Your Financial Stupidity Has To Stop Today!

Summary

The Ramsey Show — "Your Financial Stupidity Has To Stop Today!"

Date: April 2, 2026
Host: Dave Ramsey
Co-Host: Rachel Cruze
Special Guest/Co-Host: (Appears to be Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)
Theme: Taking accountability for money mistakes and how to stop “financial stupidity” in your life. Listeners share their real-money struggles, and the Ramsey team offers tactical, blunt advice to help them regain control and break the cycles holding them back.

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Episode Overview

This episode tackles the urgent need for listeners to confront and stop repeating unwise money choices. Dave Ramsey, joined by Rachel Cruze, fields intense real-life calls covering marital secrets, gambling, bereavement, college decisions, generational wealth, business struggles, and more. The theme: No matter what “stupid” mistakes you’ve made, you can take control—once you’re honest, intentional, and united on your money goals.

Notable emphasis is placed on full transparency between spouses, creating and sticking to a budget, the dangers of debt (especially car loans and student loans), and never justifying financial chaos for short-term comfort or emotional relief.

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Key Discussion Points and Segments

1. Secret Gambling and Marriage Trust (00:38–09:00)

Caller: Shelby (Springfield, MO)

• Situation: Shelby discovered her husband had been hiding $17K in credit card debt, mostly due to sports betting. It’s not the first time this happened. He’s now working two jobs, but they've made minimal progress due to emergencies (job loss, hot water heater, car accident).
• In-law’s Solution: Encouraged Shelby to take a lower-interest loan to pay off the card debt.
• Host Guidance:
  • "The 30% loan interest on your credit card isn't your problem. It's the symptom of the other problems.” — Dave Ramsey [06:10]
  • “You are broke and screwed with your money. And you both have got to lean into this and clean it up as fast as possible.” — Dave Ramsey [06:40]
• Plan:
  1. Start a detailed EveryDollar budget together, immediately.
  2. Commit—together—to full financial and debt transparency, especially addressing gambling behavior in marriage counseling.
  3. Both partners must have access to all accounts and budgets.
  4. Sell their $30,000 car: “That was suicide. You put a bullet in the gun and put it to your head. You need to sell this car immediately.” — Rachel Cruze [08:10]
• Memorable Quote:
  • “That makes his sports betting look smart when you put it up beside this car.” — Rachel [08:18]

2. Loss, Reinventing Career, and Investing Fears (10:29–16:47)

Caller: Christina (Nashville, TN)

• Situation: Lost her husband; kids are grown; received $500k in life insurance; unsure of next steps—part is invested, some is in cash. Still has a small car loan.
• Guidance:
  • Pay the car off immediately with cash reserves.
  • Take time to grieve, then relaunch into work you want, focusing first on income to cover expenses without touching investments.
  • Learn investing basics: “Whoever's helping you with your money must teach you, okay? You must learn. And it's not complicated.” — Dave Ramsey/Rachel [18:58–19:06]
• Strategy:
  • Start working with a pro who "has the heart of a teacher."
  • Invest for long-term growth, diversify, and avoid "single stocks or something new like crypto.” — Financial Expert/Co-host [19:24–19:34]

3. To Work or Not to Work—Mom Guilt, Debt, and Inconsistency (22:36–31:00)

Caller: Stephanie (Olympia, WA)

• Situation: Wants to quit her part-time job to homeschool, but still has debt and just took on a personal loan for a car purchase. Husband’s spending is inconsistent despite steady income.
• Blunt Truth:
  • “The stupidity has to stop, otherwise it’s going to bleed out.” — Dave Ramsey [25:59]
• Solution:
  1. Sell the rental property to pay off debt ONLY IF new debt is forbidden going forward. “Selling the rental and getting out of debt is only smart if you stop borrowing money and buying crap you can't afford.” — Rachel [26:16]
  2. Both spouses must align on no more new debt and solid budgeting.
  3. Consider working through the summer for stability, then re-evaluate.

4. How to Pay for College—Loans, Living Arrangements, and Parental Guilt (32:49–39:51; 54:29–62:32)

Callers: Lucy (Detroit), Sarah (Seattle), Jane (Phoenix), and others

• Main advice: Avoid student loans at all costs—even when living with parents or working through school feels hard.
• Practical ideas:
  • Leverage hospital/medical roles that offer tuition reimbursement.
  • Work while attending school: “You can do anything for two years.” — Financial Expert/Co-host [37:22]
  • RAs, janitors, on-campus jobs often provide tuition assistance.
  • Choose a college you can actually afford—even if it feels less prestigious.
• Memorable Moment: A dad asks if he should divorce his wife temporarily for in-state tuition for their daughter. Dave’s response:
  • “Tell your kid no. Oh, there’s a shocking concept before you divorce your wife.” — Rachel [66:57]

5. Marriage & Money: Combining Finances and Long-Term Wealth (44:04–50:44)

Caller: Sadie (Rochester, NY); others

• Sadie’s dilemma: Moving after paying off debt, but has not combined finances with her husband.
• Ramsey advice: “The power of working together financially... Not only do you get the relational benefit, but also the financial.” — Financial Expert/Co-host [50:04]
• Stat: 82% of American millionaires attribute their wealth to working together with a spouse — “full transparency, pulling the wagon together.” — Rachel [51:00]

6. Inheritance, Retirement Planning, and Estate Taxes (71:48–104:33)

Callers: Roger (Branson, MO), Scott (Casper, WY)

• Scenario: High-net-worth individuals asking how to manage IRAs and estate transfers for future generations.
• Advice:
  • Convert traditional IRAs to Roth over time (ideally pay tax now for tax-free growth later).
  • Meet with a specialized tax pro for estate tax planning, especially if assets are over the exemption threshold.

7. Emotional Spending: The “Bread Maker” and Rewarding Yourself (106:44–115:19)

Caller: Teresa (DC)

• Situation: Wants to buy a $400 flour mill after four years of debt payoff, but is still early in emergency fund building.
• Dave Ramsey’s take: “If this isn't an emergency, we can't do it because we don't yet have an emergency fund… You've reset the way your brains work on money in a positive way, and this messes it up.” [110:04–110:57]
• Rachel’s lighter angle: “If your emergency fund was completed and you could put it in the budget, yes.” [112:42]
• Funny moment: Dave and Rachel joke about unused kitchen appliances and bread-making fads [109:40–114:13].

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You are broke and screwed with your money. And you both have got to lean into this and clean it up as fast as possible.” — Dave Ramsey [06:41]
• "That was suicide. You put a bullet in the gun and put it to your head. You need to sell this car immediately." — Rachel Cruze [08:10]
• "Tell your kid no. Oh, there's a shocking concept before you divorce your wife." — Rachel Cruze [66:57]
• “If this isn’t an emergency, we can’t do it because we don’t yet have an Emergency fund. And it is very odd that I actually own one of those things.” — Dave Ramsey (on the bread mill) [110:04]
• “The stupidity has to stop, otherwise it’s going to bleed out.” — Dave Ramsey [25:59]
• “When you get out of debt, you have to set your standards... Value system. You’ve been using the baby steps as your framework for making the decisions. And it would say that this is not an emergency. Don’t do it.” — Rachel Cruze [110:25]
• “Full transparency, pulling the wagon together... that alignment is not only so healthy for your relationship, it also is the highest data point for you to become wealthy.” — Rachel Cruze [51:00]

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Main Takeaways

• Brutal honesty between spouses is non-negotiable: All accounts open, major spending agreed on, and both partners participate in the budgeting process.
• Don’t let “stupidity” fester: Whether it’s secret debt, inconsistent spending, or bad habits, it must be addressed head-on.
• Selling stuff (cars, properties) is often the fastest way to break free from debt, but only works if you don’t repeat old mistakes.
• Emotional/celebratory spending should not derail hard-won progress; rewards come after the goal (e.g., fully funded emergency fund), not before.
• Millionaire status is built progressively and together: Consistent budgeting, investing, and spousal teamwork win over time.
• Student loan and college planning: Avoid debt at all costs. Get creative, work, cash flow school, and don’t “divorce for tuition.”
• Inheritance/estate strategy for high net worth: Use Roth conversions and get specialized advice.
• Organization and boundaries: Especially when a personal business is involved—keep separate accounts and know your numbers.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:38] Secret spouse gambling & credit card debt — Shelby
• [10:29] Widowed mother navigating new career & insurance — Christina
• [22:36] Should I quit work to homeschool? (Plus husband’s impulsive spending) — Stephanie
• [32:49] How to pay for college, avoid student loans — Lucy and others
• [44:04] Relocation, not combining finances in marriage — Sadie
• [54:29] Paying for three kids’ state college, single mom — Sarah
• [66:37] Dad asks if divorce is “worth it” for in-state tuition
• [71:48] Large inheritance, retirement RMDs — Roger
• [86:41] Should I downsize my house for simplicity? — Elizabeth
• [106:44] Should we buy a $400 fancy bread mill after debt payoff? — Teresa
• [118:43] Business-owning widow seeking clarity after loss — Lisa

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Episode Tone & Language

The show remains direct, unapologetic, empathetic, sometimes humorous, but always focused on practical action. Dave and Rachel do not sugarcoat painful truths but also equip listeners with encouragement and actionable next steps.

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For new listeners: The Ramsey Show offers direct financial coaching rooted in reality—if you’re ready to face your mistakes, get brutally honest, and do what it takes, you'll find the clarity and motivation to change your money life for good.

Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life.

[Rachel Cruze]

From the Ramsey Network in the Fair

[Dave Ramsey]

Winds Credit union studio, this is the Ramsey Show. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality number one best

[Rachel Cruze]

selling author and co host of the

[Dave Ramsey]

Smart Money happy hour. My daughter is my co host today. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. Shelby is in Springfield, Missouri.

[Rachel Cruze]

Hi Shelby, how are you?

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

Hi, I'm good.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

How are you guys?

[Rachel Cruze]

Better than we deserve. What's up?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Well, thanks for taking my call.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

I'm calling today with a bit of a moral and financial question and I'm calling to see what is the best way for me to help my husband pay off his credit card debt that we have discovered recently.

[Rachel Cruze]

We have discovered. What does that mean? Well, you have discovered.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

Yeah, I found unfortunately I found some screenshots of sports betting and he ended up having to come forward with three credit cards that added up to about $17,000. And unfortunately, this isn't the first time that I. The last time I didn't find it, he came to me and told me about it. But this isn't the first time we

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

struggled with credit card debt.

[Rachel Cruze]

Other time regarding sports betting.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

No, it was not the last time. His company had used his credit card for on a trip and they paid him back and he just never paid the card off. He just spent the money and.

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

How old are you worth?

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

25.

[Rachel Cruze]

How long you been married?

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

Going on four years.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, all right.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I'm so sorry.

[Rachel Cruze]

What's his reaction to having lost $17,000 of the family money sports betting?

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

Well, he was hiding it from me for a really long time. And then when I found it, I grabbed our two babies and I got in the car and I left and

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I told him to fix it and we came back pretty quickly.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

But he has gotten, he's doing great, honestly.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

He's got two jobs.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

He's working a full time job during the day and then a job in the evening, a part time job in the evenings. And he's been working his butt off. I found it about six months ago. So he's been working his butt off

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

for six months and he's got three

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

cards down to one and there's still quite a bit left on it, but.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so it was originally 17,000 or now it's 17,000.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

It was originally 17. Now he's got it down to under 15.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Just under 15.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

But in six months he's only paid 2,000 of it.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah. Because of the issues that we were

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

having, we were really behind on bills and payments, and so we spent a couple months catching up. And then we had just a couple things. Our hot water heater went out. We got in a car accident. We had to go get a new car. There's just a few things those first couple months that took up the extra income that he was starting to bring in.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Shelby, when you just mentioned that you guys were behind on bills, were you aware of that, or did that come out with this secret credit card and the gambling and everything?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yes.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

You did know that.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I was aware of how short.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

So he was actually unemployed at the time. I was the only one bringing in income. I work from home, and usually I work from home and I keep our kiddos, but he was in between jobs,

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

so I knew we were short.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

I just didn't know how short we were. And I didn't have access to the bank account I used to, but I just hadn't logged in so long that.

[Rachel Cruze]

What does he do for him?

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

He activated my account. Well, right now he works at a school, and then in the evenings, he

[Rachel Cruze]

works a retail job at a school.

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

Doing what?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So he.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

He does.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

He's a teacher's aide at a school.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. All right.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

So part of the reason I'm calling is because I was approached by my in laws, and they were kind of telling me that it would be better

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

for us all around if I just

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

took out a loan. And we paid off the card because the interest on this card is over 30%. And they said if I take out a loan and cover it, and then we just pay back the bank with a lower interest rate, what do you make? I make 50 a year.

[Rachel Cruze]

And what does he make

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

now?

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

Within the last few months, he brings home, with the two jobs combined, about $4,000 a month.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so you've got about $90,000. And you said you bought a car in the middle of this. Did you take out a car payment in the middle of this?

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

I actually have just recently found you guys, and I just realized how dumb that was. Okay, but we.

[Rachel Cruze]

Now you already knew how dumb it was. You were behind, and you had a 30% credit card, and then you went and took out a car payment. You already knew that.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

True.

[Rachel Cruze]

So how much do you owe on this stupid car?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

We've got 30,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. All right. Okay. So there's a lot of things that need to happen here for you guys to get healthy financially and relationally and career wise. There's a whole lot of negative things going on in this house. And the 30% loan interest on the credit card is not your problem. It's the symptom of all these other problems. So what would I do if I woke up in your shoes? Well, I'd do a lot of different things. The first thing is the two of you are going to start an every dollar bucke budget tonight on our app, and we're going to give you a free trial on it so you guys can put it all together. And you're going to lay out exactly where every dollar of your income is going to go this month before it comes to you. You're going to have a plan for every dollar. You're not going out to eat. You're not going to see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there as an extra job. You're not going on vacation. You're not doing anything. You are broke and screwed with your money. And you both have got to lean into this and clean it up as fast as possible. Okay? That's thing one. Thing two is with your marriage counselor. You need to get commitments from him that he's never on threat of ending your marriage, going to do any betting. Sports betting ever again. And he's never going to hide any debt from you ever again. And we're going to be working together, so it's going to be very difficult for him to hide anything because we both are going to see every single thing that's going on.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah. And pulling credit reports every year. You know what I mean? And I would almost have him. I mean, I don't know how. How engaged this is because that. I mean, the sports betting world, it can be such a downward slope so fast. But. But what I would be wondering Shelby, too, maybe you guys have talked about this. I just want to make sure that he's healthy in that way, that there's not some level of addiction. Addiction there. And that itch he was trying to scratch that excitement that he was doing sports betting. Like, what is that about? Right? So like that doing that work in the marriage counseling office is.

[Rachel Cruze]

Could be that you were behind on your bills and he was trying to make some money fast to get the bills paid.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

That's true, too.

[Rachel Cruze]

He could have been desperate. Stupidity.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yep. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

So I want a solid foundation laid. The things he's never going to do again. And the two of you see every single dollar every month for the rest of your lives. Neither one of you are in control. Both of you are in control. Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Lastly you need to sell the car.

[Rachel Cruze]

That was suicide. You put a bullet in the gun and put it to your head. You need to sell this car immediately.

[Dave Ramsey]

Stupid.

[Rachel Cruze]

On steroids. You cannot afford a $30,000 car. You have got to get rid of this now. Oh my gosh. Girl, that makes his sports betting looks smart when you put it up beside this car. Oh my gosh. Neither one of them are smart sports betting, they're. Oh, I hate them too. And who, who's, who's the number one

[Dave Ramsey]

victim of sports betting? 25 year old males.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yes. You got this.

[Rachel Cruze]

25 year old males.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

You got this.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Rachel Cruze]

may vary and no specific outcome is guaranteed.

[Dave Ramsey]

Christina is in Nashville. Hi, Christina, how are you?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Hi, Dave. Thank you so much for taking my call today.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sure.

[Rachel Cruze]

How can we help?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm going to do my best to get through this without crying. I am 46 years old and my husband and I were married for 27 years and he passed away suddenly in a motor vehicle accident this past June.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh my God.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I'm so sorry.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

We have been Dave Ramsey fans for a very long time. I homeschool and we're actually graduating our last child this May and they've all been through, you know, financial Peace University. So the question that I have is I'm looking to probably having to go to work this summer now with the loss of his income and just I feel like with my Age. It's probably the most responsible thing to do. But I do have some life insurance. Insurance we received from his employer who was a. He was a Franklin firefighter. And then we also had a personal life insurance policy. And he was never super trusting of investing. And so I don't really have a lot of experience with it, but I have a family friend who is a financial advisor, and so he suggested that I invest like 100,000 back in October just to start kind of learning on. But, you know, a lot of people say not to make any big decisions for that first year. And so I'm coming up on that year mark and needing to start making some decisions about, you know, going back to work and. Well, it's not really going back to work. It's really going to work full time for the first time.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So I'm just a little. Need some reassurance that, you know, the markets right now are a little scary,

[Dave Ramsey]

but markets are always a little scary.

[Rachel Cruze]

How much is the total life insurance process?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

The total was 500,000 and right now I have 100,000 invested in mutual funds. And then I have the other 400,000 in a high interest account.

[Rachel Cruze]

Do you have any debt?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

We have no debt except for the car that he actually bought me just before he died. 20,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. And you don't owe anything on your home?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

No, we actually paid our house off in 2015. He was in the army and we did a lot of house flipping when he was military. And we're able to just keep, you know, getting more and more sweat equity. All did the work all ourselves, so.

[Rachel Cruze]

Wow. Well, it's. I mean, it takes a year to even breathe well and you're just now getting where you can take a deep breath. And so you've been very wise and very careful. Good for you. And, you know, you've walked with this last, last child through the graduation, which is getting ready to come up here, and a lot of milestones and a lot of tears.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

So, yeah, I think your family friend gave you some good advice to dip your toe in the water and kind of get used to it a little bit with 100, that's not a bad idea. And the second thing is there's two things that come to mind immediately. One is pay off the car today.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruze]

You don't need to be carrying a car payment, not when you've got that money. So you should take a little bit of that money out of that high yield and pay that car off today. Okay. That's easy. You're not gonna Regret that. And very few people would say that was dumb. Okay.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So, yeah, yeah, that payment has been, like, choking me every month. So I'm like, oh, my gosh, this

[Rachel Cruze]

is exactly now when you start your career. What's your plan there?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm hoping to get into some sort of a, like, high school counselor for homeschoolers potentially. I do have some background with working from home is in medical transcription, so I could possibly even do just the medical office.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, with what you've investigated so far, do you think you can make enough to live on without touching this money?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I think so. I think if I can get something that were to pay about $20 an hour, I think working full time, I could do that. I do get a small pension, which is about $500.

[Rachel Cruze]

How have you been living during this year?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So we had some savings, about 50,000 is what I have in there right now. And so I get Social Security survivors for my son, and that will end in May. And that's where my biggest stressor is that 1800 is going to go away. And that's really been what's kind of been carrying me so that I don't have to really dip into our savings or.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, I would make plans to create an income large enough to at least live on as your first stage and then your second stage, create a career for this next phase of your life for you. So, you know, what do you want to be when you grow up? You know, I mean, this is chapter two. It isn't a chapter you wanted to write, but it is chapter two. And so, you know, let's make, you know, not just survival, let's go flourish, and that'll be part of your healing and process and everything.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah. And the wild thing, Christina, is just like high level math kind of. It's that, what is it, the rule of 72 that your money doubles every seven years. And so the 500,000 in seven years will be a million if you don't touch it. And then in 14 years, it'll be 2 million. Right. So if you could find something that you really could put your heart in that you're passionate about, that you love, that you're good at, you have a good work environment, you're excited to go. Right? And you do that for the next 10, 15 years. This money's gonna serve you really well at that point. Right.

[Rachel Cruze]

You know, you're gonna get into 65 and have two or three million dollars if you watch what you're doing now, that assumes that the money is invested better than it is now. And that's what you're calling about. So let's go finally to that. Okay. Now when you're investing, it's. I always think about the very first time I got behind the wheel of a car and my dad told me to push down on that, to go and push down on that, to stop, you know, and I didn't know what I was doing and I wasn't very good at it. And I threw gravel from the driveway up against the house and everything, spinning the tires, you know, everything. But that didn't last long. That was a five minutes of that level of inexperience. And then within 10 minutes, you know, we're learning the a little bit. And then, you know, obviously by the time you're 16, you're driving the car on the road and passing a driver's test. And, you know, now I'm 65 and I don't have wrecks. And so, you know, I mean, you

[Dave Ramsey]

know, so what's that mean?

[Rachel Cruze]

Is the first time you do something, it is natural and wise to be fearful. That's normal.

[Dave Ramsey]

But it doesn't mean it's bad to

[Rachel Cruze]

learn how to do it. The first time you rode a bicycle. But then when you were teaching your children to ride a bicycle, they were afraid, but you weren't because you could

[Dave Ramsey]

hold the seat for a minute, number one.

[Rachel Cruze]

And then number two, when you let them go, you knew they weren't, you know, their life was not going to end. They were just going to fall over. Maybe.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, now they might act like with a drama, but you know, but still.

[Rachel Cruze]

So this is like your financial advisor's holding your seat for the first hundred thousand here going. And then as you learn more and personally emotionally experience more of the markets going up and the markets going down,

[Dave Ramsey]

then you're going to get too used

[Rachel Cruze]

to riding a bicycle, you know. And so I would have you learn as fast as you can learn and get comfortable by sitting with the financial advisor that you're using or getting a smartvestor probe, the Ramsey RamseySolutions.com, because they're

[Dave Ramsey]

going to have the heart of a teacher. Whoever's helping you with your money must teach you, okay?

[Rachel Cruze]

You must learn.

[Dave Ramsey]

And it's not complicated.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's the good news.

[Dave Ramsey]

Because in that knowledge is going to

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

give you comfort and high level that he just put 100 grand in mutual funds. That's good. Was that you, Christina, saying that or was that his advice?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

No, that was. Yeah, that was his advice.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And that's great. So it's those types of accounts of diversification that you want. Christina. You always want to stay away from anything single stocks or something new like crypto or something like that. Like you want to something that is very diverse. So index funds, you know, ETFs, good mutual funds, anything in that category is, is really going to be a safe bet overall.

[Rachel Cruze]

Just get you some good growth stock type mutual funds. But learn about the fund that you're putting the money in. Like has it been open since 1932 and in the last 27 years has had two down years and 25 up years.

[Dave Ramsey]

That gives me a lot of comfort.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, okay. That's a track record I can relax with.

[Dave Ramsey]

If you run a business, you already know this. Bad information leads to bad decisions. And right now, AI is everywhere. But AI is only as good as the data behind it. The best AI is built on the best data. That's why I recommend NetSuite. NetSuite is the number one AI cloud ERP and more than 43,000 businesses run on it, including us here at Ramsey Solutions. Their AI isn't bolted on, it's built in. And it connects everything that runs your business, accounting, inventory, customer data, all in one place. Because when your numbers are connected, that AI actually works like it's supposed to. NetSuite's AI helps flag cash flow problems, spot inventory issues, close your books faster, and cut down on manual reporting. If your revenue is at least seven figures, go to netsuite.comramsey for a free product tour. That's netsuite.comramsey. Are you sick and tired of working

[Rachel Cruze]

so hard but having nothing to show for it?

[Dave Ramsey]

You know the rat in the wheel feeling?

[Rachel Cruze]

Run, run, run, run, run, run. Get nowhere. Have a heart attack and die.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm so stuck, Dave.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, you don't have to live that way.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Rachel Cruze]

find extra money every month and helps you build a personalized plan to get

[Dave Ramsey]

out of debt, become wealthy, and outrageously generous. In just 15 minutes, we're going to

[Rachel Cruze]

help you find thousands of dollars in hidden margin.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're going to feel like you got a race. It always happens, it always has. And every dollar really helps you work the Ramsey plan step by step by step by step. While you're putting your budget together, you're

[Rachel Cruze]

going to hear things pop up on

[Dave Ramsey]

your screen that looks suspiciously like you're

[Rachel Cruze]

listening to this show.

[Dave Ramsey]

So check it out. Don't live normal. Normal sucks. Go start every dollar for free in the App Store or Google Play. Stephanie is in Olympia, Washington. Hi, Stephanie, how are you?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Good. How about yourself?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I am calling to ask your advice on if I should keep working my part time job in order to pay off our debt faster or if I should stick to my plan of quitting my job probably in the next month so that I can focus on being a stay at home mom and homeschooling our kids.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Was this the original plan? Is this what you.

[Dave Ramsey]

Were you already homeschooling?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I was homeschooling this year. We put our kids in because we moved at the end of August so it was a bit too chaotic and we stopped homeschooling, put them in school. I work remote, so I'm at home. But yeah, the original plan has always been that.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm sorry, if you work remote and

[Rachel Cruze]

you're at home and it's part time, how many hours do you work at home?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Probably 12ish a week. And I'm on.

[Rachel Cruze]

Why does that prevent you from homeschooling? It doesn't.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

It doesn't. I just, I'm. Well, I'm pregnant right now. I'm 17 weeks pregnant with our fourth child. So it's more managing the home, homeschooling, being able to focus on that. I kind of hit a point where I felt like I'm being pulled too many different directions, which is partly my own doing. I do a lot, but this is the first time. My husband just got a new job, so this is the first time that his income is like pretty settled, like he's in his career. It feels really good.

[Rachel Cruze]

Good.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

And what is it?

[Rachel Cruze]

What does he make?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm working right now. He makes about 47 an hour. So I think our take home, we don't know he just got the job, but I think our typical take home is going to be around 83 to 85,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, that sounds right. Okay, good.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And how much debt do you guys have?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

What was the question?

[Rachel Cruze]

How much debt?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

How much debt? We have about 28,500, not including our home.

[Rachel Cruze]

On what?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

We have a personal loan for 14,500 that we used to buy him a car. This was about a month ago. And to pay off a little bit of credit card debt. And then we have one credit card that has about 12,400 and the other one that has about $300 on it. And then we own a rental home as well. So we owe about 257 on that.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

If you sold that, what is that worth?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

It's probably worth around 360 depending on what the Market does over the summer.

[Rachel Cruze]

If I had three kids with one on the way. And I don't have time to work three hours a day. I don't have time to manage a rental property. I'm going to sell that property and use that money to clean up everything.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

That's the debt. Yeah. And Stephanie, could you work through this?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm in my husband's plan.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah. I'm on board with him. I would do that because that'll take stress off you guys and then that gives you the ability to stay home with no bills.

[Rachel Cruze]

And here's the other thing.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And I would work through.

[Rachel Cruze]

You also have to stop being inconsistent in your approach. Okay, here's what I mean, Dave, We've been working hard to get out of debt. Two weeks ago, my husband bought a car on a loan.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah. And then he.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hello. That doesn't come out of the same mouth, does it?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah. And then he also went and bought a mower this last weekend for like 1200. So I forgot that one. We also had that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. The stupidity has to stop, otherwise it's going to bleed out.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah, that's. I think my struggle is that I feel like with our income, he thinks, well, we'll just sell the rental and we'll get out of debt. But I've just watched a sort of pendulum. Like we'll do the first three.

[Dave Ramsey]

Selling the rental and getting out of debt is only smart if you stop

[Rachel Cruze]

borrowing money and buying crap you can't afford.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

So it does not justify him buying

[Rachel Cruze]

a mower and a car.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you guys have other issues that

[Rachel Cruze]

aren't just debt issues here. The two of you need to get aligned on where we're going to spend our money and that we're not borrowing money anymore, period.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah. And I think that I'm more on that side. I know, I can tell eventually we'll get there.

[Rachel Cruze]

And no, no, you're not either.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm a spender too.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're not going to eventually get.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

She's saying. That's what her husband is saying. Yeah. So, Stephanie, what I would do tonight is I would have you two sit down, put the kids down and just say, hey, where do we wanna be in two years? What's a perfect world for us in two years? Okay. Perfect world is we have no debt. We have very little stress financially because he's making a great income. We're budgeting it together. We have goals. Your home, homeschooling, your kids. You got a two year old at that point running around like, like you guys need to paint a picture of where you guys wanna go. Because here's the thing. Here's what the red flag honestly call that got me that I'm like, well, crap, it's the MO. The $1,200 mower. So to me, that's saying that this isn't a big expense like we need. Not that a car loan is justified, but I can see people like, my car broke down and I panicked, and it was in crisis and we needed a new car. That was a flip it, $1200 purchase that was just kind of made. That's the mindset that has to change between you guys, that we have to be so focused and so buckled down that we know exactly where every single dollar is going to. And if we pay off this rental, we are agreeing for the rest of our lives that we are not going back in debt. Cause you're exactly right, Stephanie. If your habits don't change and you guys just have a little fairy wand that sweeps this debt off, which is the equity of the home, 100%. And I don't want all that hard work to go backwards. So there has to be an agreement. The agreement is we never borrow money again. And so when we sell this rental and we pay off this, and, yeah, that's the end of it. And then, Stephanie, if I were you, what else I would do is, since you're only working 12 hours a week, I probably would work up until baby comes because you're not gonna be homeschooling the kids in the summer. We're in April now. And so, you know, May's coming, kids will be out of school. Like, I just know it's hectic with kids in May. It's just nuts. So get done with the school year. Continue to work. Work through the summer, a few hours a day, and then when baby comes and starting in August, then say, I'm not gonna be. You know, if you guys choose to not work in August, then do that. But I would keep your job personally through the summer if I were you. Okay, what did you want to say, Dave?

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so another way of. That's okay. Another way of looking at this is the reason you're having to ask a question about whether or not you need to work while you're pregnant and you're homeschooling is not because of the income. It's because you continue to buy lawnmowers and cars you can't afford.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

So you're actually working for those things.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Yeah.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

And I don't want to work for Those.

[Rachel Cruze]

And so if you don't want to work, those things have to stop.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Permanently. And so that's the two of you saying, sharon and I had this meeting. And you know. You know, Zig Ziglar used to say that if you want a good marriage, you got to figure out that you're both on the same side. And so, yeah, we're both on the same side. And the side is we want to be where Rachel painted two years from now. And in order to get there, we have to be in agreement on what the path to get there looks like. And it's no more borrowing. If we're going to sell this rental house and wave the ferry wand and clean this up, then there's no more borrowing. Because I'm not going to be sitting here thinking about, I need to work part time while homeschooling because we can't control our spending. And that's exactly what's going on. And that's what has to stop.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And you know what that is? That's the part of debt that is so frustrating when you talk to people is that they're working and they're working for crap. They're working for stuff, not for the value system at which they want to live.

[Rachel Cruze]

I mean, the number of times I've talked to a lady who wants to quit and go home, be with her kids, and I'm like, how much? We work the math all the way down. It's $400 is all it is. And the van payment's $400.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sell the stupid van.

[Rachel Cruze]

The only reason you're working is for

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

the van to pay the van. Right.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's all you're doing.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sell stupid van and go home with your kids.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yes. Yep.

[Rachel Cruze]

You know, and so it's, well, I

[Dave Ramsey]

need the van, not you. Well, you. You know, you can't have it both.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay?

[Dave Ramsey]

You gotta decide which one you want. You want the van or you want

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

to work and work for your values? People do that. Let that be the driver and not stuff and all this crap.

[Rachel Cruze]

Set that desired future out there. Two years like she was talking about. Paint that in detail and then work to get that there.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

At Ramsey, we don't partner with companies chasing trends or pushing gimmicks. Trust is earned. And that's why we send people to Fairwinds Credit Union. See, a lot of banks rely on teaser rates, marketing hype, and fine print. But that's not how Fair Winds operates. They've been serving members for 75 years, and you don't last that long by Cutting corners. You last by serving people well. There's a reason their name is on the studio wall. They built products that help you manage money intentionally, not pull you into debt. If you're looking for a practical way to organize your money the Ramsey way, check out the Fairwinds Smart bundle. It pairs a high yield savings account for your emergency fund with a checking account that doesn't drain your balance with fee after fee after fee after fee. Open your Fairwinds Smart Bundle today at Fairwinds.org Ramsey and get the Ramsey Beweird debit card. That's Fairwinds.org Ramsey insured by the NCUA. Lucy is with us in Detroit.

[Rachel Cruze]

Hi, Lucy. How are you?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Good. How are you guys today?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than we deserve.

[Rachel Cruze]

What's up?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So I wanted to know what kind of student loans I should be pulling out for school and how should I be financing for school.

[Rachel Cruze]

How old are you?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I just turned 20.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Are you in school?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yes, I'm in school.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

Currently.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm finishing up my prerequisites for nursing.

[Rachel Cruze]

You're finishing out your what?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

My prerequisite.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

And then you've got along. You got four years left after that, right?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yep. Yep.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

How are you paying for it now? Just the prereqs.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

It's a lot of it. I'm going to community college to save money.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

And a lot of almost all of it is covered by like, FAFSA and financial aid.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Okay.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So I was just got done with talking to an advisor, and she told me I could do like the bridge to BSN program at a local university, and it only took like two years to get my bsn, and that might be a lot cheaper. Instead of just transferring, just transferring straight in to university.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

How much would that program be, do you know?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

For that program, it's around 8 to

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

15,000 a semester or year or total

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

for two years per semester.

[Rachel Cruze]

And it's four semesters?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. All right. Are you working at all?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yes, I'm currently a pharmacy technician. I make about 22 hours an hour. Right now I'm working 20 hours a week only because the classes are getting pretty hard. So I'm just kind of trying to balancing out with the homework and stuff that I have.

[Rachel Cruze]

How are you able to live on 20 hours a week? Are you living at home?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So I just actually moved back in with my dad. He was closer to the schools, and we kind of came to an agreement that, like, you know, nothing is gonna get in my way. And, like, you know, he's gonna be chilling Everything. So I can just finish school and then save up to move out.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. So you're gonna be able to live there for free while you go to school?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's good.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

But he has brought up rent, so that's been kind of an issue as well.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, well, I mean that, you know, first thing we have to do is be able to eat and have shelter. Okay. Then the second thing we have to do is be able to pay for school. And so what I would do. I think your counselor is probably giving you pretty good advice. I'm gonna look for a lot of different ways to get that degree and any possible grants. But we're not going to tell you here at Ramsey to get a student loan of any kind. We're going to tell you to avoid that at all costs. Okay. Because even if you don't graduate because something happens and you're not able to graduate, you still have the student loan. Student loans are forever. You cannot get rid of them. They're a pain in the butt.

[Dave Ramsey]

I will tell you that your career

[Rachel Cruze]

choice of nursing is incredible as far as upside potential. Lots of flexibility. You're going to be able to do a lot of different things. You'll be able to take a 40 hour workweek plus ER on the weekends and make 150, $200,000 a year if you'll watch what you're doing as you grow this career over time. So you've got a great field that you've chosen for a lot of reasons. So I want to encourage you to do that. The other thing is, if you can get any kind of nursing certification the cheapest possible way and get employed at a hospital or a large medical practice, they'll probably pay for your tuition to continue.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yes. Yep. Absolutely. I was. I know some people that work in the local hospitals in the area and have already been offered positions as a pharmacy tech. Only issue is that they're not really flexible on scheduling.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't care if you're a pharmacy

[Rachel Cruze]

tech at the hospital and they're paying your tuition. You make the schedule work, kiddo.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

You go do it. That's a $15,000 raise per semester. Right. So you suck it up and make the schedule work.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's great money.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

For two years, Lucy. And it's.

[Rachel Cruze]

You do anything.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

You can be working nights and go. I mean, you can, you can do anything for just two years. You know what I mean? Like, that's how I would look at it is. I mean, how, how quickly two years goes, you know, you think about, we're in 2026, 2024 was just like for just a snap. I mean, it was just so fast. So do that. But. But if you have to cash flow, any level of it, I mean, on the low end, I know eight grand is what you said per semester, but oh my gosh, if you could make, which I wouldn't want you to do this, but I'm saying you could make two grand doordashing, you know what I mean? Like, you could find the cash to be able to cash flow and just talk to the financial aid office and say, hey, can I pay per semester? Right. And look at it. But when you can get a job, what you in your field working in any level of institution that is in there that's going to help pay for school, like that's a one for me. Dive in, that's it.

[Rachel Cruze]

And then get that degree and then get the next degree. You know, go lp, go rn, go all the way through the whole process and you know, keep moving up and keep moving up, keep adding to your education as long as they're paying for it and you're just work and you're

[Dave Ramsey]

going to be able to do so

[Rachel Cruze]

well as you do this. And so my point is, you're making the least money you're ever going to make right now if you'll stay on this track.

[Dave Ramsey]

But roll up your sleeves and do

[Rachel Cruze]

what it takes to get this for free. Yes. Take that pharmacy tech over there at the hospital and they pick up your tuition to be a nurse.

[Dave Ramsey]

Absolutely.

[Rachel Cruze]

All day long and oh, I can't go to happy hour. Well, you need to be at happy hour anyway. You need to be doing this stuff. So this is good. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, if your dad wants to charge too much rent, then go get you a roommate and move out. But if he's giving you something reasonable, it's 50 bucks or just whatever.

[Dave Ramsey]

But if you're hustling like that and

[Rachel Cruze]

he's able to help you by just providing housing, that's a big help.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you just take every one of

[Rachel Cruze]

these little tidbits and you put them all together and it keeps you from borrowing. But no student loans. No student loans. You gotta figure out a way to work around that. You have to slow down your process or you have to change your number of hours you're working, or you have to change where you're working or how

[Dave Ramsey]

you're working or something.

[Rachel Cruze]

But no student loans. You can do this. You can figure it out and when

[Dave Ramsey]

you do, you're going to look back

[Rachel Cruze]

and the 27 year old version of you is going to really like this 20 year old version of you because we Talk to the 27 year olds with $100,000 in student loan debt every single day and they don't like their old self. They're pretty pissed at their 20 year old self and you don't want to do that. So.

[Dave Ramsey]

Good question.

[Rachel Cruze]

Really good. I'm excited for you, Lucy.

[Dave Ramsey]

Jane is in Phoenix. Hi, Jane, how are you?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm doing well.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Dave and Rachel, thanks for taking my call.

[Rachel Cruze]

Sure. What's up?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

All right, so we are on baby step 2. We have about 36k left in consumer debt.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

My husband makes about 6k a month and I'm a stay at home, homeschool mom.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

We have had just kind of a crazy series of events happening.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

And our emergency fund is drained due

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

to our fridge, range, dishwasher, both vehicles

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

all breaking within the last two months. And my husband got a new job, which praise God, you know, has brought in money, help with some of those things. But his stepdad passed away and the

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

funeral is out of state.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

And just for him to get there, it will take about 500, $600 due to flights and then a hotel. So I'm calling to see. I want to honor our parents.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

He wasn't extremely close with his stepdad,

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

but we want to honor our parents.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

And I don't want to, you know,

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

encourage him to go or not go

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

if that is not wise financially.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

And then. Yeah. And he's also just kind of wrestling with it too. We're really trying to stay on track

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

to get this paid off.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And I would go. I would go.

[Rachel Cruze]

You got the 500 bucks, right?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

We can sell one of our beater cars.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

Is what we can do.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, yeah, I would do that.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I would go, man, you guys made it so easy. All right.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

You never regret going to a funeral.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's. Well, especially something like that. It's not $5,000 and we're not flying 16 people to Italy. I mean, it's $500 and you're sending just him to be really near his mom. Near his mom because his stepdaddy wasn't that close to. To start with, but. And he's not gonna be there very long, but.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah, I, I hear you.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

I think it just, I wanted to

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

make sure because we like the emergency's

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

gone and we have like my dish, my whole kitchen's torn apart still.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So just we wanted to be wise

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

and not say, oh, emotionally.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah. But in four months, your kitchen will be fixed. You Guys will be on the track, you'll be on track. And you, you don't want to look back and think, golly, what we could have done.

[Rachel Cruze]

You can't unring this bell.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

So, yeah, you got to do that one.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

It's a good question. I appreciate the dedication, Jane.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. The way you framed up the question and the amount and the situation is why we gave the answer we gave.

[Dave Ramsey]

Running a business is hard work. You're the CEO, the accountant, and the sales team. You don't have time to moonlight as your own benefits department. That's where Health Trust Financial helps. In fact, health insurance is one of the the biggest and most confusing line items in your budget. And most of you are overpaying because you're stuck figuring it out alone. You don't have time to figure out all the fine print about networks and deductibles. My friends at Health Trust Financial have been helping Ramsey listeners for over 20 years. Their focus is simplifying health insurance and serving people with empathy. No pressure, no games. They give you clear, unbiased advice that fits your life and your budget. Most of their clients save hundreds of dollars every month. That's real money you can put back in your business or into the baby steps. So stop wasting your time, your energy and your money. You run the business. Let Health Trust Financial handle finding the right health insurance. Go to healthtrustfinancial.com today. That's healthtrustfinancial.com. Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio. I'm Dave Ramsey.

[Rachel Cruze]

Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality.

[Dave Ramsey]

My daughter is. My co host, Sadie is in Rochester, New York. Hey, Sadie, what's up?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Hi. So I am currently about three quarters of the way done with baby step number two. I've kind of worked my way out of a little over $150,000 worth of debt.

[Rachel Cruze]

Wow. Good for you.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I have a job and a half. I like to say I do have a full time and a part time job. I'm ready to move. I'm ready to get out of New York. I would like to move south. With the sale of my home, I could finish off baby step number two and number three. My question is though, after that, I mean, I do have a lump sum after both of those items are completed of about $75,000. I could either buy a house and have that comfort, but have it be gone, really the 20% or I could rent and invest in a rental property. The location that I would like to head is tourist nation. So an Airbnb or a Rental or even an apartment home would not go unrented. My problem is I feel like I'm a bit of a control freak and I want that comfort of having something that's mine. But I am also losing that half job I do. My full time job is a remote job so I'm able to.

[Rachel Cruze]

So what do you make at your full time job?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So I'm at 67ish.

[Rachel Cruze]

And what do you make at the part time job?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Roughly 25,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

Doing what?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So I'm admin. Admin for a church office actually.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. And you're talking about moving. Where's your ideal place? If you bought a home and settled in, not Airbnb but you just bought a home, what would be your ideal location in the South?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I really want to be on the beach somewhere in South Carolina. I mean we, we have joked Myrtle Beach. Just outside of Myrtle beach though. I mean somewhere like Conway.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Or somewhere like that would be my ideal living situation.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, I like that you said we. Who's we?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So I do have a little muddy situation. I have been married for a year and a half, but we've never combined finances. Not for lack of trying on my part. There just is that hindrance and we've had the discussion of perhaps we just, you know, we continue on. I mean the relationship is great. You know, we don't have any questions. I carry the financial, the household finances. He is on the road a lot. He's got his own business, he's got, you know, a lot of debt of his own that he handles. So when I say we, I do mean my husband and I and his two girls. Both will be college age here fairly soon. He does have college accounts set up for both of them already. So that is not something that out of the proceeds of this house I

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Do you guys know you're.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

You're probably making a face at me. I'm not taking consideration combining.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Do you, do you guys both own that home?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

No. In your mind? Premarital.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

It's yours. Okay. So yeah. When you buy the home in South Carolina, is the plan that you are just going to be buying it and he'll just be living in there under your name without any.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I believe at that point I have kind of given a smidge of an ultimatum to say there will be a combined account. There will be a combined finance, you know, home account. I mean it can't just be. Especially because I am losing income with the move. I'm not saying I'm losing the income to be able to adequately.

[Dave Ramsey]

He's not got any.

[Rachel Cruze]

He's not got any money to add to the down payment?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

No, no, he does not.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. All right. Yeah, I think I'm selling it and I'm buying a home in South Carolina. And I think you already know that what's best for you is for the two of you to combine your finances and have full transparency and full weight together, you know, and whether his name is on the title or not, in most states, a married couple that buys a home, the spouse has marital interest in the house, any in the event of a divorce. And so you're probably putting that 75,000 at risk, so to speak, potentially. I mean, you could show a paper trail that you brought it from, that you brought that money to the table from the thing in the event of a divorce and probably work it out. But I don't know. But anyway, I think the better answer is to combine and go buy your house, kiddo.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I think you'll also pick up

[Rachel Cruze]

some side work because I don't think you're gonna. You know, it's not like there's no churches in South Carolina that need a, some admin help. Like there's a church on every corner in South Carolina.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So I'm open to gig work. You know, I did a lot of Uber and you know, doordash and things when I was first starting out baby stuff. And we actually have a Ramsey approved realtor that we're talking to down in South Carolina already. So I mean, I think we're taking the right steps.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

But I would of letting go.

[Rachel Cruze]

Pay off all your debt, use whatever's left for your baby step two and three and then use the balance for your down payment and yeah, take all your proceeds and do that and combine your finances and I think you're setting up a good life.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah. And ideally with what he's making a year.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Right.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

In a perfect world, as you combine, that's the power of working together financially. Not only do you get the relational benefit of. We really do think your marriage gets better when you become one in every area of your life, including your money. But also the financial. Because yes, he does have debt, you said. But if you guys together combine both incomes worked to pay off debt, you're funding retirement together. You're just going to get ahead financially so much faster when you're working together, even if he does have some debt and you may, you guys may have to pay some of it off, but gosh, both of those incomes working in one household and looking at it as a household income is going to be so helpful.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, that's incredible. So, guys, we keep telling you this over and over, and she's obviously heard us say this too, so we're not talking to her anymore at this point. But just to remind everybody out there there that when we did the largest study of millionaires ever done in North America, airtight research, what we found over and over and over again is that 82% of the millionaires say that one of the reasons they became millionaires is working together in tandem. Full disclosure, full transparency, pulling the wagon together with their spouse. That means that only a handful of millionaires become millionaires in spite of their spouse. And so, as I said earlier, Zig Ziglar used to say, marriage is best if you understand we're both on the same side. And so we're on the same side. The enemy's not in the house, the enemy's outside the house. If we're going to have a fight with something, it's outside of here. And we together are going to go conquer that land, that territory, and we together are going to expand and we together are going to grow, and we're gonna set a vision of what we want the next five years to look like and then take the steps to get there. The desired future and what must be true to get to that desired future together. That alignment is not only so healthy for your relationship, it also is the highest data point for you to become wealthy.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll ever make. But too many people base the decision on opinions or what the market is doing that week.

[Dave Ramsey]

Churchill mortgage has been our trusted partner for over 30 years because they do things the Ramsey way. A lot of people think buying a home starts with going to a bunch of open houses. But if you're buying a home the right way, you start with a budget and a trusted guide like Churchill. Before you even think about house shopping, Churchill will show you the real numbers, not what a bank will approve. Buying before being ready is how people end up house poor and stressed out.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Churchill will tell you the truth and they won't push you into more house than you need. And once you understand what you can actually afford, you can move forward with clarity and confidence.

[Dave Ramsey]

So if you're ready to buy a home, choose the right guide and stick to a plan. Go to ChurchillMortgage.com and get started.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's ChurchillMortgage.com this is a paid advertisement in MLS. Id 1591nmlsconsumeraccess.org equal housing lender. Buying or selling a home is a big deal. With all the click bait headlines and

[Dave Ramsey]

TikTok discussions out there, you get a lot of bad info.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's hard to know what's really happening.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, we're here to make the latest

[Rachel Cruze]

trends easy to understand.

[Dave Ramsey]

Median house prices went up a little to 403,000 last quarter month, which is

[Rachel Cruze]

typical as we head into the spring

[Dave Ramsey]

season, mortgage rates are down a little

[Rachel Cruze]

bit more, down to 5.43, down from 6.1 that we saw last February.

[Dave Ramsey]

To learn more about the housing market trends and to get free tools to help you buy or sell with confidence, go to ramseysolutions.com market or click the

[Rachel Cruze]

link in the show notes. Sarah's in Seattle. Hi Sarah, how are you?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm great, thanks for having me.

[Rachel Cruze]

Sure.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm kind of recently in a divorce. I've been divorced for about a year now and have three kids, all going to college next year. Financially, I'm doing pretty good. I own my home outright. It's a million dollar house. I have about $8,000 in the bank. I make $85,000 a year and I'm kind of nervous about college. Each kid has a college account with about $60,000 in it. But you know, even, even though they're all three are going to a state college, that's $120,000 for four years. And I'm responsible for half of half. So a quarter of that is $90,000 for all three. And I just, I really don't know how I'm going to do that.

[Rachel Cruze]

I'm sorry, you're responsible for half of half, not counting the college funds?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

No. Including, I mean, yes, yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

So you're responsible for 90, but you have 60?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

No, I'm responsible for 90 because, you know, it's 30,000 a year for each kid and they're going to each be there for four years.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Right.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So that's 120 each and then we have 60 for each. So that leaves them 60 for their dad to pay half and me to pay half.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

That's 30.

[Rachel Cruze]

And so they're not, they're not planning on doing anything. The kids aren't.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Well, I mean like working. Oh, well, of course they work. They all work. They pay for all of their activities, all of their. We pay for their tuition and their food and of course the, where they live and that is more than tuition nowadays. So it's, it's kind of putting me in a rough spot because I thought we did good planning financially for their college and come to find out it's not even really half, it's almost half.

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

But.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Well, Sarah, there's a little bit of me that's like, well, if we can't afford the college, then I don't know if that's where they can go. So maybe they go to a community college for two years and then transfer and that cuts it in half or more than half. You know, and academic scholarships. I mean, I don't know what else

[Rachel Cruze]

to do because, I mean, they can work while they're in school, was my point.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah, they definitely can.

[Rachel Cruze]

And that will pay for part of will.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah, you're right, it will. My, my question is because I own my house and would you, would you ever think about, should I refinance and just pull a little bit of money out and.

[Rachel Cruze]

No. Okay, we need to work this out. We need to buy a college that we can afford. Between what you can put in, your ex husband can put in, the college funds can put in, and the kids can put in while working, while they're there. Those are your form numbers that you can enter into the equation and then that will tell you where we can afford to go to school. Oh, and by the way, where they live. Are you talking about the dorm or getting off campus apartments or, or.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Oh, a dorm. We're going the cheapest route. So the dorms, I mean, that's. Yeah. $15,000 a semester, including food.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, that sounds right.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

It's. Or no, 7, 500 a semester.

[Rachel Cruze]

So what school are we talking about?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Washington State. The cheapest school. One of the cheapest schools in the state.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. No, I didn't, I didn't think it. Yeah, the numbers you were giving me weren't some kind of crazy numbers. They're, they're very reasonable. But it's just, it adds up because as you said, the tuition, I mean, the dorm and the food is as much as the tuition. And that's normal.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruze]

And so they're not within driving range of either one of you, are they? Where they could live with y'?

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

All?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

No, unfortunately, no. It's like five hours away. Yeah, but would you, would you ever, like if I were to get married again and. And you know, move out of my home into another home? Would, would renting out my house and using that be some. Something? I mean, because I'm kind of. I am dating somebody pretty seriously now and I mean, that was another option. Well, I could do that.

[Rachel Cruze]

I don't think a million dollar house is a rental house usually.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Well, in Seattle it is. It's a small house. I mean, you'd be shocked at what a million dollar house looks like in Seattle.

[Rachel Cruze]

No, I'm not shocked at all. I'm just saying that's a, that's a fairly expensive rental property, even in Seattle. Okay, I'm not, I'm, I'm not unaware of the Seattle prices. They're very expensive. But you have a million dollars on the table there. If you had a million dollars sitting in the middle of your table, kitchen table, and you were getting married and you had kids going to college and you were thinking about buying another home, you wouldn't say, oh, I'm gonna use this money to buy a rental. You would say, I'm gonna use this money for the next home and the kids going to college.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Mm.

[Rachel Cruze]

Rental wouldn't even be on the list of options. The only reason rental's on the option is by default because you already own it. It makes you think about that, correct?

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah. And Sarah, I would say too, you know, when you break it down per semester, what extra they're gonna need, you know, because they're gonna be able to get through this 60 for the first two years. So that, so you saving some money. And you know you don't have to have that money tomorrow, right? It's in two years. So I understand, you know, you make 85 a year, but what can you set aside for two years, right? To contribute.

[Dave Ramsey]

And what can they set aside for.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And then what can they. Yeah, and then your husband, right, so your ex husband. And so as you guys all kind of form this together, the good news is again, you have some time on your side. This is not 60 grand that you have to have tomorrow. It's really. In two years is when it's all gonna be due.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. So. And all of that is reduced by

[Dave Ramsey]

the 60,000 being used up is reduced by.

[Rachel Cruze]

They don't need as much because they are working.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Right. That they don't even use at all. Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, Sarah, you got a four year degree?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I do not.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Now my ex did.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. Okay. I have one, my wife has one. And everyone that I know just about in my personal life that is successful, that has a four year degree, worked while they were in school.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Right.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's like a normal, it's a normal thing.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

And my kids do work, all three of them do. They've worked since.

[Rachel Cruze]

They were not suggesting they're lazy. I'm suggesting there's actual mathematics that are going to help you, that they're able to help this solution, help you with this Solution. And so.

[Dave Ramsey]

And it's really good for their character.

[Rachel Cruze]

And Rachel, we found, when we were doing a bunch of the studies and some of the research, when we're putting together the Borrowed Future, the student loan debacle, which she's not talking about student loans, but the Borrowed Future documentary that we got all the awards on, one of the things we found was that

[Dave Ramsey]

kids that work actually end up with higher grades.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah. Higher GPAs. Yeah. And Sarah and I would be asking them at Washington State, what can they be doing? Could they. Because by the time they're a junior. And again, this is when the money kind of starts to, like, okay, by junior years, when we're gonna need some cash, can they, you know, be an RA in the dorm? Right. And part of their housing is paid for because of that. Like, what. What creative things in the next two years while they're on campus can they figure out that they can plug into the university to help pay for some of this for the last two years of their school? So there's some ways around it to get creative.

[Rachel Cruze]

But I just ran into a family member the other day that I hadn't talked to in years and reminded me that he went to college free because he was a janitor. They hired him as a janitor, and employees got free tuition.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yep.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's, like, unbelievable. I mean, that's so simple, the RA thing. A lot of people do resident assistant.

[Rachel Cruze]

A lot of people did that.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And even scholarships. I don't know. Just giving.

[Rachel Cruze]

Your brother worked in a mattress store selling mattresses. He's currently our family.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Talk about a conspiracy.

[Dave Ramsey]

All these years later.

[Rachel Cruze]

All these years later, he's still our family advisor on mattress purchases.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I know. And I need a corner. You know the conspiracy about mattress stores?

[Rachel Cruze]

About mattress stores?

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah. Like, the whole thing is like, who. Who literally goes to a store to buy a mattress now? Most people don't, but they're everywhere. So it's like, what's really happening? Oh, what's really happening?

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, no. It's a Rachel conspiracy theory.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Conspiracy. That's a good black hole to go down.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. They're all laundering mafia money.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

You never know.

[Rachel Cruze]

No, I don't. I don't think so.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

But they're everywhere. That's the weird thing. How many people you see going into a mattress store.

[Dave Ramsey]

Gone in there and purchase mattresses Myself.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

That's what I'm saying.

[Rachel Cruze]

Your mother bought a couple of the

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Daniel works, and I. He's a great source with my conspiracy. I need to corner him.

[Rachel Cruze]

He'll never. He's He's a member of the Illuminati. He'll never tell you.

[Dave Ramsey]

You know, one of the first things I discovered working in the financial world is how absolutely devastating it is when the breadwinner of a family dies and there's too little life insurance or none at all. Grieving families are suddenly left behind, scrambling

[Rachel Cruze]

to pay bills and trying to make ends for meet.

[Dave Ramsey]

I also discovered that there are a lot of ripoffs in the life insurance world, like that whole life crap posing as an investment opportunity. What you need is level term life insurance, usually 10 to 12 times your income, which is the smartest, most affordable

[Rachel Cruze]

way to protect your family.

[Dave Ramsey]

The key is finding an independent broker who represents a ton of companies and works for you, not for the insurance company. This is exactly what my friend Jeff Zander and his team at Zander Insurance are all about. They shop the term life companies to find you the best options and they've been around for over 95 years so you know they'll be there when you need them. Zander is the real deal and that's why they've handled all my personal insurance for over 25 years. I trust them and you can too. Visit Zander.com for instant online quotes or for a more personal touch, give them a call at 800-356-4282. The Ramsey Show Question of the day is brought to you by why refi defaulted?

[Rachel Cruze]

Private student loans don't define you, but dealing with them does. Why refi helps you refinance into a low fixed rate payment you can afford

[Dave Ramsey]

so you can take control of your

[Rachel Cruze]

money and get back to working the baby steps.

[Dave Ramsey]

Go to yrefi.com Ramsey that's the letter y r e f y.com Ramsey Ramsey

[Rachel Cruze]

might not be in all states.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Today's question comes from Dave In Massachusetts, my wife and I have two kids. Our oldest is currently in college at a state school so we are paying in state tuition. Our youngest is a senior and is looking at colleges in a different state which means higher tuition. We own a second home in that state but it's not our residence. Should my wife and I get a divorce so we can change one of our permanent residences to that state and keep the other per permanent residence in our state. Doing so would save us over $100,000 by paying in state tuition for both kids. My wife and I love each other very much and the paperwork wouldn't change our relationship.

[Rachel Cruze]

Wow.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I don't know if I've ever heard this question before.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Wow.

[Rachel Cruze]

I've heard it for different reasons.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

A legal divorce to pay for the out of state college. College tuition. Oh, Lordy. No, Dave. No. Dave, I think if you can't afford the out of state tuition, y' all can't afford the college. Here's an idea.

[Rachel Cruze]

Tell your kid no. Oh, there's a shocking concept before you divorce your wife.

[Dave Ramsey]

Maybe you just tell your kid no.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Oh, my gosh.

[Rachel Cruze]

How about no, you can't go to school over there.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, that, that settle.

[Rachel Cruze]

I mean, that's a lot easier. No,

[Dave Ramsey]

dude, you're weird.

[Rachel Cruze]

I mean, who talks about divorcing their wife to get in state tuition for

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

a kid for four years?

[Dave Ramsey]

Because you can't tell your own spoiled kid no. That's whacked.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Oh, man. Yeah, Dave, I don't think that. Sorry, Dave in Massachusetts. Not you, Dave. That could get confusing quite quick.

[Rachel Cruze]

No, both of us are whacked, but for different reasons. Oh, my gosh.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Oh, yeah, Dave in Massachusetts. Nope, nope, nope. I would not go through a divorce.

[Rachel Cruze]

I wouldn't even tell your wife. You had that thought.

[Dave Ramsey]

That would be danger. You could wake up dead.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Oh, my gosh.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, man.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I wonder how many people do that though. Try to scam the system and like.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, people do it.

[Rachel Cruze]

I've heard of people, like they don't

[Dave Ramsey]

want to pay alimony.

[Rachel Cruze]

They want to keep getting the alimony from the previous marriage. And if they get married.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Oh, they lose.

[Dave Ramsey]

Get married.

[Rachel Cruze]

So they just act like they're married

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

and never get married. I hear that.

[Rachel Cruze]

Or if we get divorced, we get her disability insurance will double. So we're going to get divorced so that we get twice the money from disability. Whatever.

[Dave Ramsey]

All these different things.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Well, I've heard the opposite.

[Rachel Cruze]

All these different things happen.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

We need to get married for military purposes. Like to have whatever spousal. You know what I mean? Like, I've heard that kind of stuff. Yeah, but never for a kid's college. Wow. You know, Dave, you never hear, you

[Rachel Cruze]

know, Dave, it's a new one. You have your priorities really screwed up. And so let's just start with telling your spoiled brat child. No.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I don't think the spoiled brat 18 year old's asking his parents get divorced. This is.

[Dave Ramsey]

This is asking him to pay $100,000 to go across a state line.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

But this is the dad's idea. Dad wrote it in.

[Dave Ramsey]

I know dad wrote in the divorce.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I blaming dad. I'm blaming dad. No.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, the whole thing.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I wanted to go out of state school.

[Rachel Cruze]

I agree.

[Dave Ramsey]

The whole thing. The child's behavior is the father's fault too. So let's just go with that.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

The child wanting to go to an

[Dave Ramsey]

out of State School for $100,000 is

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

not probably over the course of, probably over the course of four years. But I'm just saying this is the. Don't you blame this on that 18 year old. This is the dad's idea.

[Rachel Cruze]

So no, I'm gonna blame it on the whole dysfunctional family. Yeah. All right. Wow.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hannah's in Rochester, New York.

[Rachel Cruze]

Hey, Hannah, what's up?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Hi, I'm just calling to ask a question about my student loans and what I should do.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So I'm currently a registered nurse and my work actually pays $150 a month towards my loans.

[Rachel Cruze]

What's the balance on your loans?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

$4,500.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, wow.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I just have to pay the minimum for them to keep paying it, which is only six, about $62 a month. So I didn't know if I should pay off, pay it off and not have this minute and like keep doing the minimum payment. No, no, not right now.

[Rachel Cruze]

You're an rn. Why not? You make good money, don't you?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah, we have a. We bought a house and we are getting back to doing better budgeting.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, good. So your question really is, when I get back to better budgeting, do I put more on the student loan than the minimum payments given that the employer is paying some of it?

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Yeah, yeah, I would put, I would

[Rachel Cruze]

put all I can. You know, I'm going to work all list all of my debts. Do you have other debts other than your home and the student loan?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

We just have about $1,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

No car payments?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

No, no car payments. And our house.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Okay. So I'm going to list the two debts, the thousand and the four thousand. First thing I'm going to do is pay minimum payments on the student loan and attack the $1,000 and get it gone in about a month. Month. And then I'm going to attack the student loan aggressively. But during those several months that you're knocking the student loan out, you're still going to get some of the benefit. But no, I'm not going to keep the loan around like a pet for four years for, for an eighteen hundred dollar a year benefit.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. The biggest thing is you want to be clear of this thing and you, you know, you want to be, have a, you know, complete, fresh, clean start. Okay. Okay, Good for you. Thanks for asking the question. Open phones at Triple 882-55-5225.

[Dave Ramsey]

Rogers in Branson, Missouri.

[Rachel Cruze]

Hey, Roger, what's up?

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

Good afternoon. I've got a question for you, Dave. Okay, I've got $750,000 in cash. I've got a million dollars in an IRA. And every year I got to take money out of that. Anywhere from 43, 47,000 DOL required minimum distribution.

[Rachel Cruze]

So you're over 73?

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

Yes, I'll be 76.

[Rachel Cruze]

Gotcha.

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

I just paid $14,000 in income tax, which is fine. I have no debt. I have two credit cards. The only thing I get on there is gasoline and I pay that off soon as the bill comes.

[Rachel Cruze]

Gotcha.

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

I never paid interest on a credit card. I got a house. About $900,000 it's worth. That's paid for.

[Rachel Cruze]

How much of your million? So you got a couple million dol net worth. Way to go, man.

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

About 3 million total.

[Rachel Cruze]

Congratulations. How much of that did you inherit?

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

So it's called my mother passed away. I got $60,000 about four years ago and I put that right in the bank.

[Rachel Cruze]

So you're one of the great American millionaires that did it. Starting from nothing without inherited money. Congratulations, sir.

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

Well, you're at fault for that. I listen to you. My question is, is what do I do with the $750,000? I have no children. My newest car is a pickup truck. It's 10 years old. My wife's car is 23 years old. We live very well on 32 acres of beautiful land. And I just don't trust banks with this bail in bailout. Stock market to me is like Vegas.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, what's your, what's your 401k in. Honey, that's.

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

It's with an insurance company, a major insurance company.

[Rachel Cruze]

And you trust insurance companies more than banks?

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

No, the financial part of it. I put a million dollars in there 20 years ago and I've been getting this money back and back. There's still over a million dollars in it. Yeah, so it's worked out pretty well.

[Rachel Cruze]

But I mean, insurance companies are less stable than banks.

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

Well, according to the report I get from the insurance company loaded with money, billions and trillions.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, that would be true, but so are the banks. Anyway, the answer to your question, sir, is I. I do not have any money at insurance companies. All of my money is invested in mutual funds in the stock market and in banks, in high yield stock savings accounts. And so if you're literally sitting with that money stacked in your bedroom, you need to do something with it.

[George Camel (advertisement voice)]

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[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

of AT&T, Verizon and T mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan as of January 2026. See website for full detail.

[Dave Ramsey]

Aria is in Phoenix. Hi Arya, how are you?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm doing good. How about yourself?

[Rachel Cruze]

Better than I deserve.

[Dave Ramsey]

Is it Aria? Is that correct?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah, it's Arya.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, cool.

[Dave Ramsey]

How can we help?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I just kind of had a question. So a couple years ago I got into a car accident that wasn't my fault and we should be settling here soon. I don't know the exact amount of money that I'll be getting, but I know it'll be close, if not over a hundred thousand dollars.

[Rachel Cruze]

Wow.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm 22. Yeah, it was, it was a pretty bad accident.

[Rachel Cruze]

Are you, are you recovered? Are you okay?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I didn't break anything, but I do have long term damage and I had a traumatic brain injury because of it.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so is it affecting your income potential or anything like that that.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Not anymore. I was out of work for about four months, but since then I've been back at work. So like I'm physically capable to work and like mentally capable to work, but I do have issues with like my long term and short term memory and then I have some issues like with my spine and some like nerve damage around like my back and my neck.

[Rachel Cruze]

Do you think you're going to need any of this money to take care of you?

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, for in what regard? What would you use it for?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Well, probably like more like chiropractic care because like I said I'm pretty okay for the most part, but I do still have, like, chronic pain, basically for the last three years after my accident. Yeah, it was. I. So I got T boned. I got hit in my driver's side. I was, I was taking a left on a green light. The guy was going about 40 miles an hour, and he. And I was his brick wall. And he hit. Right.

[Rachel Cruze]

All right, so what's the chiropractic costing you?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Well, I'm not going there right now. Through my attorney, I was in care for about a year and a half. So this was back in 2023.

[Rachel Cruze]

And I mean, if you. Going. Going forward. Huh? If you're going forward, if you need some chiropractic care, what's it going to cost?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I don't know because I don't. I can't afford it right now, like copays and stuff through my work. I don't even know if my work covers chiropractic care. I know I can do it independently for like, probably 100 bucks a month.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so. And you make What?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I make $21 an hour.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. All right. So what I'm going to do is look at your budget if I'm you and. And find out about the chiropractic care, what it's going to cost at you, what it's going to cost you out of pocket, because you're going to need some adjustments apparently, as you go forward, right?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. If you can cover that out of your income, then that frees up the 100,000 or whatever to invest. If you can't, then as you invest that, you're going to have to consider that you're going to need some off of it for your care. Best case scenario is you don't need this money and you can invest it, leave your hands off of it and let it grow.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So my question with that is, after my accident, I was out of work for about four months and I didn't qualify for any disability or anything. And so I got into some debt. And then the car that I got after my accident, I had it for about a year and the transmission went out on it, and so it got repossessed because I couldn't afford the car payment and fixing it. So I have about, like $18,000 in debt from the car because I didn't have it for very long. And then also having to take out, like, personal loans and using credit cards just to survive.

[Rachel Cruze]

So I know how much is the car repo of the 18

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I owe, I think just under 11,000 on it.

[Rachel Cruze]

Now they'll probably settle that for around 3,000 cash. But you need to get that in writing. Call and say, I got, you know, I can make you a cash offer to settle this. I can't pay the whole thing. Would you take 3,000? And they're gonna argue and you're gonna argue back and you're gonna come in, you know, back and forth and then give them a check and be done with it. But it'd be pennies on the dollar. Okay. And then your other stuff you can clean up for how much?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I mean, that would be like the remaining 8,000 ish. Now, some of it is in collections though, so I don't know how that

[Rachel Cruze]

I would just, I would call and get a payoff and pay it off when you get the money. Okay. So somewhere around 12,000 of your, your hundred thousand is going to go and you're going to be debt free. Now what are you driving now?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I drive a 2006 Hyundai Tucson.

[Rachel Cruze]

Is it paid for?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah, I got it from a family friend. So it's in my name. It's paid for and then it has some fixes I need to do on it. But I do want to get a new.

[Rachel Cruze]

Like you may need, you may need to move up, you may need to move up a little in car. So you may want to take some of this money to move up in car. Car. So if you sold that car and put, if you sold that car and put $10,000 with it, then you'd have a pretty decent car. Okay. And pay cash, no more debt. Okay. But so now we've used 22,000 of your hundred. Okay. And then you need to set an emergency fund aside that you don't touch except for rainy days. So you need probably $10,000 to do that. So now we've used 30. All right. And so you're going to have somewhere around $70,000 or so to invest long term. But you'll have an emergency fund, an upgraded car, zero debt, and that, that if you don't have anything hovering over you, then you probably can cash flow your chiropractic. Okay, that makes sense.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah. One of my goals, like just because of the money and I'll be able to with it, is I want to go back to school and I want to get my esthetician license, but I want to move back to my home state where all my family is so good. I don't know if it's smart for me to use part of that money

[Rachel Cruze]

to move there or, well, a little Bit, but keep it very, very conservative. This money's going to go away quickly because we've almost spent a lot of it already, just you and me talking. Okay. So you have to be very careful because it'll $4,000 and $5,000 itself away.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

How much is the school, do you know?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So I have a twelve thousand dollar school fund from my grandparents that I'm able to use.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Okay.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

When I was looking online, just at current prices, it's probably going to cost like total price because it's a two year program. About 23,000 for all two years. For the two years.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

For the two years. Okay, great.

[Rachel Cruze]

And then what does that, what does that career pay when you get that completion?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

When I was looking at jobs in the area, it's anywhere from 25 to 32 an hour.

[Rachel Cruze]

Not much return on that. You get 25 to 32 an hour target without getting the degree?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Not really because I want to get, I have to get a certification license and I have to.

[Rachel Cruze]

You can work at Target without getting the certification license and make as much as you will after you pay $23,000 for this license. So maybe you need to tool up and school up in something else that pays better. Doesn't pay much.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I mean that was like starting though, because what I would like to get my, like I said, license and laser hair removal, but once I get my advanced aesthetics license, I mean there's other avenues I can go. That's kind of just like my, my pinpoint.

[Rachel Cruze]

You need to have a $40 an hour goal here. If you're going to spend money for education, it needs to take you to $40 pretty quick. And I don't know if that, I don't know that world. So I don't know if that's possible.

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

But yeah, I'm not sure I'd have to do.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, I mean you're going to have to really, because you can't just spend $25,000 on a certification and then make $25 an hour when you can make that without a certification at Target. That's what I'm saying. So don't, don't. That's, that's not a good investment if it's $25 and it puts you into a program that in a few years you're making 40. Okay, I'm with that. Okay. But you don't have to make 40 out of the gate. But you got to be thinking this through long term as to where this is taking you. But yes, generally speaking, if you think through education and it's Going to cause your income to increase substantially due to the education. Education would be a good use of this money.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah. And I think thinking long term to saying, okay, you know, a goal would be in five years to be making $60,000 or $70,000, you know, whatever that is, and then you back out from there. So, yes, to your point. All right, you may be starting at a position that's 28, but there's, you see a path forward that's very clear that after a year of this, I can step up to 32 an hour and then I step up to 35, and then I, you know, you, it may take you a year or two, but don't let the end goal be making 35 a year for the rest of your life.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

So you want to be making, you want to be making more. And again, for that certification purposes, make sure you get the ROI out of it. But. But yeah, my biggest word of caution is plan all this out. Because just like you said, Dave, I'm like, you can, you'll spend 10,000 here and there and within five, six, seven transactions, it's gone.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

So stretch it as far as possible with a, with a really strict plan in place and put yourself on that strict plan. So if you're going to move, I'm only going to spend this much moving. So a moving company that's going to help me has to stay within this, this budget range.

[Dave Ramsey]

Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality. My daughter is my co host today.

[Rachel Cruze]

Elizabeth's in Wichita, Kansas. Hi, Elizabeth. How are you?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Good.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

How are you?

[Rachel Cruze]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Well,

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

I'm thinking about selling my house.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

I have 150, around $150,000 in equity. And I'm thinking about finding a house to buy cash

[Rachel Cruze]

for 150. What's that look like in Wichita, Kansas?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Well, around, you know, smaller towns around.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

It's not.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

It wouldn't be a shack. It would be, it would be nice

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

enough like a step up from a shack. It would be a shack that's nice enough. Is it good like a good, like a good house that you'd be happy in for the foreseeable future? Okay, good.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Okay. Yeah.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Yeah. Something that we would be happy in.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

We or I would.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, I.

[Rachel Cruze]

So is there a we or an I?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

There's a we. We.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

My husband and my four children.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Four kids and.

[Rachel Cruze]

150.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Wow.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And what's the motivation for this, Elizabeth? What's. What's the. What's the home you're currently in that you're not satisfied with?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Well, we are very satisfied with our home.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

It's beautiful. It's.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

It's big. But I'm looking for ways to simplify.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Okay. Yeah, that's great.

[Rachel Cruze]

How old are your kids?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

14, 11.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

6 and 2.

[Rachel Cruze]

And how many square feet is in the home that you currently live in?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

We've added a couple bedrooms. So as of right now, around like 3,200 square foot.

[Rachel Cruze]

And the $150,000 cash home will buy what kind of square foot footage?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

I mean, I would say probably around 2,000 square foot. So it would be a big downsize, but we can also. We're good at adding square footage.

[Rachel Cruze]

Your husband's in the construction business?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

He's not, but he is.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

He. He works well.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

I mean, he can do those things. And I grew up with parents who did rentals, so they know everything. This house, we added two bedrooms. We added egress windows and. Yeah, so we can do those kinds.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

So I'm just curious as well. Why would you downgrade to add on if you're already have.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I wouldn't. I wouldn't necessarily.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

I mean, as long as we were comfortable, as long as we had enough bedrooms.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Okay.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

I've got two girls and two boys, so, you know, we can share bedrooms and. And whatnot.

[Rachel Cruze]

What's your household in income?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

My husband makes 130, and that's gross. He. He's a UPS driver, so he.

[Rachel Cruze]

And the balance on your current mortgage is what, 205? And you guys are how old?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

He'll be 36 and I'll be 34 in June.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. All right. Well, there's a lot of windows through which you could analyze this. When someone says they want to simplify. Okay.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

If you want to be debt free and have no mortgage and you're willing to give up the extra comfort that the 3200 versus the 2000 house has

[Dave Ramsey]

to get to that goal.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's one version of simplify. Another version of simplify is more of our friends, the minimalists. And you're just like, we want a simpler life in general. And one of the benefits of that is we don't have any debt, that's fine, because what you're describing your current life as is not anywhere near out of control. It's definitely very conservative. There's nothing here. You know, like I say, y' all

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

could buckle down and pay this off in two and a half, three years if you wanted to.

[Rachel Cruze]

You know what if you put $50,000 a year on the debt and you were done in four years.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think my motivation is that with. With four kids and my husband working so much, I really, I want to live more. I want to have more. I want to have more room to just spend time together and, you know, go to the lake, go fishing.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And that means he doesn't have to work as much. Is that what you mean? He. So he could pull back on work hours? Hours, yes. And be home more if you do. Okay, that. Okay, that's starting to make sense. That's a piece of the. Okay, I get that. Okay.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Yeah. And I stay home and I homeschool the four kids, so we're always together, but he's not there.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

And it.

[Rachel Cruze]

How many hours a week does he work?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

That's a good question. I mean, he definitely.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

He.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

He doesn't get home before 8 most nights.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Nights?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Most nights he's out. He's out driving till. Till eight.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Okay. Could he back off his hours, Elizabeth, and you guys still financially be okay?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm sure that we could.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

It would just, you know, like for a season.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

It just sounds like it probably. I would think from a logistical standpoint, it probably would be easier to cut back on some hours for a few years and be present at home while there's the kids going and then maybe pick it back.

[Rachel Cruze]

He's working. He's working two jobs.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I'm.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

He. He works ups.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, you said that really.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

He doesn't have the option.

[Rachel Cruze]

He doesn't have the option of cutting back. Then he's got to finish the truck run.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

He's. Yeah, he's working.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

What?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

He has to work.

[Rachel Cruze]

So he's working 12 hours a day,

[Dave Ramsey]

five days a week?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Approximately. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

So you got Saturday and Sunday to go the lake?

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Yeah. Yep. You know, the house. I will say the house is a lot of upkeep. That's another. That's another con for it. I think that it just takes a lot of our time.

[Rachel Cruze]

So will the other one.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Right.

[Rachel Cruze]

The 2,000 square foot house is going to have as much upkeep as the 3200 square foot house.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

I really thought I was going to call you guys and you were going to be on my side.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I'm not, I'm not against you. I'm not against you. I'm just still. Still haven't found the root. I'm still looking for the root motivation.

[Rachel Cruze]

For a minute there, I thought you were trading the 3200 for the 2000 to get your husband back.

[Dave Ramsey]

But he doesn't really have that option. He can't. Unless he quits his job, he can't cut his hours.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Yeah, I mean, you know, he kind of.

[Dave Ramsey]

He could take a different route.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

He could take.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

He, he cover drives most of the time.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

So.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, so he could take a different route, back his hours down.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why don't we just do that, do

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

it for six months, Elizabeth, and just see how it feels. And if it's off and you guys are like, no, then he can ramp back up and then put the house for sale. And that's great. It just feels like a lot of work.

[Dave Ramsey]

If you want to do it.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

What you're proposing is not evil.

[Rachel Cruze]

I'm just trying to figure out if it's going to give you what you want or if you're.

[Dave Ramsey]

If you're out of the, you know,

[Rachel Cruze]

out of the frying pan into the fire here. And so, you know, like, yeah, I got my husband back, but now these kids are all crammed in the shoe box and I can't breathe right. You know, and now I'm now.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And I don't have a pantry and

[Rachel Cruze]

I don't have all this and I

[Dave Ramsey]

can't, you know, this.

[Rachel Cruze]

The stress level of four large teenagers in this house that's approximately half the size is different.

[Dave Ramsey]

I mean, I'm okay with it, but

[Rachel Cruze]

I'm not sure if the trade off is what you think it is. That's what I was trying to do around and find out.

[Dave Ramsey]

We were not against your idea. We're just trying to figure out why

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

the debt free show. She's like, dave Rams is going to love this. I'm going to be debt free. It's going to be an automatic yes. And we took the whole segment for you, Elizabeth.

[Rachel Cruze]

There you go.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Either way, you're great. Hey, guys, I've got big news. The Ramsey show is going on tour. And this is your chance to be more than just a listener. You get to be part of the show. So hear questions asked live and experience the kind of momentum that only comes from being in the room. We'll be in Charlotte, Denver, Phoenix and Anaheim with a limited number of seats. Seats in each city. So last fall we completely sold out in 72 hours. So do not wait. Get your [e-mail] events or by clicking the link in the show notes.

[Rachel Cruze]

One of the best things you can

[Dave Ramsey]

do for your financial is to have

[Rachel Cruze]

a really good tax pro in your

[Dave Ramsey]

corner that you trust they'll help Advise you the best moves to make your situation for your small business, especially if you've had some big life changes.

[Rachel Cruze]

Check it out.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's that time of year, folks. Go to ramseysolutions.com taxpro to find CPAs

[Rachel Cruze]

and enrolled agents who are Ramsey trusted. They've been vetted by us. You'll love it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Ramseysolutions.com taxpro pro.

[Rachel Cruze]

And you can find a pro in your area to help you if you got a complicated return.

[Dave Ramsey]

Scott's with us in Casper, Wyoming. Hi, Scott. How are you?

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

I'm well, Dave. Thank you. Listen, my wife and I got married 45 years ago with 200 bucks in the bank and we owed about 15 grand. I just. We're 69 now. I just retired. I've got about a little over 6 million in a traditional IRA. And I'm not clear on exactly how. What I should do with it. I can defer it until I'm 73 and take smaller or just take normal distributions. At that point, I could just cash out. Cash it out and pay the taxes. Or I could cash it out, I believe, and split into a Roth ira. And my question is very simple.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Which.

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

Which one of those might be the best for my situation?

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, as you know, at 73, you've got required minimum distributions, RMDs. Okay. That they're going to require you to begin to pull down a certain percentage every year on your 401ks. And that's going to create a huge income for you because you've done so well. Congratulations. I mean, wow, look at you, man. Well done. Done. Very well done. Okay, so that we know is coming, Rick, unless we go some kind of scorched earth thing, which I'm not going to recommend. So I would just. Brace yourself and get ready for that. Do you need any of the money in the meantime?

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

We don't have any debt. Okay.

[Rachel Cruze]

Do you have any other money other than this 6,401,k?

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

Yes, sir. Probably around 14 million in US equities and ETFs, and roughly 20. Some 25 million in real estate. All of that debt free.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Good night. What did you do for a living?

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

That would be a story. Many different things.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

So to be honest, what we did was we just saved.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, here's your congratulations.

[Rachel Cruze]

You have absolutely slayed the dragon. I mean, this is amazing. Beautifully done. So starting with, you know, $15,000 in debt and we got married 45 years ago, and this is where we.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

So you're classic millionaire.

[Rachel Cruze]

You're a classic American millionaire. I'M just so proud of you. Well done. Now, if you roll the 6 million all to a Roth IRA, 100% of it, you will pay taxes on that year, ordinary income. And that's going to make you puke. All right. When you see that, when you see that tax bill, because it's going to be a $2 million tax bill. Okay.

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

Oh, yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

And so sit down with your tax professional, and I'm sure you have one, one. And start unpacking how we can move some of the 6 million for a few years to some period of time to get it all to Roth. I don't care if it's 10 years, 5 years, 20 years where you can stomach the tax bill, you can actually pay the tax bill and roll all of it. Pay the tax bill out of your other assets.

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

And that's what I would. And so if you rolled the 6 million. Hmm. This is something to think about. Look at this with your tax guy, you might go scorched earth on this one.

[Dave Ramsey]

If you roll the whole thing over

[Rachel Cruze]

and pay 2 million out of your equities, pull it out and pay your taxes, you now have 6 million growing for the rest of your life, tax free. And when you place a beneficiary on it and you and your wife die and you leave it to your kids, they don't pay taxes on.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

On it.

[Rachel Cruze]

And it's not an inherited IRA that has to be withdrawn like, still under a traditional.

[Dave Ramsey]

If they get a traditional.

[Rachel Cruze]

If your kids get a traditional IRA handed to them, they have to withdraw it over the next 10 years and under the Biden Secure Act. And so they're going to pay taxes on it within 10 years.

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

I see.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

If you roll it all to Roth

[Rachel Cruze]

and you pay the taxes now, the

[Dave Ramsey]

growth on it tax free will cover

[Rachel Cruze]

the tax bill within just a little while.

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And so I have moved mine. I did it more gradually than that,

[Rachel Cruze]

but I've got all of mine in Roth, and I did it so that

[Dave Ramsey]

it grows for me tax free.

[Rachel Cruze]

But I'll probably never use it, and you'll probably never use this. And so it will go to Rachel and her siblings when I die completely tax free. And they have no required distribution on it, so they can let it grow tax free. It can just sit there and it

[Dave Ramsey]

could get really awesome because that 6

[Rachel Cruze]

million, in seven years, you're only 69, will be 12 million. And in seven more years, 14 years from now, which is statistically you're likely to live that long, that 6 million will be 24 million,

[Dave Ramsey]

all tax free.

[Rachel Cruze]

So it might be worth, you know,

[Dave Ramsey]

having a little bit of throw up

[Rachel Cruze]

in the back of your mouth and writing a tax check out of your other assets right now and doing it all in one year.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

So visual.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, I just.

[Rachel Cruze]

It makes me puke to think about giving the government $2 million because they're so freaking stupid. But.

[Dave Ramsey]

But yeah, it's just.

[Rachel Cruze]

And it's my freaking money. Money. It's not theirs.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

That you've already paid taxes on.

[Dave Ramsey]

Pay taxes like the rich. Kiss my butt.

[Rachel Cruze]

And so liberals. And so anyway, the, you know, it's just ridiculous.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

So anyway, we welcome everyone to the show.

[Dave Ramsey]

I do, too.

[Rachel Cruze]

Cause you need to be educated.

[Dave Ramsey]

But the. Wow. The. So, yeah, I want you to sit

[Rachel Cruze]

down with your tax guy and look at that idea.

[Dave Ramsey]

Because when I moved this stuff to Roth, I did did it for the reason of. It grows tax free for me. But the actual huge benefit is that

[Rachel Cruze]

it's a great estate planning tool then to have your stuff in Roth because your kids don't get hammered with the required distribution.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

You don't have to pay. What's the estate tax, though? Over 25 million. Would they start to have to pay?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, he's got estate tax problems that are different.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah, but if a Roth moves over,

[Dave Ramsey]

Roth is taxable on estate tax also, even estate tax.

[Rachel Cruze]

But both of them are. That doesn't.

[Dave Ramsey]

Estate tax is different.

[Rachel Cruze]

This is income tax that we're talking about. Yeah, but he's got an estate tax problem. I'm sure you've got an estate tax planner. And if you don't, you need to get one tomorrow because you're definitely over all your exemption levels. So.

[Dave Ramsey]

But yeah, way to go, dude.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

That's amazing, man.

[Rachel Cruze]

You have absolutely killed it.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I love the, like, subtlety of. I've got 6 million here. And you're like, you got anything else? It's like, yeah, 25 million, another 40

[Rachel Cruze]

million, another 14 in ETF cash for Wyoming. There you go.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Well done, Scott.

[Dave Ramsey]

But these are the millionaires.

[Rachel Cruze]

These are America's millionaires. And when you guys are watching political stuff and they say that the rich should be taxed, that's the guy you're talking about. And it's not your money, it's his money.

[Dave Ramsey]

He worked his whole life starting from

[Rachel Cruze]

nothing and invested wisely and built this. And so taxing him on his death and taxing him on his growth, and tax him, tax him, and tax him and tax him and tax him and tax him, and he didn't do anything to you. You, you know, and, but it's just

[Dave Ramsey]

this, this guy right here is my hero.

[Rachel Cruze]

I mean, this is amazing.

[Dave Ramsey]

This is what we teach all of you to go be. But then you need to be aware

[Rachel Cruze]

that there are forces in the marketplace

[Dave Ramsey]

that don't like that, don't like you to be successful.

[Rachel Cruze]

So you have to fight against the

[Dave Ramsey]

estate tax problem, you have to fight

[Rachel Cruze]

against the income tax problem, and you have to fight against, you have to

[Dave Ramsey]

make all these decisions on your investments to keep the stinking government's hands, thieving

[Rachel Cruze]

hands off your money. And so, but Scott, I'm just mad for you right now because it's a two million dollar bill you're getting ready to pay. I think you're gonna want to do it all at once, though.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And it would be ordinary income. So What? It'd be 35.

[Rachel Cruze]

What is that 35% of? So it's gonna be $2 million. I mean, it's gonna be every bit of it. I bet you. It's a lot. But the thing is, I mean, if that's, if that 6 million grows, oh, 100%, you know, 20%, like last year the market was up 24%. Right. So if it's sitting in just s and P500.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

So that'd be 1.2 million next year

[Rachel Cruze]

that he got back.

[Dave Ramsey]

And it's all tax free. And the sooner you get tax free started, the sooner it benefits you. So I think I'm going to want

[Rachel Cruze]

to do it now. I got to, I got to crunch

[Dave Ramsey]

the numbers a little bit more, but

[Rachel Cruze]

I think I'm going to want to do it now. Sam.

[Dave Ramsey]

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

[Rachel Cruze]

Teresa is with us in Washington, D.C. hi, Teresa. How are you?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Hi, Rachel. Hi, Dave. So my husband and I are in baby step three, and I want to spend $400 on a new kitchen appliance. And my husband and I talked about it. He's listening right now. Hi, my love.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Hi, Theresa.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

If it was a good idea or not.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Okay. How much do you guys have saved?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

We have 1800 right now in our. In our savings account, and we have the cash in our checking account to cover it just fine.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Okay, and what's the full. What's the goal for the three months emergency funds, like 1800. To what?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Saying that we needed to write down a number for that we only just finished baby step two.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Okay.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Probably around 20,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

And what's your household income?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

About 50,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

50,000. Okay.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yes. Hopefully that will be increasing soon.

[Rachel Cruze]

But, like, why? Why and how much?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Changing jobs and changing career situations.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

So how much. How much do you think it'll change?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I don't know. We would have to start before we could predict that.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. All right.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

What's the appliance? I'm just curious.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

It's a flour mill. Oh, so it, like, mills wheat into flour?

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, I got one. I'll show you. Used.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Oh, I got.

[Rachel Cruze]

I got a five gallon bucket of that stuff in the. In the closet from two years ago when Sharon had this fad.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I promise I'll use it.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, that's what she said.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I believe you will. I will.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I promise.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's all.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's all healthy, too.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's all healthy.

[Dave Ramsey]

They don't let any of the little glutens in it.

[Rachel Cruze]

There's no little glutens and no little covids. So. Yeah, it's all. It's all covered and gluten free.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

What? Oh, my gosh, Teresa, you should have called Sharon.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Put her on.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Put her on.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I know, I know. I'm gonna represent her.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm serious.

[Rachel Cruze]

I'm gonna go home and get the thing before she gets home and send it to you.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

You should.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

That actually be a great.

[Rachel Cruze]

That would be so funny. And Sharon wouldn't miss it because she hasn't. She wouldn't even. She would not. She wouldn't know it's gone.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

That would be funny.

[Rachel Cruze]

When you, like, eight months from now, she'll be going, hey, where's my little bread thing?

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Give your address to Kelly.

[Rachel Cruze]

Gave it to a lady in Washington.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I'll go. I'll sneak it for you. Theresa.

[Rachel Cruze]

So here's the thing. Here's the thing. The thing that we always have to manage when we're managing these decisions is not the actual little issue of 400 bucks, but what it represents in our behavior, in our standards, and in who we are. Okay. And so, you know what Sharon and I would have said when we were at your place is we would have said, if this isn't an emergency, we can't do it because we don't yet have an Emergency fund. And it is very odd that I actually own one of those things.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

How long did it take y' all to get out of debt? Theresa, how long were we all doing baby step?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Two, four years.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I know. See?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Almost to the day, actually.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

So much sacrifice.

[Rachel Cruze]

No, but it's just. The point is that you have to have your filter system that says, yes, you do. I'm going to make my decisions based on this set of. On this framework.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

And on this value system. And so you've been using the baby steps as your framework for making the decisions. And it would say that this is not an emergency. Don't do it. Although, mathematically, it's not that big a deal.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

You guys could. And you're gonna be fine.

[Dave Ramsey]

You could do a lot of stuff

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

that you don't want it to. Yeah, but you don't want it to derail you is what you're saying.

[Dave Ramsey]

The thing is, I don't.

[Rachel Cruze]

I don't want to. I just don't.

[Dave Ramsey]

You've reset the way your brains work

[Rachel Cruze]

on money in a positive way, and this. This.

[Dave Ramsey]

This messes it up.

[Rachel Cruze]

I mean, this is falling off the wagon, so, you know.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Wow. Off the wagon.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah. For sure.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

You're not going into debt for it, though.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, but I mean, they're.

[Rachel Cruze]

They're. They're not going to make the decision through that framework. I wouldn't do it. I would not buy it. Because, you know, it's not an emergency.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

It's not an emergency, but it's.

[Rachel Cruze]

And you don't have your emergency fund, so you should not be buying luxury items that aren't an emergency.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

4. It's not $4,000. It's 400.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's not 400,000 either.

[Dave Ramsey]

It doesn't matter.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

But I'm saying for. For four years of their lives, they've been sacrificing to get out of debt. Okay. And then we always say, when you get out of debt.

[Rachel Cruze]

So we have a tie. Rachel says buy.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

What are you going to do?

[Rachel Cruze]

I say don't. I've got one in the closet.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Oh, no, there's. Hold on. We have some audience who's a. Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

The audience is saying, don't buy it.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Oh, no.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Oh, I got one.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, I got one.

[Rachel Cruze]

Thumbs up.

[Dave Ramsey]

Got a bunch of thumbs down.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

We got a lot of thumbs up.

[Rachel Cruze]

Participation. Rachel. You're losing.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Shoot.

[Rachel Cruze]

You're losing.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're so kind and gentle.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

It's not that I'm kind and gentle. It's that I like the hard work and the exhaustion of what they've gone through.

[Dave Ramsey]

Which means I need.

[Rachel Cruze]

I need a homemade bread machine.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Listen, I'm just.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's what all this hard work was for.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Listen, I don't do it, but people

[Rachel Cruze]

that do it, they don't. They put it in their closet.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

They love it. You can see.

[Dave Ramsey]

I know. I know someone personally.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Shoot. I wish this was something that.

[Rachel Cruze]

Pancakes and muffins galore for about 90 days.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hadn't seen them since.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Oh, man.

[Rachel Cruze]

We lost the enthusiasm on the latest health fad, man. Oh, yeah, Teresa, it's fun. That's fine. We're not making fun of you. We're making fun of me. Okay?

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

But it's not. It's not a need, it's a want.

[Rachel Cruze]

So if your emergency fund was completed and you could put it in the budget.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yes.

[Rachel Cruze]

Your emergency fund isn't completed. I wouldn't do it. I also wouldn't upgrade your couch for $400. I wouldn't upgrade your anything else for $400. It's not an emergency. Until you get this done, we stay gazelle intense until we finish. Baby step three. And that's what will get you to where you want to be. You've lived like no one else so that later you can live like no one else and make. Buy a bread maker. Buy a mill.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

It's a.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's a mill. It's a meal. You mill your own grain.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah. I don't even want to ask questions. I don't want to. I'm so not in.

[Rachel Cruze]

You're gonna have to get your mom to get it out and show you.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I know. I will.

[Dave Ramsey]

She might give it to you.

[Rachel Cruze]

You never know.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And I'd give it to Teresa.

[Rachel Cruze]

You might need it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, you could get Teresa's address and

[Rachel Cruze]

just ship it on over there.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Get it just in case, you know.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's. That's funny. And the. The grain, it's like a five gallon bucket of paint. It's a five gallon bucket, plastic bucket full of grain in the closet.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And the grain, it's not like.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's like grain. It's like grain. Like you went out in the field and picked the grain. Yeah, like the.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Like the stem.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, it's the seed.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

It's the seed of the grain.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's green.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's real. I mean, it's.

[Dave Ramsey]

But it.

[Rachel Cruze]

And it's apparently pretty dormant because it's been sitting there a while, so.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Oh, man, it's so hard.

[Dave Ramsey]

You can't make this up.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

It's hard when this is first world

[Dave Ramsey]

problems on steroids right here.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Thing when it is when people are very passionate about it and it's like they're a minute.

[Rachel Cruze]

For a minute they are.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

They're there and then they're not. This is what they do, you know? I don't know.

[Rachel Cruze]

We definitely got the fever for it

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

because I bet she does sourdough. I bet she makes sourdough with it. Right? Can you do that or is that. No, no, no, that's a feeder. Sourdough is a feeder. Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

Shoot.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Okay, I'm gonna stop. I'm terrible at this stuff.

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

Yeah.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Oh, Theresa, it's fun.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's not gonna kill you if you

[Rachel Cruze]

do it, but you.

[Dave Ramsey]

But if you're calling us to break

[Rachel Cruze]

the tie between you and your husband. Rachel's on your husband's side and no one else is.

[Dave Ramsey]

I mean, Rachel's on your side and everybody else is on your husband's side.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

We do say sometimes to families that have kind of been done in a debt free scream, like, well, what are you gonna do now that you're debt free? You know what I mean? Like we do ask that.

[Rachel Cruze]

Buy em bread milk.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Well, I'm just saying the idea of getting Past Baby Step 2 is an event. It is a thing. And so if there's something that is reasonable, you can pay cash for that. You're like, oh, okay, yes, we're saving at the emergency on time. But in the checking account we have this. And I could do a little splurge to like celebrate that we're debt free. I don't know.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah, you got, you know, you have a tie on the air and off the air you lose. Yeah, the audience. The audience is not with you.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I'm trying. Trying. Teresa.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, Teresa.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's fun.

[Dave Ramsey]

I would have guessed wrong. I thought she was going to buy

[Rachel Cruze]

the, the 400 expensive blender. The Vitamix.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Oh, the Vitamix. I don't know if that's 400.

[Rachel Cruze]

That's about 400 bucks.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I will say. We got an air fryer. Okay, that's pretty life changing. It wasn't 400, but it was pretty great.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, well, there you go.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Wow, that's.

[Rachel Cruze]

I don't have one of those.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Kitchen. Yeah, the kitchen.

[Dave Ramsey]

I remember when I was a kid

[Rachel Cruze]

and we moved and we had a box that said on the side of it, seldom used kitchen appliances.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

James, about your Y' all have a mill sign.

[Rachel Cruze]

You need to be a minimalist.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

James, do you have a mill?

[Rachel Cruze]

Not yet, but it's probably going to happen soon.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Okay. Yeah, I feel it.

[Dave Ramsey]

You spend hours researching before making a Major purchase like a home or car. But it's also a good idea to

[Rachel Cruze]

put in the work searching for the

[Dave Ramsey]

right insurance coverage to protect your biggest assets, I recommend using Ramsey trusted pros. Whether you're looking for car, home, or any other type of insurance, Ramsey trusted providers have been coached and vetted to serve you like we would. Find what you [e-mail] insurance.

[Caller 5 (Elizabeth)]

Foreign.

[Rachel Cruze]

Scripture of the day, Luke 11, nine through 10. So I say to you, asking, it'll be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks, receives.

[Dave Ramsey]

The one who seeks, finds.

[Rachel Cruze]

And the one who knocks, the door will be open. Tony Robbins says, successful people ask better questions and as a result, they get better answers.

[Dave Ramsey]

So question.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's April Fool's Day when we're recording this. This is April 1st.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I didn't have to do a thing.

[Dave Ramsey]

You were.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. And I'm just wondering if the bread making thing was an April Fool's joke.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

No, I was gonna be like, guys, during the break. Dave seriously loves taxes and he just wants to pay more.

[Rachel Cruze]

I want to pay more in taxes.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cruze]

I'm a closet liberal.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Or you show me your credit card or something. You know what I mean? That could be a good April Fool's.

[Rachel Cruze]

April Fool's. Nobody believe that. It's not. It's not even. It won't work.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I should have told you I applied. I don't know. I should have. I should have come up with something.

[Rachel Cruze]

There's no telling what you. What you might have done.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

An opportunity today, America, that I missed out on. So I apologize.

[Rachel Cruze]

Well, I think the bread maker thing was a complete. I think that lady was to complete.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

No, it was.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

No.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Teresa wanted a bread maker.

[Rachel Cruze]

She really did.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

I believe it.

[Rachel Cruze]

Or a meal. She wanted a meal.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Okay, Lisa, let's see if Lisa's anything

[Rachel Cruze]

may have got punked there.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

No.

[Rachel Cruze]

But I may have thrown my wife under the bus, which is something I don't do in the air too, so that's not good.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

But apologize later.

[Dave Ramsey]

Problem Lisa in Springfield. Hey, Lisa.

[Rachel Cruze]

What's up?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Hi.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

First, I want to say thank you. Because if it hadn't been for me listening to you for the last, I don't know, decade or so, I would be in a much worse situation than I am now. I am trying to figure out where to start. Start. I'm a little overwhelmed with my finances. It's not bad. So my husband and I have listened to you for a long time. We had Xander insurance and the only thing I regret is that I didn't up it when his pay was upped because he probably doubled his pay by the time by when we first signed up for it. And then he died on our vacation in an accident.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, wow.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

This past summer.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

And so we are baby step millionaires.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

We're in good shape.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

So I had some life insurance. I have a business that started as a hobby. I homeschool my three kids, and I started my business while homeschooling my kids. And I am very good at what

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I do, but not necessarily good at

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

all the stuff that comes with business that you don't, you know, know about

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

until you're like, in the middle of

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

it, and then you're like, oh, you're supposed to do this. Oh, you're supposed to do that. So I've been untangling that. But it was never a priority because homeschooling, running a farm, and my husband made a very good income. We have no debt. Our homes paid off. It didn't matter. Mine was like a lucrative side hustle. Now I lost his income, the insurance, health insurance, and all I have is my side hustle. And I don't want to just burn through our life insurance money.

[Rachel Cruze]

How much life insurance money did you you get?

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

800,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. And everything's paid for. Were there other investment?

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

I used some of that because I have an investment house that I owed 120 on, which I totally regretted taking out that loan. After I did it, we cash flowed it. Total remodel of it. But I use some of that life insurance. So I have like 6 or 700,000, I think, in cash, and then a million in 401ks. But I'm only 50, so I can't touch any of that.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

My business, like, I've been overwhelmed. I've not been doing a great job taking care of my business. Luckily, I have some great employees and I've always needed to get it a little more under control. But between homeschooling and everything else, it just was never a priority. It felt too overwhelming. Well, one of them is engaged to be married. She's going to be 21 in a few weeks. And then 17 and 14.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

They were. Yeah, 17 and 14 boys.

[Rachel Cruze]

And so what happened to the 700,000? Where is it?

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

So I got a smartvestor pro to help me put together all the investments. So right now he's got it in a mutual fund. There's like 600, I think. And I have like $100,000 in my bank account, which I Didn't realize how.

[Rachel Cruze]

And so what does it take you a month to live? What's your.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

That's my problem.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

I don't even know.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Like, at first I was like, we're just going to breathe. We've got money. We're going to. And now I'm starting out eight months in, I'm like, okay, we've got to figure it out. And I don't hardly even know where to begin. I know it sounds terrible, but I've never actually budgeted it. I only did it in my head and kept a running total. And we've always was so far below our means that.

[Rachel Cruze]

Let's start. What do you need in food? What do you need in food a month?

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

I don't even know.

[Rachel Cruze]

Oh, yeah, you do. Tell me what you need in food.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Maybe

[Rachel Cruze]

two teenagers and, you know, 400 is not enough.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

You probably spend two to three a week, do you think, on groceries?

[Caller 3 (Roger)]

Maybe. Maybe.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, you need 800. All right. And you don't have a house payment. And how much does your electric bill run?

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Well, when it's real high, it's about 1400.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. And how much is your water bill? It's on, well, right?

[Caller 4 (Scott)]

Yes.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

I don't have a water bill.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Do you have a gas bill?

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

No, only on the rental house and the rental property.

[Rachel Cruze]

The rental house is a separate issue. I'm asking what it takes to operate your home.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Okay.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Rental houses support itself. It's got a renter in it.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Yeah, it's a short term rental.

[Rachel Cruze]

Good. Okay. And so you just begin to ask questions like I was asking you. And you fill out the form on every dollar in the budgeting app and you'll look up and see how much you've got. And so I think your 600,000 can create $60,000 a year. Pretty easy. And I think you might be able to live on that. And then your business creates some more.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Untangle my business. Because some of it, like my venmo and my PayPal, that's how my clients pay me. Sometimes I use it for personal.

[Rachel Cruze]

You need to completely separate your business from your personal. Two separate accounts. I have a personal account and a business account. Personal. Venmo business. Venmo personal debit card. Business debit card. And don't do anything in business with the personal. And don't do anything in the personal with the business. Keep them completely separate. And then you get less confused.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

That's your home.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Like, more confusing because the business is at my home.

[Rachel Cruze]

It's not Confusing at all. When something happens in your home that's business, you know what it is and you know what's not. Put it in the business account if it's business. If it's not, do it. Other personal account where it's located. Doesn't matter.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

What kind of businesses. At least

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

dogs.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

You what?

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

I raise dogs.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

You raise dogs?

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

Yeah, I raised dogs. I think I. Yeah, I gross about 500,000.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. What kind of dog?

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

That's not what I net. Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Cavalier, King Charles Spaniels.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay. Yeah. These are expensive pups. Okay.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

We do all the health testing and all.

[Rachel Cruze]

And all of that is a business. And you have the cost of the breeding and the vet bills and the food and the cleanup and everything else, and the cost of your staff, and you have the income created by the sale of the dogs. None of that is at home. It happens to be on your location there at the farm, but that's all. So you can separate this out and run it separately. And you need to. To make sure you're making a profit. Make sure you don't have this $500,000 hobby. Hobby?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

No, it does make a profit.

[Rachel Cruze]

How do you know? You don't even have a set of books.

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Well, I do have QuickBooks.

[Rachel Cruze]

Okay, but what's going into that? Are you putting personal stuff in QuickBooks?

[Caller 2 (Christina)]

Not my.

[Caller 6 (Lisa)]

I have somebody that does all that for me. We started doing that about three years ago. She helped me untangle everything. Well, almost everything. I'm almost there.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

Yeah, I think you're close to.

[Rachel Cruze]

So here's the thing. Your stress level is gonna go way down when you get this cleaned up, when you get the tangles combed out of this hair. But there's still a few tangles left, and they're tied into your grief story and into this tragedy, and they're adding to your pain. And so the cleanliness of organization, extreme organization, is gonna lower your anxiety level.

[Caller 1 (Shelby)]

Yeah.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

And stay on the line. Lisa Kelly will pick up and we'll get you every dollar for a year to start doing. Just on your personal side of running your home.

[Rachel Cruze]

Yeah.

[Financial Expert/Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey team member)]

To start putting in those numbers.

[Dave Ramsey]

That puts us hour of the Ramsey

[Rachel Cruze]

show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the prince of peace, Christ Jesus. Sa.