My Parents Just Told Me I Owe Them $114K

Summary

The Ramsey Show – Episode Summary

Episode Title: My Parents Just Told Me I Owe Them $114K
Date: January 26, 2026
Hosts: George Campbell & Jade Warshaw

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Overview

This episode of The Ramsey Show, hosted by George Campbell and Jade Warshaw, tackles complex real-life money questions from callers seeking advice. The show's standout segment features a caller confronted by her parents demanding repayment of $114,000 linked to a 529 educational fund. The episode covers themes of financial boundaries within families, dealing with unexpected debt, navigating crises (health, career, and relationships), and strategies for gaining financial stability and independence.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reconciling Family Loans and Unspoken Expectations

(Sarah, Chicago) – [00:43–08:41]

• Issue: Sarah (30) discovers her parents want her to "repay" $114,000 that funded her education via a 529 plan. Unbeknownst to her, her lawyer father had her sign a promissory note at age 18, now presented as a binding contract.

• Host Reactions:

  • George is flabbergasted that parents would charge their child the full (compounded) sum, not just principal.
    • “They want you to cover the compound growth that cost them nothing.” — George Camel [01:30]
  • Jade affirms the imbalance of power and knowledge, citing how the situation is less about money and more about relational trust.
    • “You're not in a space where you're like, okay, I'm going to sign for my loan… it feels like he may have taken advantage whether intentionally or on accident.” — Jade Warshaw [05:14]

• Advice:

  • Lead with honesty—tell parents you had no real understanding you’d need to repay (unless you are truly certain).
  • Ask if the debt can be forgiven, emphasizing gratitude and confusion.
  • If parents push, offer to repay only what they actually contributed.
  • Consult an attorney to review the contract's enforceability if necessary.

• Emotional Impact: Both hosts stress that this could irreversibly damage the parent-child relationship, regardless of the financial outcome.

  • “We can all agree this relationship just turned into a transaction… Thanksgiving is forever going to be different now.” — George Campbell [07:12]

2. Crisis Management: Career Setback & Transportation Loss

(JD, Denver) – [14:19–19:37]

• Issue: JD is reeling from a car wreck and layoff within the same week, now without reliable transportation or income.
• Advice:
  • Prioritize immediate income—quick side jobs.
  • Delay vehicle purchase until employment is secured.
  • Explore all legal options if he suspects unfair blame in the accident.
  • Leverage support from family in the interim.
• Empathy: George and Jade empathize with the “double whammy” of crisis but encourage proactive, practical steps.

3. Smart Use of Windfalls and Tax Refunds

(Michelle, Raleigh, NC) – [21:16–24:24]

• Scenario: Michelle is debt-free (except mortgage), has large savings, and wonders if it’s “okay” to spend a $16K tax refund on a new driveway instead of paying off her house early.
• Hosts’ Take: It's permissible—and healthy—to enjoy occasional upgrades once financial basics are covered. Set priorities but allow for a life balance shift from “intensity to intentionality.”
  • “There’s a point where you do have to stop and go, I’m just on the outside of this thing creating it. I need to get on the inside and start enjoying it.” — Jade Warshaw [24:24]

4. Invest or Pay Down Debt with Settlement Money

(Ryan, Miami) – [25:40–30:27]

• Dilemma: Ryan, 30, receives a ~$1M injury settlement. He’s debt-free, owns rental properties, but owes $97K in student loans and wants a primary residence.
• Advice:
  • Prioritize paying off loans with cash on-hand, maximizing flexibility.
  • Sell a property if needed to buy a primary residence in cash.
  • Don’t put tenants in paid-for houses while carrying a mortgage yourself.
  • Focus on future goals, not past investment advice if it no longer fits your situation.

5. Business & Family Entanglement in Debt

(John, Portland) – [75:57–84:49]

• Complex Family Finances: John’s girlfriend co-signed large family debts for property, cars, and entered a tangled web involving multiple relatives and joint assets.
• Hosts’ Take:
  • Untangle financial ties by refinancing loans, getting her name removed, and pulling her credit report to identify risks.
  • Recognize the social and cultural weight—this may mean difficult family fallout.
  • Do not proceed with marriage until these liabilities are resolved.
  • “She’s going to have to fight with the family and be excommunicated for ditching them in their time of need.” — George Campbell [84:34]

6. Financial Infidelity: Secret Large-Scale Purchases

(Jennifer, Memphis) – [65:05–74:16]

• Issue: Husband bought a $750K investment property at auction without consultation.
• Advice:
  • The problem isn’t risky investing, it’s lack of partnership and respect.
  • Insist on establishing decision-making processes in marriage; draw strong boundaries.
  • “This is not a money conversation. Has zero to do with prior success. You cannot let the conversation go in that direction. It’s about respect on your name.” — Jade Warshaw [74:16]
  • George succinctly labels it “financial infidelity.”

7. Navigating Major Health Crisis, Managing a Spouse’s Business

(Sarah, Boise) – [53:55–61:41]

• Crisis: Husband (business owner) had a major stroke, cannot communicate or manage his pilot school, wife lacks authority and access.
• Strategy:
  • Collect as much operational knowledge as possible from employees and business contacts.
  • Consult an estate attorney immediately—explore power of attorney or guardianship to access accounts.
  • Communicate openly with involved parties about delayed payroll, bills, and explore vehicle sales if necessary.

8. Escaping Toxic/Abusive Relationships

(Sarah, Memphis) – [43:56–51:20]

• Question: Investing vs. saving for exit from emotionally abusive cohabitation.
• Jade and George’s counsel:
  • Safety and liquidity take priority over investments.
  • Find cheapest, safest housing (roommates, Airbnb rooms, etc.); explore all community resources.
  • “I would not invest a dime. ... You are close.” — George Campbell [49:50]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Parents Demanding Repayment:
  • “Let him take you to court. I think this would be a hilarious way to end the relationship.” — George Campbell [02:42]
  • “Diabolical.” — Jade Warshaw [08:40]
• On Relationship Fallout:
  • “Thanksgiving is forever going to be different now.” — George Campbell [07:12]
• On Financial Infidelity:
  • “I don’t care if he won the lottery, this is still financial infidelity.” — George Campbell [72:57]
• On Career Crisis:
  • “Is there a JD voodoo doll out there? …Murphy hits hard.” — George Campbell [15:14]
• On Taking Enjoyment in Financial Wins:
  • “There is a time and a place for the intense… then there’s a time to put your feet up and go, life is good.” — Jade Warshaw [24:24]
• On Family Financial Enmeshment:
  • “That’s the thing you need to be laser beam focused on is the risk. Forget equity… it is risk, risk, risk on her head.” — Jade Warshaw [81:32]

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Key Timestamps

• [00:43–08:41] Call from Sarah about parents’ 529 “loan”
• [14:19–19:37] JD’s career and transportation loss crisis
• [21:16–24:24] Michelle’s question about using windfall for mortgage vs. enjoyment
• [25:40–30:27] Ryan: settlement, rentals, and student loans
• [43:56–51:20] Sarah’s emotionally abusive relationship/exit plan
• [53:55–61:41] Sarah navigating husband’s business after his stroke
• [65:05–74:16] Jennifer’s crisis: husband secretly buys house
• [75:57–84:49] John facing tangled multi-family debt and marriage implications

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Tone and Language

The hosts balance empathy and tough love, with George providing candid, sometimes humorous reactions, and Jade offering a compassionate but assertive approach. The language is relatable, conversational, and full of real-world analogies and direct advice.

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Conclusion

This episode is a masterclass in navigating both the numbers and the emotional minefields of money—especially when family, relationships, legacy, and trust are intertwined. Whether negotiating with parents, facing life-altering crises, or drawing boundaries in marriage, the Ramsey team encourages honest conversation, clarity, and the courage to make difficult decisions for long-term financial and relational health.

Transcript

[Sponsor/Announcer]

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

[George Campbell]

Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio, this is the Ramsey Show. I'm George Camel joined by best selling author Jade Warshaw. If you know, you know, give us a call at 880-882-55225 and we will do our best to help you take the right next step for your life and your money. Sarah is going to kick us off in Chicago. What's going on? Sarah, hi.

[Caller]

Thanks for taking my call.

[George Campbell]

Absolutely. How can Jade and I help?

[Caller]

So I'm 30, my husband's 31. Our household income is about 235. My parents had set up a 529 plan for me when I was younger, which I ended up using to pay for the majority of my undergrad and grad schooling. I did take out a couple of federal loans just to cover the remainder of my grad school, which we still owe about 35,000 on. Recently, my parents asked me to pay them back roughly $114,000 for the money that I used from my 2529 plan.

[Jade Warshaw]

What?

[George Campbell]

Come again now? So is that the money they put in or is that the balance of the account?

[Caller]

That was the balance of the account.

[George Campbell]

That's why this isn't. They don't even understand math. Like, they may have put in 30 grand that grew to 114 and now they want you to pay the 114, the interest. They want you to cover the compound growth that cost them nothing.

[Jade Warshaw]

Was this ever the plan? Like, had this ever been stated to you ever at any point that you would have to pay this back?

[Caller]

I don't remember it that way, but my dad is a lawyer, so naturally he had created a promissory note. Couldn't you sign it before? Yeah, before I was.

[George Campbell]

Okay. Have you read this note now as an adult?

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

And what does the fine print say?

[Caller]

It says that I promise to pay my parents all sums paid to me for my secondary education, including, without limitation, tuition, housing and living expenses.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, but including interest sums is the interesting part. All sums paid to you?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is diagram.

[Caller]

I completely didn't understand that when I was signing it. I kind of understood it more as like my requirement.

[George Campbell]

You know what? Let him. Let him take you to court. I think this would be a hilarious way to end the relationship with his daughter. What a way to go.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is wild.

[Caller]

Yeah, that's what I'm Worried about what.

[George Campbell]

Was your relationship like prior to this with your parents and. Or just dad?

[Caller]

Pretty good before this. So it's kind of coming out of left field.

[George Campbell]

Are they broke?

[Caller]

They've been pretty.

[George Campbell]

Like, what's the underlying reason why now, you know, over a decade later, they're like, hey, remember that contract you signed when you were a child?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Have they brought it up at any other point other than now?

[George Campbell]

Nah.

[Caller]

No, not really.

[Jade Warshaw]

And how long have you been out of school?

[Caller]

I graduated grad school about a year and a half ago.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so, okay. When you brought it up, or have you brought it up?

[Caller]

I just basically asked them. I told them I wasn't aware it was a loan and what they said was a contract. They sent me the contract, and then they said, let's talk about it. And so we're going to talk about it tomorrow, which is why.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so you need prep for how to best.

[Caller]

Yeah. Prop the conversation.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'll tell you right now, I'm going to. I believe you when you say, I had no idea that that's what I was signing. If you know in your heart of hearts that you did not know what that was and that you had no idea that you were going to pay back this money, if you can say in your heart of hearts that that's the case, then I think that. That you go in there and you say, hey, guys, I had no idea. I was 18 years old. I don't even remember this paper. I know that I'm looking at it, that it's signed. But when I tell you I had no understanding that that's what this meant, I am telling you the truth. There is no part of me that understood that I would be paying back this money. If I had, I would not have signed this. And I feel very blindsided by this, and I don't have the money. And I would like to ask if this can be forgiven, because everything that I do know about money tells me that a 529 is there for education. So I am under the impression that that's what this money is for. And I would just say it like that and see what they say.

[Caller]

Yeah. I don't want to come off, like, as ungrateful or entitled or like I'm trying to take advantage of them. I want to own up to my own debts, but, like, everyone's made different financial decisions.

[Jade Warshaw]

If I'm not gonna. I'm not saying this was the case, but I'm just telling you as a person who's listening on the other side, there Was a imbalance of knowledge. Here you have a grown man who you trust, who is a lawyer who is giving you a paper to sign, and you just go, okay. And I sign it. That. Do you see what I'm saying? You're not in an official office. You're not in a space where you're like, okay, I'm going to sign for my loan. And you don't even remember doing it. Who knows if he slid that to you one morning while you were eating a waffle, Right. Just. Oh, yeah, go ahead and sign this for me real quick. Okay. Like, I don't know how it happened. All I'm seeing is I'm sensing that there is a balance of power here. A balance of. I'm going to say, of knowledge and power. And it feels. I'm not saying he was intending to, but it feels like he may have taken advantage of that, whether intentionally or on accident. And either way, that's what I would say is I just feel like I didn't know. And I'm asking if there's a way to. We've let it go for this long. Can. Can my 529 just be for my education, which is what it's intended to be for?

[Caller]

Okay. And if they decide to not do that, should I. Do you think it would be reasonable to offer, like, some money or meet in the middle maybe?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Because at the end of the day.

[George Campbell]

I would find out what their contributions were, what they actually put into the account. I. Did he actually say 114,000 must be repaid in the last conversation you had?

[Caller]

Yeah.

A loan payment schedule based on the.

[George Campbell]

Final amount that was in that account. Because I don't think this would ever hold up in court that someone would have to repay. Compound growth. I think all sums repaid could be interpreted as the money that they advanced you essentially to be invested in this account, which would be a fraction of that. 114.

[Caller]

Yes. Yeah. Because it's been in there for, I don't know, 15 years.

[George Campbell]

But either way, we can all agree this relationship just turned into. Into a transaction.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

And it's not going to be undone like Thanksgiving is forever going to be different now. And so that. That part is on him. You can do what you can if you want to keep the relationship alive. You can never repay this. And again, he can try to come after you. And I don't know what if he has any legal standing to come after you from a dad to daughter, you know, know. 529 perspective. But I would I would honestly, if you want to consult with your own attorney and say, hey, what is actually in this? Does this actually hold up? Should I actually be worried? What is actually my obligation based on what I signed, I would at least get that clarity.

[Jade Warshaw]

And Sarah, here's another thing, here's another take for you because there is a relationship here. What does, how does this make you feel? First off, forget the money part.

[Caller]

Yeah, I'm a little, I'm a little hurt by it and blindsided like you said. I kind of, my whole life I was like, oh, my parents kind of. I was really grateful for them setting me up. I'm in a really good financial spot right now.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think you need to tell me.

[Caller]

To pay off my.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

You need to start with that.

[George Campbell]

You need to share that I'm grateful and I didn't understand what I was signing.

[Jade Warshaw]

And also tell them that you, how you fear this could affect your relationship. Just, I think if you lead with your heart on this and how you're really feeling in the gratefulness, the blindsidedness, how you're afraid for the future of the relationship, keep it less about money. I think you might have a better shot.

[George Campbell]

Goodness gracious.

[Jade Warshaw]

Diabolical.

[George Campbell]

What are we doing, parents? This is insane.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

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[George Campbell]

See boostmobile.comramsey for details. Guys, I gotta let you in on a little secret.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right?

[George Campbell]

We've been keeping this under wraps for far too long and it's been hard to keep it within. And so I'm going to let Jade give the people a clue.

[Jade Warshaw]

Here's the clue. Come sail away Come sail away Come.

[George Campbell]

Sail away with me oh, yeah. I was going to do the harmony, but I think that's, that's simply. It was simply too.

[Jade Warshaw]

I was waiting for it.

[George Campbell]

I didn't want. I want to let you have the spotlight for once. Listen, guys, we sold out last time. People kept asking and so we're doing it again. The live like no one else cruise is back. We Got the captain's hat, the lei, which tells me we're going somewhere warm. So join Dave, myself, Jade Warshaw, all the Ramsey personalities. Dr. John Deloney, Ken Coleman, Rachel Cruz. Seven days in the western Caribbean on the only cruise where we vacation alongside you.

[Jade Warshaw]

A.

[George Campbell]

And this is just Ramsey fans plus the Ramsey team.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[George Campbell]

That's who's on this ship. And let me tell you, the last time we did it, I left just like I was on cloud nine. I was like, did that really happen?

[Jade Warshaw]

It was really fun.

[George Campbell]

It's a fever dream. So you can get lunch with Dave, play pickleball with Ken, sing karaoke with Jade. I love BO. I didn't even make the cut. What do you do with George? I don't. I don't know. Play backgammon and drink some espresso.

[Jade Warshaw]

I guess you could have, like, a coffee with George. Like a nitro brew.

[George Campbell]

I'm going to have a coffee hangout. So come join us. And here's who this is for. This is not for everyone. This may not be for you in this season. This is for people who are on baby step four or higher. So you've paid off the consumer debt. You have the emergency fund. You're investing for the future. This is your chance to mark the milestone and celebrate big. When is it happening, Jade?

[Jade Warshaw]

February.

[George Campbell]

Oh, gosh.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sorry.

[George Campbell]

I laid you up, Jay.

[Jade Warshaw]

I know, but I was formulating another thought. I'm sorry. Go ahead and hit. Go ahead and do it.

[George Campbell]

March of 2027, which means you have plenty of time to budget for this trip. And you can get the cabin now.

[Jade Warshaw]

If you're, like, right up on it, this should be your goal. Like, I need to pay off. I need to get my baby step three in place so that I can sign up. That's what I was thinking of when you asked me.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. Because if you will be in baby step four by the time the cruise is happening. And here's the cool part, it gives you time. All you need to do right now is lock in your spot with a 600 deposit. And cabins are limited. This will sell out again. And here's the really cool part. We want to really get people stoked on this. So right now you can save up to 300 this week only when you book by February 1st. This is not a gimmick. The price will be going up after February 1st, so book now. Get 300 bucks off. You can lock in your spot with a deposit. I can't wait. March 2027.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow.

[George Campbell]

It's going to be it's gonna be the cruise of the year.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sailing takes me away.

[George Campbell]

Gosh, if I could sing like I would be singing the entire time on this show if I had to keep doing a medley.

[Jade Warshaw]

Just sit right back and we'll tell Gilligan's Island I can go on the cruise thing forever.

[George Campbell]

So many great cruise songs there is. All right, Jade's gonna make a playlist for us to listen to to get psyched for the cruise. In the meantime, here's where you go to learn more. There's a great trailer video. There's all the info you need, all the different cabins you can book. Go to ramseysolutions.com to learn more and lock in your spot or click the link in the show notes. I am, I am stoked.

[Jade Warshaw]

What was your favorite thing last time?

[George Campbell]

My favorite moment from the okay. John Deloney and I had this hair brained idea to do stand up comedy.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, that's right. I almost forgot.

[George Campbell]

It was 11:00pm I went, who's even showing up for this at 11:00pm over 800 people. It was standing room only.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[George Campbell]

In this venue.

[Jade Warshaw]

That I was shook by that.

[George Campbell]

And that was I. I peaked early. That was the best standup of my life. That people were having a great time. John Deloney did a killer set and maybe we'll do it again. We'll see.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think you should. I think you should.

[George Campbell]

It was awesome. And how about you? Any favorite memories?

[Jade Warshaw]

I think what stands out to me is Ken and I doing a dance battle.

[George Campbell]

Oh, and Ken, I saw the video from that he did. Let me say this, I didn't know that people were still doing the worm.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, exactly. Ken Bradwell. I was gonna say don't tell which one of us did it, but now you know, Ken Colin.

[George Campbell]

So fun. Truly. Truly. Come celebrate with us if you're baby step four or on the live like no one else. Cruise ramseysolutions.com events click the link in the show notes. Stoked. All right, J.D. is up next in Denver. J.D. thanks for, you know, allowing us to have a little fun there. What's your question today?

[Caller]

Of course, I've just been through some pretty tough financial times recently and I just don't even know where to start and how to get back up on my feet, man.

[George Campbell]

What's, what's the thing on your mind right now when it comes to. Hey, I don't know what to do next.

[Caller]

Well, the biggest pressing issue is I was in a car wreck and so it does not sound like insurance is going to be Too kind to me because I did not have full coverage and so reliable transportation so I can get back to working.

[George Campbell]

Are you okay physically?

[Caller]

I think so. Like, walked away and everything. But honestly, that's.

[George Campbell]

When was it?

[Caller]

Last things on my mind.

[George Campbell]

How recent was this?

[Caller]

Oh, that was on Monday.

[George Campbell]

Oh, wow.

[Jade Warshaw]

This just happened.

[George Campbell]

It hasn't even been a week.

[Caller]

On Tuesday, I got laid off. So, you know, really good start to my week.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm sorry. That is just.

[George Campbell]

Is there like a JD Voodoo doll out there? Someone, like, just really that you burned them? Like, this is a lot of bad luck in one week, man. I'm so sorry.

[Caller]

That's what I've been asking everyone. Like, hey, did you do something really terrible? Not realizing it. That's just like, coming for me.

[George Campbell]

When Murphy hits, he hits hard, and so it feels like it's all coming at you at once. So we need income and we need a vehicle.

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

In that order. Because it's hard to get a vehicle without the income. Do you have anything in savings?

[Caller]

I've got about 400 or $706.

[George Campbell]

Okay. And are you single? Yes. Do you have roommates? Are you living alone?

[Caller]

Well, I was living in my van because the one that got totaled fairly. Yeah, Fairly similar thing happened in September and luckily my family was really kind to me and they said so long as I'm staying productive, I can say it. Their place rent free until I get back up on my feet. That was a lifesaver.

[Jade Warshaw]

So are you still there now?

[George Campbell]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. What type of work were you doing that you got laid off from?

[Caller]

So I was working industrial and conveyor belt repair for, like, mines and power plants.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so maintenance repair.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

If you were to look for a job in your area today, what kind of job would you be looking for?

[Caller]

Luckily, my experience is pretty vast, so I can go work for a lot of, like, material reprocessing sites, a lot of other industrial technician jobs. So I'm not too stressed about finding a new job.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good.

[Caller]

When they laid me off, they gave me a recommendation letter. It was just due to them doing layoffs and me being lower on the list due to seniority, severance. They did not. But they gave me recommendation letters and a whole list of places that they're in good standing with that if I apply for, like, I could probably get a job on the spot.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, great. So the really, it's just a matter of you doing your due diligence and locking in something as quickly as possible. But you and I both know there's just that lull of I get hired, I do all the training, I finally do work and then I finally get paid. Right. The first PayCheck is easily six weeks away at the very least. At the very least. So the good news is you're. You've got a place to stay. Right? You've got a place to lay your head. The thing I'd be wondering about coming into this is because you mentioned your insurance. You were under, you know, under covered. I want to know, is there a bill coming your way for damages?

[Caller]

So Bar, it does not sound like. It sounds like they. I'm so frustrated about the situation. They found 5050 fault even though it was not 5050 fault. And. But it sounds like the coverage that I did have should cover the other drivers damages fully. It's just I don't get anything for my damages. Soundly a liability.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[George Campbell]

Have you been in touch with the adjuster?

[Caller]

I tried calling her this morning and we had a phone call, but it was not very productive.

[George Campbell]

Okay. I would try to move this part along so at least we know we have some closure on what the next steps are. If you're going to get a check, if you're going to be in the red, if you're going to just be, you know, break even and be flat on this. But either way, we need transportation to get to that job that you will inevitably get. Can you borrow a car from family or anything like that right now?

[Sponsor/Announcer]

No.

[Caller]

I wish this had happened. Well, I wish this didn't happen in the first place, but I wish this had happened like a year ago because my, my family got rid of all their old vehicles. They had like five vehicles and traded them for just two new reliable vehicles. And of course they used those to get to work every day.

[Jade Warshaw]

Cool. J.D. i'm also wondering. You seemed like you really were questioning the 5050 fault. If you really do feel like I know I wasn't at fault on this, you might contact a lawyer and see what they say. I wouldn't spend a lot out of pocket at this point, but just get somebody's opinion. Maybe there's a family member that knows someone that you can run this by.

[George Campbell]

And in the meantime, it's time for some side hustles. You are signing up for everything you can to get some income in the door to go buy a 2000, 3000, $4000 car off Facebook Marketplace in the next few weeks. Good luck.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

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[George Campbell]

This is a paid advertisement in mls.id 1591nmlsconsumeraccess.org equal housing lender. Michelle is up next in Raleigh, North Carolina. Michelle, welcome to the Ramsey Show.

[Caller]

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be on the phone with you all.

[George Campbell]

We're excited too. How can we help?

[Caller]

So, really quick background. My husband and I bought our house in 2020. He deployed last year and we went from at that point 100,000 down to all round up to 57,000. We also saved up 10,000 for a porch. And then because of his deployment, we're getting 15, $16,000 back in taxes, which I know what you all say, like, you know, try to make it zero. And last year we owed, so I think it's just because of the deployment. And I, my husband and I are trying to decide are we allowed to get a driveway or should we keep paying off the house?

[Jade Warshaw]

So you want to take the 16,000 and put it towards paving your driveway?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. No other debt?

[Caller]

No debt, just the mortgage.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you have a savings aside from the 16K? Do you have like three to six months of expenses?

[Caller]

Yeah, we have another 15,000 emergency fund and then we have 10,000 saved up for the porch and now we're getting this 16,000. So last night I was like, that's, that's almost $40,000. Like we could, you know, pay a lot on the house, like if I whittle down the emergency fund.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Or, or we could just have fun.

[George Campbell]

And what's going on with the driveway?

[Caller]

Just gravel and we would like, oh, okay. Concrete.

[Jade Warshaw]

Will it cost the whole 16, 000.

[Caller]

Or what will it actually cost between 10 and 12? We're getting, we're still getting quotes now.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is not like big chunks of money, but it's just things that I like to be in, do other fun things. Do you guys have life insurance?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you. Are you investing 15% into.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so you're doing. You've done all the things. You've literally. You literally have extra money? Yes. Why not?

[George Campbell]

You are allowed, Michelle. You've been blessed by the Ramsey gods. Congratulations. You get a new driveway.

[Caller]

That is what I needed.

[George Campbell]

You don't need our permission, but I understand. Well, that's the thing. It's hard to let go of the gazillions of Zel intensity that you had. And, you know, baby step two, paying off consumer debt. And when you move to 4, 5, 6, we say you move from intensity to intentionality. And so it's okay if the mortgage doesn't get paid off in five years and instead it's five and a half. You are still doing better than 99.999% of America. And so the key is you have a goal and you're aiming toward it. And so how much longer will it take to pay off the house? At this rate?

[Caller]

Three years.

[George Campbell]

Wonderful.

[Jade Warshaw]

Awesome.

[George Campbell]

How old will you be then?

[Caller]

I just turned 32, so.

[George Campbell]

35. Do you know how weird that is to be 35 years old with a paid for house?

[Jade Warshaw]

Amazing.

[George Campbell]

No debt.

[Caller]

Very nice.

[George Campbell]

You're doing great.

[Jade Warshaw]

There's a point, Michelle, and I'll be honest, I struggle with this from time to time, but especially when you're doing a plan that's very intense, like the Ramsey plan and the way the first few steps are, you do have to be intentional about flipping the switch in your brain where you're not just building your life, you're actually living your life. And I have had moments where I'm like, man, I need to actually enjoy the thing that I've created instead of just like, let me just put this other brick in place. You know, like, there's a point where you do have to stop and go, I'm just on the outside of this thing creating it. I need to get on the inside and start enjoying it and start living it and start being a part of it and just, you know, have. Enjoy the fruit of my labor a little bit. And I think that's where you're at, and it's a great place to be. There's a time and a place for the intense and, you know, balls to the wall feeling. And then there's a time to put your feet up and go, life is good. We.

[George Campbell]

We get that porch done. Let's get some concrete down. Congrats, Michelle. And please tell your husband thank you for his sacrifice and service.

[Caller]

I will. Thank you.

[George Campbell]

You guys are awesome. Living the plan. That's what it looks like right there. All right, Ryan is up next in Miami. What's going on, Ryan? How can we help today?

[Caller]

Hi. Thank you so much for having me.

[George Campbell]

Sure.

[Caller]

I have a quick question. I got a decision I'm trying to make, and I can't decide what to do. I have some debt that I want to pay off, but I'm kind of a unique situation, so I don't know what to do. I have about $97,000 in student loans from law school. Shortly after I graduated, I fell backwards into some money by sheer luck, and I was told, you know, what spot did you fall?

[George Campbell]

I just. Just out of curiosity, I'd like to visit that spot. What do you mean you fell backwards? Like, was it an inheritance that you didn't know about?

[Caller]

I got a personal injury settlement. I'm just short of a million dollars.

[George Campbell]

Oh, wow. Moly, are you okay? That's. That's a serious payout.

[Caller]

Yeah, I'm, I'm fine now. I got some. Some. Some arthritis in my knee. I got some. Some injuries that are kind of unique for a young man. Half. But, you know, all in all, I'm whole.

[George Campbell]

Wow.

[Caller]

I consider myself a very fortunate person.

[Jade Warshaw]

Where's your quandary?

[Caller]

Well, I didn't know what to do with the money, you see, so the advice I got was to invest it, don't pay off the debt, and, you know, use the growth, the return on the investment to pay off the debt over time. And, you know, I was in some kind of investment with a financial advisor. It didn't perform well. I didn't like it. I actually pulled the money out of that and ended up buying three single family homes that I now lease to people. So my current plan has been to use the rental profit, you know, live off my base, pay for my day job, use the rental profit to pay down the student loan debt. But I really hate making all these payments, and it's eating up all the money I make every month.

[Jade Warshaw]

Did you buy the. You didn't buy the rentals in cash?

[Caller]

I paid for them outright.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[George Campbell]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Three single family homes outright.

[George Campbell]

What are they worth?

[Caller]

Let's see. One. One's about 300. One is worth about 250. The other, I would say high twos, low threes, kind of 290 range, probably.

[Jade Warshaw]

What do they cash flow? Totally.

[Caller]

Every month, 1 rents for 18001 rents for 19001 rents for 2000amonth. After homeowners, insurance, property taxes, maintenance, repairs, about 37, 38,000 a year.

[George Campbell]

Okay, and what's your base pay or how much are you bringing in from your job?

[Caller]

For my day job, my base pay is 70,000 a year before taxes. And then I just got a bonus. It's like a one once a year bonus, recently, $10,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

I mean, if you like these properties, you paid for them in cash. If they're cash flowing, I would just use your income and the cash to pay down this $97,000 bill. I mean, if you wanted to sell one of them off, you could. But I have a feeling, I mean, it's just you, right? There's no family.

[Caller]

I'm a Single guy, I'm 30 years old. I live in an apartment. Yeah. No wife and kids, not even a dog.

[George Campbell]

What do you have in savings? What's your cash position right now?

[Caller]

Let's see, in savings, I have about 93,000 in a savings account and about 20 in a checking account.

[George Campbell]

Well, you buried the lien, man. You could pay off your debt today, instantly.

[Caller]

My worry is I would like to get into a primary residence and own a house that I live in. So that's another hesitation.

[Jade Warshaw]

Those are two different things.

[George Campbell]

There's a time and place for that, but it's once you're completely debt free and you have a fully funded emergency fund. And think about it, once you don't have these student loans, it's all pure cash flow. So you can save up a down payment real quick.

[Jade Warshaw]

And I might change my advice on that. Now that you throw the fact in that you want to get a personal residence, I might say yeah, take, take the cash that you have, pay off the student loans, and then I might sell one of these properties to free up some cash. So you've got a, you've re upped your emergency fund and now you have cash to come in and buy whatever house you get for you that needs to be in cash. So maybe you're selling two of these properties to have what it is that you truly want. And maybe that leaves you with one rental property. Because what I wouldn't want for you to do is to put a mortgage on your personal residence and now you've got rent people living in paid for houses and you're not even living in a paid for house. Right. So maybe you sell off two of these to get what you want. I'm not mad at that.

[George Campbell]

It's all about your timeline or urgency. If you really want your own home, then I think you might go, hey, I'm going to sell one of these because I don't want to have to save up for the next three or four years. That'll speed up the process. You have a lot of options. You've done a lot of things well, but you sort of became a landlord by fault because some dude told you it would be a good idea. And so the good news is you have options, my friend.

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[George Campbell]

10% off up to a 250 value. See store for details. Kelsey's in Austin, Texas up next. Kelsey, welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi, thanks for taking the call. So I'm working the baby steps and I just need some advice. I am a real estate agent and so all of my income runs through my business account. I have an S corp and I like to keep about three months of my payroll in there just to like keep my anxiety levels at a lower level just in case like a month is slow or a deal falls through. I'm a single mom with two kids, so I guess I'm just wondering if that amount in my business account would be enough to consider as a starter emergency fund or if I should have that starter emergency fund in a separate account.

[Jade Warshaw]

So I like that you're doing that. The only change that I would make is this is not an emergency fund. So whenever you're a person who's on irregular income, whether you're in real estate or just anything that has those major opportunities for fluctuation, it is smart to keep a month's worth or you know, two months worth, whatever you feel like you absolutely need aside. Yeah. Just in case something happens, a deal falls through or it gets pushed later. And that way you can, you know, continue to live your life. But that's not your emergency fund, because that. Your emergency fund is there for the things that emergency funds are there for. Something that's completely unforeseen, something that's completely necessary and something that is completely urgent. Right. That's your roof, your car falls apart, that kind of thing. This is just part of your budget. This is just part of. In many ways, it's just an extended cushion for you letting your budget adjust to a regular income. So I would not. To clarify, you can have this money here. Maybe you take half of it, and you have, you know, a month and a half only you know, how much your income truly fluctuates and what you actually need there. But maybe there's some of that that could also go towards building a dedicated emergency fund to.

[Caller]

Okay, yeah, I could definitely at least start the thousand dollars just to have that there and then put some towards debt. Especially once I have things like under contract. It feels a little safer.

[George Campbell]

How much debt do you have?

[Caller]

I have 46,000. Yeah.

[George Campbell]

What kind of debt is that?

[Caller]

So 22 of that is credit cards from just putting my head in the sand after a divorce. And then 13,500 on a car. And then my AC went out like Thanksgiving, so I had to put that one on a loan. So it's 10,000 on that.

[George Campbell]

Ouch. Okay, so do you have a business checking and a business savings account separate from your personal.

[Caller]

I have, like, I run the profit first model in my business account, so I have a couple of accounts in there. So I stash a little bit away every month or every closing for profit. And then I have a personal checking.

[George Campbell]

Okay, good. So they are separate.

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

You're not doing this all from one bank account?

[Caller]

No, yeah, I finally got all that in order a couple years ago.

[George Campbell]

And how much do you have in. Across your personal checking and savings? That's not tied to your business.

[Caller]

Oh, sorry, can you repeat that?

[George Campbell]

How much do you have across checking and saving in your personal life?

[Caller]

Oh, I am. I could probably have. Well, I would have a thousand dollars in savings. And then personal is just obviously I pay myself every month. So I pay about 6,000 in payroll every month.

[Jade Warshaw]

So the good news is, once you start paying down. So if you do 6,000 in payroll, what do you have? 18 stashed aside? Is that what you have in your business?

[Caller]

I like to stash 20 just because, like, with the payroll, there's taxes associated with it, so it works out.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you really feel like you need three? I feel like you could get, I mean, only, you know, I'm not trying to push you because I know that you're, this is your sole thing. But if you don't need three, I would knock it down a bit. And then the other thing is, the good news is once you start paying off this debt, the amount that that needs to be, because that should be a bare bones budget, not like your bells and whistles budget, you'll be able to knock that down. Because once you pay off the 10, 10k, that's a payment you don't need to make any more out of your budgeted money. Once you pay off the car, that's a payment you won't need to make out of your budgeted money. So as you're paying this debt down, you're also able to reach over and pull a little bit of that extra. Does that make sense?

[Caller]

And that can then also go towards your debt payments. My debt payments are like 600amonth. And then I think it's going to go up in June as long as, I mean, I'm going to try and get the smallest credit card knocked out before, you know, before June. But then In June, the AC loan, like it was 0% for the first few months and then it'll be 10%. So it's going to go up a little bit.

[George Campbell]

So what's your current plan to pay off all the debt? What's the timeline for and how much can you throw at it a month?

[Caller]

I am throwing at it as much as I possibly can. I'm doing extra side hustles on the nights that I don't have the kids and like just trying to throw everything at it. I just have gotten a little, I mean, this is my first month actually doing a budget in every dollar. And like, I thought I had it all planned out and then, you know, things happened that I didn't account for. And so I was like, oh man, I kind of missed the mark this first month.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, it takes, it takes a couple of months. I mean, just to be honest, it takes three months and some to really lock in. The first month is experimental, truly. And then after that you kind of start learning your behavior and you should be locked in in the next 90, 60 to 90 days for sure.

[George Campbell]

I would have a game plan to go, hey, my goal is to put $2,000 a month toward the debt minimums, plus extra that gets me out of debt in 23 months. Once you start doing that kind of math, that shows me that you're serious about getting out of debt. Because now you kind of know the benchmark, you know, if you're ahead or behind instead of just, well, hopefully I'll have some extra to throw at it. If life doesn't get cr. You need to pre decide, hey, no matter what happens, this is what we're going to do. And then we'll shift everything else around it.

[Caller]

The nice thing about real estate is if I have like, you know, an extra closing, it can knock out a really big chunk of that.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

When's your next commission check? Do you know?

[Caller]

My next commission check? Is that what you said?

[George Campbell]

Yeah. When is that coming in?

[Caller]

Tuesday.

[George Campbell]

Woohoo. How much is that going to be?

[Caller]

Yeah, it'll be 6,000.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, good. So you have your month covered and. Okay, good. I like this. Okay, so it sounds like you've got it set up, like you've got the system set up. It's just now letting it start to work for you.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. Hopefully you can start making progress soon and every dollar will definitely help. Jenny is in Miami up next. Jenny, what's going on?

[Caller]

Hi, thank you for taking my call. So I'm a little nervous. My question is, me and my husband, we have about 500,000 saved. We've been saving for a home for quite some time. The issue is that we don't have much in retirement. I'm 40, he's 45. So I'm like really debating here if we should really put as much toward a home or we should allocate some towards more towards the retirement account. So that's kind of eating at me because we haven't bought yet. We were looking at the moment, but that kind of does worry me. It doesn't worry him much, but me it does.

[George Campbell]

Are you guys investing at all right now?

[Caller]

Honestly, no, like I have because I work for a hospital. So I believe the 403B. So there is money in there without me having put anything in there as of yet. 18. 18,000 I believe are 19 for me and I think on his is maybe 3,000. He just started contributing to that.

[George Campbell]

Okay, what do you guys make a year?

[Caller]

Well, this last year gross was. Both of us did overtime about on 148.

[George Campbell]

Awesome. Okay. And what's this house gonna cost?

[Caller]

We're trying to stick to 600, but it is Miami, so it's. It's definitely difficult, but we're trying to stick with that. Even if it has to be some repairs or Anything like that. So we also have to consider those things as well.

[George Campbell]

Sure. And you're renting right now. What's your. What's your rent cost?

[Caller]

1,400.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Caller]

We've been lucky.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

That's amazing. With your income. That's fantastic. And I'm thinking through this, you have 500,000 to put down. Does that include your emergency fund? Do you have a separate emergency fund from this? 500,000.

[Caller]

That's everything across the board. We wouldn't put all that in. We would definitely leave. Our 40 would be left for, at minimum, for the emergency fund.

[George Campbell]

So we put 460 down on a $600,000 home, for example, or $650,000. So you have a 150 to $200,000 mortgage, which is very reasonable for Miami. And the good news is you're going to be able to pay that off fast. So here's the. Here's the deal with the. Should I put it toward retirement or not? I would suggest you guys start investing 15% of your $150,000 income today.

[Caller]

Okay.

[George Campbell]

And then put as much down on that house as you can. And here's the simple reason. It reduces the amount of mortgage you need, which in turn reduces the mortgage payment, which then frees up way more money to pay down the house early to live your life in the meantime. And so it's a good middle ground play right now because you guys are 40 and 45. And so my gu. You end up paying this house off in the next seven years max.

[Jade Warshaw]

And the good news is. Yeah, if you keep doing what George said, as you're investing 15%. If you invest 15% of your income starting now, a little over 20,000 a year, you're going to have 2.6 million in retirement. If you retire at 65, that's calculator numbers.

[George Campbell]

That's not an opinion. And so that's the truth. The faster you get the house paid off, then you can max out investing. You'll be making more by then. I have no fear that you guys are going to be just fine if you become completely debt free and then you invest all of that margin you create.

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[George Campbell]

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. In the Fairwinds Credit Union studio, I'm George Campbell joined by Ramsey personality Jade Warshaw. Open phones at Triple 882-55-5225. Sarah is in Memphis. Up next. Sarah, welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hello.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Hey.

[George Campbell]

How can Jade and I help?

[Caller]

Hi. My question is how should I be investing to build wealth but also to leave an abusive, an emotionally abusive relationship.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Oh, gosh.

[George Campbell]

How long has this been going on?

[Caller]

This relationship has lasted going on four years.

[George Campbell]

Are you safe right now?

[Caller]

Yeah, absolutely. It's no, it's no physical abuse or any of that, but it's just too toxic for me to stay. I feel like I'm not evolving.

[George Campbell]

Are you guys living together?

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So what's your timeline?

[Caller]

On what?

[Jade Warshaw]

On exiting the premises.

[Caller]

It's not like I would say I want to leave with definitely within the next like six months, six to eight months.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, tell me what you think. Tell me what's precluding you from going now? Because when you say how can I build wealth? Wealth is different than I need first and last month's rent to be able to get into my own apartment.

[George Campbell]

Wealth is like a 10, 20 year journey. And so right now it's, hey, what is the next step I need to take? What is the minimum amount I need to leave this situation? We'll get to.

[Caller]

My dilemma right now is I have, I did have roughly like $10,000 saved. I recently paid off my car and got rid of absolutely all my debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

Awesome.

[George Campbell]

Good.

[Caller]

I'm waiting on my title on the mail. I currently have about $8,000 left in my account. The reason I didn't my lease was up. The reason I moved in with him because I was my income with at my job is quite low. I'm only make 17 doll. So I was a little bit worried about getting an apartment just due to the requirements.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And so I'm trying To figure out if I should be like, investing with the $8,000. Like maybe buying a quad plex. No, living in one.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

Like, that's what I'm trying to figure out.

[Jade Warshaw]

Let me say this back to you. Let me say this back to you. Make sure I've got it. So you've got zero debt at this point. You've got $8,000 cash, $17 per hour. What's that equate to a month? What do you bring in after taxes every month? Month.

[Caller]

I think around like. Like $2,300.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So no to your thing about investing. Right now, cash is your friend. You need liquid money because you're trying to get a place. I would. In the $17 per hour, are you working 40 hours a week or are you part time? How many hours do you do?

[Caller]

I work a little under 40. Maybe like 36 hours.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Okay.

[George Campbell]

What kind of work are you doing?

[Caller]

Medical assistant.

[George Campbell]

Okay, so are you wanting to stay in that field?

[Caller]

No, I'm currently looking for jobs to expand my income right now to hopefully build my savings account.

[George Campbell]

Well, yeah, I'm saying, are there, you know, the next step rung on the ladder in the medical world from assistant to xyz. Can you move up in the field and place that you're in right now, or is this it?

[Caller]

No, no, I've tried.

[George Campbell]

Do you know what? You know, I think a lot of your skills would transfer in the medical field to other assistant work because you could be an executive assistant and go make 70, 80 grand.

[Caller]

Okay.

[George Campbell]

So I don't want you to just limit yourself going. Well, this is the only thing I can do. You've got to think about what skills can transfer. And I'll. I'm going to give you. Our friend Ken Coleman has a great tool and resource called Find the Work youk're Wired to Do. And it comes with a get clear career assessment. And that will actually lay it all out for you.

[Jade Warshaw]

You.

[George Campbell]

And so that will help you immensely. And then on top of that, do you have any community right now? Friends, family nearby?

[Caller]

No, that's the problem. I don't. I don't have anyone to like, you know, stay at their house for a set amount of time or help me out in this situation. So it kind of was like this was kind of my only option.

[George Campbell]

Well, I'm wondering, can you get a roommate?

[Jade Warshaw]

That's what I'd say. I'd be looking at rent in your area and what you can. And think about it through the lens of a roommate. It's like okay, who can I split this with? Because I think if you can get a roommate and, and I'm not saying you live like that forever, but this is just for you to get out of a toxic environment to your, to your own point, and to get someplace where it's a split cost. That's what I'd be looking for. That's the research I do tonight. Have you done that? Any research on apartments?

[Caller]

I've already, I've already tried that option and yes, I have been looking for apartments. Honestly, the, the, the roommate situation probably is unrealistic in my case. I don't have anybody. I was looking at renting a room like the Airbnb or something like that.

[Jade Warshaw]

And how much does that cost?

[Caller]

I haven't gotten pranks yet. I was thinking about doing that as of today. That's why maybe I should call first.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I think that's a good, that's a good starting point. See what it'll cost you. I mean, the cheaper, the better. Cheap and safer are the two things that you're looking for. And it's just you, right? Right.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[George Campbell]

Okay. I know you don't have people close to you in your life, but I would jump on some local Facebook groups and you can see their photo, their name, and say, hey, can we meet at this coffee shop and see if this is a good fit? So I know it's a scary step, but it's a much safer step than, than the situation you're in right now. And the truth is you can't afford an apartment on your own.

[Caller]

Right.

[George Campbell]

And so that's the next step. And then we can work on the work and career piece to get that income up. But right now, 2300 bucks, you can survive if you can split a two bedroom at 6, 7, 8. Hundred bucks.

[Caller]

Yeah, right.

[George Campbell]

And so that would be my next step is roommate, followed by income. And do you have a separate bank account? Separate from your partner?

[Caller]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Okay, good. And they don't have access to it. They don't know your passwords, do they? Do you have like shared location services on, on your phone?

[Caller]

No, no, I'm pretty good. I'm pretty clear to exit if I can figure out out what I can afford. But I just wanted clarity on if I should be focusing on investing and that should be my way to move out.

[George Campbell]

I would not invest a dime. So in the steps you'd go, hey, I don't have any debt. Now I need a fully funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses, and then I can Begin investing. But right now we need some stability in a foundation. So you're, you're close. If you can get your income up and get in a safe situation with where you're staying and get the emergency fund. Now we're cooking with gas. Now we have the recipe to build wealth. Because right now one emergency could tank you. And now you have no money to build wealth with. Okay, so you are, you're doing all the right things. I would not wait six months, Sarah. I would be gone by this weekend. Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Once you find an Airbnb or once you find a roommate, in many ways I think your chances are better. Well, they're both the same thing. If you rent a room on an Airbnb, you have a roommate and this is somebody that you don't really know very well and you're up in their place. But the good news is you can, if it doesn't work out, you could easily move to someplace else versus a roommate. I guess you'd be locked in lease wise. So I kind of see what you're doing there. I think for you the ultimate thing is the price on it. Because tick usually in order to make progress, we don't want rent to go over, you know, 25, 30% of our, of our take home pay for you. That's a very low number at 2300amonth.

[George Campbell]

So talking like 600 bucks.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. So you're. Yeah, 600, 700 bucks range. Luckily you have no debt. Way to go on that. But that's what I'd be looking for if at all possible.

[Caller]

Okay. Okay, Gotcha. I understand. Thank you.

[Jade Warshaw]

You bet.

[George Campbell]

You're welcome. I'm wishing you the best. Getting out of the situation, Jade. When it comes to abusive situations, it's so easy to tell yourself, well, it's not that bad and I can just wait another six months. I'll be okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you never know when people are going to shift into another gear. That's my thing.

[George Campbell]

Yes, you need to get out. And she's taking all the right steps on the financial side. She's got no debt. She has separate accounts from, from this partner. She's got some money in the bank. Now is the time to go. Don't have some random arbitrary number. Once I have $12,000, then I'll feel comfortable. That's you justifying why you're going to stay in the situation. You need to be out. And if you need to call a hotline, you need to get in a women's shelter. You do whatever you need to do to get out of that toxic situation. Sarah, we're rooting for you.

[Caller]

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[Jade Warshaw]

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[Caller]

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[Jade Warshaw]

Budget and your values.

[Caller]

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

[George Campbell]

Sarah is in Boise up next. Sarah, what's going on?

[Jade Warshaw]

Hi.

[Caller]

Thank you for taking my call.

[George Campbell]

Sure.

[Caller]

So I'm in crisis mode and my question is, how do I manage my husband's business since he had a stroke about a month ago?

[George Campbell]

Oh, my goodness. What is his current health?

[Caller]

Physically, he's doing very well. It was a large stroke and somehow physically he's good. But the area of his brain that was most affected affects his reading, writing, understanding of spoken language and ability to speak accurately.

[George Campbell]

Sarah, I'm so sorry.

[Caller]

So he's not available to consult with?

[George Campbell]

Yeah. I mean, your life flipped upside down overnight.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Wow.

[George Campbell]

So what is the pressing thing that like, I gotta figure this out tomorrow.

[Caller]

He is a business owner and he has one employee. He does, my husband does pretty much everything for the business and his employee is not able to take over.

[George Campbell]

What kind of business is it?

[Caller]

Essentially, it is a pilot school.

[George Campbell]

Okay. Is there a physical location? Like, give me a picture of all the things tied to this business.

[Caller]

So he has several airplanes that are housed at a local airport, and he pays leases to have slots for those airplanes and hangars. And so he pays those leases by check every month. He has an employee who is not getting paid because my husband's not here to run payroll.

[George Campbell]

Do you have any knowledge of all of that? Is this something you could even step even if you wanted to, you had the capability. Is this something you could go, all right, I can figure this out. I can pay the bill. I can handle payroll.

[Caller]

I know enough of who to contact to figure out what's due. My problem is we don't have power of attorney or anything set up, so I don't have access to his business finances. What I do have is a wad of cash that he keeps around, and I could pay the leases by cash until he gets out of the business and can come home and can do it through the business? Yes.

[George Campbell]

Wow. So he's still in the hospital.

[Caller]

Yes, and he'll be there for the next one to three months. So I just need to keep it going for a few months until we see where things are going to land. And he has enough communication ability. You know, he's been trying to communicate to me about his work.

But there's.

A lot of guessing at what he's trying to say. He can't get it specifics. So I'm just trying to keep things going as he's recovering and hoping that we'll be able to talk about it in a few months. I just don't want everything to fall down.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Is this your only source of income?

[Caller]

No, I make a good income, and I can cover our personal expenses.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good.

[George Campbell]

How much are you making?

[Caller]

Significant. 150,000.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So the biggest concern is there could be leases piling up that are past due, and you wouldn't know you to re. You wouldn't be receiving them because they might be in his email or something that's password protected, right?

[Caller]

Correct.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

I did get a bill in the mail from a mechanic.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And so I could just call them, but I can't pay it out of the business. I can either pay it by cash or out of our personal accounts.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you guys have any money saved? You guys, Aside from the business?

[Caller]

We have about $2,000 left. I've used 3,000 of it on business expenses so far.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Yeah. I would kind of start. This is very tough. You're not lying that this is. This is a tough situation. I would start by compiling as many folks as you can. I would sit down with the employee, and I'd be like, what do you know? Tell me anything you know. If there's any numbers for anybody that you have, please give them to me. And I would just start trying to. You're almost a detective on this. Trying to figure out the mechanic. I'd contact them and say, do you know of any. Tell me what you know and just derive as much as you can because you might find. Yeah, I know you said there's no power of attorney, but you might find out that maybe he was working with somebody that was just kind of helping him with some of the accounting or some of the numbers.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

And then the next thing, I'd be talking with the doctors and saying, what's the timeline for us to understand his recovery? What can we expect in the next couple weeks regarding speech, those sorts of things.

[George Campbell]

Do you have an estate planning attorney?

[Caller]

No.

[George Campbell]

Okay. I would contact one today and say, hey, what are my options here? Because one option, if he can't understand or communicate decisions right now, then you likely need to go to court to request guardianship or a conservator. And so the judge would have to grant you legal authority. And if he is able to, you might have a shot here to get that power of attorney. So the estate planning attorney can help with that step. And that's a big step that unlocks a whole lot for you to be able to manage and run this business and just keep it stable as you know, just get the bills paid. Is the employee. Are they aware that, hey, you. You're not going to get a paycheck? There's no money coming in to pay you with?

[Caller]

Yes, yes. I've let him know that I don't have access to that. And he said that he will do everything that he can and continue working and that if he reaches a financial point that he can't continue, then he'll just get a second job.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Caller]

And keep doing his part of the business and logging his hours because he knows that we will make good on it.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'd also look into, since your husband's been paying him, if you know even what bank your husband's using, if you can get with an attorney and say, let's go to the bank, let them know what's going on so we can get access into this account. I think there's those things that I would do to just. I mean, obviously you're in a situation where this person cannot verbalize what they need. So working with a lawyer to get access is gonna be what you're gonna need to do.

[George Campbell]

Are you a joint owner on anything?

[Caller]

How would you use that cash?

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so let's pretend. Let's play that out. Let's pretend you get with a lawyer, you go down to the bank. They're like, oh, okay, we see what's happening. Yes, you're obviously legally married. Whatever. Whatever you get into the accounts, then I'd work with. Then I'd be hiring somebody. To say, help me understand what we have here. Is there money? Can you look back? Can we now look at a past tax return to find out kind of what the situation is with the business? Then from there you can decide, is this something I can keep up? Is this something we maybe need to sell by then? You've heard from the doctors about recovery, so there's part of this. It's kind of like a puzzle that has to come together for you to decide, is this going to be something that you're going to keep or is this something that needs to be sold? And maybe in the distant future he can reopen this again based on his knowledge, but not based on the previous business.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, man. I'm sorry that this is happening. This is. This is really tough.

[George Campbell]

You got a new full time job of just trying to track all these things down and it's not a fun thing to deal with. It's not something anyone could even plan for, Sarah. So I'm so sorry you're going through this. I'm glad that you at least have. Have an awesome income on your own. It can cover all the bills. Do you have any margin each month just on your income alone?

[Caller]

We are still paying off our personal debts, so all of our margin is going into that.

[George Campbell]

How much debt do you have between personal, the business, everything About.

[Caller]

Well, I don't know about the business debts. I don't know. I don't think that there's any business debt. But as far as personal debt, it's. There's a car loan for 34,000.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Caller]

Credit card for 2,000.

[George Campbell]

I would look into selling that vehicle if you can, you know, even make what it's. What's worth, you know, if you can get 34 for it. Do you have another vehicle?

[Caller]

Yes, but it needs work.

[George Campbell]

How much work?

[Caller]

I don't know. I don't know anything about mechanics.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Caller]

But.

[George Campbell]

But I'm just wondering if you can sell that.

[Caller]

Before that happened, my husband told me it was unsafe to drive.

[George Campbell]

Okay, well, I would do some homework. You can jump on Kelly Blue Book website and find the private party value for that car. You'll just type in the VIN number for the vehicle and answer a few things. It'll tell you what the car is worth. And if you can sell that, you free up that car payment. So what is that car payment every month?

[Caller]

500.

[George Campbell]

So you just get $500 of breathing room and now we can. If the repair is $1,000. Great, let's go ahead and do that. That is well worth it to free up $500 a month forever. And so there's all these pieces. You have a lot of variables that are in your control. And that's all you can do right now is focus on what you can control and bring in all the community you can find. Bring in all the professionals and experts at your disposal to help you through this. You do not have to do this alone. I'm wishing you the best. Navigating your husband's health issues, the business, and just the grief of what the next chapter of your life looks like. Thanks for the call, Sarah. Hey guys, George here. Listen, just because it's 2026 now doesn't mean 2025's ideas all go away. Some things are timeless. Like if you want to win with money, it's still the same playbook budget like your money depends on it. Avoid debt like $10 lattes and build wealth on purpose. But here's the truth almost nobody tells you. Most banks make money when you lose yours. They want you swiping, overdrafting and racking up fees because that's how they stay rich while you stay broke. And that's why I tell people to go with Fairwinds Credit union instead. They actually want you to win with money and become debt free. And their smart bundle gives you a no fee checking account, a high yield savings account account, and my favorite, the new Ramsey branded debit card that says debt is normal. Be weird right on the front. It's not just a piece of plastic with your money attached. It is a declaration. It says you're not buying the lie anymore. You're taking control of your money for real. So this year, forget the gimmicks from the big banks, forget so called rewards that keep you broke and instead partner with a credit union that actually backs you working the baby steps. Go to Fairwinds.org Ramsey to get started. That's Fairwinds.org Ramsey insured by the NCU.

[Jade Warshaw]

Way.

[George Campbell]

Up next, we've got Jennifer in Memphis. Jennifer, welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi, thanks for having me.

[George Campbell]

Absolutely. What's your question today?

[Caller]

My question is how best do I approach a conversation with my husband who recently purchased a home as an investment without telling me, had no knowledge, didn't know it was a plan, it came up fast, I guess and called me after he did it. And my question around that is how best to approach that conversation? Do I approach it from a financial perspective of understanding can we do this? Or more so in the fact of the personal side, I'm struggling being a numbers person. Focusing on the financials rather than the emotional side. So that's my question on how best to approach that.

[Jade Warshaw]

When did this happen?

[Caller]

Yesterday.

[George Campbell]

Oh, listen, this takes impulse purchase to a new level. This is wild.

[Jade Warshaw]

I applaud you. The fact that you had enough self control to be like, I'm not going to even mention this. This. You've held this to a radio conversation. I applaud you because I would have been like, what? So good job. That's great.

[George Campbell]

How did this all come about as far as him telling you, like, what. What happened here?

[Caller]

Well, so long story short, he is a. This is his goal. He wants. He's good at it. The man has a 2% error rate in life, which frustrates me, but he.

[George Campbell]

He's got 100% error rate with his marriage.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Well, how mad are you?

[Jade Warshaw]

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does this just like hack you off?

[Caller]

You know, it's surprising to. Normally it would, like I'd lose it. The fury is not my normal fury.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

I'm trying to like listen and go, is this, is this an opportunity to have a discussion? Because we do struggle with his impulse control because he is a very. He's a very smart person.

[George Campbell]

The fact that you're not shocked by this tells me there has been a pattern of this your whole marriage.

[Caller]

This is the biggest. Usually I'm involved, but we've done some pretty high stakes investments that he researched. He's smart. He's. So he's not impulsive. I wouldn't say he.

[George Campbell]

Hold on. You're.

[Jade Warshaw]

He has a high risk threshold and you.

[George Campbell]

He's impulsive. He bought a house without telling you on a whim.

[Caller]

Well, it wasn't a whim. So come to find out he's known about this. He's researched it. It was an auction.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. How much in.

[Caller]

$750,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, man.

[George Campbell]

Was it cash?

[Caller]

No.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

We.

[Caller]

We have very good net worth. What is it my net worth? Yeah, about 2 to 2.1 million.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is it all real estate or is some of that. Can you tell us what that is?

[Caller]

Yeah, majority real estate. We have very, very good equity in our home. And then we have an investment in some land that's in high. Very nice area, so it's worth quite a bit. And then we've got some other assets, so our cars are paid off.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, good.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. What debt do you guys have?

[Caller]

So when I say they're paid off, we do have a loan on one of them. So I shouldn't say that. We do have a loan on one of them, but it's going to be paid off here soon. So total debt is. Is $798,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

And that's including this.

[Caller]

698,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, now it's double that because there's a $750,000 mortgage.

[George Campbell]

Does that include the new one?

[Caller]

No.

[George Campbell]

What's the mortgage on that?

[Caller]

The new one? Well, so we haven't closed on a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Loan yet, but it was 750, right?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Okay. So the first question you asked was, do I approach this from basically the dollars and cents side or the emotional relational side? I would go. The dollars and cents side is kind of like. Goes without saying. I think I would go first for the emotional relational side, since, honestly, that's the most important problem at hand is if. If you're going to do these purchase. I understand what our history has been. I am not. The point is not to insult intelligence here. The point is to say that I'm part of this marriage, and when we make decisions like this and I'm not included, I feel like I'm not a voice that matters. That's what you're telling me is my voice doesn't matter. And I need to know, is that how you actually feel? Because that's the way you're acting? So I would make. Make him understand that what. What you're feeling is not consistent what you think his intention towards you is. Does that make sense? And that that's not going to work for you going forward. So I would get pretty strong on this, because in my mind, and I'm not trying to project onto you, but in my mind, if you can call me right after the deal, you could have called me right before the deal. Right. It's the same amount of time. Nobody, you know. And I understand it was an option.

[Caller]

Yeah. But he wouldn't get it because he did. He texted me, actually. That's how he told me. I think he legitimately didn't think he'd get it.

[George Campbell]

But this is not a Pokemon card on ebay that I bid on and went, oh, my gosh, babe, I won.

[Jade Warshaw]

But the fact that he was going to an auction means I have the intent to purchase something. And once the auction starts, here's the truth. Once the auction starts, sure, you could be like, bidding and be like, I don't have time to text. I'm bidding. But when you knew, I think I'm gonna go to an auction today. That's the time you email and go, I'm thinking about going to an auction today. Here's the property I'm thinking about bidding on on if we get it. Here's the extent that I'm willing to bid to. What do you think about that? Right. That's a conversation that should have had. He knows that. Go ahead and remind him of it. And I would just, I think, Jennifer, for you, you're going to have to decide how serious you're going to be about this because to George's point, seems like there's been a bit of a pattern. And it's not to say that he's not a smart guy or doesn't hasn't had great luck or great outcomes with his knowledge. I'm not saying that. But it's not put you in a place of mattering and you do matter and that's the part that needs to be figured out here. Now we can go back once that's deciphered, now we can go back and talk about, okay, keeping this house. What's it going to turn into, all that stuff. But first and foremost, how much do you matter in this relationship when it comes to our money?

[Caller]

I think that's where we've struggled our whole lives is I'm risk averse and he's obviously risk taker and we've always struggled with the fact that he does do his research. He does, he's willing to take risk.

[Jade Warshaw]

But Jennifer, that's not the problem you being risk averse and that's not the problem. That's just you guys having personalities. The problem is your vote weighing and mattering. When the decision, when it comes time for the rubber to meet the road in a decision, that's the piece. So don't your, your challenge is because I can, like I said, you're very, very patient. But your challenge is going to be when you have this conversation not to get bogged down in those minutia. Right? Because that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how smart he is. It doesn't matter how risk averse you are. None of that matters. What matters is do I matter? Does my opinion matter? Because so far it has not and that is not okay with me going forward. And if this continues to go forward, here's what that's going to look like on my end. That's what you have to decide and that's a firm conversation. So that's what that's, that's my advice to you. And again, I can't say it enough has nothing to do with smarts or not smarts.

[George Campbell]

I don't care if he won the lottery. This is still financial infidelity. I mean, think about if this was a person. You went, well, he didn't cheat on me impulsively. He's been talking to this girl for months. That doesn't make it better, does it?

[Caller]

No.

[George Campbell]

And so if he knew he was looking at this house, he should have said, hey, you know, I've been looking at this property. I think it could be a really great investment. Here's what I'm thinking. You guys aren't communicating at all when it comes to money. I mean, my wife and I don't make purchases over $500 without talking about it first, let alone 750,000.

[Caller]

Mm. Yeah. And I don't. I don't make anything without asking. I think, again, this is the first time he's done it without tell telling me. It's always been, he's brought it to me. And then I tell him no, which.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is why this is so that he went around. You gotta put the line in the sand on this, because what you don't want is for this to be seen as, oh, that wasn't that bad. I could maybe do this again. This is you putting your stake in putting your line in the sand. Hey, do you earn? Are you a contributor of money in the house? Okay, I just wanted to check on that.

[Caller]

I think that's the hard part. We have substantial annual income, and he, you know, he uses the debt, obviously, to build wealth. And he has. He's building.

[Jade Warshaw]

Fine, fine, fine, fine. All of that, fine. But you need to make sure he understands. And you need to understand too. This is not a money conversation. Has zero to do with prior success. You cannot let the conversation go in that direction. It's about respect on your name. That's it.

[George Campbell]

Well, Jade, we just took a call where the husband bought a house without telling his wife.

[Jade Warshaw]

Unreal.

[George Campbell]

Pretty wild. And you know, buying or selling your home is a big deal. It's the biggest financial decision you'll ever make. And with all the clickbait headlines and conflicting data out there, it's hard to know what is actually happening with the housing market. So we are here to make the latest trends easy to understand. We've seen mortgage rates dip, which is nice. We 30 year, for the first time in a while, under 6% and 15 years, been dipping down along with it, which is nice. So if you want to learn more about the housing market trends and get free tools to help you buy or sell with confidence, go to ramseysolutions.com market or click the link in the show notes. If you're listening on podcast or YouTube. All right, let's get to the phones. John joins us in Portland up next.

[Caller]

Next.

[George Campbell]

John, welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Good afternoon, gentlemen. And miss Jade there, thanks for including me in that.

[Jade Warshaw]

I was concerned.

[George Campbell]

I was happy to be called gentlemen.

[Caller]

You're a hoot on the show. I enjoy listening to you guys almost every day.

[Jade Warshaw]

How can we help?

[Caller]

So I'm looking to get engaged with this young lady that I've been dating about nine months and just getting into figuring out her financial situation. And it's really a freaking mess, to be understatement here.

[George Campbell]

Oh, boy.

[Caller]

So she's co living with her mother, her sister that is married, her other sister that is married, and of course herself. And they all co signed signatures and such, and incomes to be able to afford and purchase a home together.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Whoa.

[Jade Warshaw]

Six of them.

[George Campbell]

And so they're all in the deed, they're all on the mortgage.

[Caller]

Right? They're all in this mortgage. And then there's a food truck business that they run as a family business and there's other incomes and then there's private and business credit cards all mixed together. And my girlfriend's credit score is tied to all of these as a cosigner and two auto loans that she's also tied to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, boy.

[Caller]

Okay, I'm going. Okay. So if in, you know, six months, if I was hoping for a spring or summer wedding here that like, I cannot join finances with over $100,000 of small debts and a house that I have zero equity or input in, I don't think she has equity in any of those things. She's been coaxed into signing as a cosigner all of those things, but does not have equity in any of those things.

[George Campbell]

How much of this does she understand? It sounds like you are well versed in the world of finance. And I'm worried she just is like, oh, I didn't understand all this. I just signed because it was family and I thought it all work out.

[Caller]

I don't know if she understood the weight of when you sign a cosign alone like that, how much are you on the line for? I don't think she really understood that.

[Jade Warshaw]

She doesn't understand that if they all default that it all reflects on her and that she could be the one that's responsible for all of that.

[Caller]

It correct. So there's another curveball here. One of the sisters has cancer and so her and her husband aren't really working and so they're kind of like soaking up some out of the household. They kind of pull their money together in the house. And her mother wants to go back to Mexico, so she's Mexican. But you don't. I don't think debt companies can chase you and collectors can chase you once you're on the other side of the border. Kind of an idea from my understanding. So her mother is, you know, obviously participated and created some of this debt. And I think that they're all going, oh, well, now she's found this nice guy. In other words, me.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, let's not go.

[Caller]

What do I do with this?

[Jade Warshaw]

Let me go back to what I think is the most important things first, because there's a lot here. I'll try to tackle some of them. I know George will tackle some of them. Them. So first things first is the conversation where you're kind of getting her to understand your fears around this. And then, and only then, if she's in a space to move forward. Here's. Here's what I would say is the ultimate goal. The goal is to find out first, hey, this mortgage situation, who can buy you out. Like, who can buy out your portion so that you can get your picture. And can we get folks to refi and get you out of this? Because that's the only way is to refi this mortgage. So she's not on it. So that must happen. It must happen. Same thing with these auto loans. This is. It's just so serious. So that conversation of her understanding that. That's why I say that's like, paramount to this entire thing working. Because after that, she's going to have to have some serious conversations of, I need to refi the mortgage, I need to refi these auto loans, and I need to find out how to get my name off of these credit cards. Because if I were in your shoes, I don't think I would move forward with marrying her until that's done. Because you are going to get. That's a horrible way to start off your marriage, period.

[Caller]

It's just going to cause problems.

[George Campbell]

Is she willing to essentially be exiled by her family? Family? You know, does she want out of this? Or she, like, no, everything's great. I like everything that we're doing right now.

[Caller]

She. She honestly has confided me that she's very stressed about the financial situation because she's. I explained to her a lot more the depth of, like, you don't have equity to play with as a bargaining chip. It's not even about equity with the liability.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's not. Yeah, it's not Even about the equity, I think that that's burying the lead a little bit. The biggest, the thing that you guys have to be most concerned about is the risk on her life. When these people stop being interested in paying, especially because there's so many involved, it's very easy for Bob to go, you know what? I'm not working in this season. It's okay.

[George Campbell]

Sister has the health care. Mom goes to Mexico, goes. Good luck, guys. Now what? Yeah, now she's on the hook for everything. And collectors are coming after her and suing her. Her. And that's what she's up against right now.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's the thing you need to be laser beam focused on is the risk. Forget equity, forget any of that other stuff. It is risk, risk, risk on her head right now.

[Caller]

And so to, to start to reduce some of that risk, I look at was like, yo, you guys need to sell these cars. Because one of their, their cheapest car, they are at an 18% interest rate on it. So I was like, you guys cannot be paying $750 a month on a 2018 Nissan Pathfinder.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes, you're right. They need to sell it.

[Caller]

They're underwater. They're underwater by 5k on that one. They got offered 8 for it. I was like, sell it. But they don't have any money to pay off the loan. So the dealership will.

[Jade Warshaw]

Then whoever's. Whoever's. Whoever it is that's driving the car needs to see if they can get a loan for the difference.

[George Campbell]

And they need to be selling at private party. The dealership's always going to give you a super low ball offer, correct?

[Caller]

Yeah. They have to have their margin, so.

[George Campbell]

They might actually be able to sell it for what they owe on it. If they sold a private party instead of going to the dealership, the people.

[Caller]

Who screwed them over, I think they owe just about even. With KBV on the vehicle, do they.

[George Campbell]

Need it to get from A to B?

[Caller]

No. So I'm a mechanic for a living. I was like, look, I'll find you a Toyota Camry that needs a water pump and a timing belt for 1500 bucks. Put $80 of parts in it and ship it. You guys can have, relax, reliable transportation in a week.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is it the sisters?

[Caller]

No, this is what my girlfriend drives and her mother and whoever else needs the car.

[Jade Warshaw]

So, okay, so it's your. For all intents and purposes, it's your girlfriend's car.

[Caller]

Correct.

[Jade Warshaw]

So what you need to do is you need to go with your girlfriend and say, hey, we're getting A loan. Once we find out kbb, if there's a difference, we're getting a loan for the difference and then we're gonna sell the this and you're going to get your mom and your sister to agree to that immediately. Is that the case for both cars by the way?

[Caller]

Yeah. So there's another, the 2024 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie that they have they're paying about $1000 a month for on the payment and they owe 38,5 on it and it's got appraised the dealership last week for 34.

[Jade Warshaw]

And who's the main driver?

[Caller]

That's one of the one. Her brother in law drives that mostly and so, and he's currently not working so I don't know gets the privilege to be driving.

[George Campbell]

Are they all like chipping in to cover all these payments?

[Caller]

Correct. They kind of just pull all their money in a pot and pay bills out of that. In some months they have enough for all the stuff.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, okay.

[George Campbell]

I'm going straight up toxic codependence happening here?

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, well yes, yes. But I think what you more so like we can look at it on the outside and say toxic codependency but it sounds like it's a, it could be a cultural thing of this is just how we survive and this is what we're used to. Your work is cut out for you and I don't know if you're going to be able to win this battle, my friend. This is deep, deep, deep, deep, deep.

[George Campbell]

This is going to be a part time job for you just to help her. She's going to need to pull her credit report and go line by line and go how do we get you off of this? How do we get you off of this? Explore all the options. And then she's going to have to fight with the family and be excommunicated for ditching them in their time of need.

[Jade Warshaw]

And I don't know if you want to be the guy who's responsible for that.

[George Campbell]

Welcome back to the Ramsey show and the Fairwinds Credit Union Union studio. I'm George Campbell joined by Jade Warshaw. Open phones at 888 825-5225. Jake joins us next in Madison, Wisconsin. Jake, welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hey, thanks for having me.

[George Campbell]

Absolutely. What's going on?

[Caller]

So I am in the process of building myself a house and looking for some guidance on if I should take the 15 year mortgage option where the payment is about 31% of my monthly pay or should I Take some of my six month emergency fund and try to get that down to like 29%. Or is there some other route I should try to pursue?

[George Campbell]

Cool. What's the house going to cost?

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Total?

[Caller]

What we're tracking at right now is about 380,000, all said and done.

[George Campbell]

Okay, and how much are you going to put down?

[Jade Warshaw]

Down?

[Caller]

So I've already put about 180,000 down of my own money to get the project started before I even went to the bank.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much more do you need to get it percentage wise to where you want it to be?

[Caller]

I believe it's close to 20,000, which I do have. That would just be most of, like I said, a six month.

[George Campbell]

It would be most of it. What would it take your emergency fund down to as far as month months?

[Caller]

About two.

[George Campbell]

Okay. The most I would personally be comfortable with is three months. If you're like, hey, I'm going to take three months of the fund out, leaving three months in there and then I'll restock it once we move in, you're going to be okay. And so that's not on fire. And if it's 29%, nothing is on fire because the truth is your income will go up over time.

[Caller]

Sure.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right.

[George Campbell]

And so that percentage will go down.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Down.

[Caller]

Yep.

[George Campbell]

The other thing is when we talk about the 25% parameter, which for everyone listening, we tell people, hey, if you're going to buy a house, do it once you're out of debt. With an emergency fund, you've got a solid down payment and make sure that you get a 15 year fixed rate conventional loan where the payment is no more than a quarter of your take home pay. But when we say that, you got to remember this is after tax but before other deductions. So we're not going to include the, you know, 15% in retirement. We're not going to include the health care premiums. It's just after tax. So have you done it based on that measure math?

[Caller]

I would say not entirely. I was doing it more so including like the 15% that I would have in retirement and all that.

[George Campbell]

Okay. Because then my guess is once you redo the math, you'll go, oh, it's actually like 20% of my after tax income, but before the deductions.

[Caller]

Yep. Okay, good. That makes sense.

[George Campbell]

So you're in great shape and I'm proud of you. How did you do this?

[Caller]

So I had a house on 30 acres previously that I sold for quite a bit more than I owed on it. I was able to, to Take those proceeds, pay off my car. And then my parents were kind enough to let me and my girlfriend live in their basement while we're building this house. And basically every month that we've been there, I've been able to set aside quite a bit of cash to get.

[George Campbell]

The savings muscle now. And you're completely debt free?

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Campbell]

Fantastic. And green lights over here. Congrats on the new house. I hope the build goes smoothly. Hope it's on time. Is it on track so far?

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Far?

[Caller]

Yeah. We're about three months ahead of schedule.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Wow.

[Caller]

We're some technically mountain general contractor. My dad is helping me with that. He's like a inspector, so he's got all the certifications for that. So I've been able to do a lot of it myself.

[George Campbell]

And kind of cost savings all over the place here.

[Caller]

Yeah. Yep. Cost and time savings. Time savings has been a big one for sure.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Well, congrats, man. Super excited for you. Best of luck with, with the big move and finishing the construction.

[Caller]

Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate the insight and the. The discussion.

[George Campbell]

Happy to do it. That's. That's what you want. That's a good best case scenario right there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good for him. I'm happy for him.

[George Campbell]

If you're arguing about is it 28 or 25. It's the right argument.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Versus most people just go, well, we just needed a house and it's 54% of our take home pay. We're like, oh, my goodness. This is a hard. It's a hard one to crack. All right, Nora is in Nashville up next, right down the road. What's going on? Nora?

[Caller]

Hi, George and Jade. I am just calling because. Sorry, of course somebody tries to call me as soon as I'm on this call.

[George Campbell]

Who could be more important than us?

[Jade Warshaw]

Put them to voicemail.

[Caller]

Nobody is more important unless it's my husband or my kids.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Truth.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

There's a lot of people ahead of us.

[Caller]

So I came to the event and actually, Jade, you gave me your book.

[Jade Warshaw]

Nice.

[Caller]

I'm the one who asked the questions. And I gave it to you from the states, from the stage. And I gave you a heart for you. Yep. Yeah. So it lit a fire. And the next Tuesday, we joined Financial Peace University.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yay.

[Caller]

So. So we're trying to get our emergency fund together. And like, things are so tight, but I just started selling stuff on Facebook, Marketplace. And so since. Since the 14th, I've gotten $230.52.

[Jade Warshaw]

Way to go. Way to go, go.

[Caller]

And I'm still selling stuff. Someone's coming at like 4:00 clock to get something else.

[Jade Warshaw]

Gotta take that.

[George Campbell]

Yeah.

[Caller]

So once I get that thousand dollars, I was looking at the Every Dollar app, and it looks like I should pay my IRS debt first before I attack my smallest debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes, ma'. Am.

[Caller]

Okay. Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much is the IRS debt?

[Caller]

It's $2,266.

[Jade Warshaw]

Mm, good. Yeah, that. That's one debt that always jumps to the top of the list no matter what, because it's just such a volatile situation to be in. And so we want to get you out of that as soon as possible. So. Yeah, that or if you had, you know, back rent or back mortgage, those things would jump to the top of the list.

[George Campbell]

How much other debt do you have?

[Caller]

So we have about 62,500 and. Yeah, that's it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Great. So what can we help you with? What can we help you with? Was it just the IRS thing or was there something else?

[Caller]

Well, I mean, I. I mean, I make good money, Pretty good money. Like, my husband and I together make about 117 and. But I've just been really irresponsible, like I said at the event. And it's just trying to, like, get my behavior on track.

[Jade Warshaw]

I've really been.

[Caller]

I have, like, I haven't used my credit cards. I haven't been on like, Klarna or PayPal paying.

[Jade Warshaw]

Did you cut the credit cards?

[Caller]

Cut all of them up.

[Jade Warshaw]

Great, great. Now, do you want to know what I would help if I were in your shoes? If I had a problem with impulse spending things like Buy now, pay later, Klarna, I would do a couple of things. A, I would start with my phone because that's usually the thing that speaks to us the most obviously. Unsubscribed all the ads. I would take Amazon off my phone. I would take those apps. Anything that's an app, I would take it off my phone. That has the ability to purchase things with just so it's not talking to me all day long, you know.

[Caller]

Okay. And I would really like unsubscribing to, like, the emails that get sent, you know, like from all the places that I've bought from before. I'm like, okay, let's just unsubscribe from all this.

[George Campbell]

It gets addictive when you start to go look how much many inputs are just trying to get my money from me. It's pretty wild.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And I'd set up notifications that notify my spouse when money is spent both ways. So you get the little text when a Transaction comes out of the bank and so does he. Just an added layer of accountability and transparency because it's easy to go through the drive through when you're thinking, oh, I can just go through, I'll get these fries. So and so probably won't see it. I can get away with it. But if you know their phone is going to light up with the, you know, notification 595 spent at Wendy's, then you're less likely to do it.

[George Campbell]

Oh, that's my favorite. I get all the transactions texted to me and so I'm always texting my wife, what's this? What was this about? Or usually it's more like what'd you.

[Jade Warshaw]

Get at McDonald's that. Oh yeah. Have you had your. Looks like you had your breakfast.

[George Campbell]

Get some for me. That's always. You have enough for the whole class.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

That becomes a fun discussion once you're not broken out of debt. So we're rooting for you North. Thank you so much.

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[George Campbell]

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[Jade Warshaw]

Okie dokie. Today's question comes from Vince in Rhode Island. He says, my wife and I are buying a used car, but instead of paying cash, we're thinking of leveraging the debt. Considering we can get a low interest rate, we'd invest the 30,000 into Vanguard funds and contribute more each year year to fund a family cabin down payment. We're in our 30s, have over 200,000 in 401ks, no other debt. Have an emergency fund in place and a steady income. Does this sound like a good plan?

[George Campbell]

No, no.

[Jade Warshaw]

Here's my thing. You're doing so much right. I think it's just a patience, a patience issue. Because you've done, like you said, there's no debt. You've got the 401k set up and, you know, you've got the emergency fund squared away. Why divert? Like, why abort the plan and go into this lifestyle of debt for a vehicle that you can pay cash for. Pay cash for the vehicle that you want. And there's. And then from there on, yes, go ahead and. Go ahead and invest for this cabin down payment. Why can you not do both and do both of them the right way is what I would say. George Guy.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, it's just so. I'm so confused. I'm like, what you would invest the 30k that you would have spent on the used car, but then you've got a car payment payment. So now your income's locked up there. Just invest what you would have paid for that car payment.

[Jade Warshaw]

And paying cash, easy, easy.

[George Campbell]

You can do all of it. And. And if 30k feels like, whoa, I don't want to sink that into a car. Maybe rethink buying a $30,000 car.

[Jade Warshaw]

Get a cheaper car. You can do both of these things. You just need to do them both the right way. And you can do them both almost simultaneously. You just need to do them both the right way.

[George Campbell]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Get the car.

[George Campbell]

You guys are in baby step four. So you're investing 15% of your income and buy the car in cash. And then any extra money you can save up or even invest for that cabin down the road, it can all be done. Just do it in the right order. Don't go backwards.

[Jade Warshaw]

Don't go backwards, please.

[George Campbell]

Thanks for the question. David is in Los Angeles up next. David, welcome to the show. David, you with us?

[Caller]

Oh, yep, I'm here. Hey, how are y' all doing today?

[George Campbell]

Doing great.

[Caller]

So my wife and I are going to, like, plan to get pregnant later this year, and when we do eventually have a baby, going to need a new car. Right now, mine only has two seats, and I'm probably going to need something with at least 4. I was looking at getting a used EV because the prices on them are pretty attractive, at least compared to a normal gas car. But the one thing that has me worried about them is the amount of depreciation that they get hit with every year. It seems like they depreciate way quicker than a gas car. And I just wanted to know, is that something that I should be factoring into my car buying decision or should I just completely ignore the depreciation and go for whatever Car fits me.

[George Campbell]

Are you paying cash?

[Caller]

Yes, I pay cash. Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Okay. What's this car going to cost? What exact car are you looking at? Because I think the appreciation, it really depends on the make, the model. Now, EVs, obviously, it's. Think about iPhones. How many people are in the market for an iPhone 8?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Not many. Right. And so the price is going to be a lot lower because everyone wants the latest and greatest technology. And so EVs can have a steeper depreciation, especially when Elon's changing the price and the model every day, and you're like, oh, man, I just paid 30 grand for it. It's only worth 20 now. So that is something to think about when it comes to resale value. But if you're going to drive the thing for a long time and you pay cash for it, you don't have to worry as much about depreciation.

[Caller]

Okay. Yeah, I do typically drive my cars for a while. It's just like my car right now has barely appreciated at all. I got pre COVID pandemic price spree. So, you know, that that's kind of working in my favor right now. But being able to get out of it whenever I want to just seems like a really nice option to have. And I feel like I'd be a little more trapped with an EV if I did go that route.

[George Campbell]

What are you looking to spend?

[Caller]

I'm looking around 25, $30,000 to spend on a used one.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[George Campbell]

And what can you give you, like, a make and model you're looking at?

[Caller]

Sure, yeah. I'm still looking around a little bit right now, but right now my front runner is probably one of the Hyundai Ioniq 5S. They seem to be some of the best deals out there, at least for the used ones, in my opinion.

[George Campbell]

Okay, have you looked at the depreciation on them?

[Caller]

Yes. Currently they're about half the price that they were new. I've done some research online, and they're still forecasted to lose another half in the next five or so years.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, that tracks. Have you looked at Tesla as well to compare the depreciation?

[Caller]

I have.

I'm not a huge fan of the Tesla, just with everything buried in the screens and stuff like that. So I was trying to go for.

[George Campbell]

A more traditional car, some analog controls and things like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I've experienced this because I've purchased evs. Now. My last two have been evs, and looking at the depreciation really just hurts your soul. And then I have to remind myself, who cares? Do I like the vehicle? It's paid in cash, so I can never be underwater on it. And yes, I'll take a lick when I go to sell it and go, oh my gosh, I paid so much more for, for that. But that's the nature of cars. They are just boxes that exist outside and go down in value. And you'll find that with any car. But EVs can, depending on the make and model, go down in value a little faster because people want the latest and greatest and especially if it hasn't kept up with technology. And so that's the key. You just need to know going in there's pros and cons.

[Caller]

Okay? So, yeah, don't treat it as like, I'll save so much money on gas. Treat it more as like, this is the kind of car that I enjoy driving and I should.

[George Campbell]

I never use, like, the math to justify it. I just go, I enjoy it. I like not having to stop by a gas station. That's just me.

[Caller]

Yeah, that does seem like a huge perk, in my opinion. That, that really seems nice to be able to come down to your car every morning and have it, have a full, full charge and full tank to go wherever you need to.

[George Campbell]

I still have to go to the gas station to fill my wife's car because I'm a, I'm a gentleman and a scholar and I get branded.

[Caller]

I might be in the same boat. Yeah, she's got a gas car that I would probably still need to fill up every now and then.

[George Campbell]

Yeah, that was the, that was the compromise. She was like, I don't feel good about having all ev, like, just in case you want to have the ICE car. But I think you guys are, you're on the right track, man. The fact that you're paying cash, you guys are debt free, you're investing. Cars just become a thing, and now you can buy a more enjoyable one that makes sense for your family.

[Caller]

Perfect.

Yeah.

Thank you so much. Yeah.

[George Campbell]

Wish you the best. Starting the family, man, that's, that's a big step. Austin is in Salt Lake City. Up next. What's going on, Austin?

[Caller]

Hey, guys, I got hopefully two questions.

If you got time, I'll make them quick. But if not my main one, my wife and I are also preparing to have a baby this year and currently maxing out. Yeah, maxing out our hsa. I'm just wondering, should we use the HSA to pay for healthcare expenses like that or if we can, should we cash flow em and let that HSA continue to stay invested and build and do the whole save the receipts and down the line type of a deal.

[George Campbell]

I'll say this, that's what Dave Ramsey does. Dave Ramsey has never touched his hsa. He maxes it out every year and he cash flows it because he can. And so if that is you and you're in the, you're in the case to do that, where you go, hey, we can cash flow it. It's not going to, you know, bust our budget to do that. We can max it out then. Yes. Keeping the majority of it invested is always going to be beneficial. And like you said, a lot of people don't realize, hang on to the receipts and you can reimburse it later on and that money will show up in your bank account. So it's pretty cool how that works.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I agree.

[George Campbell]

Jade may have different thoughts, but.

[Jade Warshaw]

No, that's what we, we did. That's exactly what we did.

[Caller]

Okay, cool. That's kind of what I was thinking, but I just wanted to take your guys opinion on that. And then you got time for another quick one?

[George Campbell]

Sure.

[Caller]

I just got married over the summer, so we've been married about seven months now. And we've combined our finances, combined our lives and everything. I already had a house and our vehicles before we went into the marriage. I'm just wondering, should I. Is there a way or do I need to get her on the title of the house or on the mortgage or like on the title for the cars or does that really matter?

[Jade Warshaw]

It's not really necessary. Technically, it's gonna roll over to her anyway. As your spouse, if something were to happen to you, if it were something that she was like, I just feel better about this. Then you could.

[George Campbell]

Yeah. Nothing's on fire here. So it just, it makes you guys feel more united. Awesome. But there's no, like, this is really going to benefit us in this explicit way. It's not really the case. You guys have, you know, legal protections as a married couple. And so you're doing all the right things, man. I'm proud of you guys. Wishing you the best with this baby. Very exciting.

[Caller]

Thank you.

[George Campbell]

Two calls in a row. Look at this.

[Jade Warshaw]

I know it.

[George Campbell]

That's, that's the best thing you can do. I think it's outside of the baby steps, but we tell them, hey, there's no baby step to have a baby. If you want to start a family, go for it, go get it. And you'll, you'll work even harder to sacrifice to take care of that. Little one. And it's a good time.

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[George Campbell]

If you're wondering where all your money went in 2025, that's normal. And normal is broke. But the good news is this year can be different. You can get a head start by downloading EveryDollar. EveryDollar builds you a personalized plan and coaches you to find extra and then put it to work to beat debt and build wealth. Just answer a few questions and you'll find thousands on average in just the first 15 minutes. Everydollar still has the same great budgeting features to help you tell your money where to go. Don't go another year feeling broke and stressed. Start EveryDollar for free in the App Store or Google Play. Marie joins us up next in Charleston. What's going on, Marie?

[Caller]

Good afternoon guys. My biggest question. I'm a single mom with three young kids. I was widowed in 2023 and I'm just, I have a limited budget because we are currently living just on Social Security survivor benefits and I'm trying to go to school, get a certificate so I can add to that once my 4 year old's in school. So I'm trying to right now with where I am, knowing I probably won't be out of school until next year, trying to figure out what my wisest steps are going forward. I've never been good with money and I just want to, I want to do better for them and for our situation.

[George Campbell]

Well, that's a great why that is. What's going to fuel this journey is those three little ones that you're taking care of. What's their ages?

[Caller]

My youngest, three are eight, six and four.

[George Campbell]

Okay, and what's the certificate that you're pursuing?

[Caller]

Health information technology and what's on the.

[George Campbell]

Other side of that? What job are you aiming for?

[Caller]

I'm kind of looking for something that keeps me the ability to have flexibility in remote. So that's one of the reasons I chose that path.

[George Campbell]

Okay, and are you cash flowing this certificate? Are you able to pay for it all?

[Caller]

I'm actually able to get it through financial aid so it's Pell Grants. I'm able to get through all. All of it with Pell Grant.

[Jade Warshaw]

Great. When will you be finished?

[Caller]

I think it's not this coming December, but the December following.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so you've got two. I have.

[Caller]

I have a potential to do. To do. To go into like an internship that. Or like to where I can do on the job kind of clinical type training at the hospital and make money through a portion of that.

[George Campbell]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[George Campbell]

So end of next year and then in the meantime we're going to be living off of the survivor benefits, which is how much per month.

[Caller]

So right now I take in about 52,000 a year. 50, 52,700 a year.

[George Campbell]

Okay. Is that enough to cover all of your bills?

[Caller]

It is. And I do have quite a bit of credit card debt that I was left with because of my late husband's.

[George Campbell]

Was your name on them?

[Caller]

Opened a bunch of credit cards in my name.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. How much? Much?

[Caller]

Yeah.

Right now without my car, I have 27,000 left in credit card debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

And then what about with the car?

[Caller]

With the car total of it's just under 70,000. I had to get a new car this last year when mine.

[Jade Warshaw]

43. 20.

[Caller]

22 Subaru.

[George Campbell]

What's left on the loan?

[Caller]

It's 33. 33 and some change.

[George Campbell]

Goodness, that's a huge portion of your yearly income income.

[Caller]

It is, it is. And the. The thing that I do have going forward is I am in a relationship with someone that it is leading to a marriage and he's encouraged me to not try to. Because if I tried to sell that, I'd be really upside down at this point. I wasn't wise when I bought it and I'm clear about that. But my financial situation will drastically change once we're married. I just. I'm with the Dave Ramsey plan that you don't combine those things until you're there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Are you engaged?

[George Campbell]

Trying.

[Caller]

Not yet, but it's hopefully the spring.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Okay.

[Caller]

It is. It is. In the. Our conversations, it's a very active topic. We're just. I need to. There's a aspect of this that I being that I haven't always been financially responsible. There's a percentage of me wanting to do this and struggle. I need to feel the struggle.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. I don't want. I don't want you. I don't think you're in a position just yet and I hope you get there, but I don't think you're in a position position just yet to like ride on this. And I Don't think that you are. I just want to caution you against thinking about, well, in the future I'll have this financial help because this is leading to marriage. Correct. Because you're not even at engagement yet. So I just want you to be really focused on what you are doing and the. How upside down are you on the car?

[Caller]

I'm not quite sure. I just got it in June of last year. I know that as of right now, once my. Because I. I'm living rent free. I'm able to live in a home that my mom owns and I just pay utilities. Okay, so that is a huge help.

[Jade Warshaw]

I check on the car. I check on the car immediately. I'd go on Kelly blue book, see what the value is and the private.

[George Campbell]

Party value not trade in because that will make it seem like, oh my gosh, I'm 10 grand under. I would never sell it. But if you can save up the difference with the margin you have because you're living rent free, maybe you're $5,000 underwater. Okay, well, let's come up with 10,000 and save savings. Five will cover the difference on the loan and five will get you something to get from A to B. Now maybe you get a nicer car, but it doesn't need to be a $33,000 car.

[Caller]

Right?

[George Campbell]

It could be a $20,000 car. Those are still safe and reliable, even for the kids. It's not a death trap. Don't let anyone scare you into thinking that or even yourself. That's usually how we justify it. Well, I had to get a new car, the kids, you know, you got to have something reliable. You had to get a 40,000 less.

[Jade Warshaw]

Debt is the goal.

[George Campbell]

So what's the payment on that?

[Caller]

Right, right. The payment is 655.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. That would rock your world right now.

[George Campbell]

Would change your life.

[Caller]

Right? So it definitely could. For sure. I do like the man that I see that him and his youngest daughter come over and eat all the time. So he does throw me $500 a month for groceries because he does care. So that, that does help some. So like right now, without what he does help me with, I. My disposable income after paying my debt, which is 1700 bucks a month and my just fixed expenses like my bills is 822. I bring I leftover disposable. I have 1800 bucks left over without his help.

[Jade Warshaw]

And that goes towards your smallest debt.

[Caller]

That's what I'm asking. Because I have. I know I have to have my. I haven't even started my emergency fund yet. And I know that that's like number one, step number one.

[Jade Warshaw]

So with the 18. Good, let's put it practically to what, the 1800. I take a thousand aside this month. When you. When you're left with that margin, a thousand of it, Put it aside, savings account, done and done. Baby step one, knocked out. Then you have $800 to look over at the credit cards and go, what's the smallest credit card? And so what's the smallest balance you have on one of those credit cards?

[Caller]

I mean, I have something as low as 123 up to 5,300.

[Jade Warshaw]

Great. So we're going to knock out.

[Caller]

I could knock.

[Jade Warshaw]

Go ahead.

[Caller]

Quite a few of those.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, knock.

[Caller]

I could knock quite a few of those.

[Jade Warshaw]

Knock them out all the way up to 800 bucks. And then if there's any other margin left out or that money that comes through at the end of the month, just go ahead and throw it at the next credit card. And you're really going to do that, Marie, until these credit cards are knocked out. I do like the idea so so much of you getting in a cheaper car, because knocking that out is going to make this journey feel so much more feasible for you. Plus, it's going to free up money. Like I. I said, even if you go from a $33,000 car to a $23,000 car, that's still going to free up money for you. So please just be willing and open to do anything to lower. Lower the debt, if that makes sense.

[Caller]

Right.

[George Campbell]

And our parameter around cars, just so you know, is that everything with wheels and motors in your life shouldn't add up to more than half of your annual income. And so we're well over.

[Caller]

And I understand that.

[George Campbell]

And so even if that's before I.

[Caller]

Like, really started listening and being active.

[George Campbell]

Oh, sure, sure. I'm just saying, in the sense of keeping the car, it's still too much of your world depreciating in value every day. And so I know it feels like. Well, it's. I'm already underwater. Well, let's. Let's cut it off right here and not be more underwater. Because if you did that right now, you said you have how much total consumer debt?

[Caller]

Total consumer debt is 69,000.

[George Campbell]

Okay. What is the extra 9? Because you said 27,000 on credit cards, 33 on the car, that's 60. Is there more?

[Caller]

No, that's student loans.

[George Campbell]

Student loans. Okay. Because right now I'm doing the math for you. Eighteen hundred bucks.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Bucks.

[George Campbell]

And you have 69,000. It's going to take you 38 months. You're talking over three years at this rate. That's a long time.

[Caller]

Yeah, I mean that's, that's the thing for me is I want to. I have zero retirement. I was a stay at home mom for 10 years.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right.

[Caller]

So I have zero retirement. And you know, unfortunately he passed. And because of the way he passed, he had life insurance. But we were two months shy of being getting the payout for that. So I've been kind of trying to float for two years now.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, you've done a great job.

[Caller]

I finally am to a point.

[Jade Warshaw]

You've done a great job. Keep going. You gotta. The car is a huge part of this. Because I don't want this to take.

[Caller]

Three years on the car. So what if I don't have cash to buy a new one?

[Jade Warshaw]

You'll just go over to the credit union and you'll get a loan or you'll go to the bank and get a loan for the difference. At this point, just remember going down is worth it. So get you a loan for the difference. However you need to get that done.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

If you've been working the plan, 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. March14, 21, 2027. Join the Ramsey personalities and me as we sail to Half Moon Key, 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.

[George Campbell]

Our scripture of the day, Isaiah 41:10. So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous hand. Simon Sinek said, when in doubt, be yourself.

[Jade Warshaw]

There you go.

[George Campbell]

That's good advice. If you've, if you've got a good personality. Sometimes I'm told, hey, don't do that. Well, that's just who I am. Don't be that vulnerable.

[Jade Warshaw]

Be a different version of yourself. Yep.

[George Campbell]

Austin is up next in dc. Austin, welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Jaden George. Thank you for taking my call.

[George Campbell]

Sure. How can we help?

[Caller]

Yeah, so between my wife and I have about 142k in consumer debt and huge fork in the road right now. Got a toddler and a kid on the way due this summer. So very precarious situation and just Trying to decide if I should do a single filing for chapter seven or go another route. I really don't want to do Chapter seven, but if I have to, if it makes the most sense, then I will. But thought I would call you guys for advice first.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, how much money do you guys earn?

[Caller]

Well, right now we only make about 78 total, which is well below the median.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

Median income, median household income for my area.

[George Campbell]

Well, who cares about that?

[Jade Warshaw]

Is that both of you working?

[George Campbell]

Not the reason you guys are in this situation? Austin? Yeah, the median is like, what, 79, 80. Okay. You're two grand short of the median. The problem is we're $142,000 in consumer debt. So break this down for me so we can see if there's a way out of this faster.

[Caller]

Yep. So myself, I have 72 to my name, and then another. Well, it's actually 181,000 if you include student loans. But tell us some consumer debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

Tell us the debts and what they're each worth. So student loans x amount of dollars, cars x amount of dollars.

[Caller]

Yeah. So student loans is 39, car is 17, 284. And then everything else is personal loans, personally guaranteed loans, and personally guaranteed credit cards.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And how much is that amount?

[Caller]

I'm going to do some napkin math here. So minus the car, so if you subtract 17 from 142, that's all of the personally guaranteed loans and credit cards.

Okay.

[George Campbell]

All right, so you're talking about that can't. I mean, 125 grand between them.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, what was it for a business? Did you have a failed business? What is the.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

This.

[Jade Warshaw]

All of these personally guaranteed credit cards.

[Caller]

Yeah. So the dream was basically to, you know, retire the wife from the military. And, you know, I went about it completely the wrong way, obviously, and, you know, just dug myself into a hole doing business ventures, you know, Airbnb, and then you tried an Amazon store. And then after the layoff last month, we ended up having to live on the revenue from the Amazon store. So I'm not able to pay off any of the consumer debt that I used to get the Amazon store. So that's where we're at now.

[George Campbell]

Do you still have this property that you were doing Airbnb on?

[Caller]

It was a. I made the mistake of doing rental arbitrage last year.

[George Campbell]

Dude, how much TikTok have you been watching? Watching? Well, I mean, this is, like, by the book, every Tik tok, like, business hack scam out there.

[Caller]

Yeah. You know, they sold me a dream And I gotta, you know, I own up to that. And it was, it seemed like a good idea at the time when, you know, my, my father in law died and I was just really trying to find a way to, okay, make as much money as possible to retire my wife and so what is she doing? But I just went, I went about completely the wrong way.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, listen, I think, I think you oughta that at this point you've got to just say that's in the past. I think you realize that it was erroneous and I think you're ready to go the right direction. So the 78, 000 of income, is that both of you combined or is it just you working since she's pregnant?

[Caller]

Both of us combined right now and she's full time active duty. And, and I'm still in the process of getting work. I'm trying to get a certification for cybersecurity down the road.

[Jade Warshaw]

But what are you earning? What portion of that is your income today? Of the 78,000, what portion of that is yours today?

[Caller]

Of the 78,000,what portion of that is mine?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, what do you bring in?

[Caller]

So I'm doing, I'm doing some side gigs in the meantime before school starts or if I get accepted.

[Jade Warshaw]

So monthly, every month, how much money do you bring in?

[Caller]

Every month, how much money do I bring in? Probably, if I'm being realistic, probably between a thousand and two thousand right now, doing side gigs with media and stuff like that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So that's, that's our biggest issue is I know that you're doing a certification for cybersecurity. How much of your day does that take up?

[Caller]

So I'm not doing it yet. The program starts in, would start in March.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm cutting you off a lot because I want to get to solutions and I don't want to fluff around on this. All right. You need to get a job instantly. Any job, any job. Not side gigs. You can fill in space with side gigs. But I want you to apply for anything that you think you could possibly get. I want you to make a list tonight. Your job tonight is to make a list of anybody you know that might know somebody that's hiring, that has an uncle that's hiring somebody, that whose father in law is hiring somebody. And I want you to put the word out, I need to work immediately, immediately. I need, I need connections. If you know anybody and that, I mean you're gonna be like a dog on a bone trying to get a job because you can't make a thousand you can't make 1500 bucks a month. Now, your wife seems like she's kind of carrying the bulk of that, but like you said, there's a baby coming in the summertime, so her. She's getting. Her. Her situation of working is getting more and more precarious as the months go on. So this is your number one issue.

[Caller]

Is we got a toddler. We got a toddler at home, and I need to get a job that I'll make enough to qualify for accounting assistance. So that's the kind of the no I'm in right now. It's like, I would love to get a job.

[George Campbell]

So you're saying I need to. You need to limit your income in order to get assistance.

[Jade Warshaw]

No, you need. What you need to do is find a friend. Because you're in a community. You need to find a friend that's like, hey, I need help watching with the baby sometimes, because I need to go over here if there's family in town. This is you reaching out to everybody, you know, because what I don't want is for you to file bankruptcy. That's what I'm getting at. Once you file bankruptcy, that is you losing all control. That is somebody else stepping into the situation and saying, you're going to sell this, you're going to do this. You're going to pay this amount, and you're going to do this amount.

[George Campbell]

And you can't bankrupt it on the student loans. They're going to take the car. And so a lot of this is not going to solve the major problems.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you'll be able to do those things. We can look at this and say, why don't we just look at it and go, okay, here's what we're doing. Going to do. We're going to pay this, we're going to sell this, we're going to do. You can look at it and do that and not decimate your.

[George Campbell]

Your financial life in seven years.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you personally. Right.

[George Campbell]

Are you guys renting?

[Caller]

Yeah. What's that?

[George Campbell]

Are you renting?

[Caller]

Yeah, we're renting right now.

[George Campbell]

Okay. How much is your rent every month?

[Caller]

2500.

[George Campbell]

And that's. That's steep for the income. Is your wife going to continue to have income when she has the baby?

[Caller]

Yeah, maternity leave, so guaranteed income.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, good, good, good, good.

[George Campbell]

At least we have some stability there. And then how much is she bringing in on her own? Is that another three or four grand a month.

[Caller]

After taxes? 6,300.

[George Campbell]

Oh, great, great.

[Jade Warshaw]

So once we get you working, I mean, right now, when you guys pay your bills at the end of the month, is, are you in the green or are you in the red? You should be in the green.

[Caller]

It. It's really close. If we pay all the minimums, I think we're. If we're not breaking even, we're probably at a couple hundred dollars deficit.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay? So we're going to give you every dollar because I want to know, I want you to know exactly how much money you have and how much. Exactly how much money you're spending. That's going to give you a lot of peace just seeing the numbers there. And then you can say to yourself, oh, okay, if we're in the green right now, at least we're kind of safe for a moment. We're not operating in the red. Everybody else can wait, right? It can wait until you get a job, it can wait until you. Because you're giving them the minimum payments, but once you get that job, it's attack mode on this debt. Smallest to largest debt snowball method.

[George Campbell]

You gotta fight, man. Don't give up now. That puts the hour of the Ramsey show in the books. Remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of peace, Christ Jesus.