Are You Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired!

as we answer your questions about your life and your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. you jump in, we'll talk. Tayshia is with us to start this hour. she's in Columbus.

Hi, Tayshia, what's up? Hi, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's going on in?

Good for you. How long has it been since you've?

kid? The way to go.

What do you make?

So this is a thing. with one job I make $27.. So I work three different jobs. I work two full-time jobs, one part-time. About a year, I am averaging about $90,000 a year, but I don't really see any of it because of how much I'm in and how much my spending was out of control.

Yeah, first the spending. yeah. How much debt have you got?

So when I went to go try to file for bankruptcy, it was about $30,000.

. Did you file for bankruptcy? No, I didn't, because they told me I didn't qualify.

So how much is it all student loans? Most of it was. I have small credit cards that are like $600 and then. You.

Well, no, it's still there. Okay, so it is. then. It is. Yeah.

So we.

I have about $15,000 in student loans. I have a car note which I have left, about $6,000, and then the rest of it is just credit cards that I messed up when I was younger. You 27?.

I'm 33.

. 33..

Well, so you're ready to go. You're ready to try new stuff because you're sick and tired of being sick and tired. Am I right? Yes. I'm proud of you.

Good work. All right. so here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna put you into Financial Peace University, which is our nine-week class. I'm gonna pay for it, because you're why I do this.

People that are like you. The first time in your whole life, adult life, you're not doing overdraft because we taught you something and now we're gonna teach you how to get rid of this debt and we're gonna teach you how to control this $90,000 and I'm gonna teach you how to be a millionaire. Would that be okay?

I've never even saved, ever saved, $3,000 in my life. I literally have an account now that I get money transferred to and I don't need to look at that account until, like payday comes and I just check to make sure whatever money I have, the percentage is put there.

That's where we're gonna go, okay? Okay. So, with the Financial Peace University, there's a thing called the EveryDollar budgeting app that we're also gonna hook you up with. We're gonna pay for all of it, and that's where you're gonna give every one of your dollars a name before the month begins and you're gonna make your, you're gonna tell your money what to do instead of wondering where it went for the first time in your life. and then we're gonna start working our way through these debts and we're gonna list the debts smallest to largest and making $90,000.

if you will stay out of restaurants and not go on vacation because you ain't scared to work. You know how to work. I don't have to teach you that one. You got that going on. So you're gonna make $90,000..

We're gonna use $30,000 of it and in one year from right now, you're gonna be a hundred percent debt-free for the first time in your adult life. Are you ready? Yes. All right. You can do it.

You can do it because $90,000 minus $30,000 is $60,000.

. You can live on $60,000 once you get your crap together.

Right? Yes, I can. Okay. So we'll get the car paid off, cut up the credit cards. We're gonna get rid of those.

We're gonna get rid of Sally Mae. You don't need a roommate named Sally Mae. She's an ugly woman. We don't want her in your house. All right?

Okay. You're gonna make every dollar behave. You're gonna be thinking about every dollar before it comes and where it's gonna go, and it's gonna be on task and on goal, because Tayshia is not gonna be the same woman one year from today that she was four months ago.

Okay?

Okay. And the other thing is, John and I are here and anytime you need us while you're working on this, you just call back and we'll talk about whatever it is you're dealing with. Okay? Okay. All right.

You think you can do it? I think you can do it. Yes, I can. I'm.

Is that fair? Okay, it's fair. Yeah. How many.

Majority is like my mom, friends who ask.

I'm very much a loner and if they don't give it back, I'll just say whatever. But sometimes I don't understand, like, when I loan them money, I'm loaning something that I don't even have my own. I know. I can tell that's who you.

Yeah, but the answer is no. You're, listen, only the strong can help the weak, and you're broke. You need to quit, helping other broke people. Okay. Yeah.

You gotta tell them, just say, no, I'm broke. Because you're broke. You got $30,000 in debt. You're broke. You're living on overdraft because you're helping other people.

You're broke. So the answer, you're telling the truth. I can't help you. I'm broke. That's the answer all the time.

No, I can't. I'm broke. I'm working on not being broke, and you can too. I'll show you how, but I'm working it. I'm not gonna do this.

No. No is a complete sentence, Tayshia. You can use it on everyone, loved ones, and otherwise. Get them. Hold on.

Austin will pick up. We'll get you signed up for all that. You call us when you need help. This is the Ramsey Show.

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Dr. John DeLoney, number one best-selling author, host of the Dr. John DeLoney Show. Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Yesterday, we launched Dave Ramsey's Investing Essentials for sale.

on May 21st and 22nd. I'm going to be doing a two-night event, two hours each night, virtually, and so you can watch it from the comfort of your little home or your big home, or wherever it is. you want to watch it. And we're going to walk through what I do with investing. This is stuff I've never done before, not in detail and length like this.

These are things that I've never done an event on it. I've shared this with wealthy people that I am coaching and I've got lots of friends that are, you know, net worth of a hundred million or five hundred million or a billion or whatever, and, you know, we talk about what they're doing. We share ideas back and forth. So what do you do? So we're going to talk about it.

We're going to talk about what works, what doesn't, and why. And what. I open up my playbook, my real estate. I buy a lot of real estate. How do I do that?

How do I analyze a piece of real estate? Under what situations do I buy real estate? Do I do cryptocurrency? A young man asked me that at the break and that kind of thing. So we get into every bit of that.

Y'all know, I don't do cryptocurrency. That's already a given. So we're going to talk about the basics for a few minutes and get stuff like your 401k settled and that kind of thing. And then we're going to get into my personal strategies on extended investing things. A lot of people got a lot of opinions about investing.

I actually do it. It's not just a theory. That's the difference. And it's got a lot, it's got some zeros on it. So we're going to help you.

Go to RamseySolutions.

com slash events. Tickets are $199.. May 21-22, Dave Ramsey's Investing Essentials. George Campbell is going to come along with me. Also, there's going to be a format where you guys can actually submit live questions while we go along.

And I'll stop and interject and, you know, keep that moving. Keep a little bit of a conversation going, if you will, as part of it. It's not just going to be me yakking at a camera the whole time. So, looking forward to that. It's going to be good.

Greg is in Boston. Hey Greg, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hey Dave, hey John.

We have about $5,000 left on a credit card debt of $20,000.

. We've spent the last few years putting that together and being more financially savvy. We've been paying about $1,000 a month for the last year, and we've been doing so just to chip away at it. Our household income is about $200,000 between my base and my commission and my wife's salary, and we have two paid-for cars and no other debt. Now.

I had a good quarter last year. We received about $12,000, but we just had our second baby a month ago. And we have all these medical bills that are piling up, and my question is... All these medical bills? You don't have insurance?

We do. We have a... So how much medical bills you got for a baby?

So there's a long story to that. My wife didn't have insurance for that time. We had to deal with this whole appeal process, but the end result is that we got her back on my insurance, and our total deductible is $3,200 a month. I'm sorry, total is $3,200, and we have a $6,800 out-of-pocket maximum. Now we hit our deductible because of the labor and delivery, and the question is now, do I just pay off the debt that I've accumulated with my commission?

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You have... I thought.

Well, we haven't paid our deductible yet, because the medical bills have piled up to the point of hitting our deductible. Oh, okay. We haven't.

How much is your commission check, dude?

It was about $12,000 for the.

. Write a check and pay it all off instantly. Why would you screw around with a small amount of?

Right. Nothing? Nothing. Pay it. Cut up the stupid credit cards and stop screwing around with these people.

Man, you make way too much money. It's not $320,000.. It's $3,200.. And you just told me it's piling up. See what it's doing to you?

Yeah. Even your language says this is stressing you out, and I'm setting you.

Do you have an emergency fund? No, that's the problem. I wanted to use that money.

You don't have any kind of a budget or spending plan that you and your wife are in agreed on, and so you're throwing money into chaos, and you're wondering why it's creating more chaos. You need to do your written game plan, and you will get peace from that. You will never get peace from stacking cash in chaos. Okay. And you need to write a check.

And we know that because teachers become millionaires over time. The peace is going to come from the plan, and then living out that plan. Yeah, laying out a detailed.

Yeah. But your words are indicating.

And the drama is, we don't have a plan. We're out of control. And so I can't see my way to taking care of the pump if it goes out, even though I'm bringing home $11,000 a month. And so yeah, you're going to be okay, but you're going to get on a game plan. Get the Every Dollar Budget app and get started with your spouse tonight.

And write a check out of this and be debt-free tonight. And make this the first month of your life that you tell your money what to do, instead of wondering where it went. This is the reason people have too much month left. at the end of the money. No one sits down and says, I have a plan to be broke.

No one plans to be deeply in debt and owe Sally Mae for 20 years. No one plans to have MasterCard be their master, or American Distress be their sister. No one plans for that. No one intentionally says, hey, let's go deeply.

How often do you hear people, an undercurrent I heard in that call was, he had a plan for that quote, unquote bonus money he's going to get. And now it's got to go to paying off a credit card. And it feels like he lost, in addition to paying that debt, it feels like he lost that $12,000 because for the last quarter, he's been waiting to get that bonus so he could go buy a boat or a car or whatever. And it feels almost like a double whammy.

It's that, come on, man. Come on, man. Yeah.

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When their children met with the insurance company, they found out my oldest son and I were named as beneficiaries. I think this may have been an oversight, because the children were minors when they got the policy. They still will get an IRA, a house, a car, etc. The kids are pressuring me to sign over their money. It would help to hear from someone not close to the situation.

What should I do?

Well, I think you need to make a decision of. was this an oversight. If it was left to you to take care of them when they were minors and they're no longer minors and he just hadn't been diligent with his estate plan and fixed his beneficiaries, then you are saying you accidentally did get money that was intended for them. If that's the case, I would give it to them.

On the other hand, that's what it sounds like, but if there's another scenario that's like, okay, he wanted to leave us some money and he used the policy to do that and he very clearly intended to do that. and they just feel like they're entitled to it just because it was their dad and mom, but dad and mom had a very clear intent to leave it to us, then they're just up a creek. You're not entitled to anything because you're kin. It's not their money. But if you truly do believe what you said, that you think it's an oversight, then on a moral basis, I'd give it to.

maybe these kids are hurt and obviously they've been through a lot the last few years, but if they're running to their aunt saying, give us our money, maybe there was some anticipated immaturity and we want you to do what's right with this money, that's best.

Legally, you can keep the money. It's not their money. Legally, it's your money. Period. No question.

Nobody's going to argue that. No court's even going to look at this. They'll dismiss it in 30 seconds. Okay. It's your money.

It's in your hands. If you think that that was a mistake, it was an envelope mailed to the wrong address and you do feel like it's rightfully theirs, then I would give it to them.

Just would. That's what I would do in that situation. you're asking. Again, though, if you, on John's point, option three is. the parents felt like the kids were too immature to handle this money.

And we don't even know how much it is. You didn't tell us. Life insurance money. So I'm guessing it's north of a hundred grand, but mom and the parents left it to you because they thought the kids are going to mess it up. They should have left it into a trust instead, but they didn't.

They left it to you and left you in an awkward position. Then you can handle it like you think they want it handled, which would be to dole it out slowly to the kids, like they might've done if it was left in a trust. That's a good point, John. Could do that.

Let's see here. I think this might have been an oversight because the children were minors when they took out the policy. That's what I'm going on.

I'm just thinking out loud here, but maybe I might say no for tuition. Yeah. But not for your.

It's not, you're not in control here. I'm in control. It's in my control to do whatever, but you can decide what was the, what I would go with is what your brother-in-law and your sister's intent was. If you think you, if you think you can anticipate that, was it to you, was it to take care of this and manage it for these immature adults? Or was it to, was it just, they screwed up and never made the beneficiary change.

That's simple.

And I don't know, I can't, you said in your email that you thought it was an oversight. And so that's what I'm going on. So, guys, this, this is why you go to momadatbarelegalforms.com and you get a will. And, by the way, when you die, the state that you're living in will do the probate, not the last state you lived in when you did your will at the other state. So when you move to a different state, when you go through a major life change, you need to update your will.

When the kids grow up, you need to update your life insurance policy and change the beneficiary. And you got to keep up with this stuff. And so, you know, this is what rich people do. They take care of the money, so the lawyers don't get it in some argument about something because they take care of business. And so I'm sad for the loss of your brother-in-law and your sister.

I'm sorry for that. But their job was to not have this mess. Your job is not have this mess, people. Your job is to get a will in the state that you live in, in the family situation that you're in. So as soon as your spouse passes away, you need a new will in the state that you live in.

As soon as you move or you get a divorce or the kids grow up, you know, we had one set of estate plan before, when our kids were minors. When they were no longer minors, we changed the estate plan and had a new will done. And so go to Mama Bear Legal Forms, go to your state planning attorney and get this stuff done. This is how families end up not speaking to each other. My aunt ripped me off.

She took all that money that Mama gave accidentally because Mama didn't fix it. And a bunch of freaking rednecks, you know. I can hear it now. I've grown up with them my whole life, you know. And shut up.

It's just white trash. Shut up. Don't be arguing about money. Love your family. Take care of your family.

And if you're going to cut somebody out of the will, tell them while you're alive, let them be pissed off at you while you're walking the earth. Don't leave it on somebody else to get pissed off at. So, you know, mad at my aunt, because she didn't, she executed the will exactly as it was supposed to be executed and was written. And she's the executor of the estate, which, by the way, means execute. That's what it means.

You have to do what the will says. And the will says you didn't get any money. So you're mad at your aunt. That's dumb. You can be mad at your mama is what you need to be mad at.

She's dead, but she's the one who screwed you out, not your aunt. Your aunt has to do exactly the way it is. So you folks, if you're going to do that stuff, do it while you're alive. We have a full-on estate planning meeting that goes two hours every year. Basically, if Dave dies this year, this is what it looks like.

It's all laid out for the whole company, leadership, publicity plan, traffic control, everything. It's all discussed. It's ridiculous, because I love my family so much that I don't want them, in a situation like that, to have to deal with crap that I was supposed to deal with when I was alive. That's called doing a will. Did I get fired up about that?

No, I'm kind of waiting to.

We did a will there.

It's not going to do my whole estate plan, but I had to have something on paper that is valid in that state because I'm a responsible.

It's French-based. California is way different. It's granola-based. I'm telling you, the laws in these states are dramatically different. You need to do a will in the state you live in right now.

This is the Ramsey Show.

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Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Joseph is in Greenville, South Carolina. Hey Joseph, what's up? Hey Dave, how are you doing today?

Better than I deserve.

Just a little background. Back in 2015,, I was in a terrific car accident where I sustained a severe traumatic brain injury. For four years after that, I underwent many surgeries, one of them being one of the world's most dangerous surgeries, the craniotomy, which required the removal of half my skull for several months. I had that done a total of three times. So life hit me hard out of nowhere.

So the question is, and today I'm doing, and I just want to say I'm not your typical severe TBI survivor. I'm very blessed today. I have a beautiful family, two daughters, beautiful wife, and a job and a house. So I'm very blessed today. But the question I have for you is, how do I embrace the present moment to its fullest potential, while also ensuring that I prepare for my future?

Being as someone that knows how finite life can be, how quickly it can end, I just don't want to put myself in a place where I'm so focused on saving for the future to one I might not have, if that makes sense. Yeah, but it sounds like you've.

I've been tackling debt, but I want to make sure that when I have vacation time, I go on the vacations, I want to make sure I enjoy the money I have now, but I also want to be saving it for the future, for my kids.

We had the opportunity, for the first time ever in our family's history, to do an out of the country, all four of us and my wife and the two kids went, and it was a magical trip, and it was pretty cool, and we did that last year. If you were to ask my two kids what their favorite trips, what's your favorite vacations? They would name that one, and they both would point back to this time. we caught the giant catfish. What they don't know is the giant catfish was at a KOA, and we put a line out over water, I mean overnight, and we got up and fought that blast, and then we ate the catfish.

It was a whole thing that we did together. My point is, it didn't cost any money. And so it's this idea that, YOLO, it has to be shiny, and we have to get on jets and go across the world versus the most precious resource you got is time.

Yeah, you got to have a plan.

So, but would I work overtime, even in your situation, where you've had this tremendous?

drama that you've been through, this legitimate, that makes you value every precious moment? And I get that. That's a clear perspective, right? And so what does that do? And it's like going to one of my good friends' funeral the other day.

It's like one of the pastors said, it's a tuning fork. Funerals and births are a tuning fork that causes us to reset our lives and be very careful with what we're doing and thoughtful about what we're doing, instead of just wasting away our lives. And that's what this event did for you. And that's what you're bringing up. And that's very wise.

That's a positive result from the horrible thing you went through. So I'm aligned with you on all of that. But, you know, when we say live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else, it's a sprint so that you can get in the rhythm of a marathon. And the sprint is the only thing that's in question. And so, you know, you got 18 months to get out of debt and you're going to work like a crazy man overtime, and you're going to pile up some savings, get your emergency fund in place.

But I don't want you doing that for 18 years.

Can I flip it around, Joseph? Few people.

And you and I have both accepted a responsibility as providers for our family, that we're going to put them in the best possible situation, not if, but when we go. Dave has too. And so, you know, if I'm in debt, if I'm behind, I'm going to work with all I can to get caught up so that I leave my family in the best possible position too. Yeah. So what I would do, what I would do, is say,

About 10,000.

. Okay. So you have $11,000 to be debt free, other than the house. That's what we call baby step two.

About 70 to 80,000 a year, depending on if I'm wanting to put in the grind for overtime. Yeah. Okay. All right. So I'd put in the grind.

Part of our budget is life. And you just start segmenting that out and you can do all that. But I would go on a short sprint here and knock that car out and that credit card. That's an example. And then, here's the thing.

If you lay it all out, you can save for long-term, you can save for college and save for Christmas and save for a trip, all in the same budget. There's, there's room in your budget to do that with what you just described, but you're gonna have to be very intentional about it and very careful. And you might look up and go, oh, we need to buy a mom, a different car. So I'm going to go work overtime for a month and save up that little bit extra and knock that car out. You can do that.

You can, but it's a come and go thing. It's, I never have in my life personally or subscribe, prescribed for someone else, the idea that you work 80 hours a week your whole life. But I've worked a lot of 80 hour weeks in my life. And I'm not a bit ashamed of that. My children are not in counseling because of that.

I didn't miss out on their childhood because of that. None of that crap. Okay. It's a bunch of whining. And so, but I have worked some 80 hour weeks.

I also have done went periods of time where I don't do anything. And so I just got back off the longest vacation of my life. I've never done that before. And so I'm not opposed to that, but you know, the point is this stuff is ebb and flow. The problem people have, John, not Joseph, but other people on this whole subject.

And we'll just finish that up is that they, that they're never where they are. That's exactly right. They're at work and they got one. they're halfway at work, not paying attention. And if they're operating powerful machinery, they're a danger, because they're thinking about, they ought to be at home.

And then, when they're at home, they're thinking about, they ought to be at work. And then, when they're on vacation, they're thinking about, they ought to be at home at work instead of like, Hey, why don't you be where you is? Turn your stupid phone off, throw it in a basket or the lake, one of the two and be where you is. And then you start to get.

Move on to the next thing. It's called being an adult. Yeah. Back it off. But it's an ebb and flow.

The tide comes in, the tide goes out. This is not a still lake where the levels never change. This is the Ramsey show. live from the headquarters of Ramsey solutions. It's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create actual, amazing relationships.

Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. We're glad you're with us. Dr. John is a number one bestselling, author and host of the Dr.

John Deloney show, where they talk about relationships and all kinds of mental health issues. Yeah. A lot of fun. Very entertaining. It's on the Ramsey networks and you can watch it on YouTube as well as pick it up.

where any podcast is sold. Open phones at 888-825-5225.. And you people know the podcasts are not sold. All right, let's go to Heather in Indianapolis. Hi, Heather.

Welcome.

My husband and I are debt free, except our house. And I'm wondering how much we should have in our emergency fund. I'm a stay at home mom and my husband gets paid about half of his annual income in one bonus check. So we save a large chunk of that to be put towards the next year's big expenses, like the property taxes, home and auto insurance and medical, because his monthly take home doesn't leave a lot of room for those. So would you still recommend having an additional six months of?

What you're doing is you're just planning your cash flow. I've got to pay property taxes. There should not be an emergency. You know, it's coming. Christmas should not be an emergency.

It's always in December. They don't move it, you know. And so you plan for those things. Emergencies are not things you plan for. They're called emergencies and they're unexpected events.

The tires going out on your car is not an unexpected event. We can predict. the tires are going to go out on your car. You need a fund to be able to put tires on your car. You need a fund to pay your taxes.

In your case, you're having to manage that very carefully and have been very wise to do that because of the wild cash flow that you guys face. It's almost like you're farmers or something. You know, you get two crops a year and you got to live on those crops the other time. Right. But I mean, that's how a farmer does it.

Exactly. They get two or three times a year. They get a big check and they got to pay bills for the rest of the year with those checks. And so you got to. you got to budget it all the way out.

That's all you're doing. You're budgeting that out. That's different than emergency fund. You see what I'm saying?

We do the cash envelope system. So I just take everything out, put in envelopes and save. And I mean, it could take out about fifteen thousand each year from that check. So

Yeah, if you, if you use the every dollar app, you can use that. We have a system in there we call sinking funds, which are basically little mini savings accounts for different subjects. So you'd have a sinking fund for taxes, a sinking fund for this sinking fund for that. Then you could set it over and it's just a separate savings account. And you would.

But the reason you're doing that is you're breaking it out when you get it. You're allocating a little envelope for taxes, but the taxes aren't due for nine months or whatever. Right. And you got a little envelope for Christmas, but it's going to be, you know, another six months before Christmas or whatever. the number is.

Right. And so you're doing the envelopes just to keep it categorized. Am I correct? Yeah. Yeah.

So, yeah, you would. you could do that in every dollar, really easy, and then just put the fifteen thousand in a savings account. Now, I would keep it separate from your checking, because I don't want to accidentally spend it. That's why it's what you're doing. And the other thing is, I would keep it separate from your emergency fund, because this is not really your emergency fund.

This is just we're we have. we're setting aside the money to do something we need to do in September.

you know, you've been the whole process. It's not severely broken, but you called and asked for some help. And so all I'm doing is tuning you up a little bit. But you're really playing.

There's because we've got the marriage and money event coming up that you and Rachel do. And the tickets are on sale now, just to segue into that. But that has caused the whole subject of marriage to come up more and more and more. And all of the data that we've seen in the financial world for years has validated that that. Two spouses on the same page have a higher probability of building wealth than a single.

They also. Yeah. Or than a shacked up or than a whatever. I mean, you just call it. I mean, but but this committed marriage relationship, the data is in.

It's not. it's not a moral construct. It is a moral construct. But in addition to that, the data is in. And there's a socioeconomic proof set in the research that is showing very, very clearly.

And we found it again in the, in the millionaire research. We didn't find hardly any millionaires that did it in spite of their crazy spouse. Right. They did it with a supportive spouse, two horses pulling.

And you really, and we see it all the time. And, you know, some years ago, when I first started the show, 30 years ago, they the the sociologists would call it the marriage advantage. And there was a whole book of research that was old back then. But we've seen another round of the same type of research starting to come in because there seems to be this discussion.

And you don't even need to be married to give a child the best situation. Right. And I think the sociologists, I think everybody, the anthropologist, everybody circling back around, going, oh, maybe this having a rooted structure here that everybody can anchor into and say, come hell or high water, we're going to work hard. We're going to fight. We're going to call.

We're going to make this thing magic. We're going to make this thing work, has all sorts of.

And they live here in the community and friend their friends. And so Andy sent me a link and Sharon and I watched Unsung, and it's about small bone family, which is Rebecca St. James. Yeah. And it's exactly this.

The mom is the unsung hero in the movie. And that's the story arc is really powerful on this. And the family has gone. I mean, king and country is the boys. I mean, the family is going to be unbelievably successful, but it came out of this really hard time.

And then the mom and dad locking together and the mom doing these things. And it's, it's powerful on this exact point. So you guys, if you want to see an illustration of that, when that movie comes out, go see it, it's called Unsung. I'll give it a big plug. It's really good.

Made me cry, but I cried Applebee's commercials too. So there you go. This is the Ramsey show.

Dr. John Deloney Ramsey, personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at triple, eight, eight, two, five, five, two, two, five. Michelle's in Long Island, New York. Hi, Michelle.

How are you? Hi, I'm good. Thank you. Sure. What's up?

And another one that's 45,000.

. Okay. We address them smallest to largest.

So you're gonna do this fast. I'm trying. You know, I started your plan when, in January, we paid off 30,000 of credit cards. so far. In two months.

We're getting there. In two months we used our bonuses too. Okay. Very good. So you're on it.

You're in attack mode. Way to go, kiddo. You're doing it. You're doing it. Don't slow down.

Don't slow down. Get it, get it,

Just keep going. No,

Yeah. Yeah. Let's, let's change that by doing something that's proven. It really doesn't matter as long as we end up out of debt. But the difference is, is that people will actually do the stuff that we teach.

where his theory, people bail out. Yeah. But the bottom line is, you need about 80,000.

About two 50, right? Uh-huh. Okay. And so you need 180 and you make two 50.. So, not counting taxes.

If you lived on 71 year, you'd be debt-free in a year. So you're not going to quite do it in a year, but you ought to do it in 18 months to two years. 18 months to two years. Okay. So that's like, that's like $15,000 a month, which is actually the track you're on.

Terrible. It's going to be embarrassing. Your husband's going to be like, I make too much money to, I know, but y'all dug a big hole. You.

You came out of the gate hot. Now just put the pedal to the metal and push it through and finish it. And don't screw around with this other stuff, but you get that car gone. You'll never car payment again. The rest of your life.

This is the last time you're done. You pay it off. Then you knock out and you got a 30 and a 40 and a hundred. And then we get after them, just in that order. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

And we just keep firing away. And that hundred is going to be the hardest one. Not cause it's the biggest, but because it's the biggest. Hey, this occurred to.

And without a plan, what that allowed me to do was to dig a hole so deeper than my dad could have ever dug, because the banks wouldn't have given him that much money. And so, without a plan, you can end up making a quarter million dollars and you find yourself $180,000 in debt. So bad off. That's after paying off 30.. They were 210 in debt.

Right. Whereas if you made 85, it wouldn't even occur to you to take out that much money. Right. But since we mix, I know, I know on this show, we get people calling. I mean, student loans, are, you know, can wipe you out.

But man, it's. if you don't have a plan, doesn't matter how much money you make, you can just get more and more and more out of control and dig yourself.

Yeah. Business plan is what? I'm going to play beer pong. That's my business plan. And so, yeah, this is a genius system and we wonder why it didn't work.

. And the guy at the tattoo parlor wouldn't let me get my Limp Bizkit tattoo on my leg. And four months later, they gave me $150,000 to go to.

Lois is in Orlando. Hi Lois, how are you? Well, not too bad for an old lady.

and we're debating, would we be better just to sell them while we're alive or leave them?

Mathematically, it would be better to leave them to inherit.

because let's take one of the rental properties. What's it worth today? Just give me an example.

. Yeah. And you've depreciated it down. So your basis is probably close to zero. So if you sell it today, you're going to pay capital gains tax on $175,000..

Understand? Right. If they inherit it, their basis is the value at the time of your death. So if they inherit it, their basis is $175,000. if it happened today.

Okay. And they could sell it for $175,000 and have zero tax on it. So if you sell it, you get taxed on the whole stinking thing.

Okay. That sounds like a good plan.

Well, you did good then, didn't you? Way to go, Lois. What they want to, that's the thing.

So that's six months. Yeah. The IRS assumes that the value at time of death is the same inside of six months of death. But if they sell it six years later, they'll have to go back and figure out what the value was at the time of death, and they will pay gains on the difference in that value and six years of growth.

Somehow, mom and dad's spirit is in these houses. We got to keep them. And if you say, I don't care what you do with those houses, then let them know that upfront. That'd be such a gift to them.

And make sure you have a will,

This is the Ramsey Show. Dr.

John Deloney, Ramsey personality, is my co-host. We invite you to stop by our studios anytime here in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville, right on the interstate. Very easy to find. The cookies are homemade and they're free. The coffee is awesome and it's free.

And usually 50 to a couple of hundred folks are sitting around watching us on the glass, do the show. right now. There's a handful of folk out here and that's free. It's worth what you pay for it. But we do the show from one to four central time, Monday through Friday, every week, every single week.

And two of us are sitting here. Two of the Ramsey personalities are sitting here. I'm usually here Monday through Thursday, unless I'm doing something else, which would be like when I'm out doing speaking or doing an event somewhere. Also, in that same lobby, is where the Debt Free Scream stage is. On that stage, Ryan and Madison are here.

Welcome, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Good to have you guys. Where do you live?

We live in the middle of nowhere in Utah. In the middle of nowhere, Utah. That's an actual town. All right. And so welcome to Nashville, the Nashville area.

How much debt have you paid? We paid off $160,000.. Wow. How long did that take? It took us 39 months.

Good for you. And your range of income during that time? Started off making around $80,000 and ended up making around $140,000.. Excellent. Way to go, you guys.

What kind of debt was the $160,000?

? So $60,000 was consumer debt, $41,000 in auto loans, $15,000 in credit card debt, and about $4,000 in student loans. And then $100,000 was our mortgage. You paid off your house. Yeah.

Looking at weird people. How old are you weird people? I just turned 30.. And I just turned 26.. And you have a paid-for house.

That's so strange. What's the house worth? It's worth about $225,000.. How does that feel? You guys are amazing.

You're heroes. You're so weird. I mean, none of your friends have done it. No. You're just strange.

I mean, it's a wonderful, weird, but way to go, y'all. Thank you. Wow. One in the world. What kind of hold did you 39 months ago?

When did you get married? We got married on September 11th in 2020.. Okay. So you immediately started this then, basically. Oh, yeah.

Almost. Well, yeah. Not long after. So I actually- Got a COVID wedding. Yep.

Pretty much. Yep. Kind of a long story. But we got married about 60 days or so after we met. There were circumstances that kind of sped up the process.

She was pregnant. And I realized that I love this woman, and I was ready to marry her. And then I needed to step up right away. And I had already started my debt-free journey. Good for you.

And I was working three jobs at the time, trying to save up and stash cash for my baby. And I had paid off about 10 grand of my own debt and saved an additional 10 grand. So I came to the marriage, debt-free. I've seen your face on my bookshelf for the past 15 years of my life. My dad started his debt-free journey when your book first came out.

So, yeah. So you're a financial peace baby. Yep. And then you guys get married, or you're getting married. You're planning to start this life with this baby on the way, the whole thing.

And you go, okay, game on. We're doing this exactly to the T. Is that how it happened? I mean, what happened? Yeah, kind of.

He came to me and said, do you know Dave Ramsey? And I was like, oh, man. God, there's another one. First dad, now him. So he sounded just like my dad.

And from then on, it was just, he had told me that he had just started his journey. And so I said, I'll support you and do whatever you need me to do. And we kind of just kicked it off from there. And about halfway through the journey, he said, why don't we pay off the house? And I was like, okay, we can do that.

So we did, we started paying it down and finished it faster than we thought, right? Yeah, faster than expected.

I'm gonna take care of this baby. And not only am I going to do that just in name and certificate, but you, freaking, went to work. And that's what changing legacy looks like, my brother. So it's an honor to get to talk to you and see your face and shake your hand here in a minute. That's amazing.

I just happened to be reading that and I couldn't believe it. It was such a, it was an embarrassment for men. And you're the opposite of that. Good on you.

I think our biggest thing was just making sure that we were on the same page and being able to say no. Self-control is a huge thing when it comes to getting out of debt. What was the hardest thing? you said no to?

Probably fast food.

That's my love language.

I can't think of a biggest disagreement.

I borrowed $300 from my little brother for a down payment to a house, and y'all are debt free.

Good for you, man.

Well done. So proud of you. Who was cheering you on? Dad had to be. Yeah, my dad was definitely also the voice of reason too.

If we called him and had a question of like, hey, should we do this? He's like, yeah. Yeah, you should. Or no, no, you shouldn't. And it was awesome.

His parents were really cheering us on, and we had friends who were like, how did you do that? And we'd show them, and they're like, I don't want to read a book.

We had a lot of awesome supporters. That's good. That's good. Way to go, you guys. Hey, we've got the one-year subscriptions to every dollar, a couple of them, one for you guys and one for you to give away.

So you'll be able to make sure you keep your budget going, because you're heading towards millionaire, for sure. And we want you to hit that Baby Steps millionaire level pretty quick. here. You're on your way real, real fast. And you brought the kiddos.

Now there's two? There are two, yes. All right. What are the names and ages? So Grayson, he is three.

And Colton, he will be two in a couple of weeks. Way to go. Some good looking guys there to go in the mix. Excellent stuff. Very well done.

I'm proud of you guys. Way to go. Way to go. Man, so whack. Not even 30 years old, paid for houses, paid for everything.

$160,000 paid off, house and everything, and they're not even 30.

. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

Absolutely amazing.

So I was doing an interview with NPR this morning, and the lady was asking me the question 63 different times, different ways, how it is possible for young people in our world today, with real estate prices being what they are, to survive.

I think we just explained it. This is the Ramsey Show.

Hey guys, are you ready for the secret to help you reach those money goals that you've been dreaming about? It's simple. You got to get on a budget. With our budgeting app, EveryDollar, you'll get intentional with your money and build the habits that will make those dreams a reality. And we'll be with you every step of the way, from your first budget to that retirement home on the beach.

Download EveryDollar for free on the App Store or Google Play. Remember, today, download EveryDollar for free on the App Store or Google Play today.

Thank you for joining us, America. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, host of the Dr. John Deloney Show, where you can hear all about boundaries and relationships and mental health issues. like you never have any other way.

I can tell you that. It's a blast, and you learn a lot. And I do. I love listening to it. And people are just plain entertaining.

I can tell you that. So check him out. It's all on the Ramsey Networks, anywhere great podcasts are heard, and certainly on the YouTube show as well. So anywhere you are. By the way, if you're listening to this show, we thank you for that, and we can use your help.

If you would subscribe or follow, or whatever it is on your type of podcast or YouTube, that would help us immensely. The numbers change dramatically when you do that, because the different algorithms spit the show out in the face of people that need it that way. And when you don't subscribe and don't follow, we don't get that. And when you leave a five-star review, we get that. And when you share the show, some of the different platforms have a share button where you can simply share it, or a way to just do a drop down and share it or click the link and send it to a friend.

Or, if you listen on talk radio, thank you for that. Tell your friend where you're listening. Share this show. You are our marketing plan. When you do that, it makes a huge difference.

Last week, we were number two and number three in all of Apple podcasts. There's about two million of them. And Joe Rogan was sitting there at number one. NPR was in there at number two or three. We were in there at number two or three.

And that's because of you guys sharing and telling people about it. Thank you very much. We appreciate you. It's really important because we don't have a stadium named after us. Like somebody or somebody like that, right?

Excuse me. I got an allergy. But all right. Steve's in Salt Lake City. Hey, Steve, what's up?

My wife homeschools our kids at home. We've not taken a vacation in probably eight or nine years. And recently, we just got done doing a big home renovation, spent about $50,000 out of pocket, cash flowing that. And the last little probably $15,000 or so, we had to take out of our six-month fund to finish the project. But of course, it always ends up going more expensive than you thought.

So my question is, first of all, we have a kid about to go off to college. In about four months, or whatever it's going to be. And we want to take that vacation before he is obviously gone. I've only saved up about $1,500 for a vacation over the past few months or so. Obviously, that's not going to get it done to take a family of nine on a vacation.

We probably need $6,000 or so for that vacation. My question is, do we pause on rebuilding that six-month fund, back up to about $60,000 and put it for the vacation? Or get that full six months back in the fund and then focus on a vacation?

I mean, you completely rationalized spending all of your vacation money and some of your emergency fund on the renovation. And so you chose not to go on vacation when you did that.

It's not like somehow somebody stole something from you and you put the money on one thing and now you don't have it to do the other thing. That's how it works, right? Yep. Correct. And having nine kids and no emergency fund or a limited emergency fund, dude, you're asking for trouble.

Okay. That's so scary. I'm scared for you. I don't care. It doesn't matter to me.

You're the one with the nine kids. I don't have to feed them. You do. But I'm scared for you. Okay.

And I want you to get to do the things you want to do. I'd love for you to go do that. You can do whatever you want to do. Y'all are adults. You can make these choices.

You've been making choices. But I want you to realize that when you're choosing one thing with money, you're choosing not to do several other things.

And we got to, everybody's got to come do this thing. And it is.

It's the last spring break. We got to do this thing. And so I would invite the kids into a room and say, we have this much money. Let's get as creative as possible. We're going to make our own snacks.

We're going to go to a KOA. We're going to have a blast. But this is the money we got. And I promise, if you do it right, the kids will have a great time. Now, whether you go and feel guilty because it's not in Cabo or something, that's on you.

But you chose to spend that Cabo money on a renovation or on a house. But bring the kids along, man. And let's try to get as creative as possible and let them be a part of the planning. And so we can come up with.

Yeah.

And we're going to, we're going to go through them all again, man.

. I can tell you that.

It's one of those cultural, they're just gone. And I think, nope, if your intention on you build relationships and you're somebody, they want to be around.

So, you know, if I don't know how great grandkids are going to be, I'd have been nicer to their parents, but you know, that, that's a different thing. So, but I'm, I'm loving this stage. Right. I'm loving the other stage and I've loved every stage. I don't, yeah, it's, um, so embrace the toddlerhood, embrace the teenage years, embrace.

This is the Ramsey show. live from the headquarters of Ramsey solutions. It's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create actual, amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, number one, bestselling, author and host of the Dr.

John Deloney show, where you can get help with any area of your life. He's my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225.. Linda is with us in Cincinnati. Hi, Linda.

How can we help?

I really don't know how to confront him about it. And I guess I need to know what my next steps after I would do that would be.

The quantity of that was $7,774.

We bought a home in 2000, and we ended up refinancing it in the 2012,, and we were able to get that caught up. He was upset, but this time, the quantity is much more.

Unfortunately, I met a—well, fortunately, I met one of your preferred coaches back in 2017, and I wanted to get finances in order, not live paycheck to paycheck, and at the time, I didn't have any credit card bills. I just had a few loans, and I feel like my husband has neglected some of the emotional support that he should give, and so the coaches said, you know, you need to be a team. Your husband should come, and my husband did go one time, and during that time, you know, we talked about our situation. He didn't show a lot of emotion. I cried and begged for him to take over the money, and so the next time I met the coach, he said he could tell that my husband wasn't totally involved, and we continued to meet for less than a year, and I felt like I could maybe do it on my own, and so here we are.

$27,000 of it is like little personal loans, but they're terrible. High interest rates and stuff.

It wasn't like you went and bought something for yourself on the side while he's completely running the household budget over here, and you just lied to him about a credit card. You're running the household, and you're not doing a good job, and that got you guys into debt. He just doesn't know about that. Am I correct, or am I missing something?

. Okay.

. I mean, it's like $7,407.72,, but I'm just kind of giving you the rough.

Massive.

Now you're eight and a half X that, or eight X that, eight times that much. I recommend you get either a couple or a pastor, somebody that you trust to be a part of this conversation, because it may be combustible. Are you going to be safe? Is he going to overreact? Is he going to yell and scream?

Is he going to hit you? Is he going to run out of the house? What do you think his reaction is going to be?

And I do fear, emotionally more than anything, the rejection. I think I could take better if somebody punched me.

He doesn't beat up on me or anything.

Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host. So, John, we wanted to let her off the hook because she had so much weight there, and we'll help her offline a bunch of different ways. Come clean with a $61,000 that she hadn't told her husband about. that is really derived from her being saddled with managing all the money by herself and doing it poorly.

And too ashamed to say I'm not doing it for the money, I'm doing it well, and I can't do it by myself. I asked you to help, but you didn't. And then, instead of bringing that forward, she just wallows in it, and it spirals and gets worse. So 100% of that is a marriage issue, not a money issue. Right.

And so, I don't know, let's kind of reverse engineer that a little bit. If somebody's in the earlier stages of something like that, what, okay, like the first, okay, she took him to the financial counselor, and he was disinterested but sat there. Then he continues to just basically dump the entire responsibility of the household finances on her, with no emotional help or help of any kind. As a matter of fact, quite the opposite, a cloud looming over. If you screw this up, I'm going to be mad and reject you.

So what should she do and where? If someone's facing something similar, where, in that storyline, should the direction change in how she's handling this?

And we see this happen a lot with my friends who work as personal trainers. Like both couple, the couple comes in, they're both going to get in shape. One's like, I'm not doing that. So now you've got a choice. Are you going to poison yourself because it's easier?

Because it's, it basically, she chose over a period of time, I'm going to cash in my integrity. I'm going to cash in my, I'm not going to seek extra help. I'm not going to raise the flag here because he's not helping. Right. And at some point, when somebody, when you're, when your person, you're married to cashes out, you have to make a choice to, I'm not going to further dig a hole and punish myself.

I'm not going to live a more miserable life because you're not participating. I'm not going to take misery plus misery here. And so I'm going to control the only thing on earth I can control, which are my thoughts and my actions. And I'm going to do the best I can with what I got. And if you're not going to help me, then I'm going to get a coach to walk alongside me for the entire duration of this thing.