Stop Letting Emotions Drive Your Money Decisions

Summary

The Ramsey Show: "Stop Letting Emotions Drive Your Money Decisions"

Date: April 30, 2026
Host: Rachel Cruze (with Jade Warshaw; Dave Ramsey, George Kamel in ad segments)

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Overview

This episode zeroes in on the ways emotions drive poor money decisions—and how embracing logic and a clear financial plan can help you win with money. Rachel Cruze and Jade Warshaw, Ramsey Personalities, take a wide variety of listener calls, ranging from debt management and family financial boundaries to business challenges and handling windfalls. The common thread throughout the episode is the importance of staying intentional with money, communicating openly with loved ones, and not letting feelings or external pressures dictate your choices.

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Main Discussion Points & Key Insights

1. How Emotions Drive Money Mistakes

• Theme: Listeners repeatedly deal with issues rooted in emotional responses: making expensive purchases for comfort, rescuing family, enabling bad behaviors, or caving to impulse.
• Rachel Cruze: “Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we’re here to help you transform your life.” (00:14)
• Insight: Recognizing your emotional triggers is the first step to creating lasting change. Budgeting, clear goals, and an accountability partner can help interrupt destructive money habits.

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2. Listener Call Highlights

a. Scott in Pensacola, FL: Overleveraged in Debt, Massive Life Changes

• Situation: Newly married, child on the way, multiple loans, upside down on car.
• Advice: Sell the upside-down car. Use a loan from credit union to cover the gap so wife can drive his older truck while focusing on building a bigger emergency fund (“Stork Mode”) until after the baby arrives.
• Quote: “It’s gonna be a little inconvenient at times… but it gets you guys a whole lot closer to that goal of being debt-free.” —Rachel Cruze (03:14)
• Key Timestamp: 00:48–09:01

b. Susan in Madison: Emotional Spending Despite Knowing the Plan

• Situation: Long-time listener and budgeter struggling with emotional spending (“self-care” days due to family stress).
• Advice: Math—not emotion—must drive spending. Increase income, consider a new job, stop relying on emotional purchases as coping mechanisms. Address underlying issues and get clarity around boundaries if family is involved.
• Quote: “You really don’t have the margin to emotional spend… It’s a math problem.” —Jade Warshaw (19:05)
• Key Timestamp: 10:34–21:32

c. Samantha in Birmingham: Husband Secretly Giving Parents $8,000/month

• Situation: Husband continuously gives large sums to his parents despite repeated objections and financial strain.
• Advice: This is a boundary and marriage issue—the financial secrecy has eroded trust. Seek marital counseling, communicate and set hard boundaries about giving, and clarify shared financial goals.
• Quote: “You have a breakdown in your marriage—of communication, of trust, of any level of unity.” —Rachel Cruze (30:04)
• Key Timestamp: 22:55–32:34

d. Sue in Grand Rapids: Navigating a Competitive Housing Market

• Situation: Downsizing, relocating, struggling with multiple failed offers and the temptation to overextend.
• Advice: Practice patience. Don’t waive inspections or let emotions drive desperate decisions. If needed, rent short-term near family. Stay within budget.
• Quote: “There’s something about having the patience in this because if you don’t and you feel a little desperate, you might do something stupid…” —Rachel Cruze (36:11)
• Key Timestamp: 32:34–38:27

e. Heidi in Knoxville: Credit Card Debate with Her Son

• Situation: Mother wants to convince her son to use credit; son resists.
• Advice: Credit cards create a false sense of security—even if paid off monthly, you’ll spend more. Emergency fund is better backup.
• Quote: “Credit card industry has done a great job marketing the idea that you need a credit card… When you spend your own money, there’s financial freedom…” —Rachel Cruze (40:05)
• Key Timestamp: 38:27–44:04

f. Christy in Baltimore: Giving from a Losing Small Business

• Situation: Candle business operating at a loss, considers charitable giving out of revenue, not profit.
• Advice: Do not give from business revenue if unprofitable—be generous with personal income instead. Maintain logic alongside generosity.
• Quote: “We’re all about generosity... but God also gave us reason and logic that we have to plug our brains into.” —Rachel Cruze (51:17)
• Key Timestamp: 44:04–53:49

g. Jessica in Fort Wayne: Contractor Massive Overages

• Situation: Contractor exceeded renovation estimates by $25k without approval.
• Advice: Poor communication is to blame. With the work already done, recourse is limited but you can push for more detail/a reduction—prepare for such situations in the future.
• Key Moment: “It’s the communication aspect of it that’s really frustrating.” —Rachel Cruze (59:16)
• Key Timestamp: 53:49–60:10

h. Hunter in Sioux Falls: Managing Withholdings to Accelerate Debt Repayment

• Advice: Adjust W4 to reduce tax refunds and boost monthly cash flow for debt snowballing.
• Key Quote: “Your income is your biggest wealth-building tool...especially if you have the target of trying to pay off debt.” —Jade Warshaw (62:00)
• Key Timestamp: 60:16–62:58

i. Aya in Buffalo: Receiving a $2 Million Windfall After Lifelong Self-Destructive Money Habits

• Situation: Multiple bankruptcies, history of impulsive and enabling spending, about to get a huge settlement.
• Advice: Create accountability, cut up credit cards, never borrow again. Find a trusted financial friend to approve all major purchases; start with paying off all debt, buying a modest home, and building emergency reserves. Don’t make big decisions in haste.
• Quote: “This $2 Million will change your life... This will set you up for a life without financial stress.” —Rachel Cruze (81:15)
• Key Timestamp: 76:42–85:43

j. Maria in Lafayette: Being Pushed to Sue for Heir Property

• Situation: Inherited property with family conflict; relatives sabotaging value, possible court case.
• Advice: Consider the emotional, time, and financial toll of fighting for partial ownership. Sometimes “walking away” makes more sense than years of stress and legal fees.
• Quote: “You gotta just think through… from a mental investment standpoint, an emotional and a financial—at the very end of it all, what’s worth it?” —Rachel Cruze (91:48)
• Key Timestamp: 85:43–94:14

k. Natalie in Georgia: Building Wealth Outside of Marriage

• Situation: Living with partner in his home, finances separate, wants long-term security.
• Advice: As a non-married partner, keep investing and saving; consider a legal cohabitation agreement or save for your own future home as real estate equity is key to wealth building.
• Key Insight: Home ownership is a huge part of long-term financial security; without legal ties, rental payments do not build equity.
• Key Timestamp: 95:33–100:44

l. Brittany in Memphis: Buyer’s Remorse on a $90k Car

• Situation: Bought expensive car just before starting her debt snowball; owes more than it’s worth.
• Advice: Sell ASAP, even if upside-down; use savings for the loss and buy a cheap car until debt is gone. “Painful but necessary.”
• Quote: “I would get out of this, because that $1,300... is eating into it.” —Rachel Cruze (104:12)
• Key Timestamp: 100:50–107:01

m. Corey in Atlanta: Should He Reverse Baby Step Progress for a Home Upgrade?

• Situation: Near-paid-off home, considering moving for work-life balance but would significantly increase mortgage.
• Advice: If within budget, time savings and family life may be worth it. But consider emotional cost of re-entering long-term debt after tasting freedom.
• Key Quote: “There’s few things that are like, trump money, and time is one of them.” —Jade Warshaw (112:19)
• Key Timestamp: 107:01–112:53

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3. Overarching Ramsey Principles on Display

• Live on a plan (budget)—don’t let “life happen to you.”
• Communicate with your spouse—financial secrecy destroys trust.
• Don’t let guilt or “helping” family and friends destabilize your finances.
• Never give from deficit—be generous with surplus.
• Avoid debt; don’t use credit as backup.
• Build a wise team around you for windfalls.
• Don’t make big purchases or generosity decisions in emotional states.

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4. Notable Quotes & Memorable Wisdom

• “Normal is broke and common sense is weird.” —Rachel Cruze (00:14)
• “This is a marriage issue… He just eroded trust.” —Rachel Cruze to Samantha (30:04)
• “Your income is your biggest wealth-building tool.” —Jade Warshaw (62:00)
• “Keep that so close to your heart. Because this $2 million will change your life.” —Rachel Cruze to Aya (81:15)
• “When you have money, there are three things: you give some, you save some, and you spend some.” —Jade Warshaw (79:51)
• “There’s few things that are like, trump money, and time is one of them.” —Jade Warshaw (112:19)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Debt & Life Events: 00:48–09:01
• Emotional Spending: 10:34–21:32
• Financial Boundaries/Family: 22:55–32:34
• Housing Market Moves: 32:34–38:27
• Credit Card Debate: 38:27–44:04
• Giving While in the Red: 44:04–53:49
• Renovation Overages: 53:49–60:10
• W-4/Tax Withholding: 60:16–62:58
• Windfalls & Emotional Spending: 76:42–85:43
• Heir Property Legal Dilemma: 85:43–94:14
• Cohabitation & Building Wealth: 95:33–100:44
• Luxury Car Regret: 100:50–107:01
• Trading Mortgage-Free for Commute: 107:01–112:53

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Takeaways & Tone

The episode embodies the pragmatic, tough-love Ramsey voice—compassionate but clear-eyed. Listeners are encouraged to “do the math,” seek accountability, and not let feelings, past patterns, or social/family guilt keep them from long-term financial security. The tone is supportive but firm—“You can do this, but you need a plan, and you need to stop letting your emotions drive your decisions.”

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For further resources: Download the EveryDollar app, check out Ask Ramsey for instant answers, and visit ramseysolutions.com for more educational tools.

Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[Rachel Cruz]

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 and I am Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with Jade Warshaw. And we are going to be answering your questions. Questions. So give us a call at 888 825-5225. The phone lines are open and we are ready to talk about your life and your money. So we're going to start off with Scott in Pensacola, Florida. Hi, Scott. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hey, how you doing?

[Rachel Cruz]

Hi. We're doing great. How can we help?

[Caller]

So I'm 20. I recently turned 21. I bought a house in December. I got married in January, and I got a kid on the way due in September.

[Rachel Cruz]

Whoa. Big, big life event. Scott doing it all.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, yeah.

[Caller]

Well, I got about owed 27. 5 on a vehicle loan that I'm 10,000 upside down on. And I got 10,005 on personal loans. Oh, 1900 on a four wheeler that I've sold and paid as much as I could off what I sold it for onto.

[Rachel Cruz]

What was it? 1900 on what?

[Caller]

Four wheeler. That's how much I got left. Okay. I sold the four wheeler in January. What I sold it for onto the loan.

[Rachel Cruz]

Got it.

[Caller]

And then I got about 2,000 in credit card.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Caller]

And I'm on step two of the program, but I want to get rid of the car, but I don't feel like it'd be a smart. Well, I know it would be smart to get rid of the car payment, but I don't have anything to replace it right now. And I ain't got 10,000 to pay the negative on it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you have any cash anywhere?

[Caller]

I got. I got a thousand.

[Jade Warshaw]

The thousand. Okay, so you've got to pay. What about your wife? Does she have a vehicle that's reliable?

[Caller]

That is the vehicle.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And then what do you drive?

[Caller]

I got married, so I kind of. I guess I inherited her debt. I only have like 13,000, but her car and her personal loans.

[Jade Warshaw]

And what do you drive?

[Caller]

I got an old truck that's worth $4,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Got it.

[Caller]

But I got a company truck, so I don't. It just.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, so that 4,000 is sitting there. But you also have a company truck.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

So she could drive the old truck. If you sell this car, it needs

[Caller]

a lot of work.

[Jade Warshaw]

But that's not the question. Could she drive it? If you got rid of this because

[Rachel Cruz]

you drive it for six months. Huh.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you just do a little work on it. Yeah. So then I would. I would. If I were in your shoes, I'd go down to the credit union and I get a $10,000 loan because I'd rather you be paying off 10,000 than 27,000. And then that way, when the buyer comes to buy this car from you, for 27,000, you can put the other. Or for. Yeah, for 27,000, you can put the other 10 with it and have the whole 37 that it's worth.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Because you just dropped your debt. You know, obviously, by. By significant. You'll have $23,000 of debt left after you do that. And that's as much as what the car. You know what I mean? The car loan itself is. So, yeah, it makes a significant dent. It's going to be. It may be a little inconvenient at times, kind of annoying, but. But it gets you guys a whole lot closer to that goal of being debt free.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Because then you've got the. The. You said the four wheeler was 1900.

[Caller]

That's how much I would have left on the loan.

[Jade Warshaw]

And then the 2000 on the credit cards. Was there anything else?

[Caller]

2000 on personal loan. I forgot that's in her name.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

And how much you guys make a year, Scott?

[Caller]

I make about 80,000 before taxes.

[Rachel Cruz]

80 before.

[Caller]

Okay. He makes probably 30.

[Rachel Cruz]

And she makes her. What does she do?

[Caller]

Dental assistant.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. Yep. And she's pregnant, is that what you said?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

When is she due?

[Caller]

September.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. So I would make that. I would make that exchange of the car, and then we have something called Stork Mode, Scott. That when you are expecting a baby, it's good to have a bigger emergency fund than just $1,000, because, you know, there's an event coming that could cost more. So there's a part of me that would say I would go ahead and do the truck, I would sell it, go ahead and get that taken care of. And then from then on, between now and September, which will fly. It'll be here before you know it. And that's what, four months? So I would stockpile cash in these next four months. I actually would not be paying down on the debt. I'd stay current on everything, make sure. But I would. I would be intense. Like, you are paying this off, right? Cause you're on such a great rhythm. You've done baby step one, you're on baby step two. But I would put that money Aside, just like in a high yield savings account. And just don't touch it and make sure she's good, baby's good, everyone's good. And then when she comes home, I mean, if you could save eight grand even between now and then, right? I mean, 2,000 extra a month, if you could put away, the four wheeler's gone, the credit card's done, and that $2,000 personal loan, right. Like you can start, you could knock off some stuff pretty quick in September, which is awesome. And then you would just have the $10,000 loan from the credit union and then the other $10,000 personal. And so you have 20 grand and then you guys could be completely debt free by the end of 2027.

[Caller]

That's the goal.

But are you doing.

It feels. It feels kind of far out of reach, but it really ain't even that much. It's just overwhelming.

[Jade Warshaw]

Are you doing any extra work? Are you side hustling or anything like that?

[Caller]

Weekends over time?

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Yeah, I'd pick up as much as that. So that to Rachel's point, you can stock as much money up. And if I'd also look into insurance and find out, at the very least, you want to make sure that you've got your out of pocket maximums covered. Right. Those are the numbers I'd be looking at if I knew I was having a baby. I'd want to have that covered for the family. Just to make sure that you have that. Say that again.

[Caller]

I said insurance is covered. I have really good insurance.

[Jade Warshaw]

You do? There's no.

[Caller]

There's no deductible, $30 deductible for the whole year.

Well, I've never. I've been to the hospital a couple times. I've never had a deductible. It's only been like a $30 copay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, I want you to check into that. Check into. I want you to check two things. I want you to look at the deductible and then I want you to look at the out of pocket max and just call them up and ask him, say, my wife's having a baby. I just want to know what's the deductible I'd have to meet before insurance kicks in for this baby. And same thing for the year. I want to know what's the max amount of money I'd have to pay out of pocket if for some reason there were complications or anything like that. And just get those numbers. If yours is absolute zero, I want that. Insurance.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, I was going to say, he said, I Have good insurance? Sounds like it. Oh, Scott, that's great. Are you, are you both on the same page, you and your wife? Do you feel like you guys are kind of tracking financially?

[Caller]

We haven't got joint bank accounts yet and combined everything. I mean we're really jointly on stuff, like together.

[Rachel Cruz]

Sure. We haven't, but you guys are both mindset of like let's save money, let's get out of debt. Like we're going to turn this all around.

[Caller]

Yeah, we want to make a lot for our kids that we didn't have.

[Rachel Cruz]

It's awesome. Scott, you're doing a great job. You're such a great, you know, you're gonna be a great dad. You're a great husband. I mean honestly. And let me just tell you, these quick wins are, it's gonna help build your confidence because it sounds like up until this point, until recently, you haven't been intentional and focused on your money. You know, you have personal loans here and there, credit card debt, car. You guys have just kind of been living normal and now, I mean you're pretty grown up, you're a homeowner, you got married. Like, I mean all of this is happening. And I'm so thankful that you're starting this process now, Scott, at your age, honestly. Because if you guys do this, if you do the baby steps, you get out of baby step two, you save up an emergency fund, you guys start funding retirement, right? All of this could be in the next 24 months, right? And you start this now and you say that consistent pattern, you guys will retire multimillionaires. Like it will be so incredible, the family tree that has changed because of you and your wife and what you guys are deciding to start today. So keep at it. Call us back if you need us. We're here cheering you on.

[George Camel]

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[Rachel Cruz]

of AT&T, Verizon and T mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost

[Jade Warshaw]

Mobile Unlimited plan as of January 2026.

[Rachel Cruz]

See website for full detail. Next up, we have Susan and Madison on the line. Hi Susan.

[Caller]

Hi. Thanks for taking my call.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes, absolutely. Thanks for calling in. How can we help?

[Caller]

So I am 33 years old on a single income with a razor thin budget. I've set up an every dollar budget and an envelope system. I've been through Financial Peace University twice, but I keep falling into emotional spend and end up overspending pretty much every month. What would you recommend to someone who understands the plan but struggles to follow it consistently because of emotional or impulsive spending habits? And are there any like structured resources or programs to help with that emotional side of it?

[Jade Warshaw]

So when you say emotional spending, can you give us a quick example of exactly what that looks like? Is it you know, you're going to target and you're getting a bunch of tchotchkes you don't need? Is it you gamble on DraftKings? Like tell us, tell us what it is.

[Caller]

Yeah, so like for instance, I'm just going through some really intense family issues right now. So I don't know, to feel better, I like go out and have a personal day like to go to the movies or maybe go get my nails done just to have like a self care day. But because my budget is so thin, I mean I barely have enough money to go out and see a $10 movie.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Are you working on the baby step specifically? Like are you working towards getting out of debt or building up an emergency fund? Are you, are you putting margin somewhere? That is a goal.

[Caller]

Yeah. So I have my emergency fund set up and I am working on baby step two. It kind of feels like I've been on baby step two for like 10 years.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh yeah, well that's exhausting mentally. If you don't like you're making progress, that'll, that'll eat at you. So how much debt do you have left to pay off?

[Caller]

So I have a personal loan at about 10,000 and then I have a credit card with about 3,000 on it. Okay, I am in a sticky situation, which I know you guys never say to do. My mom purchased my house, and she's in my bank. And long story short, we're selling it right now. So that mortgage, quote, unquote, will be. Will be gone. And then it'll just be the. The 10,000 loan and the credit card with about 3,000 on it. Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is there any equity?

[Caller]

There is, but unfortunately, the house never got put into my name like it was supposed to, so I don't have any legal standing to anything.

[Rachel Cruz]

Is she going to keep the money that you. Have you been paying the mortgage?

[Caller]

I've been paying everything, yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

And your mom's not going to give you a piece of the piece?

[Caller]

Well, it. I asked for it, and I never really got a full answer. And then through the grapevine of my sister, it sounds like, oh, well, I'll put it in an account so I can see how you spend it. What? Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much is the equity thing? How much?

[Caller]

It wouldn't be much. It would maybe be like 30 to $40,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's much. That's much for someone who's in debt.

[Caller]

Yeah, it would clear my debt. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, it would more than clear your debt, because didn't you just say you have 10,000, you only have 13,000. Right. Unless there's more that we don't know about.

[Caller]

No, no, that's it.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Had. She bought the house and it had. And you have not lived in it, and you've lived in it for a short period of time and paid it or, like, what's the story on the house? And I'm. I'm getting somewhere with this. That's why I want to know.

[Caller]

Yeah. Yeah. So the purpose was for me to get into this house, to build some equity, to kind of set myself up for financial freedom, because I don't make a lot of money. I make about $50,000 a year. And so that was the point of me moving in. Well, it was a little bit more than I could take on, I think, for how much I make. And so we never really got a solid number down of how much I would pay her, quote, unquote, mortgage, because she just paid in cash that she had money to pay cash.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Caller]

So that number never got set. And right now it's a really small number of $300, but I'm paying property taxes, insurance, everything else to upkeep with the house.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, that's a little different.

[Caller]

So. Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

You've been paying $300 to your mother for how long,

[Caller]

two and a half years? About two and a half years.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Well, I'm wondering, because here's my thing, Susan, is any amount of money at this point is gonna help you. I mean, you just said I can't afford a $10 movie. Like when you don't have that much, like everything is important. So I almost would do the math and be like, okay, for two years this is what we've been paying. You know, it'll be like I don't know, 15, between, you know, 12 and 15,000. Here's the property tax. Like I would at least take out the money that you've put into the home. Okay. And let's say it's a say, say she, she cashes out at 30,000 and maybe for you, you've put in 20 with everything said and done. Okay. That means I could see a very reasonable conversation as, hey, mom, the house went up in value. I have helped support it. Not all the way because to your point, you probably, you were not paying market rate. She was giving you a great deal. But to a point, I have been putting money into this that has caused, you know, that, that the equity has gone up. So after realtor fees and everything is said and done, whatever is left, here's what I've put in. Could I at least get that part out in the equity and you keep the rest of the equity? That would at least be a conversation I would have because $20,000, you know that that's pretty life changing for you at this point.

[Jade Warshaw]

Who put the down payment on the house?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Or there was none.

[Caller]

So there, there wasn't really a down payment because her and her husband paid cash. I mean, they have like an upwards of like $20 million.

[Jade Warshaw]

You know, I think I'm changing my stance on this because what it sounds like is you were just a renter at a really low rate. I don't think that you ever owned any part of this to really have access to any of the equity. I think that she bought the house, she bought it in cash and she only charged you $300 rent in a, in a full length home for two and a half years.

[Rachel Cruz]

I think, I think that you're a renter.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I think you're just a renter. But back to the fact, even if

[Caller]

the big, our original like texts and emails and everything was, it was going to be your house and the title was going to go into my name,

[Jade Warshaw]

but there was never anything that upheld that. If you were really doing that, you'd have to show that you You. I don't know. I wasn't there. But if you didn't kick anything into the down payment or kick anything to the initial purchase of the house, even if she bought cash and if you did not even at least meet the. A regular mortgage or. Do you see what I'm saying?

[Rachel Cruz]

The rent, the market value.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And there's nothing in writing here. It sounds like you guys did. And I mean I'm not trying to be ugly, but it seems like you both did a poor job and really documenting the situation. Well, for both of you.

[Caller]

100%.

[Jade Warshaw]

And for that reason I learned.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. For that reason I just let it. Let it ride.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. That's probably fair. J. Yeah. Okay. So my question would be why is she, why, why did this deal go south?

[Caller]

So she basically wants to take the money now and do something else with it.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh.

[Caller]

Is what it comes down to.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Caller]

So. And because I don't, I don't have the law on my side, I just kind of have to now figure out what to do.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. So you're going to take. So you will have to pay rent and it's going to be more than 300.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

So that will eat into your budget as well.

[Jade Warshaw]

What is your budget? What's your monthly take home?

[Caller]

It's about 2,600amonth after taxes.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's your, what kind of work do you do?

[Caller]

I work for a health care organization. I do like back end like admin stuff for providers. Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is there a way $2,600 is slim. Slim.

[Rachel Cruz]

Well, and that doesn't feel like, like Matt, like did you get a big tax refund?

[Caller]

No, I think like 400.

[Rachel Cruz]

Is any money going as many. Is any money going into 401k retirement?

[Caller]

I think so. I get like the Wisconsin state pension. So it's just like an automatic thing that comes out of it. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep. But nothing beyond that. Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

So yeah, when with this equation, I mean, I want to quickly hit what you talked about on the emotional spending before we get into this because that's a huge part of this. You really don't have the money to. You don't have the margin to emotional spend and we don't have enough margin to put towards this new life that's going to come where you're paying more than $300 of rent. So income is the name of the game and it might mean you looking at a different career path, certainly a different job in the short term because we've got to get more than $2,600 coming in a month in order to solve this. Because at the end of the day, it is a math problem.

[George Camel]

Most people don't struggle with money because they can't do math. They struggle because they don't stick to a plan. And when your bank makes your money feel confusing or hard to track, plans fall apart fast. And that's why I love Fairwinds Credit Union and their mobile app. Because, let's face it, most banks build systems that make it easy to swipe and hard to stay organized. But with the Fairwinds app, you open it and you know exactly what to do. No clicking through 11 menus just to move your own money. Just tap, transfer and done. You can deposit a check from your couch by taking a picture. You can get real time alerts so you're not guessing what's in your account. And you can add your Ramsey Beware debit card to Apple Pay and tap to check out. See, a lot of banks leverage convenience to make it easier to go into debt. But Fairwinds offers convenience to help you stay in control. It's a huge difference. That's banking that actually supports the baby steps instead of working against them. So if you want to bank someplace that's both faster and wiser, check out Fairwinds. Go to Fairwinds.org Ramsey that's Fairwinds.org Ramsey insured by the NCUA.

[Rachel Cruz]

One of our favorite things to do is when people share their stories, stories on how they're winning. We love to share with you guys because there's people walking this journey just like you. And so we actually got a quote in about our EveryDollar app. It was a review and it said, love this app. It makes it super easy to budget with my husband. Which. The money. The marriage piece. Yes. Is so hard. And so, yes, doing a budget together when you're married is so helpful when you have actually a tool that helps you do it. That's what we love and that's why we love every dollar. And she goes on, she says, and we've implemented this practice since our wedd day and we've had zero money fights because there's full transparency and we're on the same page. So it's amazing. So amazing. And it does. It, it. I wouldn't say it's like you'll have no fights with your spouse about money by any means, but it does limit.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[Rachel Cruz]

The stress and the questions you have, especially if you're married. It's. It's so, it is. It's so transparent. And you're working together with. With each other on it, which is so, so important. That's again, why everydollar is awesome. And you each can have like, the login information. So you're. If you change something on one app, it changes on app on your. On your spouse's app, on their phone. And all of it like it. It is awesome. We love it. So go download EveryDollar, the budgeting app for free in the App Store or Google Play. All right, let's go to Birmingham, and we have Samantha on the line. Hi, Samantha.

[Caller]

Hey, how are you?

[Rachel Cruz]

Hi. We're doing great. How can we help?

[Caller]

I have a question. I wanted to know what I can do to help my husband stop financially helping his parents.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, boy.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, we gotta help your husband help his parents. Okay, so what's going on?

[Caller]

Yeah, so my husband is a contractor in Birmingham. And his. We. We have a small business and he makes good money, but his parents tend to kind of fall back where they need to whenever they know that he'll kind of just make up makeup's back end.

[Jade Warshaw]

Like, how much. How much is he giving him every month?

[Caller]

A lot of money. Like $8,000 a month.

[Jade Warshaw]

Holy smokes.

[Rachel Cruz]

But your. Your husband is giving his parents $8,000 a month?

[Caller]

Just about.

[Jade Warshaw]

For how long? How long has that been going on?

[Caller]

This has been going on for probably three months.

[Rachel Cruz]

Three months. How much do y' all bring in a month? Samantha?

[Caller]

We are 1099, so I don't really know how much we bring in a month. We filed $240,000 last year.

[Jade Warshaw]

Why don't you know how much comes in a month? Do you guys have a personal budget that you guys plan your household from

[Rachel Cruz]

or when you look at your checking account,

[Caller]

it varies. Because one month he probably won't make $10,000, and then the next month he'll make $50,000.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

So.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. So I'm. I, I probably won't concentrate on this call just because from a time perspective on his parents situation, that's. That's their thing. What. Who's. Yeah, really in the. What I'm gonna say in the wrong. Because he's not agreed with his wife on where their money's going. Is your husband. So what are those conversations? Like, what happened? Did three months ago, he said, hey, mom and dad are falling behind. Can we help? And you're like, yep, absolutely. And he just keeps doing it. Was it even talked about? Did he ask you? Like, what happened?

[Caller]

He asked me, and I'm okay with helping him out.

[Rachel Cruz]

Sure.

[Caller]

You know, Every so often. But my thing is, when it's consistently an issue and you're consistently doing it and you don't. They. They don't make up the extra. They don't have to work if they don't want to is my problem.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so your problem.

[Caller]

They spend all the money knowing that my husband's gonna make up for it.

[Jade Warshaw]

So it's entitlement that you have an issue with? My question is, you said it's okay one time. Have you. Has he continued to come back to you these other months and ask and you've just gone along with it, or have you said no and he's done it anyway?

[Caller]

Oh, I've said no multiple times.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

And $8,000 is a massive gap. Did something happen in their life? Did they lose? Did one of them lo job? Or what's happened in the last three months where they've needed this money?

[Caller]

They. They both work.

[Rachel Cruz]

Well, what's changed in 2026? Because you weren't doing this in 2025. So what changed three months ago? What. What happened in February that caused them to call you?

[Caller]

I think it's the fact that they just spend all their money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right.

[Caller]

But every bit of their money.

[Jade Warshaw]

But what changed did you guys.

[Caller]

That I know of has happened.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, how long have you guys been married?

[Caller]

Eight years.

[Jade Warshaw]

And how long has the business been doing well?

[Caller]

Probably about two years.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Something. Either they got wind of the fact that the business was doing well, something changed, that suddenly this has become kind of just like a vending machine for them. But the good news is, to Rachel's point, that's neither here nor there. You get to stop this behavior, and either something's going on with your parents that your husband is not letting you know that you're just unaware of, or it's just as simple as saying, I don't want to do this anymore. And you setting up that boundary with your husband of saying, I've said no to this. I've said no to this on multiple occasions. You've continued to do this anyway. You're completely disrespecting me, and I'm not going to have that right. So that conversation needs to happen immediately. Otherwise it's going to be you guys against each other.

[Rachel Cruz]

Because at this point, that's a marriage issue, Samantha, between you and your husband. That he doesn't listen to you, that he doesn't respect what you're talking about, and that there's no. It doesn't sound like there's a back and forth, because I'm not saying every husband has to be like, okay, whatever to his wife. Do whatever you want. And same with the wife, that she doesn't need to look at her husband like whatever you want. No. There could be some back and forth here, but it's the stonewalled. No, I'm just gonna do this with our money and the action of it without any level of your buy in. Because yeah, it's eight grand a month happening. And so. And the problem is that he needs to understand is that throwing money at a situation that isn't changing to your point is not helping them. It's not. Because this will continue to be a pattern for the rest of their lives if they had anything to do with it, is what it sounds like. It's one thing. And again, I'm not against helping family. Right. Like if they had a medical issue or there was a job loss and you could financially fill in the gap and you wanted to. That's great.

[Caller]

There's been no job loss.

[Jade Warshaw]

How old are they?

[Caller]

It's 50s, mid-50s.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's crazy. And they have jobs, you said. So I, if I'm you, I'm sitting down with my husband tonight and I'm

[Caller]

saying, here's my thing is I say I'm a stay at home mom, so I stay with our children. So my husband is the only person that brings in the money.

[Rachel Cruz]

Doesn't matter. Samantha, it's your household. You're both married. You both are.

[Caller]

That's what I'm saying.

[Rachel Cruz]

Does he hold that over you?

[Caller]

I'm saying no. No.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, good.

[Caller]

We have agreed, you know, that we've done it too many times recently. But I feel like it's going to happen again whenever it. They're just going to keep on and keep on and keep on and asking him. And I feel like it's just going to continue to go on even after we talked about it and said no.

[Jade Warshaw]

And that. And that's my question. I wanted to know why when we pushed you on that, why you brought up the fact that you're a stay at home mom. I want to understand that a little bit more. Do you feel like you don't have the right to say or do you feel like he has the right to make the choice to.

[Caller]

He doesn't. He pretty much asked me because I pretty much. He includes me on everything except for this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And I don't feel like I don't want to say I'm not included.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, it sounds like you're not. It sounds like he tells you what he's gonna do. And that's the inclusion back.

[Caller]

He's been behind my back the last two times.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, he hasn't even told you when he's doing it. You just found out.

[Caller]

Right.

[Rachel Cruz]

So you got a husband.

[Jade Warshaw]

No.

[Rachel Cruz]

Samantha, you have a breakdown in your marriage of communication, of trust, of any level of unity. And he's done this. He just eroded trust. Right. Which in my opinion, is even worse than being like, I'm gonna do this. And it's out in the open.

[Caller]

Absolutely.

[Rachel Cruz]

It's the secrecy and it's the behind your back. So, Samantha. Yeah. This is a marriage issue at this point, and I would raise some red flags. And you may feel like, oh, it may not be that big of a deal. Gosh, am I being too. Am I being too much? No, this is a big deal.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's a very big deal.

[Rachel Cruz]

It's $16,000 without you knowing. And so to me, that's a communication and marriage breakdown. And you guys may need to go pull in a therapist, a marriage therapist, just to talk about not just the money portion again, but how we got here in our marriage, that he didn't feel the ability to come to you and. Or he didn't. And we need to tackle those issues.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Jade Warshaw]

vary and no specific outcome is guaranteed.

[Rachel Cruz]

All right, we have sue in Grand Rapids up next. Hi, Sue. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Oh, thank you so much. I'm so excited. I'm glad you called. We are trying really hard. Our daughters in Grand Rapids. We're in Saginaw. I mean, we're like two and a half hours away, and we wanted to move there. And prices for homes are high everywhere, but especially there. So we've got our home on the Ramsey plan. Our home is paid off. Our cars are paid off. We just have our monthly expenses. My husband has us debt free in a miracle way because he just now retired at 67. I've been on disability since 2000.

[Rachel Cruz]

I'm sorry I said amazing.

[Caller]

I know. He's. He's amazing. Well, my dad, when he passed away, helped a little bit because we got a little inheritance. But now we're looking. We're going to buy there, God willing, and sell here after we've purchased over there. And we're not. I mean, you know, it's like when you don't know how much you're gonna get for the one you're selling, which I know. I'm 99.9% positive we're not gonna get for this one as we are over there. If we took our house here, over there, it would be about three times as much.

[Rachel Cruz]

Sure, sure.

[Caller]

So, Mike. I know. So the question is, we just got outbid again last night. Financially, maybe not, but they wanted us. The other buyers were willing to skip the inspection, and we bid. We overbid what they were asking for, but I'm sure these people did, too. And they were. They had a cash offer.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep. Yep.

[Caller]

So, yeah, I mean, if we sold ours right now and so we got what we want for it, you know, we'd be doing cash offer, too.

[Rachel Cruz]

Sure.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's the difference in the numbers? What are you selling for versus what you want to buy for.

[Caller]

Exactly. And it's. Yeah, we want to buy low and sell high in a particular.

[Jade Warshaw]

Tell us what you want to buy.

[Rachel Cruz]

The.

[Jade Warshaw]

Tell us the current property that you have, what you want to sell it for, and then what you think you want to buy for

[Caller]

what we have now. I'm in a perfect world. Well, the perfect world, we get it done, but in a reasonable world, we get 275. Maybe 250, but I'm hoping for 275.

[Rachel Cruz]

Perfect.

[Caller]

And the ones there we've been looking for, I mean, obviously want to go 250 and have more for moving costs and things. But what we've been looking at is between 260 and 320. And this one we were bidding like 20. Let's see. So 290. 300. We were bidding like 30,000 more than they were asking.

[Jade Warshaw]

Was it the. Was it there? But There was a contingency on it. Right. Contingent on sale of your home or.

[Caller]

No, no.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Caller]

Oh, no, we can't even do that now because, I mean, we just can't. There's nothing available like that.

[Rachel Cruz]

So I think you just need some patience. I think you're frustrated. I think you have had your hopes up. You want to be close to the grandbabies and you guys are ready to pull the trigger. You're ready to make the move and one or two deals have slipped out under and you're just getting frustrated. So I would tell you, just breathe, have some patience. You are entering into a good market. It's actually more of a buyer's market right now than a seller. So the fact you're getting outbid, I know, happens, but that is happening less and less. If anything, some houses are actually up for negotiation. That's right.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[Rachel Cruz]

And so, and you know, and we see we have a real estate dashboard that you could even kind of check out. But it's great because it does show not only like the mortgage rates and everything happening, but how many days on the market and all of it. But there's something about having the patience in this because if you don't and you feel a little desperate, you might do something, which I'm glad you didn't, something stupid, of like waive the inspection. Right. And then you go buy a house sight unseen almost, and no inspection, and you guys get into it and it becomes horrible. So I really do believe the deal is going to come for you. I really do. I think you guys have been wise with your money. You have showed patience in the past and what you guys have done to build up, I mean, paying off a home and everything. So what you could do just to. Just to take the urgency down if you wanted. Just an idea, go ahead and sell your home and go rent somewhere for a year over close to them and just know it's short term and then actually take your time.

[Caller]

He said we're not going to move twice. I got that.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Okay. Well then you guys just, you just need to have a little bit of patience because you know what you want. There are houses, I'm sure, for what you're looking for in that area. And actually the. In the Midwest area, the average list price is $309,300 right now. So.

[Caller]

That's right.

[Rachel Cruz]

You guys are. Yeah. Right where you are, which is perfect. So there's. There should be some great options and maybe it's a little bit of a different neighborhood than you were thinking originally or 10 minutes one way than what you wanted or I don't know. But Grand Rapids, I promise you there will be homes that you're going to be able to buy. But I would be a better month, do I?

[Caller]

So may should be a better month, you're thinking?

[Rachel Cruz]

Well, just from a real estate perspective, things are moving more. They move more spring and summer, real estate wise. Yeah, just overall. So I would say keep your eyes open. And so I would just say patience. I think you guys, you're in a good spot. You're fine. Just stay within your budget, offer what you can, and if the deal doesn't happen, move on to the next. There's no perfect home, but you're, you're fun, though. I, I appreciate you as such, so. Good. All right, let's head to Heidi in Knoxville, Tennessee. Hi, Heidi. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hey, guys. Hope you're having a fun show today.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes, we are. Thanks for calling in. How can we help?

[Caller]

Hey, so I'm hoping you can help me settle a dispute between me and my 19 year old son.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, we love a debate.

[Caller]

We, we had recently mentioned to him about possibly getting a credit card now that he's an adult and he's been a Ramsey listener for a while. And he said, no, I don't want any part of that. And so we started kind of having a fun spar back and forth. Things like, guys, you use a credit card, you should get rid of your credit card too.

[Rachel Cruz]

Hilarious, smart guy. Hilarious. I love it.

[Jade Warshaw]

So what do you want us to say? You want us to tell him that you're right?

[Caller]

No. Challenge me to call you guys. Because I was like, look, we pay off every month. We have a budget that we follow. If there's not enough money for something, we don't spend it. I don't understand what the big deal is. And I've listened to the show for a couple weeks now trying to figure it out, and I must be missing something.

[Rachel Cruz]

Why do you need. Why do you think you need one or why does he need one because you just advised him to get one?

[Caller]

I think it was mainly because I just thought, well, in case something happens, he doesn't have a lot of money. We don't want to have to spot the money.

[Jade Warshaw]

What if he did save up an emergency fund? Would you feel differently?

[Caller]

Yeah, if I knew you had that in place, that would be fine. I was more just confused why he thought that we shouldn't have one, even though. So we don't use it per se as a credit card.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you have an emergency fund?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much, how many months of expenses?

[Caller]

We have three months of expenses in the emergencies fund and then another two and a half months just in our regular savings account.

[Jade Warshaw]

Excellent. So. So it's fair to say that if, if emergencies came, you would have the money to cash flow it.

[Caller]

Yes, that's true.

[Rachel Cruz]

So, I mean, yeah, So, I mean, a credit card. Honestly, Heidi, the way we look at it is not only is there data to back up that you end up spending up to 13% more when you're using someone else's money, and that's what you're doing, even though you, quote, unquote, pay it off every month, but subconsciously you don't realize it, but you are spending more. If you were just spending your money, Heidi, with a debit card, I guarantee you, you would be spending less. So not only that, but also what we find over and over again is life happens. And when a credit card is your backup plan, you fall right into the cycle that they suck you into of credit card debt. And people call in our show all the time and they got 10,000, $15,000 in credit card debt. Well, we've been trying to pay it off. We try to pay it off every month. But then this happened, and this happened, we'd have enough money and there they are at 23%, 26% interest, catching your slack of not being diligent and saving up and actually you being your emergency fund. And so, and I know you're, you said you guys have one, which is great, but. But when it comes to just the credit card industry, they have done a great job marketing the idea that you need a credit card. But when you spend your own money and there's no bank in your life and you have complete autonomy over your life and your money, and there's no bill you're not paying, paying for the past anymore. When you pay in the present and you use a debit card or cash, you move on with your life. And financially, there's a freedom there versus being tied to a credit card. Hey, guys. Healthcare is one of the biggest stress points in your budget. It's confusing and most of the time it feels completely out of your control. But there is a better way to handle it. Christian Healthcare Ministries isn't health insurance. It's a health cost sharing ministry where Christians share each other's medical bills. And it's not a new idea. CHM has been around since 1981. It's predictable and proven, and they've shared over $13 billion in medical bills for their members. Plus, you get more flexibility. There are no network restrictions, and you don't have to wait for open enrollment. Now let's talk about how CHM helps your budget because programs start at just $115 a month and many families save hundreds of dollars a month compared to traditional options. So if you are tired of feeling stuck, check out Christian healthcare Ministries. Right now, CHM is offering new members a 50% credit towards their first month of membership. Go to CHMinistries.org budget and use promo code RAMSEY. That's CHMinistries.org budget and Use promo code Ramsey. Welcome back to the Rams show in the Fairwinds credit union studio. I am Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with my good friend Ramsey personality Jade Warshaw. And yeah, we're hanging out, taking your calls, having a good time. So if you have a question, call us at 888-255-225. All right, let's go to Christy in Baltimore. Hi, Christy. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi, Rachel. Hi, Jade. How are you doing?

[Rachel Cruz]

We're doing great. How can we help?

[Caller]

Okay, so we started a small business, my husband and I, about one year ago, and it is a faith based business. I make candles. And obviously we are in the red. We filed our taxes for last year and we were in the red about 7 to $8,000.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, wow.

[Caller]

Which, yeah, which of course comes out of our, you know, income. So we've been having a little debate about whether we should, you know, part of this business that I wanted to start was, you know, to give back to God and to our church. So even though we're in the red, I want to still give money to our church out of our revenue, not necessarily our profit.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, so and by give money, do you mean like a tithe for your family or you're doing this as a donation of what you make to go back to the church? Just. That's part of your business model, right?

[Caller]

As part of our business model, because we do. Tied to our church already on a weekly basis. Above that. But coming out of the business, do you guys.

[Rachel Cruz]

Are you guys able to absorb losing $78,000?

[Caller]

Well, it's 7,000 to 8,000, not 7.

[Rachel Cruz]

I thought you said 78,000. And I was going to say. Christie. Christie. We kind of re.

[Jade Warshaw]

Examined some problem.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, my gosh. That helps a little bit. Okay, that helps a little bit.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

Well, can you. Okay, then my question is, can you absorb. I mean, let's say it's 10. Let's say you give the church 2,000 so that means you're. If you're already in the whole 8,000, that would cause you to be in the whole 10,000 at that point. Can y' all absorb $10,000 loss for a. For a hobby that you love?

[Caller]

I think we can. This is like another part of this piece. I want to quit my job, not for the business, but to focus on our family and, you know, be a stay at home mom. We have a nine year old, and really the only debt we have is our home.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Caller]

So we, you know, we don't have any credit card debt. We own our cars, our student loans are paid off. We. I've been on Ramsey solutions since like 2007.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, how much. How much do you make a year in the job you have now?

[Caller]

Okay, so my bring home is about 54,000. So we would be losing that and my husband's is like 95,000 bring home.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, perfect. Have you guys done a budget on the 95,000 that, if that is your new household budget, that you guys would be okay financially?

[Caller]

My husband has said that we will be okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

Have you looked at the numbers?

[Caller]

Nope, I have not. We're going to our financial planner today.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, great. Okay, well, they may be able to answer some questions too. Yeah. So I want you to be comfortable. I want you guys to do a mock budget and just say, okay, because there's two issues here. Candle business, candle ministry, we're going to call it, because you have lots of money on it, and then stay at home, mom. Okay, so stay at home, mom. I would do it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

Do a mock budget of what he brings home every month and look at your realistic expenses and just say, yeah, we can totally do this. And you might be able to, Chris, you guys have no debt, but you should be able to. So I would.

[Caller]

Yeah, I think so, too.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Make sure you feel good about that. And then the giving on the candle business.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, it sounds like right now that's all the candle business does, is take whatever money there is and donate it. Right. Because there's no profit.

[Caller]

Well, a large bunch of our money actually goes to our 403Bs, our 401Ks, our IRAs, and our daughter's savings. So we save a lot. And we. He wants to pay our house off in like nine years, and we're already in it for six. So I think technically with our. Our cash like that, our reserve, like, we have our. Our six months savings and with our daughters, like, we could pay it off next year. So. But then that would Leave us with, like, nothing. Right? No debt, but no emergency fund either. And it's like starting from scratch, but with no debt and my husband working and me not. So that's like just this whole thing. Like, what. It's a lot of possibilities we have.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, I wouldn't use your emergency funds to do this because you need that in case of an emergency. So I would just. I don't think anything's on fire in terms of you feeling like you have to go at light speed to pay off the mortgage. Because you said, oh, you're welcome.

[Caller]

But because he. I mean, I'm like, if I stop working, we can do it in 15, right. It doesn't have to be done in nine. Like, we could still manage to make that work and still be ahead of the game. Don't get me wrong.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm right in. I'm right in the middle of you two. I like the idea of being very intentional about paying off the mortgage. And when. I mean very intentional, I mean, maybe not letting it go 15 years because the hope is that you can do it, you know, and do it in 11. Yeah, nine to 11.

[Caller]

Right.

[Jade Warshaw]

But at the same point, I would not go to the extent of saying we're going to drain all of our emergency funds and, you know, stop investing in the 401k and stop. I would not do that because that's a drastic take that none of us here would ever suggest you to do. I think you do it as the baby steps teach it, which is during this season, you continue investing 15% and you continue with the kids, you know, college funds, and you continue then on top of that, putting extra towards your mortgage as. As you have it and as the candle making business produces it.

[Rachel Cruz]

Right, the ministry.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, the ministry. And so. But don't unplug those other things to make this happen. Because if the research you've done on the budget is true, you should be able to live on the 95,000. And that includes doing the things that we've said. That includes you continuing to invest, continuing to put aside for college, and continuing to put extra on the mortgage. If you can't do those three things, then that means we need to reevaluate the budget and figure out where that money is and if it's truly possible like we thought it was.

[Caller]

Right. Okay. And so even with, you know, being in the red on the business, you think, like, we could still. I mean, it might not look like $2,000, but even if it's like 500 or a thousand, I just want to give something, you know, I want to give above.

[Rachel Cruz]

On the income that you actually make.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

This is a hobby, Kristen. That's kind of how you have to look at it. Like your husband plays golf and spends eight grand a year on golf.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[Rachel Cruz]

I mean, that's kind of where it's at. So I feel like it would be bad accounting to continue to go in the red just for your good heart. It mathematically doesn't really make sense. Right. And we're all about generosity and all of it, but God also gave us reason and logic that we have to plug into. Plug our brains into, and that's not wrong. So if you guys want to be more generous on your actual income, income that you are making to your household, that then absolutely, you guys can decide to do that. You may have to cut things in order to make that happen. But, no, I think continuing to go in the red for something feels irresponsible to me.

[Jade Warshaw]

I agree with that.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

But your heart is good. So I want your heart. I want that to still be satisfied. Right. The giving part of it is still beautiful and great. I would just look at it in a different bucket for it to make logical sense.

[Caller]

Okay. Yep. That makes sense. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

And logic is. Is a gift from God, too. You guys remember that. Like. Like, sometimes we go generosity and we can go high emotion with all of it, which is good, too. But also, God's given us reason and logic, and that's a good thing to plug in. And so from a logical perspective, as we do math.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

That doesn't make. That doesn't make sense to continue to give. But, Chris. Yeah. And I hope you get to stay home. Kristen, you guys have put yourself in a position where you get to make that decision, which is beautiful. Like, that's what we're talking about, you guys.

[Caller]

Guys.

[Rachel Cruz]

To get your money under control, so you have choices and options in life. And when you look up and you're like, hey, I want to be home for a season, you get to. Because you did the hard work of getting out of debt.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Rachel Cruz]

Up next, we have Jessica in the Fort Wayne, Indiana. Hi, Jessica. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi. Thanks for letting me on.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes, absolutely. How can we help?

[Caller]

So, I have a fairly new business. We've been open about three years and unfortunately had to get the big expense of replacing our entire roof and then also had some other structural things along with that. The estimate that we were originally given was about $75,000 for all of that, which we saved over time so as not to take out any more loans. We did in that time, as they discovered more problems, approved for an additional 14,000 on top of that. But then we just received the final total, and there was an additional 25,000 beyond all of that that they had done without any documentation or consent. They never mentioned to us that anything else was going to happen. And when I asked about it, they just said, well, little things added up over time. 25,000 is not a little thing. And obviously, with us not taking out a loan and doing this all out of cash, that is even harder to, you know, have all that set aside. They did offer to reduce that total by about 10,000, which would remain, or it would leave us with a remaining 15,000 overage beyond all of what we had approved. So my question is, do we just take that deal and kind of count it as the cost of doing business, or should we push back a bit more and say, you know, we didn't approve for this, you didn't ask our permission, and if you had asked, we wouldn't have given it because we don't have that money readily available.

[Rachel Cruz]

Is the work already done?

[Caller]

I also don't want to be a jerk. The work's already done, and we did beautiful work. And that's what makes it hard, is I don't want to be that business owner that then ends up getting a bad name because I'm fighting on paying for the work that was done. But they did the work without approval.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. No change orders or anything.

[Caller]

I mean, they just like, no change orders, nothing. No verbal discussion.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, very bad.

[Caller]

Because they are very reputable. We chose them knowing that they were the most expensive because we had a lot of trust in them. And we really enjoyed all of our time until we got that final bill. And they just don't have a great explanation other than things add up.

[Jade Warshaw]

And when you looked at the itemized bill, you saw. You saw the money go towards certain things that, you know, were implemented.

[Caller]

Basically, it. All that overage all came in, some of the. The extra structural work, and there wasn't like, broken down, you know, this much for such and such materials of it. It was just for this portion of the work. That's where the overage was. But the guy said he looked over it thoroughly and he doesn't think that there are any mistakes. And I don't think that it's a trust. Like, I don't think that they're scamming us or anything.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right.

[Caller]

I think that they just truly.

[Rachel Cruz]

It's bad communication, and they went ahead and started making decisions on your behalf without you choosing to. So. So, yeah, just. Kat, I don't know if there's much you can. I don't think there's much you can do at this point. I.

[Caller]

That's kind of what I was afraid of.

[Jade Warshaw]

I don't think so. Because the work is done. And unless you're gonna say. And unless you're gonna make them go through and, like, itemize that and push on it and have the ability to speak into it from that. That viewpoint. Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah, I think. But at the same point, I hate to tell you that because to spend an extra 25,000 over what you thought, because you said they're gonna. You said first they added 14,000, and then they added another 25, but then they refunded 10. So you're 29 over what you thought?

[Caller]

No, so. So it was basically 40,000 over the original estimate is where we ended up back.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And then 14,000 of that, we did approve that. They actually talked to us and said, okay, this is the change we need to make. We, like, in the back, it had to be full sickness replaced.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And so they talked about that we approved to go that extra 14,000 beyond the 75. So you final bill. Yes, but then the final bill was 114,000. And so that. That means like, 25,000 of overage that we never talked about.

[Jade Warshaw]

But then they came back and they said, we'll give you 10 back, right?

[Caller]

Yes, I said 10 back. So that leaves us with about 15,000 of the overage that wasn't approved. But if we need to make it happen, we can. We can continue. Like, we cut our salaries Back to try to do all of this in cash. And we can continue doing that.

[Jade Warshaw]

I mean, I can tell you I can. And, Rachel, you're probably better suited for this, but anytime I've done a project in my house, it's always been a little bit more than.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Over budget, over time. I mean, that's like kind of the classic.

[Jade Warshaw]

It always is. And so we always plan for that. And maybe, I mean, that's just the way it is now. That's like projects like renovations, but typically, if I'm having something serviced or replaced, what they tell you it is usually is what it is.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Yeah. We were just kind of shocked by it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And to the tune of 15,000 at this point, I feel like they were fair enough to say, okay, you approved the 14. And then they said, oh, we're sorry, we comped the 10 back. There's part of me that I don't know if I would keep. I mean, you could push on it a little bit more, but I just don't know how much you're gonna get out of this.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. I mean, you could push and just say, hey, this is the amount we've agreed upon. We did not sign off on the change orders of. No. And again, they may have gotten in it. And the structural stuff, to your point, they may not be scamming you, but they're like, no, we have to do this. And so it's just the. It's the communication. It's the communication aspect of it that's really frustrating. Really, really frustrating. And you got a top of the line company and they. And I, you know, I know those kind of companies, and they will get. They will have the best of the best of the best. And that's what you pay for.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[Rachel Cruz]

And you get what you pay for in a good way. But you also sometimes could be overpaying for something that you probably could have gone maybe middle of the road, and then it's fine. You know what I mean? But that's hard. So. Yeah. Jessica, I'm sorry.

[Jade Warshaw]

The teaching, I guess, would be when you do things like this, really, you have to be on them.

[Rachel Cruz]

You have to.

[Jade Warshaw]

15%.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you have 15 of overage, and

[Rachel Cruz]

you have to be on that communication with them. So. Yeah. Jessica, I wish we had a better answer for you, but.

[Caller]

But.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, I'm sorry. All right, let's go to Hunter in Sioux Falls. Hi, Hunter. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Yes, thank you for having me.

[Rachel Cruz]

Absolutely. How can we help?

[Caller]

Yes. So I am just starting to debt Snowball my wife and I and I start. I bumped into a financial planner. Didn't get his name or who he worked for, but he recommended that I amend my W4 so that my. Sorry, I'm out of.

[Jade Warshaw]

What are you doing over there?

[Caller]

I'm actually at work and I was

trying to stay busy while waiting to come on the line.

No worries.

[Rachel Cruz]

No worries. So they said to adjust. Adjust your W4 taxes to what?

[Caller]

Because currently I have maximum deductions taken out and we do receive about a 6 to $8,000 a year tax return.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh yeah, Yeah.

[Caller]

I should amend it so that it's a lot less. So I get more money weekly to

put towards the debt level.

[Rachel Cruz]

Correct? I would agree with him. Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[Caller]

Okay. And I know the tax form changed in 2020.

[Jade Warshaw]

Huh.

[Caller]

How do I go about doing that?

[Jade Warshaw]

It's actually easier than ever. There's really. There's literally a line item on there where you can change the amount of withholding. You can just write it in. And so what you can do is think about if not much has changed on your taxes, you can say, okay, what was my typical tax return or tax refund? And then you can go through and divide it by 12. And that's a really good way to get an estimate of what that is monthly. And, and just adjust it up or down. And the lines, I mean, I'd have to pull it up on. On my computer. But the line item is literally on there for you to change it and put in the withholding that you'd like it to be so you can change it from what it was to what you'd now like it to be.

[Rachel Cruz]

I mean, you could get close to $600 back Hunter Month each a month, which is amazing.

[Jade Warshaw]

And by the way, that's what we would tell anybody to do who's getting a large refund, especially if you're on baby step two. That money, I mean, we say it on here all the time. Rachel, your income is your biggest wealth building tool. You need your income, especially if you have the target of trying to pay off debt. If you're trying to save money quickly, as much money that you can have in your pocket at your disposal to throw at that target. Gosh, yes. Get your hands on that money.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep. So we are with your financial advisor, Hunter. So yep, go in and do that. And we actually have a Great blog on ramseysolutions.com all about. About taxes and adjustments and withholdings, all of that to get this right. So we'll put it in the show notes for all you guys watching on YouTube and listening on podcasts. But yeah, Jade, that's one of our. When you're starting baby step two and you're starting to pay off your debt, there's cap, there's a couple of go to's that we've learned over the years to check insurance. Check your insurance rates. You could be spending more than you need to so you can get some cash back. Be looking at your expenses and what you're spending every month. And one of them is your taxes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

You know, put money back in your pocket so it's not sitting over in Washington all year and then you get an $8,000 check that you can use. You could be using that to get ahead financially. So, yep, Hunter, make those adjustments and yeah, get as close to zero as you can. And yeah, and tax season doesn't have to be a big pendulum swing one way or the other.

[George Camel]

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

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[George Camel]

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

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[George Camel]

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

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[George Camel]

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

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[George Camel]

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

[Dave Ramsey]

Protect yourself, protect your income, protect your family.

[Rachel Cruz]

All right, let's head to Kansas City and John is on the line. Hi, John, welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi there. How are you? I had a. I'm in a situation where last summer I received 175,000, just a lump sum. This summer I'll be receiving another $183,500. And the next year, from January on to the 12 month period, I'll get paid 130 grand over that 12 month period. So I was just curious. I've spent about 75 to 80 grand between taxes and other expenses from that payment I got last summer. So I had two main questions, and the first one was, you know, how to invest some of the, some of the money that I have right now I already have. I put 40 grand in a 401k and have money going into a Roth IRA and a life insurance policy. And like I said, the question I had was, how could I invest that money? And also would I be able to comfortably and feasibly afford a $50,000 vehicle?

Wow.

[Rachel Cruz]

Where's all this money coming from, John? Is it work or is it like a truck trust or something?

[Caller]

Athletics. Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, wow. So it'll keep coming. You'll keep earning like this?

[Caller]

Honest? Yeah, I should have mentioned that. It will go down. It won't. It won't be as much. I won't be. It will probably level out to be anywhere from 70 to 100,000 per year on average. After, after this pay, after this, this pay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Now, do you do anything else to earn money or. It's just that I do not.

[Caller]

You know, with the money I have or I'm receiving, I thought about maybe a business or a house or just, you know, brainstorming things.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Okay, so I added up the numbers you gave and I, if my math is correct, I could be off, but it's, it's close to half a million, 488,000. How much of that went to taxes and like, what's left of everything? Like, I know you have a payment coming next year, you said.

[Caller]

Yep. And so I've only received so far the 175,000 last year.

Okay.

And I believe I've spent about 75 to 80,000 between expenses and tax.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, so you have about 100 grand of that.

[Caller]

Well, I should mention I have, I put 40 grand into a 401k, so that's not necessarily liquid.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Gotcha. And what about just your month to month expenses, like just your eating and your rent? And how are you paying for that?

[Caller]

That's through these payments for right now. And that's my monthly. It totals up to be about 2,000 to 2,500. And then the other thing I want mentioned was I do want to like give some to charity and, you know, tithe. So that will be like about around 10% of all of this will. Will go towards charity.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so what then? I, I mean, I would do this like any other budget. I would sit down and I would. Because you're getting this every single year. So for this year, you made 175.

[Rachel Cruz]

Is that guaranteed because you get hurt or something and that, that you won't get the 183 next year?

[Caller]

Or is it guaranteed so that 183

and a half will be actually like beginning of June this year, and that's guaranteed. Also the next payment, the one In January, the 130,000 across 12 months that I will start receiving in January is guaranteed. And I could. It'll be up to discussion, but I could potentially even start receiving more money next year. And then even after that, we'll likely. It'll definitely.

[Rachel Cruz]

Because I. The thing with payments, and I feel like this would be the same if someone is in sales, right, and they have a massive, a $200,000 commission coming in. Not to get ahead of herself and making sure that you actually have them. Don't spend the money before it comes. Right. So don't go out and buy a bunch of stuff and then wait for that money to hit. So you want to be cash flowing it well. So when Jade said yes, setting up like a regular budget is exactly right. So you'll just know ahead of time. Okay. In June, this big payment is coming in. So I need to know what I want to do with this. So, yes, to answer your question, yes, you can totally afford a $50,000 car.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Okay, what about how are taxes being taken out? Are you responsible for that or are they doing that? Because I don't want you to get hit with a massive tax bill. Well, you said you're spending all this.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, because you said you paid 75,000 in taxes already, right?

[Caller]

Well, that was. No, I didn't. I paid. I paid $20,000 upfront in taxes. And we have, we filed for a tax extension this year. So I just paid that up front. But I hired like a financial advisor and he has a CPA that helps me with taxes and things like that. So I pretty much pay Them to file my taxes. Taxes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So just overseeing that, making sure that's done properly. And then, yeah, I'd. I'd go through and I'd budget it out. And I try to make this feel a little bit more normal. Instead of feeling like I've got this, you know, windfall of money and I can just do a bunch of stuff with it, I take it and I'd say, okay, if I'm not going to get money for the next 12 months, what is that every month? Is it around 15 or 16,000? And then plan it out like a normal budget, whatever your rent or mortgage is, whatever you're going to pay for. And then you can budget amounts. Every. Every month I'm putting aside this much for my car or I'm put this much aside for, you know, whatever, what have you. Just a typical budget. So you feel the normalcy of that and the kind of like the. The nature of how that feels month to month versus kind of trying to make every decision in one fell swoop.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes. Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Does that make sense? Yeah, I think you can't. Yeah, I think you can afford the $50,000 car, but there's part of me. How long have you been earning like this? How long has this been going on?

[Caller]

This has been. So last summer was like the first big payment I received like that. And then like I said, I'll get one in about four or five weeks and that's begin in here. And then it will be. And then like I said, the next in January, I'll start receiving that. But it'll kind of level out from there to like, more of like a normal salary of like, okay, to 100 grand.

[Jade Warshaw]

So if you take the 50,000 out of the 183, then yeah, you're just taking the 1130 and you're budgeting your 12 months based off of that. And I would do it that way. There's part of me that would love. How old are you?

[Caller]

You 24.

[Jade Warshaw]

There's part.

[Caller]

I'm.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm just going to say this and you don't have to do this. This is just me being your buddy. There's part of me that I would take this money now and budget it that way and I would save up. I would teach myself to save up the 50,000 out of your budgeted money every single month and start exercising that muscle of delayed gratification. Because there's something to that at a young age, and especially when you're receiving money in big clumps like this, resisting the urge to dump it all on big purchases right away. Does that make sense?

[Caller]

And yeah, I'm very like, that's one reason I'm calling is I'm pretty conscious about I don't really buy luxury items for myself. This is kind of like the first thing I've been prompted to like, really buy, like for myself, so to speak. That's like a luxury item. But my question on that is, like, how would you go about kind of saving on the. On the money I'm receiving? Is there like a way that. Are you talking about investing in stocks or, like, having a good question?

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

So we'll set you up with every dollar, which is the budgeting tool that we use. It's more than just a budget. And it's going to not only help you manage the money, but it's going to teach you our way of thinking in our guided plan here at Ramsey, which is the baby steps. So here we, we focus on doing a couple of things really well, but doing them in order and focusing on one at a time so you can actually achieve it. So you're a person. It doesn't sound like you have any debt. Right? Right.

[Caller]

Correct.

[Jade Warshaw]

So that jumps you automatically to what we would call baby step three, which is making sure you always have. In your case, I'd have six months of expenses. We say three to six months. That's just parked in a high yield savings account. It's not invested high yield savings account. It's liquid if you need to get to it, but it's also set aside from your normal spending money. And then from there you do baby step four, which is you're investing 15%

[Rachel Cruz]

of your gross, which you've already started that John, So well done.

[Jade Warshaw]

So, yep, just make sure it's 15%.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep.

[Jade Warshaw]

And then no more, no less at this point. And then if you wanted to, you're a young guy, you don't have children yet, so you can skip baby step five for now. But then baby step six is if you have a house, you're thinking about paying off the house, or if you haven't, you can start putting a down payment for a house, that sort of thing. And then after that, after you've paid off your house, then you can start investing more. But that's kind of our guided plan on how we think about moving through, building wealth and making progress with your money. So it sounds like you're doing a lot of those things. You just needed, like the tune up of it.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep, that's right.

[Caller]

Sure.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep.

[Caller]

So, absolutely.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. And then you had the giving aspect to throw in there too. So. And I think that that'll be in every dollar. And, and I would tell you John, that when you give out of this, I probably would recommend having two or three places you give to because sometimes if it's one big donation and especially if it's a smaller non profit or something and you end up being the one propping them up for a while because this is not money that's going to be continual throughout the rest of your life. You know what I mean? Like just be wise about, about the giving. But yeah, I think you can do it all.

[Caller]

So you just said give, give to a couple different companies and what was the reason for that?

[Rachel Cruz]

I would. Because if you give this, if you give 18, 20, 30,000 to one, that's a huge windfall on them and if they expect any level of that going forward, you don't want to be the largest donation. Right. So just something to think about because it's just going to be a lot of money at once. So. Yep. So John, absolutely. I think you can be giving invest 15% of your income, you can go enjoy some of it and I think you can afford that car if you want it and then be thinking about real estate too and putting a big down payment on a home. I think at those buckets. It's a lot of buckets but I think you can fill them over the next 12 months. With all the work you've done.

[Caller]

Foreign.

[Rachel Cruz]

Or selling your home is a big deal. And with all the clickbait headlines out there and conflicting data, it's really hard to know what's actually happening in the housing market. And so we're here to make the latest trends easy to understand. So last month the average 15 year fixed rate mortgage rate ticked up a bit to 5.56% but it's still under 6% people. So we're happy about that. Now if you are financially ready, a small rate increase like that should not hold you back. So go ahead and jump in the market if you are financially ready. Now median home prices went up to $415,000 last month, which is pretty typical for the spring market. And with more homes available and more buyers entering the market, it's a great time to buy or sell. So if you want to learn more about the housing market trends and get free tools to help you when you buy or sell your home home and to do it with confidence, go to ramseysolutions.com market or you can click the link in the show notes if you are Listening on podcasts or watching on YouTube. All right, let's head to. Is it, is it IA in Buffalo? Did I pronounce that correct?

[Caller]

It's Aya. Hi, ladies.

[Rachel Cruz]

I'm sorry. Yes, well, thank you for calling Aya. How can we help?

[Caller]

So I have a question. I am about to run into about maybe $2 million, a lump sum, but I have bad money management. I give away my money, I spend my money. I am currently right now living in poverty. I am a nurse in my town, so I have had tons of money. I go and buy high end cars, I've bought houses. So. Houses. Giving houses away, diamonds. I cashed out my 401k about a couple years ago.

[Rachel Cruz]

But what's going on?

[Caller]

I make really, really silly financial decisions. I've been chapter seven bankrupt three times. How old are you?

[Rachel Cruz]

I.

[Caller]

2. 44.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, and you ready to break that cycle? You know it exists.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes,

[Caller]

And I am extremely fearful. Like when I get this money, do I like go and pay cash for another house? Like do I finance the house? I just don't know what to do and I don't want to fall into my old pattern, like speaking going out of town when people don't even know.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you know? Have you identified the source of what that's coming from? Have you identified what causes you to. Cause it sounds like you're a bit of a rescuer. It sounds like you come to people's rescue who don't you know? It sounds like you're a bit of an enabler. Have you identified why that is?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

And where that comes from?

[Caller]

I've always been into, you know, shopping and saying my grandmother was very wealthy. So we shopped, we did. Well, my brother was murdered in 2013 and I started to pad my life emotionally with materialistic things, but I couldn't fill the void, so it just took me into overdrive. So like we talking about me waking up at six o' clock in the morning, catching a flight to Texas just to eat, just to come back home that night. Like crazy things that you won't even. You couldn't even think of.

[Jade Warshaw]

Have you figured out how to remedy that in a, in a healthier way or how to kind of heal through that?

[Caller]

Well, I have a grandson now, so he's. I think I've healed it. I think I've not healed the homicide, but I've navigated through it. So now I'm not as ditchy to go and spend money in addition to. I'm hurt now. So all of this great lifestyle went down the drain. I can't work right now because I'm hurt. But this is where this $2 million is going to come from.

[Jade Warshaw]

How long are you unable to work? Like what's the status of that? That.

[Caller]

So I've been out of work already for about 18 months. Oh man.

[Rachel Cruz]

And the 2 million, did you get hurt on the job and you're getting a settlement?

[Caller]

I did not get hurt on the job. I had a fall. But I am getting a settlement.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Caller]

For about almost $2 million. So I need to refund my 401k. I need to buy another property, I need to buy a car. Like I need things to do. But I also want to open up a business. I want to open up a home care business.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, let's pause, Pause, let's pause. Cause cuz you're, you're already starting to go back into that mindset which is the moment I have money, I gotta spend it on something. And that's not true. So I want to open up the conversation with a really basic principle that we teach here and we, it's so basic that we teach it to kids which is when you have money, there's three things you do with it. You give some, you save some and you spend some time them and you have to do all three and you have to do them in the correct proportions. And if you can walk away with that little piece and filter everything through that Aya, that's going to help you because you've got to save some. And that's the part that's missing from your equation. So those three things. And then the second part, which I'll call it the second part but it's, it's probably the most important thing that needs to underpin all of the this, which is you've got to decide and I don't know what your relationship with debt has been, but you've got to decide no matter what. I don't borrow money.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

At all.

[Jade Warshaw]

Ever done.

[Rachel Cruz]

Not for business, not for other people, not for cards. We don't borrow money. Ayia. Say it. I don't borrow money.

[Caller]

I don't borrow money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Ever. Keep over it.

[Rachel Cruz]

Keep that so close to your heart. Keep that so close to your heart. Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

Because this $2 million can change. This will change your life. This will set you up for a life without financial stress that you've been in, you know what I mean, in these cycles. And so we'll tell you kind of what we would do. But first I would also say so Jade's big Point. Did you hear, give, save, spend, no debt. I'm gonna tell you, you need to find someone. I don't know if it's someone, a good friend, a family member, someone in your church, but someone who is good with money. Someone who has built some wealth slowly over time. And you look at them and they're the kind of person that you're like, I trust them, how they live their life and the way they view money. But they've done well. I need, I want them in my life. And I'm not kidding, before you make any big purchase, I want you to call that person before you do anything.

[Jade Warshaw]

Did anybody come to mind, did anyone come to mind when she said that? That?

[Caller]

Yeah, two people.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

And they need to know everything. I'm serious. The deep. I hate the word accountability because it feels so like I'm going to tell you yes or no.

[Jade Warshaw]

I don't know. It's like a friend, but a true friend.

[Rachel Cruz]

A true friend who can be your financial friend who's going to know all the numbers that you need. Someone in your life that is with you in this and not because you're not capable of doing it your own. I think you can build that muscle and you can, but for anyone out there who's single and doing this stuff, and especially if you're coming in to $2 million and you're so self aware enough to know, like I'm not great at this, at this, have someone who's good to, to bounce ideas off of. Okay, so. Okay, those are important. Now what are we going to do with this $2 million? Let's talk real quick. What is your car situation you threw out about. About a car? What are you currently driving and do you have debt on it?

[Caller]

I'm not driving anything at the moment. I can't drive.

I have.

[Jade Warshaw]

You can't drive?

[Caller]

I have to have surgery, so I can't drive.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, because of your health.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, how soon, how soon do you think it'll be until a car becomes part of your life again and driving becomes part of your life?

[Caller]

Eight or nine months. Maybe about eight months.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, so let's just hold off on that.

[Jade Warshaw]

What about other debt? Do you have debt that needs to be paid off? Do you have any debt?

[Caller]

Absolutely.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, tell us, tell us all of it.

[Caller]

I have probably about a $25,000 Navy federal credit card that I need to pay off. You know, just capital ones discovered, but everything is high limit. 20,000? 10,000. Yeah, 30,000. Everything is high limit and everything was maxed out.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So how many. If you had to calculate how much debt you have in credit cards, what's the total right now?

[Caller]

About 73,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. So we're gonna cut those up tonight. I. Okay, we're done with credit cards. Okay. Because AIA is a person that doesn't borrow money. We don't go into debt. That's right. So that means no credit cards. Cut them off.

[Caller]

Up.

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

Get your debit card out. That's what you're going to spend money on as on your debit card. No more credit cards. They've been horrible to you. You see what it's done horrible for me.

[Caller]

Bankruptcies later.

[Rachel Cruz]

Not a blessing. Not a blessing.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so what about the 401k? Was it a 401k loan or did you just take the early withdrawal? Like, what did you do?

[Caller]

No, I did an early withdrawal. I ran into like a little health issue B. So I was able to cash it out. Not too many penalties and I lived off of it for a little while.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Okay. So that's not that work.

[Caller]

But after that I had my accident and so now I've been out ever since.

[Jade Warshaw]

Tell us more debt. Is there more besides the 73,000?

[Caller]

No. 73 should.

[Rachel Cruz]

What's your housing situation?

[Caller]

I live somewhere where I don't love, so I'm absolutely.

[Rachel Cruz]

But you own a home. Do you own a home?

[Caller]

No.

[Jade Warshaw]

You rent.

[Rachel Cruz]

You're renting. Okay. We're going to take some of this money and we're going to buy a model. Modest. Modest. Not a two million dollar. Not a two million dollar home. A modest home.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

To get us started in an area that we like. Okay, so those would be some big purchases, but you need to go over those numbers with a friend. Please have someone in your life that's walking through this with you and cut up the credit cards tonight. Let that be one of the posts in the ground for you. Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio. I'm Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with Jade Warshaw and we are taking your questions. All right, let's go to Maria in Lafayette. Hi, Maria. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi.

[Rachel Cruz]

Hi, welcome. How can we help today?

[Caller]

So I'm calling because I inherited a decent amount of property from my great grandmother. Her son, my grandfather passed in 2014. So it went to me, my two siblings, my uncle and my biological father.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, wow. So split between five people.

[Caller]

Yeah. Your question is? I am. Everybody's telling me I need to take this to court and fight for ownership over certain people's Pieces because some people intentionally damage the property to lower its property value to try to make it easier to buy me out. Some people have stolen from the estate in a total that's up to like $80,000. So everybody's like, you need to take them to court and get their portions. That way you'll own most of it. What's it all worth when it sells? You can get a fair price. Well, here's the thing. They got it appraised and with all the damage they did to the home, it appraised for $40,000. But it's a brick home in good condition on 20 acres of property with a tractor shed, a pond, two livestock barns, all fenced in field.

[Jade Warshaw]

And all that together is worth 40,000

[Caller]

and a bridge going over it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Are you saying all that together or just the home on the Property is worth 40,000.

[Caller]

They want all of for 40 grand.

[Jade Warshaw]

Who's they?

[Caller]

My uncle that is currently living in the home.

[Jade Warshaw]

No, no, no. I'm saying market value. Like if you, if you took it

[Caller]

to a buyer, he got it appraised. The house with the three acres immediately around it is 40,000 because they damaged the home so much and they all smoke mess. So the entire house needs to be gutted because those vapors in the wall in a.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's a. Not a. Not a good, not a good spot. So.

[Caller]

And they're also very aggressive towards me because their mother, when she passed, she left me everything because she's been no contact with them because of drugs, theft, everything else. So I got everything from her. So they're already very aggressive.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much does this matter to you, this $40,000 shack? Meth shack. You know, honestly, for real, me and

[Caller]

my husband are in medical debt, so I'm trying to wonder if worth it to fight to get a fair price to try to get us out of debt so we can move on with our lives.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much did you say?

[Caller]

Surgery in total? Without our mortgage, we're about. With my student loans.

[Jade Warshaw]

All of it. All of it except the house is what I want to know.

[Caller]

All of it except the house, it's probably like 36,000.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, and how much do you guys make a year? Year?

[Caller]

We make right about 120k a year.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, and how much you said that his mom left you everything. Has she passed away? Have you. Did you get an inheritance then too, or not yet. She's just going to leave you?

[Caller]

She's. She passed. She didn't leave me any money, but she left me farmland that's in a 90 so in Louisiana's a 99 year lease. I inherited that lease. So it's still valid with the people who are with it, which is fine because that's just passive.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, gotcha. Okay. So.

[Caller]

But also where they're at right now, none of them are paying the taxes, so I'm having to pay all the taxes on everything. So I don't get liens against me. And since they're living in it, it's a whole legal process to evict them to even try to sell on the market. And they don't want to do that. Like I have to make a poor decision either way. It's just a hard decision. I'm just trying to decide what, how hard, what should be.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's the process? If you say if you to a judge, I want no parts of this and take me off what needs to have you. Have you checked into that?

[Caller]

I have. And to just walk away from it for $0? I could just sign it over to

[Jade Warshaw]

him and I almost would.

[Rachel Cruz]

Well, Maria, listen, if it's 40,000, because I bet the house you're right. They're going to have to gut it or it's going to be done. I mean.

[Caller]

Yeah, but it's also another 20 acres of land.

[Rachel Cruz]

How much is that worth? Have you, have you appraised that?

[Caller]

That the 20 acres that it's on? Yeah, like I was told by the appraiser, she didn't do an official appraising of that, but she said for all of the property it be close to $120,000 just because of location and everything, not including the house.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. And there's so each of you, when it's all said and done, it it just. In a perfect world, if everyone sold it. Sold it and you guys cashed out five weddings ways you each would get around 30 grand. Ish.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, so the question is from a, from a. And they, they don't have the money to buy you out? They don't have 30 grand?

[Caller]

No, no.

[Jade Warshaw]

And, and are they, are they the

[Caller]

ones Since I think 2014, the other

[Jade Warshaw]

four, are they all kind of off the rails? All four of them? Them?

[Caller]

Yeah. Like the uncle stays on drugs. Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

Who's the executive in and out. Who's the executor?

[Caller]

The executor was a family friend who as soon as this was done and like everything. So the session is done. He wants nothing. He won't even answer because he was like, all of y' all are nuts and I'm not dealing.

[Jade Warshaw]

That answers my question. Which is you're in this with a bunch of just, like, dirty derelicts. Right. And yeah, you have to decide how much, like, there's. There's mental energy and just. There's a lot of personal toll, emotional toll of this that you have to decide if you want to even engage in.

[Rachel Cruz]

And if you went the litigation route, how much will attorneys be and all that that will cut into your 30 grade. I mean, like.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

So you gotta just think through from a. From exactly what Jade's saying, from a mental investment standpoint, an emotional and a financial. At the very end of it all, what's worth it. And I wish a judge could step in and. Have you gone that route at all? Have you. Have you looked into any legal proceedings?

[Caller]

Oh, yeah. I sat down with a lawyer and spoke with a judge that she knows. And my options are sign over and walk away and then send them all a notice to say, hey, you owe me $700 in property tax. Because in this state, when you owe property taxes, one person gets a notice and they're expected to inform the other people.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, so you could do that or pay it.

[Caller]

So I didn't get a loan.

[Rachel Cruz]

What was option?

[Caller]

They said I could walk. They said I could walk away and just try to get what I spent in property taxes since I covered all their share back.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, what's option?

[Caller]

Option B, I can file what's called. I forget exactly what it's called, but it's basically a motion where you have to make a choice. Buy me out or we sell and this is done.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Push forward on that one and just see what happens.

[Caller]

That one is expensive because they. How they would argue it and it would be.

[Rachel Cruz]

Well, they. They have no money. They can't argue it. They can't hire lawyers. They don't have any money.

[Jade Warshaw]

They can argue with you personally, but they can't do anything legally. How much does it cost to do that? Right quick.

[Caller]

I was told to be prepared to drop at least 5,000 outright. Right. And then if they argue it, possibly more from there.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, well, do you? Yeah. If you have five grand available, which you guys are in debt, you may not. I don't know it. I don't know, Jade. Part of me would just walk away.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think I might walk away. I don't know when to hold him and when to fold him and when to walk away.

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[Rachel Cruz]

Foreignsey Show Question of the day is brought to you by why Refi? If you've lost control of your private student paint student loan payments, your financial progress has stalled out. But why Refi helps borrowers explore refinancing options with payments built around their real, real life situations. So to learn [e-mail] Ramsey make sure to go it's the letter Y r e f y.com Ramsey may not be available in all states.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Today's question comes from Natalie in Georgia. She says, I'm currently on baby step six and earn over 100, 000 per year. I invest 10 of my income in a Roth IRA. My monthly expenses are around 6500 hundred. I live with my partner in a home that he owns and we have no plans to get married. I pay him $2,500 a month, which is significantly less than what I would pay living on my own. We keep all of our finances completely separate. I don't want to buy a home. So what would you recommend I do instead to continue building wealth and long term security. I want to make sure I'm following the spirit of the baby steps while also being realistic. Realistic about my situation. Okay. So just to recap, she makes a good income. She's investing for herself. Her money is separate from the the live in boyfriend, but it's his house. So Rachel, there's a lot to unpack here. I'm first going to answer this question based on her.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Way of living.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Which is if I were you, you're not married to this guy. This is his house.

[Caller]

House.

[Jade Warshaw]

Your money's totally separate. Then yes, I would just keep investing and building wealth. And if there is no. Essentially you'd be on baby step seven. So you'd be investing well beyond 15% and continuing to build your wealth for yourself without his input or name attached to any of it. Right?

[Rachel Cruz]

That's right. Absolutely.

[Jade Warshaw]

And yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep, I would do that. And then I probably, I don't know, I just thought of this as you were talking. Jade, My fear is because they're because you're not married, there's no legal tie in.

[Caller]

Right.

[Rachel Cruz]

Like even, even if your name obviously wasn't on the home, but you guys were married and you split, it's seen as a marital property. So you would get some level of equity. You're getting nothing right now. And if he decides to walk away in four months from a housing perspective, you've built nothing on that side of the equation.

[Jade Warshaw]

So unless you made some sort of a document that you both sign and make some sort of a agreement that could hold up in court.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. That if they break up they have to sell the home. And like. Yeah, there could be that. That. Right. Because I think there is.

[Jade Warshaw]

There are documents for that depending on the state.

[Rachel Cruz]

So I would honestly, I would pro. My only. Yeah, you're doing good with everything else. My fear is the housing element of this for you. So either. Yes, you need a formal. That's right. A formal document that will hold it up in courts to say if this long term relationship, what do they call it? It's me. It's. There's a term for it. I'll look it up while blinking that if, yeah. If we, if we separate, if we break up. Up still like what we've been building together actually can be seen as like common law marriage type thing. That's a possibility. And. Or if that's not going to work in your state, specifically in Georgia, then maybe on the side you're just putting the money away and it earmarked for the future and earmarked as a possible down payment on a home if you guys break up. So you can get, you can be in a good position from a real estate perspective. Long term term.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

So that would be the only thing I'm concerned about in this. The biggest risk you have is from a real estate perspective that you're just paying rent, you're building no kind of equity.

[Jade Warshaw]

Absolutely.

[Rachel Cruz]

In, in your life.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's called a cohabitation agreement and that's what you can do. But the bigger part of this, and this is worth saying, but home ownership is such a big part of wealth building. And if you don't have that cohabitation agreement, then your portion of that wealth building effort goes away. And then if I were her, I would be looking for ways to diversify my investing to be able to it

[Rachel Cruz]

if you needed it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, absolutely. But now let's talk about this from a, from a Jade and Rachel perspective, which I think we should. And this is not anything on judgment. This is just for you as a child yeah. This show, and we're the host. I question the commitment that's really here. Because if Sam Wara. That's my husband. If Sam Wara said to me, I love you, Jade. You are the love of my life. However, I'm never going to marry you. I don't want to marry you. And furthermore, I don't want my finances to even touch your finances. That. That gives me cause for pause. I'm just gonna say. And it causes me to go down into shutdown mode and more. So I have many questions. Why you don't trust me? Is there something about me? Did I do something?

[Rachel Cruz]

Is there something about you? Right, that's right. That's right. Absolutely. I know. And that's part of the world today, Jay, that I'm like, I just kind of like, do this. What's the dog? Where they, like, turn to the side a little bit. Yeah, because. And not that everyone has to, like, get married and have kids by any stretch of the imagination, but when you are choosing to basically be married without the commitment, that's where I'm like, what's going on?

[Jade Warshaw]

It just asks questions.

[Rachel Cruz]

What is that? Yes. So, yep, I'm with you, Jade. I think that's fair. That's our. That's the. That's the friends talking.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, friends talking.

[Rachel Cruz]

We were having a glass of wine. That's probably where it'd be like, gosh, Natalie, what's up with Jared? Jared kind of sucks. Why, why doesn't. Why doesn't he want to get married to you? What's going on, Jared?

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, what a guy.

[Rachel Cruz]

Let's go to Memphis. And we have Brittany on the line. Hi, Britney. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hey, guys. Thanks for having me on.

[Rachel Cruz]

Absolutely. How can we help?

[Caller]

So My question, I'm 47 years old, and about two months ago, six weeks ago, I bought a new car. And then recently have decided I wanted to start my debt snowball. And now I'm like, what do I do with the car?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. How much is it? How much did you borrow on

[Caller]

90.

[Rachel Cruz]

90,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm gonna spit my coffee out.

[Rachel Cruz]

She almost choked. Oh, my gosh. Right?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

How much do you make a year?

[Caller]

I make about 150. I bring home about 9, 500amonth.

[Rachel Cruz]

How much is the car payment?

[Caller]

1300.

[Jade Warshaw]

Girlfriend, let me tell you. Oh, gosh.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, I'm sure. Have you looked at at all selling it? Like, what could you get? It's a two month. You'll have some depreciation for sure. But if you turned around and did it yeah.

[Caller]

Plus I was upside down.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, got it. That's part of it.

[Caller]

But I think it was only about by, like, $5,000. And I did put money down.

[Rachel Cruz]

How much could you get out of it for?

[Caller]

You mean this car? Now, how much would I end up probably owing after selling it?

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes. Yep.

[Caller]

So I would probably. I'm going to say I haven't looked really in depth, but I'm saying probably 15 to 20,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Upside down.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

The. Wow.

[Jade Warshaw]

I would still get out of it because to your point, if you're walking the baby steps now and you realize this is too much car for you, which it is, and obviously it's on debt, I would definitely make that transaction. I just wonder, though, do you have any cash laying around to put towards this?

[Caller]

Well, I have about 15,000 in the bank.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, great.

[Rachel Cruz]

What other debt do you have?

[Caller]

In my checking account, I have $46,000 in student loans, and that's it. I don't have any credit card debt.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, perfect.

[Jade Warshaw]

Did you say 4,600 or 46,000?

[Caller]

46,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

Just. I wish it was the first one. I wish it was the first one. Well, you make.

[Caller]

That's what I was laughing about, because I wish it was.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, you make good money. You have 15,000 in the bank, which is awesome. Awesome. So what I would do. Yeah, I would throw a lot of that cash to. Which is going to hurt. You're still going to have to take out a small loan. But I mean, I would, you know, I would look at. Yeah. I mean, 5,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Maybe if you do a private sale, you might hit it right on the head.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, you might. The 15,000, you may have to take out maybe a $10,000 loan from a credit union to get you, like, a six, $7,000 car and a little bit of the difference. But yes, I would, because you'd have 10,000. Then you have to pay. Pay off. And I think you could. You could pay off ten grand. If you put two, three grand at it a month. You could get this paid off in three to four months.

[Caller]

That and you'd be done after bills and everything. I have about 4, 500 left over every month.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, good. Brittany. Yes. Okay, so that's great. That. So that's what I would do. I would get out of this, because that 1300, even over the course of, gosh, a couple of months, is eaten into it. So I would, as quickly as you can save, sell this car, take a loan out for the difference and a little bit more to get you around in a five, $6,000 car. Yeah. And then.

[Jade Warshaw]

And then you're paying 6,000amonth on student loans.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes. And you're knocking it off. So well done, Britney. I'm sorry about the 90,000, but you can get rid of it. It's going to be painful, but you can do it. When I talk to people on The Ramsey Show, 90% of the problems I hear come down to one thing. Not having a plan. Plan. They're not living on a budget. They have no idea where their money's going. Money is just happening to them instead of them happening to their money. And guys, that is so normal. But it doesn't have to be normal for you. And that's why I want you to go download our EveryDollar budget app. EveryDollar not only helps you tell your money where to go with a budget, it also builds a plan to free up extra money so you can pay debt off faster and start building wealth. And the best part, part, your plan is completely personalized to your life. It's the same advice that you would get if you call the show and it's right in your pocket. So don't keep living normal. Go download the EveryDollar app, answer a few questions and get your plan today. We wish we could get to every call on the show because we always leave the show with a couple people still on the board that we haven't been able to get to. So if you have a money question, though, and you're like, listen, I may not want to call the show, don't worry because we have a place for you to go. Go to our website and use Ask Ramsey. So Ask Ramsey is our free AI tool and it's been built and trained is what they call it. But you throw everything in this thing and it shows the past couple years, all of our books, articles, everything in this, and you can ask it very specific, detailed questions and it will give you an answer as if you had called the show. It will be a Ramsey approved answer and what to do. And it's fantastic. I just saw some numbers in a meeting this morning about it and it's like going crazy. It's great. It's so great because we want you all to figure out what to do with your money and if you need help, it's there for you. So go to ramseysolutions.com or click the link in the description if you're listening on podcast or YouTube and check out Ask Ramsey. All right, let's go to Corey in Atlanta. Hi, Corey. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Well, thanks so much for having me.

[Rachel Cruz]

Absolutely. How can we help?

[Caller]

So I am debating on buying a new house. My dilemma is I am almost in baby step seven. That's a goal I've been working towards for a long time and I'm a little scared to take out a larger mortgage. And this one's almost gone.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, man. How much more of a mortgage would you be taking out?

[Caller]

So we are down to 27,000 left on our current house and the new one, the new mortgage would probably be 350 to 375.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, gosh. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

And how much is your current house worth?

[Caller]

About 550.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. So you'd be looking at like an 800,000 ish, $900,000 home.

[Caller]

Yeah, 850, 875 range.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. What's the motivation to move? Is it just size or is it a different area of where you guys are in the city?

[Caller]

Yeah. The primary motivation is to be closer to work. For the last 23 years, I've worked about an hour from where I live and probably 25 minutes off of it. Conservatively.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

How much do you make a year?

[Caller]

We make about 300,000.

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

And how old are you guys?

[Caller]

We're 43.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. I mean if you, I mean it, you know, if it's in the parameters like this is just like the safest way. If it's in the parameters of what we talk about when it comes to mortgages that the payments, no more than 25% of your take home payments. You do it in, you know, 15 year fixed rate and all of it, it would still be a green light from a Ramsey perspective. It's so funny. I feel like this is one part like the second the home upgrade, like if George was sitting in here, I think he'd be more good with it. Dave is still like, I'll never tell you to borrow money even more.

[Caller]

I won't.

[Rachel Cruz]

But I. But yeah. And I think that you guys have enough of the motivation because you've been doing this that I think you would pay this off pretty quickly. Four to five years. I think you guys could get aggressive and say, you know what, we're going to get rid of this. I don't think you're going to like having a mortgage. I think you've made so much progress on the home now that if you got into it, you'd pull a John Deloney. John always talks about this. He's like, he's like, I could not sleep until this mortgage was paid off because they had, they got, you know, A small one when they came to Nashville. So I think that's going to be you guys. But if it's in the parameters, I'm okay with it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Uh huh. And I would say the same thing. If you hear any pause from me, it's only because. Because you had pause, you're like, oh, we're so close. And I can. I feel that for you. Like, I feel the feeling of, like,

[Rachel Cruz]

almost we're starting back over a little bit.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if it's in your value system,

[Rachel Cruz]

then it's totally cool and quality of life, all of that comes into play. And again, you're not being. You're not being unreasonable or irresponsible.

[Jade Warshaw]

Not at all.

[Caller]

Yeah. Every day when I'm driving home and I drive by the location where the house would be and I see the GPS, 8, 25 minutes to home. Home, I'm like, I just want to move.

[Rachel Cruz]

Do y' all have kids?

[Caller]

Oh, this is. All this money is gonna be flying out.

Right, right.

That's making it fun. It's just, I've been debating this for a year and we finally found a house that actually, like, oh, good. Is everything that we want. So now it's like, all right, the rubber meets the road. Are we doing this or not?

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep, yep, yep. I think if it's in those parameters, which I think it would be for your income. Yeah. I think you guys. Yeah. Would be able to do it.

[Caller]

It's nerve wracking.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Caller]

What it.

[Jade Warshaw]

What are you. If you had to give yourself like a percentage, like, what are your percentages? Are you like 80%? I really want to do this house. And it's just 30 per. You know, it's just 20% that says no. Or are you like 50?

[Caller]

50.

[Jade Warshaw]

Where do you think you are?

[Caller]

Prior to seeing this one that we really liked, it was very low because we. We've looked at like 50 houses and I look at how expensive they are, and I was like, I would never move for this amount of money. And then we found this house and I was finally the first one that was like, oh, maybe, maybe I would move for this house, you know? Yeah, I would say it's. It's really like 50, 50 right now.

[Jade Warshaw]

What about your wife?

[Caller]

She. She's more fine than I am because the move will not change her commute at all. So she's like, if you really want to do it, we'll do it. If you want to stay, we'll stay. She's very supportive either way.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

How long have you been in the job for

[Caller]

20 years.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, okay. So you'll probably be there for a little bit longer. Continue. Yes, continue there. Yeah, yeah, I'd be okay with it. And again, I think you guys are going to be motivated to get rid of this. And so, I mean, if you just said, what if we threw a hundred grand at this, you'd be done in three years, which is insane on an $800,000 house. Like, you know what I mean? Like, you're.

[Jade Warshaw]

You could get stupid on it.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruz]

I mean, so you. You guys could. Could really do it. Not that you have to be that intense, but I'm just saying your natural motivator, Corey, I think will be more intense than the average person because you've kind of tasted this, like, level of freedom that you're like. It's right there. It's right there. But from the quality perspective of getting almost 40 minutes back each way, that's

[Jade Warshaw]

a lot of time.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's a lot. That's a lot of time that you get back.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's. And I will. I will say it's worth calling out. Like, there's few things that are like, trump money and time is one of them.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes, yes,

[Caller]

absolutely. Yeah. And I have a young daughter, too, so, yeah. Don't have too many years left with her. I'd like to get those years as much quality time as possible, for sure.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. Well, take your. It sounds like you guys. The fact you've looked at 50 houses makes me think that you guys have emotionally been there faster than what is reality is catching up to. So, yeah, if it's a house you love and it's within the price range. Yep. I would say go for it. All right, let's go to Joshua in Illinois. Hi, welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi.

Thanks for taking my call. Yes. So I have my fiance, love of my life that we're going to be getting married at the end of the year, and she has about $60,000 in debt between student loan, credit card, and car loans. And myself, I have the of money that I could just pay it off once we are, you know, officially married. But I'm just more want to know if it would be better for us to kind of, like, work it through, like, together as if it was the baby steps and kind of be a first thing in our marriage versus me just kind of paying it off.

[Jade Warshaw]

I mean, I definitely would want to have that conversation of what is our philosophy going to be around money.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's what I was going to say. It's just she. Is she committed to living A debt free life because you don't want to go and pay everything off and then she goes right back in her old habits. And you guys are on separate pages.

[Caller]

Yeah, no, she's doing the grade, doing the baby steps, has the every dollar like app. And right now in her, in her current like situation, she works in ministry and doesn't make much money. But once we are married, she'll be moving in like with me and then like with looking for other like work that will act like she has like a master's degree in counseling. So like once she'll be doing that work and her pay will significantly increase.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much do you get married?

[Caller]

What was that? Sorry?

[Jade Warshaw]

When do you get married?

[Caller]

In October of this year.

[Rachel Cruz]

And how much of the debt does she have? How much debt will she bring it in

[Caller]

with what she's paying off now? I mean it won't, it, it won't make a huge dent. Probably still like, you know, 55, like 60,000.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, and how much money do you have ca wise that you're bringing into the marriage?

[Caller]

So between my like investments and other accounts, about 300,000.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay. Is that, is some of that 300 tied up in retirement IRAs or 401ks?

[Caller]

Yeah, about 150 of it is in like 401k and Roth and then the other one's in like a TOD brokerage account.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay, great. Yeah. Well the, yeah, the path to become wealthy the fastest is being out of debt, staying out of debt, saving and investing. And the faster you guys can get on that plan together. I'm a green light. I just want to make sure your values are aligned and it sounds like they are. So I don't really. Yeah, no red flag for me on it, especially if you're both wanting to tackle get out of debt. I'd say it's a gift that you've been so diligent, Joshua. And what a, what a gift to start off your marriage debt free.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey guys, Dave Ramsey here. Every day on this show, we help people work through real money problems and figure out what to do next. Now you can get that same kind of help anytime with Ask Ramsey. Ask your money question and get answers built on Ramsey principles we use on the show. Whether you're making a decision or just want something explained, Ask Ramsey is here to help. It's fast, simple, and free to use. Go to ramseysolutions.com and try Ask Ramsey today. That's ramseysolutions.com.

[Rachel Cruz]

Our scripture of the day comes from Psalm 145:8 the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in love. Clara Booth. Luce said, money can't buy happiness, but it can make you awfully comfortable while you're being miserable.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, Clara, that's exactly what I'm talking about.

[Rachel Cruz]

I agree. I agree. I know. I remember we had this big discussion before we moved. We built a home and moved in in 2019. And I remember I had so many nights in our old kitchen. And so I was like, I just can't wait to. I can't wait to be in our new house, you know? Cause the drawers would all hit. You know, it was like this. Like this. And then, like, we had two babies at the time, and food was all on the floor. I'm cleaning up the food. And Winston was like, babe, you know that, like, this exact situation is just gonna be put in a different kitchen. Like, there's still gonna be food on the floor and all that.

[Jade Warshaw]

And I was like, the craziness continues.

[Rachel Cruz]

And I was like, I know, but at least I'll have pretty cabinets like that I can look at. I feel ya. It doesn't change you. You go with you, you go with you. It doesn't make you happier, but yet

[Jade Warshaw]

it is a little more comfortable.

[Rachel Cruz]

You may like the cabinets a little

[Caller]

bit more in the middle of the mattress.

[Rachel Cruz]

Oh, man. All right, let's go to Meryl in Asheville. Hi, Meryl. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hey, thanks for taking my call. I have a pretty straightforward question. I have an old 401k that my.1 of my first employers created for me straight out of high school. And when I went to college, it just kind of sat dormant and ended up closing. And now I can't contribute to it anymore. But we're going through some different financial struggles. I am now a stay at home mom. So I'm not contributing the same way. I do work part time, but it's not. Definitely not contributing as much as I used to be. And we have a Roth IRA, which we could roll the 401k over into. Or there's also the option of closing it, I guess, and using the money for. We have some major car repairs that just came up. So. Yeah, I'm just kind of curious what your thoughts are on what to do with the 401 or just leave it alone. It has a very good rate of return right. Right now, and it has been increasing. I just can't help it. Increase.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. So I would roll it over just to a traditional ira. You can just open that up. If you rolled it over into The Roth. I think that the tax implication will be there, so you have to watch out for that. And no, and I would not cash it out early because you'll be hit with penalties and all of it. So, yeah, just rolling it over to a traditional. And we would say for anyone who's leaving a job with a 401k, just roll it over to an IRA. IRA, because.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep. So that, that's for anyone because you want to be able to have somewhat control over what's going on and it's not just sitting in the old plan of an old company that you're working at.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And. And the reason behind not obviously not cashing it in is it's still retirement money. So if you take it out early, you're going to be hit with the, the penalties on that and the taxes obviously on that as well. So direct rollover over.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yep. Great question, though. Yep. That's one that a lot of people do have. And, and if you had the money to pay the taxes and you wanted to convert it to Roth, you could, but not.

[Jade Warshaw]

But that's usually a baby step seven deal though, right?

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. And I was going to say. And you probably don't have that considering you said we have car repairs and all of it. So.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[Rachel Cruz]

So that's. Yeah. Thanks for calling, Mel. Let's go to Rebecca in Orlando. Hi, Rebecca, welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Oh, yes, I appreciate you taking my call in for any assistance. So I have had some recent vet bills. I now need to get a biopsy for my cat. That's going to cost $2,521.16. I've not had a working vehicle since December, so I started saving then and I've put aside $4,877.42. But with my other monthly bills and per the rate that I'm earning per hour, I'm afraid I'm going to have to dip into my car savings to pay for this medical expense for my cat. And, you know, I do need a working vehicle. So I'm trying to strategically and intelligently navigate how to go about not only getting a car, but paying for this vet bill and any future expenses for my cat.

[Jade Warshaw]

How have you been getting to work without the car?

[Caller]

I've been using rideshare and sometimes I'm able to work remotely as well.

[Rachel Cruz]

How much do you have saved for the car?

[Jade Warshaw]

4,000.

[Caller]

I saved 4,877.

[Rachel Cruz]

Do you have a goal? Do you have a goal you're trying to get to before you Buy something.

[Caller]

I'd like to get a Toyota or Honda because they're reliable. So I would prefer to have saved up between 8 to $10,000.

[Rachel Cruz]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

How quickly will you get to the 8 to 10?

[Caller]

I had a goal of setting aside $1,000 per month, but it's been a bit tricky because I earn 18.5 per hour and then I get commission.

[Jade Warshaw]

But what's that look like every month?

[Caller]

Major.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's.

[Caller]

It varies. I work for a major telecommunications company and commission, you know, on an average month.

[Jade Warshaw]

What do you make?

[Caller]

I've been making for commission under 1500. So my most recent check, I got a raffle and I got about $2,220.39.

[Jade Warshaw]

But I just mean on a typical. Like a typical average month, what would you say if somebody just quickly said, hey, what do you make? What would you say? 1500.

[Caller]

Yeah, we'll go with that. Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm gonna break some. And that's 1500amonth, not a week. Right.

[Caller]

I'm paid bi weekly, so. Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so $3,000 a month. Yes.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. I don't think you have the Money to spend 2500 on your cat's bio. Biopsy. And mathematically it's just not there. You can't spend a month's earnings on your cat. I wish you could because I love animals and we do. We do, you know, But.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah, this is not financially because you don't have.

[Jade Warshaw]

When you don't have a car. Yeah. And you've got a price. It's a question of priority at that point. Do you fund the thing that causes you to. To be able to work, which causes you to be able to eat and pay your bills, which is your vehicle?

[Dave Ramsey]

Or.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you see what I'm saying. And I'm not saying it's a. I'm not saying it's an easy decision to make by any means. I'm just saying that it is a necessary one, that every once in a while we come to these points where we have to prioritize in order of absolute importance. And that. And this is with anything, by the way, there is always going to be other things that compete to be the top dog. Right. No pun intended. Top cat. But the point is you've gotta. You've got to say, no, no, no, no, no. This is it. This is the number one thing. And number two is going to feel. It doesn't make number two feel any less important, is what I'm saying.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's right. Yeah. And I think what's, you know, and it's always funny what hosts get which calls because George Camel, he probably would say the same thing, but George would spend more on his. His pets. Then all.

[Jade Warshaw]

All of us combined. He would.

[Rachel Cruz]

All of us combined. So, yeah, if he was on here, he probably would have a little bit more. Yes. Lax, you know, whatever. But yeah, it is a. It's a. It's a hard decision, but we have to be wise. And this is where our emotions can easily trump our logic. Right.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[Rachel Cruz]

And you could do that with a home purchase. People go into a home because they're like, oh, we love it. It's exactly what we want. But it's 50% of their income is the monthly payment. Not logical. And so we do have to be very, very thoughtful about what's going on. And. Yeah. And like you said, Jade, we. We love animals. And I would love for you to buy a car and then say, hey, let me save up and cash flow this expense coming up. Yeah, yeah, that. That could be reasonable too. So.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. And maybe get a second opinion with the cat. Maybe. Maybe there's something you can do or there's something that's, you know, will buy you some time.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

But certainly, please don't go into debt about this. That's my number one thing that I want you to take away is don't hear Rachel and I say, we don't think it's wise for you to spend your cash on this. And then please don't go and say, well, I'll put it on a payment plan or I'll put it on a credit card. We don't want you to do that.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yeah. And again, this is always an interesting discussion because we get all the people in the comments who that we're not animal lovers. And we are. We love animals. We have a dog. We. I mean, yes, it is.

[Jade Warshaw]

It is your. Your livelihood on the line.

[Rachel Cruz]

That's right. So we have. Yes. That's where we have to plug in. Like, we have to be smart about this. Like, there is a point of our emotions and attachment.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruz]

Is overdrives like common sense. Right. And some people spend tens of thousands of dollars and the pet does not get better. And then they. You know what I mean?

[Jade Warshaw]

Absolutely.

[Rachel Cruz]

And they may or may not have the money for it. So like, so there is. We. We just have to be logical in this, Rebecca. So.

[Jade Warshaw]

And there is something to be said. I'm a poke this beer right quick right before the show is over.

[Rachel Cruz]

I love it.

[Jade Warshaw]

You have to be able to afford the pets that you have.

[Rachel Cruz]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

So if you're not in a season where you have a lot of margin, it may not be the season to.

[Rachel Cruz]

Because I keep throwing George out, but George would say sell the horse. You know he would. If we don't have the money for. To keep up with certain things. Yes. Like there's a point. Which is sad, but they will always. They will always come back around. Well, Jade, great show. Thanks to everyone in the booth. And remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of peace, Christ Jesus.