Transcript

Wisdom With Money Means Moving Slowly | January 9, 2026

From The Ramsey Show · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 2 h 6 min · 22,967 words · 439 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Wisdom With Money Means Moving Slowly | January 9, 2026", an episode of The Ramsey Show published January 9, 2026 (2 h 6 min, about 22,967 words). It mentions 9 people, works and ideas, including Fair Winds Credit Union, Every Dollar app, Smart Investor Pro, Christian Healthcare Ministries, Church Hill Mortgage.

What this episode is about

The main topic focuses on improving communication within troubled romantic relationships, emphasizing the importance of understanding differing communication styles and conflict resolution strategies. Key points include identifying personal needs, managing emotional responses during disagreements, and fostering a team mentality to address issues collaboratively.

Key takeaways

  • Communication breakdowns can turn love into a shouting match; true love respects boundaries instead of bulldozing them.
  • Five years of 'almost' can feel like a lifetime; sometimes, you need to set the boundary to reclaim your time.
  • Detachment can be a survival skill, but it shouldn’t be your only shield; emotional health demands active engagement.
  • Counseling: not just for couples on the rocks, but a lighthouse for those navigating turbulent waters.
  • Ultimatums are tricky, but when love's on the line, drawing clear boundaries can convert passive relationships into purposeful partnerships.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 15:00: Christian Healthcare Ministries, Every Dollar app, Fair Winds Credit Union
  2. – 45:00: Fair Winds Credit Union, Smart Investor Pro
  3. – 1:15:00: Christian Brothers Automotive, Church Hill Mortgage, Every Dollar app
  4. – 1:30:00: Fair Winds Credit Union, Jade Washer
  5. – 2:00:00: Ephesians 6:11, Smart Investor Pro

Notable quotes from "Wisdom With Money Means Moving Slowly | January 9, 2026"

  • Weird. So, we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio, this is the Ramsay Show. I'm Dave Ramsey. Ken Coleman…
    about Fair Winds Credit Union · at
  • Panic. Most health plans lock you out for the year if you didn't sign up by December. But Christian Healthcare Ministries lets you join anytime. CHM offers a simple, flexible…
    about Christian Healthcare Ministries · at
  • Understood? So go over there and learn about it with a good Smart Investor Pro and don't put money in something because I said to or someone else said to, but because you start to understand it and I've got a feeling after talking.
    about Smart Investor Pro · at
  • Graduates and then we'll connect. So we did our real first budget meeting on Sunday and we're doing the every dollar app.
    about Every Dollar app · at
  • But don't just rush in blind. Sit down with someone at Church Hill Mortgage who will tell you the truth and walk you through a plan to position you better for long-term success. Listen, markets go up and down. That's nothing new. But.
    about Church Hill Mortgage · at
  • And we trust Christian Brothers Automotive. I've known these guys a long time. They've had a shop in our area, but they got shops all over.
    about Christian Brothers Automotive · at
  • Deal is free. We'd love to have you hang out. Jade and I will be doing that. So, Jade Washer and I. So, make sure you join us. Jennifer is with us in Nashville. Hi, Jennifer. How are you?
    about Jade Washer · at
  • Our scripture of the day, Ephesians 6:11.
    about Ephesians 6:11 · 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 here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio, this is the Ramsay Show. I'm Dave Ramsey. Ken Coleman, number one bestselling author, host of Front Row Seat, a big hit on the Ramsey Networks. He is Ramsey personality. That is my co-host today. The phone number is 888255225. Sarah is in Atlanta. Hi Sarah, how are you?

I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Uh I'm doing good. So my question is that um so I am in a relationship. We are not married. Um but we do just call each other as partners. We're both unhappy. I've voiced it. He's voiced it. And it's mainly due to our communication style and our lack and our differences. Like for me, I'm more of a a person like I love a clean house. I love to be supported by like acts of service and um going out together. He's more of a homebody and he's really affectionate.

But I didn't grow up to be like affectionate person. And um when we do talk about issues um it does become escalated very quickly such as if we're not seeing eye to eye, he's quick to yell and point fingers and I'm more so just withdraw like I'll go to a different room or I say just talk to me later when you um when you're calm. So, I'm just want to know like how can we better communicate without um or how do I handle him or handle situations when he's yelling at me and um how to do better with that so he can see my perspective and see see it more like a team issue instead of like he's against me or I am against him.

How long have y'all been dating? So, we've been together for five years and we have a child together. M

has the relationship been the way you just described to us the entire time? Oh, no. It was way worse in the beginning. So, um, he would

Well, at least we're trending up. That's I didn't expect that answer. What do you think is caused it to get better?

I think it's caused what caused it to get better is maybe I've I'm one of those people like I learn to protect myself like my emotional state. So sometimes I just withdraw and I think of something else cuz in the beginning he was very verbally abusive towards me like he'll yell at me, he'll curse me out like for hours on end like for 3 hours or 4 hours even when I was pregnant. Um we had um arguments for that long and to the point there they would just escalate where he's like in my face shouting and stuff and um

is that still happening? Oh no it's not happening anymore. Like we talked um I talked about it. He was like asking me like why am I less obscession and so on. I'm like well how I can't be affectionate to someone who's like um and trying to purposely intimidate me and he has said before that he does purposely try to make me cry because he says sometimes he feels like I don't have emotion.

No, I hear you. Let me ask another question. Is it getting better? Not because he all of a sudden got control of his anger, but because you've just detached so much and you've cowered or you have I'm going to use the word detached for lack of a better word to where he's no longer irritated. So, you're almost a shell of yourself. Is that why it's better?

I feel like it's better. Uh I feel like it's a little bit um of both. I feel like me detaching um and taking my emotions away from the situation has made me handle the situations better, such as telling him like I'm not going to talk to him when he's yelling at me or just walking away. That has worked out for me cuz he seems like he finally got the message.

The bottom line is you all you all suck at interpersonal relationships. Yeah. Both of you. Okay.

Um and you because you won't set a boundary. You should never let anyone treat you the way you've been treated under any circumstances.

Period. And so if you were my daughter, I would have removed you from that house and left him in duct tape.

Oh, you ain't yelling at my kid. This is ridiculous. Okay, it's ridiculous. No one should be treated the way you've been treated. And you should never allow someone to treat you the way you've been treated. And um and so that should have stopped the very first time it happened, not 5 years ago. So the only shot you guys have got, if you have one, is to sit down with a good coach, a good counselor. We're not that. Uh I'm just an old guy that's been married 43 years, and I don't yell at my wife, not if I want to live.

And so um she's a hillbilly woman. Frying pan throwing from East Tennessee is a Olympic event. So, um, you know, we don't we don't do that stuff. So, uh, uh, you know, we get angry, we have arguments, but we don't treat each other that way. And so, you you guys need to sit down with a good marriage counselor, go see a good pastor at local church and uh, begin to get some guidance through.

You you've got indepth relational training that you need to do. Um, you've got some of the verbiage around it. So, you've been reading or doing something. So, you you know, you picked up a few things along the way, but I don't think on a call, one phone call on a podcast that two old dudes can tell you how to fix all this.

Hey, whoa. Easy, easy with the old. I don't I don't I don't know that I'm going to accept that label. Hey, one

compared to her. Fair. One thing I final thing I would say in encouragement uh very much because you're not married, I think I would throw a really strong ultimatum. The the the line is drawn in the sand today. as soon as this call is over. And and that's what we're you're gonna say to him. Either you go and sit in therapy with me and we sit there until a professional says that we have the tools to actually be healthy.

Then I'm no longer going to be in a relationship with you. I that would be the the one piece of advice. I would drop that today. Draw the line. It stops.

And one way this goes forward, healing through therapy. That's it. That's it. sit down with a good marriage counselor and um a good pastor can recommend that or have it on staff that can help you with this and get somebody in your life, kiddo, that can guide you to because neither one of you had people around you up to this point that would teach you that stuff. Um because this is a really dysfunctional situation. It's not fair to either one of you. It's not fair to him to keep acting like that and think he can get away with it in society. And it's not fair to you uh obviously for all the reasons. So, and guys, you know, Sharon and I after we've been married 10 years, we've been married 43. We spent about 3 years in the marriage counselor's office. Um, that was about 3 years after we went broke. When we went broke, we couldn't afford Yeah. We tried, we just instead were just angry all the time. But, uh, but finally, we

got a little bit of money and we're like, "Okay, we got to work on this." And the marriage counselor for me, I was telling Deloney this the other day, it was not, you know, people like, "I don't want to I don't need therapy. I don't need counseling." Well, I didn't really. What I needed was a tutor.

What I needed was a relationship tutor. Yeah. Someone to teach me how to talk to my wife, how to how to hear my wife, how to hear my own heart. You know, it's a it's a relationship tutor.

I like the tutor. You know what it also, if you want to call it, it's a mirror. I was like I was like I was going to school. Yeah. I felt like I was going to class.

That's what I was doing. And I did I learned a lot during those three years. Some of it I spout back at you people. But uh when you call in here, but yeah. Um but we weren't starting from where you're starting. Honey, y'all got a lot of work to do. Um and if you do not do it, um this is going to continue to deteriorate and it's not going to end well. So you've got it doesn't get better unless it gets better. It's that simple. And this, you know, re getting it to where it's tolerable is not okay. That's not it's not a way to live your life. You don't get the end of your life and this been the definition of your whole life. Why would you do that?

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And we're going to give you the clarity you need to finally get ahead with money. And we're giving away $20,000 tonight. 10 $2,000 gifts. No purchase necessary. All you have to do is to enter. All you have to do to enter the giveaway is to sign up for the live stream. And it's tonight at ramseyolutions.com/livestream. We would love to have you. There's several hundred,000 of you have already registered. And we've got a oh between two and 3,000 folks going to be in the Ramsey Event Center with us as we're doing it live. Bunch of them already sitting outside here watching the show today. So there we go. It's going to be a lot of fun. You guys look forward to having you. All right. Hannah is with us in Tampa, Florida. Hi, Hannah. How are you?

Hi, I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So, my husband and I, we're in our 30s. We have a 19-month-old and no debt. We take home about 6850 per month. um our mortgage with taxes, insurance, and the HOA um is about 2,800 right now because we have of an underpayment of taxes last year and next year it'll hopefully be 2400. Um so we're just wondering if we should sell our home and downgrade and rent an apartment instead. Um or continue to be in our home. We don't really have much of an emergency savings, about $4,000. Um, and we want to work to eventually be to be a stay-at-home mom at some point.

Okay. Uh, well, the the deal is this, okay? You can survive your house paying being 40% of your take-home pay for a period of time. You just can't prosper.

There's no room in your budget because you're house poor. And so the answer is if you can't fix that in a reasonably close period of time or if you're if you do fix it and then you turn around and quit and it starts over again then that means we have a house that you can't afford if you stay home. Right.

Yeah. Mhm. And if if your husband never gets a raise and the taxes keep going up on the or you never get a raise on the household income. Let's say the the payment goes up continually and your income doesn't. Well, obviously that's not sustainable, right?

Yeah. And so, uh, but if you're in a situation, hey, my husband's finishing up an apprenticeship, he's going to be making double, uh, or whatever, and, you know, and it's 5 months from now or a year from now. Yeah, you can hang on for a period of time, right? But as you have already discovered, that's why you're asking the question. There's no wiggle room in your life. No margin to be able to win with.

No. Yeah. Exactly. So, are you going to be able to fix this in a reasonable period of time?

No, he's still working on getting his bachelors, which is going to probably take a couple more years. And the plan was for me to just continue working until hopefully he gets a higher paying position and then I can quit my job. Um, but it's going to always take a couple more years before he

What does he do now? He works for um a hospital just in like their billing department.

Making what? Uh I think like $30 an hour. He makes about 30 um I think 35 takehome per month and I make about 31 take home.

What would the bachelor's degree What would it get him? What degree for what reason? um either accounting or finance to either go and be like an accountant somewhere or maybe a financial analyst is what we're thinking of pursuing for him.

Yeah. Uh could he uh does he have margin to where he could pick up uh some projects, some other clients doing bookkeeping, the very thing he wants to uh get a degree for, but could do some some and I'm going to call it basic fundamental bookkeeping. Could he do that timewise? Um, I mean with school it'd be really hard for him to have that.

No, I'm going to say all right. So, what if we drop school? Would he have time?

Yeah. Yeah. If if he drops school, then he can learn to do that and then he'd be able to have time for it. For sure.

I here's the challenge. If I were sitting with you guys in your kitchen, I would be looking at alternate paths to do the kind of work he wants to do that don't require the bachelor's degree. it might require it, but you know, if it's the type of work and, you know, he can get some certifications, I would be looking at that and and I would be okay pausing school for a season. If he has to have the degree to do the accounting work he wants to do, then I get it.

If he's going to get a masters and get a CPA, then he's obviously got to do it.

Yeah. But if you're not going to go that route, if you just want to learn accounting, um, yeah, that's way different. And so, but here's here's the thing. You can't just wave a one and say, "I get to do all of these things."

Mhm. Okay. Not make enough money, not and have too much house and quit my job and wait on him to wander through this bachelor's for no apparent reason.

Okay? We need to really get nailed down here exactly where we're going, when we're getting there. And then that'll tell you is this house a blocker or is this something we just need to hang on to for a minute and then it's going to be okay? Because if you told me he was getting ready to graduate and you know even in 24 months and his income was going to double and he's going to be making 60 70,000 and you know your income is going to go up and you can figure out something you could do from home even with a baby. Uh and so our income overall goes up substantially then the house is going to be fine. But you may, you know, but you don't want to trade a house you can't afford for your desire to be at home with a kid, too.

I'd rather you be in a cheap house and be home with a kid if that's your desire. And so, you guys got to make these conscious decisions. But you really, the old thing, you can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't do both. Okay. Casey's with us in Atlanta. Hi, Casey. How are you?

I'm doing well in yourself. Better than I deserve. What's up? So, I just received a job offer. I'd be switching from a Thank you. I'd be switching from a work from home position that I currently have to a home health position where I drive around the metro area and provide services to patients in their home. Uh I would be receiving a significant pay increase. Last year I've ended the year for my full-time job with about 64 thou uh 64,000 and my offer letter for my base pay for my new job would be about 120,000.

WOW. WOW. THAT IS HUGE. Love it, Casey. Way to go. Thank you. Thank you. I guess the question lies um I drive a 2005 Toyota Corolla. Had the same car since college. It has over $200,000 miles on it. And the question lies in would you still recommend only $1,000 in emergency savings and then pouring my extra into my student loan debt? Because my major concern is that with this home health job, my car is my livelihood. If I'm not able to see patients, I'm not able to have money. And because I have an older car, uh I I just kind of am hesitant about not having a backup plan immediately or having even worse, having to go into debt to get another car.

Yeah. You're making But you're making $10,000 a month. Fair. Okay. So, if the car breaks, rent a car for a month, save up five grand, and go buy a car. Okay.

But the car isn't going to break. I hope you're right, Dave. It does sometimes, but if it does, I mean, if it's a $1,000 car, it's a it's a throwaway car, right? We get another throwaway car and we do it again. And you you upgrade to a $5,000 car. But you just put everything on hold, rent a car for a month, and then go

uh and rent the cheapest little thing you can rent for a month. Um and and then go do that. Um, you're not married, right? You're single. The way you're using your words, I think that

Yes, I I'm dating, but I am not married. Okay. All right. Cuz there So, there's no backup plan. I mean, there's no other car in the driveway type thing. Okay.

Correct. So, um, that's what I was double-checking, but yeah, that's what I would do. Um, and here's the thing.

I'll be honest. I I am, um, stereotyping your car. Mhm. Okay. If you told me it was a Dodge Neon, I might change my answer.

I was thinking the same thing. Your car Your car is the ultimate cool hoopy. These cars have so much life in them.

Yeah. You might get another 200,000 out of that stupid thing. I don't want you to. I want you to get a better car than that. But

but you know, how much student loan debt have you got? 73,000. Oh man. Yeah. You're going to be done with that in about 18 months and moving up in car. I like it, Casey. Congratulations. Well done. That's what I would do.

You know, she's got to drive around Atlanta. I just want to point out having lived there for 11 years, you know, if you go to hell and you live in the south, you have to go through Atlanta.

Yeah. Yeah. It's just the worst driving around. So, we'll pray for her. Absolutely. Owning a business can be a heavy load. You want to serve your customers well, make a healthy profit, and grow. And your team, family, and customers are all counting on you. And now everybody's talking about AI like it's magic. and you're wondering how to keep up. You're carrying a lot, but you don't have to do it all alone. That's where Netswuite comes in. Over 43,000 businesses, including Ramsey Solutions, use Netswuite to lighten the load by bringing all their numbers into one system. Accounting, inventory, CRM, payroll, the works. And now Netswuite's AI takes it further. automating busy work, flagging inventory issues, spotting cash flow problems in real time, and catching risks before they hit. So, you're not just closing the books faster. You're making decisions confidently. And when your numbers are

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Wayne is in Indiana. Hey Wayne, how are you? Hey Dave, I'm doing great. Thanks for taking my call.

Sure. What's up? Well, first off, I should just just say that I am signed up for the live stream tonight and Awesome. Thank you. I'm really looking forward to that.

Thank you. So, I know you have a background in real estate and you've run your own business for literally decades. So, I'm hoping you might have some useful advice for me.

I'll try. Um, my wife and I have been married for a few years and frankly I refuse to merge our finances because I find her financial habits to be pretty chaotic. Um, and it's largely a function of her work. Um, she is a real estate agent and has been doing that for over 10 years. Um, we tried to speak about this a few times, but it generally ends in tears and not a whole lot changes. Um, so I'm just looking for, you know, any helpful advice you might have on how to untangle the business from the personal life and um, you know, how to uh, I make meaningful changes in that regard.

Okay. Now, you you understand that when you sell real estate, your income by definition is straight commission and is chaotic.

Yes, I understand that. That's not what you're talking about. No. Okay. No, I'm not I'm not talking about like the fluctuations in just making sure there are certainly fluctuations. Yeah. No, I just mean like

So the basically a real estate agent is what we call 1099 or an independent subcontractor. So they run their own business. Each real estate agent owns runs and owns their own business and has to pay taxes as a sole proprietorship or some some of them actually build an LLC for a crew for for a team. Okay? And so what she should do and anytime you open a business even if it's a soloreneur, a single person is you open a separate checking account for the business. It can even be just a a it can be sole proprietorship. doesn't have to be incorporated. You don't even have to get a tax number. You can use your social security number. So, it would be uh Wayne's wife DBA doing business as Wayne's wife's real estate. Okay?

Whatever the name is, right? And it's just open in her social and you can put your name on the account as well, but that you have a separate account. Then 100% of the business expenses only come out of that account. So, when she gets ready to pay her MLS dues, her real estate dues, when she gets ready to buy signs or ads or, you know, pay for a drone to do a get ready to stage a house, whatever it is that she's doing to sell the house, those are business expenses. Groceries do not come out of that.

Mhm. Electricity for your home does not come out of that. It's only business expenses. And business expenses never come out of the personal account. They need to be separated. This is good business regardless of your frustration.

Yeah. Okay. Because it's very difficult for her to do her taxes if that you have to go and unravel your personal checkbook and pull out your business expenses one at a time at the end of the year.

Yeah. And that's that's what she's been doing. I know that's what most of them do and it sucks. Okay. And it's horrible. So, you know, one of the things when we're coaching Ramsey trusted real estate agents, we teach them to run the back office, so to speak, the business aspect of their business. And part of that is basic accounting. So, if you only take business expenses out of that account, and the only thing you put into that account are real estate commissions. By definition, what's left in that account is called profit.

Sure. And out of that profit, you can leave some to cover some of the expenses next month and you can bring some home. When you bring some home is when I would hold back a fourth of it for taxes.

Mhm. Because you've got your income taxes and you got 15.3 both sides of FICA. Yeah.

Okay. And so you set aside 25% you're going to be really close unless she's making a half million a year and then it's not enough. But if you set aside 25% of your money you pull out that's profits into another account, then she can file her quarterly estimates, which she's probably also not doing.

Yeah. That not Yeah. And getting penalized every stinking year for not filing the quarterly estimates.

It's costing y'all a lot of money this disorganization. Okay. It's costing her a lot of money.

Uh just because, you know, just because we're not and this is sixth grade math.

It's just a matter of the discipline of separation is all it is. So, we run the business over there like we're running it for someone else emotionally. And then when it has some profit, we take some out, bring it home, hold the taxes out, and then we've got some money to add to the household budget and the household goals.

But until that happens, until there's a profit in that account, she's not made money in the real estate business. How many houses she selling a year?

Um, I'd say 15. She's making a little money. She's not making much. Yeah. Her expenses are eating up a bunch of that.

Mhm. But we don't but we don't even know that because we're not doing a good job of keeping the accounting.

Yeah. Yeah. So, this is an accounting and a business acumen, a business function. Now, I don't know how to emotionally get her to do that, but that's the proper way a residential real estate agent should handle their business or for that matter any soloreneur out there. Yeah. And my advice is is I I have to bet that Wayne, you're the you're the nerd of the family.

Oh, I think that's safe. And I think that if she's open, if she's open to you helping you do exactly what Dave just told you to do and you lead on this and it sounds like the tears, the stuff that keeps coming up from the tears is just the frustration between the two of you on this. So, I think Dave just gave you a very simple but actually effective blueprint. And this is where you come in. Not like the the guy on the white horse is the hero makes her feel bad. Go, you know what, babe? I've not supported you the way I need to support you and I can do this. I'm wired for this. I called Dave. I got a plan. And if she doesn't have any problem with this, I think this is easily solved.

You got to lead. She she may not uh be confident of her competence to do this. And uh that would be true of a lot of people. So, um, yeah. Um, and there are some nerds that sell residential real estate, but most of them aren't.

Mo most of them, I mean, this is this is an an industry that has glamour shots on their business card. Okay. So, this is usually not a nerd, right? And so,

at times, I've seen boas. Yes, I have seen that, too. And we're not talking the constrictor type. Yeah. But the uh um yeah the uh yeah it's so so it may be that she's not got the detail wiring that you have Wayne or even that I have that'll force you to do that in order to get the business run properly. Uh, but you know, I if she's wrecking the car and you can help her drive it and she's willing to let you, then that's a cool idea from uh from Ken to come alongside and support rather than stand back and throw grenades and go, "Wow, you really are stupid about this."

Well, it's spoken from experience and I'm really glad, Dave, that you just made this point to our broader audience here. Here's what you need to understand, especially if you're in a married situation. You're trying to figure out finances. I'm not wired like Dave. And so when I heard Dave what you just laid out, the free spirit creatives like me do thrive with a very simple repeatable plan. That was a simple repeatable plan. Every time you sell a house, you get a commission. This is what you do and you laid it out. But for those of you that are the nerds and you're married to people like me, I know we frustrate the absolute snot out of you. And you're right to be frustrated.

But it's very key to point out we are not doing it. In this case, I don't believe Wayne's wife is doing this to drive him nuts. She's not wired that way. Dave used the word wired. It's really important to understand that that spouse will will play ball with you if you give them the structure that they need, which comes with its own accountability. You don't have to be accountability if you give them structure and a repeatable process. And that's the magic of what Dave did decades ago with these baby steps. But in that advice he just gave that will bring a lot of relational harmony around money if you understand that your spouse just doesn't even think the way you think. Therefore, all that process stuff that Dave just laid out, it never enters into their mind that that's how to do it. And I just I think there needs to be grace there cuz I know what that

I'll tell you what enters into my mind when I'm doing that cuz I'm a great salesman.

Yeah. I always think I could just out earn my stupidity. I Oh yeah. I'm the same way.

I'll just I'll just going to make I don't need to I don't need to add all this up. I'll just make some more. That's right. Just then I don't have to deal with it. Yeah, that's how I used to try and it doesn't work. It's really a very immature thing, but a lot of sales people think that way.

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the NCUA. Jackson's in New York. Hi, Jackson. How are you? Good. How you doing?

Better than I deserve. What's up? Um, so I recently, maybe not recently, a few months ago, came into a large inheritance uh from my parents.

Wow. Um, and I'm just wondering what to do with it. Wow. Sorry you lost them. Um, thank you.

How much did you get? Uh, around 450,000. Cool. Cool. So, how long have you been listening to this listening to us?

Um, probably maybe about a little less than a year. Okay. My brother's a big fan of you.

Okay. Well, thank you. I was asking because I didn't know how far to go back to give you the answer. But um so uh we would walk you through the framework called the baby steps with that money because we believe and we know that if you follow through and handle money properly after that and during that that it will be the the way that this money gives you the most lift. Okay. And so that means do you have any debt except your home? Um, so we actually um just sold our home and that's what most of the money was tied up in. So right now I'm renting um and um I have no debt. I just graduated college.

Okay, cool. Cool. And how old are you? I'm 23. Wow. Okay. So we sold our home. That was your parents' home, you mean?

Uh yeah, it was um uh my parents were separated, but it was my mother's home. Um, and it had a lot of my father's money tied up in it. Um, and so me and my two brothers sold that house uh 6 months ago.

And your part is 450,000. Yes. Okay. All right. And you're 23. Are you married?

I am not. Okay. And what do you make a year? Uh, right now I make 75,000 a year.

Good for you. Okay. Thank you. What is your uh plan over the next few years? Where do you plan to be? Um, so right now, um, I'm just I'm just renting with my brother, um, in our hometown. Um,

and I plan, so I'm working in, um, the city, um, and I live in Long Island, and I'm planning to move to the city sometime in the future.

Um, maybe, um, about a year. Um, so I just have all of that money um that, um, that I got from the house that I didn't have previously just sitting in a CD right now, which pays my rent every month.

Yeah. Okay. All right. Not a bad move for for the first move anyway. That way you didn't go do something stupid with it, right? And so

yeah, my time, too. Yeah. What do you What do you do for a living? I work in financial technology.

Okay, good. Good. Well, you're very early in your career, so I predict your income will go up pretty dramatically in the next seven years. Would that be a fair prediction?

Uh, I'd say so. Yes. And I also predict that the 450,000 could grow a lot in the next seven years. Like if it was invested at market rates, it would double in about seven years and be about 900. 450 will not buy anything in the city. Would you agree with that?

Uh yes. Not paid for. I mean, you could put it as a down payment, but you couldn't pay for it. And you don't really make enough to pay a payment and put 450 down in the city hardly. So you're probably renting if you're living New York Manhattan lifestyle right? Uh, so right now I'm on Long Island.

I know, but you said you're moving to the city. Yes, but I will be renting. Yes.

Yeah, that's what you told me. Yeah. So, I'm I'm projecting what to do. In other words, we're not going to use this to buy a house cuz we can't pay cash for it with your current plan.

Absolutely. Okay. So, given that, I'm going to tell you to go to ramseolutions.com, click on smartvetor pro, sit down with one of the people that we recommend, and start learning about investing,

okay? and put it in some good growth stock mutual funds and continue to keep your dad gum hands off of it. That's been very wise on your part. Very wise, beyond your years wise.

And so keep leave it alone. Leave it alone. Pretend like you don't have it and just use your income and live off your income barely, which you barely can living in the city. Okay.

Mhm. And just let this money grow because if you don't touch it, it will double every seven years. Sounds good to me.

That that's about that's about the averages. Okay. Now, so and uh so the S&P 500, have you ever heard of that?

Absolutely. Okay. That's the basically the bell weather, the mark of what the stock market has done. Closed the year for 2025, up 16%. It closed the year the year before up 26%. It closed the year before up 25%. It averages throughout its lifetime a little over 11 up close to 12%. That's the average. But in the last 3 years, it's done 67% total.

So while you had this sitting in a CD making 3%, it should have made e five times as much.

Mhm. Okay. So I don't want you doing that next year. I want it to be in a good investment instead of in a CD.

Understood? So go over there and learn about it with a good Smart Investor Pro and uh don't put money in something because I said to or someone else said to, but because you start to understand it and I've got a feeling after talking to you, you'll be able to understand it.

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, this is a mass don't forget something. This is a massive head start for you. And so when Dave's preaching discipline, it's because we realize

how much of a massive head start this is for a 23-y old who's very upwardly mobile

in his profession. So and you're just leave it alone. You're so wise. I mean, you didn't call me up and say, "I need to buy a Lamborghini,"

you know, I mean, cuz I would have smacked you sideways. I mean, you know, for your own sake, you know, you're just you're just a sharp 23 year old. And um that you know talking to these guys like this is why I've become such a huge fan and I've got them on our team here of these Gen Z's. There's so many of these Jacksons in the Gen Z.

That's right. You know I'm not saying he should do this, Dave. I'll throw this out and see what you think about this, but my head when you were talking I sorry I tried to put myself in his position at 23 no debt and now he's going to be in really good shape. I I would say a small amount of money I would consider a small but enough to make an impact. give it to somebody.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, sure. I I think it's so really rewarding when we come into money, whether we earn it or it's a gift, and to think about how to bless somebody that you would not have been able to bless before. I'm gonna tell you, it's a really great way to to begin to appreciate the power of money, not just from compound interest that we teach, but as you teach, and you've been making it so clear for so long, live like no one else so that later you can live and give. And that is such a key thing. And in this case, I think he could bless somebody with some amount.

I think that'd be a brilliant idea. Kyle is in Atlanta. Hey, Kyle. How are you?

Hi. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can we help? Yes. So, um I'm actually post college. I graduated about seven months ago. Um and currently my situation is I have uh two credit cards. Now, I know that um that isn't great. And uh however, I am looking at an opportunity to consolidate those to one credit card that is attached to my current bank with a much lower interest rate because I want to pay it off and be done with it. I don't want to deal with credit cards anymore.

What's the balance on the cards? Um, one of them is 2,300 and the other one is a little shy of 1,200.

Okay. And what is your current interest rate? Um, from what I was understanding yesterday, I think it was 20 something.

And what is the new interest rate? Um, the new one's 6 to 8%. Okay. All right. So, you're going to save about $350, $375 a year,

right? That's okay. That's okay. It's not bad. Yeah. But it doesn't fix a $3,500 problem. You know what fixes a $3,500 problem, Kyle? You,

right? You're the secret sauce, not consolidation. The problem with consolidation is you think you did something. You moved $375 around. That's okay. If you hand it to me, I'll take it. I'll go buy dinner.

But it doesn't it doesn't fix your problem. What fixes your problem is you get pissed off about these cards. You cut them up and you swear off of them forever and say, "Samuel L. Jackson, what's in your wallet?"

Right. Right. You go get your own stinking life and you get these stinking things paid off. What do you make a year?

Um, so not a ton. So postgraduation I make 17 a year. Um, oh god, you're at the poverty level. What'd you get a degree in?

Uh, so I actually got a degree in film and television, but that's not what I'm currently working in.

Okay. All right. I want you to get six jobs Kyle. Right. It's not a joke. in Atlanta, which is when it's one of the hottest areas for film and television, you could be making uh way more than that just as a grip. Lighting grip, sound, something or other. Just get on a set somewhere.

Just a grunt. Not even a grunt. Oh my gosh, that's incredible. That's awful, Kyle. Kyle, you don't work much.

No, you need to work more. A lot more. Like all the time, Kyle. And that's going to solve this. You cannot hack your way out of credit card debt. You have to earn your way out of credit card debt. There is no hack. There is no easy button. So yeah, consolidate them if you want, dude. But don't act like you did something.

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Code Ramsey. Exclusions apply. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio. Ken Coleman, number one bestselling author, host of The Front Row Seat, one of our big hits on Ramsey Network. He's my co-host today. Open Phones at 88 8255225. Heather's in Fort Meyers. Hey Heather, what's up?

Hi, how are you? It's an honor to speak with you. You too. How can I help? Uh yes. Okay. Uh Dave, I am reading uh rebuilding my life after my husband of 30 years walked away from our marriage.

Wow. Um since then. Yeah. Sorry. No, it's it's okay. Um since then, um I have furthered my education and um I received my nursing degree.

Good for you. And there's a lot more back backstory, but we don't have enough time for that.

Good for But um thank you. Um I'm 54 years old and I'm I'm single and um I work as a a registered nurse.

Uh yearly I am making 90K. Good for you. I have just under 100K in my work uh 403. Um I contribute 20% and my work contributes the the 5%. Mhm.

Um and in my um high yield savings account um I have 170K. I have zero debt, no student loans. However, I rent because I'm just not sure at this point in my in my life like what my next step is going to be where

Yeah. How long ago was the divorce? You know, it it's been four years. Okay. You're amazing. You've done a great job recovering. Congratulations.

Yeah. Well, it's definitely been a Oh, it's unbelievable. It's a tragedy, but yeah, but you pulled it off, warrior girl.

Way to Well done. Thank you. Well done. Thank you. Cool. So, what's your question? So, I mean, my question is with what you know of my finances right now and if I um because I really haven't been con uh saving much money as as much as I could be because I think I went through a period of time where um I was spending you know spending my money because I knew I had the money and you know

you were medicating it's called retail therapy. Yeah, that's okay. That's exactly in the rearview mirror people and

Yeah. Yeah. Good. Yeah. So, I'm really this year um I'm wanting to maximize as much as I can.

I love it. So, um I want to, you know, maybe own my own home or condo, but I just don't know at this point, you know, where am I going to be? Am I going to stay in Florida? Am I going back to Tennessee? Because I lived in East Tennessee.

Um so, what would you recommend? And what more can I do to secure my future? And am I going to have enough money to retire if I, you know, this

you're going to have plenty of money to retire? You're going to be fine. You're you're going to retire a multi-millionaire.

Okay. Okay. That's what the math says. I didn't just make that up. The math says that. Okay.

So, let me let me walk you through. There's two things that we need to do. We need to maximize investing and we need to get a house and get it paid for.

Yes. Okay. that that's definitely so if you're 11 years from today and you're sitting in a paid for house and you've been putting away 25 or $30,000 a year during that time, you're going to have millions of dollars.

All right. Okay. So, and the way you'll know that is you need to sit down with someone and help do the calculations and help figure out how to do the investing and what to do.

The only question on the horizon is which city you're going to be in. And as soon as you make that decision, buy a house.

Yes. with that 170. Well, it's either going to be the Cape um either Florida or East Tennessee

possibly. Yeah. So, I mean, make once you decide and you don't have to decide today on this call, but once you decide, take the 170 and go buy a house.

Okay. Yeah. And then and then sit down with a Ramsey Smart Vest Pro. Go to ramsolutions.com, click on smartvester, find someone in your area, sit down, talk to them in order to for us to send people to them. They don't work for us, okay? They're independent people. They're in the investment business. I'm not in the investment business. I'm in the education business.

So, uh, but in order for that, they have to have the heart of a teacher or they don't get Ramsay the name on them. Okay?

Meaning, they're going to teach you how to do this investing, you're going to understand it, and you're going to decide. But if you put this in good growth stock mutual funds and you average market returns, you're going to have um, you know, several million dollars going into your 70s and a paid for house. Okay.

If you stay diligent and stay on this, yes. Now, if you go back to retail therapy and start blowing everything, then no, you can't you can't act like you're in Congress, right? Okay.

So, but but I don't think you're going to because I think you just went through a

you know, a tragedy. You went through a horrible time. You've got that in the rearview mirror. You've worked your way through the

all all the parts of that. And now the future's bright and we need shades. Yeah. And you're young.

Yeah. And and I mean that um and I I think uh here here's what I would encourage you. This isn't a challenge. You don't need to be challenged, but I would encourage you to make the decision about where you want to live based on what kind of life you desire. Not a not a safe not a safe choice because I'm from East Tennessee. And again, I'm not anti- East Tennessee. I'm sitting next to, you know, Mr. Tennessee here. I love Tennessee. Uh I want to be here for the for the for the long haul. But I do think in someone in your position having come through what you've come through and financially where do you want to be when you're 65

that's you got to choose your future because you actually are in a position to do so because of that great degree

and now you are highly soughta anywhere in the United States. So choose the place you want to be

and then let the rest of the future take care of itself cuz financially you're going to be fine if you do what you've been doing.

Yeah. you keep making this kind of money and you start socking away 30,000 bucks a year, which you can do in either one of those local and you can even make more if you wanted to, if you want to work more because there's all kinds of ER opportunities and everything else for you to go get, you know, you can just work all the time if you want to. And I'm not suggesting that, but if you want to pile up some money, you can do it in your world. That's the beautiful beauty of that degree. You can work all the freaking time.

That's the truth. And um you get some bargains in Florida right now. It's resetting. Real estate is resetting in some parts of Florida.

Really? Okay. not complete, you know, not a crash, but we're seeing some prices that can be favorable. And again, you teach this, you know, if you get in in a soft moment, I I don't think Florida's going to be long-term a bad place to invest in a house.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Very cool. So, I mean, like Ken, you remember during uh CO, we had these travel nurses coming in here.

Oh. And they were m they had worked like a year on the road during CO. They were getting COVID pay and travel pay and they were making like 400 and 500 grand as a nurse.

I was on with you one day when we took a call from a gal who had made about that kind of money

in one year. One year. Yeah. And it's not it's not out there today, but I mean they were getting co money like battle money, right? Yeah.

Like battle zone money and they were getting travel money both. And cuz you know it was crazy and they were just loading up man. There's two or three of them we talked to that had you know I had I had $200,000 in student loan debt. paid it all off this year and put 300 in the bank, you know, like what?

Wow. So, it's just a it's a wonderful career field. Um because it gives you lots of opportunities and choices and things.

So, and you know, when you go through something like a divorce after 30-year marriage,

recovering from that, I can't even is not a bounce back. No, that's a claw out.

O. Yeah. I mean, that's a healing process to get to where you're as solid as she is talking to her. Yeah.

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Jessica is in Dallas. Hi Jessica. How are you? I'm doing well. You're breaking up. Try one more time.

Sorry. I'm doing well. How about yourself? I'm doing good. Your phone's not. How can we help?

Um, yeah. I was just wanting to just get some advice on um what what's realistic and what's not. I just need like an outside an outsider opinion. Um,

um, I'm wondering what would be what's a realistic time frame of having a business operating before you shut it down due to not having it not be profitable?

Okay. What kind of business? It's a lawn care business. Should be profitable the first month. Why isn't it profitable? I I don't know. It's not a lot of jobs coming in, I guess.

Okay. All right. So, we have a lawn care business, but we don't do much lawn care,

right? Okay. Why? Uh well, I I mean, I live in an area where uh there there are water restrictions, so really you're not allowed to water your lines. Um, so there's a lot of dead grass. Um, a lot of people just are

So you don't think there's people in the area making a living in lawn care business in Dallas, Texas where there's water restrictions?

Uh, well, no. I see people let their um, I lost all of that. Try again. Uh there I do see people other lawn care companies out there mowing lawns and um working. I just don't know why it it's not working for us.

Who's us? I feel like we've been too hypothetical. Let's get real brass tax. This is your husband's business, right?

Right. How long has it How long has he been in this dead zone of business? It's not doing well. How long has this been going on? Uh, he started the business when I was five months pregnant and now our baby's about

No, no, let me ask it again. How many calendar months has it been? A year, two year, how many years has the business been struggling? How many years? A number

like the the entire the entire time like when you say struggling, good God. How many months?

I'm just asking for a number. How many years? Um, like 20 like 20 months. 20 months.

Okay. So, two years. You've had two seasons and he didn't make a living. I just feel like there's more underneath the surface here. I don't know if we can identify it because you're asking us for some magical answer as to what does the business book say. But the bottom line is if we can't pay the bills with the business, there's no reason to have the business.

Yeah. He needs to go work for somebody. Homeare is not a hobby. So, we need to make a profit. And really, honestly, you should make a profit the first time you cut a piece of grass. There's really not not that much to it. Um, I mean, just work your butt off is the problem. It doesn't sound like he works much is what it sounds to me.

Yeah. Are you saying that under all this? Your husband doesn't work very hard. Well, yeah, he only does a few jobs a week.

Yeah, that's a problem. Yeah, I think he needs to get a job. Yeah, so does lawnmowers. Yeah, because I don't think he's got the stuff to go get the business and keep the business and get up out of bed and go do the business.

That's correct. And so until he gets that stuff going, you have to be what we call a selfstarter. Hello. And um we're not talking about his lawnmower. We're talking about him. And so u yeah, you need to sell the sell the equipment and go get a job and because of what you're describing there. But no, there's not a magic when do you know when to close a business. You close a business when what you're doing is not working and there's no uh visible hope of it getting better and based on what you're telling us nothing has changed here that's causing this to trend upward in a good direction. It's just kind of stuck on not so great. I and this is not a business problem. This is a and I'm not saying this with unkindness.

I'm telling you he has a problem for because here here's here's the reality. Somebody who's healthy or remotely healthy, if they've got a business and they only have two jobs a week, they are working other jobs while trying to get that going. That would be called a side hustle if he's healthy. So, something's going on inside of him with him that is the source of this problem. It's not the lawn care business and it's not the watering restrictions. That now that's the hard truth, but that's the reality of you two have to have a marriage conversation.

Yeah. throw out the Nintendo. Yeah. I mean, am I right, Dave? You've done this a long time. There there are reasons why a guy won't get out and work.

There's something something. There's always something there. I mean, it's not my generation, but some some generations I hear have a Nintendo problem. But, you know, Call of Duty, but the wrong call and the wrong duty, you know.

Well done. Yes. Well played, Dave. It's almost like you have a radio show. Steve's in Washington. Hey, Steve. What's up? Hey, hey, Jent. Uh, thank you for taking my call.

Sure, man. Well, how can we help? Yeah, first of all, thanks for being you. You both impacted my life greatly. So,

thank you. I really appreciate it. Yeah. Hey, so I've had the privilege to um start over in life. I just got remarried and um and just to a wonderful woman and but for until June we have to live separately cuz I made a commitment to stay in my area until my daughter graduates and then we'll uh connect. So we did our real first budget meeting on Sunday and we're doing the every dollar app.

How far about are y'all? How far apart are y'all? Uh four and a half hours. Okay. And what does she do for a living?

She works for the Department of Justice. Okay. And what do you do? Uh self-employed and I work two days a week uh part-time as EMT firefighter.

Okay. All right. Okay. Wow. All right. So, so you got four months of Wow. What's your business?

It's the weirdest newlywed year ever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. Um so, um been working out of debt and I carry a little bit of debt into this, but my business is property management. I um I oversee a 600 acre private ski resort.

So, who's who's moving who's moving after June? You I Yeah, I will be moving. Uh

oh. Going into the DC metro area, huh? Well, Northern Virginia. Um so, she No, no, she works out the Portland office and I'm going to be

Oh, they're Oh, you're in Washington State. I apologize. Okay. Yeah, Washington State. Yep. and she is going to be transferred to Billings and so we'll have that confirmation in uh March. So it's uh yeah there's just a lot of lot of little things to figure out one step at a time here. So

how can we help? Um and yeah, so we're figuring out like how do we I guess um communicate well as we still live separately but trying to you know as we become one you know budget together and as we're putting each other on on each other's bank accounts and then eventually we'll become one. uh we figure probably best till after we move in June and but right now just like I'm I bring in I got uh uh under $8,000 to go uh to be debtree and she is debtree but at the same time I carry a little bit of shame like I I I brought this in and I don't feel like like I I I can we can pay it off but also at the same token

well we are married so we can pay it off that's what goes with it right and that's that's just the Oh, sorry. That's the way it works, man.

For rich or for poor, for sickness and health and she gets the flu, you'll bite make chicken soup. It's the way it works out.

Yeah. Absolutely. So, yeah. I don't know. Any advice, I guess, in that realm. Um, never Yeah. I This is an awesome blessing to be in. At the same token, I'm like, uh, how do I do this? Well,

yeah. Y'all figured out a real strenuous way to do it. That's for sure. Yeah. No kidding. And um so yeah, the only thing I can tell you is that what you're what you're trying to do is difficult at best when you first get married living in the same house and now you just added like a 10x to it by not being there. So the only way I know to cover that is with piles of communication. Like overcommunicate feelings, overcommunicate details, constantly be working on a stupid budget like it was a because that's going to give you a place to talk about all this stuff. So like every night we have a budget meeting on the phone about every dollar and every night you talk about it a little bit. I feel a little bit ashamed about this, but I'm still going to work through it. We're going to do it together. and every night and just lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of talk.

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This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID591 NMLS consumerex.org equal housing lender. Wow, somebody's listening. H So I sat here on the air about um James, how long ago was that? We're talking about real estate fixes. That's probably probably a month ago.

Oh, yeah. It was about a month ago. Probably right after Thanksgiving and this is this is being recorded the first week of the year. So, I said, "Listen, there's a couple things we could do this housing market." The problem with the housing market is there's always been a shortage of inventory for the last two decades really. And the a shortage of inventory is cause the market to get stopped up. And there's a couple things we could do to l loosen the inventory. And one is to prohibit the institutional corporate uh hedge funds and the Chinese from buying blocks and blocks of thousands and thousands of single family homes and taking them off the market.

I would vote for that. And putting making them permanent rentals and uh so when you do that, you suck out the inventory and when the inventory is sucked out, the market clogs up and stops. And

Mhm. Today, President Trump says he will seek a ban on institutional investors from buying single family homes.

Is Is he listening to the podcast, Dave? I don't know. He didn't call me, Ken. I know that.

He didn't say, "Dave, I got an idea." That's huge. You never know, though. You never know. He's famous for for watching TV and and news and calling in live on shows.

Yeah. Maybe maybe he'll call in and you can walk him through how to do it. Well, I just No. I mean, I'm I'm happy if it's his idea as long as it happens, right? I don't care whose idea it is. Yeah, this is the other thing we said, and if you're listening, President Trump, we said this one, too, and I hadn't seen this show up yet. Maybe it'll come up within a week or two. The capital gains, uh, zero capital gains on personal residents up to a half million dollars married filing jointly has been in place for like 25 years.

So, here's what you do. Make that $2 million. Oh. And you know what happens? a bunch of boomers that are sitting on a bunch of equity would sell their houses

and that would unclog the market and put a bunch of inventory on the market cuz they would if you could put $2 million in your pocket and go, you know, to wherever, you know, go buy a condo or move down, move down, some of the boomers, right? They would do it. But right now, they got capital gains on everything over half million dollars. And half million dollars on a lot of gains is not spit. So if you got no capital gains, tax-free up to a half million. Now what if you made that 2 million? I promise you it move the upper end of the market wide open and when the upper end moves open then that get leaves it breathing room and everything dominoes all the way down to the beginning of the market

because everybody can move up then they're not stuck. Careful, Dave. You're gonna give America indigestion. Yeah. Because it makes so much sense. And those of you who are listening and watching are going, "You're right, Dave. That would be amazing. Why doesn't it happen?"

And you can write these two things down because it doesn't happen very often. Dave Ramsey has a government idea to fix anything.

Well, no, that's just good legislation. I know, but I just The number of times I ask government for help's pretty close to zero. Well,

this is one of the few things. Both of these things they could do and it would actually have an impact and it really wouldn't take long.

But why won't they, Dave? Tell America why they won't. Oh, because they like our tax dollars.

Yeah. Well, I don't know who they is, but somebody they is all of them up there.

The whole kitten kaboodle. It's the machine. The machine. So, what we do is we got to

Sounds like you sound like a conspiracy theorist right? No, not at all. Not at all. Throw the bums out until they start giving us policies like this. But it's I I listen really quick. I don't want people to miss what Dave just said. These are two very practical things that would absolutely make a huge dent in this real estate cog happen immediately. Today's question of the day

is brought to you by Y refi. When it feels like your private student loans have buried your future, why refi can help dig you out with a low fixed rate refinancing clear path forward. Go to yrefi.com/ramsey. That's the letter y refy.com/ramsey. Not in all states.

Today's question comes from Jasmine in Tennessee. We're out of debt and have just finished building a 3 to sixmonth emergency fund. I'm anticipating that one of our two cars may need major repairs soon. In general, how do you think about deciding when to repair a vehicle versus when to replace it? I don't want to panic buy another car, but I'm also wary of getting ripped off by a mechanic.

That's a really good question. I think that's about as practical of as a fear as we hear. Um, you know, in this situation, uh, I'm not going to spend money on a car if if, let's say, the car is worth 2500 bucks and it costs 3,000 to fix it.

Well, you don't do that. You don't do that. You know, other than that, you want to try to duct tape it, keep that thing going, get yourself a good quality mechanic. Now, I'm passionate about this particular issue, Dave, because I fall in this category where I'm very suspicious, but we have found through multiple conversations with people that have lived here. When we first moved here, uh, 12 almost 12 years ago, I talked to several people and tested it out like you would a church or a doctor or maybe the person who cuts your hair when we had some issues come up and we found a really reliable mechanic who we absolutely know is not a thief and a crook. And that's important because if you do that, they will help you and they won't try to rip you off. They'll say, "Okay, here's what could be fixed." Uh, but this is the should be to keep this sucker going from point A to B. That's really important

when you're in this hoopty land. Uh, because it will get you through. You can keep a hoopy going longer than you think if you got an honest mechanic.

Yeah. Yeah. Auto repair is a low trust industry. We were really uh pumped about having Christian Brothers come on.

Yes. Absolutely. as the official auto repair partner of the Ramsey Show. And uh we trust Christian Brothers Automotive. I've known these guys a long time. They've had a shop in our area, but they got shops all over.

And whether you're just getting started in the Baby Steps or your Baby Steps 7, you want your car to last, we recommend Christian Brothers Automotive, go to CBAC.com/ramsey. I'll work that into the thing here. Uh they just came on board with us. We're really glad they're here. The answer to your question, Jasmine, is whatever the car is worth as salvage, not fixed, plus the repair, cannot equal more than the value after the repair.

Mhm. So, if the car is worth $1,000 and it takes $3,000 to fix the car at the end, that's $4,000, but the car is worth two after you fix it. Well, you don't spend that. That's good money after bad. Okay? But you also look for you may be sitting on a $12,000 car, blew an engine. You don't go to the dealer and buy a brand new engine from the manufacturer. That'll cost more than a new car. For God's sakes, no. You get a used engine, a rebuilt engine or used engine from a salvage yard, and you have someone like Christian Brothers install it, and you can do that for about 25 cents on the dollar. What I'm talking about with the dealer. So, it depends on what the car is, what the size of the repair is as to all of that. But by and large, it's a car under $5,000 is the only one you would hardly ever you most always will fix it otherwise cuz you can find an inexpensive way to get it rolling again. Even if you fixed it to

sell it, you know, even if you fix it and say, "Okay, now it runs. Now I can sell it for, you know, $4,000 instead of $1,000." And so, but it cost me $1,000 to fix it. Okay, that's good. That's a good investment, right? So, we can go that way. So, if you're looking for Christian Brothers, it's CBAC.com/ramsey. They are now the official auto repair partner of the Ramsey Show. John's in Naples. Hey, John. What's up?

Hey, how are you guys doing? Better than I deserve. How can I help? Good. So, um I'm just trying to get my financial future started and I'm having a lot of issues with that. I have a little bit of, you know, student loans I want to pay off, but I um I have a little untraditional background with school and, you know, how I got to where I am today. And I'm just kind of struggling to get, you know, off the starting line and kind of into the working force and corporate community, whatever it may be to get my future moving in that direction.

You have a degree? I do. Yes. I have a bachelor's in business and a masters in data analytics.

And you can't get a job? I've done about 2,000 applications. Well, you suck at that. Gotten

I've I've met with seuite executives of Fortune 500 companies, alumni from my university. I've spoken to my university. I've spoken to friends, family. I've gone through just about every avenue that I really know how to. And I don't I I really don't know what, you know, the miss what the problem is with trying to get through and and you know kickstart my career.

What's your income target? What are you asking these people to pay you? Usually I'd put on the lower end of um what their range is. So I've applied from New York to Anchorage. I've put you know anywhere between 80 to you know some jobs are you know 120 to 150. So I put 120. Sometimes I even put under just to try to get through to, you know, HR to get an interview and it's just not even working.

Have you had interviews? I've had a handful, but only because I've had internal referrals have

and that's where they come from. That's where interviews come from. They don't come from 2,000 applications. Well, I tell you what, hang on. I'm going to bring you back around cuz Coleman is about the best on the planet at this. I want him to help you.

Hey, hey, hey. All right. John's got a degree in a master's degree in data analytics. Has applied for over 2,000 jobs. Has not been able to get a job. Ken Coleman, help the guy.

Okay. All right. John, so you've been applying for things and you've been in the 80 to 120,000 range. I think where I'd want to start is what is a layer or a level rather below where you've been applying. Is there such a thing or are you saying that those entry level are yielding those kind of salaries?

Those are the entry level. Um, one of the issues is that I haven't been able to do an internship. You know, I was an athlete in college and I was training over the summer. So, I was unable to go in and actually, you know, make the connections that way. So, you know, I when I apply for associate or an analyst level, you know, they say, "Well, he doesn't have experience." And my internal reps who have to fight for me say, "Well, you know, nobody at this level has experience because it's the entry level." So, that's kind of how they have been able to get me through to interviews, but most companies just don't even, you know, I kind of get a a email pretty quickly.

Okay. So, when you got the when you got the interview with internal wreck, what happened? Um, I made it down to the final two and then office politics and some other things went on that just were out of my control and just went in another direction.

So, you told Dave before we went to break that it was a handful of interviews. Is that right? How many are we talking about that you've actually gotten?

I've done four for companies that are actually based like base salary and I've had a handful that are the commissionbased selling insurance. Not really something I'm interested in.

Okay. Um I've done every avenue from I've talked to seuite executives, I've talked to my grad school, my university.

Yeah. No, I get it. It's a very wide net. I totally get that and I want to I appreciate your activity. But activity in this particular situation is not the the answer. Just activity 2,000 applications, you might as well have been spitting in the wind driving down the interstate because of the nature of AI and filters and all these things. So what we want to do is is we want to get more of those interviews and you've only got four interviews. The conversation with seaueters, those don't always yield what you think either because while they may give you time, I love that you got there. So you got some spunk. But here's the deal. The simple advice for you is this. You've got to up the amount of interviews that you're getting. So you've only gotten four in your space.

So 0 for four in today's job economy. Not surprising. uh there's no question that you're up against the fact that you're uh in entry level and so it's actually more competitive right now for entry level roles. So there's no silver bullet here other than this idea that I wrote a book around. I'm going to give you the book as as my gift to you. It's called the proximity principle. Now what the proximity principle does is it increases your odds of getting actual interviews. And one of the first things Dave said to you was how are you doing an interview? So, I want to know, have you gotten any feedback from anybody that's interviewed you, uh, to where we don't blame it on office politics and whatever, but any feedback on how you could do better in the interview? Do you have any of that?

Um, I've done mock interviews. I've great don't have any issues with answering the questions. I don't have any issues with my background. It's just, you know, I don't really know other than the companies I've been fortunate enough because of my internal Rex. I don't know why I I can't even get through to other companies. You know, I bought software to to find out who, you know, hiring managers are. So, after I apply, I'll send them an email, my contact information, telling them why I'm why I'm applying. I'm following up with them. I'm trying to do everything that I've been told to do.

And I have, you know, I have the degree, I have the grades, it just for whatever reason, the background of being an athlete doesn't help.

No, not at all. Nobody cares. Uh and and so so listen, I'm just trying to tell you, you got to stop saying these things. Not even that helps. Here's the simple thing. You have got to connect relationships. And this is hard work.

The four interviews you got, you got the right way. We need to do that 40 times and you'll get a job.

We have to repeat that process. Not not not cold calling something off of software. Yeah.

And not filling out applications that are spitting in the wind. But here's what I would do today if I were you. You need to be working a job. And I'm talking stocking shelves at Target. NFL MVP, Hall of Famer Curt Warner was stocking grocery shelves while playing in the Arena Football League. He did that because he wanted to make it to the NFL. I think it's the same story for you. You're an athlete. That's why I give you that example. But Curt Warner only stocked shells because he had to feed the baby and his wife.

But he did it so that he could stay in the Arena Football League. And for you right now, for you to get in this work, you need to be working, bringing home income, not becoming depressed because that's what happens. You get depressed pretty quick, get frustrated, and you create this false narrative which will hold you back. So, the best thing you can do right now is go get a J O so that I'm getting up every day, taking a shower, shaving, and working and bringing home a check while I'm using Ken's proximity principle and repeating the process that worked four times. And the more, let's say it's eight interviews or 12, you're going to start to see a yes. All of those nos lead to a yes. And I I wish I had some silver bullet, but it's a law of numbers, but the right numbers. Yeah, hang on. We'll get you a copy of Proximity Principle and Ken's book, Finding the Work You're Wired to Do. Both will help you in this

process. They'll be our gift to you to help you get moving. I know you're frustrated, man. And it does sound like you're doing a lot of things right.

Yeah. But you're also wasting a lot of burn calories to feel like you're doing something right and some other things. So, let's reign some of the efforts the way Ken's teaching and I think you'll see some better results. I hope you do. My goodness, that's frustrating as crud. All right, Jessica is in Dallas. Hi, Jessica. How are you? Hey, I'm good. How are you all?

Better than we deserve. What's up? Well, thanks for taking my call. I have a question about emergency funds versus syncing funds. Um, so my husband and I, we learned about you, Dave, in 2020. Uh, paid off all of our debt except for our mortgage. And each month, you know, I'm using every dollar to designate money into different funds. Um, with our house syncing funds, I'm just wondering if I'm using it incorrectly. I'm getting a little nervous as our house gets older. We're going to need major things like new windows. And I feel like the house fund never really grows because of course something always comes up. We need a new water heater, a roof. And so it just seems like every year we're getting money in that fund and every year I need to take some out. And I'm just thinking, you know, years a few years down the line, what if we need to spend $30,000 on new windows? Um

well, you need a plan to do you need a plan to do that? That's not an emergency. That's a no, that's a known thing.

Well, I'm That means your sinking fund is underfunded. Okay. But I don't know that you need to necessarily be funding something for 25 years from today in there. But if you if you think in three years you're going to need windows and it's 30,000 bucks, you probably ought to start now.

Well, I'm just thinking I would already have the 30,000 if I didn't take money out of the house fund for repairs. And

what are you going to repair the house with if you don't? Okay. You have to repair the house and fix the windows. Both.

Okay. And neither one are an emergency. Both are predictable events. Okay. So, I just need

you maybe need a new sinking fund for windows. Yeah, that's true. And start start because since it's worrying you and keeping you up at night, I don't know. But um you know what what seriously what do you think the time horizon is on that? When do you think you're going to need them?

I mean, honestly, we could use them now, but I it's not an emergency for us to use them now. You you know, we we do what we can when it gets cold here. It's not sold in Dallas for very long, but um but I mean it's it's coming down the line and I I know it's a big cost.

So, put put a number on it and put a date on it and back into it and save for it.

Okay. Go get a bid or three and say, "Okay, 36,000 bucks in 36 months. That'd be a,000 bucks a month. Hello."

Sure. Yeah. put put a number on it and put a date on it and you can tell what your sinking fund needs to look like and because you got to do the other home repairs anyway and you can't wait and call this an emergency because you knew it was coming. It's like saying, "Oh, my tires are bald. That's an emergency." No, you knew your dad gum tires were going to wear out. You should have been planning to replace your tires already.

Too close to home, Dave. I feel like you're Stacy talking to me right now. She was looking at my tire treads about 6 months ago. She goes, "You're an idiot. You're literally like taking your life in your own hands. I didn't I never pay attention to stuff like that." And sure enough, she was right.

I'm glad. Thankfully, we had the money for the tires. I'm glad. By the way, windows in Dallas, if it's a little chilly, I'm getting some duct tape. We're going to stretch this a little bit.

I'm kidding. She may live in a $2 million house, man. I don't know what she lives in.

I wasn't serious. The duct tape. You can't fix everything in duct tape. You can try, but you can't fix everything. I don't know. Heat. Heat. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio. I'm Dave Ramsey. Ken Coleman Ramsey personality, host of the Ramsey Network hit Front Row Seat is my co-host today. Open Phones here at88255225. If you go to ramseyolutions.com/livevents, you can join us this evening. We'll be doing a live stream that is completely free to help you get back control of your money, take back control of your money in 2026. And we'd love to have you guys join us. There'll be several hundred,000 people there. We'll be giving away $20,000 tonight on that live stream. So, make sure you sign up for the live stream and that puts you automatically in the drawing. The whole deal is free. We'd love to have you hang out. Jade and I will be doing that. So, Jade Washer and I. So, make sure you

join us. Jennifer is with us in Nashville. Hi, Jennifer. How are you? I'm good. Thank you for taking my call. I am so excited to talk to you.

You too. Here's my question. Okay. So, I'm hoping to retire in 2032. I'm debtree with the exception of my house, which I still owe 280,000 on at a 2.25 interest rate. My question is, what should I be prioritizing during my last six years of employment? I would like to pri prioritize paying off my house. and if I put all my energy and money towards paying it off, I could do it before I retire, but it would be at the expense of contributing to my 401k. But others say that since my interest rate is so low, I really need to be putting all my money in my 401k.

And so, but that means I'd have to take a house payment into retirement and that scares the crap out of me. So, I kind of wanted to know I think I know what you're going to say, but I just wanted to know what you thought.

What's your household income? Uh, I make 162,000. Mhm. Okay. And so you have six years, right?

Six years. Yeah. And I'll have two federal pensions when I retire, which are about 75,000 a year. And then if social security is still around, like another 30.

Yeah. So 6* 4 is 240. Right. Right. Yeah. So 6 * 45,000 out of 160 gets your house paid off, which leaves you 120. Why can you not keep doing retirement also?

Um, oh, I I could. You mean take my house payment into retirement? No, darling. $45,000 a year $45,000 a year from today for the next six years pays off a $280,000 house. 45,000 extra on the house. Okay.

Yes. All right. Now, you make 160, right? Right. Minus 45 leaves you 115, right?

Okay. You could still do retirement and still live. Yeah. I mean it's I know 162,000 it is a lot of money but you know you got to take out there's a lot of stuff in there also when you take off take out taxes and um and just everything else that goes with it.

What what's everything else? Tithing. Well, okay. So you have taxes which is like 30 some thousand tithing. My current house payment which is 30 grand.

Your what? Your what? What' you say? What? Your what payment? I said my current house now.

Okay. Well, no, that would include include your house payment because basically I mean $45,000 is more than enough house payment and everything to pay off the house. You don't pay $30,000 a year on your house, do you?

Well, I mean, I when I think of that, I throw in all of my taxes and insurance. That's what I

I roll into my house payment. That's how I think about it. I see. Yeah, you're right. That's true. Okay.

Okay. I just It feels like that you can that you don't have to completely choose.

It feels like you can get the house paid off and still do something towards retirement. You may have to cut somewhere. You may have to scrimp somewhere else to hit this goal. I don't know. And I don't know what all is coming out of your check. You may want to look at that. But, um, you may be thinking about coming home after 401k contributions. And that's that's you know that's not what we're talking still that's part of the hole. See so if you kept doing your 401k and then it's pinchy to do the house but you could still do 45 total on the house uh in principal reduction a year not counting interest and taxes and insurance right but yeah if you did that that would get you there. Um so it's close. Uh what's the probability over the next six years of your income changing?

Well, so it won't go up much. It will continue to grow. I do the other thing is I um I do own a fourth of a farm. It's in an irrevocable trust now and so that's vested. Um but you know, I'm not sure when we're going to sell that. Uh you'd never want to say it like that because it means one of my parents has passed. Um, but so there will be about a half million dollar, you know, income coming in at some point in my

And how much is in your uh nest egg now? So right now 30,000. Oh, and then my 401k is 480.

That's your nest egg. Okay. I knew something was off. I'm sorry. Can I can I ask a real simple question? What do you What do you do for the government? What what is your job? How would you describe yourself as a professional? Uh, as an attorney, I specialize in labor law.

Oh, good for you. And your work for the government? I do. Does that preclude you from doing uh u side work?

No. Okay, here's the exercise. Okay, here's the exercise I would go through. I think Dave's right,

but I also think you know your budget pretty darn good. So, if it was me, I would not be asking the question, uh, do I sacrifice retirement investing in order to pay this house off? I would be asking the question, how much additional money do I need to make per year over the next six years to pay this house off? You are an attorney. I know you can make that money.

Yeah. If you made an extra 40 grand a year, this is soft. That's one thing to do. You know, it's just a little side thing of some some kind of a side, I don't know, venture or whatever. Here's the thing. You're going to be okay either way. You're fine. Uh I would pay off the house early. I I would put the house on a schedule to be done in six years and then I would squeeze what I can out of retirement from working extra and or out of your budget by carefully looking at it. All the things we've talked about because here's the deal. You got a half a million now.

In six in seven years that'll be if it's in good mutual funds uh that'll double that'll be a million. And then the house is worth what today?

Uh 700 something. Okay. So it'll probably be worth a million and a half in seven years give or take. Okay. And so at that point, you're going to be worth $2.5 million. And the farm is another half million. And that's six years from today. And you'll be how old at that point?

Uh I will be 62. Okay. And about what? 70,000 in retirement coming to you from the pension plus social security, right?

Yeah. So 100,000 if everything stays the way it is now. Okay. So you're at 100. So you're so you're you're definitely okay if you add nothing to retirement

and pay off the house over the next 6 years to answer your question now that we dug all the way through this. Okay, but it it took a minute to get there. But that's exactly you are okay to do all that. I however am like you. I want to be doing something further towards retirement and so I want to investigate these other two possibilities adding some income and or squeezing this budget. But I'm just going to sit down and go, $45,000 a year has got to go on principal.

Mhm. And that comes out of the budget. 6 years I'm done. And you're going to be okay. And make sure your other stuff's invested right in good mutual funds. Hey, George Camel here. So, you're thinking about buying or selling your home. It's exciting, but there's a lot to think about, and all those decisions can feel overwhelming. Well, here's the good news. You don't have to tackle the process alone. Ramsay's Real Estate Homebase is the place to find all of your free tools and resources for help to get prepared to buy or sell your home with confidence. You'll find calculators, start to finish guides, a podcast, and even an in-depth video course hosted by yours truly. What's not to love? So, if you're ready to take the next steps toward your home goals, go to ramsysolutions.com/realestate.

That's ramseolutions.com/realestate. Buying or selling a home is a big deal. Rates are coming down. Looks like we're going to see 5% or so on a 15-year any minute here. So, uh, good times. Good times. A lot of houses going to be coming on the market as the grass gets green. And it might be yours or you might be looking for a house. You need a pro in your corner. Someone that's high octane and high protein. The Ramsey trusted program is the only way to find a top agent you trust that we trust. Make sure your home's a blessing and not a burden. Go to Ramsey Trusted Real Estate. You can find one for free at ramseysolutions.com/agent or click the notes in the or click the link in the show notes. Brittany is in Grand Rapids. Hi Britney, how are you?

Good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Um, I have just a question. I was curious what your thoughts were on if it's a bad idea to pay for our daughter to go to private school while we are still trying to get out of debt. Um, yeah.

Okay. Well, there's a that's a loaded question and there's a lot of answers to it.

Um, and so it the answer is it depends. Uh, number one, I would not strain my family budget to where I couldn't breathe in any case.

Okay. To do that, um, I would not spend $46,000 a year for a four-year-old to go to a private school.

Um, and sometimes I get that call. So, what is yours? Yeah. So, we are in the process of paying off debt.

Now, what is your private school cost? It's not that much. Um, we're going between two. The cheaper one is 1,035 for the year. The other one is like 1,400 for the year.

I'm so sorry. This is not a school. This is a daycare, right? Nope. It's preschool.

$1,000 a year. Yeah. And she goes every day. No. Um, so at four years old, they don't do it's only like one of them is two days a week and the other one's three days a week and they're half days.

Okay, Donna. This is called Mother's Day Out. This is not called private school.

Yeah. Okay. Or run from any school that only charges you $1,000 a year. Well, I mean, they're not it's not a school. This is your kids going over two days a week while you go grocery shopping for God's sakes.

Okay. So, if but if you're going to do Mother's Day out, um and that's okay. I mean, private, they don't have a public version of that.

So, private is your only option. And um what's your household income? Um it's kind of complicated. So I bring home about 2200 to 2,300 a month. Um my husband on the low end brings home 2,800 a month, but it could go up to 5,000 a month

when um so he manages a snow removal company. So, like right now he's bringing home a few thousand a month. Um, and then he does landscaping in the summer. So, it just kind of depends um if he's working overtime or not.

Okay. And you're in baby step two, correct? What's your debt? How much? Yeah, we have a total of 303,000.

Hello. What does that consist of? Yeah, 277,000 is left on the mortgage. Oh, okay. We have 9700 left on my car. Um 4600 left on my student loans and then 11,000 left on his student loan.

So shouldn't he be doing uh overtime now? Yes. Lots of overtime. Is he? Yes. Yep. He's working the last like average was anywhere from 95 to 110 hours a week. So

And he's only bringing 2,800 home. That's when he gets 5,000. Yeah. No, he actually like last month I think he brought home closer to 8,000.

Okay, that makes more sense. All right, I got it. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I just filled our budget off of the low end. That way there's no like surprises. So that are you working in the home?

Uh no, I'm a nurse. So who keeps your child while you work? Yeah. So we pay somebody to watch the kiddos three days a week. Oh, and this other thing is the second or the the other two days a week.

Yeah. So, starting in the fall, our daughter is of preschool age. And so, we were just trying to figure out I see

whether it was a bad idea to pay for her to go to a private if she does if she's there, does that reduce your cost of the babysitter in the house?

No, it does not because it would be Tuesday, Thursday, and those are the days that I'm home. Oh, well, I wouldn't do it. I I've heard enough for me. If it was my personal income in this situation, I would not be paying that money. No,

not in baby step two. Dave, am I right or wrong? I I don't have a problem either. It's It's probably not a deal breaker either way, but um yeah, I I Your daughter's already gone from home uh as a four-year-old while you're at work the other days. And then you're at home and you're going to send her away from home, too. uh into preschool. I you know I don't think this well I uh I'm gonna catch I'm already catching hell. Okay. The um um having raised three that became successful um the things that they learned when they were in preschool did not enter into it them becoming successful. It's not that big a deal. Okay. And so, um, you know, uh, you can make it. You can make it.

And so, and the differences for some of the rest of you in one, uh, grade one through six, one school versus another, assuming the school is not just an absolute hell hole that's dangerous and teaches nothing. Uh but if you've got a reasonably good elementary school, the differences in that and the one that's $100,000 a year is it's not worth the the bang. You know, it's not worth the cost. So, and the the differences in whether those kids become successful is not based on where they went to elementary school, and it's sure not based on where they went to Mother's Day out. And so, um no, I'm not going to do it on that basis. The child is not going to be held back. She's not a developmental delay because of this or educational deficit because of this.

And I and I I'll kind of fill in the last piece that I'm hearing here, Britney, u because I'm not that far removed from my wife working full-time and we had three kids. So, as a nurse, and I know that nursing, many of the nursing positions are very, very intense. So, if you're asking this from a, hey, on those two days when I'm off, I need a little me time. I think that's that's fine. But I would again I would employ the person who's watching the child on the other days for maybe a portion of it. You have some dedicated time for yourself on those two days off.

Uh if that's something that is part of this decision, I think that makes sense and it's healthy. Uh but I can also say as a guy who sent off his oldest to college last year, I got another one leaving the nest. This goes fast. And the old saying that the you know the days are long and the years are short are really really true. And if you can, you know, still be healthy, uh, having that time with her before she heads off to elementary school, man, it's going to be here before you know it. I would maximize that. That's just me. No wrong decision here, but maybe some food for thought.

Yeah. So, the bottom line of all of that, Britney, is it doesn't matter. You do what you want to. That's right.

Um, I mean, you're not going to you're not going to mess up your kid either way, and you're really not going to destroy your debt snowball either way. Um, so but what we don't want to do during and I don't think this falls in that category or we would sell you because we're pretty mean about it. Um, it what we don't want to do when we're in baby step is buy luxury items.

Yeah. Things that aren't needed. And this is kind of on the bubble. But um, and you know what bothers me about it is the way you phrased it honestly.

Start the whole thing off like this is a private school discussion and it's a two-day a week Mother's Day drop off. So, you know, it's not it's not like we're having a decision decision between Harvard and and you know, the University of Mississippi. That's not what we're looking at here. Okay. So, I felt that, too. And this is not in any way a slight on you, Britney, but it you know what? Sometimes we make decisions like this because everyone else is doing it.

I'm not saying that's the case, but it can it a lot of times we talk ourselves into things that make sense because other people are doing it.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's Yeah. And it's a bubble. I mean, what who you run around with? And all your kids, all your buddies got a four-year-old and they're old one to air quotes private school.

I'll bet you the school she's thinking about has got some nice shine to it. Air

guaranteed some air quotes. It's the hot place to send the kiddos in their zip code. I'll bet you

I could be wrong. It's happened before. Dave struggling with prestige out of a four-year-old. Listen up, guys, because I've got a big question for you. Where will you be with your money at the end of 2026? Will you be better off, worse, or exactly the same? Believe it or not, you get to choose. Look, I know there's a lot going on that can make you feel powerless over your money, but I want you to hear me. You're more in control than you think. You can turn your finances around. So, let me help you out. Start your year off with me and Dave Ramsey at our free Every Dollar live stream event on January 8th. We're cutting through all the lies and all the chaos out there that's keeping you stuck. So you have the clarity you need to finally get ahead. And you could even win $2,000 just for signing up. Listen, another year is going to pass anyway. So decide that this is the year you're going to

take back control of your life and your money. Go sign up for the free live stream at everydoll.com/livestream. Hey, are you staying on track with the baby steps? Take a quick quiz to check your progress and you can get a personalized plan for you as well. Simply head to the show notes, click the link, "Are you on track with the baby steps?" and complete the quick free quiz and we'll help you build a personalized plan and get you moving. That's what we're here for. Carly's in West Virginia. Hey Carly, what's up?

Hi Dave. Hi Ken. Happy to be talking to you. Thanks for taking my question. Sure.

Uh my question is about life insurance. So my husband and I know we need more life insurance. Uh but we're trying to figure out how to do that. So right now through a company sponsored plan um we have a term life policy that is seven times my income and five times his

that you pay for or they give well yes I pay 40 we pay $45 a month for it. Okay. All right.

And so I'm trying to determine to fill that gap to the 10 to 12. Yeah. And because this is, you know, through my employer,

should I be looking should we be looking for a private policy? Yes. For the full 10 to 12,

I probably would. And let me talk you through why. Okay. There's a couple of variables.

Yeah. Just go to like Xander insurance.com. They've been with us for 35 years almost, and they'll shop a bazillion companies, get you the best price for what you're paying. I'm going to guess and say you might be able to get that privately. I don't think you're getting that great a deal. That's thing one. Okay. Thing two is when you leave your company, and you will.

Yep. Okay. You'll get fired. That's my concern. Like if I, you know, if you had a uh diabetes diagnosis and a year later left the company, you can't get insurance.

Yeah. And cuz these insurance policies are not portable. They don't go with you. And so you can get trapped with a negative diagnosis and then an exit and not have insurance. And that's always bothers me. So I I look at um I want to have the biscuit, the the meat of the thing, so to speak, the main piece be my private insurance through Xander. And then if I've got some through work, that's if it's a good deal when you flesh it out and you want to keep it. It's kind of the gravy on the biscuit. It's a little extra.

Okay. But because good news, it doesn't cost much. But I don't I don't know that that policy is that great a deal. How old are you guys?

I am 32 and my husband's 27. Okay. And what do you what are your incomes? Um I'm at 160 and he's about 80

and we have one child who's uh almost two. Okay. Are are either one of you overweight or smoke?

No. Okay. Uh well, you got a good amount of insurance because your income's higher than I was guessing. Okay. So, uh you got good incomes. Congratulations. Um, yeah, I don't know. You just run the numbers against it. You'll either keep it as as semi-supplemental. So, in other words, I might do if it's a great deal and you want to keep it instead of doing 10 to 12 with Xander, I might do six to eight with Xander. Right.

Okay. And just say, okay, it's a little it's a little bit supplemental and it's a little bit there, but if I leave, I'm not stuck that way. And it's not the base. It's not the foundation of my insurance plan. It's just part of the plan because when you count on employer life insurance only, you can really get stung based on what I was just telling you.

And Dave was using gravy and a biscuit as metaphor. If you want a good life insurance rate, stay away from the biscuits and the gravy.

Ken, thank you. Dave, just I got to bring some practicality every once in a while to what you say. You're not plain enough. You're not clear enough.

It's true. Cuz you know, if you eat enough biscuits and gravy, you'll have to have a biscuit ectomy.

While you were doing that, Biscuit ectomy. Oh, I love a good that'll screw up your insurance rates.

Biscuit ectoies. If if that's on your medical record, it's a problem. There it is.

Larry's in Florida. Hey, Larry. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Got a see if I'm the um the exception to Dave's rule of borrowing money. And and here's the deal. I'll give you a quick scenario. 73. I watch the 70. We're snowbirds. Uh we have 1.4 in liquid assets, 50,000 of it. Sorry, 1.4 that's in pre-tax and then another 50 that's emergency fund. Everything's paid off up north. Um we live in Michigan. House is worth about 275 up there. That's paid off. So we the condo that we've been staying in in Florida for the last five or six years, a perfect one for us, has come up for sale. And uh I can actually close on it this week, tomorrow, today, whatever. And um I'm looking at my question to you is do do you think it's wise to pull out 300 the condos 360 pull out that entire amount out of the pre-tax? And of course, that would incur a 20%

Yes. tax as well. Absolutely. You think that's a smart way to It's not a 20% tax. It's tax on 360. It's an in ordinary income tax rate on 360,

but yeah, I definitely would pay taxes on it. It's not 20% is the withholding on it, but that that's not accurate.

So, yeah, I Yes, I definitely that's why you've saved this money. You don't want to go be 73 years old and have a beach condo with a stupid payment on it.

No. No, I wouldn't do that. I definitely wouldn't do that. I'd pay cash or I wouldn't buy it. Of course, the other question is, are you going to keep the place up north? If you are, then let's slow down a little bit on the purchase and get the other place sold and roll that 275 into it. Um, because there's no tax on that. Uh, but if you're keeping the house up and you're still going to snowbird it, then that up north and that's cool. No problem. I just take it out of that. Yeah. So, you got a million dollars left in your 401k and you got, you know, a million dollar in real estate now. Okay. Oh, darn. I hate it when that happens. Well done. No, I'm not paying Yes, I'm going to pay some taxes to not have any debt. Absolutely.

That's why why we got here and how we got here. Spencer's in Wisconsin. Hey, Spencer.

Hey, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. How can we help? Hey. Um, I'm 28 years old and I have uh $750,000 of debt. And I have no debt on any cars or anything like that. That's my home mortgage. And then I'm a farmer. I bought a chunk of land. So, Okay. So, how much is your house? How much is the debt on your home?

Um, there's about 350,000 left on that. Okay. And so, you got about uh what? 450 on the land.

400 on land. Yep. 400 on land, I'm sorry. Yeah. Okay. And you're a full-time farmer. That's what you do for a living,

correct? Yep. With my dad and my grandpa. Okay. And um that's your only debt. You don't have any equipment debt?

No, no equipment debt or anything. What are you far What do you What do you What are you farming?

Um corn, soybeans, and wheat. We're cash crop farmers, and then we do a lot of trucking too.

Good. So, what do you make in a year? Um I personally make about $80,000 of impersonal income.

And then, uh this year we made about $30,000 from the farm. That should make the payments for the next year.

How many acres How many acres was the 400? It only yielded $30,000 worth of profit.

Well, no, 30,000 of profit. Yeah. 50,000. It was about uh it's 76 acres of workable land and it yielded about 200 bushels to the acre.

Wow. And corn is about $4. about pretty bad price this year, but that's just how it goes.

Yeah. Okay. On a good year, I'm curious. On a good year, uh, with corn prices, what would that number be or what has it been? What's the best year that you can recall?

Um, the best year is probably that I can remember, I'm only 28, so but we had a during CO there, we had about $7 a bushel.

Wow. For corn. Wow. So, but what would that make you on that? 78 acres or 76 acres.

Um 76 * 200. That'd be about a 100,000 or something. Okay. All right. Almost double.

Yeah. Okay. Or more than double. Okay. Yeah. All right. Because you got Listen. Yeah. You're just trying to get a return on investment. It's a business transaction. There's a lot of romance in farm and an extreme amount of hard work in farming. But people romantically forget to do the math because you don't want to make 30,000 on a $400,000 investment and do all the hard work means you're making a dollar an hour of very backbreaking labor. That's a bad rate of return on your money. So, um, but if that's not the average year, then we have to work into that and see. So, and and if you're getting it paid off by doing that, you end up with the asset clear. That's another part to enter into the equation. So, I think you can struggle through this and get there.

When you're tired of feeling stuck with money, there's just one solution. To get different results, you have to do something different. No one accidentally wins with money. You have to have a game plan, and that begins with our getstarted assessment. Go to ramseysolutions.com/start. Answer some questions and we'll show you what steps to take next. Don't stay stuck. Take control of your money starting today. Go with ramiesolutions.com/start. Our

scripture of the day, Ephesians 6:11. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Rebea McIntyre said, "Be different. Stand out and work your butt off." Well, Sounds good, Reeba. I like that. All right, Cam is in Chicago. Hey, Cam. How are you?

I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? Well, my son is going to come into a settlement um when he turns 18 in April, and it's $70,000, and I'm looking for advice on what he should do with it. He wants to buy a new car, but he's also going to be signing up. He's going to sign up for the Marines in uh about October.

So, he's only going to be here a short time before he goes away to boot camp. So, trying to figure out what the right decision is for him.

Yeah. Okay. And how old is he? He's 17. He'll be 18 in April and that's when he'll get the settlement.

Okay. What's the settlement from? Um he was um hit by a car when he was on his bicycle.

Wow. Is he okay? He's okay. Yeah. It's been just about a year. So, he's he's fully recovered and it's um you know, been in an account in the bank um until he turns 18. So, he's anxiously awaiting it to buy himself a car cuz right now he's sharing with with mom.

Okay. So, you're a single mom? I'm a single mom. Yes. Okay. All right. Um and he doesn't have a car and he's 17. It's in the bank,

right? Is there any reason he can't buy a car with it now if you let him? because it he can't it's not to be touched until he's 18. I mean, we can go and petition the judge for it.

Oh, okay. But that'd be the only way. Okay. All right. But it's the only way, right?

Okay. All right. You're a good mom. Um Well, here's the thing. you and I know he's getting ready to park the car. And if I'm if he's a normal 17-year-old uh American male, he wants a really nice car uh that's way too expensive and he's about to screw up, right?

He wants a Honda Civic. Okay. But how new that he's he's open-ended on. But I'm thinking I'm thinking5 to $10,000.

Okay. That's what I was thinking as well. Okay. And if it parks and sits there and rots down, his life does not end. But if he goes and blows 70 grand on a car, I'm gonna kill him.

Oh, no. That would never happen. Well, I don't know. He's 18 and it's his money. And you know, only you and I can talk him out of it. Right. So,

because I guarantee he's got some people telling him to do that, don't you? I'm afraid of that.

Yeah. They're called stupid friends. We all have them. Right. Right. Especially when you're 17. You have them. There's lots of them around when you're 17. Right.

Yeah. So, I'm glad that you have the influence with him that you hope you do and you think you do, and I hope you can

talk him out of the tree on this because I Yeah, it sounds like you are. It sounds like you got a good foothold on on persuading him. And uh and I think you're being wise and I hope he will because here's the thing that 70 thou that that remaining $60,000 if he leaves it alone and he comes on out as a Marine and he starts you know is very wise with his income there and careful he could get a really really good start in life.

That's what I'm hoping. And with that rest of that money, do you think he should, you know, put it in a high yield savings or

That would be fine. That would be fine. If you want to put it away even longer, you could sit down with a Smart Investor Pro and park some of it in some mutual funds, but don't plan on touching it for 5 years if you do that. You can, but I wouldn't. But if you could, that would be ideal. Just forget you have it.

It would be ideal, right? Put it in a mutual fund and forget you have it and look up at 24 marrying your sweetheart and the 50 has turned into 150 and you can use it for a down payment on a house. That's what that's what my hopes are for him.

That that's what I would do with it if it was mine. Yeah. You know, I'm sitting here thinking, what would I do if I were you?

I would show him that example. I would I'm just This is what I do to my kids. It drives them crazy, but I'm a question guy by trade. I would ask him, uh, so what was involved with a brand new Marine who goes off and got a car? Start asking a million questions. Now, just asking the questions will irritate him, which is great because what you want to do is is a mild irritation to make him think through, is this thing more trouble? Because you and Dave are talking and you're like, "Oh, he's going to park it." But he's not thinking that.

I would, and I'm playing when I say irritate. I don't mean really provoke the kid. I just mean make him consider what is he going to do with this car? And if he's parking it where where you live, make him confront that. uh if he's got to take it with him and ship it or whatever. I would just walk make him walk through all of that and you might be able to deter this by not suggesting but by asking. I would try it

cuz I'm with you. I would rather it's okay to not buy a car. That's what I'm getting if you're going straight into boot camp. That'd be okay.

Yeah, it wouldn't be the end of the world. But I was just trying to scratch his itch.

And if I scratch it with five grand and keep him from blowing 70, I'm on target, you know. So

yeah. What did you say? You tried it. I tried to tell him it's not necessary. we can still share. He's got a 15-year-old brother and his point and that'll be 16 when he goes in the Marines. And he said, "Well, then he can just use it when I'm gone cuz he thinks that it's a burden for me to have to drive them all around everywhere since it's just me." And he's like, "Then he can help you out."

Well, here's the deal. I did a quick search while Dave was talking to you. There are some decent uh Honda Civics in that $5 to $7,000 range. So, if you can help him stay in that range, then I think that scratches his itch, but also keeps his money where it needs to be.

Yeah. Yeah. And then talk but sell the dream of what happens to the other Yeah.

60,000 bucks that's going to turn into 160 for a good down payment when he's 24 or whatever the numbers end up being. But I mean, this is this is the mature thing to do with it, which is very hard to do when you're

immature. when you're not when you're not old, you know. So, it's hard to do when you're old, but it's not as hard when you're old as it was when you were Christian. Kristen Kristen is next in San Jose. Hey, Kristen. What's up?

Hi. Um, I have a question about purchasing a house versus remodeling. Um, we've been planning a remodel for the past year. um and just found out from kind of a couple of contractors that now at this point the remodel is going to be double what we want to pay which means we'd be way over building for our neighborhood. The same time I'm finding this out from contractors. My dad has decided to move from Southern California up to be closer to us because my mom has passed in this past year. Um, and he just want we're kind of his last closest family um, in the area. And so we are now considering instead to sell his house, our house, and purchase a new house with an ADU. So that way he can kind of live on the property with us.

Um, this would involve all me, my husband, and my dad's name means all being on um the mortgage and the title to the home. And I'm just looking for some advice to see if that is a good idea. Um, we would be putting like over 50% down for the price of the home and it would be within our like budget even according to the Ramsay way of deciding for a budget for a house. Um, and so I just want to know if that is a good idea or not.

Well, there's a lot of downside to it. Um because you what you have to do is work through what happens in the event of all the negative possibilities. Okay. Um a negative relationship evolves. Um that's the problem. Okay. Uh a death evolves. What happens to the half out of the house then? Um what happens to the half uh if he becomes disabled early onset? What happens uh if uh you know something bizarre happened and you all got a divorce? Okay, so you know all the no one ever no one ever anticipates all the negative things and the exit strategy from this brilliant idea in the event of all the negative things. We always just look at oh this is going to work and we can put our money together and we got a better house and yeah. So, if you work through all of those probably on paper as a part of a quote partnership agreement unquote, you got siblings.

No, I'm an only child. Okay. That's that makes it simpler, doesn't it? You're going to get his half when he dies, right?

Yes. And he has been very clear that he he's like, "The house is already yours. Do what you want with it." Um, he just wants to move closer to us in general. And he is elderly. So I do think that how old is he we would be taking um in his like mid70s.

Okay. Maybe not in the best of health like you are but yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah. I mean just be careful. It's just be thinking about what happens with um you know and and really have some good documentation on power of attorney and other stuff in case of like you know the one that comes to mind is I've got a friend dealing with early onset right now and they've got a problem with the ownership of the family business and the guy that holds the keys is not all there now. So they got a real issue and that's the kind of stuff you got to be real careful with and and be thinking that through. That puts us hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Wisdom With Money Means Moving Slowly | January 9, 2026"?

Dave Ramsey (Host), Ken Coleman (Guest), Sarah (Guest), Hannah (Host), Casey (Guest), Wayne (Guest), Carly (Guest), Kristen (Guest).

What is "Wisdom With Money Means Moving Slowly | January 9, 2026" about?

The main topic focuses on improving communication within troubled romantic relationships, emphasizing the importance of understanding differing communication styles and conflict resolution strategies. Key points include identifying personal needs, managing emotional responses during disagreements, and fostering a team mentality to address issues collaboratively.

What is mentioned in this The Ramsey Show episode?

9 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Fair Winds Credit Union, Every Dollar app, Smart Investor Pro, Christian Healthcare Ministries, Church Hill Mortgage, Christian Brothers Automotive. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Wisdom With Money Means Moving Slowly | January 9, 2026"?

The episode runs 2 h 6 min; the transcript is about 22,967 words in 439 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 January 24, 2026.