Transcript

Financial Stability Is Crucial When Life Feels Uncertain | February 12, 2026

From The Ramsey Show · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 2 h 7 min · 24,631 words · 462 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Financial Stability Is Crucial When Life Feels Uncertain | February 12, 2026", an episode of The Ramsey Show published February 12, 2026 (2 h 7 min, about 24,631 words). It mentions 9 people, works and ideas, including Mario (Sherry Coleman's brother), Rachel Cruz, Better Help, Dave Ramsey, Every Dollar app.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 15:00: Entree Leadership, Every Dollar app, Mama Bear Legal Forms, Mario (Sherry Coleman's brother)
  2. – 30:00: Better Help, Dave Ramsey
  3. – 45:00: Mario (Sherry Coleman's brother), Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruz
  4. – 1:30:00: Mario (Sherry Coleman's brother), Rachel Cruz
  5. – 1:45:00: Every Dollar app
  6. – 2:00:00: Dave Ramsey

Notable quotes from "Financial Stability Is Crucial When Life Feels Uncertain | February 12, 2026"

  • Alongside the lovely Rachel Cruz, I'm Ken Coleman. The phone number to jump in is88255225.LE88255225.
    about Mario (Sherry Coleman's brother) · at
  • It can rock your world and poor Joe's dealing with it. Second lesson, and we teach this in Entree Leadership, which is our business division here at Ramsey Solutions, retained…
    about Entree Leadership · at
  • Hey, what's up? This is Dr. John Deloney from my friends at Mama Bear Legal Forms. I spend a lot of time talking with people about anxiety, relationship challenges, and all kinds of other things that keep people up at night. One.
    about Mama Bear Legal Forms · at
  • Some pressure off yourself and build a strong relationship. To do all of this, I recommend BetterHelp. BetterHelp is an online therapy platform that matches you with a licensed…
    about Better Help · at
  • Get a house, but I can't get an apartment because I have no credit because I do what Dave Ramsey says.
    about Dave Ramsey · at
  • Hope it works out. Listen, don't play yourself. I want you to win. And our Every Dollar app is the gamecher you need. In 15 minutes, Every Dollar helps you build a plan based…
    about Every Dollar app · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

Companies & orgs

Products & tech

Concepts & topics

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 Ramsay Network in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio, this is the Ramsay Show. Alongside the lovely Rachel Cruz, I'm Ken Coleman. The phone number to jump in is88255225.LE88255225. You ready to go?

Let's do this. Ken, she's ready, folks. Joe starts us off in Newark, New Jersey. Joe, how can we help today?

Hi, sir. Uh, got a small distribution business plus uh honey packing facility. We recently had a fire. I lost all my merchandise and goods. I owe SBA and credit card bills. 70,000 on the card and SBA about 60,000. I don't want to file bankruptcy, but I want to know what is the best way to move forward.

So, you you've lost everything in a fire. Is that what you said? Yeah, there was a fire in the warehouse. Um burned all my merchant Yeah. burned all my merchandise and my machinery.

Any um will insurance pick up some of that? Uh unfortunately, I did not have insurance. Oh no. Okay.

Wow. How long ago did this happen, Joe? This happened on January 1st. This this January.

So, how have you been have you been running the business at all for the last um 50 days or has everything been on pause?

Everything been on pause. Um just had a little saving on a side that I am using to stay alive.

Oh my gosh. So, you literally have no business to run. You can't just start up from scratch again. True or false?

I can't start from scratch again. Okay. What would What would What would you need to start from scratch?

Um, merchandise. What were you selling? I was selling a lot of stuff. I was selling teas, oil, cooking oil, essential oils, salt, salt.

Okay. So, do you have enough cash to be able to buy some products, some supplies, so that you have something to sell?

Yes, I have a little cash. Okay. So, my big What's your question for us? I am concerned about my SBA loan and my credit card that I have racked up 70,000. Um, I don't want to file bankruptcy. I want to know how what is the way to go with these guys and how do I explain them so this way at least they give me some time to

get back in there. Yeah. You don't have anything to worry about on the credit card because they they you just call them up and you tell them what's going on and and the fact of the matter is if you were to file for bankruptcy, they're not going to get much, right? And so we talk all the time about people have to settle with credit card companies. That is the least of your worries. The credit card debt is down the road. We're gonna have to get you back up and operational. So, whatever cash you have, that has to be stretched, I guess, between two key things, Rachel. One, uh, taking care of your needs right now because you have no income, and two, buying some inventory that we can turn around, which helps us get paid.

Yeah. So, on Yeah. On the income side, Joe, that's what Ken's talking about, which is what you're going to have to start doing and or getting another job where you can be making an income ASAP, right? That you may not have the the leeway like this is to be working. But then the debt side of it, yeah, with the credit cards, especially if you are late and it goes into default, it'll go into collections

and and in this case, I'm like, you know, some people want to do that way, Joe, and they have the money to pay it, they just don't want to pay it, so they take that easy way out. You don't have money to pay it. So you legitimately probably if you stop paying them like they will go to collections and you're going to have to tell them like yeah I don't have money and then that's where the settlement can come in that if you save some money and and a lot a lot of the times I mean it's it's a nickel on the dollar pennies on the dollar that they'll settle for. So there's a good chance that this 70,000 if you get some money saved you may be able

to settle some of this for 10 15,000 right? Um but that that's one side of it is the SBA and who's it with? What is it? Bank or credit union? Local bank, big bank.

Well, I applied uh SBA through Chase. Okay. Um yeah, I mean, you could go down the same route and talk to them. I think that's a little bit of a harder game to play than the

Although, here's the deal. There is a shot at the humanness of your situation. And by the way, they're going to be very suspicious. But to the extent that you can show them you're not making this up. This isn't some fraud end around your world got rocked and you hope you can get a real human on the phone and you just tell them what's going on and to the best of your ability say here's what the next three months looks like for me. I've got just enough excuse me I don't know what's going on with my voice all of a sudden. Uh but I I would be casting vision

now. They may not care but Rachel I think it's important to at least go here's where I'm at. I don't want to file bankruptcy. Yes.

Cuz they know what happens if you file for bankruptcy. They don't get anything. Yeah. That's right. That's right.

So, I do think there is a humanness to this. And I think again, I'm such a take the bull by the horns kind of guy. And I my advice is always going to come down to it may not matter, but I certainly would cast vision with them for three. Here's what's going to happen the next three months. In six months, I think I'm going to be able to start making payments again. I would do this with the credit card company as well because you have an extraordinary circumstance and if you got a good track record, your payments were always on time, you make a case for why they should not harass you.

Got you. You have nothing to lose with that approach and everything to gain. That's right. And do not by any means, Joe, give them access to your checking account or any accounts. Okay. So, this is keeping them at an arms length, if you will, but seeing if they'll negotiate at any point. Um, and usually with that that settlement, you you usually have to have the cash on hand to say, "Hey, here's $5,000. Will you settle, you know, 30,000 of it or whatever, whatever the case may be." So, um, so you kind of have a couple of lanes you're going to have to be thinking about. One, restarting the business, which is what you were saying at the beginning of the call, Ken. Also, just having money to pay your bills as we sit today. And you know, if you have a family and you're supporting people, like figuring out some income, which means you may be doing a job that is different than what you were doing for a

period of time, which is fine. We're just bringing in an income. And then to start, yeah, talking to these creditors, credit card companies, and Chase, um, about the debt just to see if there's, um, you know, what that looks like. And again, it may take a few months of you not paying for it to kind of get to that point. Um, but I'm with I'm with Ken. as proactive as you can be in these situations, the better off you're going to be versus just going and filing bankruptcy or keeping this around forever and ever and hoping like, you know, you can do some negotiations.

And I think it's really important. Okay, bigger audience now. So, we're not picking on Joe. We feel bad for Joe. But what can we learn from Joe? There's two really key lessons for small business owners, soloreneurs. Key that you catch this. Number one, when you need to insure something, don't put it off. Insure it. If you have something that is insurable, I'm not talking some scam. I'm talking like

you've got a warehouse and you have product, you need to insure yourself because these kind of things happen and it can rock your world and poor Joe's dealing with it. Second lesson, and we teach this in Entree Leadership, which is our business division here at Ramsey Solutions,

retained earnings in your business. I don't care what you're selling. Always make sure in those early days that you adopt this principle and you stay with it. That when you make any profit that there is a percentage of that that goes to a good old-fashioned savings account. We call it retained earnings, but it's just a savings account.

And you should have an emergency fund for your business just like we teach. That's right. For your personal life and I think he's done that to some degree. Thankfully, he has some cash. Oh, yeah. No debt, of course.

And you know that too, right? So the idea of what you do in your personal life to be wise with money, stay debtree, have savings that applies to you business owners. You don't get a pass on common sense. And so move at the speed of cash with your businesses. It creates zero risk and a lot of peace.

Hey, what's up? This is Dr. John Deloney from my friends at Mama Bear Legal Forms. I spend a lot of time talking with people about anxiety, relationship challenges, and all kinds of other things that keep people up at night. One thing I'm always telling everybody is that peace does not come from avoiding hard things. Peace comes from facing hard things and directly walking through them. One of the hard things we all face is our own mortality. And if you've got kids or people you love, creating a will is one of the most important things you can give them. I'm such a big fan of Mama Bear. When I moved from Texas to Tennessee, one of the first things I did was set up my will through MMA Bear so that my family was protected in my new state. Mama Bear will help you make a clear, legally valid will in about 20 minutes. They provide stepby-step guidance that makes getting a will simple. Believe me, if you're ready to

love your family in a real, impractical, and lasting way, go to mamabarlegalformms.com and use the promo code Ramsay to save 20%. That's mabarillegalforms.com. Use code Ramsay. All right, Susan is up next in Las Vegas. Susan, how can we help you today?

Hi. Yes. Um, I have been married for six years um to my husband. when we got married, um he wanted me to sign a a last minute prenup um day before we were going to go get married. Um nothing was written up, but I so I didn't agree to sign anything because he wanted me to just sign a blank piece of paper and and have him and his attorney was going to write up whatever he told him to. And I said, "Well, that's we've never even discussed finances in our year of dating, so I'm not comfortable doing that." Good for you.

Good for you. I've never even heard of such a crazy request. Uh well, yeah. So, the day before we were leaving to go out of state to go get married, he he said, "Well, I want you to come down to the attorneys and blah blah blah." Anyway, I just said, "Well, he's" And then he said, "Well, don't you trust me?" And I said, "This is ridiculous." I said, "We've never even talked about

about finances." And when we were dating, he was throwing money around like he had all this money, but I didn't know what he had or didn't have.

Sure. Anyway, so anyway, fast forward. I didn't sign it. I'm like, I'm not signing a blank piece of paper. That's ridiculous. And so anyway, so fast forward 6 years. Finances, finances have always been kept a secret. He gives me a small allowance. He puts in a joint checking account to cover, you know, whatever small things on the side. He pays the main bills. Um, you know, I pay the groceries and other small things. But anyway, so now he fast forward, he wants a divorce because I've finally put my foot down and said, "I'm not going to live in secret anymore. You either become transparent because as far as I can tell from how he's acting, um, he's put his one business, I think it's like going in the hole cuz he's an accountant

and he went from having a dozen employees to having two." And anyway, I think he's just lost a lot of money. So, he started another driving business on the side and he started that a year and a half ago and he went into a ton of debt for that. Um,

so Susan, this is really bad and I am so sorry you're going through this. What specifically would you like us to weigh in on today?

Well, I'm just wondering with with all this debt, I'm like, what am I responsible for? And and is he really in debt or is he not in I mean I don't really know

what's what's his reasoning when you when you push him to the point that he said I'm going to divorce you.

When you push him on I want transparency. I want to see everything. What's his response? Is it it's none of your business? Is it

Yes. Like Yes. He just I just said I need to know what's going on. Like where where are we and how can I help and what's going on? And he just says I'm not telling you. It's none of your business.

Yeah. This is an overlord, not a husband. He's acting like some, you know, crazy maniacal

overlord. Uh, I think, let's answer your question as technically as we can, Rachel. If your name's not on it.

Yeah. The debt. You're not going to be responsible. Then you're not responsible for it. So, but that doesn't really help you with your problem is that you don't know what he's done. You don't know what he's put in your name. Do you guys have a mortgage?

We We have a mortgage. So, right after we got married, he had the house appraised. Um,

are you on the mortgage? No. Your name's not on the mortgage? Only his is. No. So, he bought the home um about a year before we got

Great about a year and a half. Great news for you. Great news for you. So, then we got married and then a couple months later he he decides doesn't even tell me that he's talking to the bank about refinancing. So, the morning of I said, "Where are you going?" He goes, "I'm going down to the bank. I'm refinancing the house." And I said, "Oh, well that would have been a good thing to know." And anyway, so he just goes down and does it. And I'm like, "Well, wait a minute. We haven't even discussed. Do we want to put it on 20 or 30 or what what's the plan? And how much is that?"

But your name is not on it even after the refi. Nothing. Okay. Which means you Okay. So that is that's hard because any any equity that's built into this thing.

Yeah. either you you you don't have you don't have which is a negative but also if he is underwater a hundred grand in business loans and he has to file bankruptcy they're going to take the house and and use the equity and that to I mean you know what I mean like that gets

yeah our hope is that your name's not on any of his debt but to Rachel's point you're not going to benefit

from anything from the house yeah you yeah I mean Susan the way he's talking to you with money

that this doesn't like your marriage overall he engages. No, he doesn't engage in any marital

okay anything like so I think you have to make a decision Susan either he changes and he chooses to be a spouse in this relationship which means a commitment and transparency and oneness and a team in everything healing in all areas of life I think not just money is what this sounds like

and if he doesn't do that which he probably won't then you have to make a decision Susan on how you want the rest of your life to be and we never are pro- divorce right like I never want it to get to this point but I also want you to protect yourself in a situation like this where the allow like all of it like this is it it is the most controlled financial situation on his benefit and not yours and that's unfair.

Well, and that's what he's told, you know, I was trying to fix it and go to the the counselor and stuff and and he just told the counselor, he just said, "I set things up the way I wanted it. This is the way it's going to be."

Okay. So, so then you you have grounds here. Um, we're not recommending divorce, but this is a marriage that's non-existent. It's only on paper,

and who knows what else he's hidden from you. So, yeah, I mean, I don't I don't know how forthcoming he's going to be in divorce proceedings, but he won't have much choice when you start getting down to it. So, at this point,

it's like you have to take your losses. And you called asking, "What do I do about debt that's in my name?" If it's in your name, you're going to have to walk our process of the baby steps out. And it's a baby step one, baby step two. is you start over. But the the reality is you don't know

build any credit. What's that? Don't you build any credit after you're married? Any equity that is built

but it's not in your name. After you're married, it's not in your name. It's not your name.

Yeah. Here's the real answer, Susan. But in our state law, it does say that any equity that's built

from a marital perspective. Well, again, that's where you need a divorce lawyer. A good one,

right? We don't know. But but I'm saying though, Susan, if he goes but if he goes and tries to get any any assets that he can to avoid a bankruptcy or something, you know what I mean? Like he's going to be finding

right anything which sc which scares me that that there's be nothing for you. Um

well I know that's what I'm like I'm going to Are you working right now? No. Okay. Do you'all have kids? Do you have kids?

I went to school. No, I went to school um for this last year. I just I just finished and I have $2,500 in in school loans that I have to start paying back in.

What What did you go to school for? Um master esthetician. I have a cosmetology life.

Great. Can you go get Can you go get a job in the next week or two as an esthetician or doing makeovers at Nordstrom or something like that?

Uh yes. I don't know. I mean go to a It was kind of a trick question. The answer to to my question is yes.

No, I can't go make enough money in the next month to support myself. That's the answer.

Well, no. Okay, but that's the wrong But you got the wrong mindset. I didn't say to be able to make all that up. You're You have to now go get a job like Rachel said because you have to assume that you're not going to get any money out of this and you need a job because you're going to need to go rent an apartment or go find another divorced lady who needs a roommate.

This is your reality right now. And I I hate that I'm telling you this, but it's that or if you choose to stay in the marriage, you guys have No, no. I'm just saying

either way, you're functioning you're functioning as an individual whether you stay in the marriage or not, which means you need money to your name, Susan.

Yeah. So, go get a full-time job. He because you don't even know. I He could take everything tomorrow, you know. Um I know.

So, how old are you? 59. 59. Okay. Do you have any retirement anything in your name? No.

No. Okay. Okay. But urgency. Yeah. It's the word. So, I'm proud of you for going back to school, though. That's absolutely. Seriously, you're making some right the right steps.

Yeah. But there's some Well, I just kept seeing this coming and I I'm like, I've got to have some some more something.

Yeah. As a foundation to be able to earn some money. And I'm just like I'm I'm this like what you're saying. I'm scared that I'm going to be left with nothing.

Yeah. But here's the deal. Here's the good news. You have a very good skill and you can work and make enough money as an aesthetician. You can. So now you must.

But what do I do in the meantime if I don't have any access to funds? You open up your own bank account. You're a grown woman. Your money goes into your

target for now if you need to, you know, go work somewhere and and you start your own financial life.

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All right, folks. We wish that we could get to every call and question here on the show, but it's just not possible. So, if you have a money question you want an answer for your situation, you can now go to our website and use Ask Ramsey. Ask Ramsey is our free AI tool that's built and trained on the proven Ramsey principles. You get the answer the same way we'd answer it right here on the show. So, you can ask your question today at ramseyolutions.com. And uh the ask Ramsey is right there. You can't miss it or you can click on the link uh in our show notes. Let's go to Steve in Hartford, Connecticut.

Steve, how can we help today? Hey, so my situation is basically I'm in a pretty toxic relationship, not abusive, you know, but definitely needs to end. And I've been working on saving for a house and it's been more pressing lately that I move out due to the nature of the relationship. So, I found a home and it's within my budget. I'm working with a Ramy agent. I have no debt, but the home needs pretty significant repairs, and I legitimately cannot find another one. It's a, you know, it's a seemingly good value in the property, but it does need repair. So, I don't know what to do, uh, and how to move forward.

Yeah. Um my caution always when someone goes and buys a home in an urgent situation. It's not always um it's not always the best purchasing mindset to be in if you will, right? So like if you had called and

said you had been looking for a while and you find this and you really love it and like there's some more, you know, I don't know that there's one situation I may say yes. I'm a little concerned that because you're running from a situation urgently to get out of, which I that's great.

It's not really urgent. Yeah. For what it's worth, it's been prayed through and thought through for years and I'm just now have the ability. So, I don't know what the right move is.

Well, my actual question is you said I have some concerns. I'd love to know what your most pressing concerns are about this move.

Uh, it definitely needs new electric. The entire home, it's very old. So, I'm looking at 10 to 12K for that.

Uh, it needs a new roof within the next several years. It needs a new porch. So, those two things combined are probably another 30 or so. Uh, it really looks like it needs about 50 to 70,000 worth of work within a about a 7year 5 to sevenyear span. Now, I can handle it. That's the thing is I can actually handle it, but I wanted to truly, you know, make a 20-year mortgage work. I I couldn't get a 15, but I wanted I couldn't afford the 15, but I could make a 20-year work. And I wanted to make that work, but in my head now, like I do need to leave the relationship. And I I'm not I don't actually qualify for an apartment. I can get a house, but I can't get an apartment because I have no credit because I do what Dave Ramsey says.

And yeah, we have a lot of Dave Ramsey listeners who can get into an apartment.

So, I understand. and I'm in the low 600s and everywhere around me needs a 640, but I did qualify for a mortgage with about 6%.

Well, again, I'm going to challenge you that there's a way this is this is again, you go in and you get past the policy and you go talk to a person and you go, here's why my credit score is what it is. Let me show you my entire financial life. Like, if you sit down with a a manager of a place like that, I think there's a way. Where there's a will, there's a way. But let's go back to this. the house itself. You're the one that called us with concerns about this house and then you just said, "I can handle the costs." But I just wonder if this is the right house. Uh, and I also wonder, back to Rachel's point, I'll bet you there's some elderly folks who have a room over a garage be happy to take your money as you're in a transition. This just doesn't seem on the evidence that you've given me like this is a really solid decision. And I don't think you think it's solid either.

And that's why you called. So I would not do it for those reasons. Okay. It's an old dilapidated house. It's going to have way more problems than you've just identified. You're moving into this house only because you think you can't get an apartment. And what you've done is you've narrowed your choices falsely

to this. And yet your gut and your brain and heart are going, "This is probably not a good idea. Why don't you call two strangers and get their take?" That's that's where I'm at. So that

strangers Now we're friends. Yes, Steve. I'm not your I'm not I'm not Steve's friend. The point stands. I appreciate the respect that you called us, but we're completely objective and I'm telling you it's screaming bad decision.

I would rather see you say yes, I have three homes I've been looking at and out of the three, this is probably the best deal. Maybe more work and all of it, but I have I have multiple options. Uh or I have an apartment that I you know what I'm saying? Like whenever there's only a one solution to a problem, that's usually when people make bad financial decisions. I'm not saying specifically this is a bad decision, but all the circumstances around it give us some red flags from what we've seen. Um, and again, you said it's not urgent, but you're like, I need to leave this relationship and I can't live in an apartment. So, it does feel like you say it's not, but it does feel like it's become the only solution right now for you. Is that true?

Absolutely. Yes. So, that's what we don't like. like I'd rather you again have option A, B, and C. And you may hate B and C, but at least there's other ways out um that you can figure out that you know, it's not just the one. So, I would run the numbers. Usually homes like this, as you probably know, Steve, you're a smart guy. Like, it's you know, it's always more expensive than what you think. There's always more issues than what you think. And um and if you choose to walk into that, which a lot of people do cuz they just they'll have the fixer upper and that's what they know and they're comfortable with it, that's fine, right?

And if you have the money for it and that's what you want to do. It's just all the data points around it. Give us hesitation and pause. Um yeah, so I would call on a few more apartments, Steve. Honestly, like we we did that a few years ago. I mean, it's here in Nashville. It's not in Hartford, Connecticut. And there were like I don't know 15 apartment complexes that were called and I think I don't know maybe five of them said no but more than half said yes that you don't have to cry if you have first month's rent last month's rent all of it like you're going to be able to find a place this this house is not the only is not the only option.

Those policies are designed obviously to be a uh filter for people that have made bad financial decisions because they don't want to rent a place that somebody's not going to pay. But you have a very different narrative I'm sure and you can prove it. So, you got to go sit down and prove it to somebody and go, "Let me tell you why I've got this score which flagged me." I think that's far more doable than you think. But again, if I was coming out of a toxic relationship, Rachel, and I loved your advice, I just want to go land somewhere for a bit and I don't even and I want to be flexible as I possibly can.

Yeah. A home purchase you do not want to rush into. And it's certainly not an old

and justify it. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, oh, it's going to be fine. It's going to be, you know,

at the end of the day, you're like, is it though? Like, is it really the best option right now?

Yeah. And here's what I know about really old houses, cuz I have a friend, you and I have a mutual friend. I will not say their name, and they have a very, very nice old house

in this area. It's almost like a landmark. And I swear to you, every time I talk to him, he gripes about all the things he's doing to that dag on house.

Yeah, it's a lot. So, it's it my point is is it's more than the porch and the roof and and it's just a mess. Electrical. It is. Yikes.

So, that's why we're staying away from it. Let's go to Andrew in Phoenix, Arizona. Andrew, how can we help?

Hey, my friends. Appreciate you taking the call. My uh daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the end of October of last year.

U because we're getting out of debt. We had the $1,000 in the emergency savings, but we blew through that in about two days.

Um and so my question is, we've we had great friends who stepped in and helped us.

And um everybody listening who knows type one knows that it's not the same as type two. So type one's a little bit more involved.

And um one of my best friend's daughters just recover that. So it's a lot. Yeah, it's still it's a lot.

Yeah, there's a lot. And um she's we've recovered from that initial we've we've been able to put 2,000 back in the bank. My wife started about seven scing funds just to kind of get our money in order. But my question is because of this, should we put more into the savings? I'm sorry.

It's okay. It's still It's still a lot. Four months later. Um, totally understand.

She's 11 years old. Honestly, of the We have four kids. Of the four. We're glad it was her cuz she's like, "I'm an independent woman. I will handle this. This is my responsibility."

Real quick. We're We're uh Yeah, I know. I No, no, no, no. What I'm saying is is we're going to we're going to hold you over, okay? So that you can get a chance to gather yourself. Uh this is heavy stuff, man. So, no apologies. I got three kiddos.

Uh we get it. Rachel's got three. It's a lot. Well, one of my one of my best one Yes. One of my best friends cuz we're heading into break, but her daughter was It was last December uhos every It was horrible. Horrible. And it's been a full year

and it is it is so much Andrew like what? Like it's it is a lot. So the scariness and the and the tears and fear that is that is real. But from the financial perspective, hold on the line. We're going to get back. We're coming back to you

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That's pre-born.com/ramsey. All right. So, we're going to uh get back uh to Andrew in Phoenix, Arizona. Dad, whose heart is really, really heavy. 11-year-old daughter uh diagnosed with uh type 1 diabetes. And so, we're going to dive into the money question that we've got here. So, Andrew, coming back to you. Hope you had a chance to catch your breath. You're such a good dad. Yeah.

Uh let's walk through your your money question for us. So basically we, you know, we're taught to have the thousand in the bank while you're getting out of debt. And but because of her illness, it's um we have uh good Samaritan health insurance, so we're self-pay. But they've now put my my daughter as it's a terminal illness. And so we only have health insurance for this situation for like I think another 30 days. Um and then they won't really cover any of her medication because of the type of plan that we have. And so we're looking at other health insurance options. Um, and so I'm not really worried about that. I'm worried about in the event that she has an emergency and I have to take her to the hospital and there or I have to go see a specialist and there's money that's demanded up front on top of a house issue or something like that happening. And believe me, when she got diagnosed in

that first week, my other daughter got hurt. We did have a house issue and this is how we blew through our $1,000 within 5 days. But again, we had amazing friends who stepped in and helped us. we have been able to get 2,000 back into the bank, but should we put more away while we're still trying to pay off debt? Um, or should we or is that do you guys feel like no, that 2,000's okay? Keep tackling your debt. We are cash flowing our medication. We are cash flowing her insulin. We are cash flowing her Dexcom patches. We are doing that.

Okay. How much how much do you make a month and how much is going towards medical expenses each month? Um I I bring home after taxes and paying ties and offering I bring home about 72. Okay.

And about uh that you know so then um with uh with the medical expenses we're spending about $600 or $700 a month.

Okay. Um so but she's we're hoping the next few months that she will get approved to get an insulin pump. That's going to be $5,000. that only lasts three or four years plus the insulin that goes with that obviously. Yeah.

Um so these are things that we're looking for. We don't want our kids to feel like they're being punished because of this. So we're we're taking care of them at the same time, you know, with with the things that they're trying to do. We're not trying to take them out of what they're doing with their extracurricular activities and we're able to we're not going further into debt with them doing their things. We are cash flowing everything. But again, I just wonder because of the type of

Yeah. And I she has should there be more? Should we put more away? Well, I think the key is to get a stable number eventually. I think four months in you're probably not able to do that because you're because there's so many things in the air right now with is she going to get the, you know, the pump? How much is insurance going to cost? Are we able to get more insurance, new insurance? Like there's a lot floating around right now. And because of how new this all is, yes, I'm good with a bigger buffer right now just to have some breathing room for you guys to make sure that she's taken care of, right? Our families are the number one priority.

Getting out of debt's amazing and we love that, but we want to we want, you know, when there's medical stuff like we say pause, like take care of your family, but also this is going to be an ongoing for the rest of her life, right? Like she will she will have this. So, I do want you to get to a place though where you can say, "Okay, here is a regular number that we're comfortable in monthtomonth. Let's put that in the budget." And then beyond that, we're going to go back and freaking tackle this debt because how much debt do you guys have?

Uh, we have a we have two credit cards um that have medical debt on. My wife had the bad COVID a couple years and we're still paying on that. Um, and uh and another

How much is all of it? With the car and the two credit cards, we're right at 34,000. 34,000. My wife has this on track within the next 14 months, 16 months to have that paid off.

Amazing. And that's with my wife is amazing. She's figuring My wife is phenomenal.

That's awesome. By the way, you can speed that process up at any time. It's just going to require more time of you to work, sell some things. You know, this is you can be more aggressive on that time.

Oh, I know. I know that. But at the same time, I don't want to My family needs me present. I work I'm a mechanic by trade. I'm a mechanic by trade. And so I work hard and

you're a good dad, Andrew. Y'all's life. Your life just got turned upside down. Yes. And we get these calls, you know, whether it's,

you know, spouses that got diagnosed with cancer. I mean, like this is this is the stuff that happens in life. And this is one of the reasons why getting your finances in order is such a gift to your family. So everything that y'all did up until this point of getting out of debt um was a blessing, right? You don't have what you had before this because you guys have been paying it off, which is amazing. So um so yeah I would get some some stability in this um and then I think there is a point that we you got to press play again on life and on this plan um so that you guys don't have to stress about it right so again give yourself some grace give yourself some time everything's okay in on the money side um but I would you and your wife sit down and just say okay once we get the insurance figured out check uh the insulin pump I know is a that's a big deal that's like a that's a huge check mark for them So that check

that off and then kind of just I always like to look at the months and just say okay it's February if I you know by by June or July we want all of this figured out and then we're going to press play and get intense again and then by next April we're going to be debtree you know whatever it is. So have some grace, but also be still looking out there to say when can we press play back on this Gazelle intensity, but we want to have some some stleness in her life and you guys as a family.

Yeah, thank you for the call, Andrew. You guys are going to make it. You're doing a great job.

All right, let's go to Sam in Lafayette, Louisiana. Sam, how can we help? Hey guys, thank you so much for uh for taking my call. Um you guys have just changed uh my life and my my wife's life for the better. Um so I I really do appreciate y'all taking my calls.

Thank you. Um so uh you know we uh I understand uh Dave's traditional advice uh as it relates to student loans. So my my question is a student loan question. Um so I'm a physician um and I've I have a lot of kids and I've often wondered if my kids want to pursue medicine. um is it reasonable to suggest that they do take out loans for medical school um but to live small after they finish and to pay these loans off very aggressively like I did. Um my my reasoning for this and and something I kind of grapple with because we're we're very davish about a lot of things. Um but uh you know I really do feel like medical training is definitely a young person's game. Um you know plenty of sleepless nights, 80hour work weeks. Um, and it's it's very difficult for a college grad, um, you know, with really no skills to save, you know, what what can't be $200,000 for medical school. Um, you know, that's

just tuition for housing and food. Um, and in your early 20s, you're often, you know, married and starting families, too. So, my question is specifically, you know, for my kids, you know, I wonder, um, no med school loans at all if they decide to pursue medicine, or is it reasonable to say take out loans prudently, but pay it off very aggressively? Do you know right now if Ken Coleman and I said, "Gosh, Sam, you're so right. We didn't even think about medical. You should get student loans." Dave and Cabo would be turning over right now.

I know. We will never ever say I was trying to catch up on the day when Dave wasn't on the studio, but

Yeah. Well, I don't think you understand how our employment must work. Um, so here's a couple real questions. How old are the kids?

Uh, well, I have seven kids. My oldest is 11. Okay. So, um, how much money do you make as a doctor?

Uh, about 550 to 600,000. Okay. And what baby step are you on? Uh, we have no debt. Just paying off the house at this point.

Okay. So, how much are you putting away each month for all 11 of these kids? I mean, excuse me, uh, five kids. How How much are you putting away?

Seven. Um, seven. Seven. So I yeah it's a I uh I intend to you know fund their uh undergraduate education. Um but when it comes to medical school or professional school I just have no intention of it. I think that would be pretty detrimental to our overall financial health and and family outlook.

Okay. Well so there's so there's the answer to your question like you paying cash for it is detrimental to you but you're willing to because you did it uh that you think they can do it. And I just I just think this is the wrong question. First of all, your oldest is 11. We have no idea what medical school is going to look like. And honestly, things are changing so rapidly. Then then why don't you invest in their why don't you invest in their med school?

And this doesn't even make sense. I'm going to stop myself because here's the deal. You don't know what they're going to do. So you're asking a question about kids. Do you have no idea if they're going to go into medicine?

You make a million dollars every two years. safe for your kid if they want to go to medical school.

Oh, you're not going to ruin all I was going to say. Oh, yeah. If my kids decide if my kids decide to not go to college, I'd be, you know, I mean, sure, you know, I just want them to live a virtuous life. My question is not necessarily for me. It's just that broad traditional student.

Yeah, there's ways we have we have talked to people that have gotten medical degrees because they've done they've done different, you know, programs and situations. It happens. But no, we're not taking out loans. We'll never ever say to take out student loans.

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Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio. Alongside Rachel Cruz, I'm Ken Coleman. Glad you're with us today. The phone number is88255225. Dylan is joining us now in Lincoln, Nebraska. Dylan, how can we help?

Hi, I am in $90,000 of student loan debt, not including a mortgage, and me and my fiance are living paycheck to paycheck. And I'm wondering how we can further our further our life without living like that.

Is it 90,000 combined, Dylan, you and your girlfriend, or just yours, your debt?

Uh, just mine. She was a luckily a good enough athlete to where she didn't have to pay for college.

Okay. So yours is 90,000 and it's all student loans. Yep. Okay. And how much are you making a year?

I make 55 before taxes roughly 40 after. Okay. And how much is she making a year?

She makes about 30 before taxes. Okay. What does she do for a living? She is a receptionist at a vet veterinarian client.

Okay. Yep. And what do you do? Uh I work in low voltage. Okay. So cameras and whatnot.

Okay. Um and you guys are engaged. Is that what you said? Yes. Great. When's the wedding?

August. August. So exciting. Okay. So, I would um I would say first and foremost, I would not combine your wedding until August. It's not that far away, but um just as kind of a rule of thumb. I don't want her paying on your student loans right now until you guys are officially married. And then once you are, you guys need to be Yeah, you guys are going to combine your money and look to say, okay, if we, you know, we're we have a, you know, $85,000 income before taxes, household, and what does our life need to look like to live within these means?

Do we need to be renting somewhere cheaper? Do we need to be taking on or finding more work? Um, you know, she probably has the most um opportunity, I would say. I mean, she's making 30. She There's probably other opportunities out there for her to be

What is her field? Uh, she is a psych degree, psychology degree. Well, that's just her degree. What field does she want to be in?

Uh, she likes the well, she likes a veterinarian field and she wants to further pursue that and go back to school for that, but at the moment, it's not in our budget.

Obviously not. So, what can she what is she doing now to make 30 grand? She is just a receptionist, a front desk gal at a vet clinic.

Okay. Well, so since being a vet and going to school and vet school is insane from everything I've heard as far as cost. Um, let's go get a better paying job or let's go get a second job and let's tackle this debt. You guys are double income, about ready to be double income, no kids. This is the moment to get after. She's a former athlete if I heard this right. So, let's set some goals in place. She knows goals

and let's look at how do we increase her income from 30 to 50, okay? Whether that's through two jobs or a better primary job. She's got a psych degree. Let's just see what's out there. Like, this is the moment where you all are like all in on ideiating. Let's get out there and let's make more money cuz you guys can do this. If you take Rachel's advice and you go all in after you combine incomes, uh you guys can knock this out and not be paycheck to paycheck. But cutting it cutting cost and raising income is how you do this.

Okay. How much is your how much is your rent right now? Well, our we don't own the house and our mortgage is 1,400 a month.

You do own it or you don't? We do. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, you have a house together and it's 1,400 a month. Okay. Which yeah isn't

isn't terrible. And then where where else is your money going? Um, so we got the mortgage and then it's an older house. So, especially now in the winter times, it the electrical bill and gas bill kind of skyrockets because like I said, it's an older house. We're working on redoing it slowly because of financials but

Okay. Well, so how much is the heat a month? Let's just What What's the number? How much you pay?

Uh gas is around like 250 a month. Okay. In the in the colder months. Okay. And what else? What else? I'm doing a rough budget for you and I got 3,400 left out of your monthly income. What where else is it going?

And then I have 750 in student loans. Yep. And then electrical is around 200 to 250 depending on the month. In the summers, it's a little bit more, but not much.

Okay. And other than that, groceries. And we just got done paying off a couple pet bills,

okay? Because we have a dog. Okay. So, yeah. I I I I want you guys to do a written budget because I'm sitting I'm just doing rough math. It's not I'm not saying that this is exactly what everything is,

but you you should have around two grandish left. 1,800, two grand, and I'm like, where is that? And it's probably eating out and some Target runs or whatever. It's life. I understand stuff. Yeah.

Um, but I I think if you guys do a written budget, you're going to feel like you got a raise.

I And I mean a strict budget, like we're shopping at Aldi, we're not going out to eat, like we're doing we're doing nothing. And we're doing food for

it's just the two of you for 400 a month, which can be done, you know, like. Mhm.

So, so I I I think it is a level for you guys of of actually living on a plan and being pretty frugal until this 90 grand is paid off

and and working extra. Yeah. And pausing pausing the little housing projects if it's not an emergency and it's a $250 little thing we'd like to fix. Nope. We're not doing that. We signed up to live in an old house. We've got to focus on this debt. So, that means we're camping a little bit, right? You know, it's again emergency common sense here. But other than that,

you know, if this floorboard caks and it's going to cost $300 to fix, sorry, the floorboard's going to creek.

So, it is Rachel's right. And I just want to throw that in there because you need the right mindset in order to adopt what she's talking about, which is a strict budget. So, you go, what does strict mean?

And strict means the four walls, Rachel. Yeah. And explain that. You know, I'll give it to you back. Give it back to you. But I think that that's what they've got to have. It's like we are saying there are certain things that we are not going to spend money on and simplifying so that we can be super strict.

Yeah, that's right. And if she ups her income, Dylan, and you guys get an extra gosh 1,500, two grand a month just from a salary job, like

game changer. That's that's huge. You know what I mean? So um so yeah, it is it is hard. How old are you guys?

Uh we're both 23. Okay. So there is a hard reality too, Dylan, um, of coming out of college, getting your first jobs, which are always entry level, you're starting at the bottom, and seeing how expensive life is. Like life is not as, you know, you look at your parents and say, "Oh my gosh, look at like the life they're living or people 15 years older than me." There's a reality of starting off and

y'all are feeling that. You know what I mean? So there's there's something really beautiful about it. I think there's something that um creates in you all some really good habits to tighten up, but it's a little bit of you kind of get hit in the face with reality that it's not an Instagram world when you actually got to make the money and you actually see after you pay taxes and insurance and everything. Oh, wow.

Yeah. Everybody wants to own a home and I'm like, you should probably enjoy renting and let the supervisor take care of all your problems for 2 years cuz as soon as you own a home, you got problems. And I and I'm not in any way knocking the dream of a of a home.

Sure. But it's not all it's cracked up to be, okay? I mean, I could you could talk me into going right now in some apartment where I don't have to do anything.

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All right, Adam is up next in Seattle, Washington. Adam, how can we help? Hi, Ken. Hi, Rachel. Um, hey, so admittedly, um, I've been kind of Daveish for seven years. Um, but two days ago, I became debtree. Um, congratulations.

Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, my fiance, the woman of my dreams, and I just got engaged uh this past August. Um, and she also started law school about 5 hours away. Um, and uh is taking some student loans for that and starting to accumulate some more debt. Um, so we're kind of considering a couple things. uh one kind of as independent um and we're not married yet. Should I just start building my emergency fund and saving for a wedding? Um or should we maybe rush the engagement uh maybe a lope to a small wedding and start cash flowing law school?

That one. Well, I was going to say he gave me whichever one you want. It's more there's not a right or wrong necessarily.

Did I say one was right or one was wrong? He called the show. He gave us two scenarios and I voted.

And Ken said, "Well, maybe I can throw in something else then. I'm not super fulfilled with my current job in the place I'm working at. Not necessarily um what I'm doing.

I'm even more concrete now on this decision. Okay, we'll keep going. So, what do you think?"

Yeah. Sorry. And then living 5 hours away. So, like I we I commute over almost every weekend uh to spend time with her. Um, but if I keep my current job, we could cash flow everything, but maybe not live with each other for the next two years.

Okay, that's absurd. Wait, wait. When's the wedding? Well, he doesn't know. That was part of the question.

Oh, yeah. The alop. He's like, do we save up and do the wedding? And I know you love a good wedding. Or do I alope? So, so I got more questions. I was having a little bit of fun.

Yeah. No, it was great with the certainty of it. But, but okay. So, let's go back to if I stay in my job that I'm not fulfilled in, I can cash flow the law school, but we can't actually live in the same city. Did I hear that correctly?

You heard that correctly. Well, that's a terrible idea. Yeah, that Yeah. So, the question is, uh, can you start to look in the area where she is, and is that where you two would like to start your life, where she currently is? That would be the first question. Yeah, we've kind of agreed that's not necessarily where we want to spend any time after she finishes school.

And it's going to take her what, two years from now? Uh, yeah, about two. So, May of 2028, it will be the graduation target.

When what can you find a job where she is where she's going to law school? Do you have a job that's pretty easy to to kind of transfer and get and make similar types of similar type of money that you are now?

I I would probably I would probably take around a 10% pay cut to live at like in that side of the state. Okay. Okay. Um, but I could probably find something similar.

And how much would it be? How much would you be making? Uh, probably closer to 89 to 90,000 instead of like 100 to 105.

What What is she doing now? She is a part-time um for a law firm, a family law firm. Um, and she is doing like legal intake and processes for them. Um, and while she's in school.

So, she has exact she has started law school. Yes. And is that is that helping pay for hers at all what she's doing now?

Yeah, it's it helps uh basically cover the cost of living. She got a really good scholarship that's non-conditional, which is awesome. Um and so like the out-ofpocket cost for tuition uh is like 13ish,000 a semester.

That's not bad. That's not bad for law school. Yeah. Yeah. I think you move to her temporarily. Oh, Rachel has wrote it down. She has a plan. It's right here. This is what I would do, Adam. Okay. I would plan for a December wedding. You got 10 months. Okay.

Okay. Um, if you can make similar money, I'm leaving. I'm going to go next to the fiance. I'm, you know what I mean? So, I would go rent. You go rent an apartment that you both like and say, "Okay, this is probably we're going to live for 2 years." You stay there, stay at the new apartment, and you start working at them. You start saving, saving, saving, saving, saving. Spend a little bit of money and have a little wedding. It doesn't have to be big or wonderful or fancy. And then you're going to use some of that savings andor savings in the future after you guys get married to cash flow the rest of law school.

But I' I'd move on this if that's if you guys are really going to get married, get married. I don't like this two-year.

Yeah, but you push you pushed him out to December. I like your plan. You go faster some I just have a December wedding and I like December weddings, so that's what I would have.

This is why I do what I do on this show because I am agnostic about weddings. I'm very public about this lately. It's come up a lot on shows. I'm very strong position that no guy ever wants to go to a wedding. It's only their wives. So, what are we doing? We're spending money on something that quite frankly we could just do very intimate, small group of people, take some really nice pictures, skip the shrimp,

whatever. Now, like now, like I'd go get a job first in this other place. Get Yeah. And then when I got the job and somewhere around the same week that I started the new job, we would go uh get a pastor or a justice of the peace, do a small little ceremony, get married, combine finances, move forward, do and then and then eventually

do a really amazing honeymoon to celebrate it. But I understand what I'm saying does not play well with women.

I I understand. Oh, it's half of the equation. So I I understand that what she's also someone that just chose to go to law school and there's a little bit of like a hey I kind of chose this so then this over there is going to have to give right

tradeoffs. Yeah it's fair. What do you think Adam? Any Did we cover everything?

Yeah. No, I think you covered everything quite a bit. Um I I appreciate all of that. Um and I think it gives me some real clarity on finding a job on the on the you know other side of the state and

what's going on. Yeah. And just starting a new life. Yeah. I love that you're going to cash flow law school. That's amazing. That will be the greatest decision that you ever make.

How smart is she to get that job that she was getting and scholarship and all of it?

So, the fact that they can cash flow law school, Rachel, is why I'm so bullish on let's just skip the 20,000 or whatever because a small wedding now costs.

I know it's expensive. It's absurd. When you can do the renew the vowels and have a big thing there, you know, in five years or something. I should get I should get some online license and I'll just marry people live on the show.

So just Pastor Ken. Yeah. Yeah. I just get just get Adam and his fiance on a video call. I'll do the thing. We'll marry him. We'll do the join. It's great

from people who want to move quickly like me. It's fair. Efficiency is the game. Hey, you know, we get fun social questions, Rachel, from time to time. So, I've picked out one for you over here. All right. You you you like the the Tik Tok, don't you?

Aren't you over there? I don't like the Tik Tok, the Instagram. Let me see if I have one from the gram. Uh, I don't, but I'm going to give you one from Tik Tok cuz you're you're super cool.

They're younger than me, but go ahead. This is Hayden from Tik Tok. Why do you recommend term life insurance over whole life insurance?

Who what was his name? Hayden. Hayden. Yeah, he's on the talk throwing it your way.

I'm trying to sound cool and it occurred to me that doesn't sound cool at all. Okay.

Okay. basic re reasons is whole life is significantly more experienced expensive I'm sorry than term life and with whole life insurance they're mixing why it's expensive is because you have this investment inside the insurance so always remember keep your investments and your insurance separate because when you combine them like that you get a crappy rate of return whole life insurance there's so many different names for it but there's so many hoops of um like when you die they keep a certain amount you don't get as much I mean it's It is it's an exhausting product that actually ends up screwing the consumer in the long run where you could have had which you should term life insurance if someone is dependent upon your income that's significantly cheaper and then whatever you would have paid for the whole life just invest that and you will come out so ahead. We did that on the show. We did this on the

show. It was maybe last week. Someone had a whole life policy that like their grandparent opened for them when they were like seven years old. They were 40some and they were going to cash it out and there was only I want to say like 90 grand in there after all of that when we said if they had paid

and we had did the investments it would have been it was like over it was over a million dollars

make you sick your stomach. It's unbelievable what you are missing out when you are using your insurance as an investment. Don't do that. And that's what whole life does. So it's usually your it's usually a family a young family member selling it to. They come out of school.

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That's the letter yfy.com/ramsey. may not be available in all states. Today's question comes from Steve in Minnesota. My cousin is a home builder and needs $150,000 to fund his business. He asked me to loan him $75,000 and my brother to loan the other $75,000. He says that he has all of his assets in property that hasn't sold. I'm concerned he's overleveraged and won't be able to pay it back. Should I do it because he's family? Um, I mean, my short answer is no. I wouldn't be loaning money to family regardless. If you have the 75,000 in cash and you want to give it as a gift to help the old cousin out, you're welcome to do that. I probably wouldn't.

So, I wouldn't because it's a loan and I wouldn't because of the assumption that just because it's family, you're supposed to help all the time. No. Um, but if you if you guys are really close and you're like, "Hey, I don't know. This is Steve. What do you think Steve's cousin's name is? What would you guess?

Steve from Minnesota. So, I feel like I need to go with a strong Minnesota Midwest name. I'm going to go Owen.

Oh, wow. Okay. So, Owen, maybe. Yeah. So, if you love Owen or Ben and you and Owen are Oh my gosh. My friend Ben is from Minnesota.

Oh, that's right. Okay. But yeah, if you and Owen are like brothers, you're really cousins and you're like And he's Listen, I'm I'm not giving you a situation. Steve's a millionaire and Steve's like, "Poor Owen and Betsy, his wife. They need help.

Steve is not and we're gonna help him." Then you can you can give and if that's what you choose to do.

Sure. But that's probably not the situation. There's a reason why he's asking for 150,000 from you and his brother. I know.

And goodness gracious, you've got to trust your gut on these things. Yeah. If somebody presents like that every time, he answered his own question. Just a little object lesson really quick. We'll go right back to the phone, but this you need to hear this folks, okay? If you ask somebody this question or you say, "I'm concerned he is overleveraged and won't be able to pay it back. Should I do it because he's family?

He's probably over the leading sentence. I'm concerned he's overleveraged and won't be able to pay it back." Ding, ding, ding. There's your answer.

I think sometimes he follow your concern. Need someone else to say no. We really should say, would you like to hate this guy

in the future? cuz you're going to hate him when he doesn't pay you back. Terrible. The whole loaning money to family, y'all. It don't do it. It ruins the relationship. Do not do it.

Oh, such a hard pass. So, Steve, no. Unless you're I don't care what his name is.

Christina is up next in West Palm Beach, Florida. Christina, how can we help? Hi, thank you for taking my call. I really appreciate it.

Sure. Um, I'm going to try to be straight to the point. Um, uh, I'm 56 and my husband is 57. Uh we make about $200 to $250,000 a year and we have a net worth of $3 million. Um that $3 million net worth is made up of our primary residence which is worth about $2.2 million and we have no mortgage on it. We also own an investment property that's a townhouse in in the same area where we live that's worth about 350 and we have a $200,000 mortgage on it. So, of our $3 million in net worth, 2,350 is equity and property that is unrealized because it's it's sitting there um as it is. Um in our retirement account, we have about uh $500,000. We have well over six months of living expenses, so about $150,000.

Um and that makes up where we get to the $3 million. So, here's my question. My question is in about seven to eight years, we're going to probably want to retire. will be around 65. If we sell our primary house right now, it's worth 2.2 million. We, as I said, we have no debt on it. So, we would get the 2.2 minus real estate commissions, minus taxes, capital gains, and all of that. Um, and then in 7 to 8 years, that that the money that's left over about 1.9 million based on, you know, investing conservatively like you guys have talked about and putting into a good solid mutual fund, that 1.9 could be really worth close to like 3.8. 8 somewhere in that range. So then when we're retiring now we're upwards of 3.8 and of course over the next seven to eight years we're not going to retire. I work from home so I can I can be mobile. Um my husband has a small business that he would sell. It gives us a different chapter in our life

that we're ready to start. We think but we're nervous which is why we're calling you.

Um as a matter of fact I'm calling you. My husband has no idea but we're calling you. And um because we you know we don't it seems like so so we would be working for the next 5 to seven eight years. Yeah. So we'd still be dumping money into retirement. We would still be putting money away.

Christina, if you just let me ask you this. Let's pretend for a second. You sold the investment property. Okay, just go with me. You'll net out about 150,000. Add that to your 500,000. So you're at $650,000 in retirement right now. You're not going to stop working. How much could you guys be putting away in retirement for the next five years? How much extra do you think there'll be in there?

We we could probably put away now that our our home is paid off and if you were to sell the investment property, which really isn't an expense to us, probably $50,000 a year, we could probably put away into retirement.

So, another comfortably. Yeah. Okay. So, with that, with the money doubling every every seven years, we'll kind of shorten it to five years just for the math sake. you probably would have around 1.5 million without selling the home. Okay. If you run that out through retirement, my question to you is, and you may want to sit down with the Smart Investor Pro to like look at all these numbers more specifically, but would that be enough for you guys?

Because how much do you live on a year? About $200,000 a year that we live on. So you you live on basically everything you make. You make 200.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah, we make 200. I'm sorry. No, we live well below our means. We probably live on about uh about 95 to 100,000. We put the rest into retirement and things paying down mortgages and things like that over the years. Yeah. Probably closer to 100.

Yeah. So, I I would run those numbers out and just see um what it looks like because ideally you're not you don't want to touch the nest egg, but you would be you'd be hitting it pretty close. You'd be squeaking by at 1.5. And to that end, I just I'm wondering, have you guys discussed staying in this house long term, even as you are aging? Do you want to stay in your current home that's paid for, or is that at some point we're going to downsize or relocate?

So, our home is a very small home. It's a two-bedroom, one bath. Our home is not worth the money. It's worth the the 2.2 is the dirt.

So, we live in an area where people are coming down and knocking down the old homes and building big huge houses.

So, for us, is it a house that we want to stay in? It's We're getting to an age where we want to be in a community, not a downtown area where, you know, there's a lot of Airbnbs and people coming and going and people staying for two months out of the year and then leaving.

Yeah. One of our We'd like to be in a community where it's people more I mean, I don't know, maybe.

Do you have a community in mind? Yeah. Do you have a community in mind right now that you guys see that would be fun to live in? We uh no, but we have looked into staying in Florida and perhaps maybe going to a different area of Florida, maybe the Tampa region or um the Jacksonville.

Okay. Yeah. So, I would just just look go online and just look at some places, see how much those are, right? Because depending on the city in Florida, depending on the community, depending how far you are from the coast or not, like the prices are going to vary. And I would see what could you get if you know you know you would get what 2.2. Is that what you said? And golly, a million bucks. What would that buy? I don't know. Do you know what I mean? It could it could be an expensive area.

It could. So that's what I'm saying. I think it's worth the exercise in the chance that you might go, "Well, let's go ahead and cash out of our current home right now and we take the windfall of that and let's get that invested." To Rachel's point, I mean, I'm saying that's possible to put that money in

and you guys live a little bit less expensive maybe in another place. Just all stuff to be thinking through. You guys aren't in bad shape, but you're not in great shape. However, at any point in time, 2.2 million by selling that current home is as you're older.

That puts you in good shape. Yeah. And Christina, the good thing is too from like a mental perspective, you're, you know, it's a small house. It's the dirt that's expensive.

And so there's a part that god, you get 2.2 million for not a big house. So that's not, it's not like you're going from a nice big house to a small one downsizing. You actually may get the same size house somewhere else. I know that's right. half half the price. So So yeah, nothing's on fire. I don't think that, you know, you need to rush by any means. Um, but yeah, here in the next two years, you guys really start thinking, okay, if we take these numbers and expand it out, could we live on this and do we need to sell this? It sounds like you want to sell. You don't want to be with next all the Airbnbs. I think you your your mind's made up on selling.

So I'd do it sooner than later if you guys want. Tax season is coming up fast, which means a lot of you are paying more attention to your money and maybe realizing the holiday damage. So, if you're trying to clean up the budget and start the year strong, cutting your phone bill is an easy win. With Boost Mobile, keep the phone you love and pay just 25 bucks a month for unlimited data, talk, and text forever. No contracts, no traps, just predictable savings that help you stay in control. Switch now at boostmobile.com/ramsey.

Restrictions apply. See website for details. Okay, breaking news. You know, I love to do a little breaking news every once in a while.

Oh my gosh, I thought you were being for real. I was like, "Oh my gosh, what?" You just killed the fact that I'm not being for real. I'm trying to act here.

All the current events happening. You just stepped right on it. Do we know? Do we Did something happen?

Folks, you got to know this about Rachel. She's lovely. She's exactly who you think she is. She's very literal. Like I'm being sarcastic about something I got to tell you about.

I knew you were. I was playing a little bit, but you're like, "We got breaking news." Like, there's a lot of things happening in the news right now that we are on pins and needles.

Well, this is breaking news, Ramsey style. Go the VIP package on the live like no one else cruise has sold out.

What? I told you it was breaking right here. What's it when they when they had the newspapers back in the day?

Right. We need a we need a broadcast news style flashing logo that you know makes it seem even more important than it is.

I cannot believe it. Well, it's going fast. So, this is a lot faster than the last one. So, that you're looking for a trend. There it is. It's Yeah.

So, now that means that there's the what's left. Yeah, it's a good question, Rachel. Thank you for asking.

The preferred package for extra access, better seating, more time with Dave and the Ramsay personalities for those of you that care about that. So, if you're debtree, this is your chance to celebrate with us. You can secure your cabin with a $600 deposit. That's nothing for you people that are just, you know, four, five, and six. You're just cash heavy. You just got cash. 600 bucks gets you a cabin. We're going to the Western Caribbean in March of 2027. And uh so there you go. VIP package. Too late.

No, breaking news. Preferred package out, but the preferred package is still available.

It's there. What was it called though? When the when the guys would have newspapers on the streets, I'm thinking like Titanic days. What would they yell to for you to buy the newspaper? Do you know what I mean?

Here ye hear ye. Extra extra extra extra. Read all about it. I went about a hundred years earlier. I went with the hear ye here ye. That's what I said. That shows you where my brain is at. There's people in the audience out there going, I don't know what ye means.

Here ye. It means you. But they said ye. Here ye. Here ye. All right. William is up in Birmingham, Alabama. William, how can we help today?

Hi. Um, so I am so much stressing about uh finances um to the point where I have given myself um few months ago a miniature stroke. My doctor says that I probably want to see, you know, past 40 because of how much stress I'm under.

Good gracious. How old are you? And I'm 29. Okay, then what what is this debt? How much debt are we talking about? that's causing you to have a stroke?

Uh, it's not as much as I've heard on, you know, on the show. Um, it's about 15,000 give or take.

Okay. I'm not a doctor. I have wanted to play one on TV. It's never going to happen, but I do like to wear scrubs. Okay. Long setup. I think you're going to be okay. $15,000 feels and I'm not in any way minimizing your feelings what's going on, but I want to give you some advice here that we're going to walk you through how to get out of this 15,000. It is very doable and nothing that you should be dying over.

Yeah, but the doctor may be for real being like, well, he may be really stream maybe all.

No, no, I believe he is, but I'm trying to say yes. As a financial, we can help you.

Yes. William, why are you How much do you make a year? Um roughly about 55,000 a year.

Okay. Whatever. Okay. What's the 15,000 in debt? Uh 10,000 if it's for a car payment. Um the rest is collections.

Okay. What's the car worth? Um I want to say it's worth 15. You could sell that like that's private private sale. You could sell it for 15.

Mhm. And you owe 10 on it. Great. That one's solved. We can solve that. You can sell that today and sleep like a newborn baby.

Yeah, you're like literally like like in like 5 days. What's the collections? Five grand of collections for what?

Uh credit cards, uh student loan, and uh I believe that's it. Okay. I want Rachel to walk you through what she would do if she were you with those collections.

Well, I would Do you have any money saved? I don't I don't have any nest eggs, emergency funds.

Okay, so you got I'm living paycheck to paycheck. So, here's what I would do today. I would go find us, you know, sell the car, get a $5,000 car, be done with that. You have $5,000 in collections. It's what, midFebruary. I'd make it a goal by March 30th. I'm just throwing that out there. That I would have $5,000, William, that my life depends on it because apparently it does for you. Like literally like you need to go and work

every night till 10 pm somewhere. You need to sell everything. You need to eat nothing but beans and rice, rice and beans, as Ramsey would say. Like do nothing for a month and a half and work your butt off and save $5,000. Make it make it like an extreme goal. It's extreme, but I would do it.

What do you do for a living, William? Um I'm retired military. Um I got up medically. Um I have two kids recently. divorced. Um, still have custody of my kids. Um,

so are you on full benefits? Are So, in other words, you're not pulling income from any other source.

Correct. So, so what do you Okay. So, what do you do during the day? What could you do? Yeah. What are you doing during the day?

Um, I'm looking for employment. Um, I made some really bad choices um a couple years ago and um it left me in with incarceration. I'm still dealing with it um with drug court. Um hopefully I'll be getting my charter dismissed in September when I complete the program. Um

I think the stress is coming from other places than $15,000 of debt, right? Yeah.

Okay. Well, I could tie I could tie, you know, with the employment and finances and all that tying to the bigger picture, but I think it's more of the bigger picture. But

I agree. Okay. Well, that does make more sense and we we can't necessarily help with that. But I would tell you that um

you need to be doing something. Uh it will help with all of this. But this, you know, ruminating all day long, getting rejected because you're applying and you you've got the incarceration. So what I hate about the American culture is it's very hard for someone like you who didn't do anything crazy, but you should be employed. But I I know someone can employ you. And so here's your homework assignment. Where in your area are people working that have stuff on their record probably worse than you? You know what I'm talking about.

Mhm. Where are they working? I can tell you where they're working. On construction sites. Okay. In the trades. Do you have any skill set that would allow you to do some basic trade work?

Not trade work. I have a degree, you know, in business management, but as far as trades, construction, all that, I don't have anything in that.

Are you any good at it? Can you pick up a shovel? Can you work for a masonry crew and haul around bricks and make make uh brick mud all day long?

I think I can manage. Yeah, I know you can because I did it at 18 and I can barely put gas in my car at 51. So, we're talking manual labor. No one wants to do it except the Williams of the world. So, I'm going to go find a manual labor job

just to get I was going to say I mean honestly it's less about the money. The money is going to help get you this five grand ASAP, which you need to get just to pay it off.

But the it's the dignity piece. There's something about getting up, having a destination to go to.

Completing something like there's something in that, William, that that self-confidence comes back to you.

Yeah. But you need that 20 to $22 an hour labor job in a warehouse. Don't get locked in on my one example. I'm just trying to get you. If I was you and I needed to do what Rachel told me to do, and she's right, by the way, I would go, "Where are the jobs that most people don't want because they're hard? They're like my good friend Mike Row calls them, dirty jobs. Go do that because they pay really well and it will help you in the short term on this money stuff." And and and then help your soul. You tell me.

Yeah. How old are you, William? I'm 29. You're 29. Okay. And you said recently divorced. Was that how recent was that? Uh we finalized yesterday.

Oh yesesh man well I'm sorry that's there's you've had some yeah some challenges some uphill really hard hard things in your story. Um but what a beautiful thing that you are still so young honestly and that you could turn your whole life around like you you know and you probably are making steps to do that now. Um but but getting some of this accomplished and I think there is something about paying off that debt that actually again good financially obviously but there's something about that self-dignity and progress that you make in life that you're actually making positive progress towards something positive the direction's going positive positive and it's just one day at a time making those decisions and then over the scope of a year two years three years William like you're going to be a different man you really are but you got to change and and you have to put in that effort because that's what's going

to help help this whole process from the financial and the work and who you are, William. So, we're cheering for you. We're so glad you called. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio alongside Rachel Cruz. I'm Ken Coleman. The phone number to jump in isle8255225. Wes is up in Los Angeles, California. Wes, how can we help? Hey. Uh, I was just calling. Uh, me and my wife, we make around 165 a year. We have no debt. We have about 50k in savings. And I was just wondering if it' be dumb to uh do a nice vacation this summer and spend about 10 grand.

Okay. 10 grand. Uh, and and are we cash flowing this or are we going to pull that from somewhere else?

We are going to be cash flowing it. Okay. Yeah. I don't I don't see any red flags here. What are you concerned about?

Uh well, I mean, we still owe on the house so you know, I I we could white knuckle it. And I mean, I we we project to pay off the house in about eight years, and that's way faster than 30 years. So, um

you're doing great. Could throw more in retirement. I don't know. I just hear a lot of stories about people who retire and don't have enough or stuff like that. So, you think your $10,000 vacation is going to put you behind some of your key goals?

Well, I don't know. That's why I I I've been going back and forth about this for months. Well, but I'm I'm actually trying to dig into the source of why you would ask that question because that's we need to kind of get that up and and to the top and go, okay, let's if if you're concerned that 10,000 is extravagant based on your financial goals, then you have to play that out and go, okay, if I didn't spend any money on vacation, which I think is crazy and I would never recommend that. Um, so what what would be the difference? So, what would be the budget conscious vacation? How much would you spend on that if you didn't spend 10?

Uh well, we've done other vacations where we've sent maybe like five or four, but uh this would be this would be a lot. So we I could do that. But also, I mean,

well, let me play that out. Uh let me play that out. So, I'm trying to help you.

So, let's say we say, "No, 10,000 is too much." And so, we spend five because we've done that before. So, now you've saved $5,000 to go into one of two of those buckets, either towards the house or throw extra five grand in retirement. When you play that out, I think that's important to go, how much impact is that really making versus I'm really winning in the baby steps. I'm going to pay my house off in eight years and it's a nice vacation that will remember the rest of our life. And oh, by the way, we're not promised tomorrow.

Now, that's where I'm coming at it. And so, I don't think it's too much, especially that you're cash flowing it.

Yes. I would 100% do it. Yeah. You Yes. You guys have no debt. You have good savings. How much do you have in retirement just in general?

Okay. So, we both have California pensions and I also have been maxing out an IRA for the last uh year and a half and I can still I'm worth only in our 30s. So, I I'm going to continue.

How much do you have currently in all of your retirement accounts? I don't know exact I know I have about 12,000 in my IRA that I started about a year and a half ago. And uh the California pension stuff I don't know it doesn't have a cash value the same as others do. have like you will make 85% of said salary at the end of your job or whatever.

Well, guarantees. Yeah. Hoping that the California pension is still around is a bit of a risk in my opinion, but but maybe that's not maybe I'm being crazy, but I mean seriously, the way that government runs.

What's your What does your wife say? Pension. Uh she she doesn't care about the vacations as much as I do. I I I was just going back and forth because I'm like, how much do I really need in savings when I'm 60 versus how much did I miss on living during the time?

Yeah. Are you taking is it wife, kids, just you and the wife? Who who we talking about?

Just me and the wife. Just me and the wife. Going where? Uh Hawaii. Yes, bro. Life is short, man. I would go to Hawaii. Eat all the shave ice you can possibly get away with. Make memories, man.

What I was drinking. Go enjoy, Wes. Don't worry. You are doing fine. You're doing great.

You guys are doing awesome. You are. Wow. I like these calls. Wes, you're fine. Go do it. No guilt.

That's it, too. It's such a scarcity mentality. But if you you got to you got to look at your facts and play everything out. Debtree, 50 grand, makes 165 a year. Like, we're all going to be okay.

It's cash flowing. It's great. We're all going to be okay. Fantastic. I love it. All right. Stephanie's up in Greenville, South Carolina. Stephanie, how can we help?

Hi. We're a military family. Uh we have one income, no debt, and we're just feeling a little bit behind on day six because of our frequent moves. And so we have a move this summer. And I was just curious if you would recommend I know you guys don't normally um renting out our current house. Um since retirement is on the horizon,

renting out your what? Sorry, say that again. Our current the current home we live in right now before we move this summer. So, you're talking about being a long-distance landlord,

correct? Yes. Yeah. We're not fans of that. It it's it's just if you run the numbers on it, I bet you'll find that the amount of profit after all of the expenses that you that are required to take care of this home.

Uh if you take what I'm going to get in rent, okay, minus the mortgage minus expenses, I'll bet you're going to find it's very little profit, if any at all. And it's a whole lot of hassle. Right. Our our thought was that we might potentially move back to this house. Um and we have a really great interest rate. Um so I didn't know if any of those factors mattered or if you guys always recommended just selling.

How long would it take you to get back to the next place? Um somewhere between two and four years.

So it's a short-term deployment and there's a how much of a how much control do you have over being transferred back in? Or is this the idea that we're going to get out of the military and then settle back? He's at 20 years right now. So retirement is very much on that.

Okay. I do think that changes the question a little bit if they're talking about short-term coming back.

Yeah. Well, um I know my my only thing which this is still a headache and all the things I said are still true.

Yeah. And this is going to be picky, but I'm I'm going to be honest, Stephanie, too. You got to remember if you have someone living in your house, maybe two or three different people on 12 month, you know, rentals and you move back in, it feels different. there there is a a reality of people living in your home that's your home that you're going to do it. Do you know what I mean? So,

um not that that not that that's a reason not to, but I think we paint this ideal situation and then when the rubber meets the road and we're actually walking in it dayto day, it's like, oh, it just hurts so much when you go in and the house is all banged up because of renters and you know what I mean? All the things.

Yeah. Okay, that actually brings up a good point. Is this house, Stephanie, that you're currently in that you would you would rent and go somewhere else and then come back? Is that a house you would stay in long term if if the move wasn't involved? If you weren't transferring

here, yeah, 5 to seven years, it's not like a forever house, but we do we do like it. Um, we just like I said, we're feeling very behind on baby step six because we just haven't had a mortgage to work to pay off and we're 43. That's fine. But how much is the house worth if we were to sell it today? And how much would you make on it?

So we would make around somewhere around 100 110. It's worth about 450. Well, the fact that you guys would would not stay in it longer than 5 to seven years and it's for I would pro honestly Stephanie I would too.

If if you had said this is our dream home, that was where I was going. I would have changed my mind. I'm with Rachel. I'd sell

pocket the 100 grand. Let it work for you. Yes. put the hundred grand um gosh for four years you may even just throw it in an index fund Stephanie honestly and and then when you guys are ready to buy again after and settle down um yeah you're going you'll have a good amount in there too I mean you know

and I also sense that he's probably going to go into a private sector job if that's the case we want to know what that is how much money he's going to make cuz that's all going to play into uh what we buy when we come back I love selling this house peace of mind extra for cash. I like it all. You guys are not behind it all.

Hey guys, what's up? It's Jade and I'm pumped for the new year and I hope you are too. But the problem is most people start the new year with a lot of promises and no real plan. You know how it is. I'm going to save money or I'm going to get my financial act together. But without a plan, you just wing it and hope it works out. Listen, don't play yourself. I want you to win. And our Every Dollar app is the gamecher you need. In 15 minutes, Every Dollar helps you build a plan based on where you're at with money right now. And every day, the app coaches you with ways to find extra money so you can beat debt and build wealth faster. It's like having me in your pocket, helping you stay on track all year long. So don't just wish your money works out. You can be the one to actually make it happen this year.

Download the Every Dollar Budget app and get started right now for free. All right, folks. One of the best things you can do for your finances is to have a really good tax pro in your corner. They're going to help advise you on the best moves to make for your situation or for your small business, especially if you've had some big life changes in the past year. Go to ramseyolutions.com/taxpro. Ramseyolutions.com/taxpro to find CPAs and enrolled agents that have been vetted by the Ramsay team. All right, let's go to Bill in Detroit, Michigan. Bill, how can we help?

Hey, how you doing, Ken? Rachel, thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. What's going on? Um, I have uh about 850,000 in my uh 401k and my other other investments and my advisor wanted me to

Excuse me. It's like good for you. Great. I was like, I don't know if that's good or not. I'm 62 and I want to retire in a couple years and my advisor is wanting me to invest in an annuity.

Is that something I should think about? Don't do that. Nope. Your advisor probably does because they make a lot of money off of annuities. Not saying that he's a bad guy but

yeah. No annuities. Yes. Yeah. Um, not a great product. I mean, there's var variable and fixed

variable. There's certain times that maybe, but that's after everything is maxed out and you have no other options for retirement because you have so much and everything else and maybe you want to do a little thing over here. Um, but no, the the short answer is no, I wouldn't. I think you you have it um in a good spot. Is are they in mutual funds within the 401k?

Well, I don't think I think I got to I got to pay taxes on all that stuff, I'm sure. Um I I think it's in a I got a mutual fund and a in a bank. I've got a couple of different styles, I guess. And and the ones are just through work. It's a a 401k, regular work 401k where they match and stuff like that.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, I would um Yeah. to just just to look in because retirement is coming up for you to make sure that what everything is invested in feels like a good spread. You know, we kind of always talk about four different types of mutual funds so that you have enough d um diversification. So, there's growth, growth and income, international and aggressive growth. So, those are kind of the four buckets that you can look at um within the mutual fund space, which is great. Um but no, I would just keep them in mutual funds. you'll get a better rate of return, lower fees, and um yeah, and it and it is it's just it's it's just a better way to invest your money than being stuck in an annuity.

Okay. Now, I shouldn't look into rolling over into a Roth or anything like that. How some people do that.

Okay. Well, so for the I Yeah. So, for the IRA, how much is in the IRA versus the 401k?

The IRA has 117,000 in it. 117. Do you have cash available to pay the taxes? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I have 60,000 in my savings account, which is dumb. I know, but

No, no, no. It's not dumb. That's like good emergency funds. Bill, I've never met somebody doing so good who thinks he's doing so bad.

Well, I'm by I'm by myself and I'm pretty scared about retiring. You're doing really good, Bill. Yes. Yes.

Well, I would look to see um Yeah. I mean the Roths conversion there is a tipping point of if you have too much and depending on tax bracket everything that it's may not be worth it but for a lot of time it is worth it um to start rolling over even if it's a little bit each year um so I would still keep some cash on hand that's your emergency fund and you may need less than 60 I don't know but you you could use some of that I would um I would contact a smartvetor pro bill um their their advisors yeah that recommends and they probably will not be pitching annuities and all that.

So, they'll be able just to look at your situation and really help from a strategic perspective with your money where you are um to help kind of guide the next steps. So, I really would so check out our um a smart investor pro uh one that's in your area um because they will be able to have they have a heart of a teacher. They'll be able to sit with you and really look at this and dig into the numbers. But I'd say no to annuity and yes, probably start rolling over to a Roth, maybe cash flowing some of the taxes.

Yeah. And Bill, thanks for the call and Christian will help you find that information on the website where you can find some smart investor pros in your area. Not a fan of your financial advisor uh because they're selling you a bad product. And remember on this, you want to understand everything so that you're not feeling alone and scared. and the right financial adviser, you're going to go, "Oh, I know exactly what I should do and when I should do it, why I should do it, how, and I'm calling the shots." And so, that's why we want you, that's your homework assignment. Have a couple conversations and and move to somebody that you feel really, really good with that they're teaching you, not selling you. Uh, Lucas is up next in Bangor, Maine. I think that's how you say that. Uh, Lucas, how can we help?

Hi, guys. So, me and my wife are both 22 and we have $65,000 in savings right now and then a 3 to6 month emergency fund of 10,000. Um, we've been kind of saving for a house as we're in an apartment right now and we were curious on what's a good point to kind of stop aggressively saving because I'm not uh actually contributing to any retirement right now.

Yeah, it's a great question. Um, so our rule of thumb when it comes to home buying, which you've done all the steps, which is to get out of debt, have a fully funded emergency fund, which you've done, and then save. For first-time home buyers, we save a 5% down payment. You go as low as 5.20 is ideal, but I know that's a lot for people. Uh, but just to go ahead and get in. So, so looking at that to get a 5% down payment, when you look at the the house and how much it's going to cost, we want your payment to be no more than 25% of your take-home pay pay on a 15-year fixed rate. Okay? So, when you plug all that in, you can actually do this on um ramseolutions.com, the mortgage calculator. You can put some of these numbers in and figure out, okay, here's the the number for our home of what we can afford right now with our income and what we have saved. Uh, how much how much do you guys make a year?

Um, we made 115,000 last year. 115. Yes. Okay. Good for you guys. That's great. Yeah. So, after taxes, your take-home pay, you guys are bringing in what? Probably 9,000 a monthish.

It was more like And it's I have a lot of overtime, so it varies every month. It's usually about five to 6,000. Like 6,000 a month.

H Did you guys get a bag a big tax return? Are you going to um We ended up getting about $1,700 back because my wife was a part-time student for

Sounds like a lot going to taxes. 115 and you're only Huh. Okay. Well, that is what it is. So, yeah. So, I would be looking at what you're bringing home a month and you guys just look to see, okay, how much is a fourth of that take-home pay? That's what our mortgage payment has to be on a 15-year. So, uh, but again, that mortgage calculator can help figure that out. And it may take a little bit of time, more time to save. I wouldn't go longer than probably two more years, Lucas, of not saving in retirement to be aggressive with this um down payment, saving for the down payment. So if the if the house that you guys really want is more than what you can do right now or in the next two years, it's okay to keep saving and be funding retirement. So it may slow down your savings, but you guys are 22. It's great to get in the market. Like when you are ready to get in, it's good to get in, but I don't want you to feel

rushed to get in because you you guys have some time. Yeah. And and here's the thing. I I hear this and it's so fun to listen, you know, to young couples think about this. there. I there is such cultural pressure

to get a house as soon as you possibly can because if not you're some sort of loser.

Yeah. Is that still do you feel that that's still out there? I certainly believe millennials felt that.

Yes. I think it's le I I don't know. I could be wrong. I feel like it's less with Jin just because the market is so expensive versus

so for them they're like it's I can't even consider. Yeah. It feels so big. Um but that's a real thing. Even if you can't do it, so you're not expecting to do it, it still feels like you're behind.

Yes. Yes. And so I just want to point out because we have so this is awesome. We have so many young people coming in in the show. Listen, it's it I it is a it is not easy to get a house right now. You are not cuckoo. You aren't a snowflake. I feel that pain. Okay. But what I'm trying to tell you is is you aren't behind in the life category because of circumstances outside of your control.

Right? And so, yes, it stinks that you will have to wait longer and save more. It does stink. I get it. But my point is, if you can just hang on

and hopefully the the the market conditions change. Yes. And I'm running I just pulled up the calculator on my phone. Good. Sorry. So, I was

No, I knew you were This is good. I know. Yes. So, um but the down payment Oh, I put 12,000. He had 65, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, home value. I did this quick, but 300 to 350ish they should be able to do. So, great starter home,

Lucas. There you go. Um, but yeah, but you guys look in your area, figure it out, and just take your time. No rush, Lucas. No rush. Hey guys, Dave Ramsey here. Every day on this show, we help people work through real money problems and figure out what to do next. Now you can get that same kind of help anytime with Ask Ramsay. Ask your money question and get answers built on Ramsay principles we use on the show. Whether you're making a decision or just want something explained, Ask Ramsey is here to help. It's fast, simple, and free to use. Go to ramseysolutions.com and try Ask Ramsey today. That's ramseyolutions.com.

All right. Every once in a while, we love to get a baby steps millionaire on the line so that you can hear their story and make the connection to how possible it actually is. This is not a myth. These folks are not unicorns. They're real. And Stephanie's up next in Phoenix, Arizona. Stephanie, how are you? I'm nervous, but I'm good. Hi. How are you guys?

We're doing great. Thanks for spending time with us. We really appreciate it. Oh, thank you.

And hey, nothing to be nervous about. We're just going to ask you simple questions and you already got the answer. So, like you're going to get an A+ already. So,

yay. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, tell us your net worth. Um, I'm approximately 1.6 million.

1.6 million. And what's the mix? Um, it's my TSP and IRA, so my retirement. Uh, I just paid off my house right around the new year.

Nice. And my, uh, my various, um, checking and savings account. Okay. Gotcha. Very good. Uh, and what is your income?

Uh, currently it's about, uh, 110. Okay. What do you do? I'm, uh, federal law enforcement.

Nice. Uh, now how much of the 1.6 million did you inherit? None. Zero. Uh, zero. And we always like to ask, but I'm always afraid to ask a lady's age. But, uh, because it's for the show, I feel like I should get away with it. Uh, how old are you, Stephanie?

47. 47. My goodness, you're young. Wonderful. You're so young. Um, two and a half years from retirement. So, I'm very excited.

Wonderful. How many years? Two and a half. Wow. What are you going to do after that federal retirement?

I have not figured out what I want to be when I grow up, but I'm sure it'll come to me.

Well, I've got a nice little fun gift for you. It's called uh Find the Work You're Wired to Do. It's my gift to you today. It has the Get Clear Assessment in it. It'll be really fun for you.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, cuz you've got more to do and more money to make, but you're in great shape. Uh okay. Uh I assume you got your degree in some type of uh what? Law enforcement.

Actually, no. I I was a uh I was a young kid that had no idea what they wanted to do. So I had gone to school for my plan was to become a lawyer.

So I went for uh pre-law and I got a degree in you government. Okay. And then absolutely nothing with that because my current job does not require a degree.

Yeah. Isn't that something? What was your GPA? Uh I think it was around a 3.1. Oh, show off. I've never never, Rachel, I never sniffed a 3.1. Never even

know. I don't even know what mine was, honestly. Really? You strike me as a 3.4 person.

I'm more average than that. I'm going to go 3 point 3.2. I might be Stephanie. I might be a 3.1.

Okay. All right. Very good. Yeah. Uh, okay. And, uh, Rachel, do you want to ask any questions here? I'm just rolling through our list.

Yeah. No, I love it. Um, Stephanie, what do you feel like was one of the things that helped you the most to build wealth to be Yeah. become a a net worth millionaire?

Um, um, I think I I really did look out. I I got a really good paying job right out of uh college and it was um completely unexpected. But as a you know 24 year old I started a job that um I was making decent money about 40,000 and it offered a um a a way to start my retirement account early. So I think that's really what it was. And I've always been a person that's really I love seeing my savings grow. So that was always kind of a goal for me to to see the savings get larger and larger.

Yes. Yeah. That's a a motivator. The progress. Seeing that progress constantly was so good for you.

What would you say to people who say $110,000 is not enough to make a living, much less be able to become a a net worth,

pay off your house. Yeah. You know, it's um it's not easy because you have to say no and you have to you have to make decisions and you have to hold off on some things that you want and maybe maybe you can't get it this month or even in 6 months, but maybe in a year if you if you just kind of wait for it. And um so yeah, I think it's absolutely possible to live on 110,000 and actually be able to put stuff aside. You just can't go and buy everything you want at the moment. You You have to just hold off.

Yes. Living below. See, that right there is fascinating. And I mean, you will find one viral TikTok a month or a week or a day on somebody screaming and freaking out saying he can't make a living and cannot live comfortably on $100,000. And I think you're the the answer you gave is so real. It's just delayed gratification and discipline is what I'm hearing. Yeah. I mean, it's it's not that I don't want nice things or that I don't get nice things. It's just sometimes I have to take that that second to talk to myself and go, "Okay, do I need that right now? I want it, but I don't I don't even need it. I don't even want it like right now. I can I can hold off on it so I can

Yeah. I don't have to put it on a card or anything. I can I can pay cash for that."

You know what's crazy, too? I find as time goes on, especially six months or a year later, you don't even want the thing anymore. Like it's, you know what I mean? It's kind of just a memory and you're like, "Oh,

that was a moment in time." But to that point, we live in such a world where you want it right now and you just get it. There is no suffering and saying no to yourself, right? That's that's become uncommon. And so the fact that you've pushed through and that you're smart about your decisions about what you're spending and I do think there's something about that motivation of of seeing money grow in savings is um that's a re that's real, right? I mean and I absolutely

Yeah. And it's the in my opinion it's the it's the right way to lean versus I would rather that excite me than all this new crap I can just buy and spend all my money on. Do you know what I mean? Which feels easier almost. Yeah.

Um, and so keeping all of that in check is so big. Well, and I got to I got to thank Ramsay so much. I started listening to the Ramsay show in 2018, and I really had no plan to pay off my house very early, but that really kind of gave me the kick in the butt to to really push for it and and start focusing on it and knocking it out. But, uh, that's like that mindset

helped. So, I had the savings mindset to begin with, but actually paying off the house was was not something I was initially thinking, oh, that'll happen.

It's amazing. And you did it in 8 years from then from that point. And uh are you uh what what is the house worth?

Uh currently the house is uh according to online, it's worth about 320. Yeah. And I I bought it way back in uh 2007.

And you're 47 and you're about ready to What do you got? Two and a half years. You're going to have a really great retirement program, I'm hoping, from the government.

Yes. Yes. I I I do I am blessed that way. Yes. Fantastic. And then again, you're going to find another way to serve because you've got so much transferable skill and experience. And that's why, by the way, I do want you to take the assessment. It's my gift to you. And as you start to read your results, it's going to give you a written purpose statement that is essentially a dream job description in the sense of I'm good at it. I enjoy it. And it creates results I care about. Because here's the deal. Let's say that you just find something you really enjoy and you work until let's say 60. 10 more years of income on top of all of this, Stephanie. My goodness.

Yeah. So much. So I feel like you're too young to not do something. Yes, it is. Now have some fun. Slow down. Change up. You know, I get a lot of people come after me when I say things like retirement is overrated. And you know, they're missing the point, but I'm also bringing it on myself by making such a generalization. What I am saying is, listen, if you want to retire and be super active and volunteer and play shuffle board half the day, uh, go get a massage, that's fine. I'm not saying relax. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to relax and have fun, but I'm still going to do something. And I think whether that's 5 hours, 10 hours, 15 hours or 40 hours, this idea of of making a contribution and it mirrors work, whether or not it has a paycheck attached to it or not is not the point.

So yes, Stephanie, I I I say yes and amen to what you're saying there. And again, you're a young lady and you have a lot of time left. So, it's going to be really fun for you to be able to retire and kind of go into this next chapter like, you know, like really relaxed. And that allows you to make some really fun decisions because you have no fear.

Yeah. Well done, Stephanie. Way to go. You're amazing. You're amazing. There she is, folks. So much.

Stephanie, you didn't sound nervous at all. And you did a great job. Thanks for sharing your story with us. Uh there it is. 47year-old lady, uh, making 110,000 a year, going to retire in two and a half years in a federal law enforcement job. All right. No glitz, no glam. Not a huge amount of money.

It's crazy. She's worth 1.6 and growing with a paid for house. Folks, you think sometimes that we're just saying stuff to hear ourselves talk. Stephanie is absolutely living proof. 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, Cosml, 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 ramseysolutions.com/events.

Our scripture of the day comes from Isaiah 43:2. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze. Our quote today from Simone Biles. I'd rather regret the risk that didn't work out than the chances I didn't take at all.

How about that? The Olympics. Yeah. Do you watch the Winter Olympics? You know, I was out of town this week, so I haven't started. But I love I love it. I love

Really? Yeah. More so than the summer Olympics. Oh, I'm a summer guy. I'm picking summer Olympics.

Yeah. Okay. I'm going downhill skiing, though. Love watching. You like the downhill skiing.

And of course the ice skating. I feel like that's I like the curling. Ah, it reminds me of botchi ball, but it's on ice.

Yes, that's a that's a good one. It's a very soothing sport to watch and very hard apparently, so it looks easy.

I want to be the guy with a little with a broom. I think you I think you'd be very

I think I'd be great with the broom. I think you would do great. I got to try that. Got to see if there's a local curling.

There is in Nashville. They Yes. Yes. And it's like a new thing. And you you do dinner. It's like a whole experience

really. And then you go curling. This is a new thing. Let me tell you what else is new. As we're wrapping up the show, remember that you can always ask your question at ramseyolutions.com and get it answered the way we would answer it on the show. This is the Ask Ramsey feature at Ramseyolutions.com. It's our own AI. It's free. So there you go. You can't get in on the phone to talk to us? No problem. Ask Ramsey's there. Check out the link in the show notes. Justin is up in Huntsville, Alabama. Justin, how can we help?

Hey, how are you doing? Well, we're doing well. And Rachel's got a topped off cup of tea. So, I mean, things are good here in the studio.

Oh, yeah. Um, well, I I'm a little bit nervous. Well, that's why I told you about Rachel's tea. She's calm, so you you'll be calm.

So relaxing. Oh, yeah. Um, what's your question? So, I'm I've moved down here recently and um I'm at a job. I've been here since December. Um, I I've made a bundle I'm 22 years old and I've made a bundle of of poor decisions uh financially and I'm only about 15,000 in debt, but I currently work a job at an electrical distributor and I make right around $16 an hour. It's like 1625 or something. It's it's very low. Um, I left a handyman business to move out here and so I got an opportunity. I feel like I've been stressing financially, so I I've found an opportunity to work at a construction job. Um, making 18 an hour, which I think could probably go up more.

Uh, he's saying he likes his employees to be 20 to 25 an hour. Love that. But I'm struggling because I have an income problem and I want to get that resolved. Um, but my boss where I work now has been paying for my gas because I don't make enough to pay for my gas with the debt that I'm in.

Okay. And I don't like I don't He bought parts for my truck too that I I put on the truck and he doesn't know about this job offer obviously and I don't know if it's morally or ethically right for me to take it like I owe him. Well, if you feel like you owe him, then why don't you take this better paying job and then pay him that money back and he probably won't take it. This is a good man who knows that he can only pay you 16 an hour. Now, when you go to him, you can say, "Hey, man. I' I've got this other opportunity and I need it and I'm so grateful for what you've done for me.

Um, but I know you can't pay me what they can pay me and I've got to take that job. I'm so grateful to you." If he gets mad about it, then you know that the gift wasn't a gift. It was just some type of manipulation and whatever, whatever. Um, but if he's a good guy, and I suspect that he is, he's going to be like, hey, man, I totally understand. Uh, or hey, um, I can get you to that, but it's going to be 6 months from now. You know, it'll create a conversation, but let's just remove the moral ethical there. There's nothing immoral, nothing unethical about you taking a better paying job. that also has a ladder to even much better pay. There's nothing wrong with that.

Yeah. And so one of the stipulations was it's on a a a 1099 which I'm not used to and I don't know that I'm ready for that. I literally have less than a dollar to my name in my bank account.

Let me let me let me address that issue. Okay. You're talking about the new job would be $1099.

Yes, sir. Okay, great. Here's what you would do. you would go talk to a legitimate tax pro and if you go to uh ramseyssolutions.com and just search taxpro, okay? Uh you can find local tax pros in your area and go sit down with somebody uh or do your own research and go based on somebody who's making 18 an hour, 20 an hour, uh what's the tax rate, blah blah blah blah. This is not difficult. And then what you do is is when you get a check, it's $10.99, you're going to get the entire amount. And so you take out a percentage of each check. You can do this. It's just you have the mindset that if I get paid 2,000, $2,000 is not mine. It's $2,000 less. Let's take 20% is just a easy number. That money is the federal government's. They're going to ask me for it and I need to have it in savings.

It's that simple. I just worry like I I I've never budgeted before and like I'm listing out all my stuff on Google Sheets and I just I I stressed with with it.

All I'm hearing is reasons why you're going to fail. And I don't know if you want me to just say, "Hey man, you know what? You're right, Justin. Most people would be able to do what I said, but I think you're a complete buffoon and you are incapable of doing this. You have convinced me that this advice will not work for you." But I'm not going to say that. Rachel, talk to me about budget.

Well, I was gonna say you're 22. You're learning adult skills, right? I mean, they don't teach they should be teaching this more. Uh, but they don't. And so, you're thrown into the real world. You're making money for the first time in your life. You made some mistakes. Now, you're scared to death that you're you don't even want to move. It's almost paralyzed you to do anything because you don't want to keep making worse mistakes, but you don't know how to move forward. So, yeah, you you need

I don't know how to get out of here. Yeah, you just need a Okay, a couple of steps. So, you need some goals, Justin. So, my first one would be for you, which we'll get you, if you hold on the line, Christian will pick up and we'll get you a year of Every Dollar. It's our budgeting app that actually plugs in all of your entire financial picture. So, you'll do the onboarding. It takes probably 15 minutes. Plug in all your info into Every Dollar and then it has a set budget for you. It already gives you some categories. Some categories you won't need, so you can just delete them.

Then, there's going to be some you may need that's not on there, so you just add them. It's a very easy app. Attach it to your bank account, so you can connect your bank account to it. And every time you swipe your card or use Apple Pay or whatever it is, a transaction is going to drop in and you drag and drop it and you start to actually plan out and say, "Here's how much I'm spending on food before the month begins." You plan food, clothes, gas, insurance, and you go down the line and you say, "This is how much it takes to to live a life, right?" And you're going to do all of that minus what you make a month. And so that's the goal is to live within that income. And you're going to be able to do that very proactively. It's going to take about three months to really get it right. So, um, so you'll start in Feb. I would start get it and start planning out March. I think my key for you would be

next week. I want you to have a budget done for March. So, you're looking ahead. Okay? You're going to have your March budget. It's going to be terrible. You're going to think, "Oh my gosh, I didn't know I spent this much year. I forgot about this bill over here. I forgot about that subscription. It's coming in. You're going have to be readjusting some stuff. April's going to get a little bit better. By May, it's really going to start working." Okay? So, that's one goal. The second goal is I want you to get $1,000 quickly, Justin. In the next 30 days, I want you to get $1,000. So, I don't care if you do grocery delivery. I don't care if you're um doing part-time somewhere. I don't care if you're selling stuff. I don't know what it is, but I want you to get a $1,000 as fast as possible. And if you're doing those things, if you're planning your monthly income, you know where it's going, and you are seeing

money in your account grow for the first time ever, even if it's a hundred bucks here and there, right? You're just watching it go up.

And then after that, it's like, okay, that's progress. You've made two huge progressions in your financial life. You have a plan for your money and you have your first savings. And then you're going to start tackling this 15,000. What kind of debt is it? Uh, it's mostly personal loans and and I have probably uh let's say 9,000 in a personal loan that I used to pay for my truck.

Okay? And then about another 1,500 in credit card debt. Okay? Um, so then you're going to work to pay off that 1,500 first. Okay? And if it's multiple cards, split those debts up. If it's 500 in this card, 1,000 on this, make them separate so you can attack small goals at a time. Cut up the credit card. Be done with debt. I'm telling you, at 22, if you just don't have debt for the rest of your life and you save and then you start investing later, Justin, you're you're going to be fine. You're going to be fine, but you have to do these things. And we know you can.

So, we're cheering for you. We're glad you called in. Go, Justin. Go. And hey, to everybody else, 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

What is discussed in "Financial Stability Is Crucial When Life Feels Uncertain | February 12, 2026"?

In order: 0:00 Entree Leadership, Every Dollar app, Mama Bear Legal Forms, Mario (Sherry Coleman's brother); 15:00 Better Help, Dave Ramsey; 30:00 Mario (Sherry Coleman's brother), Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruz; 1:15:00 Mario (Sherry Coleman's brother), Rachel Cruz; 1:30:00 Every Dollar app; 1:45:00 Dave Ramsey.

What is mentioned in this The Ramsey Show episode?

9 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Mario (Sherry Coleman's brother), Rachel Cruz, Better Help, Dave Ramsey, Every Dollar app, Entree Leadership. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Financial Stability Is Crucial When Life Feels Uncertain | February 12, 2026"?

The episode runs 2 h 7 min; the transcript is about 24,631 words in 462 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 February 25, 2026.