You Won't Win With Money If You're Not Aligned With A Plan

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ramsey Show – "You Won't Win With Money If You're Not Aligned With A Plan"

Release Date: May 20, 2025

In this insightful episode of The Ramsey Show, hosted by Rachel Cruze and Jade Warshaw alongside Dave Ramsey, the focus centers on the critical importance of aligning financial strategies to effectively build wealth and achieve financial stability. Listeners dial in with diverse financial challenges, seeking expert advice on debt management, budgeting, investments, and marital financial planning. The hosts provide practical solutions, emphasizing disciplined financial planning and strategic decision-making.

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1. Teaching Financial Discipline to Children

Caller: Joseph from Boston

Discussion Highlights: Joseph shares his concern about breaking the cycle of poor financial discipline within his family. Despite having frugal parents, he and his siblings lacked formal financial education, leading to challenges in managing money responsibly.

Key Points:

• Importance of instilling the value of money in children from a young age.
• Teaching concepts like delayed gratification and the relationship between work and earnings.
• Incorporating financial education through chores and commissions.

Notable Quote: Jade Warshaw emphasizes, “I’m teaching them that if you work hard, you get money… they realize, oh, I have to wait or work more to get what I want.” (02:40)

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2. The Necessity of Life Insurance

Discussion: Dave Ramsey addresses a critical statistic—half of Americans lack sufficient life insurance—highlighting the importance of term life insurance for safeguarding families against unforeseen circumstances.

Key Points:

• Life insurance as a means to replace income, pay off debts, and cover funeral expenses.
• Emotional reassurance that life insurance is an expression of love and responsibility toward one’s family.
• Personal endorsement of Jeff Zander and Zander Insurance for reliable coverage.

Notable Quote: Dave Ramsey passionately states, “Term life insurance can replace income, pay off debts, cover funeral expenses. So your family can actually have the opportunity to just be sad and miss you.” (09:16)

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3. Managing Significant Debt

Caller: John from Tampa, Florida

Discussion Highlights: John seeks advice on tackling a $310,000 total debt, including a $180,000 mortgage and additional debts from HELOCs, credit cards, student loans, and car payments.

Key Points:

• Evaluating the feasibility of selling the home versus gradually paying off debt.
• Potential strategy: downsizing vehicles to reduce monthly payments and redirect funds toward debt repayment.
• Emphasis on creating a detailed budget and exploring ways to increase income while cutting unnecessary expenses.

Notable Quote: Rachel Cruze advises, “Create a plan as if you are paying off debt, and then once everything is stable, throw your saved funds at the debt.” (14:21)

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4. Balancing Work and Further Education

Caller: Nicholas from Grand Rapids

Discussion Highlights: Nicholas discusses his intention to return to school to complete his degree while maintaining a full-time job, fearing the strain it may place on his marriage and daily responsibilities.

Key Points:

• Importance of setting a clear timeframe (one year) to achieve educational goals.
• Strategies include adjusting work hours, saving aggressively before the school term, and maintaining open communication with his spouse.
• Emphasis on the benefits of a degree for long-term career advancement over short-term sacrifices.

Notable Quote: Jade Warshaw highlights, “Short-term sacrifice, long-term gain. That's the way we'd say it over here.” (25:13)

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5. Encouraging Investment Over High-Yield Savings

Caller: Brandon from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Discussion Highlights: Brandon is conflicted between investing 15% of his income into mutual funds and his wife’s preference to keep the money in high-yield savings accounts due to fear of market volatility.

Key Points:

• Educating about the benefits of compound interest and long-term growth through investments.
• Addressing fears by explaining how short-term market fluctuations don’t impact long-term investment goals.
• Suggestion to increase the emergency fund to provide additional financial security and reduce anxiety about investments.

Notable Quote: Rachel Cruze emphasizes, “Don’t let fear dictate your decisions because it's an emotion that's not trustworthy.” (34:36)

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6. Strategic Home Purchasing with Inheritance

Caller: William from Indianapolis

Discussion Highlights: William and his fiancée are contemplating whether to purchase a home outright using a recent inheritance of approximately $1.3 million or to leverage some of it for a larger future purchase while maintaining financial discipline.

Key Points:

• Strong recommendation to pay cash for the initial home to eliminate mortgage payments and invest the remaining funds wisely.
• Importance of avoiding lifestyle inflation and making deliberate, long-term financial plans.
• Encouragement to invest the surplus money to maximize growth and ensure financial security.

Notable Quote: Rachel Cruze advises, “The numbers are astronomical. What that could do versus sending a payment to a mortgage broker.” (48:00)

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7. Handling Stock Assets and Debt Repayment

Caller: Aaron from San Diego

Discussion Highlights: Aaron is considering selling stock from a former employer valued at $14,000 to pay off $4,000 in credit card debt and an $11,000 car loan.

Key Points:

• Advocacy for selling non-retirement, single-stock investments to pay off high-interest debts.
• Emphasis on diversifying investments to reduce risk and promote long-term growth.
• Consideration of tax implications when selling stocks and strategic debt repayment.

Notable Quote: Jade Warshaw advises, “Sell it and put that towards the debt.” (41:28)

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8. Navigating Property Issues Post-Purchase

Caller: Melissa from Charleston, West Virginia

Discussion Highlights: Melissa faces severe mold issues in her recently purchased home, struggling with health problems and high remediation costs estimated at $20,000+ for basement repairs and $10,000 for mold removal.

Key Points:

• Recommendation to rent instead of paying the mortgage due to the untenable living conditions and high repair costs.
• Importance of aggressive budgeting and debt management to navigate the financial strain.
• Suggestion to pursue legal avenues cautiously, considering the complexities and potential credit impact.

Notable Quote: Rachel Cruze empathizes, “Such a headache. Terrible, terrible, terrible.” (86:43)

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9. Addressing Financial Disparities in Marriage through Prenups

Caller: Derek from San Jose

Discussion Highlights: Derek and his fiancée contemplate a prenuptial agreement given his substantial assets ($12 million) compared to hers ($50,000), amidst concerns about fairness and relationship dynamics.

Key Points:

• Affirmation of the prudence of prenups in marriages with significant asset disparities.
• Importance of open communication and understanding each partner’s concerns regarding financial security.
• Encouragement to involve a third party, such as a marriage counselor, to navigate the emotional aspects of financial planning within marriage.

Notable Quote: Rachel Cruze suggests, “Introduce a family counselor to ensure both parties are aligned and understand the importance of protecting assets while fostering a unified financial partnership.” (76:12)

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Conclusion: Aligning Financial Plans for Success

Throughout the episode, The Ramsey Show underscores that financial alignment—where spouses share a common financial vision and strategy—is essential for building wealth and achieving long-term financial stability. The hosts advocate for disciplined budgeting, strategic debt repayment, informed investment decisions, and transparent communication within relationships to ensure that financial goals are met harmoniously.

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Final Takeaway: Success with money is not just about earning or saving but ensuring that all financial actions are aligned with a comprehensive plan. By educating oneself, making informed decisions, and fostering open communication, individuals and families can break free from financial cycles and build a secure, prosperous future.

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Note: Advertisements, introductions, and non-content segments have been excluded from this summary in accordance with user instructions.

Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[Rachel Cruze]

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey show, where we help people build wealth, do work they love, and create amazing relationships. I am Rachel Cruze, hosting this hour with my good friend and bestselling author Jade Warshaw. And we are here to answer your questions. So give us a call at 888825 5225. And we'll be talking about your life, your money, relationships, career, anything and everything. All right, first up, starting us off, we have Joseph in Boston. Hey, Joseph, welcome to the show.

[Dave Ramsey]

Thank you so much. Thanks for taking my call.

[Rachel Cruze]

Absolutely. How can we help?

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, so my wife and I, future baby step millionaires, started on these about a couple months ago. And we also had our first daughter about five months ago.

[Rachel Cruze]

Congratulations.

[Dave Ramsey]

Thank you so much. Thanks for God. It was waiting quite a while. So my question is I kind of came to a revelation in the discussion with my sister the other day about how all of us siblings are kind of not very good with money. Haven't been historically just disciplined with money. And it's weird because we both had very frugal CPA CFO parents. And so kind of tells me that just being good with money isn't enough to kind of impart that. And I love my parents. I'm not blaming them for everything, but just something about our childhood, we just didn't get that knowledge. Kind of instilled enough in that discipline and that prudence with money. And I'm just kind of wondering, kind of want to break the cycle. What's the best way when my daughter becomes of age, like, how to kind of teach her that without being too strict?

[Rachel Cruze]

Sure, sure. You know that I think you bring up such a good point because a lot of people assume that if you're like, I mean, I'm assuming they're both savers, probably very frugal people. Is that right? Your parents?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, they were frugal. We weren't, we weren't spoiled. We just never really suffered. I guess we were very comfortable, very comfortable childhood.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

And they were already, if we asked them about something, and especially this is true later in life, asking financial advice, they were really open about it, but just there was never a really concerted effort to like, teach us at, like, at the time when we were most, I guess, little sponges.

[Rachel Cruze]

Questionable. Yeah, sure. And do you feel like they missed the mark from the tactical side, is what you're saying, on how to, like, budget And I kind of think. Or do you think the spirit around money? Because what I was hearing you kind of say is as CPAs and as people that are good with money, sometimes those people can lean on the end of being so frugal to the point where there's like, not a level of hoarding, but they hold their money so closely that they almost can't enjoy it. And if you don't have this well rounded spirit with money, it can kind of cut you like, you know what I mean?

[Jade Warshaw]

You go the opposite direction.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

You want to go the opposite direction.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. They weren't like that either. I think. I think it was a communication issue. Like, we. They weren't. Didn't seem to be frugal like we. I mean. I mean, they were. They were. I mean, they were smart with money. They seemed to handle money really well, and they weren't like hoarding anything. We asked them for something like they paid for college, but we just. I guess there was just never a lack of communication about money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, let me ask you this. What area specifically do you feel like you were missing? And what are those areas that you want to pass along? Was it like Rachel said it. Was it budgeting specifically? Was it the dangers of debt? What was it that you feel like? Man, if only I'd known that that would have really, really helped me. And that's the thing that I want to make sure I hone in on.

[Dave Ramsey]

I would say, I guess, yeah. I mean, maybe the. I don't know. It's. It's kind of. It's kind of a little bit of everything, but I guess, yeah, the dangers of that is huge, but kind of just, I guess being disciplined, like, yeah, just being willing your money to go somewhere. Like. The best advice I got from my mom was when I was in college, and she say when I embarrassingly ask her for more money, and that was another thing, too. She gave me money when I asked for it in college. Well, but I think.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think the best thing you can do, I mean, I'll speak to it from one area. I'm sure Rachel will speak to it from another. So my kids are young, five and seven, and right now the most important thing that I can teach them is like, the value of a dollar right there. Money comes from hard work, and there's a value on that. And the value is not unlimited. The value is to the extent at which you work. Right. So that's the most important thing I can teach them right now. If you work hard, you get money. The more you work, the more money you get, but it's not infinite. You go to the store, there's a price tag. Right. So I'm teaching them that, hey, one thing really equates to the other. And what comes along with that is they realize, oh, Gosh, I got $5 from doing this work, and the thing I want might cost $7. So now I have to. Now wait. So there's the delayed gratification that I'm teaching them. So I feel like at a younger age, those are things that they can pick up on. And truly, I do feel like that's one of those things that you do have to teach. It doesn't really just pop up in conversation. You have to teach them that, and you can do that through chores and through commission and that sort of thing. And then as they get older, yeah, there's other principles like budgeting that you start to teach, and then as they get older, then you start teaching them about debt. And honestly, my son has already kind of asked me about debt, and, like, what does it mean? And, yeah, you can start to say it means you borrow money from someone and you have to give it back to them within a certain period of time, and this is the way it makes you feel. So all of that, I think, obviously, they do learn by watching you, but there. There is a deeper level that when you can explain things further, they're gonna understand it on a deeper level.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. And I think, you know, there's in my head, too, these, like, layers of money and what it represents, because even on this show, I feel like the calls we get, it can be so layered. So, like, at one end, I want my kids to know. And I feel like my parents did this well from a. How they. How they actually handled their money. And also what they communicated is like. And we. We were people of faith. And so there was, like, this, like, very, very high level that everything we have is not ours, and we are managing it for a greater good. And that's God in our. You know, in our faith walk. And so there's almost this way of. Of having money be something that is bigger than them, because we live in a world where it's so about me. I use my money for me, me, me, me, me, me, me. And there's something. A higher calling almost in this. And. And so that's a very high level.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right?

[Rachel Cruze]

That's the very top overarching and that there's a spirit to that decisions. As a family, there's a way we talk about money, the way we view Money and it's coming through that lens. So that's a pretty like high level view. And then there's kind of that next layer which is what Jade was talking about, like delayed gratification. You know, I would put contentment in there, I would put gratitude in there. It's almost those emotions around money and there's fear around money, there's greed around money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right.

[Rachel Cruze]

There's a lot of these ties to who we are as people and how we view money from our emotional standpoint. That plays a really big part in this. And, and that kind of plays into that more tactical layer is that bottom layer of how we, how it actually looks like us handling it day to day. How do we earn it? Right? Just like Jade was saying, we earn it through work and teaching them that we, we give money, we save money, we spend money, we do all three of those things as well rounded people. We need to do all three. We don't want to spend everything we make because then we end up spending more money and money that we don't have and we go into debt because of that. So we only spend with what we have. We're always being generous and we're always giving. We're always saving for something. We need that delayed gratification and, and you know, and that even gets down to as they get older, saving, you know, is talking about high y. You know, money market accounts and high yield savings accounts and mutual funds and investing and you know, you get into like the really tacticals and that's very age appropriate. But I don't know if that helps Joseph. But I kind of see those three layers for me is something that I think about with my kids because money is complex. I'm like, it's not just the dollars of cents or we wouldn't have an interesting show. Here's that like it. It is. There's a lot to it and, and a lot to it is because it's us, the people that are actually handling it in our character. So those are kind of the. I don't know, those are just my thoughts. I don't know if that helps stuff at all because it sounds like from what you were saying, your parents did a pretty good job. They're. I mean, you know, everything you said didn't have any red flags, but maybe there's kind of these deeper meanings that you were wishing you had more thought about earlier in your life that maybe helps then play into the tactical side. So I don't know if that helps, but I love that you're asking the question, because I think it is an important topic to model for our kids and teach our kids.

[Dave Ramsey]

Statistics show that half of Americans don't have enough life insurance or they don't have any at all. I don't understand this, John. Why don't people want to take care of their family? They think they're going to die or something. Well, I used to be one of those guys.

[Rachel Cruze]

I didn't even think about it.

[Dave Ramsey]

And one of my buddies said, hey, the only reason to not have life insurance is if you hate your wife and kids. And I immediately went and got term life insurance. That's a gut punch.

[Rachel Cruze]

And.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, you're telling me. And for decades, Dave, I've sat across people who've lost a spouse, they've lost somebody important to them. Me, too. They don't know what to do next. Me, too. I mean, you're going to have a crisis here and, you know, you got two options while you're sitting and talking to a young widow. She's concerned about how she's going to invest all this money properly and not mess this up or she's concerned how she's going to eat tomorrow.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's exactly.

[Dave Ramsey]

These are the two options. And take care of your dadgum family, man. Term life insurance can replace income, pay off debts, cover funeral expenses. So your family can actually have the opportunity to just be sad. Yeah, to just miss you. That's exactly what it's supposed to be. It's saying I love you to your family. Term life insurance, Jeff Zander and the team at Zander Insurance makes it easy and affordable. I've used them personally for 25 years. They're the only people I trust. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282.

[Jade Warshaw]

Foreign.

[Rachel Cruze]

Up next, we have John in Tampa, Florida. Hi, John. Welcome to the show.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, how are you?

[Rachel Cruze]

We're doing great. How can we help?

[Dave Ramsey]

So I just had a question regarding debt and how I should go about it. I'm currently. Me and my wife are currently 310,000 in total debt. 180 of that is in our home. So we do have some equity in there. So my question was, should I or should we entertain the idea of selling the home to pay off all of our debt? I understand there's probably going to be a few thousand left. We do have a little savings that we could use to tackle the rest of that and then start from scratch. Or should I keep the home and then just slowly start knocking off about 130,000 debt that we have Besides the.

[Jade Warshaw]

Mortgage, what are your incomes?

[Dave Ramsey]

Household pre tax? Probably about 121 30.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And can you go, can you kind of list through the different types of debt that the 130 consists of?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. So there's a HELOC and that's about 49. There's some private loan and credit card for 28. I have student loans for 24. And then we have two car notes each about 15 left and then just some furniture, that's about three.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. What. How do you feel about the house? I, I would not look at this and go immediately we're selling our house. I kind of feel like that's a last ditch effort. Unless there was some other reason around this. Maybe if you were thinking about moving anyway or this was something that coming up kind of naturally, I might consider it. But in this case, you know, you're in debt to the tune of how much you earn, which is sadly very normal. I think we come across that a lot. So in this case I'd be thinking, okay, how quickly do we want to get this done and what's our plan to do that? How are we going to increase our income for us to make this happen? Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, 100.

[Jade Warshaw]

So the cars, I'm looking at them. I'm guessing that you're probably going to keep them. You can tell me more about them. Tell you can tell me what they're worth and what you.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. So I, I driving 23 Elantra. I probably have, if I could sell it right now, probably 18. So I'm positive on the upside on that, about 3K, I'd say.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

And my wife has an SUV. She had a good down payment on it, so I'm sure she's also on the upside on the equity.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you have kids?

[Dave Ramsey]

So that, that's one of the main reasons why I'm just rethinking everything. We do have a baby girl on the way, which is super cool.

[Rachel Cruze]

Congratulations.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Okay. That's right. Yeah. I mean it's great that you're right side up on these. You could consider downsizing them. I don't know that I would. What are the payments on both of them?

[Dave Ramsey]

400 for the SUV and then 415 for my sedan.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow. It is a lot in payments. I mean it's 800amonth there. I just don't know. I mean, maybe you keep one and do the other. That's a beater. You could consider that and then go ahead.

[Rachel Cruze]

Do y' all have any money saved, John put away?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, I'd say probably like 10, 15 grand.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, well, there's some money there. You can drop that down.

[Rachel Cruze]

You know what? I. Because the baby's on the way, we always say to kind of go in the stork mode. Meaning I love that you're thinking about it and that this kind of was the motivator behind feeling like we gotta get our crap together because we're about to raise a human. But we always say, when you are expecting, just actually pause. Paying off debt, but with the same intensity, be saving. So the goal would be to have a pile of money and then when baby comes, which I guess you guys would be due, what, February?

[Dave Ramsey]

October, actually.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, so soon. Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you guys just like, just found out.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's been a couple months.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, gotcha. So just between now and October, just some stash. Stash some money away. But create a plan as if you are paying off debt and then once mom and baby are home and everyone's good and healthy, then take what you had saved and throw it at the debt. But what I'm seeing here, and I'm just. It would be up to you guys, John, because as you guys kind of work through and kind of figure out, you and your wife will sit down and just say, okay, how much extra money could we earn? What could we cut out of the budget? You know, we earn, you know, 120. That's pre tax. So what we actually bring home is, you know, around probably 1, 100. And what if we tried to live on 75 and we, you know, we threw 35 this year and we made extra. Like, you guys can sit there and kind of formulate, you know, make up different scenarios of how you can get out of this debt. F then whenever you do that, I think it's always interesting. Cars is like the number one place where you can sell and get ahead. So I would see, okay, how many hours extra will I have to be working? Or how much longer will we have to cut lifestyle in order to keep this $30,000 of debt versus you guys possibly selling this, you know, selling both cars? I'm just saying as an example. Yeah, you can. You have three, you know, around 3,000 each. You have 15,000 saved. So what if you threw, you know, an extra three at each and you went and got a six, $7,000 car each, then that takes $30,000, John, off the table of debt and frees, up to Jade's point, almost $850 a month extra now to continue to pay off debt that much faster. So it's kind of just a trade off of time, energy, money. But whenever I see the cars, it's always where I go, where I'm like, man, you can just jump so far and get that much faster with these assets.

[Jade Warshaw]

There's also the other conversation that I think of when whenever somebody calls and the wife's having a baby and that's kind of sparking things. Do you think that she's going to want to stay home? Is that what you're.

[Dave Ramsey]

I mean, obviously the end goal, looking down in the next few years, the plan will be for her to stay home.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

If it's possible for now, I think in the, maybe a couple months after baby's here. Yeah, you have a good support system here where we are with her parents being around and siblings and whatnot. So we've got plenty of help there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. So yeah, that's when you mentioned the house. My, my brain always goes to that because a lot of times a couple will go buy a house based on the two of their incomes and it's like, okay, this is great, it's 25% of our salary. Then suddenly one of those salaries dips and it's like, oh crap, this mortgage is suddenly very expensive. So that's kind of the equation that I am looking at is, is that if that's what you foresee happening, then maybe the, the what you were talking about comes back on the table. But I don't know, I'd have to know more about your mortgage and what you guys plans are. But that's something you do need to be thinking about and talking about because we would say here that once that mortgage creeps up above 25 of your take home, that's when you're really going to start to feel it. Especially when it's greater than 30, you're really going to start to feel it. So that's just something to keep in mind as you guys plan going forward.

[Rachel Cruze]

And out of her one out of the 120, how much is hers?

[Dave Ramsey]

It fluctuates a lot. I'd say maybe like 50, 60.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. So it's almost half of it. And how much is the mortgage payment a month?

[Dave Ramsey]

Mortgage is actually very good. 14, 15.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. And you guys bring home what, a month?

[Dave Ramsey]

Maybe around eight, nine.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. So you're good now. But you're good now. Hey, by the way, I could just tell by the way you were searching for those numbers before you get off, we're going to make sure you have every dollar so that you can plan for every dollar.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, the Budget really will help you guys, John. I mean honestly do a really, really detailed budget and start cutting stuff. Because when you're living, when your dinks making 120.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

You don't realize the lifestyle creep that really does occur. And as you go through and see exactly where is my money going? Mel actually had a video about this on Instagram. Someone sent it to me. I thought she was like, I remember printing out my entire bank statement. I was highlighting all the crap that I bought that I didn't need. And she was like. And that was full of like a highlighter like what could I cut? What do I need to cut? So it's that kind of mentality, John, from an expense standpoint that you guys really can, I mean and honestly, what's great. And I always get encouraged when you are motivated to do this. I mean for you guys, you know, it's 130. We'll just pretend 130,000 of debt. Pretend the cars are gone just for fun. That's a hundred thousand.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yep.

[Rachel Cruze]

You guys are at 120. You're bringing home probably closer to 190 to 100. And if you, and if you earned extra, John, even a thousand bucks a month, you guys could be out of this in like two years. So it's really not crazy. It's not like you guys are going to be in this for seven to eight years. But you have to be really dedicated to do some really intense sacrifices from the lifestyle standpoint and earning some extra income. But and for you, especially between now and October because that's going to be the sweet spot when the baby comes. It gets much harder.

[Jade Warshaw]

It does.

[Rachel Cruze]

And from all aspects to, to do this debt free journey. But families do it all the time. People have babies during their debt, you know, payoff process. But, but you guys stock away a ton of cash. John, I would be working extra, doing what you can and then map out a plan and, and write these debts out with your wife, look at your budget and just say how much extra can we throw at this debt and how fast is it for us to get out? Because I think you guys can do this in two and two and a half years.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Yep. Very good. Sam. Most phone plans are like bad roommates, unpredictable, always asking for money, hard to.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Jade Warshaw]

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[Dave Ramsey]

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[Jade Warshaw]

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[Dave Ramsey]

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[Rachel Cruze]

We are thankful for all the, the new listeners and watchers that we've had on the Ramsey show. This show really done very well from a number standpoint the last couple of years. And that's because you guys and partly because you all have subscribed, you leave reviews and comments and all of that. And that always helps Boost and get the show in front of other people that don't know about it, which we want because we want to help people when it comes to their money. So we're always grateful for that. So continue to subscribe and leave a review, Share episodes with your friends and your family and continue to help spread the word about getting in control with your money and common sense in a world that doesn't have a lot of it these days. So that's what we like. All right, let's go to Nicholas in Grand Rapids. Hi Nicholas. Welcome to the show.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, how you doing? Thanks so much for taking my call.

[Rachel Cruze]

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

[Dave Ramsey]

My question is I recently got married this last year and I'm considering going back to school to finish my degree, but I'd like to keep working full time while doing that. And I guess my question would be what's the balance between working full time and doing school full time? So looking at like a 70 to 80 hour week with balancing like kind of the new marriage and just not wanting to neglect those responsibilities.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, what are you going back? Like, what's the end goal here?

[Dave Ramsey]

The end goal would be I have a four year degree right now and I can go back for one more year. And that would really helped me with pursuing my degree. I'm trying to become a licensed architect and so if I go back for one more year, I can significantly advance my degree. I can get licensed. And so it's important for me to go back. But yeah, I'd like to. I have a full time job right now and so that's also important to me. So I'd like to, I'd like to do both if it's feasible. And so there's, there's sort of this, this crossroad between hustling now for kind of a more secure future and kind of getting a better paying job, but.

[Jade Warshaw]

And it's just for a year.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's for one year.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's for one year. Yeah. You could do that semesters.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. What's your wife saying about it?

[Dave Ramsey]

She's a little bit worried that I would be too busy. She's also studying. She's also studying architecture. She's just finished right now. And so I think she is sort of very in tune with how busy it can get in school. And so I think she's a little bit nervous that, you know, 70, 80 hours could be more.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's the worst that happens? You. You start the program, you realize I'm very busy, like too busy. And then you cut back on some of your work hours. Would that be possible?

[Dave Ramsey]

I believe it would be possible to cut back on work hours. I would probably just have to have a conversation with the boss. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. I mean, the only reason I'm kind of okay with it, Nicholas, honestly, is because it's one year. I mean, if you were talking about doing something for four years or five years or you wanted to. We get this call sometimes. I'm like, oh my God. Where they. They just got married and they want to move to states away from their spouse, start a job. Yeah. I mean, like some. Some really like, long term, kind of bizarre decisions where I'm like, no, no, no, no. But this Nicholas has an end date, so that always gives me hope. It's not like, hey, I'm taking on this extra schooling and I don't know if I get this. I may have to do this. It's not like it's this never ending black hole. There's a clear start and stop. So you guys would just have to be on the same page of saying, hey, can we do this for a year? And I think, I mean, yeah, I think you can do anything for a year.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Do it now while you're still just a couple before kids come involved and all these other things. How are you paying for it? Are you working your way through? Is that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, that's sort of the idea. I mean, we have a little bit of savings. We're not really in debt. So the idea would be I would be able to pay for it just by continually working. That's. That's sort of where that idea came from was don't go into debt by you just. You just keep working and pay it as you go.

[Jade Warshaw]

Now when you say that's the idea, I just want to know that that's actually the plan, like you've put really put Thought around, like the numbers and everything in it. Sounds like you're kind of guessing at it.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, we're. We're pretty, we're pretty regimented with the budget. We've been listening for a while. So we've got it pretty all mapped out. So the work in the 40 hours a week would be more than enough to pay it as we went. It's just sort of the.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, it's just a sacrifice of time.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I think it's worth it. Short term sacrifice, long term gain. That's the way we'd say it over here. So.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, and it is. I mean, a year. A year feels long, but it goes so fast, like so fast. So that's, that's where I think. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. And then I don't know in my head too. I'm like, we talk to people that have that go. That are deployed in the military and they're gone for nine months. You know what I mean? Like, people, people do this kind of thing and. But yeah, on a new marriage, I think it's really wise that she needs to be bought in. I think she needs to maybe hear from you, ways that you guys want to stay connected because. Yeah, you don't want your marriage being on the back burner by any means.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[Rachel Cruze]

But I think, I think you can healthily do both. And again, I'm saying this because the timeframe is so short, so.

[Jade Warshaw]

But what would be the other option? I mean, we didn't really ask you if you didn't do this one year thing. What's the other option?

[Dave Ramsey]

I think the other option would be we save up for another year in order to afford going back to school while not working, which would basically just push the timeline back by another year. And ultimately a salary boost from getting licensed would get pushed back another year. So what is the salary getting pushed a year? It would be probably 10,000 to $15,000 just by finishing.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's great. Does she have a preference on A or B?

[Dave Ramsey]

I think she would like us to look more into doing it slower over time. I think I'm a little bit adamant about getting it done just because, like you said, yeah, God willing, we could have a kid whenever. And so I feel like we have, we have the time to spare now. It's just a matter of. It's just a matter of pulling the trigger and kind of using that time.

[Jade Warshaw]

I will say, I mean, I, when you first said it, I was more along the lines of, yeah, just do it. Is it something you could feasibly do? I mean, working a full time job and being in school full time is. No, like, that's not. Not a cakewalk. Would you be able to meet the requirements fully of both?

[Dave Ramsey]

I think so. I think I'm pretty confident in my own ability to do it. I just. I guess the question was more around the impact on my wife. You know, I think I can handle it, but I'm. I'm trying to step back from that and be like, okay, I can handle it.

[Jade Warshaw]

But I think you guys just have.

[Dave Ramsey]

Effects that I don't think I can see.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think you guys put some guardrails in place. Right. And because here's the thing. If you start this program, let's say you get the first semester in and then you get. Can you. Can you reevaluate after the first semester? And then. Absolutely, yeah. So you do the first semester. You guys kind of have that check in. How do we think this is going? Can we do another one? And if everybody feels good, you green light forward. And if you guys have hit some. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

And if she throws a red flag after the first semester, you need to listen to her, you know, because you're kind of. If you choose a. You're kind of choosing your way, which again, part of marriage is a little bit of that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right.

[Rachel Cruze]

There's some things we just kind of give and take. I really not. But you want to, like, you know, But I think that that gives her. Give her a lot of weight. And after that first semester, to throw a flag if she needs it. And you need to really, really, really listen to that if she does, is what I would say. I think that's a great point, Jade.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

So, yeah. But I think for you guys.

[Dave Ramsey]

Thank you.

[Rachel Cruze]

You guys have been married for how long?

[Dave Ramsey]

We're coming up on one year on June 2nd.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. So still newlyweds. That's great. Yeah. So I think, you know things, and it sounds so kind of tactical and like, not romantic, but having things in the calendar of like, okay, let's map out and on this Saturday, let's go, and we're gonna take a day trip here. We're gonna, like, do some things that are earmarked throughout that year so she knows and can feel like some relief in the schedule to have time with you and plan those things ahead of time. Right. It's not like this, like, spontaneous for me. And it doesn't have to be every week night, Tuesday night, you know, you have to be that legalistic about it. But you guys Be really intentional about the calendar. And I have found in marriage. I don't know if you guys do this Jade, but on Sunday nights Winston and I, we look through every single day of the week and we say out loud the schedule of like okay, I need to leave for work. I had a media hit this morning at 8 so I have 7:30. So Winston, you gotta take of care kids, you know, to school. We had, yeah, like it's, you are literally mapping out very tactically throughout the week. And something about that brings a lot of peace where there's not a lot of mystery because I think in a busy season, which people experience a lot these busy seasons, the, the kind of, the unspoken things and the questions create stress and where you can eliminate the stress by having some really clear conversations and communications week to week, even down to dinner. So like I'm not going to be home. Yeah, you'll have Tuesday, Thursday nights. So like, you know, I mean like as tact as you can get in busy seasons is always gives me a level of control and peace which just helps enjoy where you are in the moment too because you want to be present. So it's a good question. Nicholas, I'm glad you called.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Rachel Cruze]

If you're tired of living paycheck to paycheck and you just keep wondering, where is all my money going? Well, the first step to get control is to do a budget. And our team is hosting free budgeting trainings this month.

[Jade Warshaw]

Month.

[Rachel Cruze]

So you can really learn step by step how to create and stick to an everydollar budget. And they answer your budgeting questions live during the Q A. So if you have a specific one about your specific situation, this is the perfect place to ask. Spots are limited, so sign up for [e-mail] webinar. Up next, we have Brandon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hey, Brandon, welcome to the show.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, thanks for taking my call.

[Rachel Cruze]

For sure. Thanks for calling in. How can we help?

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, I've run into a bit of a speed bump here. As far as my wife. We did the baby steps. We, we're in over 200,000 in debt, knocked that out in a few years, and now it's time to put money away, 15% of my income into, you know, mutual funds. And she's just wanting to park it in a high yield savings account. And because she says she's scared to lose it. So I'm just kind of curious the best way to go about, I mean, we've, I've sat her down. I've said, hey, this, over the long term, this is going to run its course. We're going to, you know, become millionaires. And, and it doesn't seem to stick. So I'm just, I don't, I've kind of run into a rut where we're just putting money into a high yield savings account. And, you know, 4% is good, but it's not 12.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right. It sounds like one of, it sounds like two things or one of two things. A, something happened in the past and she or someone she knows lost money in the stock market. Meaning they took money out when it was at its lowest point. Or her dad.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Yes, ma' am.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's where it is.

[Jade Warshaw]

So that, that's where it's originating from. And then that lack of knowledge is continuing till today. So first off, I think what she's not understanding is that when her dad pulled that money out, he's the one, he locked in his losses when he pulled the money out. But had he have left it in, he would probably have tons.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. What's the story with the dad? What happened?

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, I don't know the full story because it's, you know, it's a pretty sore subject other than the fact that he, he had money in there. He pulled, he pulled it out. I don't know how long it was in there or anything like that, but he's constantly telling her, oh, you can lose a lot of money.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right?

[Rachel Cruze]

Is he still living?

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm just like, is he still Living. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. He's still.

[Dave Ramsey]

He's a big influence on her.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, I was gonna say. Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

So somebody needs to play out the scenario. I'm just trying to put myself in your shoes. If this were my husband, I'd say, well, okay, we know what happened when he pulled the money out. He. He lost a bunch. Has anybody ever played out what would have happened if he didn't pull the money out? And then I'd look at that scenario because I think that'd be eye opening to say, here's the thing. If that money had never come out today, here's what it would be worth.

[Rachel Cruze]

Worth.

[Jade Warshaw]

And that kind of shows the truth of how the stock market works. So I think this is a really delicate situation because like you said, it's touchy because money was, quote, lost. But you don't. It's hard to say, hey, the mistake was on you. You're the one who pulled it out. Right. But even though that's kind of the truth.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

You've got to be.

[Dave Ramsey]

Look in the mirror.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. So, I mean, I think validating her because. Yeah, that is scary. You know, you're. You know, if a family member like that, you're in your own parents went through something. It's like, I want to avoid what they went through because it was always obviously very painful, not fun. I don't want to do that. So that makes sense that she's, you know, has that level of fear. But what can happen, Brandon, is fear can. It can paralyze us. And fear can make us do really bad, make really bad financial decisions. We would quote this all the time, especially during COVID and someone said it, and now I cannot remember who it was, but they said we make our worst financial decision when we're fearful and drunk. Or drunk. Or maybe both. Maybe both. No, it was like some guy. I don't know who it was. It was like when you quote them drunk. Yeah. They would always say, if you're fearful or drunk, you make really bad money decisions.

[Jade Warshaw]

Describe Covid.

[Rachel Cruze]

So, yeah, we kept telling people. Yeah. So again, it makes sense that she's fearful. But also, we can't let fear dictate and make our decisions because it's an emotion that's not. Not trustworthy. You know, it is there to create. To make us, to create safety for us. Right. There's fear, and our body reacts to it. And it's like, I'm on guard. I'm on guard. And why. And sometimes the threat is real. Right. I mean, if you see a bear and you're like, there, that's scary. Like, that's a very real. Right. Your body's response is correct. So run or whatever you're supposed to do when you see a bear lie dead or whatever you're supposed to. I don't even know. But you know, but the fear here, while we, I understand it, it's not based in reality. It's based in someone's situation, but that's not the reality out there. And so I think that's what she has to really overcome. So maybe Brandon, even you guys, we always say a three to six month emergency fund. Maybe you bump it up, you know, six, you know, maybe six, seven, eight months. Just to give some extra buffer in that high yield. Just to know if something happens, we are going to be okay. Like, we have an emergency fund for the emergency fund kind of idea. Right. So she may just need some extra security. And then, and then you guys just keep, you know, I mean, my hope was that you guys do start investing because I think you're exactly right from a math standpoint. You want that compound interest as early as possible. And then you guys just keep reevaluating and don't look everything. She doesn't need to look every day at the market because the new it's gonna dip and the news is gonna freak out and then she's gonna be like, oh, my God, the world's coming to an end. Right. So don't look at it. But like once a year, you guys need to reevaluate and just say, okay, you know, what did this year look like?

[Jade Warshaw]

But.

[Rachel Cruze]

But it takes, it does take, I guess in her case, kind of that leap of faith. It's not really a leap of faith because I think there's a lot of facts around it, but it does take a level of trusting the system and.

[Jade Warshaw]

Being willing to learn something new outside of a previous experience. That's the hard part.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's a great point. Yeah. So I don't know if that helps, Brandon, but yeah, that's. Yeah, it's a hard one because again, I think it's. I think her fear is valid, but yet we. Just because it's valid doesn't mean that we make decisions around it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right? That's right.

[Rachel Cruze]

But thanks for the call. All right, let's go to Aaron in San Diego. Hi, Aaron, welcome to the show.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, thanks for taking my call. I appreciate it.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Dave Ramsey]

So my question is pretty short and to the point. I currently have just $4,000 in credit card debt and about $11,000 in a car loan. I really have no other debt. I'm 26 years old. I make about $100,000 a year. I do live in San Diego.

[Rachel Cruze]

So it's doesn't.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, it doesn't go very far. Yeah. But my question is, you know, I'm an ex employee of a rather large tech car company. I'm pretty sure we know what company that is. But pretty sizable amount of stock. It is fully vested. However it is technically a short term. It hasn't been over a year old. I'm not too informed on all the tax implications. But should I sell? I have about currently right now the market rate for the stock is like 340 a share. I have about like 14,000 right now. Should I sell some of that and pay off my credit card? Should I sell all of it and pay off my car and my credit card? I just, I'm to you guys for a few weeks now and I just, I'm really trying to be focused on that peace of mind. Like it always starts young, you know, it's only $4,000 in credit card debt and then it grows into 10, 20, 30 and lucky enough I don't have any student loan debt but I just want to knock out any debt at all. So what do you guys think is the best course of action here? Should I just use my income and save up and pay my debt that way? Where should I be going?

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, so normally we would say that. We always say to say to sell anything that is non retirement. And we are not big fans of single stocks just because it is so volatile that if that one company somehow loses everything. Right. That and I think I know what company you're talking about. So I don't know if that's going to be the case. But you never know. Right. We were even looking the other day, Jane in a team meeting at Peloton when Peloton was like so big.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

And it's like gone to nothing basically. You know what I mean? So I'm like it was hot, you know. So just the idea that yeah, just because something's working today, it may not be the best long term play because. Because you never know. So yeah, getting rid of single stocks would be something that I would recommend. And then using any of the profits to go ahead and pay off debt and then go and take that the proceeds, everything else because you'll have way more than, than what you have in debt. And you know, you can go put that in a, you know, a Vanguard account, an index fund, open up a mutual fund. And just have more diversification with that money and let it grow long term without again, that volatile volatility of just that one specific company.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much will it be when you cash them in?

[Dave Ramsey]

So if I were to sell everything right now, if I was looking at the trade account, it's like 13ish right now. And it's the current rate for the stock is like 340. I don't know how many shares I have. It's like 31 or 32.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, I said you had. Oh, I'm sorry, I missed. I must heard your numbers. But yeah, so I would go ahead and sell it and put that towards the desk.

[Jade Warshaw]

Just be ready for the tax hit when it comes. Because it will come on your income taxes.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yep. For next year. Yeah. If you sell in 2025, it'll be there in the 2026 when you get it in April.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's right.

[Rachel Cruze]

Thanks Aaron for the call. Thanks to everyone in the booth. Jay, thanks always for being a great co host. Thanks to our studio audience here at Nashville and thank you America.

[Jade Warshaw]

We'll be back.

[Rachel Cruze]

All right, Dave, you have some strong opinions possibly? Yeah, I think so. Okay. Because you really prefer credit unions over big banks?

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, credit unions for one thing are nonprofit, which means that the members, the customers own the credit union. So any profits that the credit union makes goes back into customers pricing. So you get better interest rate on savings, cheaper checking and so on, that kind of thing. But what's more important than that though is the fact that the customer is the owner, changes the spirit on the credit union. So I find very few credit unions that aren't very customer centric.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, and I think we have found one that is incredible and that's Fairwinds. They are an incredible credit union that is really out with the heart to help the customer.

[Dave Ramsey]

They're the right kind of people with the right kind of values and they've done a really, really good job with customer and the deals that they're offering. The Ramsey Tribe is incredible.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that the things that we teach they so line up with. And you're right, their customer service is unbelievable. Winston and I just signed up and we got an account and I'm not kidding, it took less than five minutes. It was so user friendly. Like the step by step approach was unbelievable. And then the next day my phone rings and it says fair wins on my phone. So I answered it and talked to someone there and they said, yeah, they give calls to every new customer. And so again they just really care about your experience and I so, so appreciate that. Plus, anything that you can do at a traditional branch, you can do with [e-mail] or on their app. And you'll have free access to over 33,000 ATMs.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, you guys know how much I hate banks in general. And so for me to do this is a big deal. Talk to our friends at Fairwinds and check out the combined checking and savings bundle that they created just for the Ramsey tribe. You guys, it's incredible.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, y. You guys, it's so easy to join Fairwinds no matter where you live. So go to fairwinds.org Ramsey Fairwinds is.

[Dave Ramsey]

Federally insured by NCUA.

[Rachel Cruze]

Live from Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create. Create amazing relationships. I'm Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with best selling author Jade Warshaw. And we are here to answer your questions at,582-55225. So give us a call and we'll be talking about your money, your life, marriage, relationships, career, kids, kids, anything and everything. So give us a call. Up first this hour we have William in Indianapolis. Hi, William. Welcome to the show.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hello. Thank you for having me.

[Rachel Cruze]

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

[Dave Ramsey]

So my, my fiance, we're planning on getting married this August. So pretty soon, Congratulations. She went into a surgery, a pretty simple surgery, gallbladder to be more specific. And they coded her on the table so she was, she is now doing well. She was in it, she had a trach for six months. But in that time she got a pretty good lawyer and he won us around. Well, won her, I'm not entitled to any of it, but won her around 1.3 million after we pay him and everything we should have around that. So my main question for calling today is like we were planning on getting a house because we are getting married. But we didn't know if we were going to do like full cash pay for the house and get it over with or a really hefty down payment since neither one of us have much credit right now. That way we could build our credit in the future. But I didn't know what would be the best option. Either one of us have had money like this before, so sure.

[Rachel Cruze]

She, how's she doing now?

[Dave Ramsey]

She's doing very well. So my fiance was born, she was born dead. This okay. So just by a normal person you would be able to tell like, hey, there's something a little different.

[Rachel Cruze]

She's not yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

An adult, like an adult size, like airway.

[Rachel Cruze]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

I mean, by hearing her talk.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you would think the doctors would definitely be able to tell.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, man.

[Dave Ramsey]

And so. Yeah. But she's doing very good now after so impressive.

[Rachel Cruze]

Wow. She's incredible.

[Dave Ramsey]

Cincinnati shout out to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for being the best airway reconstruction in the United States. And luckily we were very to them.

[Rachel Cruze]

Wow. My gosh.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow, wow, wow.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so, William, you guys, you get married in August. Will either of you be bringing debt into the marriage?

[Dave Ramsey]

Negative. Neither one of us have student loans, any credit card debts. We both drive older vehicles.

[Rachel Cruze]

Wow.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good for you.

[Rachel Cruze]

I mean, yeah. I mean, I mean, I'll be simple with my answer. Jade, you probably explored a little bit more. But yet, I mean, yes, this would be a really, really, really, really wise way to use this money. If you guys guys started off your marriage with no mortgage payment and the amount of money you guys could be investing and saving for the future is going to be insane. William, the. What you guys can do versus sending a payment to a mortgage broker or to a bank, you guys pay yourself a mortgage payment and invest that. Like the, the numbers are astronomical. What that could. What that could do. So, yeah. Short answer is, is I think that's a very. Yes. Wise way to use this money is to spend cash and, and, and yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Buy it out. Right. How. What do you think it would cost for you guys to get what you. What you want? You know, in, in Indianapolis.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Her only stipulation is two bathrooms, so she's not very difficult. Around 175 to $200,000 is around the price range we were looking at for something that's going to be a lifelong house for us. Wow.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. That's a lot less than I was thinking when I look at the median home price in the United States. So.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, we live. We live in 500 square foot right now, so anything is an upgrade.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's true. That's true. Okay.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so let's just say you guys went crazy and spent 300. Yeah. So that means you have a million dollars left. So I think the next question. So, yes, 100% percent be paying cash for this house, even more so than probably more emphatically than we were thinking earlier. And then, and then for the million. Yeah, take some of that, William. You guys can upgrade cars. That would be another, another thing to think about. And then, you know, I would be. We always say to give, save and spend. Yeah. And so with the rest of that, you know, do some generosity and do Some giving with that.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'd probably sit with a smartvestor pro and figure out how to invest a good portion of it for sure.

[Dave Ramsey]

Of course, if you give to someone, you're going to get back astronomically because that's just how the universe works.

[Jade Warshaw]

It, it, it, it is like that sometimes, although it's not always financial. So keep that in mind 100%. But yeah, I, what Rachel said, I'd probably, I'd upgrade the cars. I take my time on this. Right. I think that's the big thing. Like if you just go out and it's kind of like shopping spree and you buy a house and buy two cars and it's like, I feel like that's pro. Probably where you could get into no man's land there. But take your time buying this house. Take your time doing your research just as though this money were never there. How would you take your time to do your research on these things? Right. And then, yeah, I would set aside three to six months of expenses. I throw that in a high yield savings. You guys come up with some things that might be important to you on the giving side. Yeah. And then that investing, if you invest a good chunk of this and let it grow and just set it and forget it, that's going to be really, really great for your legacy.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. How, how much do you guys make a year? William, how much combined income will you have once you guys get married?

[Dave Ramsey]

So combined, she has a fixed income around a thousand dollars a month that she will not be losing because of the trust fund that is set up through the malpractice care case. So she will still get her Social Security income, which is what she gets. And then I work around 40,000 is what I bring home yearly.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so you guys are roughly about 52,000. And so. And that, that, that will be her income. Correct. She doesn't make anything above that payment.

[Dave Ramsey]

That is correct.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. So yeah, So I, I would, it's going to take some discipline, which you guys, you sound like you guys are pretty disciplined. Seems like it that you don't start living like, oh, because this money is a, you know, time payment. Right. This is not an ongoing salary that you all will be getting every single year. And so watching the, in watching the lifestyle and not acting like, oh my gosh, we're a bunch of millionaires.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, right.

[Rachel Cruze]

Like I would be living. And I don't think you will be. I don't think you will be. You guys seem very mature.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm not gonna change my lifestyle.

[Rachel Cruze]

I can Already tell I said what.

[Jade Warshaw]

You wanted to spend on the house. I was like, we're gonna want you.

[Rachel Cruze]

To buy some, some cars. But yeah, I will say that as your spender friend. Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

I, I drive A99 right now. That thing's about to fall.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. So get, get some nice cars and then. Yeah. And then you guys, if you, and part of this too, you know, if you invest it wisely, you guys can be living off of a portion of this every year if you want. But again, sitting down with a smartvestor pro is probably gonna be your best bet. Just to make sure the longevity of this last hopefully beyond you guys. I mean, that's what this kind of money can do if you invest it early, which is really beautiful.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's generational. If you can invest. Right.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes, exactly.

[Jade Warshaw]

How old are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

I am 24.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, most definitely. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. I was going to say one more thing. I believe that the way that it works in Indiana, I don't know how it works anywhere else but the insurance company, when they like come through hospital and like they have a malpractice case, they can only pay us out a certain amount right now and then they pay a percentage of that over time. So she's going to get $175,000 over a 30 year period. Every five years she gets a slight increase in the chunk that she gets.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, yeah, that makes sense. So what you guys would have to do is just have a timeline of knowing when is this money coming and what are we using that chunk for at a time. So that actually kind of spreads it out, which will, will slow you guys down some. Which is fine. Which is fine. Well, I'm glad everyone's okay. Thanks for the call. There's a time in your life and did the baby steps for renting, but you don't want to do it forever because when you rent, you're still paying for a mortgage, just somebody else's. Plus, rent means instability in your budget because it always goes up, never down. So when you're ready to buy, make sure you work with a mortgage partner. You can rely on Churchill Mortgage. Churchill is Ramsey trusted to help you make the move from renting to home ownership wisely. Churchill understands that when you buy a home the Ramsey way you're. Your mortgage payment will be a consistent, manageable part of your monthly budget. Plus when your home is paid off, that was your largest expense. Now it's extra money in your pocket and an asset towards turning you into a baby steps millionaire. Get started on the American dream of Home ownership [e-mail] that's Churchillmortgage.com.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Rachel Cruze]

Like a home or car.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Rachel Cruze]

The Ramsey Show Question of the day is sponsored by why Refi? If you're buried in defaulted private student loans, you are not alone. Reach out to Y Refi to see if they can build a custom plan to help dig you out. Visit yrefi.comramsey today. That's yre f y.com Ramsey may not be available in all states.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, today's question of the day comes from Patrick in Connecticut. He says our current mortgage balance is 800 150,000 and we also have an $8,000 car loan as our only other debt. My wife wants to get a 1.5 million dollar loan for a second larger home and cash out our single stocks for the down payment. We earn $350,000 a year. I am losing sleep over this idea and it feels like we're going backwards. I want to invest more in retirement and save for our kids education. She wants to see to sell our first home later on to pay for college costs. What would you recommend that we focus on? Okay, so just to clarify, she wants to keep the current house that's 850 and then cash out stocks to put a down payment on a second home that would be worth 1.5 million. And she's like, hey, it's all good because in the future when it's time to pay for college, we can just sell the $850,000 house. That'll likely be worth more. Yeah, I don't like this. I think that what you're feeling is correct. You're just having a lot of skin in the debt game.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. A lot of risk. It's a lot happening.

[Jade Warshaw]

I wonder why she wouldn't just. I mean he's not on the line but I wonder in my mind it's like, okay, if you want the 1.5 million dollar house, sell the previous house, take the proceeds and put it, roll it to the 1.5 million dollar house.

[Rachel Cruze]

It sounds like it's like a, I make up a vacation home or something. You know what I mean, and the problem with all of this is, you know, she wants the nice second home, doesn't want to pay for kids college right now. She doesn't want to put money away to save for that. So it's a lot of present for today. Yeah, it's a lot of things today. This is what I want today. So I'm going to make decisions based on today without really looking long term and saying, okay, what's best for us where we can have a fun life today. It's not like you want to be miserable today.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right, right.

[Rachel Cruze]

But yet you want to be wise and not let this be the motivator. Don't let today be the motivator. Be thinking long term because you guys have a lot of life to live and yeah, it doesn't sound like a lot of wise decisions.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're going to be carrying two, two mortgage payments. Think about the. So really what we're saying is think about the opportunity cost on it and what that's going to cost you long term. Clearly she's not interested in thinking that way today. Yeah, but you have your work cut out for you, Patrick. But you are correct. Don't do this.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yep. So I don't know, I would sit, I would sit down and I want to know her motivation for the second home and if it is a vacation type, you know, situation. It's like a vacation home. You know, could you guys rent somewhere, you know, for two weeks a year and still be able to enjoy your vacations? But you don't have to own the home that you're going to right now. Especially because you guys have, have still car loans and a mortgage on your primary home. So getting that paid down for sure would be the wiser way. And, and I would, yeah. Cash out some of those stocks to pay off the car loan. Especially, you know, if they're not in retirement.

[Jade Warshaw]

Hope that helps.

[Rachel Cruze]

But yeah, sorry, Patrick, we're. We're the bear of bad news for your wife.

[Jade Warshaw]

We are. I don't know why I'm totally reading too much into this question, but I feel like she's just out here trying to live that, that life. I'm like, you guys are in Connecticut. It's super expensive. I always think about sometimes when you're in an area that's super expensive and you see how other people are living, you kind of feel like I have to be doing that as well.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes, yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

But that's not, that's not the reality. I always think about basketball teams. Right. And it's like the, the The Jimmy Butlers, they get paid the big dollars, but like the seventh and the eighth, man, they, they don't make what Jimmy Butler makes. So if you go out with Jimmy Butler, you can't get what he gets.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, that's what I mean.

[Jade Warshaw]

Like, live that life. So anyway, I don't know why I feel like she's just trying to live the life that she's seeing other people live.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, it's looking that way. Oh, man, it's so true though.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Especially like on a sports team. Yeah. Like, these guys are like. Yeah. The salary ranges is like so significantly different. Yeah. So it takes a lot of maturity to push through that.

[Jade Warshaw]

It does.

[Rachel Cruze]

All right, let's go to the phones. We'll go to Jason in Kansas City. Hi, Jason. Welcome to the show.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, guys, thanks so much for taking my call.

[Rachel Cruze]

Absolutely.

[Dave Ramsey]

So, yeah. So I'm a medical student and I am incredibly blessed. I'm going to be able to graduate medical school 100% debt free.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh my gosh. How did you. How did you do that?

[Jade Warshaw]

Wow.

[Dave Ramsey]

My parents are both docs too.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Okay. Wow. That is.

[Dave Ramsey]

They've been incredibly supportive. I'm, I'm eternally grateful. And I currently live in a home. Home that's fully paid off as well. They purchased it for me.

[Rachel Cruze]

Wow.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Wow. It's a huge blessing. So I am pursuing a medical specialty where the prestige of your residency really matters if you want to work in a desirable area later in life. It's a pretty small field, limited job market. The challenge is that most of these top tier residencies are in really expensive cities. That would be much pricier than the life I currently live. So my question is, do you think it would be a financial mistake to leave this very stable, low cost setup in order to train at a more prestigious program that might be able to open better doors for me long term, depending on where I go. Maybe even having to take out loans for some living expenses. Or do you think I should just try to stay put and risk possibly more limited job options later?

[Jade Warshaw]

Are you allowed to sell the house that your parents got you and use that money to put towards living expenses in the more expensive area?

[Dave Ramsey]

So, yeah, it is in their name and that. That is an option for sure. I, I think there's another layer of it too that I, you know, I don't want to feel disrespectful, just that they've done so much for me and given me this great house and I'm like, hey, by the way, I'm, you know, flying the coop and moving somewhere else. You know what I mean? But that's another side to the issue, kind of.

[Jade Warshaw]

But the way you set it up, I mean, to be honest, the way you set it up, it sounds like they're in this. They're in. In the doctor field and they've been so supportive. It feels like based off of what you said, that they would understand what you just explained to us that, hey, my residency really matters. I mean, have you talked to them about it and what do they say?

[Dave Ramsey]

I haven't. To be honest, I've been a little afraid just because I think I have been worried how they might respond to me saying I might want to leave this house that they bought for me. But I definitely can try to have that conversation. And you're right. I mean, they're both physicians. They'll probably be under some.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I'm also. I also have questions about the vocabulary you're using about they bought the house for you. It's. It's in their name. So I. Yeah, it brings up other questions, which is, is this really my house? Does this mean we can sell it when I'm ready? Or is this. Is this something that they're viewing as just a rental and for now, you're the one living there and when you move on, someone else will like, it just brings up a lot of other questions that I have.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. What's the expectation of the home? Like strings attached besides what you're just kind of feeling and thinking, Was it anything ever said when they gifted you the home?

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, so I think I know they're on it. I think I might be listed on the home, but I mean, they're definitely the ones who have the most ownership in it. And, you know, I think they kind of bought it thinking I was going to stay where I am at long term, you know, and train where I'm at. And it really hasn't been until I got into medical school and realized that, you know, this. This field that I want to pursue is really what I want to do. And it's probably going to require me to possibly move somewhere. So it was kind of came out of the blue a little unexpected.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, I mean, you don't. I mean, it's a. Don't get me wrong, when somebody offers that, like, on face value, it's a great gift, but at the same time, you don't want it to be, you know, golden handcuffs that keeps you chained.

[Rachel Cruze]

To an area that's the reason that you're. There is space is for a house right?

[Jade Warshaw]

Like, that would feel right.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, that would be silly. That would not be wise long term. I think you're exactly right, Jade. So I'm just thinking through going to talk to them. I mean, yeah, I mean, I would definitely just tell them kind of what you're thinking and where you're at and maybe be a little prepared in the conversation of running some numbers of, you know, here's probably the top three areas I'll probably end up in and do some research and just say, okay, how much realistically will rent be? Realistically, what. What would life look like from a financial standpoint? And how long would you be in these cities?

[Dave Ramsey]

Residency is going to be about five years.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. So it's. Yeah, it's a significant time. And when you're saying expensive, are you thinking like New York City, San Francisco.

[Dave Ramsey]

Seattle, New York, you know, San Francisco, Louisiana. You know, some of the Boston. Some of the more really expensive cities that have, you know, really reputable health care systems.

[Rachel Cruze]

Sure. Okay. Yeah. So I would run some, some numbers and just know, okay, here's how much it's going to cost me to live per month. I would not take out loans, Jason.

[Jade Warshaw]

Not at all.

[Rachel Cruze]

I think either you figure out another way to make some money to support yourself during that time, but also have that conversation to say, hey, I'm looking at all my assets and I do have this house, you know, in my head as an asset. But I, I want to be respectful of you all. Just tell me how you're feeling and just have a conversation about it. But be prepared with some numbers so you at least kind of have a plan going in, in knowing here's the direction I'm leaning, but you may not be able to afford it, Jason, if they don't give you this house.

[Dave Ramsey]

Rachel, do you ever get these sketchy text messages that are like, hey, you need to update your address and verify so we can get you the package you didn't order?

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes, I have, George. Sketchy. And never trust them.

[Jade Warshaw]

And that's why we recommend delete me.

[Dave Ramsey]

They help with that.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, they do. Delete Me actually goes in and removes your information from data broker websites. And it is an incredible service that everyone needs.

[Jade Warshaw]

And there's a lot of shady companies.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Jade Warshaw]

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[Dave Ramsey]

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[Jade Warshaw]

Names, your name, everything is just out.

[Dave Ramsey]

There for scammers and spammers to find.

[Rachel Cruze]

So much.

[Jade Warshaw]

But delete me, one will delete your.

[Dave Ramsey]

Data, hence the name. It's gone, they'll wipe it out for.

[Jade Warshaw]

You so you can sleep easy.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's right. And then once they remove your information, then they're going to send you a detailed report telling you where they found your information, when they removed it, how many hours they've saved you. I mean, it is incredible. So detailed and it's beautiful.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Jade Warshaw]

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[Rachel Cruze]

Absolutely amazing. And Winston and I now get fewer texts, weird emails, spam calls.

[Jade Warshaw]

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[Dave Ramsey]

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[Jade Warshaw]

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[Dave Ramsey]

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[Jade Warshaw]

Just go to JoinDeleteMe.com Ramsey that comes up to less than nine bucks a month.

[Dave Ramsey]

Super affordable.

[Rachel Cruze]

Again, that's JoinSlate Me.com Ramsey make sure to check it out, you guys.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Rachel Cruze]

When it comes to Debt or Building wealth wealth people often can forget an important step when it comes to reaching their goals. And that's having insurance. And having the right coverage or too little or too much can really impact how long it takes you to build wealth. So skimping on insurance might feel like saving, but when life happens, it is not great because you may not have a safety net that you need and we don't want debt to be that safety net. So the right insurance acts as a shield around your loved ones and your wallet if disaster strikes. And in some cases, it can save you money if you're paying too much for it. Insurance so how do you know if you have the right coverage? Make sure to take the Coverage Checkup. It's an online free resource that creates a personalized insurance action plan for you that's unique to your situation and it makes an overly confusing topic really easy to understand and gives you the next step specifically for you and your situation. So go to ramseysolutions.com checkup to take the coverage checkup or click the Link in the description if you you are watching on YouTube or listening on podcast. Up next, we have Derek in San Jose. Hi, Derek, welcome to the show.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, Rachel, I'm a big fan and it's a real honor to speak with you. Thanks so much for taking my call.

[Rachel Cruze]

Absolutely. Thanks for calling in. How can we help?

[Dave Ramsey]

So I recently got engaged. My fiance and I are both 36 years old. We're looking to start a Brady bunch. We've got five kids between 10 and 12 between us.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, wow. Between 10 and 12, is that what you said?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. I have twin sons who are 11 and she has a 10 year old. 11 year old and 12 year old.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh my gosh. That's going to be a house full. That's fun. So great.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, it's been really fun. Yeah. So the reason I'm calling is because we have a pretty large difference in assets and I think based on your advice, it would. The advice would be that we should get a prenup. So I have roughly $12 million and she has roughly 50,000. And so we started the process of looking into a prenup and it's been an emotional one and I totally understand why. And I think especially like, we went through a questionnaire talking together about it, but then when we got the first draft back from my lawyer, that's when she's really not been feeling good about it and I understand the concerns. So, I mean, she feels like I wouldn't be fully entering the marriage in the same way that she is because it feels like I'm holding assets, like separately off to the side. And I'm sensitive to that and especially in some of the context of her former relationship. And so I'm just looking for maybe more clarity and like what you guys would recommend.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, man, this is a hard one. Because it is, I think it is a wise decision to do one. And I say that even more. I have a friend who's going through not a great situation and she came in with a lot more and now he's just, I mean, it was, it's just messy. It's messy. Messy. And there's a level again, you're not, you're, you're hoping and praying obviously that this is the one and that it's going to last a lifetime. But as you, you guys have experienced, you know, there, there is a reality to all of this. And whenever we, any of us get married. Right. I think there is like this, like, okay, I'm choosing you for a reason and for a lifetime. But, but we also don't live under a rock and know that things change in life and situations come up. And unfortunately, some really hard things happen and does. Causes marriages to. To break up. Right. To. To enter into divorce, and we don't want that. Um, so what were the parts. I'm curious, what were the parts of it that was making her. Because you guys went through a questionnaire together, and it didn't sound like the questionnaire brought up a lot of red flags, but when she was actually, like, reading it, does she feel like she won't be taken care of if something happens or, like, what. What's the. What's that underlying.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's a concern. Yeah. Yes. And I think especially, like, you know, her kids as well, too. And it's something that I want to address and I think we could address, like, in a will or like some other document or method after we get married. And it's something that I want to do. Like, I absolutely would want her and her kids to be taken care of too, if something, you know, didn't happen to us. I think it also. It feels very condescending to her that, like, the. Either she. And I don't see it being a problem for her at all. Like, my goal in this. And I think that's what your advice is, that in our case that I know is rare, it would help protect our marriage. And that's what I want to do. But I totally understand that she feels it's condescending, like, to her, maybe her and her family and her friends, that they might be a problem and that we would need this to, like, protect against them.

[Jade Warshaw]

Can I. Can I ask how. How, like, stringent this prenup is? Like, how strict it is? Because when I've heard calls about this before, my. My question is always, is there a way that this can be more progressive that over maybe over time and over years, some of the restrictions fall off. Like, does that make sense to where. It's like, the longer we're together and the more that this feels right, some of this starts to fall off, and now we start to become one, and after a while, it's all gone and we are one. Is there anything built in like that?

[Dave Ramsey]

So there's nothing currently built in like that. So other than that, it's pretty basic. So everything we enter into the marriage with is separate property. Except she has a small amount of debt. And she's been awesome about eliminating debt, especially the situation she came from. I don't want her to carry at all. Like, we would just pay it off and then everything after the date of the marriage is shared. So income that I make or she made, we just share it. Our plan is that she would stop working. She'd be able to be home with all these kids.

[Jade Warshaw]

Does that include interest on the 12 million, like, as that grows, or does any growth on that 12 million remain years?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. So at least as it's currently structured, the growth in that would remain mine. I think we have talked about. It's not in the document, but, like, if I were to stop working to also help with the kids, which would be an option like that, the income that we drew from that would be considered our income.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think I would. Yeah. I'd be wondering about that if I were entering in that marriage. Like, how. How can we protect what you've already created? But how can I be a player and how that grows from here on out, like, how can I be a part of that? I think I might be wondering about that. That's tough, man.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Yeah. And then the only other additional part is we're planning to get a house, and I was just gonna buy the house. We title it in both of our names. I just consider a community property.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it sounds like you're. You're being very gracious about this, Derek. I think it's such a hard line to be wise in a situation and being. I mean, you don't sound like you're drawing these crazy hard lines and. You know what I mean? And you're pushing it. Like, it's. Your tone feels very, very humble and gracious, which I. Yeah, I mean, I think she probably very much appreciates. So. Yeah. I'm trying to think if I were in her position, which you never can fully do for somebody. You know, there's a part of me that I don't know. I think I would understand. You're coming in with 12 million, and I understand that's not mine right now. Right. Like, there's. I don't know.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, this one's hard for me. I seriously.

[Rachel Cruze]

Are you an anti prenup?

[Jade Warshaw]

No, I'm not. I would not go that far.

[Rachel Cruze]

Far.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think it's just. It's. It's. It is a very tough way to start out a marriage, clearly, because we're dividing yours versus mine.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

And everything else in the marriage is out, is we say we, us, our. So it. It is tough. And if you're a person, let's, you know, I'll put myself in the shoes. Me, I've always viewed. Oh, when you enter a marriage, it's like this.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

You don't know who you're going to follow and love with. And that person happens to be loaded. And now suddenly you're like, oh, this picture I had of it being ours is not possible. That's just tough. I'm not saying it's wrong. It's just.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, and I think too, Derek, I think it's too. I think it can feel like the 12 million's off in this corner and it's never, we're never going to participate in it. But I think the. It comes into its mind if something happens. But up until that point, it's ours. Like we're sharing assets.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's a good point. That is a very good point.

[Rachel Cruze]

We are living our lives as one. But for some reason, if, if something ever happened in a divorce, this part still goes back to me. Does that make sense? I wonder if framing it.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's a good way to frame it. Because that.

[Rachel Cruze]

With her. Because that, because it, it can be hers. Right. Like, you guys can share in this. It's the only time it's not hers is if you guys legally go through a divorce. Does that make sense?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, totally makes sense. And that is how we want to.

[Rachel Cruze]

Live going into the marriage. Yeah. And it sounds like that's. Yeah. And that sounds like your attitude because you're going to take some of our money, we're going to buy a house together with this money and use this money for our family. So I think it's, it's such a fine line, Derek. I mean, it's so hard. But I think I would keep and bring in a third party if there's a great marriage counselor, therapist. Honestly, it's something to, to think through and even get other opinions because, yeah, you want to be on the same page with this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Foreign.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Rachel Cruze]

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. Up next, we have Melissa in Charleston, West Virginia. Hi, Melissa. Welcome to the show.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hi.

[Rachel Cruze]

How are you doing? Great. How can we help?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yes. So I recently purchased a home in West Virginia about a month ago, and since living there, my family and I have got really sick, experiencing allergy like symptoms. Got the long story short, ended up getting someone to come and test for mold. And. And it's very high numbers in statrabotrys. I don't know, I'm probably butchering that name, but it's the one that's really, really dangerous. So now I'm in the other side. I'm post closing. I did go through the property disclosure. It was as is and it was a flip. And also I did also get a home inspector as well, and this is through a VA loan. So now I'm trying to figure out if I should do a mold remediation myself or go ahead and do a deed in lieu of foreclosure situation because, man, I don't feel comfortable staying there at all. Because what else is concealed in this house? I don't know. And turns out the guy that flipped it has a horrible reputation around the community for doing basically pig lipstick on a pig blitz.

[Jade Warshaw]

So when you did the. When you did the inspection to purchase the home, it didn't come up on the inspection, but now it is. Can you clarify that for me?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. The mold is in plain view, but from a layperson, if you look at it, it looks like mildew or maybe like dirt. Just like a dirty basement. But the second inspector that came in said this is definitely mold. It's in plain view. Nobody called this. He said the appraiser could have called it, but I know they're there for just evaluation purposes. But he said that, you know, you, you, you potentially have a case. And I've contacted attorneys and they are all pretty much that. That I don't have a case because it's a buyer beware state, which I wasn't. Oh, I didn't know what that meant. So the onus is on the buyers, and it's not a lot of consumer protections for us in West Virginia.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, shoot.

[Dave Ramsey]

Wow.

[Rachel Cruze]

Have you had any estimates on what it would cost to try to go through? And I mean, mold is such a. It's such a frustrating part of the, you know, that whole process of renovation. But have you.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. What's remediating cost?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yes. So I had an adjuster come for with my homeowner's insurance, but of course they deemed it preexisting. And the adjuster told me that the basement is not even up the code. So the cost of get going the basement is like 20,000 plus. And the mold remediation itself would be 10.10k class.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is that how many? Okay, so let's keep I think for. For now, we keep the mold separate from the basement, not being to code and find out, because here's the thing. If you get the mold out of the house and you're ready to sell the property, then you can say, you can sell it, you can feel good about it. There's no mold here. The other question. But I did have the question. So you're telling me your inspector missed the mold and missed the fact that the basement wasn't touching code?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yes. And he said one of my questions before I hired him was, you know, how long have you been doing it? You know, what are your. Just ask him his history of his work. And he's like over 20 years. And I looked at reviews. He has great reviews, great views on the bbb. And that's weird, all this stuff. And I was like, are you approved by the va? And he was like, yes. And I verified everything and everything checked up on paper, but yeah, none of that.

[Jade Warshaw]

And there's nothing on him. There's. He's completely. There's no liability towards whoever did the inspection.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's what the lawyers are saying.

[Dave Ramsey]

But they're saying that the likelihood of it winning in court is low because of that caveat to our buyer beware thing in West Virginia and the fact that they have no duty to disclose mold in West Virginia.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's the point of the deck inspection? What's the point of it?

[Dave Ramsey]

Exactly. Exactly. You would have to hire a mold inspector on top of the regular home inspector and a radon inspector and whatever other inspectors separately in order to do this. And they said it was a law just passed with the Supreme Court back, I think 2020, just last year. It was something recent that passed. But my realtor in the agency and his broker, he told me that I could. I did have something and that I should pursue it. But my thing is go into further debt with litigation going back and forth with these lawyers.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Which is a shot in the dark. Or just take an L. And I mean, it's going to ding my credit, but I need to get out of it because we're essentially holding homeless.

[Jade Warshaw]

Why can't you just put it on the market? You've purchased it. Can't you just put it back on the market for sale? Why does it have to go into foreclosure? I guess is what I'm saying.

[Dave Ramsey]

Because I don't. I. I'm going to have to disclose it and it's not remediated. So also I asked that question. They said a lot of lenders won't allow you won't lend on a home with mold, with active mold. Now the mold, I don't know if it's active because I've got a dehumidifier down there and I've seen sealed up where moisture may have gotten in. But I don't know who deems it active or not. But you can see it now because I've pulled paneling off. It was hidden. It was even more like the obvious mold that you would be behind paneling.

[Jade Warshaw]

So what if we said this? What if we said let's get a couple of opinions on what it's really going to cost to get this remediated. And then do you have any money in anywhere?

[Dave Ramsey]

No. And I'm the money I am getting. I run a business out of West Virginia and Radiana, we're living with my man and we're going back and forth two and a half hours between Columbus and where we're at every other day. So I can still take clients and that money is going towards gas and food and because I've had to take the kids out of school because they are allergic to it. And I got them allergy tested to verify what I'm saying, you know.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. How much are you making a year, Melissa?

[Dave Ramsey]

I make. So I'm a disabled veteran. So on top of that I would say about 80, 70, 80,000 a year.

[Jade Warshaw]

What do you get for the disability per month?

[Dave Ramsey]

About five.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so just under five.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's like four, nine or four, eight, something like that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. And then what do you take home from your actual job? Take home.

[Rachel Cruze]

Per month?

[Dave Ramsey]

I would say about, about five.

[Jade Warshaw]

So we've got 10K a month. How many kids?

[Dave Ramsey]

Two.

[Jade Warshaw]

And how much, how much is this mortgage out of your take home? Fifteen hundred.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, that's good.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is.

[Rachel Cruze]

Melissa. I almost would just go rent somewhere. I mean be paying the mortgage, go rent. Because this isn't feasible. The two and a half hour thing, I think that adds stress. I think that's like, that's exhausting everybody pulling the kids out of the routine. I mean that's just miserable. I would just go rent somewhere. Go rent a one, two bedroom apartment knowing it's short term.

[Jade Warshaw]

Cheap, cheap.

[Dave Ramsey]

Cheap.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. Just knowing like we, this is what we're going to do. Just to have some stability from where you were and then they can get back in school. Yes. And then from there, gosh, I would, I would probably get even a second attorney's opinion. And sometimes, you know, they'll take cases and with the, you know, with what you know is one in court. If so, then that's how they get paid. So you're not having to go deeply in debt with all this litigation and stuff. And so. So maybe even from a different standpoint, from a payment perspective, you can find someone different on that end. But I would probably still pursue that because this. This doesn't. This feels like a lot of negligence on the end of your inspector, even on the mold thing, which I guess is the biggest part of all of this. If he doesn't have to disclose it or find it, it has to be separate in West Virginia. I mean, that's just bizarre. And then I would be saving and I would do the cheapest renovation you can to get this mold. Mold out that would be safe to resale so that you can in good conscience sell this home. Would you want to stay in the home if you did get the mold all clear?

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't. And I don't want to say I love the home. That's why I bought it, but I. I no longer want to stay there because now with this man's reputation being the way it is.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. You don't think more things will be wrong?

[Rachel Cruze]

You don't know. You don't know. Yeah. So I would. I would save Melissa really aggressive, aggressively, stage by stage, be getting redoing this house from just the mold. Right. Not the up to code basement thing. You know, someone can renovate that if they want, but just getting the mold out, put it on the market and sell it. And in good faith to say, yeah, you know, this was cleaned up.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

You don't know. I mean, yeah, the guy has a terrible reputation. You don't know what else is there, but you don't know.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right.

[Rachel Cruze]

And if the inspector finds something else, then we can deal with that. But I would put it on the market and try to sell it just to get out of it.

[Jade Warshaw]

And we'll give you every dollar. So you can really plan this. $10,000 a month to make that happen.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yes. Oh, I'm so sorry, Melissa. Such a headache. Terrible, terrible, terrible.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, what are you still doing here? You know the rest of the show's.

[Jade Warshaw]

Happening on the Ramsey Network app, right? So you got to jump over there to continue watching. You can download it for free. Just go to your app store, type in Ramsey Network. It's completely free, and I'll drop a link in the show notes to make.

[Dave Ramsey]

It easy for you.

[Jade Warshaw]

So if you're watching on the app, you're in luck. But if you're watching anywhere else, this this show is over for you, so jump onto the app and let the fun continue.

[Dave Ramsey]

All right, go on now.

[Jade Warshaw]

Don't make it weird.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, I got nowhere to go, so.

[Jade Warshaw]

You need to go.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, Bye. Bye, now. All right, this is. It's getting weird over there, guys. What do we do?