Re-Imagine What a Life Well Lived Looks Like

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 amazing relationships. I'm George Kamela, joined by the one, the only, Dr. John Deloney, and we're here to serve you, America, to help you take the right next step for your life and your money. And the way you interact with the show is you call us at the number 888-825-5225.. If you should be so lucky, our phone screener, Christian, will let you through the lines, and you will have the privilege, the honor, of talking to Dr.

Hey, thank you so much for taking my call.

Absolutely. What's going on?

So, I was in a toxic relationship and ended up getting divorced. Me and my ex-husband had a few car loans, and we had an apartment together. Once the divorce, or during going through the divorce, I ended up losing my job, and with that, I ended up losing my apartment that I had, and I also ended up losing one of my cars. So, I have one collections that equals about $3,000.. I have a car repo that's about $12,000..

So sorry. This is like a terrible country song, just one thing after another. Are you back to work now?

I am, thank God. I have a job, and I'm making about $2,500 a month.

Okay. Do you have any kids?

I do not.

Okay.

What job are you doing, making $2,500 a month?

I actually work in a dental office. I'm just one of the receptionists there.

Okay.

Luckily, I live with one of my friends, so my rent is not that expensive. I pay about $800 in rent.

Okay. Both George and I, George is going to walk you through the math of all this, but both him and I, I know there's a season when you just get beat up, and beat up, and beat up, and beat up, and the smoke clears, and all that. I get that. But I want more than just $2,500 a month, and you rent in a room from a friend for your life. I have a bigger vision for you than that, okay?

Mm-hmm.

And we'll talk to you how to get different kinds of work, or expand that, but $2,500 bucks, man, that's scratching by these days.

I actually am in college right now, because of all of this, I needed a better life for myself, so I'm actually in school right now.

Good for you.

I'm going to be a nurse.

Good. Okay, amazing. And I take back everything I just said. Good on you. You're incredible.

Good on you. Are you working full-time while doing nursing school?

Yes, I am.

Wow. Good deal.

Okay. So, we make $2,500 bucks a month. You have a car now?

I do. I paid cash for it.

Okay. And you owe nothing else except for the 52 in repo, 3,000 in collections. Was the 3,000 in collections for a car? What was that for?

That was for the apartment that we had. During the divorce, I actually ended up losing the apartment, because I lost my job. I couldn't pay for it.

Okay. So, this is kind of like the eviction settlement, missed payments, breaking the lease, all of that? Yeah. Okay. Well, the good news is you have a place to lay your head that's safe and affordable.

I was doing the math last night after my expenses, because I am paying for college myself. So, I'm not taking out any student loans. After all of my expenses, I have about $300 left every month.

Okay. You could start attacking these debts with. How much is school costing you? How are you able to cash flow nursing school?

Well, I am going to a technical college, so it's about, I mean, maybe $1,500 every semester. Okay. But I'm just saving as much as I can a month to go towards that, so I don't have to take out any student loans.

Hannah, for the repos, do both of those happen in Georgia? Yes. Okay. All right. So, when they get repoed, whoever repossesses the cars, the person who holds the title sells those cars.

They owe the deficiency balance.

They should send you a, should have sent you a number saying, here's what you owe us. now that we have sold these cars for X number of dollars. Now, it wouldn't surprise me if they sold those cars to their buddy for an insanely low deal. Like, I don't know how that all works, but you should not owe the total balance of $53,000..

Okay. Have you been in contact with the repo folks?

No. Actually, the only reason I, the only way I found out about this, was I just pulled up my Credit Karma, and some of that, the account was closed. Okay. And so I contacted the lender, and that's when I found out that it had been repossessed.

Well, and some of these that get repossessed, if they sell the car and the price they fetch is higher than what you owe on it, they actually owe you that money back, or have some sort of split, depending on what state you're in. So I can imagine if they sold a $20,000 car and you owed 18, that they just kept that $2000 and just didn't call you yet.

Yeah.

Do you have any communication with your ex?

I don't. No. He has me blocked on everything. I can't contact him at all.

Okay. And have you let them know that this debt is partially with an ex, that you have no contact with?

Yes.

Okay. I would be proactive in talking to them. I don't want them coming after you because you've been ignoring them. I want you, I want them to know you by name going, hey, she calls every week just updating us. Here's what I can pay.

And Hannah, please, please, please don't file bankruptcy. You're nowhere near that case. Okay. Please don't do that.

That was the thing. I didn't know if I should or what direction I should go in.

We've seen worse situations.

Way worse.

And we still didn't tell them to file bankruptcy. And so there is hope for you. yet. The key here is it's hard because you're in school. You're not gonna be able to take on extra side hustles and get your income up while you're in school.

I've only been in school a year. now. This is my second semester.

How long is the program?

Um, a bachelor degree for nursing is four years.

So you could foreseeably be doing this for a while, living this life where you're trying to work full time, school full time, and trying to tackle the debt?

Yeah. Okay. I've done that. I've done it. And it's not fun, but it's definitely doable.

Don't do that. Hang on a line, Hannah. I'm gonna send you a copy of my book, Breaking Free from Broke, as well as Financial Peace University. We wanna walk with you as you climb out of this hole and start whatever's next. for Hannah.

Hi, George. Hi, Dr. John. It's great to talk to you.

It's even better to talk to you. How's it going?

Well, here's my question. Would it be beneficial to pause Baby Step 2 for about two months in order to cash flow attending the Money and Marriage Conference in February?

That's a loaded question. Sophie's choice.

Oh, it's a really good marriage. We have four kids. Three of them are teenagers. One almost is a teenager. We're really busy with that.

Oh, boy. How far away from becoming debt free?

So we should be in beginning of Baby Step 3, like in March of 25, if we didn't do the conference. It would put us on hold by about three months.

Well, here's the good news. It's not the first or last time we're going to do this thing. And so I personally tell you...

I could get fired at any moment.

Yeah, that's true. Jessica, if you were my friend and if it was any other event, I'm going to tell you, don't do this right now. I think John was saying, hey, is this on fire? Like your marriage is more important than anything. If this is the one thing that's going to save the sinking ship, then we would say, all right, this is worth saving your marriage over.

But I will tell you this, there is a.

Oh, that's kind.

Oh, that would be amazing.

So y'all can watch it at home. It's not going to be as cool as the one here, but it's going to be amazing. It's going to be totally different between me and Rachel, and it will be awesome. So hang on the line. And I don't even think we've announced this yet, so I may have just completely messed up everything with live events.

Kelly's saying it's been announced.

Oh, Kelly's just telling me you're fired. She's mouthing you're fired. You're fired. It's okay. It's all right.

What a, what a great pitch that we did not pay for, for the money and marriage event. So thank you for that, Jessica. Check that one off the list.

I know. And it's, it's tough for me, cause I, I want everyone to come, cause I know it's good. And also, if you can't afford it, you can't afford it. Right.

We get priorities right now. That's right. So that's good. Thank you for that. James is up next in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Hi, thank you for taking my call.

You got it. What's up, man?

So I am pretty new to the Ramsey show. Um, I am looking to buy a car, which I have enough for in cash, but I have no real credit built up. I've had a credit card for about a year of only gotten like gas and maybe some dinner for a couple of times with it. But I'm worried about if I don't ever build real credit, I might, you know, I'm worried about future mortgages and stuff like that. And I'm looking to see what I should do.

You want to play a game with us? Yeah. Okay. Guess mine or George's credit score. Ready?

Zero.

Ta-da. Yeah.

Well, you know what's funny? You know the reason. people want a good credit score so they can afford the financing of the vehicle. You've already achieved that. You've transcended the need for a credit score.

The relief. I didn't want to have to finance anything. I'm really looking forward to staying debt free for the rest of my life.

Beautiful. What kind of car are you buying?

I need front ultima.

Nice. And how much cash do you have saved up?

A little over 30,000.

Whoa. That's incredible. How long did that take you?

I don't really spend much. So it's kind of just been saving for like ever. But, you know.

I love it.

So it's been 20 years.

James, you just said something. for us to double click on.

not being able to afford things.

Yeah. Yeah. He never can afford things. And he always figures out a way to pay little bits and pieces of the things he can't afford. So he's good to buy your house.

All right.

Just the chaotic way.

Just some encouragement for you.

We live in a.

Yeah. That's the weird part is like, it's so normal now to be broke and to have to navigate the stupid, broken financial system that when you do it any other way, people look at you funny. And I guarantee James, when you go to the car dealership and you go, oh no, I don't need to go to the financing office. I'm just going to write you a check. They're going to be like, what?

They made me go. I walked in and said, the second time I bought a car, the first time my kids are with me was a disaster. And the second time I said, I work for Dave Ramsey. I'm on the air for the Ramsey show. I'm going to write a check.

So, James. We say that, be careful when you step foot on that dealership or wherever you're buying the car from. Do your due diligence. Don't let them talk you into anything.

They're going to make you feel stupid, out of touch. You're dumb. Oh, you're one of those idiots that listens to that show. And you're like, no, no, no. I'm one of those idiots that sleeps all night.

They might even offer you a discount for financing with them. Don't take the bait. They are in the business of making money. Cars are quite literally the vehicle they use to lend money. That's it.

Yeah. And what's so hard is I feel like one of those, especially the ones that I'm like, oh, it's terrible. People that call in and their spouse has passed away suddenly, and they don't have life insurance. When you have to think through, how am I going to pay my bills in the middle of all that grief? It's terrible.

And it doesn't cost much, because Zander shops among a gazillion different companies. It doesn't cost much. You just have to admit that someday you're not going to be here. You've got to say it out loud, and you've got to say, I'm going to say I love you to my family by taking care of them and taking the time to put this stuff in place. The cost of stinking pizza.

Thank you so much for having me. I need help. I am debt-free, which I'm extremely excited about. I discovered Ramsey Solutions about probably a year, a year and a half ago, and really dove in, and it made me feel good that I felt like I had been living the Ramsey Solutions lifestyle for my entire adult life, without even knowing it.

You're like, I'm not the only crazy person out here who's like, I don't want to have payments.

Right. Right.

Or more realistically, somebody taught you common sense, right?

Well, yeah, I mean, when I graduated college, I was just shy of $70,000 in student loans, so I immediately out of college, my focus was to pay off the student loans. My goal was to get that done when I was 30.. I managed to pull it off just before my 29th birthday, and from there, I purchased a house with a mortgage. I didn't really have much money saved up at that point. And then spent my 30s focusing, I had a couple roommates in and out, and just picking up side jobs and focused on trying to pay my mortgage off as fast as I could.

No, hey, what you're experiencing is surprisingly.

Right.

And you can't.

And it's.

What was money like growing up for you?

I would.

If you're lower middle class, there was a tension in your home that was palpable, I guarantee you. Yeah. And whether you knew it to be that or not, if you're lower middle class, things are tight all the time.

Yeah. I mean, it was definitely... I mean, we were happy, but it was definitely tight.

There you go. So... And my guess is that's wired into your nervous system. I...

And so how do I.

Can I tell you a trick? It's not a trick, it's just a path. But I want you to know you're not crazy. I grew up in... It was very, very similar.

Are you single, Kevin?

I am, yeah.

No, no, no, don't get over it. Don't get over it. Go right through it.

So what we're saying is in that every dollar budget, you're going to force yourself to give more than you ever have, and you're going to force yourself to spend more than you ever have, and you're going to find a new hobby and you're going to pour some money into that and start to see what that feels like. And over time, that will become normal. That's a normal part of the budget. Kevin gives more. Kevin spends more.

And let me challenge you on the giving part. I want you to tie or do whatever your faith, tradition, practice tells you to do. But I want you to, when I talk about giving, I want, when you go out to eat, I want you to find a busboy who's cleaning up tables and just scrubbing and scrubbing and going from table to table to table. Walk over and put your hand on that guy's shoulder and he'll turn around. And because most people walk past that guy every day, they don't even look at him as though he's a human.

And watch what happens to your body. You're going to feel more joy than you have in a long time. Because, truthfully, there's very little joy in saving and investing. There's more joy in spending, but there is way more joy in giving. And I think that's going to unlock something for you, Kevin, as you start to do this.

I want you to, you're changing your identity. So I want you to write down on a piece of paper, I am so-and-so and I'm a person who's a good steward. I give. I'm so-and-so. I'm a person who has a good time with my money.

This is The Ramsey Show.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Hey, good folks. It's Deloney. And with back-to-school madness on deck, my family's schedule is already so packed. And we haven't even made room for things like exercise and date nights and counseling and all the other things that make our life even worth living.

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Dr. John Deloney. If you are enjoying the show now or anytime, do us a quick favor and hit the like button, hit the follow button, hit the share button, hit the subscribe button, and share this with a friend, a family member, someone who you think could use a little positivity, a little hope in their lives and display some of the just trash that's out there. Just the, I guess, the candy, just the, just, the sweet, nothing candy.

You refer to yourself as the Ramsey eye candy. Some of the candies are all bad.

That's very different, John. Thank you for reminding America. You're welcome. If you're not watching on YouTube, now's the time to start. There we go.

Disagree.

Julie's up next in Montreal. We're going, uh, we're going way north, John. How's it going, Julie?

Hi. I'm good. How are you?

Doing great. Julie, we've got some of your closest friends here in the studio from Montreal, from Toronto. Wait, really? Yes, we really do. We're surrounded by Canadians right now.

Oh, well, thank you so much for taking my call. I love both of you. I watch you religiously.

That's so kind.

Well, what's up?

All right. I'm 27..

I don't like looking at it from a right or wrong kind of moral perspective. You know, giving has been, and always will be a matter of the heart. And we've always said, give a little until you can give a lot. Giving is not one of the baby steps. until baby step seven, which is sort of, you know, choose your own adventure.

That would be 10%.

Okay.

Is that what your church is asking of you?

Uh, no, but in, in, in your budget, you say give 10% of your income.

Okay. Okay.

So yeah, I misunderstood that.

Well, I mean, it's coming from, um, Rachel's perspective, and she's a Christian, and so tithing 10% is, is built into her spiritual practice, into her faith practice. Um, if you can't breathe, if you can't eat, then I want you to be well and whole. I think what George is getting at is it's a, it's an ethos. It's a way of being. Does that make sense?

And make it fun. I don't want, it feels like right now you've got to hit a quota. I just want you to, you know, have the spontaneous spirit, like John's saying, I have a line item in my budget just called bless up. And we just set aside a little bit of money. and whoever sees an opportunity, we just get to give.

Does that give you some peace?

Yeah, that definitely helps. Thank you.

Okay. Absolutely.

All right. It's a great question. It's a great question.

I love the spirit of it. The fact you're even asking this tells me that you're going to be a very generous person. If you're even struggling with it, like, ah, I want to, but it's hard, better than, I don't even understand. why the heck would you even do that? Yeah.

One of your friends does. One of my favorites.

John, what's happening?

Hey, Jordan, John. Thanks for taking my call.

Yeah. What's going on?

What's up?

Well, to keep it straightforward, my wife and I, we're receiving pensions that meet all of our family's living expenses.

I'll tell you what I would do. I would still recommend diversifying away from the pension, and there's a few reasons for it. The obvious one is that you don't have any control over the pension and that if something happens with the company, the pension dies too, and they perform poorly comparatively to you investing on your own through a 401k or an IRA.

Okay. I guess, and to clarify, so, I'm retired military, so I receive a retired pay from the government plus a disability. So I guess, if that funding stream stops, I think we're all in a worse way.

Absolutely. That would be a scary one. How much is it? Is this enough to sustain for the next foreseeable future, regardless of what happens with your expenses?

Yeah. So between the two of us, we make a little over 10 grand a month in just the disability and retirement pay.

Okay. And what's your life like right now? What's your financial picture? Do you guys have any debt?

We just have the house left. We have about $87,000 left to pay, so another year and a half, and then we'll be completely debt-free.

Amazing. And what kind of retirement dreams do you guys have? Have you talked about that?

Well, we're kind of living them as we go. So we're just enjoying time. We have two kids, a nine and 10-year-old, so we're just getting in that family time when we can, traveling when we can, and then giving our time and money when we can as well, because we're definitely in a blessed situation.

All right, John, I'm going to ask George a question on your behalf. Is that cool?

Yeah.

If I was John and I was getting $10,000 of a federal pension every month, and I was 18 months away from having my house paid off, I think in my house, we would pause any sort of additional investing and get that sucker paid off, because that feels like a liability that doesn't really even need to be there. Is that bad math? No.

I mean, I think, truthfully, John, you're going to be okay. either way. I just still, like... No one's ever, complained that they had too much wealth to pass on and leave a legacy with. And it doesn't sound like you guys investing 15% of your income would really change your life all that much.

Okay. So my wife, she currently stopped contributing to her Roth IRA and 401k, so we can pay off the house and get rid of that liability.

Okay. Good deal.

I didn't know if there was a benefit or a need for us to actually continue with the retirement accounts, if that's something that we can pass on to our kids or anything like that in the future that we need to think about. that I'm not aware of.

Yeah. Well, the thing to think about is, with a Roth IRA, you need earned income in order to contribute to that. And so, while y'all are working, that's a good thing to use. The 401k is a good thing to use. But again, if this is guaranteed from the government forever, you're going to be okay.

Hi. Thanks so much for taking my call, first of all. I have an opportunity cost question.

Okay. Lay it out.

The situation is that I'm a cancer patient, and it's metastatic, so I have an 85% chance that I'm going to die within the next five years. Sounds very dramatic, I know, but I also have a very specific life dream. My husband and I, when it comes to the Baby Steps, I would say that we've really moved into Baby Step 7, and we had made plans as partners that we were going to now pursue very specific dreams to give back to the community. My dream is to charter a federal credit union. It really requires a specific college degree.

For those people who are listening to this, going, wait, wait, wait, what, what, what? How is she talking so clearly? You've been wrestling with this for a long time, haven't you?

Yeah, the past year, ever since the diagnosis.

Okay. So is the smoke cleared? Are you still walking around kind of in that shocked phase where everything feels pretty good and it's hard to wrestle with, even though it's sitting out there?

I can get emotional from time to time, but I think I know what I want to do. I just need to know, like, which direction to take. I want to, again, make that last, if this is the last chapter of my book, I want it to be a really good chapter. And I don't know, I don't want to rob my husband of our last few years together. I would have to be a full-time student and work full-time, but I also don't want to not do something with my life before I go.

Okay.

So when it comes to price point, like, we can afford it.

No, it's nothing to do with that, nothing to do with that. Tell me about your dream of, what would it, like, if you had a magic wand and you went on a local park bench and this credit union emerged, what would it be doing for the community?

This federal credit union would be chartered specifically for my Native American tribe to. basically, there's just so much poverty and so much lack of both resources and training within my tribe that I want this federal credit union to give them access to a specific type of loan and the coaching that they need to be successful so that they can begin having that opportunity.

I think that's beautiful. And I also think you can accomplish a huge chunk of this, or let's snap your fingers, you spend five years imagining what life is going to be with your husband, y'all have, because here's the deal, y'all made plans, and those plans are now over. As you knew it, right? Your marriage, as you know it is over, your life, as you knew it was over, and now y'all are going to build a new life for the last five years, okay? And so you care and love for this tribe and you want to give them resources, you want to give them information, you want to give them coaching.

It does sound kind of miserable.

I know it is because I used to watch my roommates would come home and just stare at a blank wall, right? So here's the thing, if that's what you want to do, because I'm somebody who loves a college classroom, I love being surrounded by people and arguing and debating ideas, and a professor who's walking us, I love that. So if you tell me, John, that I've always had this dream, I don't want to go out without an accounting degree, I'll tell you right now, go, sign up today. You got four years, go, make it happen. I would tell you to go, do that.

Is there a way to accomplish that mission without being a charter of a credit union?

Yes, start a weekly class.

Because if the goal is to give them resources financially, there's all kinds of ways to do that, right?

Set up a program on teaching them how to apply for college, teaching them how to get jobs, how to, I mean, you could create an entire ecosystem so that 150 of them can band together and build a whole string of credit unions down the road. And one of them will name it after you one day. You see what I'm saying?

Yeah, yeah, I think I hear the direction that you're going with this. Um, then, one of the things that I'm afraid of is how do I get that, um, that, um, you know, that kind of that investment, that cultural group investment, if I don't have their credentials, because I don't have a whole lot of charisma either. So I don't think they're just going to sign up. So what would be a way to substantiate that reputation?

I don't, I disagree with you. I disagree. You do have charisma. I can hear it on the phone.

Well, I talk on the phone for a living.

There you go. Right. I mean, I, you're doubting yourself and you've pigeonholed. The only way I can, I can leave a lasting mark is to create this brick and mortar thing. And George and I are telling you.

You can start an Instagram account and reach way more of those people.

Millions of.

This year.

Of, yeah, of our native friends.

So we're just saying, I want you to dream of different ways you can accomplish the mission, so that you don't pigeonhole yourself and do well. I don't sit in a classroom for the next four years. This isn't going to happen, because I think there's, there's more than one way to do this. And I also want you to enjoy, let's say, there is five years left. How do you still enjoy time with your husband and still create memories and also accomplish your, your career dreams?

Yeah. Can I challenge you on something?

Yes.

Do you have, do you have kids or just, just your husband?

No kids, just the husband. Okay. He's an amazing guy too. One of a kind. It's actually notated in my doctor's notes how much he stood beside me.

That's awesome.

So if you decide, um, y'all, two alternate making dinners for each other, and you wake up every morning and watch the sunrise and have coffee together for the next five years, and you pass away, that's an extraordinary last chapter.

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I'm looking for it here. All right, let's see this.

Oh boy. Is this a real question?

This may be my favorite question of all time. This is my number one favorite question of the day ever. Zach from Kansas writes,

I feel like Deloney in his heart of hearts would actually be like, yeah, bro, do it.

Zach, for all that is holy, please don't do this.

In case someone stops the call here, do not do this. Please don't do this. For anything. No. Especially not an Alex Van Halen drum set.

You going to buy it? There's two investment lessons here. You teach the one on compound growth. I'll teach the one on stuff.

Okay.

So I remember when they asked Warren Buffett about crypto and he said, I wouldn't buy all the crypto for $25.

At any given moment, 24-7.

And what he said was, I would have to sell it to be able to buy anything that I need.

That has value.

That has value. Like wood or oil or water.

Or a Van Halen drum set.

Or a Van Halen drum set. Now you see where I'm going. So if you're buying a, dude, I like buying guitars. I love them. I love them.

Good point. You ready for the math lesson?

Bring it. Bring it, mathematician.

So taking money out of your 401k as a withdrawal has not only your income taxes, but also penalties. So it's like borrowing. Let's say it's $50,000. he wants to rob his 401k of.

It's $150,000.

He said he wants to use some of his 401k money to pay for it. I don't know if he's saying he has, you know, let's say he's going to use 50 grand as an example. Well, he's going to pay upwards of 30, 35% for the pleasure of using that money. Not only that, but he's also unplugged the future growth. So I have an example here.

He's one of the best drummers of all time, George. I'm not going to lie.

Well, why isn't someone else bidding this up for it? That intro to Hocker Teacher is pretty amazing. Why are they only selling it for $100,000, if it's actually worth a million?

It's just not there yet.

Zach, Zach, this is a real question, guys. Is this really that no one faked this in the booth? Okay. People always assume, John, that we fake this stuff for entertainment. I could not have written this question in an improv creativity group.

Too good.

All right. Back to real people with real problems, hopefully. John in New York City, what's going on?

Hey, guys. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Sure. How can we help?

Hey, so I have a business I had for roughly about 15 years, and I'm trying to run it. I'm going to need some cash. I have about $200,000 that I'm sitting on, and the business itself doesn't have any money because of the way I ran it up to this point. So the question is, do I use the money to finance it, or do I apply for a line of credit, or what should be the next step for me?

So explain. You said you've been running the business for 15 years?

I had it for a while, but I had such a nice job. I never really thought about ever quitting the job, which I did a year ago, to actually run it. So it was basically, I was paying really well. Whatever the money was coming in was going right back out. I started at $346 a month, and fast forward, it's at close to $800,000 right now.

So top line is $800,000 a year?

Right now, but on the contract right now, starting July 1st. So at this time next year, my top line is going to be $3.2..

And what is your net profit?

30% on that.

30%. Okay. So why are you needing to finance anything? Why can't you just pay cash for whatever you need to do to scale the business?

That was the question. See, up to this point, I've been running it in such a way that I never even bothered to... I took a very tiny salary. And so now that I quit my job a year ago, I decided I'm going to grow this business. We're going to build something for the family, like a family legacy.

I'll tell you the best way to run a business is debt-free. And that's how Dave Ramsey started this company. The studio we're sitting in, this building, we're sitting in, all was done at the speed of cash. And it's how we teach all business owners to run their business in entree leadership, which is our business arm of teaching people how to grow and run a business. And so I would highly recommend you continue to run this business debt-free, move at the speed of cash.

Good enough. I've been actually having to turn business away because I don't have enough cash for the, you know, what I'm going to need in terms of buying equipment. And I'm okay with that, just so you know.

What kind of business is it?

It's like a cleaning service, property management. Deal with a lot of large commercial properties. That's all I deal with. Everything's, with contracts for a year, at the very least.

John, listen. Here's what you just did. You've been moving and moving and you just signed the big one. You just signed one that's going to bring in millions of dollars. And so I want you to step out and look at 10 years from now.

Oh, I like it.

I know you will. I know you will. But it's going to put millions of dollars in your pocket. And that is going to be what you buy the new equipment with. So if you can hold your lifestyle one more year, and you can hold the way the business operates one more year, you're going to be flush.

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Dr. John Deloney. Open phones at 888-825-5225.. We're going to keep the show rolling on to Cincinnati.

Hey, how's it going? I just had a question for you guys. I am getting married in August. And yeah, I know.

Awesome. When I got married, we were so broke.

Yeah, I had 8 cents. And so it was pretty easy to combine it. We combined it in the ashtray, the cup holder, in our car.

And Ambrose was like, I have a million. She's got 2 million. Just wondering the best way to combine these things. No, it's great. I love that you're thinking about this.

It's about a 200,000 or worth. I don't know, it estimates it goes from 220 to 240.. And I have 140 left on it.

Okay. So you got about 100,000 equity there. And is she renting right now?

No, she's at home with her parents. Okay.

So, once you guys get married, is the plan for her to move into your house?

Yep.

Okay. And do you guys have any debt other than your mortgage?

No, no debt.

And she has $200,000 in cash?

Yeah, she was a travel nurse during all of COVID. So pretty good.

This is amazing. And you have cash as well?

Yeah, I've got about a 15K cash set aside besides the stuff. So 15K, and then the rest of it's going towards the wedding.

Okay. You guys are cash flowing the wedding. Have you figured out who's paying for that?

Yeah, we already got that covered.

Great. And honeymoon?

Yep, got that covered too.

All right. So here's what I did. Here's what I recommend anyone do. Once you guys are back from the honeymoon, combine your bank accounts to one. And what I did was I had my checking.

Is there anything?

Sorry. I said, basically, there's like no tax implications of combining finances. No, no, no, no.

This is y'all's money. Are you going to live in your house? Is this going to be your permanent place?

Yep. I'm going to probably be there for about five years or so.

And she's excited about living there?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. She's gotten good. garden beds, picked out, a bunch of stuff, is updating it and in the rooms. She's definitely nesting a little bit there, although she's not pregnant.

But no, I can imagine moving in after you've lived in your house by yourself. It's going to need some work. I would recommend considering taking some of the cash that y'all both have and pay this house off. It'd be pretty amazing to start your new marriage without a house payment.

Yeah. You'll have $215,000 going into it if nothing changes, if you don't add anything to it. And you pay off the mortgage of $140,000.. You still have $75,000 left as your emergency fund, savings, vacation slush funds, what have you. And that would put you in the Ramsey baby steps at baby step seven at a very, very young age, which boggles my mind.

I don't know. It's going to be hard to convince her. She doesn't want to invest in that, because it's kind of just sitting in cash right now.

Pay off your house.

That's the best investment you can make. A forced, fixed savings rate. You don't have to worry about what the market did with your money. You guys are sitting pretty. What's your mortgage right now?

$1,200.

Okay. So you'd free up probably about $1,000. Obviously, you still got to pay property taxes and homeowners insurance, but that's an extra $1,000. you guys now get to invest on top of your amazing incomes. What are you guys going to be making together once you're married?

$160,000.

Okay.

Can I recommend something? before you do any of this stuff? Y'all need to go out and have a dream about money, a conversation about money. Because I'll tell you what, you're going to start off and you're already going to drive out of the church parking lot with two flat tires. if that money is still her money.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Okay. That's the most difficult part, because she worked really hard to save up $200,000.. And so it can be very jarring for you to come in and be like, all right, sweet, we're married now. So you're going to, you're going to pay off my mortgage and you need to change the language around all of this. Well, this is now our money.

Awesome. That, that, that makes a lot of sense. I appreciate the advice.

All right, go get them, brother.

Goodness, gracious. What a wonderful problem to have. And here's the other side. If she came in with $200,000 of, I don't know, medical school debt, that would also be our debt.

Our debt. It'd be our debt.

That's right. It's a lot less fun than coming in with 200 grand of net positive cashflow, but it's the same principle where you have to swallow your pride and go, I did so well saving, and she came into this. Well, that's her debt to pay off. And so she's going to work on that. Well, that's a one way ticket to a real sad marriage.

Yeah. And it's also tough to, so often when you are able to, and you're blessed enough to build up some pretty significant cash reserves, you almost don't realize how much you start leaning on it. Like as an identity, as a safety crutch, like I'll be okay. I can do anything. Right.

Probably one of the hardest conversations as you combine lives together, is just getting over that hump of what are we now going to build together? Cause there's some compromise. It's not like you marry the same exact person who's like, oh my gosh, I was thinking the same thing. You should definitely do that. There's going to be some arguments and spirited debates over what to do.

There should be, there should be.

But when it's born out of the same values, well, now we can get somewhere. We can actually compromise and not lose our principles.

And I think it's asking, what do we want our house to feel like at the end of every day? I want it to feel warm and hilarious. And if we just want to watch TV, we can watch TV. If we want to just go for a walk, we can do whatever we want. Cause we don't owe anybody anything.

Arbitrage it.

Jeez, Louise.

Well, we know, money fights and money problems are still one of the leading causes of divorce. And so when you can start out your married life with zero debt, I'm telling you, it's going to decrease the amount of money fights and money problems you have. Yeah. You're going to have to go look for some problems. Oh, that's good.

They'll find you. They'll find you.

They'll find you. Well, I found, John, that even though my wife and I don't argue about money, a lot, still a lot of arguing, you know? I'm like, why did you have to buy so many throw pillows? Well, I have to see which ones look good. Then I'll return the rest.

America.

Then it's girl math.

If you can help solve the problem of how many pillows are on my bed right now.

Why are there so many pillows?

I will never, ever understand that.

You're not even allowed to put your head on them.

I have two doctors and I don't understand why we need so many pillows on our beds, George.

For the aesthetic that no one sees except you.

Help America. Help. Send, help.

This is the Ramsey Show.

Hello. So essentially, my question is, should I put my credit card debt on hold to pay for my summer classes? And then, how can I best prepare myself for my loans as I graduate with my MBA in December? So I know there's going to be a new monthly cost. overall.

Okay. So how much more? You have schools over in December. How much more do you have to pay?

So I'm paying for my summer classes. right now. I'll be taking out a loan in August, only $5,000.. But right now, I paid $1,600 at the beginning of this month, and then I owe $1,600 at the end of July. As far as my credit card debt on one, my total is $879, and $300 is due by the end of July.

If you could easily pay it off, why did we go into a few hundred bucks of credit card debt? What happened?

This is kind of crazy. So I normally put my gym workout on the credit card every month. It's just kind of like a reoccurring thing. But I got a little willy-nilly and ran it up higher than it should be. So it's normally about $75 a month.

Ran it up through extra spending?

Correct.

Okay.

Maya, you're getting an MBA. Are you going to class, or is this an online program?

This is an in-person. I'm doing an accelerated program, so it's nine months. But this summer, I'm taking some additional courses, or some, I guess, online classes. So it's about $3,000 for the summer, and it's normally $5,000 a semester. So I'll be taking out one additional loan.

Have you gone through all of your services and fees?

Yes. Well, I get what they're charging me.

Yeah. So if you go through your services and fees, I would be stunned. if you're not paying a rec fee. You're not paying for an amazing gym.

No, no, no. That's separate. I'm sorry. The gym membership is coming out of my own personal. I know.

That's what I'm saying. I'm saying you're about to have an MBA. You're about to have a master's in business administration. And as a part of this $5,000 tuition that you're paying, that comes with counseling services and medical clinic and access to the university gym. And over here, you're paying for the gym again.

I'm paying. Yeah. I have trainers that I go to. And unfortunately, I just don't want to give it up.

I know, but you don't have the money for it.

So you're going to go into debt at who knows what interest rate, so that you can have multiple gym memberships?