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Music Live

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from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this

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is the Ramsey Show. It's where we

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help you win folks in your life.

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We do that by helping you win

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with your money, in your work, and in

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your relationships. Triple eight eight two five

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five two two five is the number

0:43

to jump in. We'd love to help

0:45

you today. Triple eight eight two five

0:47

five two two five. I'm Ken Coleman

0:49

joined by my dear friend, the

0:52

incomparable, the graceful Rachel

0:54

Cruz, ladies and gentlemen. I love

0:57

all the adjectives. Every time you host, you

0:59

can. I like it. I like a good

1:01

adjective. I also like helping people out.

1:03

You ready to go? Let's do this. All

1:05

right. We're going to take your money questions. Rachel's

1:07

going to be your money expert today. We'll take

1:09

any work related, bigger shovel questions. I'll help out

1:11

on that. And she always weighs in on anything

1:13

I say. So it's going to be fun. I

1:16

promise. Let's go to Kisa.

1:18

That's a very interesting name. Love the

1:20

names. Kisa from Little Rock, Arkansas. How

1:22

can we help? Hey.

1:26

Thanks for thanks for taking my call.

1:28

Yeah. So my question

1:30

is I work as a traveling nurse

1:32

right now in traveling.

1:34

I make like probably around one hundred

1:36

and twenty thousand a year. If you

1:39

average it up working full

1:41

time, you know, not taking any too

1:43

much time off between contracts. I

1:48

would like to I'm single right

1:50

now. I'd really like to settle

1:52

down and have a family, have

1:55

children. That's really where my heart is.

2:00

I don't have like anyone in my

2:02

life right now that I would get

2:04

married to, have children with. That's what I

2:06

want to do. I'm

2:09

also paying off debt right now.

2:12

I owe like, I

2:14

think a total of less than 38,000 between

2:19

student loans and a truck payment

2:21

as well. And

2:23

I'm set to pay all that

2:25

off by August because

2:27

I'm putting like 5,500 a month into

2:29

that. Yeah,

2:33

I'm pretty, yeah, I

2:35

don't spend too much, you know, like reasonable

2:38

with my finances. But like my

2:40

thought is like, okay, should I, cause

2:42

I do want to settle down, I do

2:44

want to have a family, but should I

2:46

leave travel nursing after and

2:48

get like a core staff position after

2:50

I pay off this debt and then

2:53

start working on, you know, like the

2:55

15% into investing cause

2:58

even for a house and stuff like that, or should

3:00

I keep traveling? Maybe you might think.

3:03

How intense is the traveling? How much does it affect

3:05

you? I

3:10

mean, I like traveling. I enjoy

3:12

traveling. I make friends really easily.

3:15

I guess I just, I'm not getting

3:17

to that point in my life, you know, where it, yeah,

3:20

I don't know how long. Yeah, I get that. Yeah, in

3:22

a sense, yeah. Well, the reason I asked that,

3:24

Kisa, is because I'm curious

3:26

how much you would

3:28

make less, cause you're making 120 as a

3:30

travel nurse, how much less would you

3:32

make if you played out the scenario you asked us about

3:34

and now you take a staff position? What would that pay

3:37

look like? I

3:41

mean, it depends on where you live. I'm from Arkansas.

3:45

And so I would think probably if

3:47

I was to be core staff in

3:49

a hospital in Arkansas, I'd probably make,

3:53

I'm guessing like 60,000. Okay, so here's,

3:56

I'm curious to know what Rachel thinks, but I'll jump

3:58

in really fast and say, just. from a

4:00

professional and financial standpoint. If

4:05

the travel nurse is not affecting your

4:07

ability to date, and I

4:10

hear you want to settle down and make total sense,

4:12

but I also didn't hear a person who feels like

4:15

their soul is sucked out of their body because of

4:17

the traveling. You're like, I like the travel. I just

4:19

want to settle down. I want to have my house.

4:21

I want to have my backyard. I get all that.

4:23

But until we got that relationship thing going, me

4:27

personally, I'd keep doing the travel

4:29

nurse. And hey, if I'm traveling,

4:31

that means I get to meet a whole lot of people. And

4:34

hopefully that life partner and I would

4:36

be focusing on my relationships and putting

4:38

myself out there. It's not a dating

4:40

advice show, but I would keep stacking

4:42

the cash, Rachel. And then when

4:44

we find that significant other, then

4:46

we settle down because I just think that

4:48

not only can you knock this debt out

4:51

really fast, I'd love to see that fully-funded

4:53

emergency fund, Rachel, and then she gets going.

4:55

What are your thoughts on that? Yeah. How

4:58

old are you? Okay.

5:03

Yeah. I mean, I think if you're

5:05

still enjoying the travel nursing, I mean,

5:07

I would keep doing what you're enjoying because you're going

5:09

to – and after the debt's paid off, like Ken

5:11

said, and yes, if you have that emergency fund, it's

5:13

like that frees up even more options for

5:16

you. So I'd probably let those be

5:18

my two goals that are driving me to stay in

5:21

the high-paying job to get through that. And

5:23

then you're going to look up, you know, and be in your

5:25

early 30s and you may say, gosh, I'm just

5:27

kind of – I'm tired of this, right? I mean, like I'm in

5:29

my mid-30s and we have friends that, you know, he

5:31

changed jobs because he was traveling a ton. And he was

5:34

like, I kind of just want to – yeah, I don't

5:36

– I'm just tired of it, right? So I do think

5:38

there gets to a point in your life that you may

5:40

not enjoy it as much anymore and then you're going to

5:42

have the freedom financially to be able to

5:44

say, yeah, I'll give them 60 grand and settle

5:46

– yeah, settle down. Regardless of having somebody in

5:48

your life or not, I

5:50

would kind of drive my financial goals to

5:53

keep me motivated to stay in that high-paying

5:55

job. And then once that's reached, yeah,

5:58

then you're able to say, gosh, I – I'm

6:00

good cut mine come in half because I can and I'm

6:04

gonna just settle down more and be in

6:06

one place. So that's probably what

6:08

I would do. Does that sound around

6:11

kind of what you're thinking or Do

6:13

you want to just like quit tomorrow? No,

6:17

no, I wouldn't you know, I want to like

6:19

pay off my debts First

6:21

for sure. So I'm not gonna

6:23

quit right now But

6:26

you know like I think it sounds I

6:28

think sounds very reasonable I guess it and

6:31

I mean obviously like I I

6:33

believe in God like I believe

6:35

it like it's kind of divinely

6:37

appointed You know partnership and stuff

6:40

like that But you know, you

6:42

know the traveler like, you know,

6:44

you don't necessarily like build like

6:47

long term, yeah I

6:50

hear in your voice that you want to pay this

6:52

debt off and then you want to slow down That's

6:55

what I hear you want to you

6:57

want to pull back from the traveling you want to establish

6:59

some route That's what I hear. Is that what I'm that

7:01

how you felt before you called us Yes

7:07

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

7:09

you out of it. I think it's great I

7:12

think I would push to get through baby step Three

7:15

which you see three I would say three months

7:17

of expenses and then yeah and

7:19

then settle down But stay stick with this maybe for

7:21

another year or like, you

7:23

know map out. Okay, when can I? You know get this

7:25

paid off and all of it, but have an end date

7:27

So at least you're looking towards something because of what you're

7:29

really wanting Yes, and I'm

7:32

not one to give dating advice. I haven't dated in Six

7:34

I would still as well. I haven't had a bit

7:37

on a date since 27-year-old though.

7:39

I will never forget. We were at a smart

7:41

conference and dr. Henry cloud was saying

7:43

like you Even though yes

7:46

We believe in a God that orchestrates and knows our

7:48

story and all of that It is still our free

7:50

will to get out there. You gotta go fishing Yeah,

7:52

I gotta put yourself out there. And so I remember Henry saying

7:54

that he was like, you know He talks to people and they're

7:56

like well, I just go to my small

7:58

group do women and that men out these

8:00

days. Kiesa, what's your, I've literally

8:02

been married 25 years. I

8:05

don't think so. I'm just asking. Kiesa, what's the

8:07

play? Do you ask dudes out or do you

8:09

just gotta be, what's the, how are you gonna

8:11

get a man? What's the strategy? She's gonna be

8:13

her and she's gonna be awesome. Hold on.

8:15

And some man's gonna be like. Kiesa, do

8:18

you ask guys out, do

8:20

women do this? I mean,

8:23

I know, I'm kinda more traditional. Yeah, no,

8:25

I wouldn't. That's what I

8:27

like. You know, people ask me, you know, it

8:29

goes in all of the things. Yeah. Well,

8:31

I'm gonna say this. Yeah. If you're

8:33

in Little Rock, Arkansas, I don't know

8:35

if Kiesa's last name, but it's pretty

8:37

unique. And she's got

8:39

a great salary, great career. She's gonna

8:42

be debt-free suede. She's smart. Look up

8:44

Kiesa, all the single guys in Little

8:46

Rock. Give her a call. This could

8:49

be great. This is the Ramsey Show.

8:54

When families were asked how long it

8:56

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8:59

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why I talk about getting term life

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9:27

right, America, you can win in your money. You

9:29

can win in your work and you can win

9:31

in your relationships. And the Ramsey Show is committed

9:33

to helping you do that. So excited that you're

9:35

with us. We're honored. My name

9:37

is Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz is my co-host

9:39

and dear friend joining me in studio today.

9:41

The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. And

9:49

if you've been listening or watching just for a

9:51

small amount of time, it's nerve-wracking a call. We

9:53

totally get it. We're going to take really good

9:55

care of you. We're for you. And

9:57

we'd love for you to jump in today. And let's get some... Let's

10:00

get some hope based on some practical steps that

10:02

you can take to move forward. The Ramsey Show Question

10:05

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neighborly.com/Ramsey. And

10:23

today's question comes from Hillary in Wyoming. We

10:26

have had a shift in our income and our mortgage is

10:29

now about half of our take home pay. We

10:31

bring home around $5,500 a month and our

10:33

mortgage is $2,300. We

10:36

currently are a month behind on the house and

10:38

a truck payment which is $683 a month. We

10:42

have another car note and a tractor payment.

10:45

Our $100,000 RV is in the process of being repossessed. In

10:53

the mortgage utilities, groceries, insurance, credit cards and

10:55

student loans, we are at a deficit

10:57

of $400 a month. When

11:01

do you just throw in the towel and sell your

11:03

home? Wow. Gosh,

11:06

Hillary, you all have a

11:09

lot of stuff happening. I

11:11

would say, I mean just to answer your original

11:14

question, the main question, when do you

11:16

sell your home? Unless

11:18

you see your income going up double

11:22

and getting back to where it was, meaning

11:24

if one of you all has lost your

11:26

job but you're in the process of finding

11:28

one and you think you'll find one here

11:30

in the next 30 days, 60 days, but

11:33

if something has shifted that you know, okay,

11:36

getting your income back to where it was is probably not

11:38

realistic, then I would sell. And

11:42

again, you don't want to be in a rush

11:44

with something but then also you guys need to

11:46

be, have a level of urgency about you with

11:48

these other things. I mean the truck, the

11:51

other car, even the

11:53

RV. And the tractor.

11:56

The tractor, you know, if you

11:58

can stop this repossession, if you can. can somehow

12:01

sell it. I mean it's in the process of it so maybe it's

12:03

too late at this point. But anything you

12:05

can do to not have things

12:08

on your record, right? Like having on your

12:10

credit reports because it's going to ding you

12:12

in life. And we're not about going and

12:14

taking out debt. But in general,

12:16

if someone pulls that for a job or anything,

12:18

they're going to be able to see these

12:22

elements of your life. And so if you're able to

12:24

avoid all of this and especially a foreclosure and that's

12:26

what I don't want for you. And so I would

12:28

make the decision to move again if you don't see

12:31

your income doubling anytime soon and get rid of some

12:33

of this stuff. Hillary, I'm like you guys, you

12:36

can't afford your truck. You can't

12:38

afford the tractor. You can't afford this stuff. And

12:40

so selling it is going

12:42

to get you to a more

12:44

peaceful place when you don't have all these payments.

12:47

Yes, tough stuff. Before I'd sell

12:49

the house, I'm with Rachel. I would try to.

12:51

We have a deficit of 400 a month right

12:53

now. And so if we

12:56

can flip that. Yes,

12:59

flip that. My goal would be, okay,

13:01

now we have a margin of 400. Then what do we have

13:03

to do to make it 800? We have to make 1200 all

13:06

while trying to get that income back up. But one

13:08

of the things we need to mention here is we're

13:11

in a country right now that has

13:13

an unbelievable employment market. We have 3.7%

13:15

unemployment. Here's what that means. There are

13:17

part-time jobs,

13:20

gig, economy type jobs that

13:23

are available. And even if

13:25

you had a major loss of a job, which

13:27

sucks. And that takes time to fix sometimes. But

13:29

going out and making 20, 25 an hour brings a

13:34

lot of relief short term. That's

13:36

right. So there's something to think about. You're getting one

13:38

or two of those. You can work. Yes, that's right. That's

13:40

right. It may not be the job, but it's a job. You're making

13:42

an income. The phone number is 888-855-2255. Let's go

13:44

to Seattle, Washington. Olivia is there. How can

13:49

we help? Hi.

13:51

I'm just kind

13:53

of stuck in the pickle. I'm on

13:56

step two and our

13:58

monthly income is a month

14:00

and I'm not sure whether or not I should

14:02

be selling our truck so we

14:05

can get rid of the $800

14:07

a month payment or I

14:09

should cut up my credit cards because my

14:12

husband is now starting training and we

14:14

don't have the money in our

14:17

savings to pay for this training but after

14:19

the training he would be getting a significant

14:21

pay increase. Okay,

14:24

walk us through some of these numbers. Give Rachel

14:26

the numbers. So talk about maybe let's talk about

14:28

income first. What he's at now and

14:30

what he's projected to be at. Okay,

14:33

so starting pay right now or his ending

14:35

pay in this position is $30 an hour

14:38

and that's the max he

14:40

can go. The starting pay on this new position is

14:42

$32 to $34. And

14:45

what's the training gonna cost? And

14:48

the training so far it's already costed

14:50

us $1500 and I had us on

14:52

the every dollar budget app so

14:54

every dollar was accounted for and so

14:59

I was thankful that I didn't cut up my credit card

15:01

but this morning I was so distraught

15:03

that I should have cut up my credit card and just

15:05

tried to figure it out or something. And

15:08

he works, I am not working on my mom

15:11

but he works mostly overtime.

15:13

I don't know if you've heard of like the

15:15

North Slope on Alaska so that $32 an hour is

15:17

like a significant increase compared

15:19

to $30. Alright

15:22

and how old are your kids?

15:25

I have one child and she's two. She's two,

15:27

okay. And how much debt do you guys have

15:29

left? We have

15:32

total or just a car? Total.

15:37

Okay and what is that in? And what's that in?

15:41

$17,000 on a credit card, $3,000 on another credit card,

15:43

$5,000 student loan and then $41,000

15:46

on the car. How

15:50

much? Yeah which

15:52

is just outrageous. Oh my gosh.

15:54

What's that car worth? That's

15:57

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

16:00

drastically. Yeah, there's so many people underwater

16:02

on cars right now. But honestly,

16:05

I mean Olivia, yeah that

16:07

car is, you guys probably make $800

16:09

a month. Well, I mean you

16:11

make around probably $55,000 a year before taxes. I

16:15

mean it's $89,000 before

16:18

taxes. $89,000, yeah.

16:21

Do you have time, and I have very

16:24

much honor stay-at-home moms, do

16:26

you have any kind of time during the week

16:28

where you could pick up some part-time work even

16:30

if you're doing it from home? I've

16:33

been looking, I'm just having a hard time

16:35

coming up with anything. I don't have anyone to

16:37

watch her and I don't want to put her

16:39

in a daycare and I've been trying to find

16:42

something but I haven't

16:44

been able to find anything. Okay,

16:46

well keep looking, be encouraged. You know what

16:49

your boundaries are there but any of that

16:51

will help and I'm glad you're looking. Yeah,

16:53

for sure. Yeah, I mean the

16:55

$41,000 car, I

16:57

mean, I just

17:00

don't know if I should sell it. That's what I

17:02

thought. Yeah, it's just right on that line and there's

17:04

a part of me, Olivia, that what

17:06

sucks is you will have to take out a probably

17:09

$7,000 loan to make up the

17:13

difference but that

17:16

feels so much better seeing $7,000 versus $41,000

17:18

and it's

17:20

a car. Yeah. And you guys, I mean you've been

17:23

in this habit and you said it earlier so I'm

17:25

going to just repeat back what you said. You know,

17:27

well we just kept the credit card around, something came

17:29

up and you know it's going to be good for

17:31

us so we're, you know, the training and all of

17:34

it and I understand how you can like rationally get

17:36

there but until you guys make a mindset shift of

17:39

this is now how we handle money. We

17:41

don't use debt regardless of

17:44

what it's going to bring to us in the future

17:46

until you have a strong line like that, Olivia, you

17:48

guys are going to continue to creep back in to

17:51

these habits. Right. You really are and so there's a

17:53

part of me for selling the car. It's kind of

17:55

like shocking the monkey. It's like this like, oh my

17:57

gosh, it's just like it shocks the system of which

17:59

you guys have been living in and it

18:02

forces you to say, okay, we are doing, we

18:04

are literally acting different right now. We are selling

18:06

a car that we that we should never have

18:08

bought in the first place. We're cutting

18:10

up the credit cards and we're just saying

18:12

no and you have to have that hard

18:14

line because this whole like wishy-washy way with

18:16

debt, it's gonna find its way back in

18:18

and you guys will look up and

18:20

the habits haven't really changed and so having

18:23

that hard line I think is what I really want for

18:25

you guys. So yeah, I would sell the car Olivia. I

18:28

would start working to pay off

18:30

that credit card next to student

18:32

loan then the $7,000 loan that you'll take out for the remaining of the

18:36

car and then you guys go and attack this

18:38

big credit card debt of $17,000 and get rid

18:41

of them. I mean, I

18:43

just, I again

18:45

when we have the ability to go

18:47

back in it's the easiest way

18:50

in the moment. It's okay, we'll just, we'll just swipe

18:52

it. We'll just go back in. That's what people find

18:54

and when you don't have that option anymore it forces

18:56

you to look at other options which there are other

18:58

options out there. It may take more patience but

19:01

there's other options. Thanks for

19:03

the call Olivia. You got this focus. This

19:05

is the Ramsey Show. Guys,

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37027. Welcome

19:51

back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me.

19:53

The phone number is 88825 5225 88825 5225 taking

20:00

your questions. Let's go to

20:02

Zella who is on the

20:04

line in Indianapolis, Indiana. Zella, how can

20:06

we help? Hi,

20:09

hi there Ken. So

20:11

my question is my husband

20:13

and I do not live in the

20:16

same country. He's in Canada. I'm here

20:18

in the US and we're on

20:20

we're on board with

20:22

combining finances, married couples,

20:24

and taking

20:26

down debts first, not even credit card and

20:28

all that but we each

20:31

have our own debts that we

20:33

bring when we got married. We're

20:35

on baby step two which is paying off the

20:37

debt in the snowball

20:40

method. My question is do

20:42

we tackle our debts in

20:45

combination like do we list it from small

20:48

to big like his debt and my debt

20:50

and Canadian dollars and his dollars combined or

20:52

do I send him money, money transfer and

20:54

does he send him any money transfer to

20:56

pay that or do we tackle our debts separately?

20:59

Okay. We're not combining our checking

21:01

account yet because we don't have it

21:03

on a bank that would accept both

21:06

currencies yet. Alright, couple questions before we dive

21:08

into that part. How

21:10

long you been married? Six

21:12

months now. And the plan

21:14

was to live separately the entire time? No,

21:18

we are currently working on getting him

21:20

here to the US. We actually have

21:22

our application now and it's in process

21:24

in the immigration USCIS. It just takes

21:26

a while, about a year or two.

21:30

Even though you're married, even though he married an

21:32

American woman, it's still taking about a year. I'm

21:35

not an American citizen yet. I'm just a green

21:37

card holder over here. Alright, that's

21:39

why I was... Okay, gotcha. Wow,

21:43

Rachel, I don't like

21:45

that there have not combined accounts although

21:47

you're saying this is a legal thing?

21:49

Well, there's a logistical thing I think when

21:51

you're working with two separate countries.

21:53

I mean, yeah, you guys may not

21:55

find a great solution to actually share

21:57

a physical checking account together. until

22:01

he comes here. What does he make

22:03

and what do you make financially?

22:06

For him, I converted to US dollars

22:09

for his salary is

22:11

60k, he has dollars,

22:13

mine is 80k and

22:17

he has about also 64k

22:20

of total loans, debts

22:22

and I have

22:24

about 19k of

22:26

debt. How long

22:28

did you guys date for? We

22:34

only officially dated for two months before we got married

22:36

but we've known each other since we were

22:38

kindergarten. Oh okay, so you

22:40

guys have had history so you knew going

22:43

into this that you would

22:46

be in this situation from

22:48

a long distance standpoint. You've known each other

22:50

since kindergarten so are you Canadian? No,

22:54

we're both Filipinos, we just migrated to

22:56

different countries at

22:58

some point in our life and we

23:01

met here in the US. What

23:03

country were you in when you met as kindergartners?

23:06

The Philippines, we both grew up there

23:09

and then our families migrated to different

23:11

countries. So he goes to Canada and you go

23:13

to America? The US, yes. Yeah

23:16

okay, are you sending, the way you asked this

23:18

question I'm just curious, are you sending money to

23:20

him? I

23:23

well right now we

23:25

are currently in

23:28

doubt on whether to pay his loan first

23:31

or to pay mine first so I was

23:33

sending him money. How much? To pay off

23:35

the smallest. Well I

23:37

just sent him a hundred this month, it's

23:39

not constant like just to pay off his

23:42

the smallest debt that he has.

23:44

Yeah but how much money have you sent

23:46

him ballpark since you've been married? Not

23:52

much like five, just two hundred

23:54

dollars maybe total. Okay, all right. Yeah,

23:56

two hundred dollars in total I guess. Okay and

23:58

then it's such an ignorant question. I probably

24:01

should know this. Like your marriage license, like when

24:03

you guys got married, is it? Like

24:07

marriage license is here in the US.

24:10

Okay, okay. So once he comes here, okay.

24:12

Turn put all the pieces together. Yeah, was he

24:14

on a visa? And to be able to come

24:17

over here and get married? The travel

24:19

visa? No, Canadian. He's a Canadian

24:21

citizen now. So Canadian citizens can come over

24:23

to the US for six months at a

24:25

time. So he

24:28

just did that. We see each other one week

24:30

a month because that's

24:32

just how the border allows him to

24:35

come. Okay. One week at a time.

24:37

Okay, gotcha. Well this is complex Rachel. This

24:39

is a little complex. Yeah, well I mean

24:41

there's a reality that yeah, if you're in two

24:43

separate countries with two separate currencies, yeah, you may

24:45

not be able to share a physical checking account.

24:48

I mean that's obviously the goal

24:50

once you guys get into a place that

24:52

you're actually living in the same country.

24:54

That's what we're going to work towards. But since

24:56

you are married, seeing

24:58

this as a holistic picture though that

25:00

yeah, for you guys combined

25:03

to look at your income as one, I

25:06

would take all of your debts and I

25:08

would combine them and say okay, let's list

25:10

out the smallest debt to the

25:12

largest. And when you

25:14

get married, it is. You are one in

25:17

every aspect of this. And so I would

25:20

be paying off the smallest debt first regardless

25:22

of if it's his debt or your debt.

25:25

And my hesitation when I'm saying

25:29

all this is yeah, for all

25:31

of you listening though, you don't do this

25:33

unless you are legally married. You do not

25:35

do this if you are engaged, if you

25:37

are dating. But

25:39

for a married couple, this

25:42

is what you do. And so combining,

25:44

but yeah, I mean in a perfect world, you

25:46

guys would be able to see

25:48

each other's accounts and you're very much

25:50

on the same page with your

25:53

budget and what he's going to be spending, what you're going

25:55

to be spending. It's just a really kind of weird

25:58

situation. living

26:00

in separate countries for what

26:02

could be two years and you're married. I'm like man that's

26:05

terrible. Zell I'm sorry to keep asking.

26:07

You said that you guys are on board. You said that

26:09

we're committed to this. Yes. 100%

26:13

both of us. So you're seeing progress. You're

26:15

seeing his budget based on his 60,000

26:18

and so you're sending him the

26:20

money for what? What was the reason for sending him

26:22

money again? Just to help pay down the smallest debt?

26:25

Yes. Just to help pay

26:27

down his smallest debt and when it's time for

26:29

my smallest debt he also sends me money. So

26:31

you got evidence. So I only got the wisest.

26:34

Great. So you guys are on the

26:36

same page and we are attacking this thing as though

26:38

we have the same account and we're in the same

26:40

country. It's just separate. If you're

26:42

doing that then that's fine. But

26:45

he's got to be fully on board. 100% on board. Yes

26:48

he is. Wow.

26:51

Very interesting. That's great. Well

26:53

keep going. I know. Max

26:55

communication. That's hard. Yeah. Wow.

26:59

That's hard. I mean dating long distance is one

27:01

thing. Being married long distance. Well you think about

27:03

how many couples struggle with finances when they live

27:05

in the same house. Yeah. Yeah.

27:07

So I think yeah just a lot of communication

27:10

between you guys. Yeah.

27:15

And the reason we would say you don't

27:17

combine accounts because there are reasons.

27:20

There's an asterisk to this. If you are

27:22

in a dangerous situation, if

27:24

there's abuse, if there's an addiction that's

27:26

not being addressed, if there's

27:29

reasons to protect yourself then

27:33

that's what you need to do. Right? I

27:35

mean we've even said on the show there's some spouses that will not be

27:38

on board at all on any level of the same

27:41

page as money and they go out and rack up

27:43

all this debt on their own. Yeah. And

27:45

they get to a point that like you even have to, you know, there's a level to protect

27:47

yourself. So like always remember that. That's

27:50

why I even said if you're not married

27:53

you don't send people money because this is

27:55

just an, I mean they've dated for two

27:57

months. separate

28:00

countries and you

28:02

just want to make sure that it is, you

28:05

know, everything is okay. Yeah, I mean, I don't

28:07

want to play armchair quarterback, but Zella, if I

28:09

could have talked to you six months ago, you

28:11

know, I think I would have said, look, you're

28:13

in America on a green card. He's

28:15

a Canadian citizen. Let's think about

28:17

where we're living a little bit further. Let's

28:20

play this out here and let's do what's best

28:23

for our marriage. Yeah, it causes some stress. Yeah,

28:25

there's a lot of separation here. And again, this

28:27

is fascinating to me. This

28:30

is otherwise a very

28:32

nice couple. These are good people. And

28:35

a year and a half for him to be

28:38

able to get what paperwork he needs in

28:41

light of the fact that we have people

28:43

crossing our borders just freely. I just don't

28:45

understand how the government can't figure out how

28:48

to help people who are trying to do

28:50

it the right way. Like what paperwork does

28:52

this dude have to fill out to be

28:54

with his wife? It's like government. It irritates

28:56

me. I'm not an anti-government's rant right now.

28:58

I just kind of go, I hate that.

29:01

Yeah, totally. They've done everything the right way.

29:05

Can we fast forward this please? I

29:07

know, yeah. They're not a bureaucrat in

29:09

D.C. or Canada. Somebody listening. Come on.

29:11

Zella's coming out. Listen, Zella, in all seriousness,

29:13

make sure you guys are really dialed in

29:16

to an online group.

29:18

Get in a class. You guys need

29:20

that extra accountability just given the complexities

29:23

of your relationship. Don't move. More of

29:25

the Ramsey Show coming right up. This

29:30

edict identifies Jesus of Nazareth

29:32

as a heretic and a

29:35

blasphemer. This season on

29:37

The Chosen. There are those for whom this was

29:39

not a series of ends. My followers

29:41

won't understand. I'm

29:43

not. Come out.

29:46

I guess you're not holding back anymore. I

29:49

can't. I'm out of time.

29:51

See season four of The Chosen in

29:53

theaters on February 1st starting with episodes

29:55

one, two, and three. Get your tickets

29:57

now at thechosenriseup.com. Welcome

30:02

back to the Ramsey Show America. Thrilled to have you

30:04

with us. We're here to help you win in your

30:07

life, specifically with your money, in your

30:09

work, and in your relationships. All three

30:11

of those areas are really connected.

30:13

If you're losing in one of them, you might be

30:15

losing in all three. We want to help you win.

30:18

I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me this hour. The phone

30:20

number to jump in is 888-825-5225. That's

30:23

888-825-5225. All

30:26

right. So

30:29

those of you interested in real estate, thinking

30:31

about what your real estate strategy is going to

30:34

be, Dave Ramsey's got a brand new quick read

30:36

out called the ...

30:38

What is it? Oh, real estate,

30:40

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haven't even seen this. And

30:45

look at Dave. Million dollar

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smile. Happy to talk about

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real estate. He's so happy to talk about real

30:51

estate. We call these quick reads. These are very,

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31:00

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31:02

and investing. It's only 70 pages. Home

31:06

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31:09

turn that home into your biggest asset. It can be done,

31:11

but you've got to do it the right way. So you

31:13

can get your copy now at

31:16

ramsysolutions.com slash

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store. That's

31:20

ramsysolutions.com slash store. All

31:22

right. Kylie's up next in Dallas, Texas. Kylie,

31:24

how can we help? Hi. Thank

31:28

you so much for taking my call. Sure. So

31:30

I was calling in because my husband and

31:33

I are at a pretty good stage in

31:35

our lives where we have bought our second

31:37

property and we are looking to build. There

31:41

were some circumstances that happened to cause us to move

31:43

a little bit faster on the build than we would

31:45

have liked. So our first home

31:47

is completely paid off. We

31:49

just have a mortgage on the second property that

31:51

we bought. And

31:53

the mortgage on that is about 310 and

31:55

we're looking to build a house with about $300,000 on

31:57

that property. We

32:01

have a couple different options and one of

32:03

those options was to take out a heat

32:05

off to cover about $200,000 on our first

32:08

property to cover the cost of

32:10

the build because we have about 115 saved up to put towards

32:12

it. So

32:16

I was just looking for some direction. We're

32:18

really not sure kind of which way to turn and we

32:21

were definitely- What's the end goal? What's

32:23

the end goal? What are you trying to pull out here?

32:27

So this is essentially kind of my dream

32:29

property, the second house that we bought. We're

32:32

needing to build because right now my father, he is

32:34

100% disabled and it was unexpected

32:38

so we're needing to have care

32:40

for him. We don't want to put him in

32:43

a home. We want to keep him with us. So

32:45

that's the reason for doing the build now because

32:47

he does not fit in our current home. It

32:49

is too small and it is not- we've made

32:51

adjustments as needed but that-

32:54

Yeah, it's very admirable. It's very adorable. You

32:56

guys. Yeah, for sure. So the second

32:58

property, is there a house on it now? There's

33:01

a mobile home on it which presents some

33:03

struggles to get a construction loan. A lot

33:05

of people don't like that and the HELOC,

33:07

they're willing to just give us without any

33:09

of the red tape. Okay, why are you

33:11

keeping the first home then? Yeah.

33:14

We're currently living there in the first home. We

33:16

intend to live there through the build and then once that

33:18

build is complete, we could either

33:21

sell it or keep it as a rental.

33:23

I prefer to keep it. It's in a

33:25

great location and it could rent and give

33:28

us some really great money. How

33:30

much did you get for it if you guys sold it today? Probably

33:33

in the range of like $300,000. Oh,

33:36

just enough for what you need for the new house.

33:38

Okay, Kylie, here's what I would do.

33:40

I would know, I would not go take out a HELOC.

33:43

I would not continue to go into debt

33:45

when you have an asset like a house. Now, if you

33:47

guys had everything paid off and you were

33:49

going to be- you know, you had money saved to

33:51

be able to cash flow the build of the new house and you wanted

33:53

to keep this as a rental, that would be okay. But

33:57

you're sitting here and you're trying to kind of piece mill

33:59

all this together. together where you could make it pretty

34:02

simple. It's not gonna be the plan you want,

34:04

but I would sell,

34:07

I would go rent for a while. I have to, while

34:09

we build, so maybe a 12, 18 months rental

34:13

situation, making sure that it's

34:16

enough room for your dad and everything, right? So you guys

34:18

will have those parameters. Cash flow,

34:20

the house as you build, and then the 310,000

34:25

that's for the land, yeah, then you kinda take

34:27

that as the mortgage and say, okay, that's then

34:29

what we're going to continue to pay off. And

34:31

so I would not go get out a second,

34:34

I would not go get a HELOC or

34:37

go around that way, but that's

34:39

personally what I would do, because I would not continue to

34:41

go deeper in debt if I don't have to. And

34:44

you're in a situation that, yeah, you have a

34:46

great asset of a home, and I

34:48

mean, I would use it to further the cash flow

34:50

that you guys will be able to pay this property

34:53

down quick, and then you

34:55

have free, you're completely debt free, you

34:57

have no mortgage or anything, right, after that property

34:59

is paid off. And that's what

35:01

we want for you, we want you to get to that point

35:03

fast, and this is the fastest, best way to

35:06

do that, and real estate's

35:08

so hard because I feel like, too, the idea of having

35:10

a rental passive income, like

35:13

this whole dream. Oh, it sounds so exciting. And it's

35:15

great, like we love investing, real estate, right? The

35:17

real estate quick guy, like we are not anti-real

35:19

estate people, we are pro-real estate people, but doing

35:21

it in the right time, in the right stage

35:23

of your life. And for you guys,

35:25

and here's the other thing, because I,

35:29

Kylie, we built a home in 2018, moved

35:32

in in 2019, and I'm

35:34

telling you, when you have cash that

35:37

you are working with, you stay in budget,

35:39

suddenly. It's true. The upgrade of the

35:41

tile, oh, this, this, and this, do

35:44

we have the money for it? I mean, it really

35:46

gives you this hard and fast rule, because it can

35:48

be so easy to say, okay, we'll just

35:50

get a little bit more, and the bank will be willing to,

35:52

you know, we'll get maybe $40,000 more to do some, you

35:56

know, you continue to uptick, but this

35:58

really, it's an accountability. When you're working

36:00

with it and what a gift to be able to do

36:02

that. I mean that's really How

36:05

I would look at this and and Kyle I just

36:07

add very quickly you said that this second property

36:09

that you need for your father I'm

36:11

glad you can do it and Rachel's 100% right

36:14

you need to sell the current home and do what she

36:16

does Here's why you would still you

36:18

would still owe on that house and now all

36:20

of a sudden this dream property The

36:24

whole thing could become a nightmare if you get

36:27

somebody in renting your house and believe me When

36:29

something goes wrong with the roof or the toilets

36:31

or whatever they're calling you and all

36:33

of a sudden I'm a landlord and you

36:35

have six hundred thousand dollars and you're six thousand

36:37

dollars in debt and so I This

36:40

is a no-brainer sell rent Rachel's

36:42

100% right focus on this

36:45

dream This dream property that also

36:47

is gonna be a blessing for

36:49

your dad and in his time of need Yeah,

36:51

don't muck this up It just doesn't need to

36:53

get that complicated because here's the other

36:55

thing Rachel that kills me and people go Oh, you know,

36:58

we can rent it and I always love to do the

37:00

exercise of okay What's the mortgage on

37:02

the rental property that they tell me and what

37:04

are you gonna clear each month? And you

37:06

know if it could be 300 400 I was like,

37:08

oh, so we're gonna take on all this risk Yeah,

37:10

and all this pain in the butt to be a

37:12

landlord for what amounts to forty

37:14

eight hundred dollars a year Right, right, right,

37:16

right and that's assuming you have no expenses.

37:19

Yes. That's right. That's right So this idea

37:21

that I'm gonna write off her specific over

37:23

house was I think so Well

37:26

everything else that is true, yes, yes, but I would use

37:28

the money The point is we don't want her to go

37:30

into debt on the new that's right. Exactly. Why be a

37:32

landlord? Carry that be a landlord is

37:34

the point right? Do that. That's right. A hundred percent.

37:36

It's crazy People get sucked into

37:39

that and it's just there's so much that can

37:41

go wrong. So hard. Yeah, that's nuts All right. Let's

37:43

go to Chandler in Salt Lake City Chandler only

37:45

got about a minute and a half two minutes. What's

37:47

your question? Okay,

37:49

so getting right to the point I'm

37:51

a PhD student and I'm studying the

37:54

skills to be a high-level quantitative researcher

37:56

Which includes statistics research methods programming

37:59

this kind of thing, right? My

38:02

particular subfield is political

38:04

science and criminal justice. I

38:06

also work a full-time job in an

38:08

unrelated field. While it's really hard

38:10

and I have to maximize my time, I'm

38:13

more than capable of following through with this.

38:15

My question is, would it be

38:18

a better time investment to

38:20

drop a full-time job and put

38:22

that towards my quantitative skill set?

38:25

In the short term, that would put me

38:27

in a much less fulfilling and more difficult

38:29

financial position, but I can see how it

38:31

would pay off in the long run. When

38:33

you say more difficult, are we talking barely

38:35

scraping by or just

38:37

a little uncomfortable? Yeah, it would be

38:39

like barely scraping by on the student

38:42

stipend. No. You have no debt. Do

38:44

you have cash? You got emergency fund?

38:47

Yep, full six months. What's

38:49

the timeline? You're the quantitative guy. Give it

38:52

to me fast. If you do this move

38:54

that we're talking about, how long am I

38:56

in this uncomfortable, barely making it by before

38:58

it pays off and I'm making more dough?

39:03

The payoff would be about four to

39:05

five years. I wouldn't do

39:08

it. Not for that long. It's too risky, man.

39:10

One major life thing happens and you're whacked

39:12

and it's just, what do I do and

39:14

I'm trying to recover? I'd stay

39:16

in the day job, finish the PhD. That's

39:19

hard too, but it has way less risk.

39:21

So let's step our way into this new

39:23

future. Stay in the day job. Do not

39:25

take that risk. It's not worth it. You're

39:28

trying to exchange time for a ton of

39:30

risk and oof, I wouldn't do

39:32

that. Good hour, Rachel Cruz. Thanks to Austin,

39:34

our fearless leader and the guys in the

39:37

booth. This is The Ramsey Show.

39:42

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this

39:45

is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help

39:47

you win. Win in

39:49

your money, win in your work, win in your relationships.

39:51

The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-855-5225. I'm Ramsey

39:57

Personality. Ken Coleman, joined by Ramsey. personality.

40:01

Rachel Cruz and we are here together for

40:03

you this hour. We'd love to help you

40:05

out. Let's get it started. Oh one of

40:08

my favorite cities of the south. We're heading

40:10

to Savannah. Savannah. Otherwise known as

40:12

Savannah but I like to say it that way. You

40:15

always love a good

40:17

city accent. I just love

40:19

it. Savannah's a great city. Ebony is there.

40:21

Ebony how can we help? Yes

40:24

thank you for taking my call. Hi I'm Billie.

40:26

We're doing great. How are you? Awesome.

40:29

My question is I am finally

40:31

starting to make money and

40:34

I am trying to figure out how

40:36

can I found become financial free. I

40:39

don't have like anything to my

40:41

name whatsoever. What kind of

40:43

money you're making now that you're finally making money? What's

40:45

that number? It'll

40:47

be thirty two thousand a year. What are

40:50

you doing? Marketing

40:52

company starts close for you all. Okay

40:55

good. Do you see a path forward

40:57

with them? I'm not I don't want to get locked in

40:59

on that but I mean do you see opportunity for promotion

41:02

there? I do

41:04

see growth with the company. It's actually

41:06

the company. Great. Well congratulations. How old

41:08

are you? 36. Okay

41:11

good for you. Good for you. Thank

41:14

you. Okay so

41:17

we you know at Ramsey we

41:19

always talk people through having a

41:22

really intentional guided plan because that's probably one

41:24

of the best things that you can do

41:27

with your money is what you're calling in

41:29

for but it is to have direction right

41:31

and so part of

41:33

that is saving part of that is getting out of debts, investing,

41:36

homeownership like all of that is

41:38

at play. So right now

41:40

do you do you have debt right now?

41:44

I do. I purchased a

41:46

vehicle I had to give it back something

41:48

happened to the car and then

41:50

I have school debt as well because I

41:53

dropped out of school. Okay how much how

41:55

much you on the car? 18,000.

42:01

18,000 okay. You say you gave it the

42:05

car no more. What happened? A

42:08

company did it all changed in the mess

42:11

that my engine and unfortunately I could not

42:13

afford to get repaired. They were pretty

42:15

high so I accidentally picked the

42:17

vehicle up and they came to pick it out.

42:19

And they're just... Who's

42:22

they? I don't

42:26

want to say the company that did it but yeah it was

42:29

a company. Okay like a mechanic. Yeah

42:31

so when I was

42:33

supposed to be legit it was a new

42:35

store and I went there and they messed

42:38

it up. So Val I'm trying to just

42:40

figure out really quickly do you not have

42:42

any... I mean what are we doing here?

42:44

Like you should be compensated for that. They

42:46

ruined your car. I

42:49

didn't know until later on down the road that

42:51

I could have done something it was

42:53

too late. Okay but I don't want you

42:57

to have given that car like I want

42:59

that car back in you because you own

43:01

that car and that is an asset. How

43:05

much will it take to fix it? I

43:09

cannot get that car no more. It was... Car

43:12

lot has it and that car lot is no

43:15

longer available in my city. Okay.

43:18

Alright so it's gone. It's

43:21

gone. It was last year. Do

43:23

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

43:27

not. I'm actually in a process of looking for them

43:29

that I want to do it cash.

43:31

Yeah. How are you getting to

43:33

work? The bus.

43:37

Okay great. Yeah. That's

43:39

awesome. Okay well I know and I don't

43:41

want to keep harping on this car but it is $18,000

43:43

of debt with an asset that at least if you get

43:45

and you can't fix it you could at

43:47

least sell it for less and try to get something

43:49

out of it. Yeah so we won't

43:51

stay on that because I want to continue to help

43:54

you but I would go back and kind of retrace

43:56

those steps because again that was in your name. Unless

43:58

it was repossessed you couldn't pay the payment. or something

44:00

like that happen but overall if you can

44:02

find out a way to get that car back I want that

44:04

for you just so you can even just sell it for cheap

44:06

and make some money on it. Okay and

44:09

then you have your student loans and how much

44:11

are those? Okay

44:14

perfect and any money

44:16

saved? No

44:18

money saved. Okay great. Okay so what

44:21

I would do is I would

44:23

figure out okay how can I get a thousand

44:26

dollars quickly that's gonna be your first starting point

44:28

is to be able to get that emergency fund

44:30

and I would probably honestly do that before you

44:32

save for a car. I want some cash in

44:34

the bank that's just cushion to the side and

44:37

again this may look like working

44:41

a part-time job at night for a little

44:43

bit. Yeah finding if you can sell something

44:45

I mean like anything that you can do

44:47

to get that thousand dollars and I

44:49

would do that as quickly as possible so that'd be

44:51

the first step I would do. Then I

44:53

would probably say I would I would start saving for

44:55

a car. I would have a goal to get a

44:58

great used car and to be able to

45:00

pay cash for it and it's not gonna be a pretty car. It's

45:02

not gonna be a great car. I'm gonna look up some used cars

45:04

in Savannah. But it's gonna be the best thing yes

45:09

is to get that point of transportation

45:11

for yourself and then the

45:13

next goal would be to start working to pay

45:15

this debt down and pay off the smallest amount

45:17

which will be the student loans first and

45:21

maybe in the meantime with that I mean this will take you

45:23

some time right this is this will take some patience and it's

45:25

not gonna happen overnight. In the meantime again I would circle

45:27

back with the whole car thing because if there's any way

45:30

you can get this $18,000 down it's only gonna be for

45:32

your benefit. So

45:36

I would look into that and then beyond that everything you

45:38

know you want to start saving up for a fully funded

45:41

emergency fund after you're out of debt and then you can

45:43

start looking at saving for a down payment

45:45

and investing but all that may be a few years down

45:48

the line which is totally okay because you're

45:50

starting somewhere. So that's the overall plan. It's

45:53

called the Baby Steps and I'm gonna have

45:55

Christian pick up and give you

45:57

Financial Peace University which is our

45:59

Monday. course, seven lessons, you can watch

46:01

all the videos, really get a basic

46:04

knowledge of all of this and

46:06

every dollar premium because the next thing I really

46:08

want you to do today is sign

46:11

up for every dollar premium and start budgeting.

46:13

So you're going to take this income

46:15

that you're making and actually have

46:17

a plan for it and within that you're going to

46:19

be able to see okay here's how much I have

46:21

for groceries, here's what I have you know for that

46:23

you can go down the list and really see here

46:25

are my expenses and that's going to help you save

46:27

that thousand dollars as well because you're going to be

46:29

able to say you know I'm going

46:32

to save X amount of months towards this thousand dollars

46:34

and you're going to really just kind of be on

46:36

that plan and so I'm

46:38

excited for you it's going to create new habits and kind of

46:40

a new way of looking at money for you but I think

46:43

that you're at that point I could even hear it in your

46:45

voice when you called in you're

46:47

like I'm ready to do something

46:49

and I think it's awesome. You're

46:51

emotionally drained. Yes, you're emotionally drained

46:53

as I said. Yeah we've

46:55

been crying because I

46:58

feel like I've done wrong because I'm 36 and I

47:00

have nothing. I feel really

47:02

I'm not going to cry right now and it's not really

47:04

bad like I should be further off before

47:07

I financially and it's just it's

47:09

just so stressful being you know.

47:12

Yeah, that's yeah. Let me just be your

47:14

friend though for a second and that's that's a

47:16

lot of shame. I should have I

47:18

wish I have right. We all have regrets and we all

47:21

know when it's perfect with money but

47:23

I want you to be able to say okay

47:25

from this point forward I can do something and

47:27

you're only 36 right? People call us at 56. You

47:30

can still be a millionaire. What you got? You got to

47:32

well I was gonna say if you save about 4,500 to

47:34

5,000 up you can get a

47:36

decent car but I would also say if the

47:39

bus is safe and it's convenient

47:41

I keep stacking cash and one little

47:43

encouragement I want to add on to

47:45

what Rachel said Ebony you're

47:47

gonna get through this debt quicker than

47:49

you realize and if you start just

47:51

basic small investing you're gonna be a

47:53

millionaire by the time you're 65. I

47:57

hope you hear that because it's true we're gonna

47:59

guide you. You can do it. Yeah, hold

48:01

on the line. The person will pick up and give you that stuff. This

48:03

is The Ramsey Show. This

48:08

episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Hey, this is

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49:09

Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Thrilled to have you

49:11

with us. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. We're

49:13

here for you. 888-825-5225 is the number. You

49:16

got a money question. You

49:19

got a work question. You got a

49:21

relationship question. We'll take

49:23

them all because they're all interconnected. Triple 8-825-5225.

49:29

Ann is now with us in Salt Lake City, Utah.

49:31

Ann, how can we help? Hi

49:34

Ken. Hi Rachel. I wanted to

49:36

get your thoughts on a potential kind of

49:38

big decision that me and my husband have that

49:41

might set us up. To

49:43

give you a little backstory, we're both 35. We're

49:47

kind of at baby step six so we

49:49

don't have any debt. So

49:51

really just putting a little bit extra towards the

49:53

mortgage at this point. We have

49:55

some money set aside for the six

49:57

month savings so kind of working our

49:59

way. way through. We've been listening to you

50:01

for about a year, so it's been

50:03

good. I'll say a lot of,

50:06

yeah, a lot of I

50:08

think our success is, at least my success

50:10

anyway, my mom's pretty smart financially, so I

50:12

take a lot of her advice. On

50:15

this potential decision though, she's

50:17

not very much on board, so

50:19

I wanted to get maybe a third opinion. Okay.

50:21

Well, we'll give you our thoughts. That's

50:24

right. I promise you that. We don't know how much

50:26

it'll help, but go for it. All right. Give us

50:28

the scenario. Of course. Of course,

50:30

with parents. So right now, we bought

50:33

and took advantage about three years ago of

50:36

the really low interest rates. We bought our

50:38

home that we have now. Obviously,

50:40

we've made some equity on it now

50:42

with prices going up. We bought in

50:44

a pretty decent area. So

50:47

we have probably, I think

50:50

probably about 350 that we could get out of equity if we were

50:54

to sell. So that's kind of where

50:56

we're at right now. We owe quite a

50:58

bit because obviously we're only a few years into the

51:00

mortgage. We did go with the

51:02

third year, which of course I regret now, but

51:05

that's in the past. So

51:07

we're kind of at a standpoint to try and

51:09

decide to sell, take

51:12

quite a bit of an out of the equity, buy

51:15

something for less in a more rural

51:17

area, which is something both me and

51:19

me and my husband are

51:21

interested in or

51:23

stick with the mortgage at a really, really low

51:26

interest rate. We got a hold of a 2%

51:28

interest and kind of

51:31

just stay here and ride it out or pay it

51:33

off early. So

51:35

obviously, listening to a lot of

51:37

the conversations and tips that

51:40

you guys have, I lean towards sell,

51:43

take the equity, take some of our savings

51:45

and buy something where we'd be more here

51:47

mortgage free. My mom

51:50

says to stick and don't lose the

51:52

2% interest because we'll never see that

51:54

again. So curious yourself. Okay.

51:57

I'm not going to talk about the money side. I'll let

51:59

Rachel weigh in on that. But I it

52:01

sounds to me like you guys want to live in the rural area.

52:04

That's kind of the life you want to lead Yeah,

52:07

well, that's a no-brainer We've

52:10

kind of got a we've kind of got a lobby

52:12

for I'm going now and so maybe delve a little

52:14

more into that And it's gonna

52:16

get what you own right now. And that's

52:18

a good and can you get what you want for

52:20

that 350 400? So

52:25

for 350 it probably we

52:27

have about a hundred and fifty thousand states

52:31

That's in a high yield savings It's

52:33

kind of just that's above your emergency funds Kind

52:35

of the other question is like if we don't

52:37

do something with that maybe what should we do with

52:40

this? Okay. Yeah, is that above your

52:42

emergency fund the 150? That

52:45

includes it. Okay, I would say we

52:48

could easily take probably a hundred hundred.

52:50

Okay, so for $450,000

52:53

could you it's amazing. Could you get

52:55

what you want in a rural area

52:57

and where you guys want to live? Have

52:59

you looked at houses out there? Yeah,

53:02

I have and there's quite a

53:04

bit of availability that it's a

53:06

no-brainer And do

53:09

what you want to do do

53:11

it and financially speaking 2%

53:15

is worse than 0% Yeah,

53:21

and listen in and and this is where we're

53:23

the weird people in the space when it comes

53:25

to this stuff But we I mean

53:27

when you own your home There

53:30

is a it's not even a financial move

53:32

at that point. It is a true. Yeah

53:34

emotional spiritual Something happens when you don't

53:37

have a bank in your life. There's not

53:39

a mortgage company in your life Ford

53:41

Motor Company is not your like you don't have other people in

53:43

your life It is just you because how much you guys make

53:45

a year So

53:48

I bring in about 75 and

53:50

my husband brings in That's

53:55

amazing you're living where you want

53:58

debt free $160,000 a

54:00

year. Yeah, God bless your mom. I mean

54:02

like Anne if you said like yeah, you know what

54:04

we really want We probably need to take out of

54:06

you know $50,000 $100,000 mortgage. I'd say

54:08

okay. I'd say do that too. Yeah, I'm

54:11

like because you want to live there at that point Yes,

54:13

like you know you would be able to afford that

54:15

too But if you can just straight up do this

54:17

in cash I'm like that's the

54:19

dream and like that's what people that's what you

54:21

work towards is Have nothing

54:23

and you guys make an incredible income all

54:26

day all day. I'm living out. Oh, and

54:28

my Wisdom would be running for the hill

54:30

if I said we could live in a world You

54:36

know she's always been the one to pinch

54:39

pennies and you know don't take out credit

54:41

card loans and go to school debt free

54:43

and stuff yeah, I'm a little hearing this

54:46

from her that's so funny well You

54:49

know has it such a positive voice in your life, but also

54:51

in your 35 year old woman Yeah,

54:54

so mom's not gonna agree with everything all the time

54:56

and you imagine it doesn't matter like she doesn't get

54:58

a vote And you

55:00

and your husband. I'm assuming are on the same page like

55:02

you both want to make a move and you

55:04

guys are excited about it Absolutely,

55:07

so and and do this, but

55:09

just imagine imagine 20 years from

55:11

now You're talking to Rachel you

55:13

see her somewhere you're talking to a friend you

55:16

go Yeah, we had this opportunity 20 years ago

55:18

to buy this this great property

55:20

cash Live where we wanted

55:22

to live, but you know my mom talked us in to keeping

55:24

the 2% on this house We have could you imagine how much

55:26

you were to resent her does that sound silly to you? Yeah,

55:30

it does. That's why it's like this internal back

55:32

and forth. Oh It's

55:35

good to hear third party Dan. What do you want to

55:37

do forget what me and Rachel think you should do? What

55:39

do you and your husband want to do? Oh? For

55:42

sure, I think that's been our dream. I

55:44

mean we've worked from you know We've been together

55:46

15 years and you know worked

55:49

our way through this and kind of y'all done

55:51

an incredible job Leverage in

55:53

one year of listening to this and doing this

55:55

plan I mean you've you you've made it you

55:57

made it through all through seven baby steps and

56:00

Cue the Disney music. Yeah. Right?

56:02

It's time for Dreams Come True, Pixie

56:05

Dust. Let's go. Oh, it's great, Ann.

56:07

Fascinating. All right. Just have your mom out for

56:09

a great dinner. All right, I gotta ask. At a

56:11

new place. Yeah, I gotta ask you a question that I

56:13

think really hits our broader audience. The influence of family. And

56:16

let's also throw friends in this bucket. You've been coaching a

56:18

lot of people for a long time. What

56:20

are your thoughts on this, as

56:22

to why we have a hard time

56:24

allowing our heart to overcome

56:27

the influence of what

56:30

family members say? Like

56:32

the heart's totally in. Yeah. But

56:34

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

56:37

know, I mean, I think that there's a level of

56:39

acceptance we all want. And I think for our parents,

56:42

from a parent to a child relationship, I think

56:44

a child, regardless of age, you still are like,

56:47

are you good? So true. Do you think

56:49

it's approval? I think there's a level of approval there.

56:51

I also think, you know, in Ann's

56:54

case, her mom sounded

56:56

very wise with everything else. So she

56:58

probably genuinely thinks, okay, or believes, because

57:00

it probably is very true that she's

57:02

a really wise person with money. So

57:04

I am going to take what

57:07

she says really seriously. But the problem

57:09

is, is when all of that starts

57:12

affecting our day-to-day decisions and our life

57:15

decisions. And for,

57:17

and kind of, and parents, you're

57:21

not the, like at that point, like yes, I understand

57:23

you're still their parent, but you're not their parent anymore.

57:25

You have an adult in your life. And

57:28

you don't get a vote either, right? So

57:30

it's. It's interesting, isn't it? And

57:32

I do think parents, there is something about the relationship, I

57:34

feel like even with my friends, and I can say this

57:36

even about my own parents, as better

57:38

of a job as your kids get older, and

57:41

especially when they start having families of their own, and

57:43

you become more peer, like, you just

57:45

enjoy, I think you enjoy each other's company more versus like,

57:47

I still need to teach you, I'm still

57:50

being in this role. The kid,

57:52

the adult kid always ends up feeling like, oh my

57:54

gosh, I remember dad, mom and dad have done, they've

57:56

done a great job with that. I

57:58

remember even coming to dad about a money. question when I

58:00

had been married by 18 months is that

58:02

a mutual fund or something and can he would not commit answer he's

58:04

like what do you what do you want to want to do what

58:07

are you gonna do I was like I have Dave Ramsey sitting in

58:09

front of me so I just called a show and like make up

58:11

a name yeah Sarah from Dallas what

58:14

do you do but yeah he I mean that

58:16

he put us a lot of like you got to make

58:19

your own decision I think acquiring mines want to know

58:21

if you and Winston were to move out into

58:23

the to the wherever rural

58:25

area yeah what animal would

58:27

you not allow on the property oh

58:30

you have a hard and fast or is there any animal you'd

58:32

like to have like a rooster would be tough right

58:34

yeah waking up three in the morning

58:36

yeah what about you I have chickens though

58:38

I'd like to bring in a like some

58:40

goats I like the little noise you not

58:43

to though cows I

58:45

think this is the Ramsey show

58:53

welcome back to the Ramsey show so excited to

58:55

have you with us America I'm ken Coleman Rachel

58:57

Cruz joins me the phone number

58:59

is triple-eight eight two five five two two

59:02

five so Rachel and I were just talking

59:04

we're gonna get the phones just a matter of moments

59:07

but we were just talking during the break we love

59:09

getting out amongst the people I

59:11

am a self-fashioned man of the people and I

59:13

think you are a woman of the people whether

59:15

or not you would ever refer to yourself as

59:17

that but I love being out people we love

59:19

we love doing with you guys we love

59:21

doing events yeah and so we're very excited

59:24

we're not going anywhere but we are doing

59:26

it event you might be coming here what

59:28

are we talking about brand new event called

59:30

total money makeover weekend it's May 10 and

59:32

11 it's gonna be right here on

59:34

our campus just south of Nashville

59:37

and just God's paradise of

59:39

Franklin Tennessee it's just fantastic so one

59:41

weekend event you're gonna crash course

59:43

on everything we teach about money every

59:46

side from the big shovel to getting

59:49

out of debt saving investing the whole

59:51

nine yards so no matter

59:53

what baby step you're on this is gonna light

59:55

a fire under you there also be a lot

59:57

of Q&A so when we're speaking we're also going

1:00:00

to be taking questions live in the crowd. We

1:00:02

love that. Early bird tickets started

1:00:04

just $99 but this is going to

1:00:06

be for a limited time. So if you want to get the

1:00:08

best deal on tickets, this is it. And

1:00:10

the Ramsey Event Center by the way, Brand Spanking New

1:00:12

only holds 2,400 people so it's

1:00:15

limited. So get your tickets now

1:00:17

at ramsysolutions.com/events. That's ramsysolutions.com/events. It's going

1:00:19

to be fun. Yeah. It's a

1:00:21

great weekend so come hang out

1:00:23

with us. Let's do it. All

1:00:25

right. Henry is up in Las

1:00:27

Vegas. Henry, what's going

1:00:29

on? Hi.

1:00:31

So my wife and me have about 125

1:00:33

in household income, 305 in a mortgage, about

1:00:40

35 in student loans, no

1:00:42

other debt. So we're

1:00:45

foodies, we like to go out and enjoy

1:00:47

food. But that's really our only

1:00:49

I guess you could say vice. I

1:00:51

got my student loans. I'm comfortable with just paying the

1:00:54

$420 every month. She

1:00:56

would like us to more aggressively

1:00:59

pay off our debt. And

1:01:03

I kind of agree but same time

1:01:05

I don't because I don't

1:01:08

want to I want to

1:01:10

I don't want to not live as well. I want

1:01:12

to enjoy life. No, we have about

1:01:14

I think she had 20 something

1:01:16

in her rock. I

1:01:19

have about 3035 in my retirement, we're

1:01:21

putting 10%. So we're we're

1:01:23

doing the baby steps

1:01:28

and we're going along the way. We have about 100

1:01:30

in cash, 100K in cash. So that's

1:01:33

about three years worth of the

1:01:35

it's God forbid we lose everything.

1:01:38

We still pay all our bills

1:01:40

to include the mortgage, utilities and

1:01:43

food. So I think we're doing

1:01:45

good. But she wants to be

1:01:47

more aggressive versus I don't and sort of weird.

1:01:50

We're at an impasse of how to, you

1:01:52

know, it's not really about having one person be

1:01:55

right or wrong, but it's about maybe finding a

1:01:57

balance, right? You know, because it's all about

1:01:59

balance in relationships and we're

1:02:02

not arguing anything like that but just trying to think.

1:02:04

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

1:02:06

that. Rachel and I like to argue. I

1:02:09

argue. Okay, Henry, I

1:02:12

missed how much the student loan payment is or

1:02:14

I'm sorry how much debt total student loans are?

1:02:19

Okay, is that all the debt you guys have? And

1:02:21

then the mortgage is 305 and

1:02:24

the house is worth about 365. Good

1:02:26

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

1:02:28

loans today. Okay.

1:02:32

You have $100,000 in the

1:02:35

bank. Pay it off today and you

1:02:37

have a fully funded emergency fund. Now you guys are and

1:02:40

then bump up your investing 5% to

1:02:42

15% of your household income and you guys

1:02:44

are freaking going to do incredible. What

1:02:46

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

1:02:48

month? You just

1:02:50

get a $420 a month raise on top of everything. Go

1:02:52

out deep with that. Yeah, that'll

1:02:55

buy a nice stake. Maybe the tomahawk. Yeah.

1:03:00

Let's throw another weight, Rachel. Because here, the

1:03:02

$100,000 though, I want to

1:03:04

address it because I so

1:03:06

appreciate it. But the reason

1:03:08

why is that it's a

1:03:10

three year emergency fund and

1:03:12

he said in case something

1:03:14

happened and for three years, Henry,

1:03:17

for three years, you probably moved and

1:03:19

living off the land. I mean like if

1:03:21

it gets to that point in life that

1:03:23

you can't find a job in three years.

1:03:25

I'm just saying that it's an unnecessary amount

1:03:27

of emergency fund for that reason.

1:03:30

And so use it to your advantage. You

1:03:32

guys worked and saved so hard for that.

1:03:34

I mean, it's incredible. So use it to

1:03:36

benefit you guys in the present. This

1:03:38

takes away all the questions on your

1:03:41

aggression on paying off the loan because it's paid off.

1:03:43

It's paid off today. Henry, let me- Pay it off

1:03:45

and then get a nice bottle of champagne tonight and

1:03:47

celebrate your debt free. I love that and the tomahawk. And

1:03:49

it's amazing. But Henry, let me

1:03:51

throw something out here. What if you invested that

1:03:53

$420 a month? You're a

1:03:55

real safety guy and you're a numbers guy. Is this true?

1:03:59

Yeah. But she's a more aggressive one. Right, but hold

1:04:01

on a second. What if- Yeah,

1:04:03

but what if you did what Rachel said? And

1:04:06

you've been- I said spend it. Well, no, you

1:04:08

said pay off the loan, but he's still going

1:04:10

to have- Oh, yeah. Yeah. My math,

1:04:13

$65,000? Yeah. Okay.

1:04:15

So Henry, what if you had $65,000

1:04:18

in the bank, okay, and

1:04:20

you had no debt other

1:04:22

than your home and you

1:04:25

were able to invest $420 a month starting tomorrow? Extra.

1:04:30

Yeah, extra. How exciting is

1:04:32

that? Yeah,

1:04:35

with, you know,

1:04:37

by the time we retire, we'll definitely be

1:04:39

millionaires. Dude. Oh. Henry,

1:04:41

that's not even up for vote. So your

1:04:43

cautionary- this

1:04:45

cautionary narrative is actually holding you back, and

1:04:47

I'm trying to flip your brain on this.

1:04:50

You're going, oh my gosh, I don't want to give up $35,000. And

1:04:53

I'm going, you're not giving up $35,000. You

1:04:56

are creating total freedom. You're

1:04:59

freeing up $420 a month to invest, do whatever

1:05:01

you want. I mean, this is a no-brainer for

1:05:03

you, and you're still safe. Trust

1:05:05

me, $65,000 in your emergency fund, Henry, is plenty

1:05:07

for you. You know how I know this? Because

1:05:10

if you were to get laid off tomorrow, you would

1:05:12

be getting a job as fast as you possibly could.

1:05:14

You are not a guy who likes risk. Correct.

1:05:19

So, what are

1:05:21

you going to do, Henry? It's your

1:05:24

life. Did we convince you? We

1:05:28

convinced closer. I don't want to lie to people and say yes

1:05:30

100%, but yeah. What

1:05:33

are you so afraid of? So

1:05:36

I'm afraid of us getting

1:05:39

into a bad situation, and my

1:05:42

wife craves stability. What

1:05:44

would be the bad situation? This is really fun.

1:05:47

Not making fun of it. What's the bad situation?

1:05:50

Describe it. We both flew, you know,

1:05:52

well, she already lost her job. It's been about

1:05:54

nine months. So that's creating a

1:05:56

stress for her, and God forbid,

1:05:58

I lose my job. I'm the

1:06:00

stable one right now. If

1:06:03

we lose that, that 65 can go real

1:06:05

quick. Okay, but what... Wait a second. Wait,

1:06:07

wait, wait, wait, wait. What has kept her

1:06:09

from getting a job for nine months? It's

1:06:12

in the industry of recruiting. It's a

1:06:14

little bit difficult right now. Okay. Has

1:06:17

she been doing any work? Oh, yeah.

1:06:19

She has part-time work, so she has income. Okay,

1:06:21

here's my point. This is what I want to

1:06:23

say. If that were to happen

1:06:25

to you right now, you would go get a full-time

1:06:27

job or you would get a part-time job or another

1:06:29

part-time job. I would say she needs to get another

1:06:31

part-time job right now. She actually doesn't have to because

1:06:33

you're in such great financial shape and you live off

1:06:36

your income. But my point is, I'm trying to play

1:06:38

this out for you, Henry, that let's say both of

1:06:40

you lose your job. You

1:06:42

could still not touch that emergency fund if

1:06:45

you went and got busy. You

1:06:47

may have to use some of it, but you're not going to blow through

1:06:49

65,000. Yeah.

1:06:52

I mean, you guys are sitting at home doing

1:06:55

nothing. Literally, not even trying to work.

1:06:58

Yeah. That's not going to happen.

1:07:00

So I'm trying to walk you up to

1:07:02

the threshold of hell here and you look

1:07:04

over and go, what has to happen for

1:07:06

this? I love you because I feel like

1:07:09

we're usually the ones telling people to like

1:07:11

slow down. We're the conservative ones. He's like,

1:07:13

whoa, I don't want to pay that debt

1:07:15

off. You guys are crazy. We're so aggressive.

1:07:17

We're the aggressive ones. That never happens. It

1:07:19

really never does. But

1:07:23

listen, here's what's

1:07:25

great about Henry. He's never going to make a

1:07:27

dumb financial move. No, no.

1:07:29

So it's now just building up that muscle. Here's

1:07:32

my thing too. The way you guys

1:07:34

live and your

1:07:37

ability to save what you guys want

1:07:39

to do, pay it off. And

1:07:42

if you really keep losing sleep at night over

1:07:44

that 35,000, then just build it back up.

1:07:47

Well, okay. I love this. Great advice.

1:07:50

Let's take the four, what was it, 420? Let's round

1:07:52

it down to four to make easy math. Okay. Over

1:07:55

the course of 12 months, that's $4,800. Just

1:08:00

taking that loan payment and putting it

1:08:02

into savings. You could do way more

1:08:04

with the 420 obviously, but you're fine.

1:08:08

I would be so happy to get rid of that student

1:08:10

loan, it'd be a party. I like the champagne. And

1:08:14

maybe the tomahawk is a little too much red meat,

1:08:16

I don't know, but something. Carcouterie?

1:08:18

Go to a goat celebrate. You are debt free

1:08:20

Henry. Well done. You got to cut the check

1:08:22

first Henry. Get yourself a Pepsi

1:08:25

AC, it'll help. This

1:08:27

is the Ramsey Show. What's

1:08:31

up guys? It's Jade Warshaw here. Now, I want

1:08:33

you to take a moment and dream with me

1:08:35

right quick. Imagine a life where you don't have

1:08:37

to feel stressed about money anymore. Got it? So

1:08:40

here's the deal. That life is possible for you

1:08:42

and your first step is to get on a

1:08:44

budget. Budgeting helps you make a

1:08:46

plan for your spending so you know that you're

1:08:48

covered all month long. And the

1:08:50

best way to budget is with our

1:08:53

budgeting app, EveryDollar. You can get started

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for free right now at everydollar.com or

1:08:57

download it from the App Store. That's

1:08:59

everydollar.com. Welcome

1:09:03

back to the Ramsey Show. So excited to have you with

1:09:05

us America. Triple 8, 825-5225 is the number. I'm

1:09:09

Ken Coleman. Rachel, please join me and we're here

1:09:11

for you. Ryan is up in

1:09:13

Raleigh, North Carolina. Ryan, how can we help? Hey,

1:09:15

Ken. Hey, Rachel. How

1:09:17

are you today? I speak for you. Great. Good

1:09:20

to talk to you. What's up? Thanks.

1:09:23

So my life and I have been followers of

1:09:25

yours for years and I have a quick question

1:09:28

about retirement that I don't know if I've ever

1:09:30

heard you answer. Okay. Between

1:09:32

the two of us, we make about 280 base

1:09:34

and then up above 300 with bonuses. And

1:09:41

that's pretty recent that our income is not that high.

1:09:43

So for the past couple of years, we've had to

1:09:46

transfer what we were putting into a Roth

1:09:48

IRA just into a regular IRA because our

1:09:50

income was too high for the limit. And

1:09:54

I was wondering if we should start forgoing

1:09:57

the IRA altogether and just max

1:09:59

out. see now are Roth

1:10:01

401Ks. Well,

1:10:03

you can do a back door Roth IRA. Do

1:10:08

you know that? Right. But

1:10:10

yes, but we're not at baby step seven yet. No,

1:10:13

but instead of a... I didn't want

1:10:15

to take the extra money that we

1:10:17

would be putting towards the taxes and

1:10:20

instead of putting it towards the mortgage. Wait,

1:10:23

say that again? So

1:10:26

I didn't want to take the extra money that because if

1:10:28

we do the back door Roth, then we have to pay

1:10:30

the taxes that are due on it. Sure. Right

1:10:33

away, correct? Well, if you convert it... Yeah,

1:10:38

baby steps are five, five, I

1:10:40

guess, six, the mortgage. So

1:10:43

that's what I'm kind of wondering if it

1:10:45

would be better to just... Because

1:10:47

we're very happy with our 401K options

1:10:49

and their percentage as well as our

1:10:52

IRAs. Okay. So

1:10:54

what percentage does it get to? If

1:10:56

you guys both max out your Roth

1:10:58

401Ks, what percentage of your income would that

1:11:00

be? Like,

1:11:03

will you hit that 15%? Well, I think it's 25, so

1:11:05

it's about 45,000, which is almost exactly 15% for us. Yeah.

1:11:13

Okay. And then how much do you have saved total in

1:11:15

your 401Ks? So

1:11:19

our total retirement is probably

1:11:21

around 500. Yeah,

1:11:25

but I'm asking specifically, I'm going somewhere with this,

1:11:27

how much do you have of that 500 between

1:11:30

the two of you is in your 401Ks, the Roth 401Ks? I

1:11:35

think a 401K

1:11:37

is probably... Yeah.

1:11:46

Here's why I'm asking that question. Do you

1:11:49

work with a SmartVestor Pro? Yes.

1:11:52

Okay. When was the last time

1:11:54

you met with them about the strategy? I

1:11:59

actually... was just talking with him about

1:12:03

transferring over our

1:12:06

Roth IRA to a normal IRA

1:12:09

because our income exceeded the limit. But

1:12:11

I didn't ask him about this. Yeah. So I'm wondering

1:12:14

if it's not... Well, just

1:12:16

from like, this is real high level math here, Ryan, but

1:12:18

if you guys are making $300,000 a year, then you should be investing

1:12:20

over $30,000 together, household income, and

1:12:30

in that, I mean, the max, I think it's $23,000 for your 401K, max

1:12:33

Roth is $7,000. So that's right

1:12:38

at... I mean, you guys could max out

1:12:40

both of these accounts and do the back

1:12:42

store Roth. Yeah, you pay taxes on it,

1:12:44

but I would go ahead and just do

1:12:46

that because of... You're still within the 15%

1:12:48

of your income into retirement. But

1:12:53

the 15% for both of us would be $45,000. And

1:12:58

we can do $2,500 each into 401Ks. Yes.

1:13:04

I'm going to throw out to talk to you... Exactly to our 15%.

1:13:07

That gets you to your 15%. Right. Which is why,

1:13:10

if I can jump in here, I would like

1:13:12

for you to talk to your Smart Vestra Pro

1:13:14

about, do we diversify? Because you've got a good

1:13:16

chunk in Roth. I'm just wondering, not recommending, I'm

1:13:19

wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to

1:13:21

do a joint brokerage account here, gives you some

1:13:23

other tax options, and you can invest

1:13:25

that. Since you've got so much

1:13:27

Roth invested, do you start to diversify that?

1:13:29

It would be a question that I would

1:13:31

ask. Yeah, yeah. But

1:13:34

I'm saying, I think they

1:13:36

can still do both. They might be.

1:13:38

Yeah, yeah. I'm just going out there that... Because the

1:13:40

point is... My goal for you

1:13:42

guys, Ryan, would be to max out the

1:13:44

401K, max out the Roth by doing the

1:13:46

back store, and then, if you have something

1:13:48

above and beyond that, then that's what I

1:13:51

think is the diversification there. So, because it does

1:13:53

give you some... But maxing out our Roth 401K

1:13:55

gets it's exactly to our 15%. Yeah. But you

1:13:58

wouldn't need to do an IRA at all. Oh,

1:14:00

oh, oh, I hear you. I hear you. I got

1:14:02

you. He's already there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is why

1:14:04

I'm wondering if we should do all Roth 401K. Yes,

1:14:06

yes, yes. I probably would at that point. Got it.

1:14:10

Yep. Okay. Yeah, because-

1:14:12

And you're listening with the traditional. Matt beats Roth, beats

1:14:15

traditional. So when you look at that, if you have

1:14:17

the Roth 401K, you could- and if

1:14:19

your income goes up, though, Ryan, I would look at the

1:14:21

back door Roth. If

1:14:23

your income grows, yeah, and you guys have more percentages, because

1:14:25

it's just a great vehicle. I

1:14:27

don't know. I don't know. I mean, I have no reason

1:14:29

to say this. I just have a hunch in life. I'm like, I don't

1:14:31

know how long that- I don't know if they'll have that forever and ever,

1:14:33

amen. Like, I don't know. It's just a- it's such a great, easy

1:14:36

retirement vehicle to throw some money in. How much do you

1:14:38

guys have left to pay on the house? About

1:14:42

300. Okay, okay. It's worth about

1:14:45

750. So- Awesome. Great job. I think

1:14:47

you should have that done in seven

1:14:49

to eight years, probably. Yeah, that's awesome.

1:14:51

Yeah. So I would, yeah, go ahead

1:14:53

and do that. And then obviously, if

1:14:55

something changes with jobs or whatever it

1:14:58

may be, then you would move,

1:15:00

yeah, that 401K into just a traditional IRA

1:15:02

at that point. But that's obviously not- hopefully

1:15:05

won't happen. So sorry, Ryan. I was getting mixed

1:15:07

up with my numbers in my head. So yeah,

1:15:09

I would go ahead and do your 15%

1:15:12

all in the Roth 401K.

1:15:15

Now, for everyone else out there, the only reason

1:15:17

I say that is because it is a Roth. We all-

1:15:19

you know, Roth is a beautiful thing. So

1:15:21

if you just have a traditional 401K at

1:15:23

your job, you go up to the match,

1:15:27

up to that 3, 4, 5, 6%, whatever they give you, and then

1:15:29

the remaining of your 15% go back, go

1:15:32

to a Roth IRA, max it out, and if

1:15:34

you still have percentages of that 15% left, go

1:15:37

back to your 401K. But he has a

1:15:39

Roth 401K situation, which is awesome. Yeah, very

1:15:41

good. Let's go to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania now where

1:15:43

Caleb is- Caleb, how can we help? Hey

1:15:47

guys, thanks for taking my call. You bet.

1:15:49

What's going on today? So

1:15:53

I am- I'm

1:15:57

wondering what I should start

1:15:59

saving for- First, actually

1:16:01

my wife and I finish off paying off our

1:16:03

debt. There's a lot of

1:16:05

things I could save for and it feels overwhelming because we

1:16:08

don't make it. It's a ton of money

1:16:10

and I'm just looking for any advice you have. So

1:16:12

you paid off all your debt. Does that include

1:16:14

your mortgage or no? We

1:16:18

went right now. I'm 24. My wife's

1:16:20

25. We've been married for about two years.

1:16:22

Congratulations. When will you guys be debt free? They just

1:16:24

did. Well,

1:16:27

we have a little over $20,000. We

1:16:31

have a little over $20,000 on a student loan. Oh,

1:16:33

I've heard less. But once you pay

1:16:35

it off, you're asking what to save for. What

1:16:38

are the things you guys are... What should I save for? What

1:16:41

are you all wanting to save for? Well,

1:16:44

we have two used cars that have no payments.

1:16:46

Mine's close to $200,000. I don't know how much

1:16:49

longer it's going to last. I wanted to save

1:16:51

for a home. I know we're supposed to save

1:16:53

for retirement. We want to have kids and

1:16:56

we make about $3,000 a month. It's an

1:16:58

overwhelming prospect. I don't even know where to

1:17:01

go. I have two months of emergency expenses.

1:17:03

We built that up before we started hammering the debt. Yeah,

1:17:07

that's great. I'm just not sure where to go

1:17:09

next. Yeah. I

1:17:11

would bump it up to three months of expenses

1:17:13

after you pay off the debt. That can

1:17:16

be the first goal, is to

1:17:18

get that fully funded emergency fund. Then

1:17:20

I would see where you are with your cars. I

1:17:23

think a car purchase is always a great thing to be

1:17:25

saving for. I would Kelly Blue

1:17:27

Book your current car and say, okay, how much is it? I

1:17:29

wouldn't do it just because it has 200,000 miles. Obviously,

1:17:33

it needs to be in a place where the

1:17:36

repairs are getting so much and it's starting

1:17:38

to fall apart on you, then I would

1:17:40

replace it. I would drive them

1:17:42

as long as you can. Some

1:17:44

cars nowadays, they're built

1:17:46

so well that they do last. It

1:17:49

depends on the type of car. It may not

1:17:51

be that expensive. Do you have a line item

1:17:53

in your budget to Rachel's point for car repairs?

1:17:57

Yeah, we put a little bit away every month for maintenance and that's the

1:17:59

best. only well so far for tires and anything

1:18:01

that's come up. Okay that's great. Yeah so

1:18:04

I think yeah saving up for a car

1:18:06

but that'll be a faster you know goal

1:18:08

to save for and then Caleb after

1:18:11

that so you got your one more month of emergency

1:18:13

fund to save to get to your three months saving

1:18:16

up a little bit for the car and then I

1:18:18

would look at baby step 3B and

1:18:21

that is where you save up a down payment on a home. So

1:18:23

if you're a first-time home buyer as low as 5% you can

1:18:25

go put down on the house that would be my next goal

1:18:28

and you guys have plenty of time for investing but I

1:18:30

would get those kind of buckled in and then 15% of

1:18:33

your income into retirement. Thanks for the call Caleb you

1:18:36

guys are gonna do it's gonna be fun. Rachel

1:18:38

Cruz thanks for co-hosting what a great hour

1:18:40

thank you Austin for keeping the flame in

1:18:42

the air this is the Ramsey Show. Live

1:18:48

from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions this is

1:18:50

the Ramsey Show it's where we help you

1:18:52

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1:18:55

specifically in your money in your work

1:18:57

and in your relationships triple-a 825-5225 is

1:18:59

the number triple-a 825-5225. Hey we'd love

1:19:05

to hear from you always fun to be

1:19:07

sitting alongside my good pal my

1:19:09

friend I don't know if you can call a lady

1:19:11

a pal but I know pal just my old pal

1:19:13

Rachel Cruz. The old pal. Knowing each other forever and

1:19:17

we love love taking your questions so let's have

1:19:20

some fun let's let's get some hope established

1:19:22

for you so you can move forward

1:19:24

let's start off in Philadelphia Pennsylvania the

1:19:27

city of Rachel. There it

1:19:29

is she used to make fun of

1:19:31

me now I think you've been paying

1:19:33

attention to my little my little quotes.

1:19:36

You're so happy about it. Melanie how

1:19:38

can we help? Hey

1:19:40

guys thank you so much for taking my call I'm excited

1:19:42

to talk to you both. Well we're excited to

1:19:44

talk to you what's happening? Awesome

1:19:46

so I'm in a little bit of a

1:19:48

professional conundrum so I love a

1:19:50

conundrum. Great word. I'm

1:19:54

currently working two full-time remote

1:19:56

jobs that has been great for my

1:19:59

family. Wow. Kids

1:20:01

in school and all that. We're fortunate to find two remote

1:20:04

jobs. Hold on a second. Hold

1:20:06

on. This is fascinating. I

1:20:09

gotta know. Do both companies

1:20:12

know about the other? Of

1:20:14

course not. So you are

1:20:16

a professional polygamist. Are

1:20:19

you aware of this? Can we see? Hi.

1:20:22

Yes, you can see. They're in two different fields. Melanie, I

1:20:24

am so sorry. You have to deal with him. No, she's

1:20:26

not offended. She's not offended at all. I expect

1:20:28

Ken to give me a hard time. Listen,

1:20:34

not even doing that? I just wanted to

1:20:36

say professional polygamist because you've got sister wives.

1:20:40

You've got two companies that you're working full time

1:20:42

for and they don't know about the other and

1:20:44

I'm not even trying to- I think sister wives know about each

1:20:46

other. That is fair. You

1:20:48

get my point. It's a fun little metaphor. How

1:20:50

are you pulling this off? How long have you

1:20:52

pulled this out? I've

1:20:54

been doing it now for a year. Are

1:20:57

you exhausted? Are you tired? I'm

1:20:59

a little tired. Yeah, I'm not going to lie. I'm not. I'm

1:21:02

a little tired. People come to you. Yeah, people come

1:21:04

to you. And

1:21:06

keep them away from each other. It's

1:21:08

like having a mistress. It's exhausting. It's

1:21:10

a lot of great time

1:21:12

management. That's all I can say. You must

1:21:14

be incredible. So what kind of money are

1:21:17

you knocking down? So

1:21:19

I'm netting a 96 a year. Okay.

1:21:23

All right. So what's your question? So

1:21:26

I've just been offered a different

1:21:28

job that would cause me to be hybrid,

1:21:30

three days in the

1:21:32

office and two days working from home with

1:21:35

a base pay of 100K

1:21:38

and with up to a potential you're getting

1:21:40

a 20% bonus

1:21:43

of my base pay. Oh, wow. And what

1:21:45

has kept you from saying yes to that

1:21:47

offer? Well, because I

1:21:50

technically would be netting less. I

1:21:55

guess right now my husband and I

1:21:57

bring home about 12 a month. then

1:22:00

if I take this we'd be bringing up

1:22:05

the two remote jobs and you know flexibility

1:22:35

with the kids because I do no

1:23:36

she doesn't understand it once you understand

1:23:38

it rachel is heavy one company

1:23:40

let's call it ABC is

1:23:42

pain Melanie yeah to work a full-time

1:23:45

job yes that's

1:23:47

what 40 hours a week minimum Melanie roughly

1:23:50

yeah okay yeah company

1:23:53

XYZ is also paid

1:23:55

melody to work 40

1:23:57

hours a week and melody just tell us

1:24:00

How many hours are you working a week for both

1:24:02

companies? Eighty.

1:24:06

Now I didn't see that coming. She's

1:24:09

trying to get me out of technicality.

1:24:11

I still think it's unethical that they

1:24:13

don't know about each other. Yeah, I can

1:24:15

get the secret. Yes. And again, not

1:24:17

to judge you, Melanie, because there's no judgment. It's

1:24:19

more protection. So we've already covered. How

1:24:22

do you get my? No, I always get it,

1:24:24

but in my head if she's working both, I

1:24:26

get the secrecy, right? But if you're working both

1:24:29

full time. Okay, I said, I acknowledge

1:24:31

that she kind of had me on a technicality,

1:24:33

but it's still dishonest and we still have an

1:24:35

ethical issue that she could get penalized for. But

1:24:39

if ABC Company doesn't care that she's also working

1:24:41

for XYZ, doesn't matter. How do you know? Because

1:24:43

they don't know. No, but what if they're not? Then

1:24:46

in your book is it okay? If

1:24:48

they're okay with it? If they're okay with each other? Yes, 100%. So

1:24:51

it's the secrecy that's bothering you that they don't know about each other. It's

1:24:54

not bothering me. In the

1:24:56

sense that I think she's a bad, it's

1:24:58

just, it's risky for Melanie. I'm literally playing

1:25:00

defense lawyer for her going, I'm not going to

1:25:02

tell you what you did was wrong. My job

1:25:04

is to help you keep getting paid

1:25:07

and not get fired. So now

1:25:09

the question is, do I take this other job

1:25:11

which has a bonus above and beyond the 100

1:25:13

base plus a path for growth?

1:25:15

Melanie, you said this is a job that's

1:25:17

a better play for you long term. Melanie,

1:25:20

it's a no brainer. Now I'm not working

1:25:22

80 hours a week. Yeah, now you're not working

1:25:25

80 hours a week and- You're not

1:25:27

cheating on another company. And

1:25:29

again, it may be a lifestyle shift because

1:25:31

it's a hybrid idea. But

1:25:34

maybe you get into that and it works and it's

1:25:36

great and you figure out the logistics with the kids

1:25:39

and your kids are in school which is helpful. Or

1:25:43

you pan back a year from now and

1:25:45

say, wow, this is hard. So

1:25:47

maybe I go back to L-M-N-O

1:25:50

company and you find another job. But

1:25:53

Melanie, you do know I'm on Team Melanie,

1:25:55

right? We love you, Melanie. I do. I

1:25:58

do. And I just wanted to make sure that I'm- You're

1:26:00

not. I'm shooting myself in the foot with the $3,000

1:26:03

less that I'd be making in a month. But

1:26:08

you told us you're not including the

1:26:10

bonus in that exercise. I'm not. So

1:26:12

you've got to put the bonus in,

1:26:14

amortize that over 12 months, and

1:26:16

then you start looking at the monthly amount that you'd like. It's not

1:26:18

quite 3,000 because you said 97. So

1:26:21

my point is I think it's all

1:26:24

in all, it's not going to be that much of

1:26:26

a difference at all in the short term. And we

1:26:28

know long term is better if you take this new

1:26:30

job. And just for your own benefit so you're not

1:26:32

working 80 hours a week, you're looking for it. Yeah.

1:26:36

That's true. That's true. Thank

1:26:38

you so much. I appreciate your input. Yeah, Melanie, take

1:26:40

good job. Man, you've got to get out of jail

1:26:42

free here on this one. I mean, whoa! By

1:26:45

the way, this is a new trend. She

1:26:47

is not alone. There are millions

1:26:49

of Americans that are professional polygamists. They have

1:26:52

two full time jobs and they don't know

1:26:54

about each other and it is cheating.

1:26:57

I don't care how you slice it.

1:26:59

I'm all for you getting them paid.

1:27:02

Man, you can get fired and that makes me

1:27:04

nervous, you know? Oh, man!

1:27:07

This is the Ramsey Show.

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1:28:00

Really we had a good debate. I really

1:28:02

did in the in the lobby. Yeah, well

1:28:04

that are here Yeah, and make no mistake.

1:28:06

I want to say again. I got

1:28:09

a t-shirt on it says team Melanie I just

1:28:11

don't want her to get fired and I feel

1:28:13

like we got her a path to where yeah

1:28:16

gonna escape Yes, and nobody hurt

1:28:18

but again Because

1:28:20

fascinating what do you think America comment

1:28:23

get out there on YouTube and comment? Do you

1:28:25

think it's okay to have two full-time jobs and

1:28:27

both companies don't know about it? You don't

1:28:29

know thing just so everyone's clear. They

1:28:31

don't know I know I know I know and

1:28:34

I would say that is That's the

1:28:36

part for me that I'm like mmm. Yeah,

1:28:38

I mean you but if both companies are

1:28:40

okay with it I say get after okay

1:28:42

there you go. So yeah, we're more aligned.

1:28:45

I knew we were this is America We're

1:28:47

America right here. You think you're on two

1:28:49

separate sides in reality. Oh, yeah

1:28:51

My only the same thing if those

1:28:54

companies are okay with Melanie secrecy I

1:28:56

get that then I'm like I can

1:28:58

say and Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, don't

1:29:00

get you some money for some companies

1:29:03

what your position is You're

1:29:05

a graphic designer and you have these projects and

1:29:07

you gotta you gotta do it and if you

1:29:09

get it done and yeah 30

1:29:11

hours. Oh, I'm with the hour like you don't even

1:29:13

you're getting yeah You're getting paid for that position to

1:29:16

you don't want to get your pinot at the really

1:29:18

quick This is fun and bring you into my lane

1:29:20

for a second. Okay, we're leadership

1:29:22

work listen listen listen listen I

1:29:25

think the 40-hour work week is

1:29:27

an antiquated metric anyway Meaning

1:29:31

I think let's people work more. I

1:29:33

think that and I here's what I'm gonna say

1:29:35

I love that you're on this I think that

1:29:37

if you look at the world of work in

1:29:39

Americans It's either you work more than 40 hours

1:29:41

or you work less. I don't think

1:29:44

there's anybody that's knocking out 40 hours Let me

1:29:46

explain why if you work an eight-hour

1:29:48

day, you're taking a lunch break, which is probably

1:29:50

an hour Yeah, that's not eight hours.

1:29:52

Yeah, you're seven. Yeah, so I'm just going then

1:29:54

you start we know the data Don't

1:29:56

look this up leaders the data on how much

1:29:59

time people spend on Social media during the

1:30:01

work of Sharks. So now your way below

1:30:03

Gary our surf I'm just call is L

1:30:05

to say to your point For me to

1:30:07

good points it's about the production. Yes, neither

1:30:09

a time clock. That's right, that's right, that

1:30:12

a you agree. I do agree as at.

1:30:16

The. World Workers change. You do

1:30:18

notice out cos it's crazy. Of

1:30:20

your well as a four day work weeks. Have you heard about the

1:30:23

for the school week? On the school

1:30:25

or school districts hell that are

1:30:27

testing a four day school week

1:30:29

because monitor our eaters. I was

1:30:31

no way and. So

1:30:34

anyway, I digress. The. World

1:30:36

is changing right in front of us. Always tell

1:30:38

the did it to right when you say

1:30:40

a me a it fast forwarded. Everything.

1:30:43

Could not a boy. We're really

1:30:45

alignment today. You succeed. Maybe pretty

1:30:47

were a car. Just it's it's

1:30:49

it's it's great. I grew as

1:30:51

a covert literally is like a

1:30:53

fast forward button on change. And

1:30:55

and I think to for people. Depending

1:30:58

on how they're wired, it works like I

1:31:00

have so many friends that are hybrid. I

1:31:03

have so many friends. Are completely agree that.

1:31:05

Wanna be in an office company where I get me

1:31:07

out the house is no way I can work from

1:31:09

home feel some that are like know all I want

1:31:11

to do I will only find work for out from

1:31:13

under me like yeah and so it just get your

1:31:15

i like it because it gives the variety of dissent

1:31:17

within your life. You're a ends united like a lot

1:31:20

of that. Sends. Ears were talking

1:31:22

about this oh yeah with the you

1:31:24

have written article but they really see

1:31:26

works as a means to an end

1:31:28

that vs at being part of this

1:31:30

life than. Wheel size. And

1:31:33

I get yes, I am. I see that now. Thirty

1:31:35

Go So anyway America we want you to

1:31:37

sound off. we love getting the comments section

1:31:39

totally. Thing about Mill is always phone and

1:31:41

and does for. For. The Record

1:31:43

retooled Reason. To per

1:31:45

minute that we got us into my side

1:31:47

a little bit Was that what does? Whatever?

1:31:49

Okay, So. I'm going to capitulate as

1:31:51

is all I do. Have been married for twenty

1:31:54

five years. I have a teenage daughter on always

1:31:56

giving out to the women in my life. What

1:31:58

is going on? Killer? Not be right. once.

1:32:02

Yeah.

1:32:05

So fantastic. Tiffany, rescue me

1:32:07

from this. Tiffany's on the

1:32:09

line at Houston, Texas. What's

1:32:12

going on Tiffany? Okay,

1:32:15

so I actually wanted

1:32:18

y'all's input on something. So me

1:32:20

and my boyfriend have been kicking

1:32:22

around the idea of, you know,

1:32:24

renting or should we buy like

1:32:26

a mobile home and just take it

1:32:28

on a piece of land? No, never.

1:32:34

Because better mobile homes around here for

1:32:36

like 24,000? Yeah, and guess what it's gonna

1:32:38

be worth in six months after that? They

1:32:41

go down, down, down, down, down, down, down in value.

1:32:44

It's one of the worst investments you can make

1:32:46

honestly. It's like buying a giant cannonball

1:32:48

and trying to hold it in the

1:32:50

water. It's just you're going under. You

1:32:52

can't keep the cannonball up there. It won't float

1:32:55

folks. So I'm just telling you

1:32:57

why would you do that? Yeah, it's not a good

1:32:59

investment. I'd rather you rent and

1:33:01

keep some stability but

1:33:03

not, you know, buy an asset that's

1:33:05

going downhill. And don't buy

1:33:07

something together with someone you're not married to as well,

1:33:10

Tiffany. Oh, no, that's a good point. So

1:33:12

don't put both of your names on

1:33:15

something. I mean it needs to be very separate.

1:33:17

Have you ever lived in a mobile home? Yeah.

1:33:21

Did you like it? Well,

1:33:24

I was pretty well too young

1:33:26

to remember. Okay, did it have a redwood deck

1:33:28

while I'm asking? As

1:33:31

far as I remember, no. It had

1:33:33

like a lighter

1:33:36

wood. That's a Sammy Kershaw song, I think it

1:33:38

is. But the point is that

1:33:40

you're trying to figure out a way to

1:33:43

cheaply live as

1:33:45

opposed to doing what it takes to live smartly.

1:33:47

And what I mean by that is you're going

1:33:49

to buy an asset that goes down and

1:33:52

instead of people think, well, I'm renting, I'm

1:33:54

throwing money away and renting gives you options.

1:33:57

And renting gives you stability. And

1:33:59

so I just... The ownership Why you would consider other than

1:34:01

maybe in your family or this is something you

1:34:03

think as a normal thing to do. Actually,

1:34:09

Had a couple people and my family to

1:34:11

the by I'm digging in the past and

1:34:13

then sell them for like twice as much

1:34:15

as they put into. I. Don't

1:34:17

believe that. Do we have paper on

1:34:20

a. Yes,

1:34:22

they. Bought a mobile home, And

1:34:24

sold it for twice as much who they sell it

1:34:27

to. Gather

1:34:29

adult now there and they suddenly the

1:34:31

paper. They sold it for like fifty

1:34:33

thousand they only had about wanting an

1:34:35

it. Ah,

1:34:37

seventy how much you make a year. And

1:34:41

just may I make about safety, Is

1:34:43

your fifty Okay, That's great. Yeah,

1:34:46

so Tiffany at when I would do? Honestly yeah

1:34:48

I would. I would rent you What to the

1:34:50

debts you have. Barrow.

1:34:53

I have liked to credit

1:34:55

cards. Someone's. I have that

1:34:57

the thousand dollars on I'm okay. Well

1:34:59

at the voice of they. Both. Have

1:35:02

on have a thousand. also said two thousand and credit

1:35:04

card debt. What else? Know.

1:35:06

It's like the one has five hundred

1:35:08

one has or okay. I'm sorry to

1:35:11

get okay. Okay, perfect. Hey, what else?

1:35:14

Am. I

1:35:16

not like a opponent to the electric company

1:35:19

that I have to make when me and

1:35:21

my ex has been split up because my

1:35:23

name was on the utilities l can he

1:35:25

couldn't keep paid So I this adam shut

1:35:27

off. Okay, Ah

1:35:29

I'm give a car payment. When

1:35:33

my boyfriend does your boyfriend as but

1:35:35

you don't nine your name. Now.

1:35:38

Now, okay so are you so okay? Well

1:35:41

you're you're any good for you. Have any

1:35:43

money saved. i'm

1:35:45

working on that one yeah that's great

1:35:48

that's great nice well i think you

1:35:50

know when you're first goals is to

1:35:52

get a thousand dollars saved i would

1:35:54

not combine anything with your boyfriends you

1:35:57

want to keep finances separates when you're

1:35:59

not married for many

1:36:01

reasons but one of them easily is just the legal

1:36:03

reason. I mean if you put your name together on

1:36:05

something and then he's and then you guys break up

1:36:07

he stops paying we get that call all the time

1:36:10

you're stuck with it so keep

1:36:12

everything separate. My first

1:36:14

goal Tiffany would be to save a thousand dollar

1:36:16

emergency fund on your own with

1:36:18

your money and put that away and then

1:36:21

cut up these credit cards you could

1:36:23

probably cut them up today I would I would just get rid of

1:36:25

the credit cards and pay

1:36:27

off that debt after that thousand dollars is

1:36:29

saved and then bump

1:36:31

up your starter emergency fund of three

1:36:33

to six months of expenses. So kind

1:36:36

of starting to get you a strong

1:36:39

foundation financially for you where you

1:36:41

don't have payments you have

1:36:43

some good savings in the bank

1:36:45

and in the meantime Tiffany then I would rent and

1:36:48

again on the

1:36:51

on the lease or whatever I would not

1:36:53

I would not sign something together let it be

1:36:56

on in one of your names and if something

1:36:58

happens to the relationship then that person is the

1:37:01

one who will live there the other person

1:37:03

will have to find something else to live but just don't merge

1:37:05

your life and act like you're married when you're

1:37:08

not because from a financial standpoint it gets people

1:37:10

in a lot of trouble so just protect yourself

1:37:12

in that Tiffany financially but I would rent I

1:37:14

would not buy a mobile home with the fee.

1:37:17

Please do your research. Yeah we just take our

1:37:19

on it yeah it just it's not a great

1:37:21

investment long-term I would love for you to own

1:37:23

a home and save it for a down payment here

1:37:25

in a few years. Alright

1:37:28

we'll be right back don't

1:37:30

move this is the Ramsey

1:37:32

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1:38:30

feel okay? No, thank you. Yeah, God is

1:38:32

good. Oh, wow. So

1:38:37

he suffered from paralysis

1:38:40

after, at the

1:38:42

accident and a month later

1:38:44

he coded and he blew

1:38:46

a stroke which gave him brain damage.

1:38:49

So he was the

1:38:51

breadwinner. He was the

1:38:53

breadwinner and so I'm just,

1:38:56

I'm sorry, I didn't know I was going to cry. No,

1:38:58

listen, you've been through a lot. That's a

1:39:01

lot. So anyway, we

1:39:03

have a 22 and a 20 year old, so all that

1:39:05

to say. I

1:39:12

home schooled the kids and

1:39:14

then I was just working at

1:39:17

a, just a fast food restaurant

1:39:21

takeout for about six months until

1:39:24

the accident and I last and I

1:39:26

never returned. I just started an entirely

1:39:29

different part time job just

1:39:33

about a month ago and so I don't

1:39:36

make that much. It's about 24 hours.

1:39:39

It's part time obviously because I'm with my

1:39:41

husband on Wednesdays and Thursdays in Tampa

1:39:45

and so anyway, I make roughly

1:39:47

about 1700 a month through that

1:39:49

position and so I'm

1:39:55

just wondering what I can do to

1:39:57

sustain our house. to

1:40:00

be able to keep our home. I'm not quite sure

1:40:02

if I'm going to be able to but there is

1:40:04

debt. I have about 17,000 in credit

1:40:06

card debt. Our mortgage

1:40:08

is at a good rate. It's 2.875%

1:40:13

and our mortgage is 1518 per

1:40:15

month. So I mean those are very

1:40:17

comfortable numbers to me but when I

1:40:19

don't have income really

1:40:21

flowing, I do have a

1:40:25

stable amount in savings but

1:40:27

it's going to go. I mean it's already

1:40:29

been dwindling. How much do you have in

1:40:31

savings? About

1:40:33

8,000. Okay and so what

1:40:37

have you been doing for

1:40:39

income since this stroke? The

1:40:41

truck that he

1:40:43

totaled in the accident, I

1:40:46

did get money back from that

1:40:48

and I got scared. I'm still

1:40:50

paying on that as well. It's

1:40:52

like 180 something a month. I

1:40:55

used to basically live on and

1:40:58

so I had

1:41:00

that and actually friends through different

1:41:02

churches were so

1:41:04

gracious and

1:41:10

my daughter actually completed. Tracy, did

1:41:13

you say because you're in Fort

1:41:15

Myers and he's in Tampa? Yeah,

1:41:18

so Fort Myers is our nearest city

1:41:21

but yeah. How far is he from distance

1:41:24

wise? About 2.5 hours. Okay

1:41:27

and he's there obviously

1:41:29

for medical reasons? Yeah,

1:41:31

he's at the VA in Tampa.

1:41:34

So that means his expenses for care are

1:41:36

covered? For

1:41:38

now until they

1:41:41

switch him to perhaps a long term because he

1:41:43

needs 24-7 care. Okay. Will he be in Tampa? Do

1:41:48

you think he'll be there for the foreseeable

1:41:51

future or will he be coming back

1:41:53

closer to you guys? I

1:41:56

don't. I'm able to. I

1:41:58

Would rather him save. I'm a

1:42:01

me well actually I'm torn about that on

1:42:03

he would end up in a nursing home

1:42:05

probably if it wouldn't be no be me

1:42:07

or I find their up the Mike Mccann

1:42:09

see Tracy as and we have you thought

1:42:12

about moving towards him. says.

1:42:14

He'll be them. Are you

1:42:16

know. To to

1:42:18

to tell you the truth. I'm. I'm.

1:42:21

I'm not quite sure I'm of about

1:42:23

that down for did for different reasons.

1:42:25

Okay. Now he have any retirement or indeed

1:42:27

were you guys out on the i'd like to

1:42:30

get a a pretty high level picture of

1:42:32

your finances. Did he have retired you? Eyes of

1:42:34

retirement was set with more. No,

1:42:36

it doesn't look like anything because we just

1:42:38

don't have that. And how old are

1:42:41

you? I'm fifty

1:42:43

seven. So.

1:42:45

Much as less on the mortgage. tracy. Bomb!

1:42:48

The current balance for the mortgage is two

1:42:50

hundred and thirty. Three Thousand Seven Hundred and

1:42:52

Seventy eight. I What was he making before

1:42:54

the accident? He was

1:42:56

making roughly like four thousand something

1:42:58

amount of time. Take twenty.

1:43:02

Nine and how much is on the trucks from as she owns

1:43:05

from it's. It's some. Say

1:43:07

the truth, I don't have the balance had

1:43:09

been paying for an he was already paying

1:43:11

on it. so it been like two years

1:43:13

long that it was only have five thousand

1:43:16

dollar loan. okay probably not much left on

1:43:18

that and when she wants you to find

1:43:20

that today I think as much am. Details.

1:43:23

As you can have about your money

1:43:25

situation. Mom usually canada some

1:43:27

or piece that you have because it takes them

1:43:30

all the guesswork out see are able to see

1:43:32

some wants you to find that today if you

1:43:34

can how much is left on that truck loan.

1:43:37

And in the credit cards the seventeen thousand is

1:43:39

that says lifestyle. That said to see keep you

1:43:42

guys, keep the lights on and. The.

1:43:44

Randomness last year? Or did you guys have

1:43:46

this debt before the accident? We

1:43:49

had on some of it before before

1:43:51

the accident mostly like use cash but

1:43:53

it's just that up though I mean

1:43:55

just out of know the i also

1:43:58

used it tom this past year. just

1:44:01

different things. It

1:44:03

feels like you have been scraping by, do

1:44:06

you have a pretty good budget? You know

1:44:08

exactly where the money's coming and going? I

1:44:11

do, but I just know

1:44:13

that with me being out of

1:44:16

work and him for over a year,

1:44:18

we really, I mean, it just, we took a

1:44:20

big, big hit. No, no, I get it. But

1:44:22

what I'm getting at is this. If you have a

1:44:24

really good grasp of your budget, then

1:44:27

you should be able to say, all right, I have

1:44:29

to bring in this a month. So

1:44:31

for instance, all I'm doing is looking at the one bill,

1:44:34

which is your mortgage, is $1,500 a month, and

1:44:36

you're making $1,700 a month. So

1:44:38

obviously, we've got to come up with a

1:44:40

number where you say, I have to make,

1:44:44

and I'm just going to put a number out there. Don't

1:44:46

freak out, but if it's like, I have to make

1:44:48

$4,000 a month or $3,500 a month just to

1:44:52

have some breathing room. Okay?

1:44:55

But in this situation, Rachel, I'd

1:44:57

love to see if maybe selling

1:44:59

the house and getting a- Well,

1:45:02

what's hard, Tracy, is I think with these numbers, as Ken was

1:45:04

pointing out, that working

1:45:06

part-time long-term is

1:45:08

not, that can't be the solution. It's

1:45:10

not the option. So that's why I was asking about

1:45:12

you moving closer to Helm, so that you could work

1:45:14

full-time and be close to Helm. But

1:45:17

those decisions, they have to, yeah, and that's

1:45:19

what's so hard, Tracy, and I commend you.

1:45:22

I can't even imagine what you walked through the last

1:45:24

year. And like you said,

1:45:26

and I feel like this is so true for a lot of

1:45:28

women, they leave the workforce and they raise kids, and then you

1:45:30

get put in a situation and you think, oh my gosh, I

1:45:32

have to go back to work. What am I going to do?

1:45:35

So Tracy, I think it would be a good

1:45:37

goal for you, just from a, and Ken-

1:45:39

I'm going to give an example here in a minute. Yeah,

1:45:42

but you're the job career expert, Ken, so you can speak

1:45:44

into this. But Tracy, I would want you

1:45:46

to have a timeline soon. It's

1:45:49

February, and I don't know what that looks like for

1:45:51