Transcript

Are You Ready To Live Differently To Win? | February 25, 2026

From The Ramsey Show · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 2 h 7 min · 24,477 words · 473 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Are You Ready To Live Differently To Win? | February 25, 2026", an episode of The Ramsey Show published February 25, 2026 (2 h 7 min, about 24,477 words). It mentions 23 people, works and ideas, including Ramsey Show, Jade Warshaw, George Camel, Jasmine Sarah, Stone Cold Steve Austin.

What this episode is about

A caller seeks guidance on whether to use funds to repair a rental property after a difficult situation with his mother, who is homeless and financially strained, weighing options to move her out and manage about $20,000 in damages. The discussion centers on housing family in distress, financial responsibility, and practical steps for repairs and eviction.

Key takeaways

  • Evicting your own mom is not a personal failure; it's prudent risk management for long-term financial health.
  • Rentals without formal leases and insurance are time bombs; document, insure, and separate caregiving from tenancy.
  • Liquidating savings to fix a single property? Reframe: diversify assets to avoid one-point failure risk.
  • Consider selling to reboot finances; a fresh start can preserve peace of mind and prevent ongoing drama.
  • Sweat equity helps, but protect yourself with professional estimates, competitive bids, and a concrete maintenance plan.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 15:00: Andrew Cordell, Brandon, Jade Warshaw, Ramsey Show
  2. – 30:00: Pre-born, George Camel, Every Dollar
  3. – 45:00: Every Dollar, Ramsey Show, Financial Peace University, Total Money Makeover
  4. – 1:00:00: Stone Cold Steve Austin, Steve King, Artificial Intelligence, Chicago
  5. – 1:15:00: Ramsey Show, Artificial Intelligence
  6. – 1:30:00: Ramsey Show
  7. – 2:00:00: Ramsey Show, Nashville

Notable quotes from "Are You Ready To Live Differently To Win? | February 25, 2026"

  • Transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio, this is the Ramsey Show. I'm Jade Warshaw. Next to me today, George Camel. You ready to get started, George?
    about Ramsey Show · at
  • All right, back to the phone lines we go where we have Cordell who's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hey Cordell, how can we help today?
    about Andrew Cordell · at
  • Guys have got to work it together. It's totally up to you to do this. So, George, let's talk real quick about repo. because I feel first off, I feel like we're getting more and…
    about George Camel · at
  • Preborn, and you can, too. They're on the front lines of the battle for life, partnering with clinics to offer free ultrasounds to mothers in crisis.
    about Pre-born · at
  • My husband pretty much pays like all of our all of our bills and everything. recently his wages have started to be garnished for a car that we voluntarily let go a few years ago.
    about Jasmine Sarah · at
  • Matter of fact, I haven't offered this in a long time, George. But if you guys I love Financial Peace University.
    about Financial Peace University · at
  • Hey, welcome back to the Ramsey Show here in the Fair Windows Credit Union studio. It's myself, Jade Warshaw, next to George Camel, continuing to take your calls. And we have Austin who's in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hey, Austin. How are you?
    about Jade Warshaw · at
  • M where the problem is we want to support her but we don't want to enable him at the same time. So we're not really sure what to do with that situation.
    about Steve King · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Jade Warshaw — Person · Host · 2 mentions · first at
    Co-hosts the episode, leads callers through budgeting/debt advice, and recommends Ramsey tools.
  • George Camel — Person · Co-host · 3 mentions · first at
    Co-hosts alongside Jade Warshaw; provides tactical debt/vehicle guidance and critiques repossessions and dealerships.
  • Jasmine Sarah — Person · Caller (wage garnishment / collections scenario) · 1 mention · first at
    Calls about wage garnishment from a past voluntary surrender; leads to guidance on settling judgments, increasing income, and using FPU/TMM/EveryDollar.
  • Stone Cold Steve Austin — Person · Caller (high income / large debt / medical needs scenario) · 3 mentions · first at
    Calls with ~$100k non-mortgage debt and special-needs/medical expenses; prompts advice on selling a car, debt snowball, and expense control.
    Taking my call. So, I'll try to be brief here. we're a family of five with three kiddos and we have just under $100,000 in debt, not including our mortgage. and while we can…
  • Brandon — Person · Caller (rental property / family financial support scenario) · 2 mentions · first at
    Calls about $20k damage caused by his mother in a non-formal rental arrangement; prompts discussion on cash-flowing repairs vs selling rental and investing.
    Let's get into it. We've got Brandon who's here locally in Nashville, Tennessee. Hey Brandon, how can we help today?
  • Andrew Cordell — Person · Caller (broken car / debt payoff scenario) · 2 mentions · first at
    Calls with a non-running car and remaining loan balance; triggers advice against voluntary repo and toward budgeting and selling/fixing strategically.
  • Steve King — Person · Caller (supporting family abroad / enabling concern) · 2 mentions · first at
    Calls about helping his mother-in-law in the Philippines while avoiding enabling her unemployed adult son; leads to boundary-setting and direct-to-need giving advice.

Books & papers

  • Financial Peace University — Paper · Recommended program/course · 2 mentions · first at
    Recommended to callers (notably Sarah) as a structured community-based program to change financial behavior and stay motivated.
  • Total Money Makeover — Book · Recommended book · 2 mentions · first at
    Offered to a caller (Sarah) as motivational/educational material to reinforce the debt payoff plan alongside FPU.
    And I think it's something to be excited about, and on top of that, Total Money Makeover. We're going to send you a copy of that. So, in between classes, you're going to be reading this book together and it's going to fire you guys up. And.

Companies & orgs

  • Ramsey Network — Organization · Producing network / affiliation · 2 mentions · first at
    Named as the network from which the show is broadcast; ties hosts and show identity to Ramsey media ecosystem.
    Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So, we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio, this is the Ramsey…
  • Pre-born — Organization · Advertised charity partner · 2 mentions · first at
    Featured in an ad read encouraging donations to fund ultrasounds for mothers in crisis; positioned as a trusted, transparent nonprofit.
  • Church Hill Mortgage — Company · Advertised mortgage provider · 1 mention · first at
    Sponsor segment promoting refinance/home-buying program features (rate cap, automatic drop, seller guarantee).
    You've got to be prepared and do it the Ramsay way. You need to contact Churchill Mortgage. Their home buyer edge program gives you peace of mind in a wild market. You can cap…

Concepts & topics

  • Artificial Intelligence — Concept · Referenced technology concept (ads + Ramsey tool) · 2 mentions · first at
    Appears in sponsor messaging (NetSuite AI) and in the 'Ask Ramsey' AI tool mention; not a core caller topic but present in episode.
    Make a healthy profit, and grow. And your team, family, and customers are all counting on you. And now everybody's talking about AI like it's magic. And you're wondering how to…
  • Dow — Concept · Referenced investment concept · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned alongside S&P as an investing destination for potential rental-sale proceeds; indicates interest in broad market exposure.
    What would you do with that 140? If you had that sitting around an account, I would like to invest it into the S&P and the Dow or whatever would be best and just leave it there.
  • S&P — Concept · Referenced investment concept · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned by Brandon as a place to invest proceeds if he sells the rental property; used as shorthand for stock market index investing.
    What would you do with that 140? If you had that sitting around an account, I would like to invest it into the S&P and the Dow or whatever would be best and just leave it there.

Places & events

  • Nashville — Place · Caller location / show ecosystem location · 2 mentions · first at
    Brandon is local to Nashville; Ramsey Network is strongly associated with the Nashville area (though only caller location is explicit here).
    Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So, we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio, this is the Ramsey…
  • Pittsburgh — Place · Caller location · 1 mention · first at
    Cordell calls in from Pittsburgh, anchoring the second major caller segment.
    All right, back to the phone lines we go where we have Cordell who's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hey Cordell, how can we help today?
  • Las Vegas — Place · Caller location · 1 mention · first at
    Sarah calls in from Las Vegas, framing the wage garnishment discussion.
    All right, we got Sarah who's in Las Vegas, Nevada. What's up, Sarah? How can we help today?
  • Tulsa — Place · Caller location · 1 mention · first at
    Austin calls in from Tulsa, anchoring the high-income/high-debt segment.
    Studio. It's myself, Jade Warshaw, next to George Camel, continuing to take your calls. And we have Austin who's in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hey, Austin. How are you?
  • Chicago — Place · Caller location · 1 mention · first at
    Steve calls in from Chicago, introducing the family-support/enabling dilemma.
    All righty then. Back to the phone lines we go where we have Steve who's in Chicago, Illinois. Steve, happy to have you on the phone lines, my man.
  • Philippines — Place · Family context location · 1 mention · first at
    Steve’s wife is from the Philippines and her mother still lives there; central to the cross-border family support issue.
    So me and my wife, we got married in 2024. she's originally from the Philippines and she still has her family there. one in particular is her mom and her mom as of recently has come on some financial problems that we want.

Media & podcasts

  • Ramsey Show — Podcast · Primary show / episode container · 7 mentions · first at
    The program where callers seek advice; hosts reference the show and its principles/tools throughout.

Sponsors

  • Every Dollar — Product · Recommended budgeting tool / sponsor product · 5 mentions · first at
    Presented as the budgeting app listeners should use; referenced in sponsor intro and recommended to callers to build a budget.
    To look like. But it's going to start with the two of you and we'll make sure that you're set up to one. We'll give you every dollar. It's the best budgeting out budgeting app…

Full transcript with timestamps

Brought to you by the Every Dollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So, we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio, this is the Ramsey Show. I'm Jade Warshaw. Next to me today, uh, George Camel. You ready to get started, George?

I'm pumped. Let's do this. Let's get into it. We've got Brandon who's here locally in Nashville, Tennessee. Hey Brandon, how can we help today?

Hi, good afternoon. I appreciate you taking my call. Most definitely. Well, well, I have a situation where I naively rented out my house to my mother um about 13 years ago and she's fallen on very hard times because of some very bad decisions. And um after trying to move her out, we've identified maybe about $20,000 of damage as a very rough estimate that needs to be taken care of. And I'm trying to decide where I should take these funds from.

Okay. Um I'm assuming she has no money if she's fallen on hard times. Yeah, that's correct. She act she actually owes more money than she has. So very hard times.

How long has this been going on? um the past two years. Um she quit her job. Um she's been living on off her retirement for the past two years and she's exhausted all of those uh funds and has

When's the last time she paid rent? Um so this was the last month. Um I talked to her because it was the first month she paid in cash and I thought that was very suspicious. So, I confronted her on it and she told me she only has enough for one more month of rent. So, we've been spending the past few weeks trying to get her moved out so we can get repairs done.

Where is she going? Um, that's still up in the air either with myself or my younger brother, which isn't I don't believe either of those options are the best option, but those are the only options we have

currently. Is she um is she Well, how old is she? She is 63. Oh, so why isn't she working?

Um, you know, there's not a good answer for that. And the answers she's given me, you know, are just not very valid. So, I can't I can't give you a good excuse. It's either health problems or stress problems or mental problems. You know, it's all of those combined. But it doesn't, you know, it doesn't legitimize

sure her decision-m. So there's 20,000 of of damages and you're the question was where do I take the money from? What are your options?

So I currently have about 19,600 liquid um stretched across my banking accounts. Um, I also have a paid off truck that I use as my daily driver. And I have a Mustang that I currently owe 9,000 on um, as kind of something I'm a little more sentimentally attached to than the truck. But the truck is my daily driver.

What do you what the truck uh, what's it worth? Um, it's probably worth 30 to 35,000.

Oh, wow. So, question long term. So, your mom, let's say your mom moves out, you cover the 20,000 in damages. What happens next? You bring another renter in who has the propensity to do the same thing, and now, you know, again, you're on the hook for however much the damages are. Like, what's the long-term play here to not be in this situation again,

right? Me and my wife are still kind of debating that question. um whether it's worth keeping and renting out a little more legitimate uh with a a a very detailed lease agreement or selling the property, which I would prefer not to do, but that option is there, too, just to make all these problems go away.

So, here's what I'm thinking. Let's let's let's talk about the 20,000 first, and then let's talk about George and I can give you some ideas for the long-term play on this based on your finances. Yeah. I I I don't think your mom has the money. I think continuing to hound her about this is just going to be like you bashing your head against the wall. Fair enough.

Right. So, yeah. No, I've got the bruises to prove it. You don't have a landlord insurance policy?

No. No. This was strictly just because I was trying to help my mom out and she wasn't a legal tenant then. There was no deposit, nothing signed. Okay. So, this is it's on you.

And I think that stinks to realize and we also need to take our part in owning that we made a whole lot of mistakes on our own that got us here. Number one was letting mom live there. Kind of knowing that she wasn't in a good financial spot and probably this day would come where she didn't take care of the place. She can't afford to rent and we have to evict our own mother.

Right. Everything you said is accurate. I even let her know if she did move in with us that I don't I don't want to have her pay any rent. All I care about is her getting back on her feet. So, I'm I'm fully uh acknowledged that this is in my hands and I'm going to have to be the one to solve this problem. So,

and she'll likely be your burden financially as well for the foreseeable future.

That's right. As well, that's one of my concerns. Yeah. So, yeah, if I'm you, I am going to scrge together this this money and I'm going to try to get this stuff done for the cheapest price possible. It's possible that you can do it uh for 20 for less than 20,000. Maybe you put your own sweat equity in it. I don't know the nature of the repairs. But let's talk about further down the line. uh the way you mentioned the 20,000, you know, scraping together from here and there. I want to know about your financial snapshot and if it makes sense to even keep this rental house. So, tell us about you.

Yeah, I'm I'm retired military, so I have a very stable um pension that allows me enough to support two mortgages. It's not going to hit me financially at all. Just the big hit is going to be this complete liquidation of all my savings because I only have 19,600 liquid. So, it's going to put me back to square one. Uh, which I'm trying to avoid.

How much are you making a month? Um, 8700. And then what are your total expenses including everything, insurance, food, bills, all the mortgages? What's your outcome?

I pay 3,000. Um, my total income for the month, yeah, 8,000. My total expenses is 3,000 after bills. Not counting groceries, just the bills.

So, counting everything though, are you spending about five grand a month, you'd say?

Yes. Okay. So, you might have 3,000 left over each month. Yes. So, that's smart.

So, we can cash flow this over the next month, two months, three months to where you're not fully liquidating it all at once. Maybe we spend 10 grand now and then another five grand next month, five grand the following month, and then we're done. All the while, we're using as much of our income to cash flow it versus draining the savings.

Okay. Now, what's the tell tell me about your current residence. What do you owe on that?

Um, we bought this property in 2021 for 300. I think we owe 280 still left on it.

Uh-huh. And what's it worth? 260. 261, I'm sorry. Okay. Um, what's it worth? Probably um low 400s maybe. And what about the rental? What do you owe on it and what's it worth?

The rental we owe 88,000. It's probably worth 240. Okay. Okay. So, after selling it and everything, I'd probably pocket one 140.

What would you do with that 140? If you had that sitting around an account, I would like to invest it into um you know, the S&P and the Dow or whatever would be best um and just leave it there.

I love that. Well, think about that plan versus being a landlord. It sounds like you don't love dealing with the physical issues, a tenant, the upkeep and maintenance. So, if you could get a return by that money just being invested and it might be even more than you would have gotten if you had a tenant.

I agree with that. Right. And I don't know if you I know you said you have a pension, but do you have a nest egg anywhere invested?

I do. I have a small investment with the Roth and the or not the Roth, I'm sorry, the S&P and the Dow. Okay.

Um not very anything substantial worth talking about. It's 6600, but I do have the TSP from my time in the military.

Then I mean I I got to say based on how this is hitting you as an inconvenience, I could see down the road this rental continuing to be an inconvenience. Um I like the idea of you selling it and taking that money and investing it for your future or however you think it would be best spent. Especially with mom potentially moving in, you're going to have your hands full.

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All right, back to the phone lines we go where we have Cordell who's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hey Cordell, how can we help today?

Hey, how are you doing? Good. What's up? Um, I have so um I'm in a little bit of a pickle. I have a um I bought a car in 2023 and um the car no longer runs. Um it needs a new engine and it's been like that for a while. It's been just sitting outside. Uh I quoted the dealership. They said $8,500 um to get like a new engine. Um, but I don't want to put any money into the car at all. And I'm stuck with I think I owe just around like seven grand. I think I just checked it's like 7100 on the car.

Oh wow. And what's it worth in its current state? Nothing. Yeah. I called the dealership and they said 200. But

the car is worth 200. Like that's what they would give you for it. That's what they would trade in. Yeah.

Did you buy this car from that dealership? I did. Okay. It feels like you keep going back to an abusive ex. Like, of course, they're going to screw you on every turn. And so, I would not go to the dealership to get this thing fixed. I would go to an independent mechanic and maybe two to get some quotes on what it's going to take to get this thing up and running.

How much money do you have? Um, I don't have anything liquid. A lot liquid. Um, about a,000. That's about it. Um,

what are you driving now? Um, I have my mom's car. She gifted me. So, everything's in my name, title, and everything. She gifted me her car. It's paid for

and it runs it runs good. Is it's paid for her car that she gave you? Yeah, it's it's paid off. Yeah. There's no payment or anything.

So, this is great news cuz it means you don't have to go buy a new car and whatever we can get for this thing is what we get for it. Now, we need to pay off the loan. That's the problem. So, we need to come up with a difference or scrape up the cash to get this thing fixed and then sell it.

You said you only had $1,000 liquid. What do you have non-liquid and what's it in what's the nature of it?

Um, and like my 401k about it. Okay. Just making sure you didn't have stocks or like some coins sitting around. Okay. Uh, yeah, I'm with George. We started doing that but um we're not at the point yet where it's like at you know we can take out the money for liquid you know what I mean?

Understood. Started. So tell us about your work. Are you working? I am working. Yes.

Okay. What are you bringing in? Um about 50 55,000 a year. Okay. Okay. And is you have a spouse at home?

Yes. Yes. I'm married. Are they working outside the home as well? Yes. Mhm. Okay. Okay. What do they make?

Um, around the same. Great. $100,000 income. Great. We make six figures. So, this is a solvable problem. Within the next month or two, we could probably scrape up enough to cover this if we live on nothing. So, can you keep up with the payment for now?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's what I've been I've been trying to do. I mean, what's the payment?

The the car pay. It's like 322 a month. Okay. So, you should be able to easily handle that.

On our screen, it says, "Should I do a voluntary repo?" Is that what you were thinking about doing?

So, the I called the dealership back and they I asked them, "What should I do?" And they said, "Your best bet is to do a voluntary repo with a credit."

Oh my goodness. And I said I said I just got my credit just went up 50 points last week and like we've been really trying to do that and I don't want to do that.

I'm so glad you didn't listen to them. That is called set set you up for failure. So, I'm so glad that you called us instead. Um, yeah, you you're bringing home over 6,000 bucks a month. You're handling the payment, but we want you to get out of this cuz obviously it's not running and we don't want you in any debt anyway. So, I don't know if you have other debt to speak of that's sucking up more of your income, but I would put this kind of as a top priority. Um, my guess is if you listed your debts model, this is probably towards the the bottom of the heap.

Um, yes. Yeah, this is actually the last. This is my biggest bill. Oh, this is your biggest bill. Okay, great.

So, you could knock all your debts out pretty quickly making 100 grand if you guys It sounds like you have not been on a budget. It's kind of just been spending willy-nilly, not really paying attention.

Yeah. Okay, that's 100% accurate. Now, are you and your wife ready to for some life change? Cuz we're about to be living differently for a little while.

Yeah. Um I've been trying to do that. There was a lot of breath in that. Cornell, I don't know about that.

Yeah, I would I would have a real vision casting convo tonight. Where you say, "Hey, listen. The way I've been leading us in money, this is not an attack on her. It's start with I statements. The way I've been leading us when it comes to money has not been great. And I own up to that. And it's left us in a real pickle where we have this huge repair that we can't afford and we got all these payments around us. I'm ready to live differently. are you on board to help us get out of this and stay out?

See how that's that's not an alarming attacking conversation. And then it becomes the byproduct is hey, let's get on a budget and just see what our income's going to be this month. See what our expenses are and see where we can do better to cut anything that isn't necessary for the next few months.

Yeah. And and that's what this is going to look like. But it's going to start with the two of you and we'll make sure that you're set up to one. We'll give you every dollar. It's the best budgeting out uh budgeting app out there. But it's more than that. It's really going to help you stick to the plan. I'm glad you called us cuz we're going to tell you the fastest and best way to get out of debt and build wealth. And Every Dollar is going to do the same thing for you as well. So, Kelly will pick up and get that to you. But the key is you guys have got to get on this. You guys have got to work it together. It's totally um up to you to do this. So, George, let's talk real quick about repo. Um, because I feel like, first off, I feel like we're getting more and more calls about that. I don't know if that's just a reflection of the high cost of living right now and people are falling behind on payments that they got

when auto prices were super duper high. I'm not really sure what the correlation is there. I could speculate on that a little bit, but uh repossession guys is never is never the answer.

When you hear the word repossessed, what do you think of Jade? It sounds like a demon. It's a possession. Tie them together when you hear that word. And so here's the problem. Whether it's involuntary or voluntary, involuntary is they show up at your driveway.

That bad boy. Yeah. But don't do voluntary. A lot of people think there's a difference between the two. Well, I'm just it's on me. I'm voluntarily giving it up. No, it's still you're still going to have to go through the same negative process.

Yeah. It will destroy your credit. It leaves you liable for the difference after auction. So here's what they do. They go sell it for like pennies on the dollar to get what they can. Then they come after you for the difference. And so you're in no better of a spot than if you just continued keeping up with the payments and tried to sell it yourself. That is the goal to sell it on your own to get way more so that you're at least less underwater.

That's right. And if there's here's the thing. If you are underwater, maybe you have a vehicle that, like I said, you paid too much for, you're underwater on it. Guys, what we would suggest here always some less debt is better than high debt, right? So, let's pretend you had a vehicle that you spent $30,000 on and now it's only worth, I don't know, 15, half the amount. You're upside down. We're always going to tell you, go down to the credit union, see if you can get a loan for the difference. See if you can get that. I don't care. You could put it on a credit card for all I care.

I just want that number down. I want you to be paying $15,000 of debt instead of $30,000 of debt is my point. And then from there on, now we can actually work out of this. Now, you have a lower monthly payment. So again, that's going to come and and work for you on the debt snowball. You have more money to throw out your debts, smallest to largest. That's why we suggest that. But please, please, please never go down to the dealership and ask them what they think because they don't have your best interest in at heart.

Yeah. It's like making a deal with the devil, then going back to the devil for financial advice.

Yeah. And thinking he's on your side. Exactly. And so this is not a knock on every dealership in the country, but generally the dealership is the most expensive place to buy a car and get any repairs done.

Well, they're not your financial adviser. And at this point, we're talking about a financial decision. And that's really where the conversation changes. They want to sell you a vehicle. They're in the vehicle business.

But you go back to the the devil, you know. Yeah. A lot of devil references here. A lot of demons. I apologize to the kids watching out there.

Yeah. What's wrong, George? I'm so angry. These people are getting hosed. I talked with a guy in the street last week. 28% APR on his car loan.

Lordy. Lordy. Because their credit shot. And what do they do? They say, "Well, hey, we can work with you. What kind of payment you looking for?"

If they say those words, "Run, you are about to fall for a borderline scam." Yeah.

And they'll extend the loan. Hey, 72 months, 96 months, whatever you want. We can make it happen.

Guys, let me tell you, a cash car, that's where it's at. Can't be underwater on that.

You can't be underwater. And I would rather drive a cash car that's 10 years old than have a payment that's going to keep me broke for the foreseeable future. I'm just saying This is Dave Ramsey. We all want to know that the money we give to charity is doing something that matters, that it's making a real change, giving someone lasting hope. And here's one way to make sure of that. Give to Pre-born. They're the real deal. Proven, transparent, and changing lives every day. I trust Preborn, and you can, too. They're on the front lines of the battle for life, partnering with clinics to offer free ultrasounds to mothers in crisis.

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That's pre-born.com/ramsey. So, one of the best things that you can do for your finances is to have a really good tax pro in your corner that you can trust. They'll help advise you on the best moves to make for your situation or for your small business, especially if you've had some big changes in your life in the past year. So, go to ramseyolutions.com/taxpro to find CPAs and enrolled agents that have been vetted by the Ramsay team. You need this. All right, let's go to George who's in Boisee, Idaho. Hey, George. How you doing?

Doing well, thank you. Yeah, no problem. How can we help today? So, I was uh I just started talking to uh my lender. We my my wife and I bought our first home a little over a year ago and he was reaching out because interest rates have you know kind of gone down and we talked about possible refinance in the future and uh he did a soft credit pool and was kind of running me through options and um I come to realize that my wife is in about $24,000 of credit card debt that I was naively unaware about. M

I knew she had some debt, but I didn't know it was that bad. Where there's four cards, three of them that are about like 99% um maxed almost maxed out.

Wow. Well, you say naively. Why didn't she tell you? Um I I'm not 100% sure. How long have you guys been married?

It's uh it'll be 15 years. This April. And how long has this debt been laying around?

Uh, some of it, you know, five years or so. And I just was not aware that it was that bad. I don't think it was that bad. But, um, I think it's just one of these things where she just uses the card um, and doesn't really think of the repercussions. Um, again, I'm not 100% sure, but I've been trying to

This is beyond like I'm casually using a card. If you've maxed out three credit cards without telling your spouse, this is straight up financial infidelity. There's no other way to say it.

Do you combine your money or are you guys doing the separate deal? We've been doing separate. This is obviously what I've I thought would work best. Then we just, you know, I I I'm the majority income. Brad Winner and I cover mortgage. I cover car. I cover most of the bills. I let her do you know handle

Yeah. um insurance or you know well I mean you got you kind of have set yourself up because unfortunately what happens in an environment where you don't have full transparency uh which is we don't have things combined therefore you have your world I have my world like you said maybe you do the insurance I do the mortgage right it does set up this idea that I can kind of do my own thing over here and as long in her mind it's probably like as long as it doesn't affect you we're we're square and then that sets you up to have the same thing.

So that's the danger. George, both of the Georgees I'm talking to right now, that's the

when you silo your money. Yeah, when you silo your money. Have you confronted her about what was where all this money was spent and why she did this without telling you?

Um I I just we recently did it and you know and it was like I said so we had you know I guess she put my daughter's braces on one of them. She had some health issues a number of years ago where she had to get some stuff and she put or you know for to pay the medical expenses and she was using one of those to do that.

So she's not buying Louis bags, you know, she's not out here. No, no, no, no. Okay, that's Well, that's good. That's the good the upside.

More noble purchases, I guess. I still want to see the credit card statements and fully understand what was going on.

I started going through them yesterday and then she even did some cash advances. something like that's the last thing you ever want to do on credit cards cuz

you know one of them one of her monthly payments is like $242 and have you guys

have you guys had the conversation that we don't we don't engage in debt. Has that been something that you guys have said to each other that this is feeling um not only that it's something that she kept from you but it's also crossing a values line for you or have you never had that conversation? Well, it's something where she knows that I've been working on because I had terrible credit. You know, maybe six, seven years ago in the low 500s, I couldn't even get a $500 credit card from my bank. And now over the last years or a few years, I've learned how to play the credit game, learn how to what to do with it, not to buy things just because, you know, if I don't have the cash, I had to kind of learn the hard way. But at that same bank that wouldn't give me a $500 credit card, now I have a $46,000 credit card then and I don't I maybe owe $1,000 on it.

Here's the problem. For some part, here's the problem. Here's where the confusion is. Here's where the confusion is.

Um there's a lot of confusion in this and I hear what you're saying and it now is crystal clear to me. So there's there's two or three issues here. Number one, what like what we already said, the money is siloed. So because of that there is just going to be a level of secrecy.

So that's thing one and you both have created that environment. Uh thing two is there isn't a clear stance on debt in your relationship. It sounds like it's if it's if it's this kind of debt it's okay but

it helps her credit score then maybe. Uhhuh. And so I think that's created that's the second problem is there's just not a clear stance on what does that mean? And then the third thing is, yeah, there is a lack of communication. There is something there that she didn't feel like she could tell you.

Um, even something like braces, hey, I have to use this money for our our children's braces. So, there's a communication there or some sort of like lack of trust that I don't feel like I can come to you with this or I don't feel like I can share this. So these are three main issues and I hearing the call George what I would suggest is

um if you can take a level of ownership in this too and then you can come to her and say you know what we've gotten off on the wrong track like both of us and I see my part in this and I I want to change what I'm doing today and I like I hope that you're here with me because we can't keep going like this. I want you to know that I trust you. I want our finances to be together. And what I'm what I'm finding right now is I was focused on debt and I kind of was a hypocrite because I was saying my debt was okay, but yours wasn't. And I think honestly going forward, we just need to say that debt has not been good for our relationship. And going forward, I don't want to engage on it. I don't know about you, but this is what I want to talk to you about. And that's how I would approach this.

Yeah. No, I I love that. And that's in that's some the conversation I had last night when I said I was like regardless I was like your debt is my debt.

Um I have like $4,000 in debt. But I told her and I'm thinking oh we just finally got a tax return for the first time in like two years cuz I'm making more money than I've made in the past. So having to adjust for things like that we I had owed the last two years but you know having extra money taken out and being on top of the finances where we got like you know $4,500 like okay cool maybe we can use this to pay down our credit card debt thinking ours was roughly around the same not realizing hers was as much as it was.

Yeah. So what's your total consumer debt now? Yeah. Um it's uh about 30,000 between the both of us.

Okay. How much do you have in across checking and savings liquid? Um like left over or just currently right now?

Currently, um I have about $2,300 right now in my in my debit. That's after mortgage and bills are paid.

Okay. I would likely pause on this refinance cuz it's going to cost you 2 to 5% of the loan and I don't know that you're going to break even anytime soon. So this might be a down the line thing. Right now, the focus is just attacking this debt with the debt snowball. That's the easy advice. Just tackle it as if it was y'all's debt and smallest credit card goes first, minimum payments on the rest. The hard part is going to be resetting your marriage and financial life and her rebuilding trust. And the way to do that is a micro commitment every day to be a person who is trustworthy. Mhm.

And that's going to involve transparency and accountability and having a joint account and we know the plan and freezing your all both of your credit. Freeze all the accounts so that nobody could open debt in your name, including you. Make it really hard. Add the friction there so that we're not tempted.

And if you do all of those things and get on a budget, there's there's definitely hope here. We can get out of this pretty fast.

Okay. Well, a question with the snowball is um is it because like I said, most of them they're all around the same. They're all like 6,400 6300 6600. I'm looking at

Yeah. So, what I would do then is I would do them in order. If it's 6,400, you know, if the 6,300 one is the smallest one, do that one first and then do the 6400 one and then do the 6600 one. So, when you do the debt snowball, everybody, what we're doing here is we're listing the debts smallest to largest by balance, not by monthly payment, not by interest rate. It truly is by balance. And when you do that, you get those small wins quickly. Uh you feel that that rush of uh dopamine. You feel like, hey, I did something and you want to go to the next one. And it really is proven to be the best method to pay off your debt quickly. And that's what's going to work for George, too.

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membership. Get started at chmin ministries.org/budget and use promo code Ramsey. That's chministries.org. org/budget and promo code Ramsey. All righty, back to the phone lines. George, are you ready?

I hope so. All right, we got Sarah who's in Las Vegas, Nevada. What's up, Sarah? How can we help today?

Hi there. Good afternoon. Um I my question is pretty much on u garnishment but also of course your guys's um awesome guidance.

Hit us. Um my husband uh pretty much pays like all of our all of our bills and everything. Um recently his wages have started to be garnished for a car that we voluntarily let go a few years ago. So now we are um you know I downloaded the Every Dollar app and I'm trying to do the budget and it's like in our face that now we're short on bills. So I'm kind of scrambling looking for a job. Um I have a side business but you know I I obviously need like stable income um to bridge that gap. So I'm kind of scrambling looking for work. Um, and we just re we've been married for a while, but we just kind of recently started um joining our accounts because of this and working on the budget. Okay.

Um, I guess my question is should we or can we do anything about the garnishment?

How much is the garnishment? Um, I don't know the exact details yet. He's he's working on on getting that information, but I think

Oh, so you haven't you haven't seen it actually happen yet? It's just been ordered.

No, no, no. Is these wages are being garnished already? I just don't have like the physical paperwork in front of me.

Do you know the the balance that's owed? No, I don't. Um Okay. I don't. Well, there's some homework there because once we know that, we can develop a game plan to pay it off aggressively using future income. I'm guessing you guys have nothing in savings.

We don't. He did, but he does not have anymore. So, we neither of us do. What do you guys make?

Uh, well, he makes so before the garnishment uh 43 a year and then after it would be like 31. So, a month is basically 2600 because they take it directly from his paycheck. Yeah, it looks like they can uh take up to 25% of your income on a garnishment. So, this this does have the ability to really mess with you guys. Um

there's nothing you can do about it. I mean, the lender sued you and they got a judgment that you owed the money and this is next step because you're not paying.

Did you guys Did you ignore the when you were served like did you ignore this or how how did you get to this point?

Yeah, it got ignored pretty much. Yeah. Okay. So, we're not doing that anymore going forward. What's the status on I mean obviously you guys are married, the money's separate.

It's like you kind of know what's going on, but you don't know the amount of it. H how are you? I think my question for you is what's the plan to come together to solve this because going forward what I'm seeing big picture is we've got to get on the same page and when life hits we can't ignore it because it just snowballs and makes it worse which you're finding to be true right now.

Um absolutely. I mean, um, we're pretty much, uh, honestly, I'm just, we're getting into taking the biblical approach of marriage and finances and everything and, you know, joining our accounts and and being one and that's moving forward, but we do have unfortunately a lot of fight.

What other debt do you guys have page? Um, we have a lot of debt in collections, but right now it's it's uh it's kind of just our monthly our monthly um our monthly bills like you know the mortgage, the phone, and cars and everything.

So, is there anything you can sell in this picture where you could free up some payments and even walk away with some cash? Yeah, because there's there's still a chance that they might settle this for you if you can get with the creditor and say, "Hey,

if I give you this much lump sum, can you call it paid in full?" Yeah, that's not off the table.

That's That's what I was thinking about. He's kind of like hellbent. I'm sorry for the reference. He's kind of like bent on,

well, let's let we have equity. And I have no idea how that works, but he's like, we'll just call the mortgage company and see about that.

So, he wants to take out a me. Uh, I I don't know what type, but I just called to Inquire and they pretty much were like, "Well, you have to run your credit anyways, and we don't even have the credit."

Good. I'm glad we have we don't have Please do not use your house as a piggy bank and go into more debt thinking you solved the problem.

Yeah, debt debt doesn't solve for debt. The only way you can solve debt is to pay it off with actual earned money. Um, so here's here's going forward. So, how's the job search going for you? Um, well, it's it's going. I recently I haven't worked for a few years at a 9 to5. It's kind of my own business. I kind of, you know, let that go because we need money, but I've been I've been hiring to I mean, applying to pretty much everything within the past few days.

Today, today I want you to know any job will do for the time being. And can you be a server at the nearest restaurant? We're not talking about a fancy salary job right now. We need any money in the door.

Mhm. And then the first order of business is to try to stack up. You need to sit down with your husband tonight, find out what the full amount owed is. Um, and then uh try to put scrunch together as quickly as you can 60 to 70% of of what that is or even 50%. Start small and say, "Hey, go to the creditor directly and say, "Hey, I know we don't have the full 8,000, but we have 4,000 today. Take it or leave it." and and because they're in a position at this point,

they're not expecting to get much, you know, this garnishment of wages, you know, that they're going to get what they can, but I would at least try to settle it. There's no guarantee there, but I would try that. And then from here on, yes, the solution is income. There's not going to be a magic wand here. If you guys pull out a heliloc or any other type of loan or personal loan, you are just kicking the can down the field and honestly making things worse for you in the future. So for you guys today, the name of the game is income and drawing a line in the sand and saying no more.

This this behavior um of you over here and me on this side that cannot continue. This idea of not facing our financial issues headon cannot continue. And I love what you said earlier, Sarah, that you guys are kind of trying to get on to this approach uh with your life and your money. So keep doing that. Matter of fact, I haven't offered this in a long time, George. But if if you guys I love Financial Peace University. I love Every Dollar, but I love something about like I'm like getting deep in this. So, if you want to get into that, I would suggest it. Local church. I love that for you guys. Uh we're also going to give you Every Dollar if you like the digital approach.

But I think you guys could really use some people around you that are doing this and doing it the right way. uh FPU uh financial piece always has some OGs in there that can kind of guide you.

They've been there. Yes. And that's what you guys need. This is a complete overhaul for you

and I think it's something to be excited about, you know, and on top of that, Total Money Makeover. We're going to send you a copy of that. So, in between classes, you're going to be reading this book together and it's going to fire you guys up. And if that doesn't light a fire under you, I don't know what will.

But that's the game plan. It's no new debt whatsoever. Freeze your credit so that you can't do something as dumb as taking on a heliloc. Then we're going to cut our expenses down to nothing and every dollar will help you with that. Then we're going to try to increase our income as much as possible. And that gap, that beautiful gap is called margin. You're going to use all of that to attack these debts to save up a lump sum to try to get these other debts out of collections because that those debts are next. They're going to come suing you for those. And so it's like whack-a-ole right now trying to clean up these debts. Mhm. But the good thing, what we're teaching you, Sarah, is you, it feels like you don't have control over the situation, but you can gain control over it very quickly. And that's going to start by knowing those numbers.

Something truly happens when you sit down at night, George, and you do your budget for the first time. And even if it's in the red, for you to just list out this is the money coming in and this is the money going out. For a lot of people, it's the first time they've ever seen it. That

Sarah mentioned that. She said, "We did the budget and realized, oh my gosh, we're in the red every month. We can't keep doing this."

Yes. And then so having that level of control and then saying, "Okay, well, here's what we're going to do next." And they've got a plan, uh, debt snowball. And that for me is the biggest piece. It's going to take time. It's going to take time to turn this around. But then to be able to say, "Okay, now I'm reading the total money makeover. I'm going to f my FPU class." All of those things combined is exactly what you need to stay motivated. Light a fire under your butt. keep listening to the Ramsay show. That's the type of stuff that Sam and I did when we were paying off our debt. And you kind of have to just jump off the cliff wholeheartedly and really just submerge yourself in a new lifestyle.

Just have faith that this process works because 10 million people have gone before me and have done it.

Yes. Not is you got to go all in. You got to do it by the book. And there's a reason it works.

There's a reason it works. I'm excited for you guys, Sarah. This is the precipice of a brand new beginning. And be sure to call us back and let us know how things are going or if you need any help whatsoever.

Dave, we got a lot of calls on this show where life happens. One day someone's healthy, they're working, providing for their family, and then a curveball hits. You know, we hear it all the time. A car accident, a cancer diagnosis, a heart attack, and suddenly everything changes.

Yeah. And that's why you've always said that having term life insurance from Xander is essential because it protects your family if the worst happens.

Yeah, that's right. You need 10 to 12 times your income in coverage. No gimmicks, no whole life junk, just straightforward term life protection. But there's another piece that people often overlook, and that's long-term disability insurance.

Yeah, it's important to understand the difference between them. Life insurance steps in when you die. Disability insurance steps in while you're alive, but can't work. So, it replaces a large part of your income, so the bills still get paid while you get back on your feet.

Now, if your employer gives you free disability insurance, great, take it. If it's uh discounted there at a better price, take it. But if not, Xander can help you find the right plan. Whether you're single or married, it's not optional. If you're going to be out of work for a while, then you need to make sure the money's still showing up.

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So don't wait. It's fast, it's easy, and it could make all the difference. Go to xander.com or call 800356-4282. Protect yourself. Protect your income. Protect your family. Hey, welcome back to the Ramsey Show here in the Fair Windows Credit Union studio. It's myself, Jade Warshaw, next to George Camel, continuing to take your calls. And we have Austin who's in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hey, Austin. How are you? Hey guys, how are you? Can you hear me? Okay,

absolutely. Fire away. Excellent. Wonderful. Thank you for taking my call. So, I'll try to be brief here. Um, we're a family of five with three kiddos and uh we have just under $100,000 in debt, not including our mortgage. Um, and while we can make minimum payments and are trying to tackle one of them, we just we feel so defeated. And our youngest has just been diagnosed with a lifelong medical condition and our oldest um is on the spectrum. And so a lot of our credit card debt went to helping get him resources that we that he needed. Um but we just, you know, you close our eyes, you wake up, and we just have all this debt. And so we're we're a little stuck.

Oh man. Yeah, that's tough. That's that's tough to go through, especially with the medical challenges. Um how's your income in all of this?

Yeah. Household income is 164,000 a year. Good. That's a great income. You got You mean you got a big pile, but you got a nice big shovel to help clean it up, which is nice. Can you tell me like the breakdown of the debts?

Sure. So, it's a little bit like death by a,000 cuts. So, uh we've got roughly $40,000 in credit card debt between two credit cards. And again, those were some of it was poor financial decisions on our part, eating out, etc. But a lot of that was the medical stuff. Um I have $20,000 in student loans. And we have two car uh payments. One of them is 28,000 and it's a relatively new car and the other is 8,000. So, it's kind of close to being paid off.

Okay. Now, you guys' income, is that just you or do both you and your wife work?

Uh, we both work. So, I bring home $80,000 and my wife brings home $84,000. Okay, great. Okay, so what I'm looking at straight off the bat is maybe the first car that's worth 28,000. Um, what's it worth?

Yeah, that's what's tough. Um, so we did the Kelly Blue Book value and if we got like the perfect buy or perfect money, it's probably at about 30,000 even. So we'd make a little bit, but then we're like, well, what do we do for a a decent safe car for her? Because she uh is from a different country and so she's learned to drive as an adult and so she's a little anxious if the car doesn't have a lot of those safety features to help her out.

Interesting. Um, that might be solved with some driving lessons, but I think that you could find a if you took the 2000s, do you have any cash saved? Do you have any money saved?

We did, but we unfortunately depleted that. So, we're it's kind of embarrassing to admit that, honestly. So, we have to build that back up.

Don't be embarrassed. But what what would be a goal if coming away from this call is if you can sell that and and pocket 2,000, obviously you're going to need to put $1,000 aside for baby step one, which is just that starter emergency fund. But then I'd very quickly be trying to scrge together, I don't know, 7 or 8,000, and and just get a a a car that is safe, that is reliable, that gets her from point A to point B. Um and honestly, driving lessons.

Yeah. I mean, any any modern car from the last decade is going to be safe to drive. It doesn't need all every single bell and whistle of, you know, the lights on the

on the mirror to let you know there's a car next to you and all that. A lot of that's just paying attention, too. Um,

but you guys you bring home 10K a month or so. Yes. And that's um and she might actually get a pretty healthy raise coming up and I might too actually. But we can't bank on that. So this is like and that's where the thing is because we are we are really tackling I think we're doing it backwards but and I was going to ask you about our high interest credit card but we're doing like the opposite of the snowball now that we realize what the snowball is and they fix that but we've been trying to throw money at the high interest credit card and we're throwing like almost two grand a month at that and the minimum payments everywhere else. Yeah,

we're just I I I'd swap this around. I'd swap this around. your biggest your biggest opportunity here is with that car payment because if you can How much are you paying a month for the $28,000 car?

Um that we do it twice monthly, but it's altogether about $500 a month. Yes. So if we said, "Hey, 2,000 from the sale and instead of throwing 200 $2,000 at this credit card every month since it's not even the smallest debt, what if we pocketed that for two months in a row, now we have $6,000. We can find a very reliable car. Surely there's someone in the community that you know. Ask around your church. Ask around at work. Surely somebody's selling something or knows somebody who is. And I I like a used car like that because then I can get a more accurate picture of what the background of the vehicle is. So that would be my first move because if you can reclaim $500 a month plus to add that to now the margin of the 2,000 that you were already throwing at the debt, now you got $2,500 a month that you're pounding this debt with.

And it knocks out over 25% of your debt right there. So now you're down to 72 making 164. Now it's a solvable problem and you're not going to be driving that car forever. So I don't want you to think, you know, oh my gosh, this is a death mobile. I can't drive this. This might be 6 months to a year until we can upgrade if we get intense about this.

Yeah. And your current car is worth $8,000 and you guys have been driving that one just fine. So that that would be a full argument for that that choice to be made. Second thing is uh I I love that for you. Second thing is I think you did say that you're getting right side up on doing the debt snowball the correct way which again by balance is what I would do. So what's the smallest balance that you have laying around and you can include student loans in that too by the way.

Yeah. So I guess the other one would be that $8,000 uh my car which we we could probably take care of pretty quickly. So it's the $8,000 then it would be the two credit cards. Um, our highinterest one actually is at about 15,000 and we um we're planning on using my wife's bonus to knock that down 3 or 4,000, but maybe we'll rethink that now with this.

Um, then we have another credit card at 21,000. Okay. Um, and my student loans at 20,000.

And the student loans is just one big chunk. It's not divided into smaller loans.

It actually is divided in smaller loans. I don't know exactly what those breakdowns are right now, but they add up to just shy of 20,000. Yeah, I'd look into that because again, the whole method behind the madness of the debt snowball is small wins. So, if you can, you know, say you look at that student loan, my guess is it's probably broken into $5,000 chunks. I don't know. I'm just going maybe by semester. But if you can feel that, oh, we knocked out 5,000. And you can see it as four pieces instead of one giant chunk, it does feel like it's almost the feeling of I don't know if you're like this, but I love making a list and being able to check things off my list. It just feels great.

And it's the same way with debt. And so if you can look into that tonight and you might find, oh, this is broken into four or five smaller loans, that is going to do so much for your psyche while paying off this debt.

So, we talked about income, we talked about the debt. The last piece here is the expenses. And I can tell you guys have just been in survival mode, which means we're just going to eat out cuz ain't nobody got time to go get groceries and cook. We are stressed. We're exhausted.

That's exactly right. Right. And so it's not because you're maniacal, you're just human beings.

No. And yes, and I will say since December, we've gotten, you know, really intentional about cooking at home, not eating out, doing all those things. And we've seen a pretty good difference. But yeah, it's just the exhaustion after the end of the day. That's the temptation.

That's where the spending happens. It's scrolling in bed at 11:00 p.m. and just adding to cart and going through the drive-thru. And so that's really going to be a great opportunity for you guys to create even more margin because you have a great income. We can all agree. You know, if you were 18-year-old Austin, you're going, "You're going to make $10,000 a month take-home one day." You'd be like, "We are rich." That's right. And instead, you're looking around going, "We don't have enough money to pay our bills." And so, we've got to take some serious action because once we do clean this up, you guys are going to be in such great shape to build wealth for the rest of your life once we're done with this debt. And then you'll be able to keep up with the medical needs. That's an even better reason to become debtree. When you got those little kiddos as your why, there is nothing that will stop you. And

that's one part that we didn't really talk about, knowing what their medical needs are going forward. And you may need to have a fund that's there to the side if you know, hey, we're spending, you know, a certain amount, a couple hundred dollars on this a month or maybe even a couple of thousands of this over the course of a quarter. Uh, I would certainly have that money set aside aside from your normal emergency fund, just knowing, hey, this is part of our budget at this point. It's something that we have to create a scing fund around to make sure that money is there when we need it.

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Thank you for having me on. You're welcome. Um, how can we help? Um, so me and my wife, we got married in 2024. Um, she's originally from the Philippines and she still has her family there. Um, one in particular is her mom and her mom as of recently has come on some financial problems um that we want to help support her and we're we're blessed. We're in a good spot. We can do that. The problem is that she lives with her son.

You're breaking up a little. Broke up on us, Steve. Can you hear me? Okay. Yeah. Just repeat what you said.

She lives with who? She lives with her son. So, my wife's brother. Okay. And he's, I think, 42, 43 and hasn't had a job in many, many years. And the problem is he's basically siced off everything that she had for retirement. M

where the problem is we want to support her but we don't want to enable him at the same time. So we're not really sure what to do with that situation.

Well at that point you're just enabling his behavior. Exactly. So all you'd have to do theoretically you could talk to her and say hey here's what we see mom and this is your your wife talking. Uh we see that you could use some help and we'd like to help you. Um, the only way we can do that is if you're separate from my brother because what we've observed is not good for you and we cannot give you money knowing that it could enable him. But my second question to follow up that is how is it not enabling your mom or the mother-in-law? Is she unable to work?

Like tell us more about that part because this sounds like a forever problem. Yeah.

That you're going to have to manage if you start giving her money forever. Yep. So, she's retired. She had a good nest egg. Um, they actually sold some land and soldiing and stuff um where she had a decent amount of money. And we've had that conversation with her of like, hey, she actually had a a condo in a different area, but she refuses to leave the brother behind because she's worried about him and his life and stuff, but it's hard to explain it to her um to where we want to support her. But at the same time, you know, we see the enabling that's happening. You may not be able to

whether she knows or not. Yeah. And that's where we're at. If you know, giving uh having stipulations or having um something that you need to see in order to know that money is going to be spent responsibly, that's not mean or wrong or unfair. It's just honestly being a financially responsible adult. And if you've observed that she has not been responsible with her money and that there is a person who is taking advantage of her, but she refuses to leave that situation where she's being taken advantage of, there's not a whole lot that you can do whether that other than say, "Hey, this offer is here if ever you want it, but these are the terms of it and you know, we love you, but we can't let you know, Billy Bob, who's 43, continue to take your money and therefore take power money and um take it or leave it.

How much are you giving her right now? Um right now we've given her $1,000, but um you know that's No, that right now it's been one time.

Okay. Um she she actually um reason she's in dire straits and she reached out to some of her sisters for money and then her sisters my wife's aunts reached out to us to let us know because she didn't want us to know about it.

Shame or what? I think so. I think that's the biggest thing because she knows that her son is a problem.

Yeah. But everyone's healthy. Is everybody healthy? Yeah, everybody's healthy. And how old is she?

I think she's 70 that I mean, so yeah, going out and getting a job is not going to be the easiest thing here.

I think if you wanted to give and you knew the exact needs, you can try to give directly to those needs. So, if it was, I don't know, covering her taxes and insurance for the year or covering groceries, you can make sure she gets a gift card that's, you know, in her control so that he's not just getting access to a bank account.

Absolutely. So, there's there's things you can do to try to separate this. But again, it's up to her to not enable him at that point and somehow turn this into him getting this money anyways. But, if you can give directly to the need and that way he can't get access, that's probably the best way to do an ongoing gift. And it's also okay to say, "Hey, we can do a onetime gift of $5,000. We can't give you any more money. And if you squander it, if he takes it, that's all we can do."

Is is he getting money from somewhere? Is somebody else uh providing for him that he's able to kind of do the other things he needs to do? He's just living there.

Yeah. So, I mean, he got access to her money for a long time. Um, he actually sold some family land. He lived off of that for a while. Well, he's always going one to to another thing after another.

Is he an addict of some sort? Nope. Nothing like that. I Where is he blowing all this money?

We don't know. That's the part that scares me. I just want to make sure that your mom is in a safe environment as well or your mother-in-law. And that might be a conversation between your wife and her to figure out,

you know, what really is going on underneath the surface. How can we really help to give directly to the needs if we're going to continue giving at all?

Yeah. cuz right now I would pause until you have more information cuz right now you might be throwing money into the abyss.

I would agree with that. And probably the most important thing out of this entire conversation is whatever you guys decide, you both have to feel good about it, you and your wife. It has to be something that you feel like yes, this is money well spent and that she feels like it's money well spent because all of this is sheer generosity. And so for that reason, um, it's not something that must be done that is really yours to solve, but out of the goodness of your hearts, if you're doing this, that's a great thing. I just would not want it to cause any resentment, uh, between you two who are married. So,

good advice. That is a tough one. All right. Thank you for the call. Let's go to Jack, who's in Kansas City, Missouri. Hey, Jack. How can we help?

Hi, how are you guys? Good. What's up? So, I um am looking to figure out what I should do with a decently large sum of money. I I don't have any debt. Um I basically have $200,000 um of like liquid cash that I've saved. And then I just had a a judgment um in court that is awarding me about $530,000. Wow. Like I said, Yeah. I mean, I've paid I've always been really um I mean, I've been longtime followers of the show, so like um I've always been very careful. Um I don't have any credit cards. I paid my student loans off. Like I don't have anything that's outstanding.

And you'll be sitting on three quarters of a million dollars. Yeah, pretty much.

Wow. How old are you? I'm 28. Single? Yes. Are you renting? I am currently I'm currently renting with my brother the past couple of years. So that's where I'm at with that. Cool.

Is there any like health or anything going forward that you need to know about?

Um, no. I mean, I'm I'm a pretty healthy guy. The one thing that I did do um just at the end of last year was because I wanted to get a good start on it. I did open like a Roth IRA and contributed like 7,000 just to the for the past year just to get a good start.

Yeah. Great. Um but still I have all this that I feel like I could do something with.

Yeah. I would split it across a few areas. Number one is giving. I think that's a wise thing to do with any amount of money that you get. And the other one would be saving and investing. And so that could be, hey, I'm going to max out another Roth IRA for the year and I'm going to put a chunk of this into an investment account, like a brokerage account, non-retirement, just to have it grow with compound interest or compound growth. And then the final thing is you may want to buy a house with cash or upgrade your car with cash to a reasonable car and enjoy some of that money cuz locking in a house in cash at your age is one of the best wealth building moves you could make.

Yeah. Find something about that cuz Yeah. I I bought um my my car with with cash like a brand ordered it brand new car and I loved driving that away knowing that it was mine. Um and then I thought about the house thing. I just I didn't know if that would be like a really wise move to go for that.

Yeah, don't go crazy. But, you know, I don't know what houses are in your area, but if there's a, you know, a single family home that's I don't know, $400,000, I mean, that's you'd still have plenty left over to invest and give and enjoy. And so, I would do all three things with it. I would spend, save, invest, and give. And if you do all of those things, you won't feel like you have a flat tire. But I love prioritizing a home. I mean, home ownership at 28, you'll be a unicorn, especially with a paid for house. So, that's the key is try to do everything with cash for the rest of your life.

You've already been doing that. That's going to be the best way to steward this money wisely.

I love that idea. And just because you can afford a $600,000 house doesn't mean you need that. Just get what you need for your life in this moment. You can always upgrade later. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. If you feel like you're the one holding everyone else together while you're slowly falling apart, I want you to hear me for a second. If you feel stuck or anxious or overwhelmed, yet you find yourself always saying, "I have to take care of everybody else and I'll get to me later." That will work for a while until it doesn't. Talking with a licensed therapist gives you a place to slow down, be honest, and sort through what challenges in your life are actually yours to carry and what challenges are not yours to carry.

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All right, Manny is in Orlando, Florida. Hi Manny. Hi, thank you for taking my call.

You're welcome. How can we help today? So, um my mother is 65 years old. Uh her house is paid off. Uh she collects u social security and uh she uh kind of a house hack. She's got two studio apartments in her house, uh, which she rents out and that's what she uses for income. Um, however, uh, she has very, uh, low retirement savings, about $50,000. Uh, so my my idea was to, uh, outright buy her house, uh, so she can retire in the house and and have some money to enjoy her retirement. And so that was kind of my question whether this would be a good thing. Um and my concern is that she would uh she would remain um continue to rent out the couple studio apartments within her house and whether you know um that that would be advisable uh thing to do.

So you'd buy the house so she has the cash spending money. um she'd continue to live in it and you're just kind of would b your time until the day comes where the property would roll would be empty and roll back to you.

Correct. How much is the house worth? I would I mean on realtor.com it's about $400,000.

Okay. Um before I ask you if you have the ability to do this financially, how much how much is her social security and how much does she pull in from the rent? All right. So, she pulls in about $2,000 a month for the rent. So, $1,000 per studio.

Uhhuh. And her social security is about $1,000 a month. Okay. And she's able to cover all of her bills.

She is. Okay. So, why why do we need even more if she's doing fine? Well, just because she's only she only has 50,000 um no 401k, just $50,000 in a savings account. Well, what's she going to use the extra money on if her if she's living life? Increase her lifestyle.

Exactly. To be able to enjoy retirement and be able to travel. That's what she does. She just likes to travel.

Understood. Uh so that's but I feel like at this point you feel responsible for her lack of retirement. Well, it's a way for me to, you know, get be get back to her and and uh not not necessarily responsible, but I um I I I have a couple rental properties and so I'm just in a position where where I can um

How much money do you have in some way? Uh I've got about 300 cash. Okay. So, you couldn't afford it in full right now anyways? Well, well, I could um but um you know, my idea would be to

take on a mortgage, you know, if it's No, no. If it's, you know, if it's worth 400, my my proposal would be like to do it like a 300 and and be responsible for taxes, insurance, and all that.

That feels messy throughout the years. So, you want her to give you a 25% discount? Well, you know, we could we haven't really discussed numbers and I honestly I could pull the 400 if um if need be. Um

but that's all your money. I mean, is that all I mean when when George asked you how much cash do you have and you said 300, is that all your money? All your cash that you have?

No, no, no. It's just a liquid cash that I have. You know, I could give us a full snapshot. Give us a full snapshot. Tell us how much debt you have. Tell us about your give us a bigger piece of this so we can understand how many properties do you have, how much cash do you have, what's in your retirement.

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, my my home is paid off. Um and then I have two rental properties that are also paid off.

Okay. Uh and then and then liquid uh cash in the bank is 300. Okay. And then I've got a couple liquid accounts um that are 200,000.

Okay. All in all, liquid, you know, cash and couple accounts that are pretty liquid is is 500,000.

Wouldn't it be cheaper just to if you want to bless her cover the taxes and insurance on that house instead of you buying it?

Well, I mean, paying taxes and u that that wouldn't really help her or afford her to be able to travel how she wants to. But she can't afford it is my fear. And right now it's sort of you're artificially propping up her life. Who knows how long she could live another 30 years, right? She's in good health.

Or if the if the if the renters don't want to live there anymore, right? Or if she blows through that money,

then that's another concern I had. Yeah. And so these are all real. She might be resentful.

I would rather you give her 10 grand a year to go travel. That would be a cheaper option with less mess than you buying this house, but she gets the rental money and it's kind of in your name, but she's still living there. And then what if you need to sell it one day for whatever reason? Now you got to evict your elderly mother. I just think it's just too messy to get involved at this stage.

Messy. Yeah. I I just personally wouldn't do it. She doesn't need the money. And if she wants to travel, she might need to go make some, you know, do a part-time job in order to come up with the money. or if she wanted to downsize and sell this home and buy a smaller apartment or, you know, there's there's options here that I think she has uh that she may not want to do uh nor really need to do at this point. But I have a feeling that you stepping in and trying to do this is just going to lead to more problems down the line. And for that reason, I I agree with George. I'd rather spot her some cash as a gift, maybe here or there for a trip, um if you want to do that. But uh she's got options here. She's sitting on a nice piece of of property that she's paid for over the course of years.

So, unless somebody did that for her, that lets me know she's got some wherewithal on being able to handle her money,

right? Yeah. Yeah. And those those were those were my hesitations as well as Would you be It does sound pretty messy.

Would you inherit the property solely? I have three I have uh three sisters and uh kind of talking to them about this idea. They were um at first they were not so happy with it.

Mhm. Because they were going to get a piece of that upon inheritance and now they don't.

They'll get a piece of whatever's left of mom's pile of money which will likely be gone if she's traveling the world for the next, you know, several decades. And the truth is here, I mean,

the the hard part with this is we all have a picture of what we want for our loved ones. All of us do. And sometimes that's just not the reality. And there may be I mean I this sounds harsh, but it's just it's just I'm I'm just being a realist right here. She may not get to travel as much as she wants to. Her life her life and her lifestyle does not afford that to her. And all of us face that every single day. I there's things I would love to do right now, but I can't afford to do it. So, I will either have to change something about my financial situation. I'll either have to wait. I'll either have to save up. I'll either have to Right. And so there's part of that that um rather than make something very messy because we want to have a picture so badly,

there's part of it of just saying, well, this is the reality of life for everyone to some extent and it's maybe not here for me to try to clean up and make perfect.

Yeah. What if there was a compromise? Does she want to travel solo or is she liked experiences with other people or family?

Both both ways. We, you know, whenever we take a cruise, we bring her along. Uh, so, but she does also like to travel solo to like South America and Central America kind of thing.

That's cool. I'm wondering if there's a compromise here. I'm wondering if you go, "Hey, mom, once a year, I'd love to take a fun trip with you. You get to decide where we go. Here's the budget."

So, now she gets to live that dream without you being intermingled with the finances and mom's a tenant. Now, I like that plan better cuz I I can tell you're a noble guy. You're a great son. You want to bless your mom. You want her to have a great life, but I don't think artificially funding it by buying her house when she could sell it for more is the move. I just think there's going to be too much dysfunction in the family if you make this happen.

I agree with that. And as long as you put really strong and clear boundaries and very clear expectations if you do decide to do these trips, you got to be so clear with that. Otherwise, next thing you know, it's like, "But I want to go to the Bahamas." That wasn't part of the deal, Mom. Heat. Heat.

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Today's question comes from Shelby in Indiana. I have two children under 5 years old who are beginning to get invited to birthday parties for kids in their playgroups and daycare. This can get pretty expensive depending on how many parties are scheduled, and it's hard for me to justify spending a lot of money for children we're not especially close to. Do you recommend capping it out at a certain amount to spend per birthday or should I look at this as an opportunity to be an example of having a giving heart to my kids?

Well, so much more information I want here. Yeah. Uh, number one, I don't know her financial picture. Now, if she's in baby step two, drowning in debt, it looks like a lot of, "Hey, wish we could make it

or a real simple gift that the kids make." It can be, it doesn't have to be a $15 gift. Cuz the truth is under 5 years old, they're about as excited about a cardboard box as they are about the thing in the box.

Yeah. I mean, I those little Matchbox cars. Oh, I love this. You know, or even the ones from the movie cars, but those are like two $2. Like, they're not $6. Like, they're not expensive. I would

I would, if you're in debt, if you're in Baby Step 2, I would for sure cap the amount of birthday parties that we're going to, and I would cap the amount that we're spending. And it's just like you said, something small. a $5 gift. I think that you could do that and that way your 5-year-old is not feeling like,

you know, I missed Isabella's birthday party. Yes. And I will say these birthdays have gotten out of hand. They have.

It used to be simple. Like I remember it was just like come over. We're going to get a few pizzas. Now it's like you got to get like a white bounce house. It's going to be like a progressive dinner. It's out of control. I'm going to one, Jade, for my two-year-old daughter got a kid in her little daycare, and there's a full-on petting zoo with exotic animals.

You want to know where I come from? I come from the roller rink, George. That's what I'm talking about.

The sticky carpet, questionable individuals, bad pizza, like take 10 bucks for unlimited skate.

Okay, take me back to that. But yeah, this business, don't get caught up is what we're saying.

I would cap it um just out of principle. I don't think kids need expensive birthdays. I think they need stable parents. So, unless this is a kid that they're really close to, and maybe the kid chips in, if they want to go to all these birthdays, all right, you're going to do these chores, get a little commission,

and you can use your own money to buy whatever toy you deem fit. And that'll they'll feel the pain. They'll go, you know what? Uh, maybe I don't need to get that $20 toy.

Can I tell you something else I've adopted? What's that? Now, hopefully this doesn't get

This is going to go viral. All right, here's what you do. However, whatever age they are, that's the money that you put in the card.

Oh, and it's cute. So, it's cutesy. If they're three years old, you put three crisp dollar bills in the card. If they're four years old, and that way it's like it's thoughtful cuz you're thinking about, I know how old you are. I went to the bank and I got four crisp bills. That's effort.

So, there's effort there. And it's very like if you're an auntie or an uncle or whatever, it's just a very cool way to send it in the mail or if it's a buddy's birthday and it's kind of like this is this is what their family does. Like this is what the Waraws do or this is what your I I love that idea because it's thoughtful but it's not breaking the bank. They're three years old. They don't need

Well, my favorite part is it doesn't add to the clutter. It doesn't add to how many toys these kids have.

Yeah. And then on the way home they'll stop and they'll get a fun drink or they'll get a, you know, stop through the driveway. But I really like that plan. And kids love money. It's like magic to them. They do.

They think it's a million dollars if you get a kid $5 bill. All you got to do when you do the magic trick when you pull the quarter out from your ear.

Yes. Listen, dropping like flies. I like that. I would go for creativity. I would set a cap and a budget because that is teaching your kids a whole lot more. We don't just unlimited do whatever we want no matter the cost. We make a plan and we stick to it

like that. All right, let's go to Savannah who is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Savannah, you are on the line, my friend. Hi, Jaden George. How are you doing today?

Excellent. How can we help? Thank you. All right, I'll make this really quick. So, I have a son who was in high school and he has a vehicle that I purchased for him and he is responsible for some of the car expenses. And here's where my question comes in. He was in a car accident that was pretty hesky. The repairs um was about $3,000. He did borrow $450 from me and did repay me back after about two months. And here's where my question comes in because I'm really struggling with this every day. Um, as soon as he handed me the money and it got to my hands, I felt so guilty. My first thought was, "This $450 meant more to him than me, and I'm really struggling with this feeling. Did I handle this correctly?"

Um, I I understand why you did what you did. Like, I understand your heart behind it. It sounded like you wanted him to have some skin in the game and to have some responsibility in what took place. The the part where I think you may have gone wrong is you caused him to engage in his first like debt. Like I owe my mom and now what you guys experienced is kind of like the borrower slave to the lender.

It changes the relationship. Exactly what I felt. That's exactly what I felt. I thought

you also taught him a great lesson. Life costs money and you got to be prepared and it's not always you're not always going to get bailed out.

It's not the first time he's going to have a $450 bill. And so it's a good learning lesson and you can even have the conversation. Hey, the way I approach this, I wish I would have done things differently. I wish I didn't say you you owe me this money, but we had to do what we had to do. And what I do want you to take away from this is emergencies are going to happen and it's very wise to be prepared to have the savings in the bank. And maybe you put this money in a college fund for him and it becomes a gift and you surprise him.

Now, didn't you say didn't you say it was 3,000 in repairs? It was. So, you covered the difference.

Uh, no, he did. Oh, I gave him some money, you know, for Christmas time toward it. I think about $300, but no, my my hardworking son

Wow. paid for it. Mhm. Well, way to go. So, he was just short a few hundred bucks and you were said, "Hey, you can I'll cover that. You can pay me back."

Correct. Uh-huh. Yeah. Maybe. Um, and he didn't ask for the money. He did. No, he did.

He said, "Hey, I'm sorry. I don't have enough." What I And then you can think about this. what I might do cuz I I tend to think that some of these lessons stick the when a when a parent makes what they feel to be a mistake and they go back to their uh children and make it right that really sticks. Um and I think it's something that is so good for parents to do for our own hearts but also for our kids to learn that it's okay to make mistakes. Um, I might go back to him and I might say, "You know what? I didn't practice something that I believe in, which is I don't I don't borrow money and I don't engage in debt." And I'm sorry that I put you in that situation.

The best time to give people money is if it's a gift. And so if I was going to give you this $450, it should have been a gift. And that's on me. And I might give him the money back.

Okay. And he'll always remember that. Yeah. And he'll remember that as a lesson. We don't borrow money, we give money.

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought after the whole thing happened. But I wanted to see another perspective of it that, you know, should I return it back? Where I was thinking,

you're a great parent. Like, the fact that you're even mulling over this is I mean, it's pure gold. Like, whatever whatever you decide to do, like you'll be a winner. But

a quote unquote bad mom is not even having this conversation. I release you of the mom guilt officially, Savannah. as if you needed that for me. But no, you're incredible. You're doing a great job raising this young man. And I think this is maturity building.

I think so. Character building. It's not punishment. You're not doing anything cruel.

No. Things happen. A kid's going to wreck a car. Yeah. And by the way, don't don't don't you feel any guilt over it, you know? Uh I think just being a parent is making mistakes daily. Like that's the way I feel about it.

You know, when you grow up and you're like, "Oh, my parents were just figuring it out." Bro, I feel

cuz now I'm in that stage and they look at you like you have all the answers and you're like, I googled it.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. At least we have Google now. I don't know what our parents did.

They just followed their instincts. And I actually think that that's might be a little bit better cuz I feel actually bad saying, "Yeah, I googled what to do. Uh, I overrode my instincts and instead I Googled it." Um,

AI is now raising our kids. That's a frightening thought. Oh boy. Oh boy. But the point is, I think that as parents, when we make a mistake, it's okay to go back and correct it. Specifically when it comes to money, because then they understand this is trial and error for everybody. And if you make an error, you can always go back and make it right again. And I tend to think that those uh lessons stick the most when you're a kid and as an adult.

Yeah. You don't want to always rescue them because that creates dependence. And so instead, you give them some responsibility. That's going to build some strength. So don't remove the consequences. Your job is to raise a capable adult, not a child who doesn't know any better.

Well, welcome back to the Ramsey Show here in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. Let's go back to the phone lines, George, shall we?

I'm in. All right, Greg is in Texas. Greg, you are on the line, my friend. Thank you'all for having me.

You bet. How can we help today? Well, I am recently engaged. Um, and we are extremely excited about that. We have, um, I've listened to y'all for years, and I've talked with her about budget. I've talked with her about our finances. We've gone back and forth and we agree on just about everything. Um, however, there's one thing where I'm having a bit of a moral quandry. Um, we both own our own homes. Um, and the plan is to sell my house and move in to hers.

Okay. Um, which I'm comfortable doing. She wants to do some repairs. Um but ultimately she doesn't want me on the deed to her house

that of this current home. Okay. Um she has witnessed her mom go through several divorces and struggle with home ownership. So worst case scenario, she wants to make sure that she has this paid for home. She doesn't she has a mortgage on it currently, but she agrees with me to get out of debt and kind of snowball through everything and work the baby steps and that's fantastic. But she doesn't want me on the deed.

She trusts you, but only to a point pretty much. Okay. And there is a mortgage, you're saying, but she's wanting to pay it off.

Well, she wants to us to move forward and pay it off. Now, I have a unique opportunity. I'm about to the business that I work for is about is possibly going to sell and my proceeds from that will be about a half a million dollars in cash.

Amazing. That's awesome. So, thank you. Um it it's a boon for me. I've never had that kind of cash before.

Yeah. And um my question is do I do we just work the baby steps and I act like that money is set aside and it's in a investments and other things or do I try to attack the debt and get out of debt as soon as possible?

I mean there's two things here. I I I'm of the mind yes if you guys are married your finances should be together. The if you have the extra money to do things like pay off mortgages I'm all for that. But before we even get to that, I do want to go back to your wife because on the on the bigger scale, um you being on the deed, you know, we can make the argument of, hey, you're married after a certain point. If anything happens, the house is going to pass to you anyway, blah blah blah. But what we're really seeing is it is a trust issue and it is due to something that she experienced, which is completely valid. And I want to say that um to her and really anyone listening, of course, our past and our past relationships and what we saw growing up, all of that informs how we view money. And so, yeah, when you get experts like uh George or I giving you a simple piece of advice, everybody's going to filter that differently through

what they've experienced. And some people are going to go, "Yeah, that makes sense. No problem." And other people are going to go, "Whoa, absolutely not. I I can't." And so what what she needs to understand is it's very easy for a good excuse or a good reason even to become a bad excuse. If she allows that to persist and doesn't get the help that she needs to process through that, it's going to keep her from having the marriage that she ultimately wants. Um, before we get off the show, I'm going to give you a copy of my book, What No One Tells You About Money, because I think that's really going to help her process those emotions around what's going on, so that you guys can have the best possible financial picture and best possible marriage in this whole thing. So, that's thing one.

Um, do you think she'd read the book if you gave it to her? I do. Okay. Do you think it's something that she wants to work through? Um, I I think through our continued conversations, she might be waning on it. I'm not sure, but um

Well, you don't seem like a gold digger, Greg. You're about to acquire a half million on top of whatever else you currently have. So,

and you want to put it towards her house, which is awesome. So, is she not going to get a dime of anything you're bringing into the marriage? Cuz that's what it's turning into.

Well, no. I we I believe in joint finances. My parents, they operated that way their entire lives. So,

but you would agree it's unfair that you bring all of this into the marriage. You help pay down the mortgage in the future once you're married and you have no claim to the house on paper.

That That's what I'm That's what I'm saying. Am I being a butt or am I If you ask her, hey, if you were in my situation, how would you feel about all of this? You're not being a butt at all. But I do think this is an opportunity for you to understand her a little bit more. And I think it's an al I think you both have opportunities here. What George is saying is absolutely right. It's not fair. Like you're in a situation where you're thinking, hey, like hello. But again, back to the first point, you saw parents who managed money just fine, right? So of course that in informs the way you view this. You're like, yeah, what's the big deal?

Understanding her, who is going to be your wife, is it that is going to set you free in so many areas if you approach this from that. not I'm gonna do whatever you say because what you're saying is broken, but I do want to understand where that's coming from and I want to be an active participant in us working through that and getting to a point where it's as healthy as it possibly can be, right? And I think if you approach it that way, she's going to put like her eyes are going to turn into hearts and she's going to love you for that

if you really dig into this cuz she is operating out of fear. So the most loving thing you can do is get to the root of that and build the trust with her that her fear is valid, but the outcome is not something that is a possibility cuz I'm guessing there was a very specific reason her mom got divorced or multiple. I don't know the story right?

Mhm. And do you know the the reasons behind it? Have you asked her about that? Yes, we've talked about it.

And was it financial? Was it infidelity? What was at the core of those? Several different uh two of those already. Yes. Um I it I would say infidelity and

financial. Okay. And so the sooner we can be aligned with our money values and our principles and we say, "Hey, this is how we're going to operate as a family." You guys are already light years beyond probably where her mom was.

Yeah. Right. Relationally, financially. And so that's I think some good premarital counseling is necessary before you guys move forward on this. I don't know that this is like going to be an ultimatum or dealbreaker for you, but I think the spirit of this uh puts a little pause in my book.

Yeah, absolutely. This is something you guys are have the look, it really is an opportunity for you guys to work through this and how great that this is popping up now before you're even married versus on down the line when you're all set in your ways. So, I think if you both can look at it that way, I think that is a a winning combination there. So, thank you for that call. That's a tough one.

It is a tough one, George. And that is the truth. You know, these conversations, obviously, we make no bones about it here that money should be a joint effort. If you are married, it should be combined. And what we mean by that is there's one checking account, both checks goes in there, and there's no side accounts that is like, well, I put the money for the mortgage in here, and I keep my money. No, both checks go in and both people are aware of the monies. both people are on the budget. If there are um assets, both people are on those assets. And it's very easy to say that um from a healthy perspective, but anybody who's been burned hears that and goes, "Oh, yeah. Don't listen to them. Protect yourself." And that like human nature is to protect yourself. But

but I mean part of marriage is letting go and you're risking something in order to be married in this financial merger. That's right. So, think about it like mergers and acquisitions, right? Except you are acquiring everything she's got and she's acquiring everything you got.

So romantic. It can't work without that. If you're like, "Well, I want to keep my toys over here, but I want to play with your toys over there." That's not marriage.

Doesn't work. That's just fancy roommates. And if you're splitting the bill with your spouse, you don't have a spouse. You have a roommate with benefits.

Oo, I'm calling it like I see it. Got them. Hey good folks, Dr. John Deloney here. Don't you think life is too short to hate Mondays? Listen, you're worth loving the work you do and where you do it. So, guess what? Ramsay Solutions is hiring. If you're ready to join an amazing team that's all about changing lives, and spreading hope, we want to see your application. Right now, we're hiring for technology, sales, marketing, writing, copy editing, and creative roles. Check out all our job postings at ramiesolutions.com/careers.

That's ramseyolutions.com/careers. All right, back to the phone lines we go where Melanie is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Melanie, you are on the line.

Hello. Thank you so much for taking my call. Um, I have a question that would be in the category of radical generosity. And my question is twofold. Um, I want to give a very generous gift to my sister-in-law and her husband and their two best friends. And I first my question is twofold. First, I need to make sure that my husband is on board. He says that it's excessive. And second, if I can get him on board, how do I get this gift to them without making it weird in our relationship?

What's the gift and what's it for? We we want to send them the four of them to Hawaii. Or I do anyway. Why?

Well, um they have experienced some health issues. Both somebody in each of the couples. Um my sister-in-law is on the other side of cancer and the husband of the other couples had his his own health issues and he's working his way out of that. Um my in-laws pl they planned on doing this trip together when they were counting on an inheritance that they were going to get and that fell through. So, they no longer are going to be getting that money. We have the means to send the four of them and I would like to pay for the resorts, the excursions and all. Maybe say you guys get yourself there with the flights and we'll take care of everything else.

I love that. How wealthy are you? Well, I mean, we're we're fine. So, we we've retired

and um I have a pension that is covering all of our needs and we have 2.1 in different types of savings and we have our house paid for and we're you taking our own trips that you know we're kind of living the what we wanted to do in our own retirement and we would really like to

what will it cost to do all this for your friends and family? I think I think 25,000 would cover it and I have 27,000 coming in July for our early retirement bonus that is that'll be coming in.

Nice. So, this feels like found money was taken out of Yes. Yeah. And I just feel like, you know, it's one of those where Dave says if you could put it in the middle of the

you could burn it and burn it, you would you wouldn't you wouldn't even notice it. I feel like it's in that category.

Yeah. This isn't even like a percent of your net worth. No, it's like a percent of a percent of your net worth,

right? I just love your heart on it, too. And is it just is your husband like blindsided by this? Like, is this a big surprise that you're like, "Hey, what if we drop 25 grand to send all these people?" Like, you're not even going on the trip. So, he's like, "I want to go to Hawaii."

Well, we're we're we're going in September so Okay, good. Um it's not like we don't ever do I mean, we went to Greece and so we had some some really great trips planned for ourselves. Um he does kind of give me a hard time because he's like, "Oh my gosh, you'd give away the house if if you didn't put bumpers on the

Well, there's usually one person who has, you know, a little more of that generosity muscle and one person who's a little more like, you know, saver. What else could we do with the money?" And that's totally normal. I don't think he's a bad guy. Have you gotten to the root of what he's feeling about this? Um, I do think that he's concerned with um maybe what would happen like if like how do you say we would like to gift this to you

and could that be a problem like you know I don't want to make it weird because we are very close and

I don't think it's weird knowing the cont. It's not like you're saying hey you guys are so broke we just want to send you on a trip. It's, hey, you guys have had a lot of life hit you, and you know, my husband and I, we were trying to brainstorm things we could do, and we just thought the most fun thing to do would be to send you guys on a trip, and we'll cover blah blah blah, you guys cover the travel, and you know, that's what we decided. And it's more of just like it's up to them if they want to block the blessing, but it's not you guys making it weird.

And I also love that you're sending them. It's not like we're going with you and then the whole time it's kind of like, all right,

this awkward force like, "Thank you so much for everything." Now, are the couples going together or it's like the the in-laws are going on the trip and then your two best friends are going on a separate trip or is it like a group of them going together?

Best friends. So, it's our in-laws and their best and their two best friends. Okay. So, the four of them together.

Is he worried that it feels excessive because that's clearly a lot of people a long distance a lot of money. Like, is he afraid it's going to reveal something about you all's net worth or that's going to feel like a flex?

I think so. And you know, we've we've kind of grew up in a generation where nobody talks about money and you know, you don't

if there's income inequality. I you know, I don't want that to be Yeah. between us.

Well, the other question I had is are they even going to be able to cover the other expenses? Are they in a good financial spot?

I think so. M um you know I I they you know they they they don't seem to be hurting for money but they definitely live fertily at the same time you know but but they you know we've done things together and it's not like they are complaining about money. They've been generous to their sons before on different occasions. So

they're not like drowning in tight. How would you do it? Is it writing a check or is it

like like practically how would you do this? I hadn't thought that far that far because I hadn't gotten to the whether or not we should do it or

could do it yet. Um I'm open to ideas. Uh yeah, I like Let me first say this. I love the idea of being generous. I love that you've seen that they've gone through a struggle and they could probably use a break. I I love that so much.

This is the living live like no one else part of living like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else. You guys are doing that last part which is highly encouraged and it's the most fun you can have with money.

Uhhuh. And so the way to there there's multiple ways to do it. I think that's less exciting and more just like all right, we're going to give them the debit card number when they go to book,

right? It's not it's not like it's rocket science to pay for the trip. Yeah. But it's like it feels different to be like here's your check for $15,000 versus kind of what George said.

Yeah. I would try to do it directly to the trip. Otherwise, it's like, well, we can get a lot of groceries with this money now. Maybe the trip will get delayed.

I do have a friend that I do have a friend that's a travel agent that is planning our trips.

Oh, nice. she could plan it and I could just pay her. I love that. And I think that that also gives them the ability to choose when it's a good time for them. So, if you said something like, I don't know, you sit them down, you say, "Hey, we really want to do this for you. We love you guys so much. You deserve a break." I asked my travel agent if she would plan this for you guys, it's a total gift. So, whenever you're ready, um, you know, get in touch. Yes. Like, do this. do not, you know, and make sure I I love that because then you're deal agent.

Yeah. Yeah. It's less awkward because you don't feel like you're directly involved in this. You're just sort of the the, you know, fairy angel.

Yeah. And and maybe you let them know, you know, here's here's what we're giving. You know, feel free to get what you want, but like my husband and I, we want to put like x amount of dollars towards this. And that way you've kind of said it, but it's not uh in a weird way.

Yeah. And if they decline it and go, "Hey, you know what? we're actually not going to be able to take a trip this year for whatever x reason. That's okay. You still offered it. You were still generous and you didn't just like write a check that sat there and you have to rip it up now.

Mhm. Now, on your husband's part, that that's the one that's going to be tough. And I'll tell you, you know, my husband and I are to George's point, there's always one person that's like, "Give it all." And the other person's like, "Hold up. Like, chill out for a second. Like, let's talk." Um, so maybe ask him say, "Hey, if this feels too

elaborate, what what what do you think?" and maybe you guys can meet in the middle. Um maybe it's somewhere in between all of this that that feels more right for both of you. Um and just be open to that as well.

Okay. Okay, that sounds great. I really appreciate your help. Yeah, you're an awesome person.

Yeah, thank you for the call. I do think the ratios help me emotionally cuz I'm probably more like her husband where like the sticker shock I just go that just feels crazy.

That's like Sam Warshaw. Yeah. And then you go well it's 0.02% 02% of our total net worth and we're gonna make that much in compound growth this month. Yes. Oh, and also it's a bonus that she's getting from her early retirement.

Yeah. It's found money in many ways. Yeah. That's girl math right there. So, okay. I don't know what you and Whitney do, but ever whenever there's a moment where we're thinking about giving an amount, uh this is this is my strategy. I always say to Sam, I'm like, "Okay, be praying about like what this amount is."

Oh, that's good. That's the first thing. Be praying. There's some spiritual conviction right there.

It's just like, hey, I want to know that we're both we both allowed, you know, the Lord.

Well, then it's like, hey, it's up to God. It's up to God. Whatever he puts on my heart.

Then what I do then what we do is we count to three and we say our number at the same time.

I love that. And it is always you're hired. It is always hilarious. And then he'll go, I knew you were going to say that. And I'm like, then why didn't you say the same number as me?

He likes to be contrarian. Yeah. So, let's do it. George on on this trip the 25,000 that she wants to spend on the count of three. I'll tell you what I think she should spend and you tell me what she you think she should spend. All right. You ready?

Yep. 1 2 3 25,000. Boom. God told me. God told me to. If you've been working the plan, paying off debt, saving, and changing your family tree, I'm proud of you. And if you're in Baby Step 4 or beyond, it's time to celebrate. The Live Like No one Else cruise is back March 14 through 21, 2027. Join the Ramsay personalities and me as we sail to Half Moon Key, Cosm, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman on the ultimate debt-free vacation. Cabins will sell out just like last time. Lock in yours with a $600 deposit at ramiesolutions.com/events.

Richard is in Nashville, Tennessee. Richard, how can we help today? Hey, question for you. I'm considering building an apartment on my property for my daughter and son-in-law to live in until they can uh purchase a home. They'll pay rent while they're living there. And my two options I think that are good for me is a heliloc or I can do an auto loan on a vehicle that's paid off. Um probably looking at about 50,000 on the heliloc and can probably get about 40 on the car. I do have the cash on hand, but I think a loan would probably a better idea. I'm just just curious if there's any pros or cons one way or the other.

Well, there's all cons. Okay. All of them. Why would it be a good idea to do the title loan or the heliloc?

Well, because if I used cash on hand, I I'd not have any cash on hand anymore. And I've got a ton of equity in my home. And um I I owe nothing uh any the only thing I owe on is my home as far as you know in debt with anything. Um I don't know, maybe it's not a good idea. That's what I'm curious about.

Well, that those if it's a true title loan, I mean, those are the it's like a payday lender. It's like 25% to 300% interest. You could lose the car. I mean, the repayment terms are terrible and you get payback in 30 days. Unless you're talking about like you're talking about taking a loan out against your car that's paid for.

Well, this is through the bank and it's basically um the car's collateral though.

Uh yeah, the car is collateral. I' I'd rather lose a car than a house, though. So, I'm just

Why is any What's What's so urgent about this? Why can't they just get a normal apartment? Why do you have to build an apartment for them to live in? Tell us more.

Yeah. Well, um, both of them work ministry and, uh, they're coming out of that and so they're not financially set to do that. Uh, the apartment would be an asset,

uh, to my current situation. Um, I had I had considered doing it before because uh, about two years ago, my father became ill, all of a sudden had to come live with us. Mhm.

We just bought an RV and let him live in the RV for a time. Um, and so it just kind of put on the radar maybe we should have something uh like that available.

But what's the long-term plan for them? It feels like we're just sort of temporarily subsidizing their lifestyle because they're not making good incomes.

Yeah. So, if they're going to be in ministry long term, they got to figure out how to put food on the table and cover rent.

No, I agree with you on that. And so I I'm just wondering if I could help with that. I mean,

well, here's the thing. I just don't think you can afford it. I I'm always the last call the lady wanted to be like wildly generous. So, we love generosity here. Um, hear me say that. But if you have to put your home up and your vehicle up for collateral and you're still paying off a mortgage yourself, you simply can't afford to do so. I you're you're, you know, cutting off your nose to spite your face at that point. It's it's it's putting you in a horrible situation and it's putting them in a bad situation because if this goes south in any way, you are going you have a lot on the line that you can lose.

Sure. Yeah. There's just too much risk here. If you want to bless them with like a one-time gift, you can do that. You can write them a check and maybe that covers a certain, you know, number of months of rent for them. But again, I would try to help them actually become independent long term because otherwise now they need you. Now they're codependent instead of independent. And ministry is tough because you don't make a lot of money. It it's why we call it ministry. But they need to figure out a way either it's bivocational, which is a lot of people in ministry. It's what they do.

They have another job that actually pays the bills and they do ministry with their free time. And so I think helping them craft a plan is so much more helpful than anything you could do financially for them at this point.

Okay. Well, that's that's helpful insight. Um it certainly gives me a perspective to mle over and think about and um that's that was my objective and calling to find out, you know, uh am I missing something? Is there um you know, red flags that I'm just not seeing? So I appreciate your input with all that.

Absolutely. Yeah. you're trying to do it just a nice good thing in a bad way and then you're you're trying to justify it by saying well I'm also building an asset for me on the side and so I think that's sort of clouding the judgment here because you're looking at it as an investment but if you have to go into debt for it and put your car or home at risk which is what's happening with either of these loans it's a bad idea and if it hurts to part with that much cash because you'll be cash poor then it's also a bad idea so I think that's it's a good gut check to say if I paid cash for this would give me some pause and anxiety.

And then the truth is we just can't afford it right now. Not that you never can do something super generous.

Yeah. It's something to aspire to possibly. Yeah. You know, and I think that's hopefully you'll think long and hard about that, but please hear George and I say we would not do this. And by the way, if you don't do this, it doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't make you a person who doesn't support ministry. It just makes you a person who is a financially responsible adult. Okay, let's go to Sam who's in Maryland. Hey Sam, how can we help today?

Sam. Hi. Um, thanks for taking my call. Can you hear me? Yeah, we can. What's up?

Um, so I'm a 25-year-old. Um, I'm hoping to get married this year to my boyfriend. Um, he's also 25. So, I'm uh two years postgrad. I'm working full-time and he's a full-time um pharmacy student. Um so the question is that if we were to get married um this fall or winter um essentially we would be financially independent. Um he's fortunate enough right now where his parents pay his pharmacy school tuition.

Nice. Um if we chose to get married um that financial support would end because we'd be um independent adults at that point. Um and that would be four semesters of tuition at around $17,000 per semester.

Okay. Um, so the question is, um, do we delay potentially getting married until after he graduates, uh, or do we take the risk and take out student loans, uh, of a significant amount, uh, and get married sooner than later?

Is there an option C? Because A and B suck right now. We can both agree on that. I would not take out student loans. I would not delay marriage until this is all sorted out because of, you know, his beneficiaries here. What I'm confused about is why the parents are saying, "Hey, the day you're married, no more.

You're on your own." Even though it's not like he has a job all of a sudden, right?

Yeah. He doesn't. Um, so so both of us come from non-American families and I think um like traditionally with with both of our cultures, it's understood that you're you're essentially independent um once you're married. So I don't think our his parents were budging in that on that department. And there I think they also uh both of our parents are for the match. I think his parents would prefer um waiting a little bit longer.

Yeah. Do they like you? Is this part of like is this despite you from from what I've been told I'm wellliked and accepted. I don't think I don't think that's the concern.

Well, because here's the funny thing. If I'm him, I'm like, "Sweet. I guess I'll just never get married because then my parents will fund my life forever." Do you also see how insane that is?

Yeah. No. Oh, yeah. I get that. And what about the like what about as a wedding gift? They go, "Hey, as a wedding gift, we're going to cover the rest of his school, but you guys are on your own for the wedding. Would that be a compromise that they might be willing to go for?"

Um, I'm not sure. I mean, I think maybe you'll have to talk to them a little bit more. Um, but again, in his culture, I I'll just like throw that under the bus. I think like traditionally, um, it would be my family paying for the wedding for the most part. Um, and then we're also not thinking of something doing anything significant. Um, I guess like we could ask about if there is a gift. I'm not sure.

Well, what are you making? I make $64,000 a year. Okay. So, the question is on the other side, how do we figure out how to cash flow the 17K a year if that's what it's going to take?

Well, that's it's time to Yeah, exactly. So, we got 68K we got to cover if we're on our own.

Mhm. over how many years? So he has two more full years. Uh so four semesters total if we're um beginning this fall.

Yeah. So you're not going to be able to cash flow that making 64. Exactly. And so that we run into a problem here. And which means he needs to do this slower. You could delay getting married. I wouldn't delay getting married just for this purpose. But it sounds like he hasn't even proposed yet. And then there's still the engagement period. So there still could be another year, year and a half or two years. That's the question I had is if the man hasn't even proposed, then maybe, you know, that buys you some time right there.

Maybe we plan the wedding. When he graduates, the wedding happens. Yeah, I like that.

Best of both worlds. Best of both worlds. All right, let's cut to the chase. It's easy to get discouraged about crazy house prices and interest rates, but when you have the right real estate agent to help you buy and sell the right way, you'll have confidence to make smart decisions. Ramsay trusted agents aren't just experts who guide you through buying or selling. They're people you can trust to have your back from the first call to closing day. Find a Ramsey trusted agent near you at ramseyssolutions.com/agent. That's rammissysolutions.com/

our Ramsey show scripture and quote of the day. Colossians 3:23 says, "And whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not to men." Mark Twain said, "20 years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones that you did do." I like that.

Avoid regret. Seize the day. Carpey DM. All right. Kate is in Katie is in Huntsville, Alabama. Katie, you are on the line, my friend.

Hi. Hi. Hi. I'm so pumped. So nervous, but so pumped. I love it. It's a good combo.

Yes. We can't wait to hear what you have to say. Oh man, there's so much. But we'll we'll wrap it up. Um so currently right now, my husband and I are baby step number two.

And we have about um $12,000 in consumer debt that I am about to send a $6,000 payment on. So about to cut that in half. Um and I do Yes. I'm so pumped. Um, and then I'm expecting to have the remaining balance done by April. And, um, I've been working like 25 hours extra every week trying to like pump out the overtime. And my husband, you know, unfortunately overtime's not available for his job, but we are in full gazelle mode, just running and feeling the passion. Um, however, I am 41 and he's 45 and we have twin almost 15 year olds that are looking to get their permits.

Um, I have a car loan that is $40,000 and I'm currently 13,000 upside down on it.

What happened? You said you had 12K. I I'm confused. I'm sorry. I forgot about the car. I

That's a big one to forget about, Katie. You forget about the car in baby step two.

I can't forget about the car. I can't forget about the car. That's the whole reason I'm calling.

Okay. So, 40k loan. 40k loan. And you're saying it's worth 27? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe 33 if I'm lucky. Um I might be get might be able to get 33 for it. But in the end, I'm up upside down. $13,000 on it. Um roughly.

What's your household income? Um my husband makes 93 and I make 54. Great income.

Yeah, it's not terrible. I mean, we used to make better money, but we moved and total God thing and this is where we're supposed to be. So, we're just trying to keep our eyes on that and and stay focused.

Yeah. It's like double the average household income. So, you guys are crushing it by, you know, America's standards, but when you're in crippling debt, it doesn't feel like that.

So, what's the main question? So, my main question is I got kiddos that I'm going to need to get cars for. Uh, is it because I I know Dave says if you can pay the car off within two years, then it's potentially up for keeping, right? Mhm.

So, um, do I keep the car or do I forgo the car because I got my kids potential driving coming up

and then I have one more wrench to throw in there. I'm currently living on folding tables in my kitchen cuz we bought a home that needed repairs and it ended up being a disaster. though. I have been in a year in this house with no kitchen.

Oh boy. So on top of everything else, I'm surviving and it's fine. Like we say folding tables.

I have no cabinets. I have no kitchen counters. You have a sink. I have a I have a utility sink in my laundry room. Bubbles. I know

you're making salad in the bathroom. There's a There's a porta potty out back that we all use. It's a good time.

Okay. There's a lot did redo all of the plumbing. We did redo all of the electrical because our inspection came back horrific. And actually, no, the inspection came back fine, but once we started going through things, everything had to be replaced. Everything was a firehouse. Plumbing was about to go.

Oh boy. Okay. So, is this going to be like $50,000 to get this thing up and running?

No. So, we've got most of it up and running. So, we dug into our nest egg, which is half the reason we're in our our just

you like robbed your retirement accounts. No, no, no, no. Just the equity from our house that we sold in another state.

Okay. Oh, okay. A secondary house. Yeah, we sold we we used to live in Colorado and we sold everything to move here.

Days of our lives. It just keeps unfolding. The bad decisions keep going with you wherever you go. You had a house in Colorado. You sold that. You had a sum of money and you've been pulling from that.

Yes. How much was it? And how much do you have left? Oh, I don't have any left. You know, like we're down to our $1,000 emergency fund and we're slowly getting rid of

How much was it originally? That credit card. Uh I think it was like 50. Okay. So, here's we're we're here's where we're at. So, the $40,000 car, you just told me now you can't keep it.

Um, because of all too many priorities. Yes. And as it relates, and I'll just give you a couple of thoughts. Even aside from the kitchen malfunctioning, I'm thinking, okay, 40,000 in this car. Surely you have another vehicle that's worth something. And then you've got these kids. We don't want more than half of your income in vehicles going down in value. So, you're likely going to have to lower this. Um because you've got about 60 you've got about uh 70,000 that you can spend on vehicles, right? So all four of you having vehicles, somebody's going to have to shift down

and it doesn't mean you should have 70,000 in vehicles. That's just the upper upper tip top limit if you really want it. And right now

and my husband's cars paid off car paid off. Uh it's a 2020 Chevy. Um, so that sounds

it was we got it in co, but we got it during co paid off. But the point is we're going to go down to the credit union. We're getting some sort of loan to get out of this $13,000 and then uh because you owe 40 now. So if you take a loan for 13, 13 is less than 40. That's a better deal for you.

Plus, we need some cash to get you a car to get from A to B right now. Yeah. So maybe try to get the loan for 18 and you spend 5,000 on a clunker. That's what I would do.

And then give that to one of those kids that are driving cuz they're inevitably going to make it even more of a clunker.

Indeed. And then you can upgrade with cash once you guys have it. And so that's up to you how you want to prioritize. Hey, we got to get a car for Junior. We need to get some cabinets in this kitchen.

Uh we got to clean up the other $6,000 of debt that you have left. And if Junior has to wait a while for a car, by the way, he'll be he or she will be strong. Like it's okay.

I shared my parents car a long time. Yes. Yes, absolutely. Well, it's two of them. They're twins.

That's okay. They can ride together over it. Get them a tandem bicycle. You know, that's that'll look cool going down the road as twins.

Oh gosh. Yeah. Either way, if they have to wait for a while while mom and dad get their life squared away, that is fine. They will survive that. Um,

absolutely. Now, absolutely. Now, the the kitchen, let's talk about finding the money. So, how much did you say? 50,000 or that's how much is it going to cost to just get this in working order? Yeah.

Oh, the kitchen. Uh, we've already done almost everything except countertops and cabinets. So, honestly, we priced

I know, but we've priced in um we've we're looking at about 7,500 and then done with the No, I'm not a bougie girl. Okay, it sounds bougie, but I'm not.

Okay, good. So, um I I'm not looking to make it crazy. Well, if you if you get rid of this car and you knock out the other 6K, you can cash flow that 7500 pretty quick and cash flow a couple of cheap cars as well. So, this is all very doable. We just need to start putting things in order. And I think this getting rid of this car is going to give you such relief

and later on you can get you a nice $30,000 car with cash. But right now, it's sinking you guys.

Yeah. By I mean, put it to you like this. by the end of summer, you'll be driving, your kids will be driving, and you'll have your c your your if you go hard in the paint. You'll have your kitchen done. And I think that's that's a great feeling. Uh the one thing I will kind of throw out there cuz it's hard selling a vehicle, it is hard on the ego.

Mhm. Okay. Cuz everybody knows something's up. Yeah. You were driving and you go from the nicest car you've ever driven to the worst car you've ever driven overnight.

Absolutely. That's brutal. cuz people are like, "Oh, hey, what happened?" You know, they're at Chili's wondering what happened to Bob and Susan. They they solved their Escalade.

Yes, my butt's cold. But the good news is it doesn't matter what other people think. You guys are far beyond that at this point. If you're if you're Gazelle intense, that is one lesson that you have learned.

If you got real friends who have seen your kitchen, they'll they won't care about your beater car. I'll tell you that much.

That's right. That's right. But for anybody who's doing this journey, just be prepared to not care what other people think is what we're telling.

It's a superpower. All right. All right. Well guys, remember there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Are You Ready To Live Differently To Win? | February 25, 2026"?

Jade Warshaw (Host), George Camel (Host), Brandon (Guest), Cordell (Guest), Richard (Host), Sam (Guest), Kate (Guest).

What is "Are You Ready To Live Differently To Win? | February 25, 2026" about?

A caller seeks guidance on whether to use funds to repair a rental property after a difficult situation with his mother, who is homeless and financially strained, weighing options to move her out and manage about $20,000 in damages. The discussion centers on housing family in distress, financial responsibility, and practical steps for repairs and eviction.

What is mentioned in this The Ramsey Show episode?

23 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Ramsey Show, Jade Warshaw, George Camel, Jasmine Sarah, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ramsey Network. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Are You Ready To Live Differently To Win? | February 25, 2026"?

The episode runs 2 h 7 min; the transcript is about 24,477 words in 473 timestamped sections.

More from The Ramsey Show

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated October 29, 2026.