Don't Cheat Tomorrow for Today's Whims

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show, where we help you win, folks, in your life. We do that by helping you win with your money, in your work, and in your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the number to jump in. We'd love to help you today. 888-825-5225..

I love all the adjectives. There it is. Yeah, I like it.

I also like helping people out. You ready to go?

Let's do this. All right.

We're going to take your money questions. Rachel's going to be your money expert today. We'll take any work-related, big or shovel questions. I'll help out on that. She always weighs in on anything I say, so it's going to be fun, I promise.

Hey. Thanks for taking my call. My question is, I work as a traveling nurse right now. In traveling, I make probably around $120,000 a year, if you average it up, working full-time, not taking too much time off between contracts. I would like to, I'm single right now, I'd really like to settle down and have a family, have children.

How intense is the traveling? How much does it affect you?

I mean, I like traveling. I enjoy traveling. I make friends really easily. I guess I just, I don't know, I'm getting to that point in my life where, yeah, I don't.

know how long the-. You just want some more stability. Yeah, I get that. Yeah, in a sense, yeah.

Well, the reason I asked that, Kisa, is because I'm curious how much you would make less, because you're making 120 as a travel nurse. How much less would you make if you played out the scenario you asked us about, and now you take a staff position? What would that pay look like?

It depends on where you live. I'm from Arkansas, and so I would think, probably if I was to be core staff in a hospital in Arkansas, I'd probably make, I'm guessing, like $60,000 a year.

I'm curious to know what Rachel thinks, but I'll jump in really fast and say, just from a professional and financial standpoint, if the travel nurse is not affecting your ability to date, and I hear you want to settle down, it makes total sense. But I also didn't hear a person who feels like their soul is sucked out of their body because of the traveling. You're like, I like the travel. I just want to settle down. I want to have my house.

Yeah. How old are you?

Can I ask? I'm 29..

29.. Okay.

Yeah.

I mean, I think, if you're still enjoying the travel nursing, I mean, I would keep doing what you're enjoying. Because you're going to... And after the debt's paid off, like Ken said, and yes, if you have that emergency fund, I feel like that frees up even more options for you. So I'd probably let those be my two goals that are driving me to stay in the high-paying job, to get through that. And then you're going to look up and be in your early 30s, and you may say, gosh, I'm just kind of...

No, no, I wouldn't, you know, I want to pay off my debts first, for sure, so I'm not going to quit right now. But, you know, I think it sounds really reasonable. I mean, obviously, I believe in God, I believe that it's kind of divinely appointed, you know, partnership and stuff like that. But, you know, as a traveler, you don't necessarily build...

Long term.

Long term. I hear in your voice that you want to pay this debt off and then you want to slow down. That's what I hear. You want to pull back from the traveling. You want to establish some roots.

Yes. Roots. I want my roots. Yes. I don't have any roots.

I don't have a problem with that. We're not trying to talk you out of it.

I think it's great. I think I would push to get through baby step three, which you just say, three, I would say three months of expenses, and then, yeah, and then settle down. But stay, stick with this, maybe for another year or, like, you know, map out, okay, when can I, you know, get this paid off and all of it, but have an end date. So at least you're looking towards something because of what you're really wanting. Yes.

I haven't had been on a date since 27 years ago.

Henry Cloud, though, I will never forget, we were at a smart conference and Dr. Henry Cloud was saying, like, you, even though, yes, we believe in a God that orchestrates and knows our story and all of that, it is still our free will to get out there.

You got to go fishing. Yeah.

I got to put yourself out there. And so I remember Henry saying that. He was like, you know, he talks to people and they're like, well, I just go to my small group.

Do women ask men out these days? Kisa, what's your, what's, I've literally been married 25 years. I don't have a clue.

I don't think so.

I'm just asking. Kisa, what's the play? Do you ask dudes out, or do you just got to be, what's the, how are you going to get them in? What's the, what's the strategy? She's going to be her.

And she's going to be awesome. Hold on. And some man's going to be like.

Kisa, do you, do you ask guys out? Do women do this?

I mean, I don't, I'm kind of more traditional. Good for you. So am I. I wouldn't. That's what I like.

Well, I'm going to say this. If you're in Little Rock, Arkansas, I don't know Kisa's last name, but it's pretty unique and she's got a great salary, great career. She's going to be debt free soon.

She's smart.

Look up Kisa, all the single guys in Little Rock, give her a call. This could be great. This is the Ramsey show.

And today's question comes from Hillary in Wyoming. We have had a shift in our income and our mortgage is now about half of our take-home pay. We bring home around $5,500 a month and our mortgage is $2,300.. We currently are a month behind on the house and a truck payment, which is $683 a month. We have another car note and a tractor payment.

And the tractor.

The tractor. You know, if you can stop this repossession, if you can somehow sell it, I mean, it's in the process of it, so maybe it's too late at this point, but anything you can do to not have things on your record, right? Like, like having on your credit reports, because it's going, it's going to ding you in life. And we're not about going and taking out debt, but in general, if someone pulls that for a job or anything like that, they're going to be able to see these elements of your life. And so if you're able to avoid all of this, and especially a foreclosure, and that's what I don't want for you.

Yes. Tough stuff. Before I'd sell the house. I'm with Rachel. I would try to, we have a deficit of 400 a month right now.

That's right. That's right.

Just something to think about.

You're getting one or two of those. Yes, that's right. That's right. It may not be the job, but it's a job. You're making an income.

The phone number is 888-825-5225.. Let's go to Seattle, Washington. Olivia is there. How can we help?

Hi. I'm just kind of stuck in a pickle. I'm on step two, and our monthly income is $4,300 a month, and I'm not sure whether or not I should be selling our truck so we can get rid of the $800 a month payment, or I should cut up my credit cards because my husband is now starting training, and we don't have the money in our savings to pay for this training, but after the training, he would be getting a significant pay increase.

Okay. Walk us through some of these numbers. Give Rachel the numbers. Let's talk about income first, what he's at now, and what he's projected to be at.

Okay. So starting pay right now, or his ending pay in this position is $30 an hour, and that's the max he can go. The starting pay on this new position is $32 to $34..

And what's the training going to cost?

And the training. so far, it's already cost us $1,500, and I had it on the EveryDollar budget app, so EveryDollar was accounted for. And so I was thankful that I didn't cut up my credit card, but this morning I was so distraught that I should have cut up my credit card and just tried to figure it out or something. Yeah.

Are you working?

And he works... I am not working. I'm a stay-at-home mom, but he works mostly overtime. I don't know if you've heard of the North Slope on Alaska. So that $32 an hour is a significant increase compared to $30..

Yeah.

Okay. And how old are your kids?

I have one child and she's two.

She's two. Okay. And how much debt do you guys have left?

We have a total or just a car?

A total.

69..

Okay. And what is that in?

59,000..

And what's that in?

17,000 on a credit card, 3,000 on another credit card, 5,000 student loan, and then 41,000 on a car.

How much? How much? 41?.

Yeah, which is just outrageous.

Oh, my gosh.

What's that car worth?

34.. That's where I'm really struggling. It's just dropping like drastically.

Yeah. There's so many people underwater on cars right now. But honestly, I mean, Olivia, yeah, that car is, I mean, you guys probably make...

$800 a month.

Well, and you, I mean, you make around probably 55,000 a year before taxes and I mean, that's good. 89..

Yeah.

89 before taxes.

89, yeah.

Do you have time, and I very much honor stay-at-home moms, do you have any kind of time during the week where you could pick up some part-time work, even if you're doing it from home?

I've been looking, I'm just having a hard time coming up with anything. I don't have anyone to watch her and I don't want to put her in a daycare. and I've been trying to find something, but I haven't been able to find anything.

Okay. Sure. Well, keep looking. Be encouraged. You know what your boundaries are there, but any of that will help, and I'm glad you're looking.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the $41,000 car, I mean...

Yeah, I just don't know if I should sell it. That's what I thought.

Yeah, it's just right on that line, and there's a part of me, Olivia, that what sucks is you will have to take out a probably $7,000 loan to make up the difference, but that feels so much better seeing $7,000 versus $41,000. and it's a car. and you guys, I mean, you've been in this habit and you said it earlier, so I'm going to just repeat back what you said. You know, well, we just kept the credit card around, something came up and it's going to be good for us, the training and all of it. And I understand how you can, like rationally get there, but until you guys make a mindset shift of, this is now how we handle money, we don't use debt, regardless of what it's going to bring to us in the future.

Thanks for the call, Olivia. You got this. Focus. This is the Ramsey Show.

Hi. Hi there, Ken. So my question is, my husband and I do not live in the same country. He's in Canada, I'm here in the U.S. And we're on board with combining finances, married couples, and taking down debts first, and not even credit card and all that.

All right. A couple questions before we dive into that part. How long have you been married?

Six months now.

And the plan was to live separately the entire time?

No. We are currently working on getting him here to the U.S. We actually have our application now, and it's in process in the immigration, USCIS. It just takes a while, about a year or two.

Even though you're married? Even though he married an American woman, it's still taking about a year?

I'm not an American citizen yet. I'm just a green card holder over here. Okay.

All right. That's why I was... Okay. Gotcha.

Well, there's a logistical thing, I think, when you're working for two separate countries. I mean, yeah, you guys may not find a great solution to actually share a physical checking account together until he comes here.

What does he make, and what do you make financially?

For him, I converted the fee with dollars, for his salary is 60K. He has dollars. Mine is 80K. And he has about also 64K of total loans, debts, and I have about 19K in debt.

Okay.

How long... I'm just curious, how long were you guys... How long did y'all date for?

We only officially dated for two months before we got married, but we've known each other since we were kindergarten.

Oh, okay. Okay. So you guys have had history. So you knew, going into this, that you would be in this situation from a long-distance standpoint.

You've known each other since kindergarten. So are you Canadian?

No, we're both Filipinos. We just migrated to different countries at some point in our life, and we met here in the US.

Okay.

What country were you in when you met as kindergartners?

The Philippines. We both grew up there, and then our families migrated to different countries.

So he goes to Canada and you go to America?

The US. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Are you sending... The way you asked this question, I'm just curious, are you sending money to him?

Well, right now, we are currently in doubt on whether to pay his loan first or to pay mine first. So I was sending him money to pay off the smallest... Well, I just sent him 100 this month. It's not constant, just to pay off the smallest debt that he has.

Yeah. But how much money have you sent him ballpark, since you've been married?

Not much, like $500, maybe $200 in total. Okay. All right. Yeah. It's $200 in total, I guess.

Okay. And then this is such an ignorant question. I probably should know this. But your marriage license, when you guys got married, is it...

Our marriage license is here in the US.

It is in... Okay. Okay. So, once he comes here... Okay.

So was he on a... Yeah. Was he on a visa to be able to come over here and get married? A travel visa?

No, Canadian. He's a Canadian citizen. now. So Canadian citizens can come over to the US for six months at a time. So he, just...

Well, this is complex, Rachel. This is a little complex.

Well, I mean, there's a reality that, yeah, if you're in two separate countries with two separate currencies, yeah, you may not be able to share a physical checking account. I mean, that's obviously the goal once you guys get into a place that you're actually living in the same country. That's what we're going to work towards. But since you are married, seeing this as a holistic picture, though, that, yeah, for you guys combined to look at your income as one, I would take all of your debts and I would combine them and say, okay, let's list out the smallest debt to the largest. And, you know, when you get married, it is.

Zell, I'm sorry to keep asking. You said that you guys are on board. You said that we're committed to this.

100%. Both of us.

So you're seeing progress. You're seeing his budget based on his 60,000.. And so you're sending him the money for what? What was the reason for sending him money again? Just to help pay down the lowest, the smallest debt?

So just to help pay down his smallest debt. And when it's time for my smallest debt, he also sends me money.

So you got evidence.

So I don't know if that's the wisest.

Great. So you guys are on the same page and we are attacking this thing as though we have the same account and we're in the same country. It's just separate. So if you're doing that, then that's fine. But he's got to be fully on board.

Yes, he is. 100%.

Yeah. Wow. Very interesting. That's great. Yeah.

I know. Good luck.

Max communication. That's hard. Yeah. Wow.

That's hard. I mean, dating long distance is one thing. Being married long distance.

Well, you think about how many couples struggle with finances when they live in the same house.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And the reason. we would say you don't combine accounts, because there are reasons. There's asterisks to this, right? If you are in a dangerous situation, if there's abuse, if there's an addiction that's not being addressed, if there's reasons to protect yourself, then that's what you need to do, right? I mean, we've even said on the show, there's some spouses that will not be on board at all, on any level of the same page with money, and they go out and rack up all this debt on their own.

Yeah. I mean, I don't want to play armchair quarterback, but, Zella, if I could have talked to you six months ago, you know, I think I would have said, look, you're in America on a green card. He's a Canadian citizen. Let's think about where we're living a little bit further. Let's play this out here and let's do what's best for our marriage.

It just causes some stress. Yeah.

There's a lot of separation here. And again, this is fascinating to me. This is otherwise a very nice couple. These are good people. And a year and a half for him to be able to get what paperwork he needs.

trying to do it the right way.

Like, what paperwork does this dude have to fill out to be with his wife?

It's the government.

It irritates me. I'm not an anti-government rant right now. I just kind of go, I hate that, you know?

Yeah. Totally. They've done everything the right way. That's right. That's right.

Yeah. Can we fast forward this, please?

I hear you. I know.

You're not a bureaucrat in D.C. or Canada.

Somebody listening.

Come on.

Help Zella's husband out.

Listen, Zella, in all seriousness, make sure you guys are really dialed in, you know, to an online group, you know, get in a class. You guys need that extra accountability. just given the complexities of your relationship. Don't move. More of the Ramsey Show coming right up.

Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. I was calling in because my husband and I are at a pretty good stage in our lives, where we have bought our second property, and we are looking to build. There were some circumstances that happened that caused us to move a little bit faster on the build than we would have liked, so our first home is completely paid off.

What's the end goal? What's the end goal? What are you trying to pull off here?

This is essentially my dream property, the second house that we bought. But we're needing to build because right now, my father, he is 100% disabled, and it was unexpected, so we're needing to have care for him. We don't want to put him in a home. We want to keep him with us, so that's the reason for doing the build now, because he does not fit in our current home. It is too small, and it is not.

Yeah, it's very admirable of you guys. Yeah, for sure. So the second property, is there? a house on it now?

There's a mobile home on it, which prevents some struggles to get a construction loan. A lot of people don't like that, and the HELOC, they're willing to just give us without any of the red tape.

Okay, and why are you keeping the first home then?

We're currently living there in the first home, and we intend to live there through the build, and then, once that build is complete, we could either sell it or keep it as a rental. I prefer to keep it. It's in a great location, and it could rent and give us some really great money.

How much could you get for it if you guys sold it today?

Probably in the range of $300,000..

Just enough for what you need for the new house. Okay, Kylie, here's what I would do. I would not go take out a HELOC. I would not continue to go into debt when you have an asset like a house. Now, if you guys had everything paid off, and you had money saved to be able to cash flow the build of the new house, and you wanted to keep this as a rental, that would be okay, but you're sitting here, and you're trying to kind of piecemeal all this together where you could make it pretty simple.

Oh, it sounds so exciting.

And it's great. We love investing in real estate, right? The real estate quick guy. We are not anti-real estate people. We are pro-real estate people, but doing it in the right time and the right stage of your life.

Suddenly- It's true.

The upgrade of the tile, oh, this, this, and this. Do we have the money for it? I mean, it really gives you this hard and fast rule, because it can be so easy to say, okay, we'll just get a little bit more, and the bank will be willing to, you know, we'll get maybe $40,000 more to do some, you know, you continue to uptick. But this really, it's an accountability thing when you're working with it, and what a gift to be able to do that. I mean, that's really how I would look at this.

And Kylie, just to add very quickly, you said that this second property that you need for your father, I'm glad you can do it, and Rachel's 100% right, you need to sell the current home and do what she does. Here's why. You would still owe on that house. And now, all of a sudden, this dream property,

And you have $600,000 in this.

And you're $600,000 in debt. And so, this is a no-brainer. Sell, rent, Rachel's 100% right. Focus on this dream. This dream property that also is going to be a blessing for your dad in his time of need.

Right. Right, right, right.

And that's assuming you have no expenses.

Yes, that's right. That's right.

So, this idea that I'm going to get rich.

But hers has paid off.

Her specific situation.

Oh, her house was?

I think so.

Oh, I didn't realize that. Well, everything else I said is true.

Yes, yes.

But I would use the money. The point is, we don't want her to go into debt on the new property.

That's right. Exactly, exactly.

And why be a landlord? But that point. Carry debt, be a landlord is the point.

Don't do that. That's right. 100%. It's crazy.

People get sucked into that, and it's just, there's so much that can go wrong.

So hard, yep.

It's nuts. All right, let's go to Chandler in Salt Lake City. Chandler, you've only got about a minute and a half, two minutes. What's your question?

Okay, so getting right to the point, I'm a PhD student, and I'm studying the skills to be a high-level quantitative researcher, which includes statistics, research methods, programming, this kind of thing, right? My particular subfield is political science and criminal justice. I also work a full-time job in an unrelated field. While it's really hard and I have to maximize my time, I'm more than capable of following through with this. My question is, would it be a better time investment to drop a full-time job and put that towards my quantitative skillset?

When you say more difficult, are we talking barely scraping by or just a little uncomfortable?

Yeah, it would be like barely scraping by on the student stipend. Do you have debt? No.

You have no debt. Do you have cash? You got an emergency fund?

Yep. A full six months.

What's the timeline? You're the quantitative guy. Give it to me fast. If you do this move, that we're talking about, how long am I in this uncomfortable, barely making it by before it pays off, and I'm making more dough?

The payoff would be about four to five years.

I wouldn't do it.

Not for that long.

It's too risky, man. One major life thing happens and you're whacked, and it's just, what do I do? and I'm trying to recover. I'd stay in the day job, finish the PhD. That's hard too, but it has way less risk.

You always love a good city accent.

I just love, Savannah's, a great city. Ebony. is there. Ebony, how can we help?

Yes. Thank you for taking my call. How are you all doing?

We're doing great. How are you?

Awesome. My question is, I am finally starting to make money, and I am trying to figure out how can I finally become financial free? I don't have anything to my name whatsoever.

What kind of money are you making? now that you're finally making money? What's that number?

It'll be $33,000 a year.

What are you doing?

I'm a marketing company, storage clerk for U-Haul.

Okay, good. Do you see a path forward with them? I don't want to get locked in on that, but do you see opportunity for a promotion there?

I do see growth with the company. It's actually a good company. Great.

Well, congratulations.

That's great. How old are you?

36..

Okay. All right. Good for you. Good for you.

Thank you.

I'm excited. Okay, so we, at Ramsey, we always talk people through having a really intentional, guided plan, because that's probably one of the best things that you can do with your money is what you're calling in for, but it is to have direction, right? And so part of that is saving, part of that is getting out of debts, investing, home ownership, like all of that, is at play. So right now, do you have debt right now?

I do. Okay. I purchased a vehicle. I had to give it back. Something happened to the car, and then I have school debt as well because I dropped out of school.

Okay. How much do you owe on the car?

18,000..

18,000.. Okay. Did you say you gave it back, though? You don't have it?

I don't have the car, no more.

What happened?

A company did an oil change and they messed up my engine, and unfortunately, I could not afford to get repaired. They were pretty high, so I accidentally took the vehicle up, and they came to pick it up.

And they're just...

Who's they?

I don't want to say the company that did it, but it was a company.

Okay. Like a mechanic.

Yeah. So I was supposed to be legit. It was a new store, and I went there, and they messed it up.

So I'm trying to just figure out really quickly, what are we doing here? You should be compensated for that. They ruined your car.

I didn't know until later on down the road that I could have done something. It was too late. Okay. I found out at the last minute.

Okay, but I don't want you to have given that car... I want that car back, because you own that car, and that is an asset. How much will it take to fix it?

I cannot get that car no more. It was... Car lot has it, and that car lot is no longer available in my city.

Okay. All right. So it's gone.

It's gone. Oh, man. It was last year. I gave it back.

Do you have another... Do you have a car right now?

I do not. I'm actually in the process of looking for one, but I wanted to do it. cash. Yeah. Yeah.

How are you getting to work?

The bus.

Okay.

Great. Yeah. That's awesome. Okay. Well...

$13,000..

Okay. Perfect. And any money saved?

No money saved.

No money saved. Okay. Great. Okay. So what I would do is I would figure out, okay, how can I get $1,000 quickly?

It's not going to be a great car. I'm going to look up some used cars in Savannah.

But it's... Yes, there you go, Ken. It's my favorite thing. But it's going to be... The best thing, yes, is to get that point of transportation for yourself.

I'm emotionally drained.

Yes. You're emotionally drained, is that what you said?

Yeah. I've been crying. I feel like I've done wrong, because I'm 36, I have nothing. I feel really, really, I'm not going to cry right now. I just feel really bad.

Yeah. That's, yeah. Let me just be your friend, though, for a second. And that's, that's a lot of shame. I should have, I wished.

Well, I was going to say, if you save about 4,500 to 5,000 up, you can get a decent car. But I would also say, if the bus is safe and it's convenient, I'd keep stacking cash. And one little encouragement I want to add on to what Rachel said, Ebony, you're going to get through this debt quicker than you realize. And if you start just basic, small investing, you're going to be a millionaire by the time you're 65.. I hope you hear that, because it's true.

Hold on the line. Christian will pick up and give you that stuff.

Thanks for calling Ebony. This is the Ramsey Show.

Hi,

Okay. Well, we'll give you our thoughts.

That's right. I promise you that. We don't know how much it'll help, but go for it. All right. Give us a scenario.

Of course. Of course. So right now, we bought and took advantage about three years ago of the really low interest rates. We bought our home that we have now. Obviously, we've made some equity on it.

Yeah, but, okay, I'm not going to talk about the money side. I'll let Rachel weigh in on that, but it sounds to me like you guys want to live in a rural area. That's kind of the life you want to lead.

Yeah.

Well, that's a no-brainer.

We've kind of got a hobby for going now, and so maybe delve a little more into that.

Can you get what you...

We both work from home right now, so...

That's a good question.

And can you get what you want for that $350, $400?.

So, for $350, probably, we have about $150,000 saved. That's in a high-yield savings. It's kind of just been our next move.

That's above your emergency fund?

That's kind of. the other question, is if we don't do something with that, maybe what should we do with those funds?

Okay. Yeah. Is that above your emergency fund, the $150,000?.

That includes it. Includes it. Okay. So, I would say we could easily take probably $100,000..

$100,000.. Okay. So, for $450,000, could you... It's amazing. Could you get what you want in a rural area and where you guys want to live?

Yeah, I have. And there's quite a bit of availability that...

It's a no-brainer. Ann. Ann.

We're going to rural.

Ann, do what you want to do.

Do it. And, financially speaking, 2% is worse than 0%. I know.

So, poor mom. We're blowing mom's advice out of the water.

Yeah. And listen, Ann. And this is where... We're the weird people in the space when it comes to this stuff. But we...

So, I bring in about $75,000 and my husband brings in $85,000-ish, depending on the bonus.

That's amazing. Yes.

You're living where you want debt-free.

I don't even... Making $160,000 a year. Yeah.

God bless your mom.

I mean, Ann, if you said like, yeah, what we really want, we probably need to take out a $50,000, $100,000 mortgage, I'd say, okay.

I'd say do that too. Yeah. I'm like... Because you want to live there.

At that point, yes. You would be able to afford that too. But if you can just straight up do this in cash, I'm like, that's the dream, Ann. That's what you work towards, is to have nothing. And you guys make an incredible income.

He would be. He'd be like, yee-haw. You just see him in the distance.

It kind of threw me back, because he's always been the one to pinch pennies and don't take out credit card loans and go to school debt-free and stuff. Yeah. It threw me off a little hearing this from her.

That's so funny. And it's good that your mom has such a positive voice in your life, but also, Ann, you're a 35-year-old woman. Yeah. So mom's not going to agree with everything all the time. Can you imagine?

Absolutely.

Ann. Ann, do this. But just imagine...

I am so excited for you.

Imagine 20 years from now, you're talking to Rachel. You see her somewhere. You're talking to a friend and you go, yeah, we had this opportunity 20 years ago to buy this great property, cash, live where we wanted to live. But my mom talked us into keeping the 2% on this house we have. Could you imagine how much you would resent her?

Yeah, it does. That's why it's like this internal back and forth. No, no. It's good to get a third party.

Ann, what do you want to do? Forget what me and Rachel think you should do. What do you and your husband want to do?

Oh, for sure. I think that's been our dream. I mean, we've been together 15 years and worked our way through this.

Y'all have done an incredible job, Ann. Great job. And one year of listening to this and doing this plan, I mean, you've made it. You made it through all 37 baby steps.

Cue the Disney music. Right? It's time for dreams come true, pixie dust. Let's go.

It's great, Ann. Love it. Just have your mom out for a great dinner at the new place. Yeah.

I got to ask you a question. I think really hits our broader audience. The influence of family. And let's also throw friends in this bucket. You've been coaching a lot of people for a long time.

Yeah.

But then it's like, why do you think that is?

You know, I mean, I think that there's a level of acceptance we all want. And I think, for our parents, from a parent to a child relationship, I think a child, regardless of age, you still are like... Isn't that true? So true.

Are you good? So you think it's approval?

I think there's a level of approval there. I also think, you know, in Ann's case, her mom sounded very wise with everything else. So she probably genuinely thinks, okay, or believes, because it probably is very true, that she's a really wise person with money. So I am going to take what she says really seriously. But the problem is, is when all of that starts affecting our day-to-day decisions and our life decisions.

It's interesting, isn't it?

And I do think parents, there is something about the relationship. I feel like, even with my friends, and I can say this even about my own parents. As better of a job. as your kids get older, and especially when they start having families of their own, and you become more peer-like. I think you enjoy each other's company more, versus like, I still need to teach you, and I'm still being in this role.

I'd be like, this is Sarah from Dallas. You should have Sarah from Dallas.

But yeah, he pushed us a lot of like, you've got to make your own decisions.

I think inquiring minds want to know. If you and Winston were to move out into the wherever, rural area, what animal would you not allow on the property? Do you have a hard and fast, or is there an animal you'd like to have?

I feel like a rooster would be tough, right? Yeah. Waking you up?

Three in the morning? Yeah, what about you?

I'll tell you. I'd have chickens, though.

I'd like some goats.

I'd have to bring in a rooster.

I'd like some goats. I like the little noise they make.

What would you not do, though?

Cows. They stink. This is the Ramsey Show.

Woman of the people. We love doing events. We love hanging with you guys.

We love doing events, and so we're very excited. We're not going anywhere, but we are doing an event. You might be coming here. What are we talking about? Brand new event called Total Money Makeover Weekend.

Yeah. It's going to be a great weekend. So come, hang out with us.

Let's do it. All right. Henry is up in Las Vegas. Henry, what's going on?

Hi. So my wife and me have about $125 in household income, $305 in a mortgage, about $35 in student loans, no other debt. So we're foodies. We like to go out and enjoy food. But that's really our only, I guess you could say, vice.

That's okay. if you are. Couples argue. We're okay with that.

Rachel and I like to argue every once in a while.

Ken and I argue. Okay, Henry, I missed how much the student loan payment is – or I'm sorry, how much debt total student loans are?

$35,000..

$35,000.. Okay. Is that all the debt you guys have?

And then the mortgage is $305,000 and the house is worth about $365,000..

Good for you guys. Henry, I'd pay off the student loans today.

Okay.

You have $100,000 in the bank.

What are you paying? What's your student loan payment every month?

$420..

You just get a $420 a month raise on top of everything.

Go out to eat with that.

Yeah. That'll buy a nice steak, maybe a tomahawk.

Yeah.

Let's throw another weight, Rachel.

Because here, the $100,000, though, I want to address it because I so appreciate it, I so appreciate the $100,000.. But the reason why is that it's a three-year emergency fund. And he said, in case something happens – Yeah, I was going to say, what? Henry, for three years, you'd probably be moved and living off the land. I mean, like, if it gets to that point in life, that you can't find a job in three years.

Pay it off.

Yes. And then get a nice bottle of champagne tonight and celebrate your debt-free.

I love that. And the tomahawk steak. I mean, it's amazing. But, Henry, let me throw something at you here. What if you invested that $420 a month?

Yeah, she's the more aggressive one.

Right, but hold on a second. I'm usually the responsible kind of – Yeah, but what if you did what Rachel said? I said spend it. Well, no, you said pay off the loan. Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

My math, $65,000?? Yeah, yeah. Okay. So, Henry, what if you had $65,000 in the bank, okay, and you had no debt other than your home and you were able to invest $420 a month starting tomorrow?

Extra.

Yeah, extra. How exciting is that?

Yeah. By the time we retire, we'll definitely be millionaires.

Dude. Oh. Henry, that's not even up for vote. So your cautionary –, this cautionary narrative is actually holding you back, and I'm trying to flip your brain on this. You're going, oh my gosh, I don't want to give up $35,000..

Correct.

So what are you going to do, Henry? It's your life.

Did we convince you?

You inched closer. I don't want to lie to people and say yes, 100%, but yeah.

What are you so afraid of?

So I'm afraid of us getting into a bad situation, and my wife craves stability.

What would be the bad situation? This is really fun. Not making fun of me. What's the bad situation? Describe it.

We both –. well, she already lost her job. It's been about nine months. So that's creating a stress for her. God forbid, I lose my job.

Wait, a second. Wait, wait, wait. What has kept her from getting a job for nine months?

In the industry of recruiting, it's a little bit difficult right now.

Has she been doing any work?

She has. She has part-time work. So she has income.

Here's my point. This is what I want to say. If that were to happen to you right now, you would go get a full-time job, or you would get a part-time job, or another part-time job, and I would say she needs to get another part-time job right now. She actually doesn't have to, because you're in such great financial shape, and you can live off your income. But my point is – I'm trying to play this out for you, Henry – that let's say both of you lose your job.

Yeah.

That would be you guys just sitting at home doing nothing.

Literally, not even trying to work.

Yeah.

That's not going to happen.

So I'm trying to walk you up to the threshold of hell here, and you look over and go, what has to happen for this?

Henry, I love you because I feel like we're usually the ones telling people to slow down. We're the conservative ones. He's like, whoa!

I don't want to pay that debt off.

You guys are crazy. We're so aggressive. We're the aggressive ones. That never happens.

It really never does. But listen, here's what's great about Henry. He's never going to make a dumb financial move.

No. No.

So it's now just building up that muscle.

And listen, here's my thing too. The way you guys live and your ability to save, what you guys want to do, pay it off. And if you really keep losing sleep at night over that $35,000, then just build it back up.

Well, okay. I love this. Great advice. Let's take the 4... What was it?

Yeah, thanks.

And maybe the tomahawk is a little too much red meat. I don't know. But something.

Go, celebrate. You are debt-free, Henry. I love it. Well done.

But you've got to cut the check first, Henry. Get yourself a Pepsi at AC. It'll help. This is the Ramsey Show.