortgage. I cover car that cover most of the bills I let her do, you know, handle. Yeah. Insurance or, you know.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, I mean, you got. You kind of have set yourself up because unfortunately, what happens in an environment where you don't have full transparency, which is we don't have things combined. Therefore, you have your world, I have my world. Like you said, maybe you do the insurance, I do the mortgage. Right. It does set up this idea that I can kind of do my own thing over here. And as long in her mind, it's probably like, as long as it doesn't affect you, we're. We're square. And then that sets you up to have the same Thing. So that's the danger. George. Both of the George's I'm talking to right now, that's the Taylor 2 Georges.

[George Campbell]

When you silo your money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. When you silo your money.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Have you confronted her about what was, where all this money was spent and why she did this without telling you?

[Caller]

I, I just, we recently did it and, you know, and it was like I said, so we had, you know, I guess she put my daughter's braces on one of them. She had some health issues a number of years ago where she had to get some stuff and she put her, you know, for, to pay the medical expenses and she was using one of the, just to do that.

[Jade Warshaw]

So she's not buying Louis bags. You know, she's not out here.

[Caller]

No, no, no, no.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, that's. Well, that's good. That's the good. The upside.

[George Campbell]

More noble purchases. I guess. I still want to see the credit card statements.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

And fully understand.

[Caller]

Yeah, I started going through them yesterday and then she even did some cash advances. I'm like, that's the last thing you ever want to do on credit cards because you know, one of them, one of her monthly payments is like $242. And have you guys, have you guys

[Jade Warshaw]

had the conversation that we don't, we don't engage in debt? Has that been something that you guys have said to each other that this is feeling not only that it's something that she kept from you, but it's also crossing a values line for you, or have you never had that conversation?

[Caller]

Well, it's something where she knows that I've been working on because I had terrible credit, you know, maybe six, seven years ago in the low 500s, I couldn't even get a $500 credit card from my bank. And now over the last year's or a few years, I've learned how to play the credit game, learn how to what to do with it. Not to buy things just because, you know, if I don't have the cash, I had to kind of learn the hard way. But that same bank that wouldn't give me a five hundred credit card, now I have a forty six thousand dollar credit card with them. And I don't, I maybe owe a thousand dollars on it. Here's the problem for some car.

[Jade Warshaw]

Here's the problem. Here's where the confusion is. Here's where the confusion is. There's a lot of confusion in this. And I hear what you're saying and it now is crystal clear to me. So there's, there's two or three issues here. Number one, like what we already said, the money is siloed. So because of that, there is just going to be a level of secrecy. So that's thing one. And you both have created that environment. Thing two is there isn't a clear stance on debt in your relationship. It sounds like it's. If it's. It's. If it's this kind of debt, it's okay.

[George Campbell]

If it helps her credit score, then maybe, huh.

[Jade Warshaw]

And so I think that's created. That's the second problem is there's just not a clear stance on what does that mean? And then the third thing is, yeah, there is a lack of communication. There is something there that she didn't feel like she could tell you. Even something like braces, hey, I have to use this money for our children's braces. So there's a communication there or some sort of, like, lack of trust that I don't feel like I can come to you with this or I don't feel like I can share. Share this. So these are three main issues. And I hearing the call, George, what I would suggest is if you can take a level of ownership in this, too, and then you can come to her and say, you know what, we've gotten off on the wrong track, like, both of us. And I see my part in this, and I. I want to change what I'm doing today. And I, like, I hope that you're here with me because we can't keep going like this. I want you to know that I trust you. I want our finances to be together. And what I'm finding right now is I was focused on debt, and I kind of was a hypocrite because I was saying my debt was okay, but yours wasn't. And I think, honestly, going forward, we just need to say that debt has not been good for our relationship. And going forward, I don't want to engage on it. I don't know about you, but this is what I want to talk to you about. And that's how I would approach this.

[Caller]

Yeah. No, I love that. And that's in that conversation I had last night when I said. I was like, regardless. I was like, your debt is my debt. I have, like, $4,000 in debt. But I told her, and I'm thinking, oh, we just finally got a tax return for the first time in, like, two years because I'm making more money than I've made in the past. So having to adjust for things like that. We had to owe the last Two years. But you know, having extra money taken out and being on top of the finances where we got like, you know, $4,500. Okay, cool. Maybe we can use this to pay down our credit card debt. Thinking ours is roughly around the same, not realizing hers was as much as it was.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

So what's your total consumer debt now?

[Caller]

It's about 30,000 between the both of us.

[George Campbell]

Okay. How much do you have in across

[Caller]

checking and savings liquid like leftover or just currently right now? Currently I have about $2,300 right now in my debit. That's after mortgage and bills are paid.

[George Campbell]

Okay. I would likely pause on this refinance because it's going to cost you 2 to 5% of the loan and I don't know that you're going to break even anytime soon. So this might be a down the line thing. Right now the focus is just attacking this debt with the debt snowball. That's the easy advice. Just tackle it as if it was yalls debt and smallest credit card goes first, minimum payments on the rest. The hard part is going to be resetting your marriage and financ financial life and her rebuilding trust. And the way to do that is a micro commitment every day to be a person who is trustworthy. And that's going to involve transparency and accountability and having a joint account and we know the plan and freezing your all both of your credit, freeze all the accounts so that nobody could open debt in your name, including you. Make it really hard, add the friction there so that we're not tempted. And if you do all of those things and get on a budget, there's, there's definitely hope here we can get out of this pretty fast.

[Caller]

Okay, well a question with the snowball is, is it because like I said, most of them, they're all around the same, they're all like 6400, 6300, 6600. I'm looking at.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. So what I would do then is I would do them in order. If it's 6400, you know, if the 6301 is the smallest one, do that one first and then do the 6401 and then do the 6601. So when you do the debt snowball, everybody what we're doing here is we're listing the debts smallest to largest by balance, not by monthly payment, not by interest rate. It truly is by balance. And when you do that, you get those small wins quickly. You feel that, that rush of dopamine, you feel like Hey, I did something and you want to go to the next one. And it really is proven to be the best method to pay off your debt quickly. And that's what's going to work for George too.

[Caller]

If you're looking for a more budget friendly way to save on medical costs and stay true to your values, Christian Healthcare Ministries is a great option to think about. CHM is not health insurance. It's a health cost sharing ministry. A biblical community based way for Christians

[Jade Warshaw]

to share each other's medical bills.

[Caller]

That means no enrollment deadlines and you

[Jade Warshaw]

can choose any doctor or hospital you want.

[George Campbell]

That kind of freedom is big, especially

[Caller]

if you're self employed between jobs or you just need something that fits your budget better. CHM has been around for decades, faithfully

[George Campbell]

serving the Christian community.

[Caller]

And many members save hundreds of dollars a month compared to traditional health insurance.

[George Campbell]

And that margin gives you breathing room

[Caller]

when you're working the baby steps and trying to steward your money well. And right now, CHM is offering new members a 50% credit towards their first month of membership. Get [e-mail] budget and use promo code RAMSEY. That's chministries.org budget and promo code Ramsey.

[Jade Warshaw]

Alrighty, back to the phone lines. Georgia, you ready?

[George Campbell]

I hope so.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, we got Sarah who's in Las Vegas, Nevada. What's up Sarah? How can we help today?

[Caller]

Hi there. Good afternoon. My question is pretty much on garnishment but also of course your guys awesome guidance hit us. My husband pretty much pays like all of our, all of our bills and everything. Recently his wages have started to be garnished for a car that we voluntarily let go a few years ago. So now we are, you know, I downloaded the EveryDollar app and I'm trying to do the budget and it's like in our face that now we're short on bills. So I'm kind of scrambling looking for a job. I have a side business but you know, I obviously need like stable income to bridge that gap. So I'm kind of scrambling looking for work. And we just recently been married for a while, but we just kind of recently started our accounts because of this and working on the budget. I guess my question is should we or can we do anything about the garnishment?

[Jade Warshaw]

How much is the garnishment?

[Caller]

I don't know the exact details yet. He's, he's working on getting that information but I think.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, so you haven't, you haven't seen it actually happen yet? It's just been ordered?

[Caller]

No, no, these Wages are being garnished already. I just don't have, like, the physical paper.

[George Campbell]

You don't know the numbers. Do you know the bal owed?

[Caller]

No, I don't.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Caller]

I don't.

[George Campbell]

Well, there's some homework there, because once we know that, we can develop a game plan to pay it off aggressively using future income. I'm guessing you guys have nothing in savings.

[Caller]

We don't. He did, but he does not have any more, so we. Neither of us do.

[George Campbell]

What do you guys make?

[Caller]

Well, he makes. So before the garnishment, 43 a year, and then after it would be like 31. So a month. It's basically 2600 because they take it directly from his paycheck.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, it looks like they can take up to 25 of your income on a garnishment. So this. This does have the ability to really mess with you guys.

[George Campbell]

There's nothing you can do about it. I mean, the lender sued you, and they got a judgment that you owe the money, and this is next steps because you're not paying.

[Jade Warshaw]

Did you guys. Did you ignore the. When you were served? Like, did you ignore this or how did you get to this point?

[Caller]

Yeah, I got ignored pretty much.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Okay, so we're not doing that anymore. Going forward, what's the status on. I mean, obviously you guys are married. The money's separate. It's like you kind of know what's going on, but you don't know the amount of it. How are you. I think my question for you is, what's the plan to come together to solve this? Because going forward, what I'm seeing big picture is we've got to get on the same page. And when life hits, we can't ignore it because it just snowballs and makes it worse. Which you're finding to be true right now?

[Caller]

Absolutely. I mean, we're pretty much. Honestly, I'm just. We're getting into taking the biblical approach of marriage and finances and everything and, you know, joining our accounts and being one, and that's moving forward. But we do have, unfortunately, a lot of fights.

[George Campbell]

What other debt do you guys have?

[Caller]

We have a lot of debt in collections, but right now it's kind of just our monthly bills, like, you know, the mortgage, the phone and cars and everything.

[George Campbell]

So is there anything you can sell in this picture where you could free up some payments and even walk away with some cash?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, because there's. There's still a chance that they might settle this for you if you can get with the creditor and say, hey,

[George Campbell]

if I Give you this much lump sum, can you call it paid in full?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, that's not off the table.

[Caller]

That's, that's what I was thinking about. He's kind of like hell bent. I'm sorry for the reference. He's kind of like bent on, well let's let we have equity. And I have no idea how that works but he's like, we'll just call a mortgage company and see about that.

[Jade Warshaw]

So he wants to take out a heloc.

[Caller]

Me, I don't know what type but I just called to inquire and they pretty much were like, well you have to run your credit anyways. And we don't even have the credit.

[George Campbell]

Good, I'm glad we don't have. Please do not use your house as a piggy bank and go into more debt thinking you solve the problem.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, debt, debt doesn't solve for debt. The only way you can solve debt is to pay it off with actual earned money. So here's, here's going forward. So how's the job search going for you?

[Caller]

Well, it's going. I recently I haven't worked for a few years at a 9 to 5. It's kind of my own business. I kind of let that go because we need money. But I've been hiring to, I mean applying to pretty much everything within the

[Jade Warshaw]

past few days today. I want you to know any job will do for the time being and

[George Campbell]

be a server at the nearest restaurant.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

We're not talking about a fancy salary job right now. We need any money in the door

[Jade Warshaw]

and then the first order of business is to try to stack up. You need to sit down with your husband tonight, find out what the full amount owed is and then try to put scrounge together as quickly as you can. 60 to 70% of what that is or even 50%. Start small and say, hey. Go to the creditor directly and say, hey, I know we don't have the full 8,000 but we have 4,000 today. Take it or leave it. Because they're in a position at this point they're not expecting to get much. This garnishment of wages. They're going to get what they can, but I would at least try to settle it. There's no guarantee there, but I would try that. And then from here on, yes, the solution is income. There's not going to be a magic wand here. If you guys pull out a HELOC or any other type of loan or personal loan, you are just kicking the can down the field and honestly making things Worse for you in the future. So for you guys today, the name of the game is income and drawing a line in the sand and saying no more. This, this behavior of you over here and me on this side that cannot continue. This idea of facing our financial issues head on cannot continue. And I love what you said earlier, Sarah, that you guys are kind of trying to get onto this approach with your life and your money. So keep doing that. Matter of fact, I haven't offered this in a long time, George, but if, if you guys. I love Financial Peace University. I love every dollar. But I love something about like, I'm like getting deep in this. So if you want to get into that, I would suggest it. Local church. I love that for you guys. We're also going to give you every dollar if you like the digital approach. But I think you really use some people around you that are doing this and doing it the right way. FPU Financial Peas always has some OGs in there that can kind of guide you.

[George Campbell]

They've been there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes. And that's what you guys need. This is a complete overhaul for you, and I think it's something to be excited about, you know, and on top

[George Campbell]

of that total money makeover, we're going to send you a copy of that. So in between classes, you're going to be reading this book together and it's going to fire you guys up. And if that doesn't light a fire under you, I don't know what will. But that's the game plan. It's no new debt whatsoever. Freeze your credit so that you can't do something as dumb as taking on a heloc. Then we're going to cut our expenses down to nothing. And every dollar will help you with that. Then we're going to try to increase our income as much as possible. And that gap, that beautiful gap, is called margin. And you're going to use all of that to attack these debts to save up a lump sum, to try to get these other debts out of collections, because that those debts are next, they're going to come suing you for those. So it's like whack a mole right now trying to clean up these debts.

[Jade Warshaw]

But the good thing, what we're teaching you, Sarah, is you. It feels like you don't have control over the situation, but you can gain control over it very quickly. And that's gonna start by knowing those numbers. Something truly happens when you sit down at night, George, and you do your budget for the first time. And even if it's in the Red for you to just list out. This is the money coming in and this is the money going out. For a lot of people, it's the first time they've ever seen it that Sarah mentioned that.

[George Campbell]

She said, we did the budget and realized, oh my gosh, we're in the red every month.

[Caller]

Month.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

We can't keep doing this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes. And then, so having that level of control and then saying, okay, well, here's what we're going to do next. And they've got a plan. Debt snowball. And that for me is the biggest piece. It's going to take time. It's going to take time to turn this around, but then to be able to say, okay, now I'm reading the Total Money Makeover. I'm going to F my FPU class. All of those things combined is exactly what you need to stay motivated. Light a fire under a butt. Keep listening to the Ramsey show. That's the type of stuff that Sam and I did when we were paying off our debt. And you kind of have to just, just jump off the cliff wholeheartedly and really just submerge yourself in a new lifestyle.

[George Campbell]

Just have faith that this process works because 10 million people have gone before me and I've done it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

Not ish. You got to go all in. You got to do it by the book. And there's a reason it works.

[Jade Warshaw]

There's a reason it works. I'm excited for you guys. Sarah, this is the precipice of a brand new beginning. And be sure to call us back and let us know how things are going or if you need any help whatsoever, whatsoever.

[George Campbell]

Dave, we got a lot of calls on this show where life happens. One day someone's healthy, they're working, providing for their family, and then a curveball hits.

[Dave Ramsey]

You know, we hear it all the time. A car accident, a cancer diagnosis, a heart attack, and suddenly everything changes.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. And that's why you've always said that having term life insurance from Zander is essential because it protects your family if the worst happens.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, that's right. You need 10 to 12 times your income in coverage. No gimmicks, no whole life junk, just straightforward term life protection. But there's another piece that people often overlook, and that's long term disability insurance.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, it's important to understand the difference between them. Life insurance steps in when you die. Disability insurance steps in while you're alive, but can't work, so it replaces a large part of your income so the bills still get paid while you get back on your Feet.

[Dave Ramsey]

Now, if your employer gives you free disability insurance, great, take it. If it's discounted there at a better price, take it. But if not, Zander can help you find the right plan. Whether you're single or married, it's not optional. If you're going to be out of work for a while, then you need to make sure the money's still showing up.

[George Campbell]

And that's why Zander is our go to. They make it super simple to get the right coverage at the best price. No pressure, no upselling.

[Dave Ramsey]

I've trusted Jeff Zander and Zander insurance for over 25 years, and so has my family.

[George Campbell]

So don't wait. It's fast, it's easy, and it could make all the difference. Go to zander.com or call 800-356-4282.

[Dave Ramsey]

Protect yourself, protect your income, protect your family.

[Jade Warshaw]

Hey, welcome back to the Ramsey show here in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. It's myself, Jade Warshaw next to George Campbell, continuing to take your calls. And we have Austin, who's in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hey, Austin, how are you?

[Caller]

Hey, guys, how are you? Can you hear me okay?

[Jade Warshaw]

Absolutely. Fire away.

[Caller]

Excellent. Wonderful. Thanks for taking my call. So I'll try to be brief here. We're a family of five with three kiddos, and we have just under $100,000 in debt, not including our mortgage. And while we can make minimum payments and are trying to tackle one of them, we just, we feel so defeated. And our youngest has just been diagnosed with a lifelong medical condition, and our oldest is on the spectrum, and so a lot of our credit card debt went to helping get him resources that we. That he needed. But we just, you know, you close our eyes, you wake up, and we just have all this debt, and so we're. We're a little stuck.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, man. Yeah, that's tough. That's. That's tough to go through, especially with the medical challenges. How's your income in all of this?

[Caller]

Yeah, household income is 164,000 a year. Good.

[George Campbell]

That's a great income. You got. You mean you got a big pile, but you got a nice big shovel to help clean it up, which is nice. Can you tell me, like, the breakdown of the debts?

[Caller]

Sure. So it's a little bit like death by a thousand cuts. So we've got roughly $40,000 in credit card debt between two credit cards. And again, those were. Some of it was poor financial decisions on our part, eating out, et cetera. But a lot of that was the medical stuff. I have $20,000 in student loans. And we have two car payments. One of them is 28,000 and it's a relatively new car and the other is 8,000. So it's kind of close to being paid off.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, now you guys income, is that just you or do both you and your wife work?

[Caller]

We both work. So I bring home $80,000 and my wife brings home 84,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, great. Okay. So what I'm looking at straight off the bat is maybe the first car that's worth 28,000. What's it worth?

[Caller]

Yeah, that's what's tough. So we did the Kelly blue book value, and if we got like the perfect buyer, perfect money, it's probably at about 30,000 even. So we'd make a little bit. But then we're like, what do we do for a decent, safe car for her? Because she is from a different country and so she's learned to drive as an adult, and so she's a little anxious as the car doesn't have a lot of those safety features to help her out.

[Jade Warshaw]

Interesting. That might be solved with some driving lessons. But I think that you could find a. If you took the 2000s. Do you guys have any cash saved? Do you have any money saved?

[Caller]

Saved? We did, but we unfortunately depleted that. So we're. It's kind of embarrassing to admit that, honestly. So we have to build that back up.

[Jade Warshaw]

Don't be embarrassed. But what, what would be a goal if coming away from this call is if you can sell that in pocket 2000. Obviously you're going to need to put a thousand dollars aside for baby step one, which is just that starter emergency fund. But then I'd very quickly be trying to scrounge together, I don't know, 7 or 8,000 and just get a. A car that is safe, that is reliable, that gets her from point a. And honestly, driving lessons.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. I mean, any, any modern car from the last decade is going to be safe to drive. It doesn't need all. Every single bell and whistle of, you know, the lights on the. On the mirror to let you know there's a car next to you and all that.

[Jade Warshaw]

A lot of that's just paying attention too.

[George Campbell]

But you guys make you bring home 10k a month or so.

[Caller]

Yes. And that's. And she might actually get a pretty healthy raise coming up, and I might too, actually. But we can't bank on that. So this is like. And that's where the. Is, because we are. We are really tackling. I think we're doing it backwards. And I was Going to ask you about our high interest credit card, but we're doing like the opposite of the snowball. Now that we realize what the snowball is, we may fix that. But we've been trying to throw money at the high interest credit card, and we're throwing like almost two grand a month at that. And then minimum payments everywhere else.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Caller]

We're just.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think it's impatient. I'd swap this around. Your biggest, your biggest opportunity here is with that car payment. Because if you can, how much are you paying a month for the $28,000 car?

[Caller]

Car that. We do it twice monthly, but it's altogether about 500amonth.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes. So if we said, hey, 2,000 from the sale and instead of throwing 200, $2,000 at this credit card every month, since it's not even the smallest debt, what if we pocketed that for two months in a row? Now we have $6,000. We can find a very reliable car. Surely there's someone in the community that, you know, ask around your church, ask around at work. Surely somebody's selling something or knows somebody who is. Is. And I like a used car like that because then I can get a more accurate picture of what the background of the vehicle is. So that would be my first move. Because if you can reclaim $500 a month plus to add that to now, the margin of the 2000 that you were already throwing at the debt, now you got $2,500 a month that you're pounding this debt with, it knocks out

[George Campbell]

over 25% of your debt right there. So now you're down to 72, making 164. Now it's a solvable problem and you're not going to be driving that car forever. So I don't want you to think, you know, oh my gosh, this is a death mobile. I can't have her driving this. This might be six months to a year until we can upgrade if we get intense about this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And your current car is worth $8,000 and you guys have been driving that one just fine. So that, that would be a full argument for that, that choice to be made. Second thing is, I love that for you. Second thing is, I think you did say that you're getting right side up on doing the debt snowball the correct way. Which again, by balance, is what I would do. So what's the smallest balance that you have laying around? And you can include student loans in that too, by the way.

[Caller]

Yeah. So I guess the other one would be that $8,000. My car, which we could probably take care of pretty quickly. So it's the 8,000. Then it would be the two credit cards. Our high interest one actually is at about 15,000. And we were planning on using my life's bonus to knock that down three or 4,000. But maybe we'll rethink that now with this. Then we have another credit card of 21,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And my student loans at 20,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

And the student loans is just one big chunk. It's not divided into smaller loans.

[Caller]

It actually is divided into smaller loans. I don't know exactly what those breakdowns are right now, but they add up to just shy of 20,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I'd look into that because again, the whole method behind the madness of the debt snowball is small wins. So if you can, you know, say you look at that student loan, my guess is it's probably broken into $5,000 chunks. I don't know, I'm just going, maybe by semester. But if you can feel that, oh, we knocked out 5,000 and you can see it as four pieces instead of one giant chunk. It does feel like it's almost the feeling of, I don't know if you're like this, but I love making a list and being able to check things off my list. It just feels great. And it's the same way with debt. And so if you can look into that tonight and you might find, oh, this is broken into four or five smaller loans that is going to do so much for your psyche while paying off this debt.

[George Campbell]

So we talked about income, we talked about the debt. The last piece here is the expense. And I can tell you guys have just been in survival mode, which means we're just gonna eat out. Cause ain't nobody got time to go get groceries and cook. We are stressed, we're exhausted.

[Caller]

That's exactly right.

[George Campbell]

Right. And so it's not because you're maniacal, you're just human beings.

[Caller]

No. Yes. And I will say since December we've gotten really intentional about cooking at home, not eating out, doing all those things. And we've seen a pretty good difference. But yeah, it's just the exhaustion after the end of the day. That's the temptation.

[George Campbell]

That's where the spending happens. It's scrolling in bed at 11pm and just adding to cart and going through the drive thru. And so that's really going to be a great opportunity for you guys to create even more margin because you have a great income. We can all agree, you know, if you were 18 year old, Austin, you're going, you're going to make $10,000 a month take home one day you'd be like, we are rich.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[George Campbell]

And instead you're looking around going, we don't have enough money to pay our bills. And so we've got to take some serious action because once we do clean this up, you guys are going to be in such great shape to build wealth for the rest of your life once we're done with this debt. And then you'll be able to keep up with the medical needs. That's an even better reason to become debt free. When you got those little kiddos as your why, there's nothing that will stop you.

[Jade Warshaw]

And that's one part that we didn't really talk about. Knowing what their medical needs are going forward. And you may need to have a fund that's there to the side. If you know, hey, we're spending, you know, a certain amount, a couple hundred dollars on this a month, or maybe even a couple of thousands of this over the course of a quarter, I would certainly have that money set aside, aside from your normal emergency fund, just knowing, hey, this is part of our budget at this point. It's something that we have to create a sinking fund around to make sure that money's there when we need it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Owning a business can be a heavy load. You want to serve your customers well, make a healthy profit and grow. And your team, family and customers are all counting on you. And now everybody's talking about AI like it's magic and you're wondering how to keep up. You're carrying a lot, but you don't have to do it all alone. That's where NetSuite comes in. Over 43,000 businesses, including Ramsey Solutions, use NetSuite to lighten the load by bringing all their numbers into one system. Accounting, inventory, CRM, payroll, the works. And now NetSuite's AI takes it further, automating busy work, flagging inventory issues, spotting cash flow problems in real time, and catching risks before they hit. So you're not just closing the books faster. You're making decisions confidently. And when your numbers are right, that takes a lot of pressure off your shoulders and you, yeah, switching systems is a big move, but NetSuite's suite success process gets you up and running fast. Go to netsuite.comramsey for a free product tour and to schedule time with a NetSuite rep. That's NetSuite.com Ramsey.

[Jade Warshaw]

Alrighty. Then back to the phone lines. We go where we have Steve, who's in Chicago Illinois. Steve. Happy to have you on the phone lines, my man.

[Caller]

Thank you for having me on.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're welcome. How can we help?

[Caller]

So me and my wife, we got married in 2024. She's originally from the Philippines and she still has her family there. One in particular is her mom. And her mom, as of recently, has come on some financial problems that we want to help support her. And we're blessed. We're in a good spot, we can do that. The problem is that she lives with her son.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're breaking up.

[George Campbell]

You broke up on us. Steve, can you hear me?

[Caller]

Okay?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Just repeat what you said.

[George Campbell]

She lives with who?

[Caller]

She lives with her son. So my wife's brother, and he's I think 42, 43, and hasn't had a job in many, many years. And the problem is he's basically sizzled off everything that she had for retirement. Where the problem is, we want to support her, but we don't want to enable him at the same time. So we're not really sure what to do with that situation.

[George Campbell]

Well, at that point, you're just enabling his behavior.

[Caller]

Exactly.

[Jade Warshaw]

So all you'd have to do, theoretically you could talk to her and say, hey, here's what we see, mom, and this is your wife talking. We see that you could use some help and we'd like to help you. The only way we can do that is if you're separate from my brother. Because what we've observed is not good for you and we cannot give you money knowing that it could enable him. But my second question to follow up that is, how is it not enabling your mom or the mother in law, Is she unable to work? Like, tell us more about that part

[George Campbell]

because this sounds like a forever problem.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

That you're gonna have to manage if you start giving her money forever.

[Caller]

Yep. So she's retired, she had a good nest egg. They actually sold some land and fill things and stuff where she had a decent amount of money. And we've had that conversation with her, like, hey, she actually had a condo in a different area that she refuses to leave the brother behind because she's worried about him and his life and stuff. But it's hard to explain it to her to where we want to support her. But at the same time, you know, we see the enabling that's happening. You may not be able to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Where we're at, if, you know, giving, having stipulations or having something that you need to see in order to know that money is going to be spent responsibly. That's not mean or wrong or unfair. It's just honestly being a financially responsible adult. And if you've observed that she has not been responsible with her money and that there is a person who is taking advantage of her, but she refuses to leave that situation where she's being taken advantage of, there's not a whole lot that you can do other than, other than say, hey, this offer is here if ever you want to it, but these are the terms of it. And you know, we love you, but we can't let you know. Billy Bob, who's 43, continue to take your money and therefore take our money and take it or leave it.

[George Campbell]

How much are you giving her right now?

[Caller]

Right now we've given her a thousand dollars. But no, right now it's been one time.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Caller]

She actually reason we know she's in dire straits is she reached out to some of her sisters for money. And then her sisters, my wife's aunts, reached out to us to let us know because she didn't want us to know about it or what I think so I think that's the biggest thing because she knows that her son is a problem.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, but everyone's healthy. Is everybody healthy?

[Caller]

Yes, everybody's healthy.

[Jade Warshaw]

And how old is she?

[Caller]

She, I think she's 70.

[Jade Warshaw]

So yeah, going out and getting a job is not going to be the easiest thing here.

[George Campbell]

I think if you wanted to give and you knew the exact needs, you can try to give directly to those needs. So if it was, I don't know, covering her taxes and insurance for the year or covering groceries, you can make sure she gets a gift card that's, you know, in her control so that he's not just getting access to a bank account.

[Jade Warshaw]

Absolutely.

[George Campbell]

So there's, there's things you can do to try to separate this. But again, it's up to her to not enable him at that point point and somehow turn this into him getting this money anyways. But if you can give directly to the need and that way he can't get access, that's probably the best way to do an ongoing gift. And it's also okay to say, hey, we can do a one time gift of $5,000. We can't give you any more money. And if you squander it, if he takes it, that's all we can do.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is he getting money from somewhere? Is somebody else providing for him that he's able to kind of do the other things he needs to do? He's just living there. There.

[Caller]

Yeah. So I mean he Got access to her money for a long time. He actually sold some family land. He lived off of that for a while. He's always going one to. To another thing after another.

[George Campbell]

Is he an addict of some sort?

[Caller]

No, nothing like that.

[George Campbell]

Where is he blowing all this money?

[Caller]

We don't know.

[George Campbell]

That's the part that scares me. I just want to make sure that your mom is in a safe environment as well or your mother in law. And that might be a conversation between your wife and her to figure out, you know, what really is going on underneath the surface. How can we really help to give directly to the needs if we're going to continue giving it all? Yeah, because right now I would pause until you have more information, because right now you might be throwing money into the abyss.

[Jade Warshaw]

I would agree with that. And probably the most important thing out of this entire conversation is whatever you guys decide, you both have to feel good about it, you and your wife. It has to be something that you feel like you.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is money well spent. And that she feels like it's money well spent because all of this is sheer generosity. And so for that reason, it's not something that must be done that is really yours to solve. But out of the goodness of your hearts, if you're doing this, that's a great thing. I just would not want it to cause any resentment between you two who are married.

[George Campbell]

So that's good advice.

[Jade Warshaw]

That is a tough one. All right, thank you for the call. Let's go to Jack, who's in Kansas City, Missouri. Hey, Jackson. Jack. How can we help?

[Caller]

Hi.

How are you guys?

[Jade Warshaw]

Good. What's up?

[Caller]

So I am looking to figure out what I should do with a decently large sum of money. I don't have any debt. I basically have $200,000 of, like, liquid cash that I've saved. And then I just had a judgment in court that is awarding me about $530,000. Wow.

[George Campbell]

I guess. Yeah.

[Caller]

I mean, I've paid. I've always been really. I mean, I've been longtime followers of the show. So, like, I've always been very careful. I don't have any credit cards. I paid my student loans off. Like, I don't have anything that's outstanding.

[George Campbell]

And you'll be sitting on three quarters of a million dollars.

[Caller]

Yeah, pretty much. Wow.

[George Campbell]

How old are you?

[Caller]

I'm 28.

[George Campbell]

Single?

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

Are you renting?

[Caller]

I am currently. I'm currently renting with my brother the past couple of years. So that's where I'm at with that.

[George Campbell]

Cool.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is There any like health or anything going forward that to manage to know about?

[Caller]

No, I mean I'm, I'm a pretty healthy guy. The one thing that I did do just at the end of last year was because I wanted to get a good start on it. I did open like a Roth IRA and contributed like 7,000 just to the, for the past year just to get a good start.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, great.

[Caller]

But still I have all this that I feel like I could do something with.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, I would split it across a few areas. Number one is give. I think that's a wise thing to do with any amount of money that you get. And the other one would be saving and investing. And so that could be, hey, I'm going to max out another Roth IRA for the year and I'm going to put a chunk of this into an investment account, like a brokerage account, non retirement, just to have it grow with compound interest or compound growth. And then the final thing is you may want to buy a house with cash or upgrade your car with cash to a reasonable car and enjoy some of that money. Because locking in a house in cash at your age is one of the best wealth building moves you could make.

[Caller]

Yeah, I'm thinking about that because yeah, I bought my, my car with, with cash. I ordered it brand new car and I loved driving that away knowing that it was mine. And then I thought about the house thing. I just, I didn't know if that would be like a really wise move to go for that.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, don't go crazy. But you know, I don't know what houses are in your area, but if there's a, you know, a single family home that's, I don't know, $400,000 dollars, I mean that's, you'd still have plenty left over to invest and give and enjoy. And so I would do all three things with it. I would spend, save, invest and give. And if you do all of those things, you won't feel like you have a flat tire. But I love prioritizing a home, I mean home ownership. At 28, you'll be a unicorn, especially with a paid for house. So that's the key is try to do everything with cash for the rest of your life. You've already been doing that. That's going to be the best way to steward this money wisely.

[Jade Warshaw]

I love that idea. And just because you can afford a $600,000 house doesn't mean you need that. Just get what you need for your life in this moment. You can always upgrade later. Foreign.

[George Campbell]

This show is sponsored by Better Help. If you feel like you're the one holding everyone else together while you're slowly falling apart, I want you to hear me for a second. If you feel stuck or anxious or overwhelmed, yet you find yourself always saying, I have to take care of everybody else and I'll get to me later. That will work for a while. Until it doesn't. Talking with a licensed therapist gives you a place to slow down, be honest, and sort through what challenges in your life are actually yours to carry and what challenges are not yours to carry. BetterHelp is an online therapy platform that matches you with a licensed therapist based on your goals and preferences. You can message your therapist and schedule sessions through the platform. And if the first therapist you're assigned isn't the right fit, you can switch at any time for no additional cost. You're not weak for wanting help. Therapy has changed my life and it can change. Change yours. You're wise for choosing to talk to someone. Visit betterhelp.com Ramsey to get 10 off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P.com Ramsey.

[Jade Warshaw]

Hey, you know what the truth is, we wish that we could get to every call and every question here on the show, but that's just not possible. So if you have a money question and you want an answer for your specific situation, head over to our website and please use Ask Ramsey. Ask Ramsey is our free AI tool that's built and trained on proven Ramsey principles. You'll get an answer the same way we'd answer it right here on the show. Ask your question [e-mail] or click the link in the description if you're listening on pod or YouTube. All right. Manny is in Orlando, Florida. Hi, Manny.

[Caller]

Hi. Thank you for taking my call.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're welcome. How can we help today?

[Caller]

So My mother is 65 years old. Her house is paid off. She collects Social Security and she kind of a house hack. She's got two studio apartments in her house which she rents out and that's what she uses for income. However, she has very low retirement savings, about $50,000. So my, my idea was to outright buy her house so she can retire in the house and have some money to enjoy her retirement. And so that was kind of my question whether this would be a good thing. And my concern is that she would, she would remain continue to rent out the couple studio apartments within her house and whether, you know, that that would be advisable thing to do.

[Jade Warshaw]

So you'd buy the house so she has the cash, spending money. She'd continue to live in it, and you're just kind of would bide your time until the day comes where the property would roll, would be empty and roll back to you.

[Caller]

Correct.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much is the house worth?

[Caller]

I mean, on realtor.com it's about $400,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, before I ask you if you have the ability to do this financially, how much, how much is her Social Security and how much does she pull in from the rent?

[Caller]

So she pulls in about $2,000 a month for the rent. So $1,000 per studio.

[Jade Warshaw]

Uhhuh.

[Caller]

And her Social Security is about $1,000 a month.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[George Campbell]

And she's able to cover all of her bills?

[Caller]

She is.

[George Campbell]

Okay. So why, why do we need even more if she's doing fine?

[Caller]

Well, just because she's only, she only has 50,000. No, 401k. Just $50,000 in a savings account.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, what's she going to use the extra money on if her, if she's

[George Campbell]

living life, increase her lifestyle while.

[Caller]

Exactly. To be able to enjoy retirement and be able to travel. That's what she does. She just likes to travel.

[Jade Warshaw]

Understood.

[George Campbell]

So that's, I feel like at this point you feel responsible for her lack of retirement.

[Caller]

Well, it's a way for me to, you know, get back to her and, and not, not necessarily responsible, but I, I, I have a couple rental properties, and so I'm just in a position where, where I can.

[George Campbell]

How much money do you have in some way?

[Caller]

I've got about 300 cash.

[George Campbell]

Okay, so you couldn't afford it in full right now anyways?

[Caller]

Well, I could, but, you know, my idea would be to take on a mortgage. No, no. If it's, you know, if it's worth 400, my, I, my proposal would be like to do it like a 300 and be responsible for taxes, insurance, and all that. That feels messy throughout the year.

[George Campbell]

You want her to give you a 25% discount?

[Caller]

Well, you know, we, we haven't really discussed numbers, and I honestly, I could pull the 400 if, if need be.

[Jade Warshaw]

But that's all your money. I mean, is that all? I mean, when George asked you how much cash do you have and you said 300, is that all your money? All your cash that you have?

[Caller]

No, no, no. It's just the liquid cash that I have. You know, I can.

[Jade Warshaw]

Give us a full snapshot. Give us a full snapshot. Tell us how much debt you have. Tell us about your, Give us a bigger piece of this so we can understand how many properties do you have? How much cash do you have? What's in your retirement?

[Caller]

Yeah. So you know, my, my home is paid off and then I have two rental properties that are also paid. Paid off.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And then, and then liquid cash in the bank is 300.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And then I've got a couple liquid accounts that are 200,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

All in all, liquid, you know, cash and couple accounts that are pretty liquid is 500,000.

[George Campbell]

Wouldn't it be cheaper just to, if you want to bless her, cover the taxes and insurance on that house instead of you buying it?

[Caller]

Well, I mean, paying taxes and that, that wouldn't really help her or afford her to be able to travel how she wants to, but she can't afford

[George Campbell]

it is my fear. And right now it's sort of you're artificially propping up her life. Who knows how long she could live? Another 30 years. Right. She's in good health.

[Jade Warshaw]

Or if the renters don't want to live there anymore. Right.

[George Campbell]

Or if she blows through that money and then what?

[Caller]

That's another concern I had. Yeah.

[George Campbell]

And so these are all real.

[Caller]

Might be resentful.

[George Campbell]

I would rather you give her ten grand a year to go travel. That would be a cheaper option with less mess than you buying this house. But she gets the rental money and it's kind of in your name, but she's still living there. And then what if you need to sell it one day for whatever reason, now you go to evict your elderly mother. I just think it's just too messy to get involved at this stage. Yeah, I, I just personally wouldn't do it. Yeah, she doesn't need the money. And if she wants to travel, she might need to go make some, you know, do a part time job in order to come up with the money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Or if she wanted to downsize and sell this home and buy a smaller apartment or, you know, there's, there's options here that I think she has that she may not want to do nor really need to do at this point. But I have a feeling that you stepping in and trying to do this is just going to lead to more problems, problems down the line. And for that reason I, I agree with George. I'd rather spot her some cash as a gift, maybe here or there for a trip if you want to do that. But she's got options here. She's sitting on a nice piece of property that she's paid for over the course of years. So unless somebody did that for her, that lets me know she's got some wherewithal on being able to handle her money.

[Caller]

Right? Yeah. Yeah. Those were. Those were my hesitations as well as would you be. It does sound pretty messy.

[George Campbell]

Would you inherit the property solely?

[Caller]

I have three. I have three sisters. And kind of talking to them about this idea, they were. At first, they were not so happy

[George Campbell]

with it because they were going to get a piece of that upon inheritance, and now they don't. They'll get a piece of whatever's left of mom's pile of money, which will likely be gone if. If she's traveling the world for the next, you know, several decades.

[Jade Warshaw]

And the truth is here. I mean, the hard part with this is we all have a picture of what we want for our loved ones. All of us do. And sometimes that's just not the reality. And there may be. I mean, I. This sounds harsh, but it's just. It's just. I'm. I'm just being a realist right here. She may not get to travel as much as she wants to. Her life. Her life and her lifestyle does not afford that to her. And all of us face that every single day. Day. I. There's things I would love to do right now, but I can't afford to do it. So I will either have to change something about my financial situation. I'll either have to wait. I'll either have to save up. I'll either have to. Right. And so there's part of that. That rather than make something very messy because we want to have a picture so badly, there's part of it of just saying, well, this is the reality of life for everyone to some extent, and it's maybe not here for me to try to clean up and make perfect.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

What if there was a compromise? Does she want to travel solo or is she liked experiences with other people or family?

[Caller]

Both. Both ways. We, you know, whenever we take a cruise, we bring her along, so. But she does also like to travel solo to, like, South America and Central America kind of thing.

[George Campbell]

That's cool. I'm wondering if there's a compromise here. I'm wondering if you go, hey, mom, once here, I'd love to take a fun trip with you. You get to decide where we go. Here's the budget. So now she gets to live that dream without you being intermingled with the finances. And mom's a tenant now. I like that plan better because I. I can tell you're a noble guy. You're a great son. You want to bless your mom. You want her to have a great life. But I don't think artificially funding it by buying her house when she could sell it for more is the move. I just think there's going to be too much dysfunction in the family if you make this happen.

[Jade Warshaw]

I agree with that. As long as you put real, really strong and clear boundaries and very clear expectations. If you do decide to do these trips, gotta be so clear with that. Otherwise next thing you know, it's like, but I want to go to the Bahamas.

[Caller]

That wasn't part of the deal moment.

[Jade Warshaw]

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[George Campbell]

Today's question comes from Shelby in Indiana. I have two children under 5 years old who are beginning to get invited to birthday parties for kids in their playgroups and date. This can get pretty expensive depending on how many parties are scheduled and it's hard for me to justify spending a lot of money for children we're not especially close to. Do you recommend capping it out at a certain amount to spend per birthday or should I look at this as an opportunity to be an example of having a giving heart to my kids? Well, so much more information I want here. Yeah, number one, I don't know her financial picture. Now if she's in baby step two drowning in debt, it looks like a lot of hey, wish we could make it or a real simple gift that the kids make. It can be. It doesn't have to be a $15 gift because the truth is under 5 years old, they're about as excited about a cardboard box as they are about the thing in the box.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I mean those little Matchbox cars.

[George Campbell]

Oh, I love those, you know, or

[Jade Warshaw]

even the ones from the movie cars. But Those are like $2. Like they're not $6. Like they're not expensive. I, I would, I would. If you're in debt, if you're in baby step two, I would for sure cap the amount of birthday parties that we're going to and I would cap the amount that we're spending. And it's just like you said, something small, a $5 gift. I think that you could do that. And that way your 5 year old is not Feeling like, you know, I missed Isabella's birthday party.

[George Campbell]

Yes. And I will say these birthdays have gotten out of hand.

[Jade Warshaw]

They have.

[George Campbell]

It used to be similar. Like I remember it was just like come over, we're gonna get a few pizzas. Now it's like you gotta get like a white bounce house. It's gonna be like a progressive dinner. It's out of control. I'm going to one jade for my 2 year old daughter, a kid in her little daycare and there's a full on petting zoo with exotic animals.

[Jade Warshaw]

You wanna know where I come from? I come from the roller rink, George.

[George Campbell]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Jade Warshaw]

The sticky carpet, questionable individuals, bad pizza,

[George Campbell]

like take me back 10 bucks for unlimited skin.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, take me back to that. But yeah, this business. Don't get caught up is what we'

[George Campbell]

I would cap it just out of principle. I don't think kids need expensive birthdays. I think they need stable parents. So unless there's a kid that they're really close to and maybe the kid chips in if they want to go to all these birthdays where all right, you're going to do these chores, get a little commission.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

And you can use your own money to buy whatever toy you deem fit.

[Jade Warshaw]

I love that.

[George Campbell]

They'll feel the pain. They'll go, you know what, maybe I don't need to get that $20 toy.

[Jade Warshaw]

Can I tell you something else I've adopted?

[George Campbell]

What's that?

[Jade Warshaw]

Now hopefully this doesn't get.

[George Campbell]

This is gonna go viral.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, here's what you do. However, whatever age they are, that's the money that you put in the card. Oh, and it's cute. So it's cutesy. If they're three years old, you put three crisp dollar bills in the card if they're four years old and that way it's like, it's thoughtful. Cause you're thinking about, I know how old you are. I went to the bank and I got four crisis crisp bills.

[George Campbell]

That's effort.

[Jade Warshaw]

So there's effort there. And it's very like if you're an auntie or an uncle or whatever, it's just a very cool way to send it in the mail. Or if it's a buddy's birthday and it's kind of like this is, this is what their family does. Like this is what the Warshaws do. Or this is what you're. I, I love that idea because it's thoughtful, but it's not breaking the bank. They're three years old. They don't need.

[George Campbell]

Well, my favorite part is it doesn't add to the clutter.

[Jade Warshaw]

It doesn't add to the clutter.

[George Campbell]

How many toys these kids have.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And then on the way home, they'll stop and they'll get a fun drink or they'll get a, you know, stop through the drive.

[George Campbell]

I really like that plan. And kids love money. It's like magic to them.

[Jade Warshaw]

They do.

[George Campbell]

They think it's a million dollars if you get a kid $5 bill.

[Jade Warshaw]

All you got to do when you do the magic trick, when you pull the quarter out from your ear.

[George Campbell]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Listen. Dropping like flies.

[George Campbell]

I like that. I would go for creativity. I would set a cap and a budget because that is teaching your kids a whole lot more. Absolutely. We don't just unlimited do whatever we want, no matter the cost. We make a plan and we stick

[Jade Warshaw]

to it like that. All right. Let's go to Savannah, who is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Savannah, you are on the line, my friend.

[Caller]

Hi, Jaden. George. How are you doing today?

[Jade Warshaw]

Excellent. How can we help?

[Caller]

Thank you. All right, I'll make this really quick. So I have a son who is in high school and he has a vehicle that I purchased for him and he is responsible for some of the car expenses. And here's where my question comes in. He was in a car accident that was pretty hefty. The repairs was about 3,000 doll. He did borrow $450 from me and did repay me back after about two months. And here's where my question comes in. Because I'm really struggling with this every day. As soon as he handed me the money and it got to my hands, I felt so guilty. My first thought was this $450 meant more to him than me. And I'm really struggling with this feeling. Did I handle this correctly?

[Jade Warshaw]

I understand why you did what you did. Like, I understand your heart behind it. It sounded like you wanted him some skin in the game and to have some responsibility in what took place. The. The part where I think you may have gone wrong is you caused him to engage in his first, like, debt, like I owe my mom. And now what you guys experienced is kind of like the borrower slave to the lender.

[George Campbell]

It changes the relationship.

[Caller]

Exactly what I felt. That's exactly what I felt.

[Jade Warshaw]

And I thought I was also taught

[George Campbell]

him a great lesson. Life costs money and you gotta be prepared. And it's not always. You're not always gonna get better bailed out. It's not the first time he's gonna have a $450 bill. And so it's a good learning lesson and you can even have the conversation. Hey, the way I approach this, I wish I would have done things differently. I wish I didn't say you owe me this money. But we had to do what we had to do. And what I do want you to take away from this is emergencies are gonna happen and it's very wise to be prepared to have the savings in the bank. And maybe you put this money in a college fund for him and it becomes a gift and you surprise him.

[Jade Warshaw]

Now didn't you say, didn't you say it was 3,000 in repairs?

[Caller]

It was.

[George Campbell]

So you covered the difference?

[Caller]

No, he did. Oh, I gave him some money for Christmas time toward it I think about $300. But no, my hard working son.

[Dave Ramsey]

Wow.

[Caller]

Paid for it.

[George Campbell]

Way to go. So he was just short a few hundred bucks and you said, hey, I'll cover that, you can pay more me back.

[Caller]

Correct.

[Jade Warshaw]

Huh? Yeah, maybe.

[George Campbell]

And he didn't ask for the money.

[Caller]

He did.

No, he did.

[George Campbell]

He said, hey, I'm sorry, I don't have enough.

[Jade Warshaw]

What I. And you can think about this, what I might do. Cuz I, I tend to think that some of these lessons stick the. When a, When a parent makes what they feel to be a mistake and they go back to their children and make it right, that really sticks. And I think it's something that is so good for parents to do for our own hearts, but also for our kids to learn that it's okay to make mistakes. I might go back to him and I might say, you know what? I didn't practice something that I believe in, which is I don't borrow money and I don't engage in debt. And I'm sorry that I put you in that situation. The best time to give people money is if it's a gift.

[Caller]

Gift.

[Jade Warshaw]

And so if I was going to give you this $450, it should have been a gift and that's on me. And I might give him the money back.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

And he'll always remember that.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

And he'll remember that as a lesson. We don't borrow money, we give money.

[Caller]

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought after the whole thing happened. But I wanted to see another perspective of it, you know, should I return

[Jade Warshaw]

it back where I was thinking, you're a great parent. Like the fact that you're even mulling over this is. I mean it's pure gold. Like whatever, whatever you decide to do, like you'll be a winner.

[George Campbell]

But A quote unquote bad mom is not even having this conversation.

[Jade Warshaw]

Exactly.

[George Campbell]

I release you of the mom guilt officially, Savannah. As if you needed that for me, right? No, you're incredible. You're doing a great job raising this young man, and I think this is maturity building.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think so, too.

[George Campbell]

Character building. It's not punishment. You're not doing anything cruel.

[Jade Warshaw]

No.

[George Campbell]

Things happen. A kid's going to wreck a car.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And by the way, don't, Don't. Don't you feel any guilt over it. You know, I think just being a parent is making mistakes daily. Like, that's the way I feel about it.

[George Campbell]

You know, when you grow up and you're like, oh, my parents were just figuring it out, bro. I feel now I'm in that stage, and they look at you like you have all the answers, and you're like, I don't know. I googled it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[George Campbell]

At least we have Google now. I don't know what our parents did.

[Jade Warshaw]

They just followed their instincts. And I actually think that that might be a little bit better because I feel actually bad saying, yeah, I googled what to do. I overrode my instincts, and instead I googled it.

[George Campbell]

AI Is now raising our kids. That's a frightening thought.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, boy. Oh, boy. But the point is, I think that as parents, when we make a mistake, it's okay to go back and correct it, specifically when it comes to money, because then they understand this is trial and error for everybody. And if you make an error, you can always go back and make it right again. And I tend to think that those lessons stick the most when you're a kid. And as an adult.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. You don't want to always rescue them because that creates dependence. And so instead, you give them some responsibility. That's going to build some strength. So don't remove the consequences. Your job is to raise a capable adult, not a child who doesn't know any better.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, welcome back to the Ramsey show here in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. Let's go back to the phone. Phone lines. George, shall we?

[George Campbell]

I'm in.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right. Greg is in Texas. Greg, you are on the line, my friend.

[Caller]

Thank you all for having me.

[Jade Warshaw]

You bet. How can we help today?

[Caller]

Well, I am recently engaged, and we are extremely excited about that. We have. I've listened to y' all for years, and I've talked with her about budget. I've talked with her about our finances. We've gone back and forth, and we agree on just about everything. However, there's one Thing where I'm having a bit of a moral quandary. We both own our own homes and the plan is to sell my house and move into hers.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

Which I'm comfortable doing. She wants to do some repairs, but ultimately she doesn't want me on the deed to her house ever. Of this current home.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Caller]

She has witnessed her mom go through several divorces and struggle with homeownership. So worst case scenario, she wants to make sure that she has this paid for home. She doesn't. She has a mortgage on it currently. But she agrees with me to get out of debt and kind of snowball through everything and work the baby steps and that's fantastic. But she doesn't want me on the deed. And then it's due to trust you,

[Jade Warshaw]

but only to a point.

[Caller]

Pretty much.

[George Campbell]

Okay. And there is a mortgage, you're saying, but she's wanting to pay it off.

[Caller]

Well, she wants us to move forward and pay it off now. I have a unique opportunity. I'm about to. The business that I work for is about is possibly going to sell and my proceeds from that will be about a half a million dollars in cash.

[George Campbell]

Amazing.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's great.

[Caller]

So thank you. And it's a boon for me. I've never had that kind of cash before.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Caller]

And my question is, do I, do we just work the baby steps and I act like that money is set aside and it's in a investments and other things, or do I try to attack the debt and get out of debt as soon as possible?

[Jade Warshaw]

I mean, there's two things here. I'm of the mind. Yes. If you guys are married, your finances should be together. If you have the extra money to do things like pay off mortgages, I'm all for that. But before we even get to that, I do want to go back to your wife. Because on the bigger scale, you being on the deed, we can make the argument of, hey, you're married after a certain point, if anything happens, how's it gonna pass to you anyway, blah, blah, blah. But what we're really seeing is it is a trust issue and it is due to something that she experienced, which is completely valid. Valid. And I want to say that to her and really anyone listening, of course, our past and our past relationships and what we saw growing up, all of that informs how we view money. And so, yeah, when you get experts like George or I giving you a simple piece of advice, everybody's going to filter that differently through what they've experienced. And some people are going to go, yeah, that Makes sense. No problem. And other people are going to go, whoa, absolutely not. I, I can't. And so, so what she needs to understand is it's very easy for a good excuse or a good reason even to become a bad excuse. If she allows that to persist and doesn't get the help that she needs to process through that, it's going to keep her from having the marriage that she ultimately wants. Before we get off the show, I'm going to give you a copy of my book, what no one tells you about money. Because I think that's really going to help her process those emotions around what's going on so that you guys can have the best possible financial picture and best possible marriage in this whole thing. So that's thing one. Do you think she'd read the book if you gave it to her?

[Caller]

I do.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Do you think it's something that she wants to work through?

[Caller]

I think through our continued conversations, she might be waning on it. I'm not sure.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, well, you don't seem like a gold digger, Greg. You're about to acquire half million on top of whatever else you currently have, so.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you want to put it towards her house, which is awesome.

[George Campbell]

So is she not going to get a dime of anything you're bringing into the marriage because that's what it's turning into?

[Caller]

No, I believe we, I believe in joint finances. My parents, they operated that way their entire lives, so.

[George Campbell]

But you would agree it's unfair that you bring all this into the marriage. You help pay down the mortgage in the future once you're married and you have no claim to the house on paper.

[Caller]

That's what I'm, that's what I'm saying. Am I being a but or am I?

[George Campbell]

If you ask her, hey, if you were in my situation situation, how would you feel about all this?

[Jade Warshaw]

You're not being a butt at all. But I do think this is an opportunity for you to understand her a little bit more. And I think it's an alt. I think you both have opportunities here. What George is saying is absolutely right. It's not fair. Like, you're in a situation where you're thinking, hey, like, hello. But again, back to the first point. You saw parents who managed money just fine, Right? So of course that informs the way you view this. You're like, yeah, what's the big deal? Understanding her, who is going to be your wife? Is it. That is going to set you free in so many areas. If you approach this from that not. I'm going to do whatever you say, because what you're saying is broken. But I do want to understand where that's coming from, and I want to be an active participant in us working through that and getting to a point where it's as healthy as it possibly can be. Right. And I think if you approach it that way, she's going to put like, her eyes are going to turn into hearts and she's going to love you for that.

[George Campbell]

If you really dig into this, because she is operating out of fear, the most loving thing you can do is get to the root of that and build the trust with her that her fear is valid, but the outcome is not something that is a possibility. Because I'm guessing there was a very specific reason her mom got divorced or multiple. I don't know the story. Right. And do you know the reasons behind it? Have you asked her about that?

[Caller]

Yes, we've talked about it.

[George Campbell]

And was it financial? Was it infidelity? What was at the core of those?

[Caller]

Several different. Two of those already. Yes, I would say infidelity and financial.

[George Campbell]

Okay. And so the sooner we can be aligned with our money values and our principles and we say, hey, this is how we're gonna operate as a family. You guys are already light years beyond probably where her mom was. Yeah, right. Relationally, financially. And so that's. I think some good premarital counseling is necessary before you guys move forward on this. I don't know that this is like gonna be an ultimatum or deal breaker for this.

[Jade Warshaw]

You.

[George Campbell]

But I think the spirit of this puts a little pause in my book.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, absolutely. This is something you guys are. Have the look, it really is an opportunity for you guys to work through this and how great that this is popping up now before you're even married, versus on down the line when you're all set in your ways. So I think if you both can look at it that way, I think that is a. A winning combination there. So thank you for that call.

[George Campbell]

That's a tough one.

[Jade Warshaw]

It is a tough one, George. And that is the truth. You know these conversations, obviously, we make no bones about it here that money should be a joint effort. If you are married, it should be combined. And what we mean by that is there's one checking account, Both checks goes in there and there's no side accounts. That is like, well, I put the money for the mortgage in here and I keep my money. No, both checks go in. And both people are aware of the monies. Both people are on the budget. If there are apps, assets, both people are on those assets. And it's very easy to say that from a healthy perspective, but anybody who's been burned hears that and goes, oh,

[George Campbell]

don't listen to them.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, don't listen to them. Protect yourself. And that, like human nature, is to protect yourself. But.

[George Campbell]

But I mean, part of marriage is letting go.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

You're risking something in order to be married in this financial merger.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[George Campbell]

So think about it like mergers and acquisitions. Right. Except you are acquiring everything she's got and she's acquiring everything you got.

[Jade Warshaw]

So romantic, George.

[George Campbell]

It can't work without that. If you're like, well, I want to keep my toys over here, but I want to play with your toys over there. That's not marriage doesn't work. That's just fancy roommates. And if you're splitting the bill with your spouse, you don't have a spouse. You have a roommate with benefits. Ooh, I'm calling it like I see it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Got them.

[George Campbell]

Hey, good folks, Dr. John Deloney here. Don't you think life is too short to hate Mondays? Listen, you're worth loving the work you do and where you do it. So get guess what? Ramsey Solutions is hiring. If you're ready to join an amazing team that's all about changing lives and spreading hope, we want to see your application. Right now we're hiring for technology, sales, marketing, writing, copy editing and creative roles. Check out all our job [e-mail] careers. That's ramseysolutions.com careers.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, back to the phone lines. We go where Melanie is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Melanie, you are on the line.

[Caller]

Hello.

Thank you so much for taking my call. I have a question that would be in the category of radical generosity. And my question is twofold. I want to give a very generous gift to my sister in law and her husband and their two best friends and I. First, my question is twofold. First, I need to make sure that my husband is on board. He says it is excessive. And second, if I can get him on board, how do I get this gift to them without making it weird?

[Jade Warshaw]

In our relationship, what's the gift and what's it for?

[Caller]

We.

We want to send them, the four of them to Hawaii or I do anyway.

[Jade Warshaw]

Why?

[Caller]

Well, they have experienced some health issues. Both somebody in each of the couples, my sister in law is on the other side of cancer and the husband of the other couples had his own health issues and he's working his way out of that. My in laws, they planned on doing this trip together when they Were counting on an inheritance that they were going to get, and that fell through, so they no longer are going to be getting that money. We have the means to send the four of them, and I would like to pay for the resorts, the excursions and all, and maybe say, you guys get yourself there with the flights and we' take care of everything else.

[Jade Warshaw]

I love that. How wealthy are you?

[Caller]

Well, I mean, we're fine. So we've retired, and I have a pension that is covering all of our needs, and we have 2.1 in different types of savings, and we have our house paid for, and we're taking our own trips that, you know, we're kind of living the. What we wanted to do in our own retirement. And we would really like to.

[Jade Warshaw]

To what will it cost?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

To do all this for your friends and family.

[Caller]

I think 25,000 would cover it. And I have 27,000 coming in July for our early retirement bonus. That is. That'll be coming in Nice. So this feels like found money taken out of this. Yes. Yeah. And I just feel like, you know, it's one of those where Dave says if you could put it in the middle of the.

[Jade Warshaw]

You could burn it and burn it. You would.

[Dave Ramsey]

It wouldn't.

[Caller]

You wouldn't even notice it. I feel like it's that category.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

This isn't even like a percent of your net worth now. It's like a percent of a percent of your net worth.

[Caller]

Right.

[Jade Warshaw]

I just love your heart on it, too.

[George Campbell]

And is it just. Is your husband, like, blindsided by this? Like, is this a big surprise that you're like, hey, what if we drop 25 grand to send all these people? Like, you're not even going on the trip. So he's like, I want to go to Hawaii.

[Caller]

Well, we're. We're. We're going in September, so.

[George Campbell]

Okay, good.

[Caller]

It's not like we don't ever do anything. We went to Greece, and so we had some. Some really great trips planned for our. He does kind of give me a hard time because he's like, oh, my gosh, you'd give away the house if it didn't put bumpers on the.

[George Campbell]

Well, there's usually one person who has, you know, a little more of that generosity muscle and one person who's a little more like, you know, saver. What else could we do with the money? And that's totally normal. I don't think he's a bad guy. Have you gotten to the root of what he's feeling about this?

[Caller]

I do think that he's concerned with maybe what would happen. How do you say, we would like to gift this to you? And could that be a problem? You know why? Don't want to make it weird because we are very close.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, I don't think it's weird knowing the context. It's not like you're saying, hey, you guys are so broke. We just want to send you on a trip. It's, hey, you guys have had a lot of life hit you. And, you know, my husband and I, we were trying to brainstorm things we could do, and we just thought the most fun thing to do would be to send you guys on a trip. And we'll cover, blah, blah, blah, you know, you guys cover the travel, and that's what we decided. And it's more of just like, it's up to them if they wanna block the blessing, but it's not you guys making it weird.

[Jade Warshaw]

And I also love that you're sending them. It's not like we're going with you. And then the whole time it's kind

[George Campbell]

of like, all right, this awkward force,

[Jade Warshaw]

like, thank you so much for everything. Now, are the couples going together or it's like the in laws are going on the trip and then your two best friends are going on a separate trip? Or is it like a group of them going.

[Caller]

Their two best friends. So it's our in laws and their two best friends.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so the four of them together. Is he worried that it feels exc. Excessive? Because that's clearly a lot of people, a long distance, a lot of money. Like, is he afraid it's going to reveal something about you all's net worth

[George Campbell]

or that's going to feel like a flex, so.

[Caller]

And, you know, we've kind of grew up in a generation where nobody talks about money and, you know, you don't.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

If there's income inequality, you know, I don't want that to be. Yeah, I hear that come between us.

[George Campbell]

Well, the other question I had is, are they even going to be able to cover the other expenses? Are they in a good financial spot?

[Caller]

I think so. You know, I. They, you know, they. They don't seem to be hurting for money, but they definitely live frugally at the same time. You know that. But they, you know, we've done things together, and it's not like they're complaining about money. They've been generous to their sons before on different occasions, so they're not like drowning in debt. Hi.

[Jade Warshaw]

How would you do it? Is it writing a check or is it like Practically. How would you do this?

[Caller]

I hadn't thought that far. Cause I hadn't gotten to the whether or not we should do it or could do it yet. Opened ideas.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Let me first say this. I love the idea of being generous. I love that you've seen that they've gone through a struggle and they could probably use a break. I love that so much.

[George Campbell]

This is the live like no one else part of live like no one else. So later you can live and give like no one else. You guys are doing that last part, which is highly encouraged, and it's the most fun you can have with money. And so the way to. There's multiple ways to do it. I think that's less exciting and more just like, all right, we're going to give them the debit card number when they go to book.

[Caller]

Right.

[George Campbell]

It's not like it's rocket science to pay for the trip.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. But it's like. It feels different to be like, here's your check for $15,000 versus kind of what George said.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. I would try to do it directly to the trip. Otherwise, it's like, well, we can get a lot of groceries with this money now. Maybe the trip will get delayed.

[Caller]

I do have a friend that. I do have a friend that's a travel agent that is planning our trips.

[George Campbell]

Oh, nice.

[Caller]

She could be planning, and I could just pay her.

[Jade Warshaw]

I love that. And I think that that also gives them the ability to choose when it's a good time for them. So if you said something like, I don't know, you set them down, you say, hey, we really want to do this for you. We love you guys so much. You deserve a break. I asked my travel agent if she would plan this for you guys. It's a total gift. So whenever you're ready, um, you know, get in touch. Yes. But she'll make it happen. Like, do this. Do not. You know, and make sure I. I love that. Cause then you're dealing with a travel agent. Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. It's less awkward because you don't feel like you're directly involved in this. You're just sort of the. The, you know, fairy angel.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And. And maybe you let them know, you know, here's. Here's what we're giving. You know, feel free to get what you want. But, like, my husband and I, we want to put, like, X amount of dollars towards this. And that way you've kind of said it, but it's not in a weird way.

[George Campbell]

And if they decline it and go, hey, you know, we're actually not going to be able to take a trip this year for whatever X reason. That's okay. You still offered it. You were still generous. And you didn't just, like, write a check that sat there and you have to rip it up now, now, on

[Jade Warshaw]

your husband's part, that. That's the one that's going to be tough. And I'll tell you, you know, my husband and I are. To George's point, there's always one person that's like, give it all. And the other person's like, hold up. Like, chill out for a second. Like, let's talk. So maybe ask him, say, hey, if this feels too. To elaborate. What. What. What do you think? And maybe you guys can meet in the middle. Maybe it's somewhere in between all of this. That. That feels more right for both of you. And just be open to that as well.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

That sounds great. I really appreciate your help.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

You're an awesome person.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Thank you for the call.

[George Campbell]

I do think the ratios help me emotionally. Cause I'm probably more like her husband where, like the sticker shock, I just go, that just feels crazy.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's like Sam Warshaw. Yeah.

[George Campbell]

And then. And then you go, well, it's 0.02% of our total net worth. And we're going to make that much in compound growth this month.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

Oh, and also, it's a bonus that she's getting from her early retirement.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. It's found money in many ways.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, that's girl math right there.

[Jade Warshaw]

So, okay, I don't know what you and Whitney do, but whenever there's a moment where we're thinking about giving an amount, this is my strategy. I always say to Sam, I'm like, okay, be praying about, like, what this amount is.

[George Campbell]

Oh, that's good.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's the first thing.

[George Campbell]

Be praying.

[Jade Warshaw]

Be praying about.

[George Campbell]

There's some spiritual conviction right there.

[Jade Warshaw]

No, it's just like, hey, I want to know that we're both. We both allowed, you know, the Lord.

[George Campbell]

Well, then it's like, hey, it's up to God.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's up to God.

[George Campbell]

Whatever he puts on my heart, then what I do.

[Jade Warshaw]

Then what we do is we count to three and we say our number at the same time.

[George Campbell]

I love that. And it is always, you're hired.

[Jade Warshaw]

It is always hilarious. And then he'll go, I knew you were gonna say that. And I'm like, then why. Why didn't you say the same number as me?

[George Campbell]

He likes to be contrarian.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. So let's do it. George, on, on this trip. The 25,000 that she wants to spend on the count of three. I'll tell you what I think she should spend and you tell me what she you think she should spend. Okay? All right, you ready? Yep. 1, 2, 3. 25,000. Boom.

[George Campbell]

God told me.

[Jade Warshaw]

God told me too.

[Caller]

Sam, if you've been working the plan,

[Dave Ramsey]

paying off debt, saving and changing your family tree, I'm proud of you. And if you're in baby step four or beyond, it's time to celebrate the live like no one else Cruise is back March 14 through 21, 2027. Join the Ramsey personalities and me as we sail to Half Moon Cay, Cozumel, Jamaica and Grand Cayman on the ultimate debt free vacation cabins will sell out just like last time. Lock in yours with a $600 [e-mail] events.

[Jade Warshaw]

Richard is in Nashville, Tennessee. Richard, how can we help today?

[Caller]

Hey, question for you. I'm considering building an apartment on my property for my daughter and son in law to live in until they can purchase a home. They'll pay rent while they're living there. And my two options I think that are good for me is a heloc or I can do an auto loan on a vehicle that's paid off. Probably looking at about 50,000 on the HELOC and can probably get about 40 on the car. I do have the cash on hand, but I think a loan would probably be a better idea. And just curious if there's any pros or cons one way or the other.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, there's all cons, all of them.

[George Campbell]

Why would it be a good idea to do the title owner, the heloc?

[Caller]

Well, because if I used cash on hand, I'd not have any cash on hand anymore. And I've got a ton of equity in my home and I owe nothing. The only thing I owe on is my home as far as far as, you know, in debt with anything. I don't know, maybe it's not a good idea. That's what I'm curious.

[George Campbell]

Well, those, if it's a true title loan, I mean those are the. It's like a payday lender. It's like 25% to 300% interest. You could lose the car. I mean the repayment terms are terrible and you pay back in 30 days. Unless you're talking about, you're talking about taking a loan out against your car that's paid for.

[Caller]

Well, this is through the bank and it's basically your car's collapse. Yeah, the car is Collateral. I'd rather lose a car than a house though.

[Dave Ramsey]

So I'm just.

[Jade Warshaw]

Why lose. What's, what's so urgent about this? Why can't they just get a normal apartment? Why do you have to build an apartment for them to live in? Tell us more.

[Caller]

Yeah, well, both of them work ministry and they're coming out of that. And so they're not financially set to do that. The apartment would be an asset to my current situation. I had considered doing it before because about two years ago my father became ill all of a sudden, had to come live with us. We just bought an RV and let him live in the RV for a time. And so it just kind of put on the radar. Maybe we should have something like that available.

[George Campbell]

But what's the long term plan for them? It feels like we're just sort of temporarily subsidizing their lifestyle because they're not making good incomes.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

So if they're going to be in ministry long term, they got to figure out how to put food on the table and cover rent.

[Caller]

No, I agree with you on that. And so I, I'm just wondering if I could help with that. I mean.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, here's the thing. I just don't think you can afford it. I, I'm always the last call. The lady wanted to be like wildly generous. So. We love generosity here. Hear me say that. But, but if you have to put your home up and your vehicle up for collateral and you're still paying off a mortgage yourself, you simply can't afford to do so. I, you're, you're, you know, cutting off your nose to spite your face at that point. It's, it's, it's putting you in a horrible situation and it's putting them in a bad situation because if this goes south in any way, you are going, you have a lot on the line that you can lose.

[Caller]

Sure.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

There's just too much risk here. If you want to bless them with like a one time gift, you can do that. You can write them a check and maybe that covers a certain, you know, number of months of rent for them. But again, I would try to help them actually become independent long term because otherwise, now they need you. Now they're codependent instead of independent. And ministry's tough because you don't make a lot of money. It's, it's why we call it ministry. But they need to figure out a way. Either it's bi, vocational, which is a lot of people in ministry. It's what they do. They have another job that actually pays the bills and they do ministry with their free time. And so I think helping them craft a plan is so much more helpful than anything you could do financially for them at this point.

[Caller]

Okay, well, that's helpful insight. It certainly gives me a perspective to mull over and think about. And that was my objective and calling to find out, you know, am I missing something? Is there red flags that I'm just not seeing? So I appreciate your input with all that.

[George Campbell]

Absolutely. You're trying to do it just a nice good thing in a bad way. And then you're trying to justify it by saying, well, I'm also building an asset for me on the side. And so I think that's sort of clouding the judgment here because you're looking at it as an investment. But if you have to go into debt for it and put your car or home at risk, which is what's happening with either of these, these loans, it's a bad idea. And if it hurts to part with that much cash because you'll be cash poor, then it's also a bad idea. So I think that's, it's a good gut check to say, if I paid cash for this, would it give me some pause and anxiety? And then the truth is we just can't afford it right now. Not that you never can do something super generous.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, it's something to aspire to, possibly.

[George Campbell]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

You know, and I think that's. Hopefully you'll think long and hard about that, but please hear George and I say we would not do this. And by the way, if you don't do this, it doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't make you a person who doesn't support ministry. It just makes you a person who is a financially responsible adult. Okay, let's go to Sam, who's in Maryland. Hey, Sam, how can we help today?

[Caller]

Sam, thanks for taking my call. Can you hear me?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, we can. What's up?

[Caller]

So I'm a 25 year old. I'm hoping to get married this year to my boyfriend. He's also 25. So I'm two years postgrad, I'm working full time and he's a full time pharmacy student. So the question is that if we were to get married this fall or winter, essentially we would be financially independent. He's fortunate enough right now where his parents pay his pharmacy school tuition.

[Jade Warshaw]

Nice.

[Caller]

If we chose to get married, that financial support would end because we'd be independent adults at that point and that would be four semesters of tuition around $17,000 per semester. Okay, so the question is, do we delay potentially getting married until after he graduates, or do we take the risk and take out student loans of a significant amount and get married sooner than later?

[George Campbell]

Is there an option C, because A and B suck right now. We can both agree on that. I would not take out student loans. I would not delay marriage until this is all sorted out because of his beneficiaries here. What I'm confused about is why the parents are saying, hey, is the day you're married no more, you're on your own. Even though it's not like he has a job all of a sudden, right?

[Caller]

Yeah, he doesn't. So both of us come from non American families, and I think traditionally with both of our cultures, it's understood that you're essentially independent once you're married. So I don't think his parents are budging on that department. And I think they also. Both of our parents are for the match. I think his parents would prefer waiting a little bit longer.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Do they like you? Is this part of, like, is this despite you?

[Caller]

From what I've been told, I'm well liked and accepted. I don't think that's the concern.

[George Campbell]

Because here's the funny thing. If I'm him, I'm like, sweet. I guess I'll just never get married because then my parents will fund my life forever. Do you also see how insane that is?

[Caller]

Yeah, no, yeah, I get that.

[George Campbell]

And what about the, like, what about as a wedding gift? They go, hey, as a wedding gift, we're going to cover the rest of his school, but you guys are on your own for the wedding. Would that be a compromise that they might be willing to go for?

[Caller]

I'm not sure. I mean, I think maybe you'll have to talk to them a little bit more. But again, in his culture, I'll just like, throw that under the bus, I think, like traditional. Additionally, it would be my family paying for the wedding for the most part. And then we're also not thinking of something doing anything significant, I guess, like, we could ask about if there is a gift. I'm not sure.

[George Campbell]

Well, what are you making?

[Caller]

I make $64,000 a year.

[George Campbell]

Okay, so the question is, on the other side, how do we figure out how to cash flow the 17k a year if that's what it's going to take?

[Caller]

Well, it's times two. Yeah, exactly.

[George Campbell]

So we got 68k we got to cover if we're on our own over how many years?

[Caller]

So he has two more full years. So four semesters total if we're beginning this fall.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. So you're not going to be able to cash flow that, making 64. Exactly. And so that we run into a problem here. And which means he then needs to do this slower. You could delay getting married. I wouldn't delay getting married just for this purpose, but it sounds like he hasn't even proposed yet. And then there's still the engagement period. So there still could be another year, year and a half, or two years.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's the question I had is if the man hasn't even proposed, maybe, you know, that buys you some time right there.

[George Campbell]

Maybe we plan the wedding when he graduates. The wedding happens.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I like that.

[George Campbell]

Boom. Best of both worlds.

[Jade Warshaw]

Best of both world.

[Caller]

Sam. Foreign.

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[Jade Warshaw]

All right. Our Ramsey show Scripture and quote of the day, Colossians 3, 20, 23, says, and whatever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord and not to men. Mark Twain said, 20 years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones that you did do. I like that.

[George Campbell]

Avoid regret.

[Jade Warshaw]

Seize the day. Carpe diem. All right. Kate is in. Katie is in Huntsville, Alabama. Katie, you are on the line, my friend.

[Caller]

Hi.

[Jade Warshaw]

Hi.

[Caller]

Hi. I'm so pumped. So nervous, but so pumped.

[George Campbell]

Love it. It's a good combo.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes. We can't wait to hear what you have to say.

[Caller]

Oh, man, there's so much. But we'll. We'll wrap it up. So currently, right now, my husband and I are babysit number two, and we have about $12,000 in consumer debt that I am about to send a $6,000 payment on. So about to cut that in half. And I do, yes. I'm so pumped. And then I'm expecting to have the remaining balance done by April. And I've been working, like, 25 hours extra every week trying to, like, pump out the overtime. And my husband, you know, unfortunately, overtime is not available for his job. But we are in Gazelle Mode.

[Jade Warshaw]

Love it.

[Caller]

Just running and feeling the passion. However, I am 41 and he's 45 and we have twin almost 15 year olds that are looking to get their permit. I have a car loan that is $40,000 and I'm currently 13,000 upside down on it.

[George Campbell]

What happened? You said you had 12k.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm confused. I'm sorry.

[Caller]

I forgot about the car.

[George Campbell]

That's a big one to forget about. Katie.

[Jade Warshaw]

Forget about the car. Car in baby step two.

[Caller]

I can't forget about the car. I can't forget about the car. It's the whole reason I'm calling.

[George Campbell]

Okay, so 40k loan.

[Caller]

40k.

[George Campbell]

And you're saying it's worth 27?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Maybe 33. If I'm lucky. I might be. Might be able to get 33 for it, but in the end, I'm up upside down. $13,000 on it. Roughly.

[George Campbell]

What's your house household income?

[Caller]

My husband makes 93 and I make 54.

[George Campbell]

Great income.

[Caller]

Yeah, it's not terrible. I mean, we used to make better money, but we moved and total God thing and this is where we're supposed to be. So we're just trying to keep our eyes on that and. And stay focused.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, it's like double the average household income. So you guys are crushing it by, you know, America's standards. But when you're in crippling debt, it doesn't feel like that.

[Jade Warshaw]

So what's the main question?

[Caller]

So my main question is I got kiddos that I'm gonna need to get cars for. Is it because I know Dave says if you can pay the car off within two years, then it's potentially a up for keeping. Right. So do I keep the car or do I forego the car? Because I got my, my kids potential driving coming up and then I have one more wrench to throw in there. I'm currently living on folding tables in my kitchen because we bought a home that needed repairs and it ended up being a disaster. So I've been in a year in this house with no kitchen.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, boy.

[Caller]

So on top of everything else, I'm surviving and it's fine.

[Jade Warshaw]

Like when you say folding table tables,

[Caller]

I have no cabinets. I have no kitchen counters.

[Jade Warshaw]

You have a sink.

[Caller]

I have a. I have a utility sink in my laundry room. I know.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're making salad in the bathroom.

[George Campbell]

There's a porta potty out back that we all use. It's a good time.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. There's a lot.

[Caller]

We did redo all of the plumbing. We did redo all the electrical. Because our inspection came back horrific and actually, no, the inspection came back fine. So once we started going through things, everything had to be replaced. Everything was a firehouse.

[Jade Warshaw]

When did you.

[Caller]

Plumbing was about to go.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, boy.

[George Campbell]

Is this going to be like $50,000 to get this thing up and running?

[Caller]

No. So we've got most of it up and running. So we dug into our nest egg, which is half the reason we're in our. Our.

[George Campbell]

You, like, robbed your retirement accounts?

[Caller]

No, no, no, no. Just the equity from our house that we sold in another state.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, okay. A secondary house.

[Caller]

Yeah, we sold. We. We used to live in Colorado and we sold everything.

[Jade Warshaw]

Days of our lives.

[George Campbell]

It just keeps the bad decisions keep going with you wherever you go.

[Jade Warshaw]

You had a house in Colorado, you sold that, you had a sum of money and you've been pulling from that.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much was it and how much do you have left?

[Caller]

Oh, I don't have any left. You know, like, I. We're down to our thousand dollars emerg. And we're slowly getting.

[George Campbell]

How much was it originally, that credit card?

[Caller]

I think it was like 50.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so here's where we're. Here's where we're at. So the $40,000 car you just told me, now you can't keep it because

[George Campbell]

of all the money priorities.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes. And as it relates. And I'll just give you a couple of thoughts, even aside from the kitchen malfunctioning, I'm thinking, okay, 40,000 in this car. Surely you have another vehicle that's worth something. And then you've got these kids. We don't want more than half of your income in vehicles going down in value. So you're likely going to have to lower this because you've got about 60. You've got about 70,000 that you can spend on vehicles. Right. So all four of you having vehicles, somebody's going to have to shift down.

[George Campbell]

And it doesn't mean you should have 70,000 in vehicles. That's just the upper. Upper tip top limit if you really want it. And right now.

[Caller]

And my husband's car is paid off, but. Car paid off. It's a 2020 Chevy.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, that sounds expensive.

[Caller]

Still. It was. We got it in Covid, but we got it during COVID Besides the point.

[Jade Warshaw]

What?

[Caller]

It's paid off.

[Jade Warshaw]

But the point is we're going to go down to the credit union. We're getting some sort of loan to get out of this $13,000. And then because you owe 40 now. So if you take a loan for 13 13. 13 is less than 40. That's a better deal for you.

[George Campbell]

Plus we need some cash to get you a car to get from A to B right now.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. So maybe try to get the loan for 18 and you spend 5,000 on a clunker. That's what I would do.

[George Campbell]

And then give that to one of those kids that are driving because they're inevitably gonna make it even more of a clunker.

[Jade Warshaw]

Indeed.

[George Campbell]

And then you can upgrade with cash once you guys have it. So that's up to you how you want to prioritize. Hey, we got to get a car for Junior. We need to get some cabinets in this kitchen. Kitchen. We got to clean up the other $6,000 of debt that you have left.

[Jade Warshaw]

And if Junior has to wait a while for a car, by the way, he'll be, he or she will be strong like it's okay.

[George Campbell]

I shared my parents cars today a long time.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes, yes, absolutely.

[Caller]

Well, it's two of them. They're twins.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's okay. They can ride together.

[George Campbell]

Get them a tandem bicycle. You know, that's, that'll look cool going down the road as twins.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Either way, if they have to wait for a while while mom and dad get their life square squared away, that is fine. They will survive that.

[Caller]

Absolutely.

[Jade Warshaw]

Now.

[Caller]

Absolutely.

[Jade Warshaw]

The, the kitchen. Let's talk about finding the money. So how much did you say? 50000 or that's. How much is it going to cost to just get this in order? Yeah.

[Caller]

Oh, the kitchen. We've already done almost everything except countertops and cabinets.

[George Campbell]

So honestly that's like the expensive part.

[Caller]

I know, but we've priced and we're looking at about 75, 500 and then that's not bad. Done with the kid? No, I'm not a bougie girl. Okay, sounds bougie, but I'm not.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, good.

[Caller]

So I, I'm not looking to make it crazy. Okay, well if you, if you get

[George Campbell]

rid of this car and you knock out the other 6k, you can cash flow that 7, 500 pretty quick and cash flow a couple of cheap cars as well. So this is all very doable. We just need to start putting things in order. And I think this getting rid of this car is going to give you such risk relief.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

And later on you can get you a nice thirty thousand dollar car with cash. But right now it's sinking, you guys.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. By the. I mean put it to you like this. By the end of summer you'll be driving, your kids will be driving and you'll have your cat, your. Your. If you go hard in the paint, you'll have your kitchen done. And I think that's. That's a great feeling. The one thing I will kind of throw out there, because it's hard selling a vehicle, it is hard on the East.

[George Campbell]

Ego.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Because everybody knows something's up.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

You were driving, and you go from

[George Campbell]

the nicest car you've ever driven to the worst car you've ever driven overnight.

[Jade Warshaw]

Absolutely.

[George Campbell]

That's brutal.

[Jade Warshaw]

Because people are like, whoa, hey, what happened? You know, they're at Chili's wondering what happened to Bob and Susan. They did their Escalade.

[George Campbell]

My butt's cold.

[Jade Warshaw]

But the good news is, it doesn't matter what other people think. You guys are far beyond that at this point. If you're. If you. You're gazelle intense, that is one lesson that you have learned.

[George Campbell]

If you got real friends who have seen your kitchen, they'll. They won't care about your beater car. I'll tell you that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right? That's right. But for anybody who's doing this journey, just be prepared to not care what other people think is what we're telling you.

[George Campbell]

Superpower.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right? All right. Well, guys, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of peace, Christ Jesus.