There's Always Hope When Facing Financial Hardship

Summary

The Ramsey Show – “There's Always Hope When Facing Financial Hardship”

Date: February 13, 2026
Host: Rachel Cruze, Dr. John Delony (Ramsey Network)

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Overview

This episode of The Ramsey Show centers on the inspiring idea that anyone can take control of their finances and change their life—no matter their past mistakes or current struggles. Through live calls, Rachel Cruze and Dr. John Delony field a variety of real-world questions, from blending finances in remarriage and overcoming debt from addiction, to home ownership dilemmas, caring for aging parents, and celebrating debt-free milestones. The tone is compassionate but practical, with a focus on both the technical and emotional elements of personal finance.

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Key Discussion Points & Caller Highlights

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1. Combining Finances After Engagement & Past Financial Control Issues

[00:13–09:00]

• Caller: Aaron from Alaska, recently engaged, self-identified control issues, wishes to combine finances with fiancée (second marriage for both).
• Advice:
  • Self-awareness praised: “For a person with control issues to say that sentence out loud, that tells me you’re pretty special.” – Dr. John Delony [01:29]
  • Practical steps:
    • Wait until after marriage to combine accounts.
    • Begin budgeting conversations during engagement (planning wedding budget as a ‘test run’).
    • For control: Make the initial budget, then explicitly invite your spouse to make changes, “and then hold your breath...do your breathing exercises.” – Dr. John Delony [05:07]
    • Use the phrase: “The story I’m choosing to make up is…” to frame conflicts, opening up honest communication.
  • Emotional side: Entering vulnerability together can make for a stronger marriage—unity and repeated conversations about goals, values, and habits are essential.
• Gift: EveryDollar Premium for a year as a wedding present, encouraging the couple to use budgeting tools together.

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2. Refinancing vs. Paying Off a Mortgage Early Amidst Job Security Fears

[10:00–19:24]

• Caller: Bernadette from Tampa, FL—significant equity in her home, spouse wants a 30-year mortgage (job instability), she prefers 15-year.
• Context: Husband's childhood involved housing insecurity, making him risk-averse.
• Advice:
  • “If you didn’t refinance, you’ll still pay off the house early. You’re on track.” – Rachel Cruze [12:20]
  • With strong income ($300K+), large emergency fund, and significant assets, the risk isn’t in the loan term but in staying in debt longer out of fear.
  • Dr. Delony: “What if y’all just sucked it up for 18 months and just paid this thing off?” [17:01]—suggests short-term intensity to remove risk and stress entirely.
  • Rachel supports a more intense payoff to address both financial and emotional risks.

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3. Overcoming Debt—Gambling, Shame, and the Emotional Side of Recovery

[22:22–30:25]

• Caller: Justin from Chicago—$70K in combined debts due to issues with gambling, now in recovery; high household income ($235K), wife supportive.
• Emotional Emphasis:
  • Dr. Delony: “You can’t go anywhere if you’re going to carry around all the past mistakes you made...this is a path to freedom. It’s not flogging you for what you did in the past.” [27:32]
  • Rachel: “Paying off this stuff can be easy, but it’s much more fulfilling when you do the deep work too.”
  • Shame is a barrier, not a motivator. It’s essential Justin sees this journey as reclaiming self-worth, not self-punishment.
• Gameplay Plan:
  • Don’t tap into retirement/inheritance funds.
  • Use high income and cutbacks to pay these debts off rapidly via “smallest to largest” snowball method.

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4. Should You Have Kids While in Debt? The Baby Step #2 Dilemma

[32:50–37:59]

• Listener Question: Marco in Arkansas—Should people wait to have children until out of debt?
• Rachel: “If the only thing you cared about at life was money, maybe. But create a life you love and let money support that... money is not your life. So: get married, have babies, build your life—even in Baby Step 2.” [33:25]
• Dr. Delony: “Anything worth doing is hard. Build a marriage and a family while you’re getting out of debt—that’s amazing. Children and a meaningful life far surpass dollars alone.” [35:27]

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5. House Poor with Roommates: When the Mortgage is 50% of Income

[38:05–42:04]

• Caller: Mariah from San Diego—impulsively bought a home, half their income goes toward it, rely on multiple renters.
• Advice: Rachel urges setting measurable income growth benchmarks before deciding to keep the home. If progress isn’t made in a year, have a “hard and fast rule” to sell. “The stress is weighing on you...have benchmarks and be willing to make the hard call.” [41:33]
• Dr. Delony: “You’ve already left the house emotionally. Now you just need a plan to catch up.”

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6. Car & ATV Payment Outpaces Low Income—How to Escape the Trap

[44:13–52:41]

• Caller: Skyler from Little Rock, AR—$31K income, $28K car loan ($10K negative equity), $10K ATV loan, owns a used car but coasts in current life.
• Advice:
  • Sell the car and ATV, even if owing money—a small loan is less harmful than ongoing payments that strangle cash flow.
  • Rachel and John encourage pursuing greater purpose and stable full-time work: “Are you just going to cash out, just barely getting by, or will you say, hey, I was put on this planet to contribute?” – Dr. John Delony [51:33]
• Gift: Ken Coleman’s book on purposeful work.

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7. Caring for an Elderly Parent Who Refuses to Change

[86:42–95:11]

• Caller: Elizabeth—83-year-old mom with chronic overspending and debt, asks if she should pay off debt and take control of finances.
• Advice:
  • Yes, pay off if it won’t jeopardize your own family; but get legal control and freeze credit to prevent future borrowing.
  • Set expectations: “You’re not going to see psychological awakening at 83...just focus on keeping her safe, keep the lights on, and have realistic boundaries.” – Rachel Cruze [91:08]
  • More than technical management—loneliness and isolation are root causes. Encourage community engagement for better quality of life.

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8. Divorce, Property, and Grief: Letting Go of ‘The Dream’

[53:44–63:09]

• Caller: Susan from Indianapolis—After 21 years, blindsided by divorce, wants to keep family home on ex-husband’s family land.
• Advice:
  • Dr. Delony: “He no longer gets a vote. You are making a business transaction. Hire a good attorney to fight for your best interest.” [55:29]
  • Rachel: Warns staying surrounded by ex’s family may emotionally and practically trap Susan. Advocates selling the house and renting for a year for clarity.
  • “The life you had is over. The dreams you had for the future are now different. It’s brutal, but letting go of the old dream is how you build a new, better one.” – Dr. John Delony [60:15]

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9. Celebrating Big Wins: Debt-Free Homeowners Share Their Stories

[65:01–76:26] & [106:43–115:51]

• Kyle & Sarah from Akron, OH – Paid off $150K (Their House) in 47 months before mid-30s.
  • Key to success: “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right. We knew that we could.” – Kyle [73:24]
  • Tactics: Large down payment, disciplined budgeting, consistent teamwork and vision.
• Brandon & Taryn from Fresno, CA – Paid off $291K home in four years through intense side hustles.
  • “Be a team, trust God, and don’t stop tithing. That’s how you get through it.” – Taryn [113:17]
  • Big payoff: Bringing their baby home to a debt-free house and a marriage that learned to work together.

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10. Rapid-Fire Call Highlights

• Should You Pause Retirement Investments at 50? Alex from Idaho weighs putting $20K/year into retirement when already ahead. Dr. John warns about underestimating compound growth over time; Rachel urges balanced giving, saving, spending. [96:39–101:40]
• Double Mortgage Dilemma: Darian in Colorado Springs bought two homes, losing money renting townhouse. Solution: Sell, take $30K loss instead of keeping a bad investment. Don’t go into foreclosure. [101:40–105:51]
• Windfall Settlement Plan: Toby in Chicago expects $3.5M settlement, only debt is mortgage. Rachel urges patience, intentional planning, no lifestyle changes for six months, and working with a financial advisor to save, give, and only slowly spend such a life-changing amount. [123:24–127:04]
• Anger and Resentment in Marriage: Elizabeth from NJ, frustrated at husband’s recent life choices, seeks guidance on expressing fear he’ll put the family in debt. Dr. Delony stresses that deeper teamwork issues must be addressed, likely with professional help. [118:13–123:07]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Self-Awareness in Marriage:
  “For a person with control issues to say that sentence out loud, that tells me you're pretty special.”
  – Dr. John Delony [01:29]

• On Facing Past Money Mistakes:
  “You can’t go anywhere if you’re going to carry around all the past mistakes you made...this is a path to freedom. It’s not flogging you for what you did in the past.”
  – Dr. John Delony [27:32]

• On Having Kids Before Debt Is Gone:
  “Get married in Baby Step 2. Have babies in Baby Step 2. Like, money is not your life. These things trump money.”
  – Rachel Cruze [33:25]

• On Navigating Divorce & New Realities:
  “The life you had is over. The dreams you had for the future are now over. They’re different now.”
  – Dr. John Delony [60:15]

• On Changing Your Family Tree:
  “Dude, this kid won the lottery and not, not because of the money y'all make, but because they've got two hard working parents that love each other and know how to do hard stuff.”
  – Dr. John Delony (to Brandon & Taryn) [114:12]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:13 – Introduction, wedding/marriage events, first caller on combining finances post-engagement.
• 10:00 – Mortgage term conflict—risk versus payoff intensity.
• 22:22 – Gambling debt, shame, and starting over with hope.
• 32:50 – Is it wise to have children while paying debt?
• 38:05 – House poor listener with multiple renters—should they sell?
• 44:13 – Young listener drowning in car/ATV payments, needs a reset.
• 53:44 – Divorce, property, and painful acceptance of a new future.
• 65:01, 106:43 – Celebrating debt-free milestones—what teamwork, sacrifice, and vision can achieve.
• 86:42 – Adult children helping financially irresponsible, aging parents.
• 96:39 – Is there ever a time to pause retirement investments?
• 101:40 – Double mortgage risks—how to cut losses.
• 118:13 – Marriage trouble: resentment, fear, and debt.

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Final Thoughts

Throughout the episode, Rachel and Dr. John highlight that hope and transformation in personal finance begins with facing reality—financial and emotional. Their advice is as much about honest communication, courage, and teamwork as it is about technical money moves. The phone lines reflect America: marriages, addictions, windfalls, setbacks, and slow, hard-won victories.

Above all, the hosts implore listeners to build a life worth living—using money as the tool, not the master; and to believe that no matter how deep the hole, you can always climb out, and there’s always hope.

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Resources Mentioned

• EveryDollar (budgeting app)
• Find the Work You’re Wired to Do (Ken Coleman book)
• Smartvestor Pro (financial planning/advisors)
• Financial Peace University (FPU)
• Ask Ramsey AI Tool: for immediate financial questions answered with Ramsey principles

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Listen to the full episode for:

• More on handling sudden wealth responsibly
• Strategies for supporting (but not enabling) financially struggling relatives
• Candid talk about marriage, mental health, and money
• Uplifting debt-free screams and deep emotional encouragement

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“Remember, there’s ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that’s to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.” – Rachel Cruze [127:04]

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Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[Rachel Cruze]

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'm Rachel Cruze hosting this hour with Dr. John Deloney. And it's a special show because we're kicking off our money and marriage events and have many people here in studio that are going to be attending the events, which is so fun. And so we are here though on this show to take your calls. So you can give us a call at 888-825-5225. The lines are open. So we're here to talk about your life and your money. Up first. Oh, gosh. All the way in Alaska, we got Aaron. Hi, Aaron.

[Caller]

Hi. How you doing?

[Rachel Cruze]

We're doing great. How can we help?

[Caller]

So my question is now that I am engaged to the most amazing woman in the world, when we do get married, we've agreed that we want to combine our finances into one account and do that together. But I. One, I've never combined finances with anybody before, even in my first marriage. And two is I actually kind of have some control issues that I know I have. So my question is, what advice would you guys give to people and how we can be successful in doing that together?

[Rachel Cruze]

It's a great question. Very self aware.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Aaron, tell me, tell me about your control issues. For, for a person with control issues to say that sentence out loud, that tells me you're, you're pretty special. What does control issues mean?

[Caller]

I've spent the last couple years in therapy kind of getting over my own personal things and stuff like that. The last year or two, I think for me it's. I get really frustrated when, you know, part of it's kind of like not getting my way or I think this is the best way to do this. Why aren't doing this way and then just kind of micromanaging things and stuff like that. And I know it's been an issue in past relationships and obviously this isn't something that I want to get in the way. With me and my fiance, bro, this.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Is what changing a family tree looks like in real life. I'm super proud of you, dude.

[Caller]

Oh, thanks, man.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Like, like, for real, to, to be able to say I've hurt people in the past, I've not been the guy that I want to be and I want to do something different and I'm going to go get the Education. And now I'm asking for wisdom on, like, okay, rubber meets the road. How do I do? That's how the whole country will change if people will start doing what you're doing right now. So hear me say, I'm proud of you, dude. It's awesome.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well done.

[Caller]

Thank you.

[Rachel Cruze]

But you mentioned this.

[Caller]

The last couple years has been all about that.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Good.

[Rachel Cruze]

So good. You mentioned this is your second marriage. Is it her second marriage as well?

[Caller]

It is.

[Rachel Cruze]

It is. Okay. Because we do find with second marriages, specifically, that. Not that it's harder to take this step of combining finances, but there's already been so much pain and hurt and untangling of finances if they were combined in the previous marriage, that going into the second, sometimes it's like a bigger hill to climb, to be like, okay, we're going to do this. But the fact that you guys are doing something even differently than your first with money is. Is so encouraging. So. So, yeah, so what I would do is, like, when we say combined accounts, that really means mostly your primary checking and any savings accounts. Right. We're not combining any retirement. We obviously want to take advantage of each of you having your own retirement. And when you're looking at combining it, there's a couple of things. So it's the logistical side of just changing checking accounts, which some people, we hear that excuse, like, oh, I just want to go down to the bank and do it. It's just so much work. So there's that side. But then there's also the side of realizing, okay, she is going to spend money on things that you may not truly understand and vice versa. And. And what's beautiful about that, though, is that's where the conversations start to happen, even in the conflict that starts to happen. So if you can kind of get ahead of that, Aaron, and do a budget together, sit down together and walk through where you want your income to go as you guys combine incomes and say, this is one. But you can start having those conversations and engagement. I wouldn't pull any triggers till after you actually are legally married. But this is a great point. And even the wedding planning, you know, is a great kind of springboard into this. Like, create a wedding budget. You guys sit down. You even have a checking account for the wedding budget and say, hey, here's what we're going to spend and plan that out together. It's kind of a little bit of a test run before you guys actually combine everything and pay bills together.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And I'll give you two practical tips. Okay, you ready?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And I got this from. From Rachel and from Dave. Tip number one is, since you're the controlling guy, and you know that about yourself, I'm guessing, to use Rachel's language, you're the nerd, Right. You have a way that things need to be done right? So you go first and you make the budget, and you bring it to your budget meeting, and then you slide it across the table to your wife, and you say nothing other than, I want you to look at this and change a few things, and then hold your breath and exhale and do all your breathing exercises as you learned in therapy and all that.

[Rachel Cruze]

Or change as much as she wants.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, change what she wants. And then y'.

[Rachel Cruze]

All.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And then here's the beautiful part about it. Here's the second tip. Anytime y' all get into a conflict on when you say, I think we can do groceries for $100 this month, and she's like, actually, it's 700. And you're like, I'll just eat right. That you're getting those kind of nonsensical things. I want you to use this phrase. The story I'm choosing to make up is. And for people who struggle with control issues, by framing it that way, you are opening yourself up. You're inviting someone in to challenge your story, and yours might be. The story I'm choosing to make up is you don't think I'm smart, or you think I'm dumb, or you think that I don't know how to do Matt or, like, whatever, and then she can say, no, that's not the story at all, actually. And then now y' all are coming together on an issue. You get what I'm saying?

[Caller]

Yeah. You're faring into my soul right now, man.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, well, I may or may not have control issues myself, so, like, being able to just put that on. And by the way, this isn't just going to be your money. This is going to be about sex. This is going to be about kids. This is going to be about where y' all live. If you can start hard conversations with the phrase, hey, this just happened, and the story I'm choosing to make up about it is then you give somebody an opportunity to come to connect with you. I. I say this, and I don't mean it to be cheesy, but conflict in marriage can be a great thing. It's a connection point. It means something matters. And when you invite somebody into it, it's amazing. When you start a conflict with I'm right, or you screwed that up, or it's your fault. Yeah, it's your fault. Then what you're doing is you're declaring war and they have to defend themselves. Right. And so just those two things. And I. Rachel, I'm overdramatic. We know that. I like the idea of both of y' all canceling your current checking accounts and getting a new bank. Unless y' all just have, like a brought out relationship. Because there's something about starting over. Y'. All. Y' all both had other marriages. This is like us starting completely over in the same. On the same page, in the same place. And I kind of like that.

[Caller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

And I. And I can.

[Caller]

I'm listening. I'm right there with you.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. Yeah. And. And combining money, it is one of the more scary, vulnerable things, especially when you get married later, if it's your second marriage, like I said, because you're so used to doing something the way you've been doing, and it's worked for you up until this point. And so changing the way maybe you not necessarily see money, but how you're handling it and then entering into someone else's story, right. That she has her own set of how she grew up, her tendencies, and you guys combining that, it's one of the best things you can do, Aaron, for your marriage. It really is. It is. It is such a central point that so many couples miss out on when they choose not to do it, because you end up running on just completely two separate paths, and you never intersect. You never have a chance to have conflict because it's like, well, that's just his over there and he's gonna just do it. So you guys, are you. You honestly are. You have such courage to step in and do something that's really scary that most couples wouldn't. Most couples don't. And I think you'll be better for it. You really will. The int. That's created the conversations that's created the you, you know, the unity on your goals and your dreams, so much comes out of that funnel of money because money is a tool that creates the ability to do everything. And when you're on the same page with it, it's beautiful. So we're excited for you guys. And you know what? Hold on the line, Aaron. Christian's going to pick up, and we're going to give you every dollar as.

[Dr. John Deloney]

A wedding gift for premium for a year. A Ron.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. So you guys can.

[Dr. John Deloney]

This one's going to. This one's going to happen together. I'm excited for y'.

[Caller]

All.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I used to be that guy who bragged about running on no sleep. And then I realized being tired all the time is not a flex to show up as the best George Camel I can be.

[Caller]

I need real rest.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And that's why I got Casper Mattresses in my home. The experts at Casper designed their mattresses to help you sleep deeper, cool more comfortably. And they've been top ranked in both the foam and innerspring mattress categories by Consumer Reports. You and your entire family deserve great sleep. So go to Casper.com Ramsey and use code Ramsey for 25% off mattresses and 10% off everything else. That gives you up to 1200 bucks off the Snowmax mattress, which is the exact one I sleep on. That's Casper.com Ramsey code Ramsey.

[Rachel Cruze]

Up next, we have Bernadette in Tampa, Florida on the line. Hi, welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi there. How are you doing today?

[Rachel Cruze]

We're doing great. How can we help?

[Caller]

Well, we are blessed beyond all measure. We have 800ish dollar house and we have about 334,000 left on the mortgage. We're both looking, we're both united and wanting to pay it off. Yet we are differing in where we go for our refinance. We have both been students of Dave Ramsey and I am very, very tickled with wanting to do a 15. But my husband citing wanting to mitigate risk for the unforeseen future that he might lose his job, which is to stick with a 30 in the event that we would have then a lower monthly payment.

[Rachel Cruze]

Sure. Just in case. What, what makes him think he's going to lose his job.

[Caller]

Right before Christmas? He lost one boss that was traumatizing and unseen enough. And then after Christmas another boss was let go.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh wow.

[Caller]

And so I and he works with computers and five years ago computer jobs and especially administrative computer geeks. No problem finding a job. It's not as comfortable now. According to him, it could take up to a year to find a job. And when he did, it might not necessarily be for the same price tag. So he's so I hear him and I respect him and I understand he has handled our finances swimmingly for the last 15 years of our marriage when we combined our finances and he. We have a budget. I'm sitting here looking at my budget. We have mapped out what a three month emergency fund would be and a six month emergency fund would be and we have basically two years worth of emergency fund right now.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh wow. Okay.

[Caller]

Plan on putting a big chunk on our refinance and then in between all of this he's also saying, I want to go enjoy the Florida waterways. Let's go get some jet skis.

[Dr. John Deloney]

There it is.

[Rachel Cruze]

Where are you from? Their accent is just like wonderful.

[Caller]

I can tell you. Maybe off the air.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, there we go.

[Rachel Cruze]

Sounds like a conspiracy and I like it. Okay, okay, so a couple of things. Number one, you guys are in a great spot. FYI, like, if you, if you don't refinance to a 15 year, you guys are going to pay off your house early and you guys are on track. Like you are working your way there. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, you're not restarting something and changing something big. It's just more, how can we effectively do this as fast as possible is what you're looking at. So nothing is on fire for you guys. Just FYI, like, whatever we talk about on this call, you guys are good, you're moving in the right direction. So be encouraged in that.

[Caller]

And I agree. And it was beautiful. We got to sit down and he showed me, he's like, here, honey, here's our current mortgage. And this is what it would look like if we paid it off and did nothing else. And then this is what our current accelerated mortgage would look like. And then here's the 15. And the 15 year accelerated and the 30 year. And the 30 year accelerated. And he's like, there it is. It's not that big of a difference in the end, right?

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. Yeah. Because I mean, after you guys refinance, you know, because your interest rate probably will go up a little, right? I mean, if you've had your house this long, if you've paid off half a million dollars of mortgage, of your mortgage already, you probably got your loan right before 2020.

[Caller]

We've only had it for three years.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, okay, so you did get it after.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So it may go down a little.

[Rachel Cruze]

So what are you guys, what do you guys make a year?

[Caller]

He makes over 300,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Okay.

[Caller]

And that's not counting the blessed stocks, the other little folks that go with the job.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, that's just, just base salary. Is that for him? And you guys have a two year emergency fund, you said. So how much if you brought it down to six months, how much will, how much could you throw at the house? If you have 300 left, how much is sitting in there?

[Caller]

So six months, as we calculate right now is about 40. We'll say 43,000. And the my take is let's leave about seven to eight months of an emergency fund just for an extra buffer.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so how much extra would you have to throw at the house after all that?

[Caller]

You think I'd be intelligent enough to write that down?

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, sorry. No, you're fine. How much do you. How much do you have saved right now? What's two years for you guys?

[Caller]

So it's about 176,001.

[Rachel Cruze]

I love how specific you are. Like 176.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So if you kept 75,000 in an emergency fund, which is double your 40, and you put a hundred down on this house as part of the refinance, you're down to 200. And you can flip what he told you right back at him. Which. And again, this isn't a game or a competition, but you called us, and so we're gonna side with you. Since it's not that big of a difference, then it's not that big of a difference.

[Caller]

Correct. And what he. I've tried to be. When we had our conversation, I asked, did you pray about it? And have you asked or sought counsel? And I've been talking to my dads. I've been talking to friends. I've written you guys. And for him, he's come from a different place in his life. His. His parents had. Had to. He said he grew up wondering whether he would lose their house.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Caller]

So I appreciate. So for him, he's like, I'm not quitting. I'm not getting rid of my job. I don't think I'm going to get fired anytime soon.

[Dr. John Deloney]

No, but he has. In his nervous system, he has a lived experience of scarcity. This could all go away.

[Caller]

So in his mind, to have the potential of a lower payment mitigates risk for him, and that makes him more comfortable.

[Rachel Cruze]

So is he. Is he playing. I get that. Is he planning on paying the house off early? You guys have a plan to pay it off early?

[Caller]

We are. The accelerated concepts that he had, he's anticipating about eight and a half years. So when he showed the numbers, the 15 year would be about 8.7, and the 30 year would be about 8.4. And that's not counting any extra windfalls we might put towards it.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay. Okay. So, Burnett, any. Anytime I'm faced with an either or, we have to do this plan or that plan, an exercise I go through and that me and my wife go through. Whenever it's both, when we're at odds on something is we force ourselves to put four or five other variables on the table.

[Caller]

Correct.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You make 300 grand a year. You're about to potentially owe only 200 grand on your home. What if y' all just sucked it up for 18 months and just paid this thing off?

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes, that's my plan.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And then all of the risk is off the table completely.

[Rachel Cruze]

You don't need to refinance and get a little lower. And all of it, Everything's been done in 18 months.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And then he can buy the boat he wants in 18 months. He can. If he loses his job, y' all can be free. But you're talking about, y' all are sitting on so much money. And if I. With. With earned income and with. With your equity in your home. I'm telling you right now, if this is in my house, well, I'll tell you right now, this is exactly what my wife and I have done a couple of times, which is, hey, we're close enough now. Let's just bite the bullet for 18 months and get this thing out of our lives forever. And then we take all risk off the table.

[Caller]

So how does that look like for your family? Does that mean no vacations? Because he has a high stress job and we have young ones and he's. So no counting the year.

[Dr. John Deloney]

No, but. No, but y' all live in Tampa. You could go down to a public beach and have a great time. That would be a year of not going to like some.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, you probably wouldn't blow it out of the water. And we say. You probably heard this on the show because you listen, we always say to be intense and baby steps one through three and then four through six is just being intentional. Right. But for you guys, since this is kind of a stress point, something that you're talking about, it's almost a little bit more of that acceleration just to be done with it because of it, you know? So, yeah, we do tell people not to be. Have a mortgage run for eight more years, Especially with these numbers that you guys can do this and the potential.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Risk that you'll have in front of you. Think about what he's doing. I wish. He's on the phone, he's holding an electric fence and getting electrocuted from it. And he's then telling you, in the other hand, I have to come up with ways to not feel so electrocuted.

[Rachel Cruze]

What's the electrocution?

[Dr. John Deloney]

The electrocution is I want to hang on to this mortgage for eight and a half years and I have to keep working this job. That's super stressful. I can get laid off from. From any moment and I'm scared to death of risk.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And so let's hang on to this Thing.

[Caller]

And what we're not saying is I do have my license as a nurse. I could go back to work.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You could. And you could get done with this thing in a year, but you don't have to.

[Caller]

Well, I can't do that. I do have three young ones. I'm home. Domestic engineer.

[Dr. John Deloney]

There you go. But I mean, I like the idea of y' letting go of the electric fence at all. If he's really concerned about risk and his story rings true with me, I understand that feeling. Then let's clear this thing off the deck. And so what? We give up elaborate vacations for 18 months? Let's go to the beach every other weekend. We can do that on Saturdays and Sundays. But let's get this thing out of our lives for good. And then we take the 1530 year, that proxy war off the table.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, and it's not a lofty goal. These numbers totally do. You make 300 grand, you could do it. You can do it.

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[Dr. John Deloney]

Attorney Advertising Results may vary and no specific outcome is guaranteed.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, big news, John, for the Live like no one else cruise. The VIP upgrades are gone so they are completely sold out for the Live like no one Else cruise. So you've missed the opportunity for the top tier ticket. But if you are debt free, there's still a chance to celebrate and get the upgrade to the preferred for some extra access, better seating and yeah, just some little surprises here and there. So if you have not checked out this cruise, we are going again March of 2027 and we're doing the Western Caribbean. And this cruise was so much fun when we did it last year. And so yeah, I mean The. The time on board with all the passeng entire boat full of people that have been working the plan and getting out of debt. It is just some of the best people, honestly.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Awesome.

[Rachel Cruze]

So kind. And we do all the nightly events. There's entertainment. There's also us. There's teaching. We're around at the dinners and everything. It is so much fun. So if you want to go cruise with us in the Western Caribbean, you can lock in your cabin for just a deposit of $600. Today. You can go to ramseysolutions.com events and book your cabin. All right, let's go to Justin in Chicago. Hi, Justin. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call. I've been a long time, longtime listener, and I just purchased the Ramsey book, but it hasn't arrived to me yet. And I've just gotten ourselves, my. My wife and I into some trouble here and just looking for. For advice and solutions on how to get it taken care of.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Glad you're here, brother.

[Rachel Cruze]

What's going on?

[Caller]

Well, I. There is some consumer. There is consumer. There is 18,000 in personal loan. We have 9,800 in a vehicle loan. The other vehicle is paid in full. We have another loan, a HELOC loan of 44,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller]

And our mortgage. We did everything right with our mortgage. We put an acceptable amount down. Down. I think we put like 25 down. And we still owe. We still owe 272 on our. On our home.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

What's your income, brother? How much do you make household?

[Caller]

I make. I make 95 and my wife makes 140.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, sweet.

[Rachel Cruze]

Good. Okay. So I know.

[Caller]

I. I know that we can. I. I know. I'm sorry to interrupt. I know that we can, you know, take care of this and relatively short amount of. Of time, but I just. I've been listening to you guys for so long. It would just value your. Your opinion on things.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Let me say this first. Rachel, walk you through a plan. I can hear it in your voice, man.

[Caller]

Like, I'm. I'm. It's. It's been a long time.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. Like, hear me say this, and I'm not saying this lightly. I'm glad that you are here.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I'm proud of you for, for recognizing the challenge you and your family are challenges y' all are in and a. Y' all dug yourself a pretty nice hole and you have a humongous shovel to dig out of it. But you can't go anywhere if you're going to carry around all the past Mistakes you made.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So we got to set them down and say, cool, here we are. Don't ever want to be here again. And we're going to head forward and get out of this mess.

[Caller]

I, I am, I'm ready.

[Rachel Cruze]

Justin, can I ask, you said you've been listening for a while. What caused, what caused some of this stuff? What was the car situation? What's the eighteen thousand dollar personal loan? Has life just happened and it's just been exhausting and you guys feel like you had no way out?

[Caller]

Well, life, life did happen. But to be perfectly honest, I, I put us in this situation and I have, I have taken the necessary steps for quite some time now to, to correct that.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Are you in recovery?

[Caller]

So, well, it's, it's not, it's not drugs or alcohol related or anything like that. It was gambling I was gonna say.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. Which is the very real, the curse on our generation right now for sure.

[Caller]

Yeah.

And I, and I never used to, I never used to be one. In fact, the reason why we such a good position earlier on in our, in our marriage was, I mean, obviously we, you know, we both contribute and things like that, but I was just a, I was a stickler on things and I, I think, I think we just got to a point where we were, where we were doing so well.

[Rachel Cruze]

And kind of let your foot off the gas.

[Caller]

I, I, and I made, and I made a lot of mistakes and it's, you know, it's been about, it's been about three, three months now where I haven't, I haven't been doing, you know, anything and just really, really focusing, just refocusing I should say, on just taking care, just taking care of this. And then I, I guess then my next goal is, our next goal, I should say is I'm just going to go full throttle at our mortgage.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's awesome.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's great. Was the, you know, it's always interesting because we get these calls a lot when addiction, some level of something is paired with this debt. That's a pretty common equation. And I think with the extra hill to climb when you're paying this off is like, I think there is like a deeper motivation there, especially when you're changing your life and changing your behaviors. But there also can easily be such shame attached to it. Right. It's not like, oh gosh, we just decided to go on, on all these crazy vacations and got an $18,000 credit card debt, right?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

So what you were saying, John, is letting that part go because Justin getting rid of this stuff, we can make a plan like that is easy, but it really. It's gonna be a more fulfilling journey when you do that deep work, which you may have already done. But.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And listen to me, like, I need you to internalize this. Okay? You hearing me?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Dr. John Deloney]

If you start this debt paying off journey and you saddle up next to your wife and y' all agree, y'.

[Dave Ramsey]

All.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Y' all make a blood oath and y' all pay this debt off. If you wake up every day and keep your budget and check your every dollar app, we're gonna hook you up with that for free. If you do all that stuff because you think you're a piece of crap and this is what you deserve, I promise you 100%. You're gonna crash and burn. If you wake up every day and say, I'm doing this because I'm worth not being chained to banks and to mortgages. I'm doing this because I want to be a guy that my wife can anchor into, my kids can anchor into, because they deserve that. Like, they're worth that. You'll do this forever. And that's why shame will bury you if you're not careful. Okay?

[Caller]

Okay. Because that's really what I've been.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I know it is. I can hear it on you. You cannot go through. Get out. You go through the baby steps because you think you suck and you're an idiot and you're a loser, and this is your punishment. This is a path to freedom. It's not. It's not a. It's not flogging you for what you did in the past. Okay.

[Caller]

Can I ask you guys a. A quick question about it? It's. It's not. I mean, I. I just. It's kind of one of those things where I just. I. How. How did I get us here? That's not. I. I know that and.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Hold on. It's not a helpful question right now. Yeah, that's a question between you and your therapist. We're going to start doing the next right thing before we know why. Okay? Because that. That's a trap. It's a cultural trap.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Like you trying to figure out and get to the root of why I'm going to stop yelling at my wife before I stop yelling. That's. That's. That's the wrong order.

[Rachel Cruze]

But you do need.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You've got to do the work.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You got to talk to somebody. You need to be in a recovery group. You need to do that stuff. Of course. But we're going to start.

[Caller]

Start.

[Dr. John Deloney]

We're going to stop gambling today. We're going to stop borrowing money today before we get to the root of, you know, what happened when all that stuff is well and good. I wrote a book about it. It's important, but it's not the right order right now. We're going to stop the harming behavior and Rachel's going to walk you through a plan right here. It's pretty simple, especially for guys that make as much money as y' all do.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Caller]

So we, can I just say one real quick thing. I, I guess I got a little off track and we do have, we do have. I guess I would consider a large, a large sum of, of money. But I guess I would consider that my wife's because her mom did pass away about four years ago and it's in a Roth IRA and there's.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, I wouldn't touch that, Justin. Yet. So keep that all. Anything retirement 401k Roths do, not because.

[Dr. John Deloney]

It'S hers, but because it's in a retirement account.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's right. Because of the tax. Yes, yes. Keep that there. And then if you guys have any stocks, any savings anywhere else, throw it at this debt. But honestly, you guys can have this paid off. I mean with your income in, in 18 months, you could do this very, very quickly, Justin. So you guys pay off the smallest debt first to the largest and include the heloc. And then later you can start investing and then we can look at paying off the house. If you're looking for a more budget friendly way to save on medical costs and stay true to your values, Christian Healthcare Ministries is a great option to think about. CHM is not health insurance. It's a health cost sharing ministry. A biblical community based way for Christians to share each other's medical bills. That means no enrollment deadlines and you can choose any doctor or hospital you want. That kind of freedom is big, especially if you're self employed between jobs or you just need something that fits your, your budget better. CHM has been around for decades, faithfully serving the Christian community. And many members save hundreds of dollars a month compared to traditional health insurance. And that margin gives you breathing room when you're working the baby steps and trying to steward your money well. And right now CHM is offering new members a 50% credit towards their first month of membership. Get [e-mail] budget and use promo code RAMSEY. That's chministries.org budget promo code RAMSEY. Gramsey Show Question of the day. Oh, excuse me.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, Rachel's going through puberty.

[Rachel Cruze]

Answered by why refi? If your private loans are in default and other lenders said no, why refi could be your next step. Why refi was built for this situation, helping borrowers refinance with a low fixed rate and an affordable payment so that you can get back to winning with money. Check out yrefi.comramsey. that's the letter Y, R E F Y.com Ramsey may not be available in all states.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, man. I just pre read this question and. And I felt a rant coming on, so you have to go first, Rachel.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, I can't wait. Read it.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Today's question comes from Marco in Arkansas. Marco, this is for you, brother. Why do you encourage people to have children in baby step two while they're paying off debt? I understand that babies can be unexpected, but why do you encourage listeners to have a child when it will add a large line item to the budget that could go towards paying off debt? If you didn't have that child, the money, bro, the money saved could go towards debt. Wouldn't that be a better plan?

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, here's what I would say. It would be if the only thing you cared about at life was money. Money is like a thing to help your life. So create a life that you love and let money support that. So, yes, get married during baby step two. Have babies during baby step two. Like, like, money is not your life. This is not your life. Now, sometimes it has to be for a season to get yourself in a better financial position. And you may be kind of obsessed for a year or two to get out of debt. Like, absolutely. But that doesn't pause the bigger things in life, which are your health, your spiritual life, your family. Like, those things trump money. You have to understand that. Now, again, I will say with the caveat. Always there are sacrifices you make, but we're not sacrificing those things. Those are. That creates a full life. So no, have babies. Have babies in baby step two. Have two babies in baby step two. Make it a twofer.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Have five. Have five babies, Marco.

[Rachel Cruze]

I wonder if Marco has babies. I will say out of all the Ramsey personalities, not to throw him under the bus, he's not here. Maybe he can come in and do a segment. George is someone that's like, hey, if you are stressed to the max and you keep on having bait, you're going to continue to be stressed like he. He has.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I know, but George also opens his garage with a cell phone. He's like a special case of anger.

[Rachel Cruze]

I'm saying on an Extreme case. Extreme. Extreme. Extreme. You may, I don't know, think twice about. I think that's what George may say. But overall, my philosophy is the big things in life are always going to trump money. And so have a life that you want. Well, go, John. Now, here's your rant.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's just. I, I.

[Rachel Cruze]

What? You have to rant. I barely ranted.

[Dr. John Deloney]

No, I'm good. Because I'll be ugly.

[Rachel Cruze]

No, you won't go. You're never.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Let me say this as somebody who. We struggle to have kids for years. We've lost a lot of pregnancies, and I've got two kids that if you had told, like, again, like, look at on paper. You have a child, it messes up your money. It changes your relationship, changes your sex life. It changes everything.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And so the algorithm on paper doesn't work. And. And if I could snap my fingers and have one thing different in my life, I would have more kids running around my house because of the depth of. And the purpose and the like. You don't know who you are, I believe, until you feel the weight on the squat rack. And that can be. Some people can't have kids. I've been there. And so that can be in your purpose. That can be in the things that you're doing. That can be in the responsibilities that you put yourself underneath that you get to carry. That's where you find purpose. And so I can't think of anything greater, any, Any greater calling. If you're able to. Than to go have kids.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And so to pause it, because I'm a part of this plan, man. You'll pay off debt as you go.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's right.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Because I mean, following your same line of logic, Marco. And again, by the way, I want to be sensitive to those who can't. I've been there. I know. Yeah. To those who have lost pregnancy. I've been there. I get it. And I can't also not say that it's not super stressful. Doesn't cause fights in your marriage. It doesn't cause it's hard.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And anything in the world worth doing is hard. Right. But following your same thing, Marco, like, let's not have a car then, because that's an extra expense. Let's just walk. And let's not have a home. Let's. Let's live in a tent. We can do that cheaper. Like, you can follow this line of thinking all the way out.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes, that's so.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So we want you to follow a plan you can actually do. We want you to make sacrifices where you need to. And the sacrifices we're talking about are going out to eat, for God's sakes, and vacations, for crying out loud, and working extra job. All that stuff's important, especially for a season. But, man, the big stuff, like build a marriage with somebody while y' all getting out of debt. That's amazing. Navigate having a kid and having to also make sacrifices. Yes. Learn how to say no and learn how to say not yet. All those things make you. Give you the life that you really want down the road. So.

[Rachel Cruze]

And I would say, too, along those same lines, I think it's so common for people to say, we'll have kids, win. And it could be a financial goal.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That was a career goal, a whole thing.

[Rachel Cruze]

And it's like. Like there will always be something to be chasing. Right. So just. Just do it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's where I've changed in life. I'm a little bit like, have. Have kids. Have them soon. Have them soon. If you. Yeah. Well, Marco, you're fun. Thanks for. Thanks for the question.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Hey, you know what? I'm guessing? I'm guessing his wife. Here's what I think. I think Marco's wife wants to have kids.

[Rachel Cruze]

I know.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And he's trying to come up with reasons to not.

[Rachel Cruze]

I want to hug her.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Have six. Marco, have sex.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, let's go to Mariah in San Diego. Hi, Mariah. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi. Thanks for having me. I'm so nervous to talk to you guys.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, don't be.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I'm nervous. I'm sitting by Rachel Coors, for crying out loud. How do you think I feel?

[Rachel Cruze]

We're glad you called.

[Caller]

My husband says I'm a glutton for pain by calling because he knows you're gonna yell at me.

[Rachel Cruze]

No, you called when Dave's not here. We will not yell. I promise.

[Caller]

Thank you. I am relieved.

[Dave Ramsey]

So.

[Caller]

Well, we have been half listeners for the last eight years of our marriage, and we pretty much impulsively bought a house because we wanted to have a house before our first baby. And so we've been in this house for four years now.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller]

And it is 50% of our income, and it is exhausting. It's like sucking the life out of us. However, my husband runs his business out of our three car garage, so we don't really know what to do because we have renters, and that's how we stay alive and so on us. Correct. Two are family, and then one somebody that we found, and we did background checks and everything, and he's phenomenal. So we love our renters and we love the environment in our home. It's just if one of them were to back out or all three of them, you know it, we would not survive.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. Is it 50% with just what you guys are paying plus what the renters are paying or that includes the renters?

[Caller]

50% includes the renters. We get 2,400amonth from renters.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller]

And we make 6,400 on our portion. So we get about almost 10,000amonth on average. It's about 9,500amonth. And. And all of our house mortgage and bills come out to about 53amonth.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, how much is just the mortgage, not the bills, but just the mortgage?

[Caller]

43.

[Rachel Cruze]

43. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're definitely in a high risk situation and you're having to depend on these people exactly how you're feeling. Yeah, I think I. Unless he's going to be getting a significant raise anytime soon, is the business. He's running his own business, is there an upward trajectory? Like, are you guys looking out and say, okay, yeah, in two years it's going to double? Like, have you. Have you done projections? Like how it's been a pattern so far or.

[Caller]

So he just started in May of last year, so he's not even a year in. And he did 125,000 before taxes last year and we took home about 86 of it. And so he's been doing really well. And he took off. And because of his experience with his previous job, he's got really frequent clients and he's getting a lot of really great work. So he sees a lot of growth and I see a lot of growth in the company.

[Rachel Cruze]

How fast will that grow?

[Caller]

Potentially in the next year, we're even thinking that he could double it. So we see a lot of growth. But that's the biggest thing is we need the three car garage because renting a space out here for that price is at least 4 to 6,000 for the space that he needs with the tools and everything that he would need to move.

[Rachel Cruze]

Right, right.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But my fear is you've already left the house.

[Caller]

What do you mean by that?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Like, my fear is you're already out. And y' all can come up with a bunch of reasons to stay, but I feel you're already out.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. The stress is weighing on you, Mariah. So what I would do is I would have benchmarks for you guys, because if you doubled it, then it goes from 50% to about 35%. If my numbers are right. And then if you double the business again. Right. If it really is that successful, you guys will be fine in 24 months. But the question is, you have to have benchmarks. And if you can sustain that for 24 months and hold your breath and say, let's see if this works, you could. But if it does not double in a year, you guys have to have a hard and fast rule to say we're selling, we're getting out of this if it does not happen.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Dave, we got a lot of calls on this show where life happens.

[Caller]

One day someone's healthy, they're working, providing.

[Dr. John Deloney]

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.

[Dr. John Deloney]

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.

[Dr. John Deloney]

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.

[Dr. John Deloney]

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.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So don't wait. It's fast, it's easy, and it could make all the difference. Go to zander.com or call 800-356-428 to.

[Dave Ramsey]

Protect yourself, protect your income, protect your family.

[Rachel Cruze]

Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio. I'm Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with Dr. John Deloney.

[Caller]

And.

[Rachel Cruze]

And the phone lines are open. You can give us a call at 888-255-2225. And we're gonna go to Little Rock, Arkansas, and talk to Skyler. Hi, Skyler.

[Caller]

Hey, how are you doing today?

[Rachel Cruze]

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

[Caller]

Well, I make annual income of $31,700 a year, and I'm kind of in the bond with a car payment and ATV. Payment situation to the car is worth like 28. It's $28,000 when I got done financing it, and the payment's like 529amonth.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Holy smokes.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And then you went and bought an ATV?

[Caller]

Yeah, for $10,000, and that's 252amonth. So I don't want to kick you.

[Dr. John Deloney]

While you're down, but that's a very Arkansas thing to do, right? Yeah. Yeah, It's a Texas thing to do, too. So there we go. Some pot talking to the kettle here. Wow.

[Caller]

Yeah, it's terrible. So I'm thinking I'm just gonna have to get rid of this car.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Correct.

[Rachel Cruze]

And yes.

[Caller]

I got a cash car sent over here. It's a Honda Civic 2009. So I'm fixing it. I'm fixing it up. So.

[Rachel Cruze]

Good for you. How much money we have to put into that?

[Caller]

Not very much. I got a new water pump installed, and all it needs now is a oil well.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's great.

[Caller]

Vvt oil gasket, and be good to go.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So why are you calling us? You already know what to do.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, so you got 28, 000. Is that what you owe much? Could you sell it for?

[Caller]

Come on.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, no.

[Rachel Cruze]

Say it again. Say it again.

[Caller]

The negative equity is $10,000. So I'd be negative 10,000 upside on the car.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so you can sell it for 18 is what you're saying?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so you just have to take a small loan out if you can, for ten grand. And how about the only way.

[Caller]

Is there any way I can go through fair winds or is there any possible way I could do it that way?

[Dr. John Deloney]

You'll have to call them and. Yeah, they'll sit down and check out your. Your history.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, a credit union or a local credit union would be a great option. They're usually more willing to work with people and looking at their specific situation. How about the atv? What could you sell it for?

[Caller]

Oh, I'm not really sure. I haven't looked in the value on the ATV yet. Okay, it might be maybe the value is like 7,000 possibly, since it's new.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yep. Well, I would encourage you on that one to probably just try to save up the three grand if you can for the difference. Yeah. And be done with it. And thank God you have this other car. I mean, honestly, that's a lifesaver in this situation.

[Caller]

I used to be debt free. Yeah, I used to be debt free a long time ago. I was managing money really good and I just had a. I messed up.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, we've all been there, dude.

[Rachel Cruze]

It happens. How old are you, Skylar color?

[Caller]

I am 27.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, good for you. What do you do for a living?

[Caller]

I work at NDX Greens. I'm a delivery driver working three days a week. I deliver teeth.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller]

The Norfolk and all region.

[Rachel Cruze]

What do you deliver?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Teeth?

[Caller]

I deliver dentures. I'm a delivery driver for green.

[Dr. John Deloney]

This is becoming my favorite call of all time, ever. I deliver teeth. Amazing. To north Arkansas. Amazing. Amazing.

[Rachel Cruze]

What do you do? What are you doing the other two days a week?

[Dr. John Deloney]

The other. The other four days a week?

[Caller]

Week.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, I spark.

[Caller]

I spark all the time and I just work.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You spark all the time. Is that like a weed reference?

[Caller]

No, it is a. It's a grocery delivery platform through Walmart, you know.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

How much is your. How much is your teeth delivery job? How much does that pay?

[Caller]

15, 20 an hour.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Do you get more doing that or the spark? Grocery delivery.

[Caller]

Grocery delivery I could pick up, like, maybe on like four weeks, like 800. So that's a little extra money in my pocket. It's just if I can get these car payments situated, I'll be so much better off.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, but you're still very, very economically vulnerable, brother.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah.

[Caller]

I want to get you up to my job.

[Rachel Cruze]

50 or something, right?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, you can't. You can't afford. You can't afford a flat tire.

[Caller]

No.

Okay, So I could barely afford tires on this car and I had to put it on a credit card, which.

[Dr. John Deloney]

No, you didn't. You chose to. But here's the deal. Here's the deal. Why don't you pursue more stable work?

[Caller]

Well, I could possibly find a different position. It's just.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You could 1000 million billion percent find a different position.

[Caller]

It's just. I love three days a week, though, but sometimes we have to sacrifice order to. To achieve what we want to achieve.

[Rachel Cruze]

I think we do, Skyler. I think we do. I think 40 hours a week working.

[Caller]

Dude.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

We gotta up the. We gotta up the ante.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You have to get in the game of life.

[Rachel Cruze]

Because, Skyler, not that money brings happiness. We're not saying that, but there is Something about having stability.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Meaningful work does bring happiness.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, fair. Thank you. Ken Coleman. Yes, thank you.

[Dr. John Deloney]

It does. If you ever call me Ken again.

[Caller]

More stable. If I could be more stable and have no payments. I mean, that's just the way to go.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Well, exactly, but I want. I'm gonna say.

[Rachel Cruze]

And an emergency fund and a retirement account. Like there's some. Yeah, there's.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Are you dating?

[Caller]

I do have the Every Dollar app.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, good.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But you don't have any money to, to budget with.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes, he does. He's got like three grand a month.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And, and 80% of it goes to car payments. Right. He's got three budget categories. Food, not dying, ATV. Okay. AK brother, I'm going to send you Ken Coleman's book, Find the Work youk're Wired to Do. And it has a career assessment in there.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I want you to get serious. I want you to do this exercise tonight. I'm being totally serious and I appreciate you having fun with us on this call. Listen.

[Caller]

Yes, sir.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I want you to write a letter to 37 year old you tonight.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And I want you to write him a letter about the life he's going to have because you chose to get off your butt and stop coasting literally through life.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And the work you put in today in your. Entering into your late 20s and into your early 30s will be the platform from. From strength, from integrity, from work ethic, from skills and, and contribution to the world purpose. People that you meet and shake hands with and they learn to trust you. Those things will be the anchor points of your life at 37. And so I want you to write yourself a letter and say, here's who I chose that we were going to become. You're welcome.

[Caller]

And how I discovered the Ramsey show is I know this guy that lives in Heaver. He told me about the Ramsey show and I got involved and I started listening to the podcast. I was like, wow, this is the same situation I'm in.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Well, game on then.

[Rachel Cruze]

A mirrored. Mirrored situation.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yes.

[Caller]

I listen to the off podcast every day. Going down the road, delivering dentures and working.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Not every day, only three days a week. Yeah, three days.

[Caller]

Well, if I can find old ones, I'll review the old ones.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, Skyler, you know what? You're great. I. I would. I'm with John.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You're awesome.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. Finding some purpose, you know what I mean? Like finding, by the way, delivery dentures.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Is such a great gift. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. I'm not saying that, but it's the, it's the coasting sleepwalking vibe that we're getting, that it's like, hey, just let's add a little bit more.

[Dr. John Deloney]

A whole bunch more. A whole bunch more of excitement and spark. Ask yourself that scary, terrifying question. You only get one roll the dice in this life, one life. Are you gonna, are you just gonna cash it out, barely getting by driving three days a week? Or are you gonna say, hey, I was put on this planet to contribute, and here's what that's gonna look like. And part of contribution means I'm gonna have peace. I'm gonna be anchored, I'm gonna have some security so that I can offer that for other people. And man, that means not working, just kind of coasting three days a week. That means getting after him.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, hold on the line. Scholar Christian will pick up. We'll get you Ken's book. But you're, you have some great foundational things that you're doing already. You know, with habits, with money. We're going to have to make just some big changes to really leapfrog and jump forward in some progress, which I believe you can do.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Dr. John Deloney]

See boostmobile.comramsey for details.

[Rachel Cruze]

Next we have Susan in Indianapolis. Hi, Susan. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi. Thanks so much for having me. What an honor it is to speak with the both of you.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, thanks for calling in. How can we help?

[Caller]

Okay, my question in the most condensed form is how should I handle finances as I go through a tour?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Ah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, man. What. What's going on?

[Caller]

Told myself I wouldn't cry.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, it's okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

No, you're good. I'm glad you're here.

[Caller]

My husband of 21 years decided to walk away and I was completely blindsided by it, which has left me living in fear and uncertain of my future. So I'm trying to solve for peace and security. And Dr. John, earlier in this today's call, you had talked about having options, and I have some options. And I was just wondering if you can help me with the best step forward.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, go for it. Put some on the table for us.

[Caller]

Well, so we currently live in my husband's family farm. We purchased the home a few years ago and remodeled. And I thought this would be my forever home. I do not want to leave. However, he does not want the home, but he does not want me living there, because I will no longer be a part of that family.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So before we get going, I want to give you a couple of frameworks. Okay?

[Caller]

Sure.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Whenever somebody files for divorce, whenever somebody says, I'm leaving, what happens next? You go from married to. We go to a business transaction.

[Caller]

Right.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And so I want you to have this. I want you to tattoo this on your. Like, not for real, but, like. I want you to tattoo this on your spirit. Okay. Okay.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

He no longer gets a vote. Y' all are making a business transaction. When he chose to leave you, he took his name all out of the box that sits in the middle of your table of people who get to speak into your life. And for a time being, he's going to be replaced with a lawyer. You get what I'm saying?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And this is how you begin. Because what you're feeling, what you're. What you're talking about. I've heard that.

[Rachel Cruze]

This.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I mean, thousands of times. What you're. What you're. That. That sense of loss and bewilderment. There is literally a death, and it was your marriage, and you have to grieve it as such. But that takes time. But that other thing you're feeling is a sense that you don't even trust yourself.

[Caller]

Right?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Right.

[Caller]

How.

[Dr. John Deloney]

How did I miss this? I should have seen this coming. What should I have done differently? All those questions. And there's never going to a. There's never going to be great answers to those questions, but it's natural that you ask them. But the way you begin to regain trust in yourself, that the ground becomes firm underneath you, is you begin drawing very clear, concrete boundaries about not what he wants, but what you are going to do next.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay. And that's why we hire a good attorney. They're worth their weight in gold, because it's literally hiring somebody to fight for you when you can't fight for yourself. Okay.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And so if you want to keep this house, then you have to go to the next layer, which gets a lot of folks in your situation in trouble, which is, I'm emotionally attached to this house. This was my forever home. I don't want to leave, but I can't. I have a Math problem. I can't afford to live here. And that's what you have to be brutally honest with yourself about. And then he gets to buy out, write you a humongous check for his part of the, for your part of the equity. Equity.

[Caller]

Currently he is paying for the mortgage and all living, living expenses while I stay there. And his proposal is that I can stay for up to maybe three years.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Let me say this. He doesn't get a proposal. I mean, he can tell his attorney what he proposes.

[Caller]

And we are, yes, we're in negotiations right now, but so I just trying to figure out what is best for me in this negotiation.

[Dr. John Deloney]

In no world am I going to let the guy who just walked out on a 20 year marriage be my landlord.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

No way.

[Rachel Cruze]

How much is the house worth, Susan?

[Caller]

Probably about 350,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. And how much do you guys on the low end?

[Caller]

240.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. And question with the family, with this being family land number one, I'm just curious, do you enjoy his fam. Like you want to create a life still in that.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I would go, but I would go to like a estate sale and get a whole bunch of toilets and just line the property line with old toilets. That's what I would do.

[Caller]

We bought three acres in the middle of 80, and so they own all of the land around where we are.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Because sometimes when there's a family land deal, there's something written within. Like, I mean, is there anything that like legally you could take this on? Correct.

[Caller]

Like, you guys, there's, there's nothing in writing that we said we would never sell it outside of the family.

There's nothing in writing.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's what worries me a little bit, Susan, is that my only fear, even if the numbers work and I could be wrong, that you stay on this property with his family surrounding you, you want to start, start a new life and then you're like, hey, I'm, I'm just making this up. Me and this, this other guy in 5 years want to move close over here. And now you're stuck and you can't sell that house because I wouldn't want to do that.

[Caller]

I, I would rather my son, who is. I know he's only 17, but when he's older.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to.

[Caller]

Put him in that either.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, let me say, I'm going to say one more thing and, and it's caustic what I'm going to say. Okay.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And this is like a hard truth. And if you and I were hanging Out. I would wait for about an hour to say this thing, but we only have a few minutes.

[Caller]

Okay, hit me.

[Dr. John Deloney]

The life you had is over.

[Caller]

Gone.

[Dr. John Deloney]

The dreams, the wants, the things that I want to be in the future are now over. They're different now.

[Caller]

I hear you say that all the time, so thank you for.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I know, but it hits hard. I know.

[Caller]

Know.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And I don't say it lightly. I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to be braggadocious.

[Caller]

No, it's okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But trying to think of the way things should have been, where y' all have this amazing place on this amazing property, and you deed it over to your son, who's then 28, and he's got a young family. All of that, it's. Your husband ended it. He set it on fire. And so that dream, that picture you had of coming back to your old house, that he now lives. Your son now lives in with his young family. For Thanksgiving, you have to put that picture that you've painted in the grieve pile. You get what I'm saying? I do, and I hate that.

[Rachel Cruze]

And we want to do what's best for Susan. Susan in the next three years, and Susan in the next 10 years and 15 years. You know, so it is a. It's a looking so far ahead, which is probably so hard to do right now in the middle of the pain, but I just don't want you to make a. A bad financial decision that traps you in something that Susan 10 years from now, can't freely live out.

[Caller]

Got it.

So then I do have some other options, but I don't know if these are good options either.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, let's do. Yeah, tell us what those are in.

[Caller]

You know, in the divorce, I get.

Half of the 401k.

And my financial advisor has told me that I could take that without penalty and put that towards the down payment on a house.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Do you have anything else in retirement?

[Caller]

I do. I will get about 31,000 in a Roth IRA, and then I have about 10,000 in mutual funds.

[Dr. John Deloney]

How much is going to come over in the 401k?

[Caller]

All of it.

[Rachel Cruze]

I mean, how much dollar amount is that?

[Caller]

I'm sorry, what?

[Rachel Cruze]

Dollar amount is half of the 401k. What would that be?

[Caller]

No. Oh, 106,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

106. And then. And then equity. You'll get probably 50,000 grand.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

And how much do you make a year? How much are you working?

[Caller]

I am 45.

[Rachel Cruze]

And you make 45,000.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, so I would not pull out a 401k.

[Rachel Cruze]

I would. You know, Susan, honestly, I would probably just go rent something for a year and settle some of this. And then you can really take your time looking. Because if you have the ability to put down a great down payment and find, you know, a little home and your payment is no more than 25% of your take home money, it's all in the parameters of buying. Buying a home wisely. I would be great if you did that. But you don't have to do that next week.

[Dr. John Deloney]

No, don't do that.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. I mean, don't, don't do that for.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Six to nine months.

[Rachel Cruze]

I would put a lot of this stuff and I would just hold it and wait a year and grieve and then let's look at options. But I probably would get out of this house if I was you.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Rachel Cruze]

Well, over on the debt free stage, we have Kyle and Sarah from Akron, Ohio. Hey, you guys.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hello.

[Caller]

Hey.

[Rachel Cruze]

Hi. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Thanks for having us.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, what an exciting day. So how much debt have you guys paid off?

[Caller]

Paid off 150k.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, my gosh. What did that consist of?

[Caller]

That was our house.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, dude. Paid off the house. Baby steps.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Y' all look like Y' all are 17. How old are y'?

[Rachel Cruze]

All? I'm 33.

[Caller]

37.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh my.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You have a paid off house at 33?

[Caller]

Yeah, we do.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well done. How long did that take you 47 months.

[Caller]

Just shy of four years.

[Rachel Cruze]

47 months. Oh, my gosh. Okay, so. And how much. How much were you guys making during that time?

[Caller]

Started right around a 120. Upped it to about 145.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller]

Oh, my gosh.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so what happened? What was it four years ago that you thought, we're going to pay off our house. We're going to be in our early 30s, mid-30s, and have a paid off house. How did that happen?

[Caller]

Yeah, so we ended up buying our house in September 2021. And almost immediately, I kind of looked at Sarah and we were like, hey, what would happen if we were able to go ahead and knock this out in less than five years? And, yeah, we just started tackling it. Just attack packing it every single month. And we really looked at it and we said, hey, how do we have more options in our life? Have more peace? Really just wanted to go ahead and just provide more.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Caller]

More wiggle room, I would say.

[Rachel Cruze]

How much is the house worth?

[Caller]

House is worth around 330.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Amazing, you guys, that's incredible. How does it feel?

[Caller]

It feels absolutely amazing.

[Rachel Cruze]

I mean, just wild. Okay, so what was the journey like? How. What did you guys do? What were things that you said no to? What were things that maybe you added on? I mean, you were pretty intense. Like, you guys really, really were focused on this.

[Caller]

Yeah, we were attacking it pretty heavily. But I would say that one of the first things that we did was just come in more prepared. So when we actually came into the, like, house buying process, we were like, okay, how much can we put down? And we ended up putting down 115k. And again, your principal principals here at Ramsey helped us do that. Just to be able to get that within that 25%.

Yeah.

Mortgage payment that we were looking to try to. To have. And so.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So if. But if you. If you walked in, that's. I want. I want to double click on that amount of that discipline that y' all had as a couple. If you walk in with 115 grand, you qualified for a house twice as much as 350 grand.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

On your income, they would have given you the world. And y' all said, no, we think we can find joy and have a great life in this house. House that we can own outright in five years.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. And it was during the times when the interest rates were super low, too. So that was kind of advice that we were going back and forth.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, yeah. Also, it was really stupid that y' all paid that off. Right.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So dumb. Dummies. Dummies, right. Nobody pays it off with a low interest rate.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, my gosh. Okay, so for you guys as a married couple, what does that look like? You know, we're talking about the money in marriage event this week. How did you work together as a team? Who's like, more of the free spirit? Who's more. I'm assuming you're probably more of the nerd, Kyle, is that true?

[Caller]

I am definitely more of the nerd.

[Rachel Cruze]

I felt it. I felt that energy.

[Caller]

I have my every dollar budget. We have our spreadsheet that we were looking at on a regular basis. And that gave me a lot of, I would say, momentum. And gave us momentum just to be able to see, you know, if you change that number on that spreadsheet, how quickly could we get out, get out of debt going from. We had a 15 year mortgage. Mortgage. And start playing with those numbers and you're able to see, okay, we could get out in 10 years. What could happen if we up it another $500, another thousand, hey, we could get done in five years.

[Rachel Cruze]

And the interest you don't pay when you do that. That was the big piece for me. I was gonna say that's what's motivating. Same with me, girl. That's the motivation of what I'm doing.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Ten years of interest y' all get to keep and spend on whatever you want.

[Caller]

I was actually looking at your values here at Ramsey just the other day, and it talks about relentless focus over time multiplied by God equals unstoppable momentum. And I really do think that's been our story, is just looking and saying, God, we're praying for abundance here and just seeing, you know, those extra paychecks come in or those little bonuses come in and be able to say, hey, we're throwing an extra two grand, three grand at this. And really just having that belief that it's possible at the end of the day. So I think that's been our biggest move.

[Dr. John Deloney]

All right, so, Sarah, I'm getting some along for the ride energy from you. How did you hang on for four and a half years? No vacations, no new cars?

[Rachel Cruze]

I would say we were not necessarily gazelle intense, but you shouldn't be. So that's towards the house.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Good, good, good. So y' all live some life, too.

[Caller]

We backed off.

[Rachel Cruze]

Kyle would have been. Yeah, he would have been. But he needs you. He needs you to balance that for a good balance.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Excellent.

[Rachel Cruze]

So we built in incentives along the way. We were able to do some renovations to the house. We had our daughter that took some fertility treatment money, so there were definitely some celebrations along the way, especially when we hit those big milestones.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Do y'.

[Caller]

All.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Do y' all have a. A technique or a trick that. Or a hack or whatever you want to call it that y' all used when Kyle, you got that extra check, and you were like, we could get the principal down to this. And you were like, yeah, but I want a human in the house.

[Caller]

Like, I want.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I want a child. How did y' all come to some sort of concept consensus?

[Rachel Cruze]

We definitely used the principles of just putting some in different places, a large majority towards the house, of course, but then we have, like, sinking funds that are set up for the things that are really important to our family, so we know in order, which ones we want to fund first with any extra. That's great.

[Caller]

I do have to say, though, that there was definitely those moments where I had had, you know, we had a big chunk of money ready to go towards the house, and life happens, and all of a sudden you're like, hey, we got an extra three grand to put towards the house. But then the car breaks down. And it just so happens to cost exactly three grand, of course. But I guess when we've looked at that, it's always been God providing through that to say, hey, you know what? You thought this money was going this way, but it needs to go this way.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's a good perspective, because I always feel like when those things happen, happen, like somehow the cosmos stole from me. Right. Like it was supposed. It's supposed to be this number. Now it's not. And I feel like I got ripped off somehow or whatever. Instead of looking at it like you did on the other side, thank God.

[Caller]

It still hurt. It still hurt.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's amazing. Do you guys. Did you have people in your life that you were telling, or did you guys keep it kind of on the down low that you were like, we're going to just kind of do this between us, or did you have people cheering you on?

[Caller]

Yeah, Yeah. I would say the. We were definitely cheering each other around because we just kept having that vision of what would life be like when this payment was gone and what could we do with that money. But again, just letting our parents and our families know, hey, this is what we're doing. We're chasing it down.

[Rachel Cruze]

Did they think you were crazy or were they encouraging?

[Caller]

Encouraging.

[Rachel Cruze]

They were, yeah.

[Caller]

My dad was definitely cheering me on. And every so often would call and be like, hey, what's the mortgage down to? Share what that was. Yeah, it was just really powerful just to. To have people in our corner cheering us on.

[Rachel Cruze]

Absolutely incredible, you guys. Well, you did kind of the impossible, I mean, today to say that you can pay off your house is. Most people. Most people would say, no, that's not possible. It's not possible to buy a house. It's not possible to do any of this. And you're living proof that you can. And in your 30s, 33 and 37, how long you guys have been married?

[Caller]

Coming up on six years here in April.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And y' all have done this hard thing together. Y'.

[Caller]

All.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Y' all have been through fertility treatments. You've paid off a house together. You can look ahead of you and come what may. Y' all know we've been through worse. We can handle this.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, that's really good.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's so awesome.

[Rachel Cruze]

Amazing, you guys. Oh, well, Y' all are incredible. Okay, is. Is the baby here? She's here.

[Caller]

She is here.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Are you gonna bring her up for the debt free scream or you gonna hold off? We're gonna hold off. We just are nervous. If we raise our voices, she. You know, that's fair. We've had many tears. Not happy kids. On the debt freestyle. You know what?

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's probably really happy parents and terrified young kids.

[Rachel Cruze]

Terrified kids. Okay, well, gonna. We're real quick. What's the one piece of advice you would tell someone who's maybe working out of baby step two, and they're saying, okay, the house is next. What would you tell them?

[Caller]

I'll go ahead and go first and I'll let Sarah share. But I really do think it comes down to belief. When I paid off my student loans, 45k in a year, paid off my car in a year. Those are track records that I had that I knew it was possible. I just always come back to the quote, Henry Ford. Whether or not you think you can or you can't, you're right.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes.

[Caller]

And we just knew that we could.

[Rachel Cruze]

I love it.

[Caller]

So, yeah, I just think the belief part is so key.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's so big. Yeah.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

And I just think having a unified mission, definitely, that's our big thing in marriage, is being unified. But with this too. Like, it might have been Kyle's big dream to come here and do all of this, but then I latched onto that too, because we need to be unified in all of our provisions and then just consistency and being able to track what we're doing and staying on top of it that way. Amazing.

[Caller]

We have Weekly kind of marriage moments meetings and finance meetings and so I love it. It's good to stay on track.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Dude, y' all should teach the Money and marriage retreat this weekend. I know y' all can come.

[Rachel Cruze]

We're coming. We're so excited.

[Caller]

See you guys then.

[Rachel Cruze]

I'm so glad. All right, you guys. Well, we have Kyle and Sarah from Akron, Ohio making or paid off $150,000, which was their house, making 120 to 145. They did it in four years. All right, you guys count it down. Let's hear your big debt free scream.

[Caller]

Three, two, one.

[Dr. John Deloney]

We're debt free.

[Caller]

Sam.

Well, Dave, you know on the show all the time we get calls about cars, used cars. What's one thing you want folks to know?

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, really a couple things. Number one is always buy used. Unless you got a million dollars, we don't buy new cars. And if you're going to buy used, number two, you want it to last. And that means regular proper maintenance.

[Caller]

Yeah, that's a big deal. I know when Sam and I moved from South Florida up to Tennessee, that's the first thing you're looking for. You need somebody who can take care of your car. So when we found Christian Brothers Automotive, it was a no brainer and they've been absolutely great.

[Dave Ramsey]

We're excited to recognize Christian Brothers as the official auto repair partner of the Ramsey show. Christian Brothers keeps things simple, honest and transparent. Every repair is backed by their nationwide nice difference warranty. Three years or 36,000 miles, whichever helps you more.

[Caller]

Listen, Dave, I'm first to admit I'm not into cars like you are. But the thing about Christian Brothers is I feel just as confident going in there. They're not trying to upsell me. I feel 100% confident that I'm going to get the service that I need. Need.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, if you want your car to last and stay on track with the baby steps, trust Christian brothers. Go to cbac.comramsey to find your local shop schedule service and get an exclusive Ramsy discount. 10% off your visit up to $250.

[Caller]

Yeah, that's cbac.com ramsc store for detail.

[Rachel Cruze]

We wish we could get to every call that calls in because usually some people leave voicemails and we can try to call them back and get them on the show and then sometimes we can't. So if you have a money question and you want an answer to your specific situation, head to our website and use Ask Ramsey. So this is our new free AI tool tool that was built and trained on money proven principles. So we have taken the money principles here at Ramsey and gone through it all and said, okay, here's how we would answer this question. And so it really is amazing. You can ask your question [e-mail] or if you are watching on YouTube or listening on podcasts, you can click the link in the description. All right, let's head to Houston. And we have Chris on the line.

[Dr. John Deloney]

H Town. What's up, Chris?

[Rachel Cruze]

Hi, Chris.

[Caller]

Chris, Hello.

Hello. Thank you for taking the call.

[Rachel Cruze]

Absolutely. How can we help today?

[Caller]

Well, I have a dilemma, or trilemma, I don't know how to call it, but I'm big car enthusiast and I really want to send a fun sedan. We have two SUVs, fully functional. We don't need another car. But I want to, and I just want to hear your opinion if, if it's the time to buy something like that or I should still wait or not buy at all. I don't know. What would be the answer from your side?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Well, number one, I just want to shout you out, dude. The fact that you called and said, I don't need this, I want it already, like put you in a different category of person that usually calls us. Usually people are calling us and trying to explain why they need this thing so bad. So shout out to you for just keeping it, keeping it real, dude, that's awesome.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. So, Chris, what's your financial situation? Do you have consumer debt?

[Caller]

No, we only have mortgage. $200,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

200,000. How much do you guys make a year?

[Caller]

About 1 78080. Depends on the bonuses and stuff like that.

[Rachel Cruze]

178, is that what you said?

[Caller]

170 or 180k per year?

[Rachel Cruze]

180K. Okay. And what do you have saved? How much money do you have that you would spend on this car?

[Caller]

Well, I checked the net or the assets every quarter, and in January we were close to 800,000 for everything. Like retirement accounts. Oh, retirement savings, the equity in the house. So everything total came to about a little bit less than 800. We have 45 in cash and another 17 is what it's called, like investment account. That is taxable account account.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, is the 45 in cash? Is that all you have? Does that include an emergency fund too? Is that what you would use in case of an emergency or do you have another fund for that?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Well.

[Caller]

The taxable account is also accessible as emergency or something like that. But yeah, that's the cash. It's money market. 44,000. It's all emergency and kind of slash funds so I don't break them by $1,000 or to six months. It just stays there. We're not touching it.

[Rachel Cruze]

How much from the lifestyle that you guys live, how much do you spend a month on your life, including mortgage and everything? How much do you think it is? Food bills?

[Caller]

It's about six, seven thousand dollars a month.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. And do you guys have kids?

[Caller]

Three.

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

Three. Okay. Okay, perfect. Well, so you have that 45 and that 17. So I would, I would probably. Probably won a six month.

[Caller]

Seventeen. Seventy.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, 70. Oh, I'm so sorry. Okay.

[Caller]

One hundred and ten and twenty depends on the day.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, I gotcha, I gotcha. Okay. All right. So. And you guys are consistently investing in retirement over 800,000, you said with equity in the home and retirement and everything else?

[Caller]

Yes, yes, we put about 20% in retirement.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Okay. How much do you want to spend on the car?

[Caller]

Well, it's about 30, $35,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. What kind of car is.

[Caller]

BMW? F M550i, so sedan. We have two SUVS. And I'm going to desire for a faster than.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. What is your. What does your wife think?

[Caller]

Well, she's not saying no, but then I have this guilt inside of me. I keep everybody on the budget and now I need to slurch for myself. So that, that's another kind of factor in the decision making. I feel very bad that I've been on a budget, all of us, and now suddenly I'll splurge on something that I don't.

[Dr. John Deloney]

We call that a midlife crisis, but we all have them, so that's okay.

[Caller]

Probably.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Here's what I would like the money side of it. Here's what I would like to do you to consider on the relationship side of it. What if you took your wife. How old are your kids?

[Caller]

But the way almost 8, 6 and 4.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, so what if you took your wife out and y' all spent a half day together that you. You planned and y' all dreamed about? Hey, we almost have a million dollars net worth. We have three amazing kids. Our marriage is good. Like, what do we want our house to look like? What are some dreams that we have have. And give her an opportunity to put some things on the table that she might want, might dream about things that she would love to see and experience and then y' all come up with some ways to fund the everybody's vision. You get what I'm saying?

[Caller]

I do. And we kind of have a quarterly business dates where we talk about that we Go to a nice restaurant and kind of I give a report. Oh good change. Here we are. Where are we doing what we're going to do next? What's your take? What should be focus.

[Rachel Cruze]

So, so Chris, is there anything that's.

[Dr. John Deloney]

A business report I want you to do? A dreaming report.

[Caller]

Uhuh. Okay.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. Is there anything in the future that you guys are you wanting to upgrade the house? Any renovations, college trip? Yeah. Is there, is there anything looming at all that this money could be used for or are you guys kind of in a holding pattern right now? You're like we're kind of good. We're just invested in retirement gets college. The kids are little and we're just stacking cash because we, we have margin.

[Caller]

Nothing, nothing depends on those money. Like we bought. We go to Europe every year year I'm from southeastern Europe. So we spend like $6,000 on tickets and we can afford it without going to savings.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, you can just cash flow it sure.

[Caller]

Yeah. This doesn't depend on that kind of year. So we have the plan for that. We've done it already.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, well yeah, I mean if I'm you I'm looking at these numbers and I'm thinking okay, that's 70,000 that's in that one account. 35 of it is emergency fund. 35 would be car. So I'm basically that that account to me is non existent anymore because I'm not even going to think about the emergency fund. I'm not calc that it's just going to be over here in case of an emergency. Which means we have 45,000 in the other account. If something comes up that again we're not going to touch the emergency fund for but if you needed, you know, a big purchase that that's how I would, that's where I would go would be that $45,000 fund. So, so I'm saying, I mean I think so there's nothing, there's no big red flag right now for me. No, I mean I think you guys are doing great. I think as long as you're consistently investing, you're living below your means, you have the cash for it with you know, an extra $75,000 cushion including the emergency fund after the purchase of this car. I would be okay with it.

[Dr. John Deloney]

The only and financially of course I your wife. I, yeah, I, I want you. And again I. My bias is people only call me when things aren't going well in their marriages. Right. So I don't want to put, I don't want to put my Bias on you. Okay. But I do want you to ask yourself the question.

[Caller]

Question.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And it might be you taking yourself out for a half day and doing some journaling, some writing out, some dreaming on your own. But do you want to get this car because you love, like you said you love. You're a car enthusiast. You got a gang of guys you want to drive around with. You just want to go cruising in Houston. That's where I grew up. There's, I mean there's hundreds of miles of highways to drive. If like, is that what I want to do? Or do I have an eight year old, a six year old, a four year old. I've got a routine and I'm just finding myself getting bored.

[Dave Ramsey]

Bored.

[Rachel Cruze]

More. More the motivation of the purchase because.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You'Re gonna, if that's the case, you're gonna spend 35, 000 bucks. You're going to be bored on this one and then you're immediately going to start looking for the next one and then the next. And so I, I would rather you deal with the. Am I create. Have I. Am I co creating a life with my wife where there's excitement and aliveness and eroticism and fun and responsibility? Are we doing that stuff together other.

[Rachel Cruze]

Or am I trying to escape?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Or am I trying to escape and this becomes a really, really expensive, you know, like social media app. Just a way to numb out the fact that I kind of am starting to feel kind of bored.

[Caller]

I see.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Get what I'm saying.

[Caller]

Very good advice. Thank you. Very well. Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. Yeah. So from the financial side, Chris, I think you guys have enough margin. I think you're fine. If 35 left today, I think you. $35,000 left today, I think you. I think you guys would be fine. I really do. But John's insight is probably what I would put some of the focus on. So even saying no to this purchase might be a better decision for you, just for you. But if you're comfortable with the answers that you get when you, when you ask yourself those questions, then get that.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Car and cruise the streets, baby.

[Rachel Cruze]

Green light. Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio. I am Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with Dr. John DeLoney and you can give us a call at 888-2555-225. Okay, we're heading to Cleveland, Ohio to talk to Elizabeth. Hi, Elizabeth.

[Caller]

Hello. Thank you for taking my call.

[Rachel Cruze]

You're so welcome. How can we help today?

[Caller]

Well, I'm looking for guidance on how to wisely handle my elderly mother's. Finances without enabling a lifetime pattern of debt.

[Dr. John Deloney]

O. This is a tough one.

[Rachel Cruze]

So what's the current situation?

[Caller]

Yeah, yeah. My mother is 83. She's single and lives alone in a rural community in another state. Her only income is Social Security of about $1,400 a month, and she has no savings. For decades, she cycled between being rescued financially and accumulating $40,000 in debt. And it seems as though that she has a spending addiction. And she makes desperate financial decisions and never followed a book. So right now she owns her home outright with low property taxes, less than $1,000 a year, and the house is set up for aging in place. Our hope is that she can live there, live out her years there. It's far cheaper than renting. And she also has an older, reliable car. So the situation now is she's currently in debt of $40,000. Again, it's 32,000 in a HELOC and 8,000 in credit card debt. Then she took out various life insurance policies to cover her debt because those television ads during the day geared towards her cable news.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Predatory. Yep.

[Caller]

Pardon?

[Dr. John Deloney]

They're predatory. Yeah, they prey on.

[Caller]

It's awful.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Exactly. People in her situation, lonely, by themselves, isolated, and they scare him to death. And then they suck them a solution to their fear.

[Caller]

Right. So now she's paying $40,000. Or now she's got $40,000 in debt, paying interest, making minimum payments, and paying for those life insurance policies.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, hold on. I want to. I want to cut to the reality.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Has she come to you and said, I have a problem. Will you help?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, awesome.

[Caller]

So two. So two weeks ago, she came to me and asked if I could give her dollar help with some expenses. And I said no.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay.

[Caller]

She then made arrangements to make some late payments to creditors, and we took. We think that she's going to be in dire straits in about a month. So my husband and I have an idea that we're considering paying off her debt, taking control of her Social Security income, putting her on a strict budget, trimming her expenses, getting as much assistance as possible, paying her bills directly, and giving her a small weekly allowance. But currently her expenses are more than her Social Security, so she might not get an allowance. We would like to inherit the house. It's in a lake community. But the big concern is how do we prevent her from opening new credit, doing a reverse mortgage, or creating another mess instead of her living within her means with food and shelter? So our question is, is paying off my mother's debt and taking over her finances wise. Or is there a better way to address the issue?

Issue?

[Dr. John Deloney]

I mean, if she would agree to that and also agree to signing over financial control to you guys, make you like, financial power of attorney and also freeze her credit, say, freezing her credit so she can't take out any loans and no one can take out loans against like, you know, you know what I mean? If, if she. And you had the code, right. You had to log in to unfreeze her credit. I mean, that sounds like a good solution. I, I don't think it's a good solution to. I don't like the word allowance because I think she's gonna balk at that.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And because, because then she's gonna feel like suddenly she's your, she's your middle school child and that's a hard psychological shift for somebody. But if you. And also we, we want her to have a good quality of life.

[Caller]

Right, right.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Like I want to have some money to go do some stuff and whatever. But there is, like you said, there's a financial reality. So if she would agree to all that, I could see that being a great solution.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. I mean, I may be Debbie Downer in it in the sense that, like when, you know, an 83 year old, I don't know how much change is going to occur in her to figure.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Out, you know, there will be no. Yeah, that's a great. There'll be no, like psychological awakening here.

[Caller]

Agree.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Right.

[Caller]

There's no learning.

[Rachel Cruze]

So it's more just keeping. Honestly, it's more just keeping peace with her in her latter part of her life. Right. Keeping the lights on and helping her stay afloat. I mean, it's, it's basically what you guys are doing. You're helping her survive.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But I'll also say if I, I think this, again, this is my personal take that the main driver underneath a lot of this pathology and aging populations is loneliness. And so if there was some sort of. You have to get involved, you have to do some things with the local community groups. You have to do some things. Stuff. Because that has a way of. Yeah. That will keep her alive longer. That will give her more reason to wake up every day and, and all. You get what I'm saying?

[Caller]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Rachel Cruze]

Do you have siblings, Elizabeth?

[Caller]

No, I'm an only child.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Okay.

[Caller]

And in the sandwich generation of taking care of our own family and. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. And are you guys in a financial spot to do this?

[Caller]

This?

Yeah, I think so. For, for that amount, you know, if. As a gift, if we were to cover roughly 40,000, we wouldn't want to do it again.

[Rachel Cruze]

Totally. But you guys have the cash. Like, you wouldn't be putting yourselves in a bad position in order to do that.

[Caller]

Well, we know my husband recently retired, so he's got access to retirement money. And how much you guys have worth of. We have a net worth of 2 million.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, and what's he say? What does your husband say about all of it?

[Caller]

He would like to help out.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, sweet.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's cool.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Is there a possibility. And there's going to be tax implications in this, so sitting down with a good tax pro or tax attorney would be helpful here. Is there a possibility that y' all buy the house and put it in your name? That way nobody else can take a lien out on it. Nobody. She can't take out another HELOC somehow or, or, you know what I'm saying.

[Caller]

We considered that. We also have a daughter in high school and we're about to start funding college and we don't want to have more assets.

[Rachel Cruze]

Not until. Yeah. Until it's turned over. Yeah, that makes sense. So. Yes. I mean, if she is, if she's willing to do all of that, Elizabeth, I think that that's, I mean, at this point, I think that's smart. I mean, I think, you know, you taking over and her. Her, I mean, her. Because it's her literally reaching out to you and saying, I can't do this anymore because I obviously cannot be trusted.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

To make smart decisions and I need someone to step in. And she's 83. How's her health? Yeah, is her health, is she in good health?

[Caller]

She, she's okay. She has diabetes, so that's chronic, but other than that. And it's controlled.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller]

I'm guessing she'll be with us for at least 10 plus years.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. Who knows? I, I, I, if least all of your things, which I would, I would just, given my experience, put that as a big maybe.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

If she does, you have to steal yourself for she will say mean things to you. She'll call you crying. She'll be upset with you. Very similar to how a teenager would be, with some pretty significant boundaries. And you and your husband are gonna have to know part of this is not just going to be holding the line financially, but we're going to have to have the emotional fortitude to deal with a mom that suddenly turns on us, even though we're trying to help. Because I think that will come with this territory here.

[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 principle 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.

[Caller]

Foreign.

[Rachel Cruze]

If you're working the baby steps, the best and fastest way to do it is by using every dollar. And this is more than just our budgeting app. It is now the plan that is built right in so you can track your progress. You can get personalized recommendations and coaching for your situation that will help you free up more money and work the plan even faster. So it's like having having us walk with you every single day through your money journey. So start every dollar for free by downloading it in the App store or Google Play. All right, let's go to Alex in Idaho. Hi, Alex. Alex, are you there?

[Caller]

Yeah, hey, can you hear me?

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Good, good. So my question is, I know Dave teaches to put 15% of your income into retirement. Is there ever an appropriate time to stop making those contributions before retirement?

[Rachel Cruze]

Possibly. I mean, investing is really part of the whole financial picture that you're looking at for your future and different generations beyond. How much do you have right now in retirement?

[Caller]

I have 850,000 in my retirement. I'm 50 years old. I plan to work for at least the next 10 years. Years. This last year, I put in 20. I did $20,000 in contributions, and my 401k grew by 100,000. And so I just. When I put my figures into an investment calculator, it says in the next 10 years, with no additional contributions, I'll be at $2.3 million. And with $20,000 in contributions, in 10 years, I'd be at $2.6 million. So would it be. I mean, it's a $300,000 difference. But should I start taking more elaborate vacations now rather than. Wait, how much do you make a year? My wife and my combined income is about 215,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

215. Okay. Yeah. And so, yeah, you put 20,000 and as your 15%.

[Caller]

Yeah, well, and that's just, that's just my side of it. She's, she's got a pension plan she puts into that.

[Rachel Cruze]

She's going to be okay. Well, for Me, I think there is. It's more than just the numbers. To me, part of it is the numbers, and then part of it, too, is looking at your whole financial picture and is it balanced? Meaning we always want to be giving, we always want to be saving, and we want to be spending and enjoy. So my question to you, is that $20,000 that big of a swing for you guys, lifestyle wise?

[Caller]

Well, I'm. I'm not sure. It's. I mean, I feel like we've got a pretty good lifestyle right now. We go on vacation and we have fun and things. But again, yeah, $20,000, we could do a lot more fun stuff.

[Rachel Cruze]

Sure.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Well, and I guess I would ask you to expand your time horizon because you're talking about compound growth over a decade. But imagine yourself at 80. If you live for what, three more decades, that gap is going to be significantly bigger. Do you get what I'm saying?

[Caller]

I do, yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And so it. Again, I don't have a calculator in front of me, but you say, like, if I, if I go out 10 years, one is 2.3 and one is 2.6. If you go out another 10 years, is it going to be 2.6 or is it going to be 4 and then it's going to be 6 million? Right. It. It begins to compound pretty significantly the longer you go out.

[Caller]

Right.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And so, and I'm kind of with Rachel. I don't get the depth of your question, because if you're making 250k a year, y' all are bringing home a chunk of change. And so $1,800 a month into retirement doesn't seem like that will impact your monthly. Anything at all.

[Rachel Cruze]

Is your house paid off, Alex?

[Caller]

It is, it is.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, good for you guys. I mean, listen, you're an adult. I think you guys can run the numbers and decide for yourself which one I just. Part of the baby steps and what continues on. Like, Winston and I, we have enough. We're fine. If we stopped. Well, we're not stopping. It is still this continual pattern for us because there is something about the giving, the saving, the spending, all of it that creates something in all of us. It does something for us. And, and, yeah, I don't know. And it's 800,000, which I get in seven years. It doubles. You know, I know all of that, but there is something about just having some cushion there. And I'm not a big scarcity mentality person, but again, it's not like you have 8 million and we're like, oh, yeah, you're fine. I don't know. There's still life to be lived, and you guys, I just don't want you to ever touch that principle to be able to live off the interest. And so for me, I would continue investing, but just you guys, you guys can decide. All right, let's go to Darian in Colorado Springs. Hi. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hello.

How are you doing?

[Rachel Cruze]

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

[Caller]

So we have two houses. One I purchased in 2021. We purchased in 2023 when we got married. We've been renting out the townhouse that we purchased in 23. And it's. We bought it and it was on the very, like, high end of our budget, and we, you know, use rental income to qualify, but we are now trying to sell it. And when we did have it rented out, we rented it for 2000. And with the HOA and everything, we were losing, like, 850amonth.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, gosh. Well, that's not a good investment.

[Caller]

No, it was not. So now we're trying to sell it, and we bought it for 350. We still owe 322, and comps in the area show we should be able to sell it around 325, which is not great because after fees and title fees and everything, realtors, our realtor, said that we'd probably end up bringing like 30,000 to the table to sell this house, which is wild. We looked at, like, a cash offer for it, and it's what, 285? So we'd be 40 under. 40,000 under that way. So I have it listed again, trying to rent it, but it doesn't have air conditioning. And.

[Rachel Cruze]

And, you know, why doesn't it have air conditioning?

[Caller]

Good question. Every other house in this townhouse complex has air conditioning except for ours. So.

[Rachel Cruze]

Because you're Colorado Springs, I guess, and it's just.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. But it's been hot there the last few summers.

[Caller]

It has. So I'm not sure how we got. Got away with this or purchased it with it, you know, without it. Definitely an oversight. But we were newly married and excited to buy a house, so we did, and we went overboard. So.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So what's your question?

[Caller]

We've. We've also looked at, I guess, you know, doing like a. Going into foreclosure, doing a lean and foreclosure.

[Dr. John Deloney]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do that.

[Caller]

Yeah, no.

So this is what I'm trying to do.

[Rachel Cruze]

I don't trash the whole financial picture. Yeah. No, I wouldn't. I mean, I hate to say it, but it's almost like getting a $30,000 loan and calling it stupid tax, which is a lot. But, you know, when you make. I mean, my. My hope would be that you could say that you could sell it. Are you guys. I guess you have the two mortgages. How much is the. The mortgage?

[Caller]

The mortgage on that one is 2,600.

[Rachel Cruze]

And are y' all able to cash flow that right now with your current income?

[Caller]

Not well, because we also have that second mortgage, and we have. I'm somebody living in our current house, so they're paying a little bit, but we're also kind of trying to bless them, so we're not charging them what we should be for the.

[Rachel Cruze]

Wait, do you have two. Wait, do you have a renter in the property right now?

[Caller]

No, in our other house that we are currently living in, our primary. The one that I bought in 2020.

[Rachel Cruze]

You have a renter in that with you guys?

[Caller]

We have, yeah. We have friends that are living with us that are renting.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's a messy, complex situation, brother. Could you sell that, your current residence, and go back and move into your townhome for a season with no air conditioning?

[Caller]

We.

I mean, we could. We were paying a little less at the. The four bedroom, which is wild. So the townhouse has 1400 square feet. The. The other one has like 2200 square feet. So it is quite a bit bigger.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I. I get that. I guess hear me say at some point you're gonna have to make some sacrifices.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, I mean, I. I'd put on the market and I would try and I would sell it. And then if you guys have a thing, $30,000 crap mistake, you know, loan out there that you're like, that is just. That was our stupid tax. That's better than sitting there and paying $2,600 every single month for the foreseeable future. Right? So. Yep. I mean, I would sell it asap. Asap. I would not go down the forecloud foreclosure route.

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[Rachel Cruze]

Over on the debt free stage, we have Brandon and Taryn from Fresno, California. Welcome, you guys.

[Caller]

Thank you so much.

[Rachel Cruze]

Absolutely. Well, congratulations. Thank you for being debt free. How much debt did you guys pay off?

[Caller]

291,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, my gosh. And what was. What did that consist of?

[Caller]

Our house.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yes, I know.

[Rachel Cruze]

Another house payoff. Oh, my gosh. Okay. How long did the take you?

[Caller]

About four years and three months.

[Rachel Cruze]

Four years and making what kind of income during that time?

[Caller]

From 100 to 200.

[Rachel Cruze]

Whoa. What was the jump?

[Caller]

Side jobs got busier.

[Rachel Cruze]

Sounds like it. I mean, 100 grand in side jobs. Not bad. What do you guys do? Doggy daycare. Yeah, that was one of the side.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so, yeah, tell us, what do you guys do for a living? And then what were some of the side. I'm in. I'm in medical appeals. Okay.

[Caller]

So she works for. From home. I do apartment maintenance.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Caller]

And then for side work, I carry on with that. So if someone has, like, a dishwasher that needs work or plumbing, electrical, whatever, I just go there, do stuff, and then they tell other people, and they just keep talking and telling other people.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. The references are real, right?

[Dr. John Deloney]

When people talk about it, the references are real. That's like a T shirt.

[Rachel Cruze]

I think so.

[Caller]

Absolutely.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's like when they were like, listen, Brandon's the best. And everyone's like, well, let me. Let me use Brandon.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You do medical appeals, like, on behalf of patients?

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, I. I don't make the decisions.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I just build cases on behalf of humanity. Can I say thank you for fighting the good fight a lot.

[Rachel Cruze]

You see a lot of stuff, that's for sure. I bet. Okay, so what happened four years ago that you guys thought, we want to pay off almost $300,000 and pay off our house?

[Caller]

Well, it started in 2019 when we were gifted the FPU class.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Caller]

And so we paid off all of our consumer debt. It was 47k. Then it was the credit card for the wedding. It was student loans, and that was her car. So after that, then we had the funds to go towards saving for emergency fund saving for a house, and which we only put nine. Nine grand down. But we knew that the ability that we had was so much greater, so we just started smacking the house.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, my gosh. That's amazing, you guys. Okay, so what was that journey like for four years, your focus on it?

[Caller]

It was fun.

[Rachel Cruze]

It was honestly, a lot of fun. We learned a lot about ourselves. And we got it as a wedding gift, actually. Fpu. And we kind of, honestly, at first, we kind of rolled our eyes. We're like, yeah, we already kind of know about money a little bit.

[Caller]

We did, too, whatever.

[Rachel Cruze]

And so we're like, well, she got it for us.

[Caller]

Let's go to the class.

[Rachel Cruze]

And we left. And we're like, I don't know, crap. And it just, it changed our lives. And we, like, learned a lot about ourselves and each other, and it definitely changed our lives for the best. And it made our marriage even stronger. Was that year one of marriage in 2019 when you guys. Okay, so, man, you guys, that's amazing. Starting off your marriage, changing the way you view money. Pay off all the consumer debt. You do the emergency fund, all of it. And then you look up, you're like, all right, now it's time to tackle the house. And you did it in four years. So you guys seem very organized. Did you map out and see, okay, how long is it going to take us? And did you do it faster than what you originally thought?

[Caller]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

He's the nerd. He had the spreadsheet.

[Caller]

We use every dollar. But I also did Excel and I would do all kinds of formulas showing, like, what we originally had for interest, PMI, all of that. It was like 800 and something a month that we were just losing in the house. I'm like, all right, well, every month when I plug in what the current balances, it shows lower amounts. And so I'm like, oh, like we're saving this much from when we started. And the number just got smaller and smaller each month. And then we're like, let's just keep going. Just knock it out. Then we'll move on from there.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. Oh, my gosh, you guys.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, That's a lot of side hustles. I mean, for the last four years, you've been busy.

[Caller]

So I only did the. The after hours work for people. She also did Rover and then a ton of people.

[Rachel Cruze]

People.

[Caller]

Word of mouth as well.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, yeah. The dog sitting is what you're saying, right?

[Dr. John Deloney]

So you're like fighting insurance companies and petting dogs?

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, pretty much.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You're like a. You married a saint, homie. That's awesome.

[Caller]

I did.

[Rachel Cruze]

Was it. And was it a pretty good side hustle? We do hear people doing this, and I feel like it's like, it pays well. It started off as obviously just paying off debt and we paid off our debt. And I'm like, I'm not gonna stop. I'm not gonna Stop doing this. It's just second nature to me at this point. Yeah.

[Caller]

So the first, first year was $600 for over.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Caller]

And it just went up, up, up.

[Rachel Cruze]

Kept going crazy. Yeah, man, you guys are awesome. Well done. Did you guys have people that were cheering you on or. Or on the other end making fun of you, of what you guys are doing with all your working extra and everything where people like, y' all are crazy. Kind of both. Kind of both. I think the amount of dogs we would have during holidays, they're like, y' all are psycho. It's like, yeah, we kind of are.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But it's worth it.

[Rachel Cruze]

But our families were super supportive. We had four friends that were super supportive. Like, they'd bring it up in conversations.

[Caller]

Like, okay, so where are you?

[Rachel Cruze]

And it's like, oh, God, I don't even know. I need to bring up the spreadsheet. So we had an awesome, awesome support group.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay. Sometimes people do their debt free scream and they actually hit the last payment a few months ago. Have you all had it where you both got your direct deposits in your accounts and you have no house payment?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Tell everybody what that feels. Feels like.

[Caller]

Well, you had the problem of debt before, but your new problem is now you have to think, what do I do with this money?

Or like, what savings are we going.

[Rachel Cruze]

To put it in?

[Dr. John Deloney]

For most people listening to this, like, I have all this money. What do I do with it?

[Caller]

Right? Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, man. What are your next goals? Have you guys kind of dreamed about the future and been like, here's what we.

[Caller]

Yeah, so we're. We're in California now and now that we. We have a paid off house, we're saving. We actually want to move to Tennessee. So maybe like Crossville to Knoxville area.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Come on, dude. It's a beautiful part of the country.

[Caller]

It is with my background. We want to build a big barn doe on some land. So, so fun at the speed of cash.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's a fun dream, though. Yeah. Good for you guys.

[Dr. John Deloney]

What's this house worth that you paid off right now?

[Caller]

Like 420.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Awesome.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. So great, you guys. So if there's someone listening and they think, there's no way I could pay off my house, I got a 30 year mortgage. Mortgage it'll be in 30 years. It just is what it is. What would you tell them the secret to paying off your houses? If you're married? Be a team. And that will get you through and trust God, there were so many times that like, we're both very, just like, keep Your head down and work and work, work. And then you just kind of look up and we're like, I don't understand where all this money came from. But God was good the entire time and he carried us through and we wouldn't have made it through without him. So be a team and trust God.

[Caller]

Yeah. And be faithful and keep touching tithing God. God has his rules and he doesn't stop. Don't stop believing in him.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. Continue it on. Oh, I love it. You guys. Okay, Are y' all gonna chill on the side hustles a little bit now that you have a paid off house? I mean, we don't know what that means.

[Dr. John Deloney]

He's gonna buy some property in crossfield.

[Dave Ramsey]

Dude.

[Caller]

I mean, we just went to Costa Rica. We got back two weeks ago. We had a little pan, so.

Yes.

Yeah, we'll slow down a little. She's got a baby going.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Working on the way.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So.

[Rachel Cruze]

Congratulations. First one. Okay. Oh, you guys, What a beautiful dude.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You're gonna bring this kid into the world with no financial stress.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's amazing.

[Caller]

That's the goal.

[Rachel Cruze]

I told him I think the biggest gift is that we're bringing her home to a paid off house. And that's like crazy.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Gets me emotional just thinking about it. I'll go one deeper. You're bringing her to a house where two parents love each other and trust each other and have accomplished hard things together.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And the greatest gift we can give our kids is to love our spouse well.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And like a byproduct of that is y' all paid off your house. But dude, this kid won the lottery and not, not because of the money y' all make, but because they've got two hard working parents that love each other and know how to do hard stuff. That's. That's incredible.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's wild.

[Dr. John Deloney]

It's so cool, man.

[Rachel Cruze]

So beautiful. Is it different than how you guys grew up? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Very. It was growing up for me. I would say it was. There were financial problems. I. I didn't know about them as a kid.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But you feel them.

[Rachel Cruze]

I felt it like you felt the tension. And they say, you know, don't worry about it. But then like growing up and now kind of helping my parents in those ways, I'm like, oh, man. So it's. It's crazy. And that's the beautiful part of the changing your family tree aspect of this. Right. Which I feel like is such a bigger why in all of this money stuff that we talk about, you know? Yes. We want peace in the present and not having all these payments gives you that. Yeah. But then there's something even greater of what you continue on in your family. So, you guys, congratulations. Thank you. Absolutely. Absolutely incredible.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Right, let's let it rip.

[Rachel Cruze]

We got Brandon and Taryn from Fresno, California. They paid off $291,000, which was the house in four years, making 100 to 200 grand a year and mostly side hustle.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So awesome.

[Rachel Cruze]

And lots of dogs, lots of animals, lots of dogs. All right, you guys, count it down. Let's hear a big debt free scream. Three, two, one.

[Caller]

We're debt free.

[Rachel Cruze]

So great. That's amazing. The. The house payoff stuff like that is. That's just wild. Wild.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Anytime somebody, a young couple like this in a place like California goes through hell for four years to pay off their house, they're like that kid in math class and middle school when you're like, nobody can get an A on this. And that kid's like, I'm gonna study so hard. I'll get an A. They show everybody that. Yes, you can.

[Rachel Cruze]

Amazing. Congratulations. You guys are proud of you. Brandon and Taryn from Fresno. Well done.

[Caller]

Foreign.

[Rachel Cruze]

Hey, guys, what's up?

[Caller]

It's Jade, and I'm pumped for the new year, and I hope you are too. But the problem is most people start the new year with a lot of promises and no real plan. You know how it is. I'm gonna save money or I'm gonna get my financial act together.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But without a plan, you just wing.

[Caller]

It and hope it works out. Listen, don't play yourself. I want you to win and are. Every $$app is the game changer you need. In 15 minutes, EveryDollar helps you build.

[Rachel Cruze]

A plan based on where you're at.

[Caller]

With money right now. And every day, the app coaches you with ways to find extra money so you can beat debt and build wealth faster. It's like having me in your pocket.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Helping you stay on track all year long.

[Caller]

So don't just wish your money works out. You can be the one to actually make it happen this year. Download the EveryDollar Budget app and get started right now for free.

[Rachel Cruze]

Our scripture of the day comes from Psalms 145, 16, 17. You open your hands, you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in his works. Frank Zappa said, your mind is like a parachute. If it isn't open, it doesn't work.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yes, that's good.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well done. Open the mind.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Learn, and jump out of a plane.

[Rachel Cruze]

And jump out of plane with a parachute. All right, let's go to Newark, New Jersey. And we have Elizabeth on the line. Hi, Elizabeth.

[Caller]

Hi.

[Rachel Cruze]

Hello. Hello. Welcome to the show. How can we you help up today?

[Caller]

So I guess I kind of have two questions for you guys. One question would be how do I get over anger and resentment towards my husband that has just kind of built up and now it's just coming to a head because he's had life changes. And then the second question is, how do I explain express to him I'm scared he is going to put us in debt without him getting defensive.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, you're asking impossible questions.

[Rachel Cruze]

The marriage there.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

To take the lead.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, so tell me what, tell me why you're angry.

[Caller]

Well, I. Since. Since I got pregnant back in 2016. My husband and I only knew each other for about six months. We got pregnant, pregnant, and we both just decided, you know, we're going to do this thing. I became a stay at home mom. He was just kind of doing his own thing. He's a handyman, works construction. He was picking up jobs here and there, but he needed insurance and I had a child and put the child on my insurance. So then once he found like a big boy job, like a corporate job, a good job, we went on his insurance and I completely, like, everything went from me to his responsibility. So he got his shit together, so to speak. And now he left that job and is kind of doing our son his side hustle, which is technically our side hustle because I have no job still eight years later. But I feel like he's going backwards because he finally has freedom again, if that makes sense. And the resentment is just coming from him picking and choosing when he wanted to help me at home for a stay at home mom, for instance, like, the house is like, I've been burnt out. So the house isn't up to par. The laundry's not done, the dishes aren't done done. Like nothing is getting done in the house because I've. I'm tired. They said, is everything okay? Instead of just helping and, you know, doing it, he's like, what's going on?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I mean, if I'm fully honest with you, y', all, y' all have deeper issues than I can handle and address on this call.

[Caller]

Okay, the.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And here's why. Um, y' all have found your say self at a place in your marriage where it is you versus him. And he is standing there with his hands out, either a choosing to not help you in any way, shape, form or fashion or he doesn't know how to love you in a way that you can feel loved.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And.

[Caller]

And I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But. But hold on. But that gap between the two of you. Because here, here's what I would tell you if you have been very clear with him. And, and again, what I'm telling you sucks. It's the worst. Because it sounds like I'm giving you another thing to do. I get that. But often I hear, I sit with men all over the country who are like, I'm trying to love well. And I don't. I. Everything I do is wrong. And I don't know what to do next. And to. To their. Like, I'm. I don't credit them. This is a 4 fault, but they just stop doing anything. And what I would challenge you to do is to give him a path. Here's what a way. Here's ways you can love me right now.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And that sounds ridiculous. I shouldn't have to tell him. He should just know you're. All those things can be true. But the reality is where you find yourself right now is he doesn't. And. And if you're not doing everything you can on a day in and day out basis to see each other, to know each other, to celebrate each other, then everything is a battlefield.

[Caller]

Yeah. And that's where we are.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay. So somebody has to. You've heard me say this on the show before. Somebody has to turn the lights off. I mean, turn the lights on, turn the music off. This. This dance y' all are doing. And somebody has to say, we're making married. We're not in a good place right now. I still want to be married to you, but we got to rebuild this marriage from the floor up. Are you in? And if he says yes, then you have to be willing to say, okay, here's what that would look like right now. And he has to say, here's what that would look like right now. And y' all both have to get after it. Oh, and so. But you got to go. You got to go see a professional at this point in your. In your marriage because. Because the resentment's simmering. It's. It's too hot.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. Elizabeth, I hope that helps. And again, I hate that we can't, you know, unfold and have a solution right now, but honestly, sitting down with someone, a third party, and it's gonna be a lot of work for you guys, but it's possible. All right, let's go to Toby in Chicago. Hi, Toby. Welcome to the show. Hello.

[Caller]

How are we?

[Rachel Cruze]

Hi. Doing great. How can we help?

[Caller]

Yes, I am getting ready to get a settlement for roughly three and a half million dollars from my employer at work.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, what happened?

[Caller]

Well, my, my boss pretty much threatened to whip my butt and fire me, and then they retaliated against me and kept me from getting a promotional job by hiring people who weren't. You have to have, you have to have a certain license to have that job. And they kept hiring people that didn't have that qualification.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So you sued him in civil court and you won two half million dollars?

[Caller]

Well, I went through the EEOC and then the EEOC gave me a declaration to sue, and then I hired an attorney. We settled.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Where are you at financially right now, Toby? Do you have consumer debt?

[Caller]

The only, only debt I have is my mortgage, and that's 108,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

108,000. All right, well, I ought to spend 108,000 of the 2.5. So it gets you down to 2.4.

[Caller]

Okay, 3.5. 3.5 million.

[Rachel Cruze]

3.5. Oh, my goodness. Okay. Well, when it comes to. Yeah, I mean, a large chunk of money, whether it's inheritance, a settlement, anything like that, we always say to remember the three buckets of money. And this is really important because it can, you can easily do one or two of these, but all three are really crucial, and that's to give some, to save some, and to spend some. And honestly, on the spend side, I would hold off any major purchase.

[Dr. John Deloney]

No major purchases. No cars, no Jet skis, no nothing for like six or nine months.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, I would say for probably six months. Just for you guys to emotionally take all this in and just kind of know where you're at. If you can practice not significantly changing your lifestyle, like in a crazy way, you know, you can go on a great vacation and maybe, you know, upgrade the cars and all of it. But this is, this is almost like lottery type money that people win. You know, they'll win like a, you know, a Powerball here or there, whatever it is, and they end up going broke. Right. Or, you know, you talk to professional athletes and they get a signing bonus, and then three years later they're broke because they, they end up spending all of it. So, Toby, the, the biggest thing is going to be to be really disciplined and to have a detailed plan. And I would sit down with a smartvestor pro and map out for you guys, hey, what could a future look like for us where we can enjoy some of this? Absolute. Absolutely. But also, where can we put this long term, that can change us, our kids, our family tree completely. Because how. How old are you guys?

[Caller]

I am 33 years old. And my. My girlfriend, she is 28.

[Rachel Cruze]

All right, we got a girl in the picture.

[Caller]

Both of us are. Both of us are pretty much debt free.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Is she the. Is she the one one?

[Caller]

Oh, yeah, yeah, we'll be. She. She just finished. We had an agreement that we were going to get married after she finished her college and she just finished her master's degree.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

All right, so your first $3,000 is buying a ring. Or if you're Rachel, your first $50,000 is buying a ring. 50.

[Rachel Cruze]

I'm going to say at least five. John of the three point something.

[Caller]

Well, and I already have. I already have a ring bought, but I was. That was one of the first things I thought was getting something a little bit nicer.

[Rachel Cruze]

I love that. Yes, Toby, absolutely. And you know what? You guys need to sit down. I sit down and have some great premarital counseling because you guys are walking into wealth. I mean, in this whole.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And it 100% will change your relationship.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. And you don't know how to handle it all right now because you haven't done it before. So remember, discipline, practice, Get a team around you to walk with you, people that you trust deeply. Well, that's it for the show. Remember, there's ultimate only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the prince of peace, Christ Jesus.