Most Americans Go From Payment to Payment... Be Weird!

Happy hour Rachel Cruz Ramsey Personality. My daughter is my co-host today. Open phones at triple 8 8 2, 5, 5 2, 2 5, that's triple 8 8 2, 5, 5 2, 2 5. Josh is in Sacramento.

Hey Josh, welcome to the Ramsey show.

Yes, I'm 50 years old, I'm currently in baby steps five and six, and I met a wonderful woman a year and a half ago. We're now engaged. She is, yes, and she's in baby step two, and she's only got me into you.

So she's in baby steps two. She has debt, she has sixteen thousand in credit card debt and sixty five thousand equity line debt. She's going to be moving in with me in a month, and her house is worth six hundred thousand, she owes three hundred thousand.

Her mortgage is only $1,700 at 2, and we're looking at renting it out so we can get about three thousand dollars a month.

But our my question is, sell it, have two hundred thousand dollars out of it and be debt-free, or rent it out? And can we rent it out for three, up to three years and not have capital gains?

And she wants to handle her debt. If we don't sell the house, she wants to handle her debt, she doesn't need a help. We're engaged, we'll probably be engaged for about a year, and I know after that then I'm going to be more hoping to contribute to her debt. But up to the time we're married.

She's kind of standing firm with wanting to handle this herself.

I mean, I, I still see this as two completely separate finances. Until you guys get married. And then at that point is when I would, yeah, I would probably just sell her house at that point and take that equity. And for you guys, you had to pay off her debt to have some savings, I mean, do you have any savings, Josh?

Right now, I'm contributing with my job, and so we have that. But I have about ninety thousand by four hundred, I have forty thousand in my high yield savings, and I have about fifty thousand between my checking and my my Robin Hood account that I could do money with, so I have about fifty thousand dollars I could do money with.

But she, let me ask you something I'm picking. Yes, sir.

Well, what I was going to suggest is just get married, yeah, solves the whole thing, you know, but but if you're not gonna get married, keep everything completely separate. Like Rachel said, until you're married. And she should not sell her house until she's married, okay, because she might need a place to go.

But if you want to rent it for one year, I guess you can, and you're right, you can rent it. Three of the last five, she can run it three or less five, and it still. Consider personal residence, and there's no capital gains on up to a half million dollars. Married filing jointly, so okay, if she sells it after you're married, she can make up to a half million dollars on the property and have rented it for one year.

It's kind of weird. You could actually rent it and then move a renter out and live in it two years, and then rent it two more years. So three of the last five, you know, you can do it that way, but I wouldn't, obviously wouldn't do that. That's just strange, but but that that's how the law says.

So the REG, the regulation on it. So yeah, just do not combine anything and do not make any permanent moves. And she's right, run everything completely separate while your roommates. And until then. And but honestly, you're 50 freaking years old, you're setting up in play in-house, you might as well get married, that's my opinion.

But you didn't ask my opinion, and you've already quote thought this through unquote, but I don't. I mean, you're doing, you're making all these moves as if you're married, but you're putting off the marriage. Which then it's not that that's not logical, it's really not.

So if you were for if you're 22 or something, I might say, well, okay, whatever, but have a little longer engagement, but you're 50.

Yeah, it's not your first ride on the cabbage truck, dude. I mean, seriously, so yeah, I'm just thinking, that's what would I do if I were in your shoes? If I'm willing to move in together, I'd be willing to get married, that's what I would be doing.

There's a lot of benefits to that whole discussion, in addition to the financial and legal implications. So yeah, but if you're, if you're unsure about the quality of the engagement leading to a marriage, you shouldn't be doing all the things you're doing.

We appreciate you hanging out with us, America, this is your show and listen all of you, whether you're 22 or 52. We have seen disasters in people's lives when they combine their finances and are not married.

The the ex-fiance, they got ditched, yeah, and so are we. Worse thing is bought a house together and we're not married, oh.

I know it's, Oh, please, don't do this, please, this is the Ramsey show.

This show is sponsored by Better Help. Hey good folks, it's Deloney. And with back-to-school madness on deck, my family's schedule is already so packed. And we haven't even made room for things like exercise and date nights and counseling and all the other things that make our life even worth living. When it comes to taking care of me, I have to remember to put on my oxygen mask first, meaning I have to do the things that help me stay well and whole. And you have to do the same thing too. Together, we can show up and be strong in all of this chaos, so don't skip the things that matter to you, including therapy.

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Number one best-selling author, Ramsey Personality Rachel Cruz is my co-host. One of the books that she had, a number one was a children's book. I'm glad for what I have about contentment.

It's a sister piece is coming out next week on the 16th. It's called I'm Glad for Where I Am. With fabulous illustrations by Lauren Gallagos. She's incredible. The O.S. internal illustrations are absolutely amazing. She just does a great job. Quick, short book, all about gratitude.

First one was about contentment, right? Yep, that's right.

And getting to that foundation level of it is what I wanted to do with this book, and so it's it's sweet. The animals go on a little adventure and they find they find gratitude for their families in their home, and it's short parents.

You are welcome. And it rhymes, and yeah, Lauren Gallagos did amazing with the illustrations beautiful. And it launches on Tuesday. And so, and I'll be traveling around to. I'll go to Phoenix and L.A. and Dallas and Atlanta for some book signings. So you can go to Rachel Cruz Comm and get the schedule for all of that. And actually, I think Lauren, I think might be maybe speaking too soon, might be joining me in the L.A. signing.

So you'll get that illustrator and the author at the bookstore, so it'll be fun.

You know, these things are absolutely. It's amazing what it does for their lives. And and so it's very difficult to overspend when you have gratitude and contentment. Yeah, that's right. Most overspending has something to do with something opposite of those things. And so what you're doing is putting that foundation in there.

Also, coming up the first week of May, the book Find the Work You're Wired To Do by Ken Coleman will be out. And it includes his Get Clear assessment. You'll get a code for the assessment, which you can just get online at ramsaysolutions..com. Almost a hundred thousand people have taken the assessment already. And it's all about getting clear in your work and finding the right things you need to do, going the right direction. With that, it answers the four questions big questions about life and work, who you are, why you're wired that way, what you want to do professionally and how to get there. And the book walks you through how to read and how to implement the assessment. And so a little different type of book for us at Ramsay. But both of those coming out, Rachel's next week and Ken in about two weeks, at the first of May. So you can, but you can pre-order both of them and get all kinds of pre-order specials at Ramsaysolutions.com. Kylie's in Augusta.

Hi Kylie, welcome to the Ramsay show.

I am 35 years old, my husband will be 40 in August and we are active duty military family. Um, he is the active spouse. I stay at home with our kids, um, but I was active duty for five years and left to stay at home and raise our kids. Um, he is looking at retiring.

We want to retire, or at least stabilize, by the time. My oldest is in high school and he is in sixth grade right now. So within the next five years, we're looking at leaving all of this behind. And so I need to, uh, I'm panicking, because, uh, well, we have a 20 year mark at that point.

Yes, he will be past his 20 year mark. he'll be, I believe, at 24. Okay, and, uh, you didn't quite get to 20, did you?

He's going to do nothing.

So we're going to lose a lot of military allowances. His pension is going to, you know, cover a whole bunch. But we're going to have to think about buying, not think about, we're going to have to purchase a house. Um, we have no debt, um, our kids college funds paid for one, our oldest has, uh, the post 9-11 GI bill, so he's covered for college and then I.

Um, we're putting my SGLI, not my SGLI, not my life insurance, but my, um. My TSP account has about 35 000 roughly now, and we'll use that. We're just going to leave that alone until my youngest. How old will your husband be when he retires?

Um, probably 43 to 45, and you'll have a six, and you'll have a six-year-old at home. We'll have a six-year-old. Yes, at that point.

He's gonna get, he's gonna get emotional whiplash.

Right now we have zero debt, um, our kids college funds paid for that, this is all we're. Just I just need to bolster some money so that we can buy a house with cash, not go into any debt.

No, so he will be able to pull.

Okay, that's not going to happen with cash then. Oh goodness, yeah.

That's not true today. Okay? So here's the budget for the hobby farm. Here's what our income looks like now, Here's how we can throw money at it. What can we adjust?

What has to be true? And we got to get a house in the meantime, you know, and and what does our careers look like on the other end? Um, and so you, you know, prior to me being blunt with you, you had planned to go play with horses. And he was going to babysit a six-year-old. And I, Uh, that might work, some guys can do that, but. But I gotta tell you, you're asking him to make. A dramatic change in his daily activities in the neuroplasticity of his brain is really going to have to go into overdrive.

Uh, to make that turn, it's the The Whiplash is going to be pretty incredible.

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Rachel Cruz Ramsey Personality is my co-host today. Thank you for joining Us America. Hey, if you guys want to help us out, we can use some help. You want to help us. Here's what you do Click the share button on your UH computer.

If you're have a particular platform, you're listening or watching us. As a share button, do that, or cut the just cut the link out and send it to somebody and share it. Say folks, listen to this show, or watch this show, subscribe, click that button, follow whatever it is. And and you know where you're regularly getting the feed? That changes the algorithms on these shows a bunch and allows them to be put in front of folks. And it's caused our, uh, listenership, our viewership, to go way up in the past two years. Pretty amazing.

And those five-star reviews, they actually help, too. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

Those of you that have something nice to say, we appreciate you among the rest. Levi is with us in Phoenix. Hi Levi, how are you?

I have 400 000 student loan debt, it's broken up into 14 disbursements with different principles and interest rates, but I also have 35 000 sitting in savings, wondering how I should allocate that best.

That's why I'm calling you.

Yeah, you're, you know, it's going to be a little while, so take a bit. I mean, if you lived on 35, 000 a year and put 100 on it, you got four years, right? that'd be great. Now. How are you single?

I am okay, how? How can you pick up some weekends at the hospital and stuff?

And then, you know, so what I'm gonna do if I'm in your shoes is I'm gonna live like no one else, so that later I can live and give like no one else. I'm gonna get on beans and rice, I'm gonna work all the time, and I'm gonna throw all but a thousand dollars of this 35 at these. I'm gonna list these 14 loans smallest to largest, and start attacking paying minimums on everything, and start attacking the little one with a vengeance.

And I'm gonna take all the OT I can get. Because if we had 25, 000 to the equation, you might do this in three years.

Next, but that's living on nothing and no life understood. But you're clear in three years, otherwise, you got a 10-year program, right? Yes, and I'd rather sprint for three years than limp for 10.

I think you're ready to go. Your only question was about, do I really clean out that 35 000? Yeah, I really would clean out 34 of it. And again, that helps us move the needle. I think you can do this in three years.

It's amazing when you talk to people and they're like, that. The number one thing in a situation like this. It will be work. Where you just say, I'm going to get my income up and I'm going to work all the overtime I can, and you know?

Lady had two babies at home and.

Yep, yep, I love it. Josh is in Columbus, Ohio.

Hi Josh, how are you? I'm good. How are you better than I deserve? What's up?

She's basically out of debt herself, she's paid off almost all of her loans, um.

Okay, how much do y'all owe on your cars? Uh, I owe 7 000 on my truck.

When you give that away in debt, it kills your ability to build wealth. Your grandparents probably avoided debt. It's one of the ways they had this kind of money. And, uh, they were very conservative and careful and intentional, and that's all you need to be. Uh, so do you own a home?

So immediately we're going to pay off all the student loans and the car debt immediately, right? Okay, and then you need an emergency fund between the Morgan Stanley, the 7 000 and the 350 minus 57 seven. Um, is you pull out some emergency fund of three to six months of expenses? And so in your world, that's probably a twenty five thousand dollar emergency fund set to the side. Never to be touched. Except for an emergency in a money market account, it's not for purchasing things.

It's for emergencies, okay, then whatever's left you could use as a down payment on your home.

Or or pay cash for a home in Columbus, Ohio.

So life insurance is the one thing, especially as a mom with three little kids, that I'm like, so big on for people to get because it's inexpensive. Zander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance.

That's 800-356-4282 or go to Zander.

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Thank you for joining us America. Derrick is in Delaware. Hi Derrick, welcome to the Ramsay show. Hi. How are you better than I deserve? What's up?

Or should I buy a car and have it financed and just sitting in my driveway for 10 months of the year?

You don't need a 40, 000 car to sit in a garage. Yeah, that makes sense, and it going down in value. And you're paying insurance on 40 grand, and you're paying taxes and title on 40 grand to sit there. No, if you want a car just to sit around versus renting something, you buy a cheap car to do that.

Uh, just something to get around while you're at home, but, uh, if you. But if you want to, if you want to drive a 40 000 car two months a year, you should rent it.

The other doesn't make sense at all. Um, and you know, you just told me. You have this goal of getting all these trucks. And every dollar you tie up in a stupid car keeps you from going towards the goal of that truck. So, you know, if I'm you, I don't care what I drive. Because I'm trying to build a company, and now, after I get the company built, maybe I'll get me something nice, right? Um, because I'll be making bank at that point.

But you get 10 15 trucks running around, then you're making some money and grab. You can drive your forty thousand dollar car then if you want, that's not a problem. But no, I wouldn't definitely not put a car. I wouldn't buy a car for cash that was 40k and leave it in the garage in your situation. Because in one year it's going to be worth 30.

In two years, it's going to be worth 20. While it sat there and that that's what, you know. They go down in value like a rock, that's where Chevy got that, like a rock. Steve is in Cape Cod.

Hi Steve, how are you? Hey? how are you better than I deserve? What's up?

We got about six more years left.

And we need to do some work on house in addition and stuff. We have 140 000 in the bank.

What kind of work are you wanting to do to the house?

100 140 grand, okay.

All right, and your house payments? how much now?

I'm gonna pay off your mortgage today, you're a hundred percent debt free then, and I'm gonna sit down with the wife. I'm gonna get on a tight budget and I'm gonna try to with no mortgage payment. I'm gonna try to save 70 a year for two years and do the renovation with cash two years from now after the kids are gone.

So you deserve a nicer, you've earned a nicer house, and so, um, that's what this makes you say, yeah, yeah, I I think, I think you need to get a better house. But I would do it with cash in the next two years, and I'd pay it, pay off my house today.

It's not good for them, they need to grow up, it's good for them. An eagle that doesn't leave the nest is eventually called a turkey, I know.

So it's really, it's really good for grown-ups to be grown-ups. It's a neat thing when it happens, and so, um, it's not hardcore, it's not being mean.

It's actually the kindest thing you can do is to help your. You're the people that you love, be what God designed them to be, and have the dignity of standing on their own, too. It's a good thing, it's a powerful thing and so recommend it highly. And, uh, I think you're, I think you're going to enjoy it. And they are too.

So, yeah, I, I. As soon as they're gone, I'd pull enough out of retirement to do my renovation, even if you hadn't saved it up yet. But I'd pay off your mortgage today. That's a good question, very good question. What a great guy. Two million dollar network.

They did it. And Cape Cod in Cape, so just like dreaming, Yeah, there you go. Third, hey, 1300 square feet in Cape Cod. Ding ding, ding, ding, million bucks right there. Yeah, that's, uh, that, that you just see those little things rolling over on the slot machine right there.

That's just happened, right? Those little dollar signs right there. This is the Ramsay show.

Live from the headquarters of Ramsay Solutions, it's the Ramsay Show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual, amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsay, your host. Rachel Cruz, Ramsay Personality, co-host of The Smart Money Happy Hour on the Ramsay Networks. Number one best-selling author and children's book author, new book coming out next week. I'm glad for where I am.

She's my co-host today. Open phones at Triple 8, 8, 2, 5, 5 2, 2 5. Alexis is in Orlando. Hi Alexis, welcome to the Ramsay show.

What do you do? I'm in the wedding industry, what does that mean? What do you do?

Um, I'm planning weddings, also managing a venue.

That's what I'm making, it's hourly, it's 15 an hour, hmm.

Pretty much the same, sometimes less.

Um, that pays a hundred thousand a year.

Yeah, I'm like, I like what I do, right? um, I like the planning, prepping and organizing that comes with my job. I think that's in teaching, but it's right, it's the void of being in front of a person or a student all day long. Um, so I'm not sure that I've found that niche of what can provide enough income.

I mean, like, you could literally be working the same amount. I just feel like you're being underpaid.

Um, never, then you're, then you're dramatically underpaid, yeah.

And again, it may not be what you want to do forever, but at least for a couple of years to make some income. I mean, get out of your parents house.

Uh, you know, tickle your funny bone and cause you to want to go do X or Y or Z. And you may have to go get a certification, you may have to go, but it may be a completely different industry. I kind of have a sense you just fell into this job.

Professionally, and I, I feel good about me, I make good money, I'm enjoying the daily work. Um, those kinds of things. Now, you never do anything that every day is easy.

There are some days that suck in anything you do, okay? I've been doing this radio show for over 32 years and almost every day I love being on the air. But I said, almost.

So that's the entrepreneurial side. So anyway, so what? Yeah, that's what you need to do, and so that's what I would say. Alexis is you. You need to aim at something and then pull the trigger. Don't go ready.

Aim Aim, Aim Aim Aim Aim aim fire.

It's gonna work, gonna work, gonna work, so uh.

There is an energy that occurs, it gives people energy, it gives you. Uh, I think it comes from a sense of hope or a sense of destiny. When you spend some time contemplating, thinking on the back porch with a cup of coffee, right? Or whatever it is, you do tea, whatever it is, you do for that. uh, your mother would be tea me, it would be coffee or something else. But, say, I'm thinking about, where do I?

What do I want my life to look like? what do I want my career to be? what do I want to do? And then you don't fall and and then you say, you start clearly defining that in high definition in HD and. And. And then you start living in that future state, and you start identifying with the person that you're becoming, and then you start taking the steps. So that's what goal setting does.

It energizes you because all goals are are little, miniature vision pieces. With work clothes on, you know, and you start taking the work clothes, you take the work clothes and you go put the work boots on and the work gloves. And you go to work towards getting your goals. And that, all of a sudden, even the energy in your voice changes. This is the Ramsay show.

Rachel Cruz Ramsay, Personality co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour, is my co-host today. Today's question comes from Margaret in Iowa.

If not, how do I respond to the credit card company?

And when you're married, if it's in both of your names. Then if you want to keep the stuff that had his name on it, then, uh, you have to pay the debt that had his name on it. Because his estate stands good for his debts. But um, to take that to a different type scenario. Um, we've had the call over the years, many times. My mother, my father passed away living in an apartment with fifty thousand dollars worth of student loan or credit card debt. Um, and a car loan, that on the car that was worth, that the loan was more than the car was worth. They had absolutely no money.

Uh, am I responsible as the child for that debt? No, you're not, no, you're not, but um, you know, so you call them up, tell them to come get the car and the other people. The credit card's just not going to get paid because they died with a negative net worth.

But you can't take a $60,000 boat out of the garage that was in mom's name or dad's name and keep it. And then not pay the fifty thousand dollars worth of credit card debt, right? That was in his name. And that's in a sense what Margaret, the position she's in, and so what that person, when they died, own, stands good for what they owe.

Is that the only type, that's the only debt? It's the only one that is forgiven, yeah.

Not private, private debt, but yeah, that's that's the rule on that process, so thanks a bunch. Open phones at 888-825-5225, Jennifer's in Minneapolis.

Hi Jennifer, how are you? hi doing well? How are you better than I deserve? What's up?

Um, our combined income is about 150 000.

Wow, we have no debt. Yes, um, we have no debt. Our cars are paid for. Um, you know, we just bought our last car in cash. And, uh, contributing a couple hundred dollars a month for each child to education.

Um, I did stay at home with my kids for 10 years. So we're a little bit behind in our 401K. I only have about 300 000 in it. Um, but I'm wondering, should we be focusing on buying a house to rent out? We have one thing I'm worried about is just down the line when my husband, he's a soccer coach there at the boarding school, so, uh, down the line.

Should you know we won't have a house if something happens to his job?

You might look up and be a half million dollars in there in a few years. And and, uh, he changes careers and boom, you pay cash for a house, you know that that can happen. Um, and that's the same kind of thing we tell folks. RACHEL That are, uh, a little different scenario, but not much. Where the pastor is living in a parsonage, yep, you can get to retirement as a pastor in a parsonage. And you, you, you're homeless, you know, because you retire and the next pastor is going to be living in the parsonage. And so you've got to go get a house, you know? I talked to a young couple out here the other day.

They said their mom and dad are on the mission field for 20 years and you've got to prepare to come off the mission field. Yeah, it's biblical to prepare to do that, to get ready. Um, same thing if you've been living this usually for a shorter period of time. But a lot of young couples or even singles living on base in military. Where again, housing is furnished, but when you quit that job or that portion of that job, then housing is not furnished. And whoa, then you get into this whole thing. So, Jennifer, you're very wise to think about that.

I wouldn't fret about it, but I'd put in place a basic game plan and say, I'm gonna start paying myself a house payment. And see how quick that turns into a million dollars, it does turn into a million dollars, pretty quick, by the way, it's pretty, pretty incredible. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Jessica is in Sacramento.

Hi Jessica, Hi hey, what's up?

What's your degree in? I have a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Um, and that's all my debt, and my husband doesn't have any. So what are you making? 135??

No, well, right now I make around 180.

What kind of stress home?

Um, well, I've become a pharmacist practitioner, so I would be running my own clinics. Right now. I'm an oncology pharmacist, so I do all the chemo's and I'm fine, so I'd be chemo's. Basically, there'd be a big learning curve, I'd be switching to oral chemo, which is, there's just two different ballgames, which is fine.

I would just.

But if you want to do the other thing or this thing, either one, but you've you, you're, you know, under all this is, you really just want to quit and you really can't. And so let's just decide which big girl thing we're going to do. This is the Ramsay show.

Uh, event that I'm doing May 21 and 22. It's a two-night virtual event where I'm talking to you about not only the basics of investing. But we're going to open our playbook on how I do real estate, how I do my other investing, as well as my mainstream stuff. Like 401ks and mutual funds. Tickets are 199. If you buy today, you save 50, that's cool.

Ramsay Solutions.com slash events. All right, Lana is with us on the debt-free stage. Hey Lana.

How are you good? How are you?

What's your degree in? I'm a PA physician assistant. Ah, is that what you do? Yes, great career field. thank you.

Uh, expensive to pay for, though, very expensive. Yes, way to go. It's a good choice. So, uh, what in the world happened 18 months ago that made you decide to do this Ramsay stuff?

So I worked hard, I picked up, you know, one job. It was kind of tough because during Covid we didn't have enough volume. I work in the emergency room, so I was getting let go on some days to go home because we didn't have enough volume.

But eventually, I picked up side jobs, I worked in the urgent care. Eventually, when the volume returned, I was able to get two full-time jobs. Work in the emergency room, averaging about 22 shifts a month. And that helped me pay down my loans quickly. My gosh. I think my main goal was to get out as soon as possible, so then I could start buying assets and hopefully have some passive income down the road. Good for you.

That's amazing. So how, what? Like, on an average week, how many hours were you working? That's tough, I would say. It varies, because, um, let's say between 60 to 70 hours a week.

Oh my gosh, and just absolutely doing it, it is. It's very tough. Because working the ER I. I was expected to work not just day shifts, but days and nights, and so I was averaging about 22 shifts a month. An average full-time ER provider would work 12 shifts a month.

I was working 22 and so I had to flip flop my sleep schedule from days to nights. That was tough for sure, but it was worth at the end because I'm here, yes.

Thank you.

You want to get the new Tesla? But for me, I just was staying off social media, was focused on paying off my debts and just living below my means. Really, that's the key. Yeah, it's being weird because all my friends had nice Teslas when they graduated, you know. And I'm just. I was still with my beat-up car, and I still drive the CBF car today.

That still works, okay? Was there anybody that was in your life that was cheering you on, or were most people, like, looking at you like, you're crazy? Lana? I think I do have a close friend who cheered me on because she became debt-free. And she's like, you're gonna, you know, get there too one day. But it was hard, you know, socially to, um, not be able to hang out friends as much because my schedule was so flip floppy.

But at the at the end, it's worth it. And now I'm able to hang out my friends again who welcomed me back. Yes, so even on this show today. We've had two or three calls of people with pharmacy degrees and I mean, some big student loan debt that we've had called in just today. And the conversation is this encouragement kind of actually using your story for an example of, you know, if you? If. You condense this down with a short period of time and you sprint and you do what you're done versus it, you know, stretching out 10 years. So what encouragement do you have for people that are listening? That probably could have six figures of student loan debt.

And they're thinking I could do it in five or six or seven, eight years. What would you tell them? I would tell them just to stay disciplined, don't get distracted with, you know, keeping up the Joneses. And it's possible, because if you're in that field, you make good income. You're able to pay it off quickly, too. But you just have to not let the lifestyle inflation get get to you.

And it's okay, you know, to sacrifice for a few years, because once you're done, a few years go by really quickly and you're out of it. And then you're able to enjoy life again. But I think a lot of times people are afraid to make these sacrifices, you know, for the short term. But I think to me, it's it's so worthwhile because now I get to move on to the next step in my life.

Well done, well done. you're a force of nature girl. thank you. I like it.

I like it a lot. Well done you, you, you knock this out and there's no stopping you. You can do whatever you want to do. You set your mind to it, and, um, it makes a difference. It is an irony that when we had a pandemic that the volume to the emergency room was down. I guess because no one was doing anything that could cause them to get hurt.

Yeah, I mean, I, we knew that stuff like, uh, uh.

Uh, so elective surgeries, you know, like plastic surgery, that kind of stuff was just gone, completely gone. But emergency room, I did not ever hear that. The ER went down in volume. That's so interesting, right? Yeah, way to go, you, you figure you, you navigate your way through it.

You, you're not someone that, oh, well, the next thing, let's figure out how to solve that, let's solve for that, let's solve for that, whatever's put in front of you.

You, you find a way to jump the hurdle, way to go. Thank you, very proud of you, very proud of you, very cool.

Good for you, you did great. So again, Rachel said it a different way. I'm going to say it one more way. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is?

Uh, I just was seeing some data the other day. There is a direct correlation, uh, between the amount of debt that someone has, consumer debt that they have, and how much time they spend on the internet. The high the more time you spend on the internet, the higher your debt is across the board. Uh, because it's just you're constantly looking at a highlight reel of someone else's life that's not real to compare yourself to. Because people don't put ugly stuff on.

You know, they put up the only time that everything's perfect, you know? And it's like, You know? And Rachel used to say, Um, you know, no one puts a used Honda on there. Look what my husband, uh, got me hashtag blessed, right? You know, nobody does that. They put the new Lexus on or the new whatever, right? It's, yeah, that's it.

But that's all. Those are all fake moments, and that's why, you know, like Facebook friends or fake friends. That's why we say we help you with actual, amazing relationships on this show, because they're not, they're not virtual. virtual means not true, and so this is.

That's so, that's so insightful on your part. I turned that off and it helped me to stay focused. Because you're not, you're like a, I mean, we're like a fish. The shiny lure going in front of us when we got the dad gum Instagram feed going, exactly.

It's crazy, so look at you way to go. Very, very proud of you. Good work, all right. Lana from Los Angeles. To 173, 000 paid off in 18 months, making 134 to 223.

We've got a couple of years of every dollar subscription for you, we'll hand that to you in a few minutes. Count it down. Let's hear a great debt-free scream three.

Look at her way to go, kiddo, so good. This is the Ramsay show.

Rachel Cruz Ramsay Personality is my co-host today. Open phones at triple, eight, eight, two, five, five, two, two, five. Megan is in Omaha, Nebraska. Hi Megan, how are you?

He is financially disciplined and manages money very well. I'm learning quickly and currently in baby step two. I have about 46 000 in debt, 40 000 in student loans, he has no debt, and 90 000 in savings. He has worked really hard to save this money and I feel uncomfortable using his savings to pay for my mistakes.

We have discussed putting 20, 000 of the savings to put towards my student loans, and the remainder would be paid off in 13 months. I wanted your thoughts on if we should use the savings to pay off the entirety of the student loans. Or is it okay to do the partial payment of 20K and then pay the remainder off in 13 months?

Number one, the data says that you have a much higher probability of staying married, having a good marriage, and building wealth than if you don't combine it. Tons of data, lots of research, including the 10 000 people that we studied, number one, number two. From a relational standpoint. When you can agree on what you're doing with our money, when we are combined in our goals, we agree on our money. We're really agreeing on our dreams, we're agreeing on our fears.

We're agreeing on the path that we're going to use to get to the future that we want to do. All of that agreement is called unity, and it spells excellent marriage is what it does high quality relationship when you've got that kind of unity with anyone else, but particularly with a spouse.

So in business, we want the teams to be in agreement, aligned towards an agreed, unified future. And when we get that in business, we get synergy and productivity and all kinds of things. Same thing occurs in a marriage. So, in all of that being said, here here's a new one I can try on you.

Let me see how this works if you had.

If you had, uh, if you got a check in the mail today from from a rich uncle that died and it was 96, 000 dollars, you would pay off the loan today, wouldn't you? Yes, I would. Okay, so what? What we're saying out loud, that that we're trying to encourage you guys to change your vernacular on, change your verbiage on, is you're saying that that's not your money?

And it is your money, you're now married, and he's saying, that's not his debt, and it is his debt because you're now married. And if he gets sick and has the flu, you're going to make him chicken soup. In sickness and in health, right? And we're going to be living our lives together. So if you would use your money to pay off your debt, then you should use.

I think it should be gone tonight and it's what a celebration, uh? But when you actually do have that mindset shift. And instead of his account, your account, his savings, my debt, and it's this still two lane idea. There's something about just going all in all in in it and saying, we are, this is us together. And you start really looking at your money. As as us, it doesn't have someone's name on it, it is it is our money. When it hits that account and it, it just changes something. There's something in it that is so empowering and so exciting because you can get to your goals so much faster.

So that's exactly right.

What's up?

Um, so I'm just wondering if we should use the money that we have saved up for that land. If we should put that towards the van and use that van as collateral for the land?

No debt If you get out of the debt business, you're going to have money for the first time in your life. But as long as you're playing, hide the pea under some shell, trying to move it around so that it makes the debt all fun again. You're going to continue to be broke. This is what broke people do. They constantly have payments and they constantly figured out a way.

They thought it was smart, but they constantly have no money.

And so I want to, if I'm you, I want to, and and because I love you. I want you to break that off of your life. I want those chains to never come back into your life ever again. Stop it, get out of the debt business completely for the good of Leona.

How old are you?

What's the money saved that you have? You mentioned that?

But the net result is, hell, I mean, you just get stuck in this forever mud hole. And that's what most Americans do. They go from car payment to car payment. They've got a stupid student loan that's been around so long.

They think it's a freaking pet. And then they run from Master Card, who named that? Anyway? You have a master in your life, master card to American distress, to a visa to the land of debt. I mean, come on, seriously, think about this, people. If you break that cycle off of you, it changes your whole thing.

We're known for getting people out of debt, but we're only want to be getting people out of debt. So that they can increase their generosity and increase their investing and become wealthy, so they can increase their generosity and increase their investing. So they can become more wealthy, so they can increase their generosity and increase their quality of life. And instead of that, when you're in the debt cycle.

They got furniture nicer than yours, and you paid for it. This is the Ramsay show.

Live from the headquarters of Ramsay Solutions, it's the Ramsay Show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual, amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsay, your host. Rachel Cruz, number one best-selling author and number one author in the children's category, and my co-host, Ramsay Personality, is my co-host today. The book she has coming out next week is, I'm glad for what I for where I am. I'm glad for where I am.

The other one was, I'm glad for what I have. The first was a bestseller, so great kids books, be sure and check them out. She's going to be out touring around America in the next week or so.

She'll be looking in Atlanta and Phoenix and Dallas, and, uh, Los Angeles. And you'll see book signings there with Rachel and Story time. And come out and bring the kiddos. She'll sign the book, you'll hear this book read by her. It's going to be a lot of fun, a lot of cool stuff going on. Also, let you guys know, it is Financial Literacy Month, National Literacy Month, and, uh, we're celebrating teachers right now.

The Teachers of America love our kids well, and so we want to just stop. Whether they teach our high school curriculum, the foundations of personal finance, or whether you are a teacher of another subject, we want to salute you. One teacher is going to win $5,000 vacation, plus two other teachers are going to win a $3,000 vacation each to wherever you choose, completely free, no purchase necessary. This is the Teacher Appreciation giveaway sponsored by Ramsay Education, so for more information, go to ramsaysolutions..com teacher and enter for a free chance to go on a vacation.

Love our teachers, I did a shout out on.

They really are, so we're so thankful, thankful for all you teachers out there. April is in Austin, Texas, April. How can we help today?

Um, but I'm still, you know, just learning how to do this. We've just been married for two months. Oh my gosh.

Um, we were basically almost the debt free. um, so I have, I have paid off all, like the residual, like little debt. Um. But I just want to make sure I'm I'm 27 and so I just want to make sure that I'm doing.

Wow.

Um, well, you, you've illustrated the importance of life insurance for sure. Um, and um, you'll be a proponent of that for the rest of your life. Uh, anybody that'll listen, you'll tell them about it, um. So if I woke up in your shoes, I I can't imagine waking up in your shoes, but I would go ahead and pay off the house.

And give it. And so, um, you know, if I'm in your shoes? I'm probably thinking of something that, uh, that was close to his heart, that I could do in his memory. Uh, I mean, if he had a real thing for starving children, or foster care, or sex trafficking, or water or whatever, I don't know. Maybe y'all have talked about that.

But and it doesn't have to be a ton of money, it's just whatever you decide. But um, I'm probably going to do something that's representative of that, because I think that feels right. And and that starts the generosity muscle for the rest of your life, you're going to be generous because you're going to. You know, you're, you're set, you don't have any trouble now.

And um, and then I'm going to have a chunk invested. I'll sit down with a SmartVestor Pro and start learning about investments. Click that on ramseysolutions.com. Click on SmartVestor Pro and they'll help you start to learn about some mutual funds and some. I'd place the the majority of this money in investments, and I would have some. I would just enjoy and not feel guilty about that at all. It's.

Uh, that's what he would want, it's what is normal and healthy. Um, and it's it's, uh, it's awkward, but everything's a little awkward right now.

You do whatever you want to do, but do enjoy a segment of it. Give a percentage after the house is paid off, and I'll put this percentage to enjoyment, I'll put this percentage in investments, and I'm going to put this percentage towards generosity. And and then that'll set you free to start taking action on each of those three buckets. We're going to start your investments, start your generosity and plan some enjoyment.

And um, and you need some enjoyment, it'll be good for you. So sorry, April. Wow, what a devastating thing.

This is the Ramsey show.

Rachel Cruz Ramsey Personality is my co-host today, guys, we are.

We'll teach them how to be crazy, We teach crazy, right? We know how to do it, so we want you to come. This is the ultimate motivator.

Bring your friend who thinks you're nuts. Because we'll by the end of the day, we'll have them completely convinced. It's what we do, and we can show you how to win and give you a step-by-step plan. You're going to leave here jazzed, wired up and fired up and ready to go, man. So do not wait to get your tickets. Our Platinum Plus tickets are sold out.

You can still get Platinum or VIP, but there's just a couple of those left. And the general admission is also going fast. So ease anxiety, learn to invest, learn to become wealthy, learn how to get out of debt, and learn how to work with your spouse and your kids. Oh, it's everything. A total money makeover weekend here. Come to Ramsaysolutions.com slash events.

Come join us just south of Franklin, Tennessee. We would love to have you for that weekend. It's going to be really exciting. We have a blast doing these. I was going over some of the materials this morning.

You guys are, you guys are going to be blessed. We're just so glad you're coming. thanks for hanging out with us all right?

Nicholas is in West Palm Beach. Hi Nicholas, how are you? Hi, I'm good. How are you better than I deserve?

How can I help?

Not a ton, not if you don't have all of the horses now, yeah, and most of the owners have the equipment too. And now that the equipment's provided by the trainer, everything, the feed and everything's provided by the trainer, yeah, okay.

You don't, you're not a horse. No, I'm a business expert.

Have you just have you just run some numbers? Realistically? yes.

Maximum. I started this business on a card table in my living room. I didn't have spit, I didn't have anything, except just nobody would tell, nobody could tell me. No, that's all I had.

I wouldn't be denied, yes, but you do not you. You do not create all these false barriers in your head to go do your dream so you are already a trainer.

The first thing you need to do is start getting some clients that you didn't, that you didn't steal from your employer, and that you do start doing. Five on the side, two on the side, three on the side, and you go over there and you work and whatever money you make, you set over in a little account. So if you need to buy a few pieces of tack here and there, you can pick up a saddle. You can pick up a piece of equipment or whatever, but it's not a lot of money. Man, the secret sauce in this business is you, it's not. You needed some 40, 000 piece of equipment. You're the horse trainer, you're the man.

You're, you're the it, you're the the sauce on the on the Big mac dude.

But dude, you don't have to have money set aside for payroll, you're it, you keep working the full-time job. You go get the horse bill and listen, when you're little, here's what you do. You walk up to the owner and you go, I'm little, what?

I'm not your bank, you gotta pay me today. Yes, you gotta pay me on the barrel head, man. I need to be paid in money at the end of the week because I'm little.

I'm not your bank, that's okay, there's nothing wrong with being little, nothing wrong. That's how I started. Yeah, I didn't have terms.

We didn't bill anybody. You, if you wanted to get counseling from me, when I started, you paid before we sat down, then I would do counseling. And because I, there's no way I'm gonna bill you. And hope broke people pay their bill. No, we're not doing that.

How do you, how do you build? how do you charge broke people for doing counseling up front? That's how you do it, you know? And so I mean, this is what you, this is when you're little, this is how you think, and it takes a level of humility.