Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I am Rachel Cruz, hosting this hour with my good friend and co host of Smart Money Happy Hour, George Camel. And we will be taking your questions. So give us a call at 888-825-5225 we're talking about your life, your money, your relationships, your career, anything and everything here to help you out. So first up, we have Ian out of Port Portland, Oregon. Hey, Ian, welcome to the show.

Hi. Hi, good afternoon. This is Ian. Thanks for taking my call.

Absolutely.

How come you've been a bit of a juncture in my life where I'm buying a purchasing my third house, which will be my primary house since I'm busy moving. I have two existing mortgages and I was wondering what to do with them. The two options have come up in my mind is, one, I can have the pay both these mortgages off because I have enough savings to pay them off and subsequently have renters pay my primary third mortgage. That way I lose. I kind of get rid of two mortgages and I just have one primary mortgage. That's sort of the foreseeable advantage I have. The option b is I leave the two long term renters in my two existing mortgages properties, and then I pay myself for the third mortgage. And, you know, three mortgages is what. The caveat here is that I have to handle versus one mortgage in option a. I need some help with deciphering, which would be a better option for me.

Okay, well, if I'm in your shoes, I would want my primary mortgage paid off. But I also don't like the risk of having two mortgages sitting out there with renters. And so if I'm in your shoes and you can pay off both mortgages today, I'd rather you leave with one mortgage than multiple. So what is the balances of the two existing mortgages?

Yeah, the first balance is about 25,000. The other one is 150,000. So 175 total.

And how much do you have in savings?

I've got about half a million.

Wonderful.

Okay, great. And how much are those properties worth?

The property? The first property is probably worth about 210 with the 2500 mortgage. The other one is worth 350.

Sorry.

The other worth is about 800,000 with 145 mortgage.

Okay, that's great. And then your primary, how much. How much do you owe on it?

Good question. I am. This is what I'm in the process of buying in my primary.

Oh, you haven't bought it yet.

My budget is about 800,000 on that.

Okay, I got you.

Are you single?

No, married, but primary owner. A primary? Yeah, bread owner.

Okay. How quickly could you pay off all of this? Let's say you. You depleted your cash down to just an emergency fund. You knocked out the two existing mortgages. How much could you put down on the next mortgage, on the next property?

That's a great question. And that's where I'm running into some trouble, is because I'm deciding whether I should pay this $170,000 off and pay all these two mortgages or use that for my down payment.

Right. Do you enjoy being a landlord? Like, do you enjoy the real estate part of life?

Good question. Yeah, it's been uneventful for the last five to ten years that I've been doing.

So, I mean, they're great. I mean, you're so close, Ian, of having two paid for properties, which. And then they're going to be, you know, cash flowing. And we always say on the show, obviously, it's not, when we say passive income, it's not really passive income, because there's. You have work, you have to do upkeep. Right. You're flipping renters maybe once a year. So, I mean, there is work in there, but I do like the idea of. Yeah. Your diversification of having some rental properties, and you're so close to having them paid off, which I think is exceptional. So.

And it frees up those payments. What would those payments add up to? Just the principal and interest on both of those properties, you freedom up.

Good question. If I feed them up and I'm getting rental income from both those properties, I could probably get $1,500 from one and maybe 3000 from another. So 4500.

That's great. And if you then threw all of that onto your new mortgage that you'd be taking on for your primary and knock that out within a few years, I think that's a great plan.

Got it.

There's not really a baby step for that because of the way you did it. You know, we would say, hey, get your primary paid off, then pay cash for any investment properties. So we're sort of reverse engineering a lot of this, and the ultimate goal is to get you debt free as quickly as possible.

Okay.

How much do you make a year, Ian?

About 300.

Okay. And the two other properties are near you, driving distance wise. You're not. It's not like, it's not cross country or anything. Okay.

Yeah, 3 hours max.

Yeah. And I think that's great, Ian. And then if you get two years down the road and you hate your primary mortgage so much because you're like, oh, my gosh, I just want to pay it off, then sell one of the rentals and pay it off. Yeah. Or you can just leave it in that baby. Step six.

So with another caveat, which is foreseeing is that if I use my savings to pay off the first two rental property, pay out the first two mortgages, I am going to now have very little money for down payment for my third mortgage, primary mortgage. And given the interest rate right now for mortgages, I feel like I might not have much sort of leverage to kind of decrease the interest rate, you know, because my down payment will be.

Right. So that's the downside.

So acceptable risk.

Yes. So you could look at it then in that case, as you're running out all your numbers, that you sell one of these properties and take all the money from there and throw it at your primary and just have one rental.

Because either way, you're going to have a mortgage on this new property because you don't have enough. Yeah, but if you're paying off aggressively. Exactly. Yeah. And the interest on this, if you do it our way and you pay this thing off within a few years, the interest is not going to be the deal breaker here. We're not telling you to keep this primary mortgage for 30 years. You're going to knock it out. And probably knowing your income and what you have, probably four years. Five years.

Yeah. My plan was to take a 15 year mortgage and then. And then. Yeah. Depending. Yeah.

Let's say you took a half million mortgage and you can throw 100 at it a year, making 300. It's gone in five years.

Right.

And so that's the kind of math I'd be running. And obviously talk to your spouse about this and get the game plan. But if you're that close to freeing up the, the rental mortgage in, you know, properties, I like that plan. And so there's kind of debt snowballing.

In the sense of.

Right.

You're freeing up a payment faster is the goal here.

Awesome. Hey, thanks for that clarity. I know. Yeah.

Way to go. Absolutely.

Thanks, Ian. Thanks for the call. Yeah. And I always feel. Yeah. Because it's always, you know, it's kind of one of those things, especially if you want to get into the rental game, that if you already have them and you already have equity built in and you have as much margin as he does, he's so close to paying him off and he has the cash to pay him off. Right. So there's a party that's like, my gosh, instead of.

You're about to get $5,000 raise.

That's right.

If you pay these things off tomorrow.

That's right. Yeah. And the power of being able to throw that, the primary mortgage. But. But again, all you listening and watching, I think that that's the motivation. Right. We're trying to get debt free as quickly as possible while also looking and saying, okay, how. How can we diversify our wealth building strategy here? By not just, you know, retirement, but also with him getting in the real estate game, which I think is great, but doing it with cash, which is key.

And you could tell there's. There's some calm in his voice. He's not freaked out. He's not desperate.

Yeah.

He's making this. This decision out of a place of strength.

That's right. Exactly. This is the Riemz show. Hey, guys, it's Rachel Cruz here to tell you about a faith based alternative to health insurance that can make healthcare more affordable. Christian healthcare ministries. CHM allows members to share each other's healthcare costs, and it's as easy as one, two, three. Step one, choose the healthcare provider you want. Step two, submit your eligible bills. And step three, get reimbursed. CHM members take care of your eligible medical bills. With no network and the freedom to choose your healthcare provider, CHM is the best option for christians who want to take care of their families and help other believers. Find out more@chministries.org. Budget. That's chministries.org budget. Welcome back to the Ramsey show. I'm Rachel Cruz, hosting today with George Camel. And George, I'm hitting the road this week. I'm going again, back out. I know from my new kids book. I'm glad for where I am. I'll be in Atlanta, you guys. On Friday from one to 02:00 at the Barnes and Noble in, I think.

It'S called Mansell Cross.

Mansell Cross. How did you know that?

I just.

Alpharetta. Are you from Georgia?

No, I've just. We've been pitching this all week. Go see Rachel. Go see Rachel.

Well, you memorize.

Memorize your tour stops.

That's amazing. Okay, so I'll be there Friday.

And remember, you have a manicure tomorrow at three. That would be next level.

He's like, my assistant knows my schedule.

I'd be great.

But, yeah, if you're in Atlanta, come say hi from 01:00 to 02:00 on Friday. We'll be there all right, next up we have Haley in Ontario, Canada. Hey, Haley, welcome to the show.

Hi. Thank you for having me.

Yes, absolutely. How can we help?

So my spouse and I, back in July of 2021, we purchased an investment property, and we put $100,000 deposit down. And that was when the COVID interest rates had gone right down. And in Canada, they're right back up. I don't know how it is in the states, but we're looking at our. We're looking at our closing date coming up in two months, and we don't know if we can afford this.

Was the financing already approved?

No. So we did down with our bank. And essentially, I think if we sold our current home, we would be able to get the mortgage. But my predicament is that even if we do get approved for a mortgage, we're looking at a $5,000 plus mortgage per month. And we've been looking at different avenues potentially renting. But in that area, the likelihood of someone renting over 3500 is very slim. And so we would still be having money coming out of our pocket. And now the reason we're thinking about doing a mutual release at this point is because we put that 100,000 down. But we did really well with our first home through COVID. We bought it really low, and then when we sold, we had actually got a lot of equity and paid off that line of credit that we used to put the deposit down on that home. And I just don't know if it's worth it to jeopardize and try and push this mortgage through. Also, my spouse is military, so he's currently posted to where we are. And I don't even know how the moving print would work.

So have you guys been building for that long?

Yeah, the builder was very delayed through COVID. They stopped a lot of the building, and it's been ongoing for a long time.

Okay. Was it a custom build or was it one that was within a development? And you pick a floor plan kind of thing.

It was in a development.

Okay, what does the contract say? Cause you signed the purchase agreement. Have you talked to the builder about what it would look like to back out?

So we did ask them about a mutual release. Essentially, if we did back out, we would be forfeiting our $100,000 deposit.

Yeah. So that would be sort of the stupid tax, I guess, on that.

How much would the full mortgage be if you did go forward? I'm just curious how much the house is.

We originally purchased for about 1.1, and with $100,000 it would be about a million dollar mortgage.

So you're going to put nothing down?

Well, if we, we were looking at the option of renting. If we sold our current house, we have enough equity that we could probably get the mortgage down to about 700,000.

Why wouldn't you sell your current house?

My husband's military and he's posted here. So it would be so many loopholes and jump throughs like he might not even be able to move.

So we might have to getting this new house because we didn't realize that.

He would be posted out at that time. We were posted to that base and so this was back in 21. This is about three years later now, so. And also too, we thought with the interest rates, honestly, we weren't thinking ahead with the interest rates at that point. It was affordable.

Right? Right. Hailey, how are you guys financially overall? Do you have savings? Do you guys have debt?

Our debt is paid. Like, we don't really have any debt. We have some equity in our home. My husband's like military serving right now. He makes about eighty k a year. I've retired from the military. I got injured. I'm getting an income replacement benefit of about fifty k a year. So total income is about 130,000.

Okay. Do you guys have money saved other.

Than whatever we have in equity? No.

Okay. Just trying to figure out how big this, this $100,000.

I don't see a world where you guys could have afforded a million dollar home regardless what interest rates were doing. I think you guys weren't thinking through this and got a little starry eyed at what a new build would be and life happened.

I agree.

And there's no world where you keep both of these properties.

Absolutely.

So if you're going to make this move and not lose your hundred thousand, you need to sell the property, save up as much as you can until this build is done and minimize the mortgage as much as possible. And you might not even be able to stay in it that long because it sounds like it's unsustainable. You guys barely make $5,000 a month.

Yeah, it's, it's not sustainable.

Yeah. I don't think you guys can do it. I don't think you can. I don't think.

What's your mortgage now?

My mortgage? Well, they just increased because we had a variable rate. It's about 3000. It was.

You're barely covering the mortgage now. What's your take home pay?

I'm sorry?

What's your take home pay every month?

I don't even know, like my husband does the finances.

So my guess is about $6,000 and half of it is taken up by your mortgage.

Yeah, yeah. It would probably be around there and. And I'm more on the side of mutually releasing. It doesn't immediately affect us with regards to losing 100,000.

It's.

It sucks. But I just wanted, I guess your advice and kind of clarification on that before I move ahead. I mean, it is a lot of money and it is a big deal.

Yeah. I mean, almost. I would, I would.

I don't think you have an option. I think you have to release it and lose 100k.

Yeah, I mean, I think that's a better option than going into a million dollar house that you guys can't afford the mortgage, that the mortgage payment is basically what you're bringing in every month. I mean, that's.

You'd foreclose on it within months.

Yeah, that's not ideal.

I know.

And we have children. I don't want to jeopardize that. His parents. His parents have offered, they have multiple properties. Offered to sell one of their properties, but at the same time, we don't want to. We don't want to be indebted to them.

That's right. No, no, no key. I would keep this clean. I think this is a decision. Was $100,000. Was it cash, Hailey, or did you guys take out a loan for that?

So we did it originally on our first residence that we had purchased. It was our first home and we had purchased it for about 500,000. And then when we sold, we sold for nine, but we had taken out a home equity line of credit, but that is paid off. There's no debt owing towards that.

Okay, so the $100,000, it's just. It'll just be gone. It's not debt that you have to repay?

No, sorry. My husband just told me. He said our income is 8907 per month.

Okay, that's better.

Yes.

For your $3,000 mortgage. So that's. That's net. That's a third of your take home pay, which is a lot, but it's not, you know, going to crush you financially. So I would just stay put where you are and mutually release this, lose one hundred k and learn from it.

Yeah. It's a tough learning lesson, but I definitely needed to hear that. So I appreciate your help.

Yeah, absolutely.

Sorry.

Going through it, that's not a fun thing to deal with. And for anyone watching out there who's military or they move around a lot. This is why we tell people it's okay to rent, it's okay to stay put. Don't feel like you have to go get a house because people are telling you, you got to get a house. You got to get a house. And obviously, their situation is different, but it's one of the risks you take, for sure, with new builds, with mortgages, of, you don't know where you're going to end up and what life is going to be like.

And, and that's one reason, you know, our house purchasing formula at Ramsey's pretty conservative. And people, they don't like it very often. But this is one of the reasons why, too, is, like, we just know life happens. And if so much of your income is being taken up by your mortgage or what you think life will be like when you're doing a build that's two, three, four years long, like, I mean, you, you just have to be realistic about it. And so, um, and also, too, I think when you have information and you have facts, you're able to make wiser decisions. And so that's one thing, too. And this isn't to, you know, harp on Haley by any means, but, you know, she was like, I'm not sure my husband takes care of the finances, which is happens a lot, too, in families, but if you're married, you guys, you're you together need to be making these decisions. Meaning both of you need to know the facts, both of you, because you both bring a perspective to the table. Right. Haley could have if she, you know, maybe she knew what was more information, you know, she could have said something that maybe would have directed a different decision.

I mean, I don't know. But that's why it's important that that's the beautiful thing about being married, is that you have two people in these big decision making processes, but you both have to have the facts and understand what's going on. And then sometimes you make a decision and you pay the stupid tax, which is what we say. But we'd rather do that honestly than go into a million dollar home that the mortgage is eating up close to 75% of their income. So I'm glad you guys called, Haley, good luck. And again, I'm so sorry. So sorry. This is the situation. This is the Ramsay show.

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Welcome back to the Ramsey show. So, George, some fun things that we do here at Ramsey is we put on some pretty incredible events.

That's true. I've been to other events. Ours stand out among the rest.

And actually, there's a group of them right now in Dallas for the entree leadership summit.

That's right. Thousands of business owners and leaders out there learning from the best in real time.

Right now, they're there in Dallas. But what we're going to talk about is the total money makeover weekend. So this is May 10 and 11th, and this is a place, this is an event to help you create healthy money habits when it comes to your finances and the idea that your habits are so key, because it's just your knee jerk reaction on how you handle money and how do you start implementing those. So we're going to cover everything, though, from how to get out of debt, how to create a budget with every dollar, how to communicate with your spouse more effectively, how to ease your anxiety around money, how to invest, how to build wealth. I mean, we're covering all the bases. So again, this is the ultimate motivator. And it's going to be really fun. And George and I were actually going to do a live taping of a smart money happy hour thinks the third.

Time we'll be doing this.

You just read my mind. That's exactly what I was about to say. I think it's the third time, and it's always so fun.

They say that's the charm.

There are times the charms. We have the best smart money happy hour.

We have a good time with the live crowds.

That's right. So all the Ramsey personalities will be there. That weekend, Dave Ramsey, myself, doctor John Deloney, George Camel, Jade Warshaw, and Ken Coleman. So get your tickets right now@ramsaysolutions.com. Events. Our platinum plus tickets are already sold out, but you can still get vip and general emission. So again, may 10 and 11th, the total money makeover live.

This is not just for, like, if you're new to the Ramsey plan, if you've been doing it for a while. Some people need the motivation. Cause they, they have been doing it for a long time, and they kind of fall off the wagon. Got a little lazy, a little sloppy.

Yep.

Some people, it's, hey, I have a friend that I'd love to come or a spouse that needs to get on board. This is the perfect event for them, too. And so whether you're ish, off the wagon, you're new to the planet, this is a great way to just kind of get dunked.

That's right. And it's right here on our, on our campus and beautiful, brand new event center. So. Yep. Come hang out. All right. Up next, we have Nicole in Indianapolis. Hey, Nicole. Welcome to the show.

Hi, guys. I'm so excited to talk to you today.

Oh, so glad you called in. How can we help?

So my husband and I are on baby step two, and we were kind of just wondering what you guys suggested as far as my job situation about three years ago, landed my dream job. I am a provider in a private practice, and so I've been working there, and I've been very happy. The problem is, if I were to go to, like, a more like a hospital or something of that nature, even work in urgent care clinic, I could work half the time and make the same amount of money and would be able to pick up more shifts.

Wow. So you'd essentially double your income.

Basically. But it's hard because this is what I thought I wanted to do since I was a little girl. This is the place that I thought I wanted to work. And that's where I've said I was always going to work. And then I landed it, and now I'm sitting here with a little bit of resentment because I'm like, I can't be home with my son. If I did move, I could pick up extra shifts if we needed it, have a little more flexibility. So I just don't know. I'm kind of in this weird place where I had this dream. I achieved it, and now I have a kid, and so it looks a little different, and I just kind of wanted, wanted to hear your thoughts. We do have together. We have 85,000 in student loan debt.

Okay. That you guys are working, how much are you making now? Total?

Together, we're making 195k.

How much is yours out of that?

So I make about 95.

Okay. And you could be making 95 working half the amount of time that you're.

Working with more flexibility.

Yeah, it would. Yeah, it would be 212 hours shifts. I work, I work four days a week now, and one of those is a twelve hour shift.

Okay. Wow. I mean, do you think you would enjoy it? Like, is there a part of you that you would, that is still, you know, you're working with people and helping them in that way, or do you think, are you like, oh, my God, I'm gonna be miserable if I take this?

I mean, I think that it's definitely gonna be harder work, for sure, you know, but we're still kind of essentially doing the same thing. I do enjoy sick volume, which is what I would be doing.

Yeah. I mean, honestly, Nicole, I would take it. I understand the idea of a dream. I mean, if it was your dream job that you're in now and what you're going to be doing is so vice, vastly different than your dream job. You're doing something completely, you know, that is not anywhere near what you were doing, then I would say, okay, let's hold on, let's back up because we want to make sure Nicole's enjoying her work, but it's in the same realm, do you know what I mean? Like, you'll still be able to be with people. And I think the flexibility aspect is huge. And especially if you're a mom with a little one, and that, you know, that part of your heart is being tugged in that way, too. And you're making the same amount of money with the upside of even, you know, maybe once a month taking on, you know, two shifts or something. There's a lot of upside, in my opinion. And I think, too, we hold on to a dream sometimes and you get to the reality of it and you're like, well, I may have to make a different decision.

I don't want you to be miserable in your new job. But sometimes, I don't know, I feel like some people, they go into a job, they're like, oh, my gosh, my dream job is to be in marketing or whatever it is. And then they get there and they're like, okay, this isn't exactly maybe what I, what I, it's okay for that.

To shift and change as you're, as, you know, got married and had kids, and it's okay. For your. Your dream job is one part of your dream life. And I think your dream life now looks different because that looks like being home more with your kid and having a little more flexibility. So I think that you. You kind of have to grieve and celebrate the fact that you accomplished your dream. You did it, and now life has changed and you have a different dream. And guess what? You'll probably have a different dream five years from now. So this decision is not fatal. There's maybe another job down the line. And so life is never linear as we want it to be. It's got some twists and turns, and this is a twist, and I think it's a blessing. And, you know, 90% of the way and 10%, you're going to miss this, and you'll have to move on from it in a way, but I think it's the right move for your family right now.

Okay.

Yeah.

And there's no. There's not a lot of upward trajectory at the job, either. We haven't got raises in a few years, so, you know, there's ups and downs.

Yeah, for sure.

And who knows? Maybe one day you stay home for a season. And so I don't want you to base everything off of this one decision. But I think for the next step, as we're looking at it on paper and what you've told us, it's the right next step for you to take this position.

It's still in the type of work that you love. You have to work half as much for the same amount of money. I don't know. In my head, it's.

That's hard to pass up.

Yep, it sounds right.

That sounds like a dream.

It changed, too, Nicole. And that may be some of your fear. It's just when you just do something different. Where you thought I'd be in this forever. It is scary to take that step, but it's a really solid, secure step, so I don't want you to question that. Thanks for the call. Up next, we have Shane in Indianapolis. Hey, Shane. Welcome to the show.

Hi. How are you doing?

Well, how can we help?

Okay, so I want a car. Can't afford it. It's fine. I don't have any debt. I have some money in the bank. I have three kids. This might be a fast phone call. So I've had issues buying things that I want. When I need something, I can pull the trigger. When I want something, I hold off. So I'm looking at buying a more interactive, like, manual car for myself. I've been working for 20 years. I got three kids. I really take care of them. They live at home with me. And the cars I'm looking at are between 40 and 80 grand. So I don't know whether information you guys need.

What's your household income?

My income, I'm over 120 a year.

And what cars do you have now, and what are they worth?

I have an old suburban, probably only worth $3,500 and a couple work vans. I own a small company with a few employees.

Okay, but your personal car, is that suburban?

Yeah. Yeah. And it gets the kids around, all their sports and everything. I'm just not working for a long time. Kind of want something?

Yeah, myself. So our, our kind of rule of thumb, Shane, is anything with wheels and motors, we don't want to be more than half of your annual income.

And so that's about 60k is the top if you add everything up.

Yep. So I would look at. Yeah, but if you have the cash, you have, you know, 50 grand if you wanted to do this.

All right.

Yeah.

Like I said, it might be a quick phone call.

Yeah, but do you have the cash?

You have 50 grand today to spend on it. And you're okay losing that money because it's a toy. It's going to go down in value, and you got to be okay with that.

Yeah, you see, that's my personal problem. So I just didn't know if you guys would tell me. No, that's stupid or no.

I mean, if you have the cash and you have an emergency fund and no debts at that point. I mean, I think that's when you get.

You're still investing.

I think you get to enjoy it.

Living out the baby steps you can get.

Maybe go on the. On the cheaper end of it, the 40,000 mark, and have it, and then maybe you upgrade in, you know, three to four years to something nicer. But, yeah, if you have the cash, we're all for it.

You have our permission.

Yep. Great job, Shane. Congratulations. Have fun. This is the Ramsey show.

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Welcome back to the Ramsey show. One of the best ways to spread the word we have found is not just in marketing, George, it is word of mouth. It's you guys sharing the show on your social media, sending clips to your friends and your family, and just really getting the word out that way. So we really, really do appreciate it. So make sure you do that. Leave a review, subscribe to our channels, podcasts, YouTube, and yeah, we really, we really appreciate it. The show, it's grown so much, which we're so thankful for. And it's a lot because of you guys. And we want to help give content into the world that is positive and instructional and inspirational.

So that is what it's your way to give back.

This show is all about. And it's your show. So give us a call at 888-825-5225 up next, we have Elise in Little Rock. Hey, Elise. Welcome to the show.

Hello. We bought a property three years ago and the property owners committed fraud. They withheld the fact that the well runs dry about half of the year.

Oh, gosh.

Seems like a problem.

It will cost 24,000 to drill a new well or 30,000 to bring in city water. My husband wants to spend our emergency fund on the well, but I don't think it's an emergency because we've lived with it for three years. We spend about $80 a month on laundry and we're debt free. Besides the mortgage, my husband works full time and makes $60,000 a year. The other option is we could buy an old well drilling rig for 4800, but we don't know if there's any major issues with it. And then we could buy a brand new well drilling rig for 22,000. We have 11,000 in our emergency fund, but once it's fully funded, it will be 18,000.

So you don't have the money to cover this anyways, even with the emergency fund, if you did the 24k or 30k option?

That's right.

And nothing in the. Was there a lawsuit because of the fraud? Anything legally that they had to pay you guys because they didn't disclose it?

We are still in the process. But we do not believe that we will probably win the case. We don't believe we will get the money to cover it.

Why?

Because we believe that she doesn't have the money to pay us back for it.

Okay. Okay. So how long at least would it take you guys to save up the extra 13,000 to make this a possibility for a $24,000 fix?

We have saved about 11,000 in the last four or five months.

Okay.

So it'll take us another six months.

Probably okay, to do that. And you don't want to do that. That's not because you're good with how you guys are functioning now. Because, I mean, I guess if the well runs dry, do you guys have water? I mean, like what, how, what is, what does life look like on the.

Is this little house on the prairie? How does this work?

Well, I do laundry at the laundromat. I can only do one load of dishes.

It kind of sounds miserable. Is it miserable? Okay. Yeah, I would probably save, categorize this as an emergency. Yeah, this is kind of a necessity. You know, your four walls, food, shelter.

It's pretty close.

Well, I'm worried that if we spend our emergency fund on this, another emergency will pop up and then we have no money.

Well, that, I mean, that's always a risk. Most emergencies, for the most part, you're able to get by with a couple of $1,000. So maybe you guys save 28,000, have 4000 left over just for a little bit of cushion and that'll be a few extra months. Right. So maybe you, you give yourself a deadline and say, okay, but in eight months we're gonna, we're gonna fix this well issue, do it and still have some, some cash left over and then keep saving. Because sometimes when stuff comes up, I mean, just like this, this is a great example, you know. Yes, we would consider this emergency. Or people have, you know, a tire, you know, goes flat. Or you can fix that for more than, less than, less than $4,000.

I hope so.

Yeah. But like a roof or heating and air, things that are like really, really, really expensive, usually you can buy some time and be able to save month to month.

That's what I'm wondering. Is there a temporary fix? Let's say you bought the used rig. Do you guys know how to do this yourselves or will you still pay someone to actually do the work?

We could do it ourselves.

Wow. If you feel capable.

Are you, are you guys, like, do you know how to, like, is that something that's like, oh, yeah, that's a totally possibility. And your husband's like, yep, for sure. It just seems complicated.

Yes. We could for sure do it. And we have a friend that has actually built a well drilling system in the past.

Okay. Yeah. Why wouldn't you do that route?

It just makes me nervous to buy something that we're not positive would work.

And why? Why wouldn't it work?

Just because it's a used old. I mean, it's in 1980, truck that has an old well drilling rig that hasn't worked.

Can you say. Can you test it somehow?

Yes.

Or have someone inspect it?

Are there other ones out there that you guys can rent for a month?

We cannot. I've looked everywhere. There's no well drilling rigs for rent. You'd have to buy either a new or you'd have to find a used one somewhere. And most of them aren't big enough because we are drilling through rock. And most of them. Most of the ones that you would buy for 20,000 would drill through sand or gravel, not solid rock.

I feel like George and I are probably not beyond our pay grade.

Talk about drilling wells.

I know.

But if I was in your shoes and I felt comfortable and capable, I would inspect it, make sure it's mechanically sound, and buy the used one, because that's what you can afford right now. And later on, if that buys you time even to save up 24 grand to do officially and or get the city water, I would do that down the line. But for now, I'm willing to drop five grand to see if we can fix this problem and remedy it, even for a year.

And it's only 2400, right?

You said 4800 for the used one.

There's a.

There's a used one for 4800 for 48.

Talk them down to four, negotiate them down, and see if you can get this thing going.

Because there ain't. I mean, there's not a lot of buyers because apparently there's not a lot of there.

And maybe you can sell it once you're done with it and make some money back out of it. Right.

Yeah.

We've also thought about using it around here locally because there's only one well drilling company.

Hey, you got a new business on your hands.

Yeah. There you go. Zachary. Yeah. Well, I hope that helps Elise. So. Yeah, maybe. Maybe do that if you feel capable. I don't know why I didn't have that as an option. It's impressive, at least. And her husband.

Well, my first thought was if I. I would just go drill you?

I mean, I mean, George with his. With us.

I'm sure there's a video out there.

This tools. George could figure it out.

I think your husband Winston could figure.

Out how to drill a.

Well, I'd call Winston.

Yeah. You two together, I just feel like it would work.

That would be a tv show.

So great. Okay. Up next, we have Andy in Miami. Hey, Andy. Welcome to the show.

Hi, Rachel. Hi, George. Huge fan here.

Thanks. How can we help?

So I currently work for a bank. And you guys may not like it, but I underwrite commercial real estate loans. We'll still be friends.

We can still be friends, Andy.

Thank you. Thank you. At least not personal loans or residential mortgages.

There you go. See?

So work from home. Setup base salary is around 113, plus some other little perks. 20k bonus. They'll give me 2000 towards my 401k just because every year. And about 1000 towards my HSA. Fully remote. Love my bosses, they love me. About four years in. And then I got a message from a recruiter on LinkedIn about a trade finance type job. Sounded interesting, but very, very far away geographically, about an hour to 80 minutes each way per day. Miami, road rage capital of the world. I was like, all right, I'll tell this guy I'm open. He's going to say 120. I'm going to say thanks. Bye. He says 150 to 180 plus 20% bonus. So my interest was peaked there. And I'm just kind of weighing the pros and cons of where are you guys financially?

Do you guys have, do you guys have a lot of debt?

We are recently on baby step three. I just finished FPU at church, co leading it two weeks ago.

And you've got a spouse.

Have a spouse. Two kids.

This is a move.

This may not be done with the children.

Yeah.

Mother in law, who's been a huge help, is about 2 miles away.

Oh, man, that's tough. That's a big life change.

Yeah, I don't.

Unless you plan on moving. I wouldn't do the hour commute. It's not worth the money.

That's 2 hours in the car.

I try to make more doing what you're doing now and stay put.

Have the peace. You've set your life up to have peace. I don't know if I would do it for the money. That would be tough. Thanks for the call, Andy. Thanks to you, America, for listening. Thanks to everyone in the booth. My co host, George Camel. This is the Ramsay show live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions. It's the Ramsey show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I'm Rachel Cruz, hosting today with my co host of smart money how smart money? Happy hour and best selling author, George Camel. And we are here to answer your questions. So give us a call at 888-825-5687 all right, let's hit the phones. We have Tinashia from Nashville. Hey, welcome to the show.

Hello.

Hello. How are y'all doing?

We're doing great. How can we help?

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Good. Well, my name is Tinashia Scales. I'm from Nashville. I'm a registered nurse. I recently moved back in with my parents and moving out of my town home because I've been renting for. I have a one year old daughter, single mom. And I took a travel contract here in Jackson, Tennessee, to save up more and to just get my debt paid off because, like, as of now, I'm in student loan debt and also credit card.

Okay.

My goal is to save up for a house. And I was just wondering, what is the best options for single moms who are willing to become, like, financial free or debt free?

How much debt do you have?

Having one stream of income.

So how much debt do you have?

Credit loan? 71. Total is 95.

The rest is in credit cards.

I did the math on it real good. Like, car note, student loans and credit cards. I want to say, like, 10,000.

And the rest is on the car. So you got about 14,000 on the car loan, 10,000 in credit cards, 71 on student loans?

Yes.

Okay. And what's your income?

Yes, sir, my income is 75 an hour.

75 an hour. And is that temporary?

I bring. Yeah, I bring home, like, I'm contract, so I'm internal. I'm not on, like, a travel nurse assignment, so I'm internal. So it's longevity.

Okay, good. So are you making like, one hundred fifty k a year? Is this is full time? Is this 40 hours a week at 75 an hour?

It's part time, but we've been pulling full time hours because they've been so short of staff.

Okay. So we'll call it around. Around six figures.

Yes, sir.

Okay, well, here's the key. I want you to become a homeowner again, but I don't want the home to own you. And so regardless whether you're a single mom or not, obviously you got a lot more on your plate with a one year old and childcare and all of that. But as far as the plan, it doesn't change. We want you to become completely debt free, then get a fully funded emergency fund, then start saving up for your next house.

Yeah. If you got on a really, really tight budget, considering you're now living with your, with your parents, are you paying rent or are they letting you live there for free?

Let me live there for free. I just, I'm so burnt out on renting.

Yeah, no, no, you're great. You're great. Yeah. I'm just trying to figure out for you when you, the amount of money you bring home per month, since you don't have a big expense like rent, which is great because you throw fifty.

K at your debt a year.

That's right. How much could you, how much could you put towards your debt? Because if, yeah, if you're making a hundred grand, I mean, you could, you know, without a housing expense, you know, there's a good chance you could throw exactly what George just said, 50,000 a year and be completely debt free in two years. And then keep at that. Right. Keep at that same motivation to get an emergency fund and some savings and then save up for a down payment for maybe a condo or a town home. You don't need anything, you know, crazy big. It's just, you know, you, you and your daughter, and that's what it would look like. But I think it, I think you're still probably four to five years out on that plan. But, but, yeah, take this time. Like you said, you're burnt out. That's okay. Take some breathing room, you know, but take advantage of this financially. Don't let this, don't let this time where you don't have a big expense like rent go past you. I mean, really focusing on where every single dollar of your income is going. So if you stay on the line, Christian and Taylor, they're gonna pick up, and we want to give you every dollar premium.

This is our budgeting app that will connect to your bank account. And in the app, you're going to be able to not only learn how to actually, you know, sit there and do a zero based budget because it teaches you really well how to do that. But the point there is to be really, really intentional with every single dollar. Because even when you're exhausted, sometimes in that exhaustion state, emotionally, you can kind of be like, I don't want to do any type of work. You know, I don't want to be intentional in anything because I'm just so tired. And then, and then you look up and it's been four months, you're like, oh, my gosh, I could have put money away, and I just haven't been planning. So I think the key here is to stay motivated with the amount of money you're making, because you're making great money, which is awesome.

Yeah.

And that debt snowball. When you make that every dollar budget, you're going to list out all of your debt payments and all the minimums, and it's going to show you exactly how to lay them out. So list them out individually, attack the smallest one with a vengeance, put minimums on the rest, and you'll start to see that progress.

Yep. That's right. So thanks so much for the call. I hope that's helpful. And you're doing a great job. I mean, you're making. You're making great money.

That's the key, is a big shovel.

Yes. That you're able to attack this. Up next, we have Monica in Philadelphia. Hey, Monica. Welcome to the show. Hello.

Thank you for having me. So I'm a single mom in Philadelphia. I'm currently debt free. I'm on baby step number six.

Amazing.

My dilemma is I have some money saved up, and I don't know if so, I have more. I have 100k saved up. I owe approximately, at the moment, 65,000 on my home. But I also want to move, so I don't want to reside in Philly anymore. So I want to move out of Philadelphia. However, on top of that, my mother inherited a house that she can't afford to pay inheritance tax on. I don't know if I should use my savings to cover the costs more than hurd and tax, knowing that the property would then later on go to me. If I did that, I don't know if that would be a smart way to park my money.

Yeah, I hesitate to do that. I just know how much change happens. And by the time this house gets past you, you may not even want it anymore. Right. There may be a situation where you may not even want to live in it. And, of course, you could sell it and obviously get the proceeds from that, which is. Which is great. But there's a part of me that I would use your money for your life. And I think that you're so close to paying off your house, which is incredible. And just the idea that you could sell your primary home, take. How much equity would you have in your primary home right now if you sold it?

I would think maybe 100,000, maybe.

Okay, so it's worth about $165,000. The house?

Yeah, that's what I believe.

And what's the inheritance tax? How much. And when is it due?

Well, and that's the thing. I don't actually know what that tax bill is like because, so my mother can't afford it, and she hasn't really done anything with it. She. She has hope that she would leave it to initially to my siblings and I, but no one can honestly take on the tax bill except myself. So I'm the only one can that can entertain it, in a sense, long.

Term, and it may not be the right spot for her.

Well, right now, she has resided in that home for, like, she was a caregiver for my uncle that then passed away and left her the house. So to my understanding, she would be able to live off the house. Okay.

Yep. Sorry, Monica, we have a heart out right now. We have to go. I'm sorry, but, yeah, I would keep your money and your savings for you. I wouldn't go and try to deal with this house and multiple siblings and all of it. This is the Ramsey show. Welcome back to the Ramsey show. So, George, you're. You're gonna be. You're gonna be busy here.

Yeah.

And then tell me about in the next little bit, you're doing a two night virtual event with Dave Ramsey, May 21 and 22nd. And you guys are gonna be doing a deep dive in investing. The event is called Dave Ramsey's investing essentials. And it's all online, so you can be home and you can watch it and learn all about investing, because you guys have really been asking, hey, we want a deeper dive. Very specific. You know, people have very specific questions when it comes to investing. And you guys are going to address that, everything from the market to real estate and talk about the subject, because it's one that people, they want to know about.

Yeah, we're going to cover the foundation, the basics, of course, but we're also going to get into the kind of 201 and 301 content, stuff we've never actually taught before. I mean, Dave's investing strategy when it comes to real estate, his personal playbook, how he's built his wealth. What I've done is sort of the everyman to go from being broke to millionaire in ten years. And it's a lot simpler than you think. But there's also some nuanced pieces that we're going to dive into that are really interesting. So this is a very different event. It's virtual, it's online. Dave and I will be live. It's not pre recorded. But the good news is you can watch it after.

Oh, you can get some questions about that.

Hey, like can I? What if I can't make it those 2 hours? You're going to have access for, I think about a week and I think vip. You have access for two weeks, so you'll be able to watch it a few days later. If you can't make that specific time on May 21 and 22nd in the evenings. But this is about 4 hours of content. Tickets are $249. When you think about what you would pay to get investing advice to work with a coach, that's a. That's a great deal for the value you're getting and how it could set you up for your future, for sure.

So go to ramsaysolutions.com events and get your tickets for Dave Ramsey's investing essentials event all online with our very own George Camel in the mix, which always will make it more fun. Always more fun.

That's my job is to pull that.

Out, find the fun, bring the fun.

Out of Dave as he's getting to the weeds.

If he gets cranky, you just say, dave, come on, this is fun.

I know how to push his button, but I drive a Tesla, Dave. And he's like, brah, you know, unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

You kids these days, that's fine. I used to drive uphill both ways in my gasoline car, my diesel.

That's what he'd say.

Yeah, he loves a diesel. The louder the better for that generation. I think he's scared of cars that don't make noise and a little sneak up on. Where'd you come from?

All right, let's go to the phones. We have Cassie in Atlanta. Hey, Cassie. Welcome to the show.

Hey. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Absolutely. How can we help?

So I have a few collections. You that one of them is equaling about $3,000 that I'm trying to get paid off. It's been on my credit for about a year now. I have a car that I'm struggling a little bit to get paid off, but the biggest thing that's affecting some of my stuff is I have a car loan that was with my ex husband. I was a co signer on it, but it's about $45,000. And I really don't know how or what I need to do to try to help my situation and get that off.

Is he paying on it or is this in collections?

He is paying on it.

So he's paying the full amount every day. But you need to get off of it. So you would need to refinance that loan and get your name off.

I actually don't have any contact with him, though?

Well, you need to contact the lender and he needs to be able to sign off on it. I mean, you guys co signed on this and the only way out is for you.

Do you have an attorney that could contact the attorney that he worked with during the divorce or anything? Is there a way to have like a third party go at this too?

When we did the divorce, we didn't have any attorneys involved. We did it all ourselves. But that was my next step is if I didn't have. Have any way of trying to figure out how to get out of it, I was going to look at getting an attorney.

Yeah, I mean, I probably would. I mean, for. I mean, you would be liable for some reason, and the fact that you don't even know you can't get in touch with them means who knows what he's doing. I mean, like, he could turn up tomorrow and not pay starting tomorrow. Right. And then you would be liable for that $45,000. So, yeah, I would look into that. Yeah, I would talk to an attorney, and again, if, you know, maybe where the. If you have the documentation still of where the loan is being held and to contact them, and they may be able to get in touch with him too.

But you'll need to apply for something called a co signer release. And the problem with co signing is that there's a reason that you were required to be on that because they didn't trust him to pay. So if he's got a good track record, they may do this cosigner release, but you need to contact them and see if they're willing to do that. Otherwise you need to refinance the loan.

Okay.

And so the. The debt that's in collections, Cassie, is it just the $3,000? Yeah.

So the in collections is 3000. And I was making payments on it before, but then I stopped because listening to Dave talk back and forth about not giving them any of my bank information, I closed that bank account, but I have been trying to listen and see if ways to get things settled. But the collections is kind of new still, so I wasn't sure if I was able to settle or if it needs to be on my credit for a certain amount of time.

They probably won't negotiate or settle much if it's a pretty fresh debt and collections. But you can always try and say, listen, I simply don't have the money if you truly don't, and say, I'm willing to give you a thousand if you're willing to settle this, and call it paid in full and get that all in writing. And again, don't give them access to your bank account. You can write them a, you know, a money order, a cashier's check, something like that.

Okay.

But they may not be willing to. And if you have the money, just go ahead and get it out of your life.

Yeah. Do you have any savings, Cassie?

Yeah, I do have my $1,000 emergency savings.

Okay. Okay, that's great. So you have the $3,000 in collections and then what else besides the car with your ex husband.

With him having that car? I had to get my own car. I am pretty upside down with it. So I bought the car February of last year at a buy here, pay here and bought the car for $15,000. Not thinking anything of it. I did the Kelley blue book to see what the value of my car was. And it's only worth 5000. And I still owe twelve.

Oh, man.

What's the interest rate on this?

18%.

Oh, man. Okay.

I hate those places so much.

I know. How, um. How much money do you make, Cassie?

About 53,000 a year.

Okay. Okay.

Well, if you can get out of this cosign loan, knock out the collections and just leave you with that twelve k car loan. Yeah, we can knock this out within the year. You can be in a very different place. Even six months.

Do you have the ability to get a side hustle? Like at night? Maybe like three. Three nights a week?

I work pretty late some nights during the week, but I have been looking to try to find something on the weekend for sure.

Okay. Yeah, I would do that, honestly, because even with 53,000, I would want to up that while you're doing this. I think that'll just give you some. Some power and it's really encouraging. I was in.

Where were we?

I think it was Dallas last week and had an Uber to the airport. We started talking to him and he does it on the side. He's like, yeah, I work. I can't remember how many days, but he brings in $1,000 a month extra. He's like, and it wasn't doing it for fun. Yeah. And it wasn't this, you know, crazy amount of hours. I wish I could remember now, but I think it was like maybe three or four days. He's like, can I just drive and make a $1,000? I'm like, well, that's awesome. A week. So all that to say or a month? So, yeah, I mean, there's. There's some things out there that you really could do to. To bring in. Bring in some cash. Cause I think that's gonna help you in all of this, too, since all this is a little bit new as you start to navigate it, just to give you some fuel and to see that momentum really start. Have you, Cassie, have you taken Financial Peace University?

I have not.

Okay. So if you stay on the line, Christian Taylor, they're going to pick up and we're going to give you. Yeah. FPU so you can do all this online. And it's our nine lesson course. And it really will give you the basis what you hear on the show, but in more of a learning format. And with that will be every dollar premium, which is our budgeting app. And that way you can connect that app to your bank account and you can really know exactly where every dollar is going. You can track your spending in it. There's a paycheck planning tool within it and it really will help you kind of get this foundation under you as you start this process. Because I really think, yeah, I mean, even though that debt is in collections, to George's point, it's a little bit new, so they may not negotiate. And if they don't, though, it's a good win for you to be like, yeah, I paid off that three grand and I'm going to. I'm going to keep moving forward.

Yeah. And if you can do it at a lump sum, they'll usually, you know, take it down a notch, but make sure you get it in writing.

Yes.

Because these people can be scummy.

That's right. Yep.

Sometimes when you get stressed out and kind of weighed down with the emotion, it helps to look at the math and go, okay, if I can find two grand a month in this budget, I can be debt free in six months.

Yes.

Sometimes that basic math actually gives you hope when you see a way out instead of going, this is gonna be years of paying it off. Not if you do it our way.

That's right. Yep. You're able to look out and see. Doctor John Deloney always says that facts are your friends and they are. When you're able to see a plan, it does give you that power and that control, which is so key when it comes to your money. So thanks, Cassie, for the call. We are cheering you on. This is the Ramsey show. Welcome back, America. We are taking your calls at triple 8825-5225 and today's question comes from spencer in Utah.

Here we go. Spencer asks, my Social Security number was compromised when I was 18. It was caught pretty quickly and I haven't had any problems since that one incident. I'm 25 now, and I'm wondering if it would be smart to get identity theft protection. I don't know what all that covers, but I'd like to know what I can do to protect myself both now and in the future. That's a good one.

Yeah. That's a scary thing.

That's a scary thing. I've had identity theft happen when I was 23. You've heard the story many times, Rachel.

It's a good one, though.

It's a juicy one.

You should tell America, George.

I got a call from a debt collector and they're like, hey, you owe us $1,700 on this at and t account. 1700 on a Verizon account. I was like, why would I have two cell phone accounts? What, monster 23? I don't have any of these accounts. And it turns out someone used my Social Security number, an old address in Nashville, my name, all of that and opened up these accounts. Never paid a dime on them. Racked up bills. I don't even know how you rack up $1700. So anyways, that was a. It was a nightmare. Luckily, I had Xander ID theft protection through Ramsey at the time. Dave covers it for all Ramsey team members. And they helped me kind of restore my life back to its former glory. But it was so much time and paperwork to just deal with it.

And weren't they like two old women that you found out?

Too old.

I did some sleuthing because it turns out the police are not going to dedicate their life to this mission. But I did. So I found out who they were.

Went all the way, George.

I still got the bottom. I'm always watching, figuring that out. But all that to say, there's some things you can do that are important. And number one is freeze all of your credit with your credit bureau. So this, I'm not talking about debt and credit cards. I'm talking about the credit report with the bureau's Experian, etcetera. And so I went on there, froze all of my accounts so that no one can open up new accounts.

That's right. Yep.

So that's an important piece to do. And then having Xander ID theft protection, it's a great product. We sort of look at it almost as a type of insurance because of how it protects your information. And so they'll notify me and they'll send me an email if any of my information was compromised. They have restoration services to get all of your stuff back and making. Making sure that you're protected. So that's an inexpensive way to protect yourself to start. But at 25, as long as you're not going into debt, you don't need to open up new accounts. You're going to be fine to just freeze your accounts and, you know, good password protection, all of that. Don't leave your debit card info on a bunch of sites. Just be kind of cautious of where your information is.

Yeah, but I, but I detested. So the insurance side of it, it's so inexpensive that it's one of those just, just to get. You guys can go to zanderinsurance.com because it, again, it's not that expensive. And they, and they just take the time, the amount of time that it takes to unravel all of this. If your identity is stolen, it's exhausting. And they do so much of that for you. So it's definitely, definitely worth it. So make sure to check it out.

Some of the things they cover. Home title monitoring, up to $2 million for stolen funds and expenses. Personal and financial monitoring, VPN encryption, antivirus 24/7 customer and recovery services. So there's a lot that is included. And it's very inexpensive. We're talking like $7. I mean, you can get family plans for $12. So these are cheap things you can do to help protect yourself and sleep better at night. But it's a huge worry as we get into a more intrusive, data driven world. There's only going to be more of this happening.

That's right. All right. Let's go to Emily in Greenville. Hey, Emily, welcome to the show. Hey.

Thank you. How are you?

We're doing great. How are you doing great, thanks. How can we help?

So, we own about three acres of land, and we have some debt, mainly from our business that we own. And I was wondering if it would be a good idea to sell. Someone is looking at our property, about half of it, an acre and a half for 150,000. And I was wondering if it would be. We'd be better off keeping the land and paying on the debt, or if selling it, you know, would be a better option.

How much do you guys owe on your business debt?

So it's. Well, business debt, total combined is almost right at 150. Business debt would be. Let's see, we have about 80, 90.

Okay. And what's the other debt?

So, 20,000 is the land that we have. We owe 20,000. And then the other is student loans and credit card debt.

Okay. And it all. So that's about 50.

That includes all of that, I think, once. Let me add it up. So it's 40 plus 40. So that's 80 plus 20 is 110. So. So 140 is what we owe.

So selling this one and a half acres would clear all of your debt and give you, partially, an emergency fund?

Yes.

Yes. How much you guys make a year?

So our, like, our gross is a lot more than what we actually pocket.

What do you guys bring home a year?

We bring home about 90.

Okay.

So what were you going to use this land for if you didn't sell it?

So we. I mean, we don't actually use it for anything. We live on some of it, and then we have, you know, the other half. We don't really do anything with it. We did want to eventually build because right now we actually just have a modular home that we live in that was actually given to us for free, but we had to remodel it. So we don't have a loan on that really so much.

But you could build under the remaining land that you would keep and still be happy and fine?

Yes, we would probably just move this modular home. Or sell it. Move it out and then build our house.

Well, if this is a going rate for acreage in your area, I would personally sell it because of your financial situation.

If you guys run comps and stuff, Emily, this isn't something that someone's just offered you. Like, what is it worth? Do you know?

So. I don't know. I don't have, like, a actual, like, appraisal on it yet. I do know my husband's grandmother's a real estate agent, and she has sold, like, an acre just right around the corner of, like, 80,000. So this is. And for us, it's like, we do love our property, so we're like, not.

Like, well, here's what I don't want to happen, is I don't want you guys making what could be a long term, you know, idea with this acreage for you guys and long term wanting to build on it. And, like, this is a dream, and then you guys shortcut it, don't get what you want long term in order to pay off this debt. So. So the question is, yeah, I mean, there is some assets, and we do say, yeah, when you're getting out of debt, what can you sell? And all of it. But. But I would look for. For you guys and say, okay, you know, what has gotten us in this position? First, obviously, some unwise business ideas because you're 80,000 in the hole there. Student loans, credit cards, I mean, you guys have been, and I say this kindly, Emily, as a friend, a little sloppy in this area, right? I mean, you're just normal, but you've just. You just keep kind of racking it up. And so what I don't want to happen is that this one moves, you know, erases everything. But you guys haven't really felt the sacrifice and the real change that will keep you out of debt long term.

You're sort of leapfrogging and getting a shortcut, which is totally fine. But Rachel saying is your behavior has to change so you don't end up back where you are.

Definitely. And the equip. The business debt is on equipment, actually, too. So I don't know if that is relevant or not. But we do have.

Well, we kind of do separate. I mean, your name's on it, so it is personal, and it says so they would come for you. But also separating business and personal, too, I think, can help in some of this equation, too.

If you just look at the payments on everything you're paying right now on your debt, freeing all of that up by selling this land, what that could do for you guys in the future and getting to other financial goals. I think if you want land down the line, you can do that, but I would let go of this right now to get you in a much better financial shape, versus you could sacrifice for the next three years and pay down fifty k a year. But I think when you have this land and someone's willing to give you the money for right now, I would do it. So, obviously, after doing your homework, get the appraisal.

Yeah. And it's still an acre and a half. I mean, that's pretty good.

Yeah, exactly. And it's like, we don't really use the other side of our property.

And if it's a dream to live on more land and all of that, that's just gonna be up to dream, you know, maybe for the next decade that you guys look into. It may not be something that you can do right now.

Exactly. And, like, this land, I don't think we plan on staying. This is our, like, forever place, you know? So we're gonna move on eventually from it.

Well, I think. I think you sell it.

Yeah.

It doesn't sound super sentimental. Doesn't sound like you'd miss it all that much, but, man, that 150 grand would literally change your life.

Yep. That's amazing. And when you have the ability to have an asset like that, that you can just sell and keep moving, that's incredible. But Emily, you guys, you and your husband, I would encourage you guys to sit down and be like, we will. You never be in this position again. Cut up the credit cards like, like, make a pack, though.

No more business debt. We're paying cash for everything.

That's right. Move at the speed of cash, even when it comes to your business. And, I mean, there's, there's power in that, Emily. So you guys really buckle down and do this. But what a beautiful gift, in a sense, that this is such a head start for you guys. So good luck. We are cheering you on. This is the Ramsay show.

Do you listen to the Ramsey show for motivation? You want to know what's even more motivating? Attending a Ramsey event, the ultimate motivational experience that's fully focused on helping you eliminate money stress. Join us for the total money makeover weekend on May 10 and 11th in Nashville. And leave money stress at the door for good podcast listeners. Use the code 50 off to save $50 on standard level tickets. Get yours at ramsey solutions.com slash events.

Welcome back to the Ramsey show. I am Rachel Cruz, hosting with my good friends and co hosts of smart Money Happy hour, George Camel. And we've had some fun, fun episodes coming. We have.

We just met a fan out there who really loved the last episode when I dogged you and I tricked you by mentioning Blinker fluid. I said, rachel, could you even, would you even know how to replace Blinker fluid?

And I'm like, no, I bet Winston does, but I don't.

And I got her so good, it took her about three minutes to figure out what happened.

I came right around. So, yeah, we sip on a cocktail. We talk about current events and money, and it's more of a, you know, it's a fun show, so it's a.

Great show for those friends who are like, they don't want, they're not gonna listen to Ramsay show. It's a little, you know, deep in the Ramsay well, but this is a good, sort of just dipping your toes a little. Yeah.

And even some of you that love the Ramsay well, you probably will have a good chuckle at smart money. We laugh a lot on that show. It's great.

We do. And we have some talented team members that help us pull it off.

That's right. Yes. And I wanted to let you guys know that I'm gonna be in Atlanta this Friday from one to two at the Barnes and Noble at Mansell Crossing, so make sure to come. And I will be there with my new kids book. I'm glad for where I am. And I. Let me grab it, George.

Yeah.

This is fun. You actually had the. The illustrator. It is Lauren was.

Yes.

Signing.

I came to LA for the signing and the signing in LA. It was really exciting. So, yeah. Make sure to pick up your copy. And again, if you're in Atlanta, come say hi. From one to two, we're gonna do a little story time. Bring the kids there. About 75 kids that came to the Dallas one.

Wow. Were they rowdy or were they well behaved?

They were so great. I love kids. They're funny. Kids are just. They're hysterical. So the wide range of ages.

What's that? What's the target demo for a kids book these days?

Is it like a two to six? Yeah. From this one, I would say for sure. I'd say yeah to two to five. Once they hit six, seven, eight, they can actually read it. I get some Instagram stories of some older ones, elementary school kids actually reading it to the other siblings, which is so sweet.

That's really cute. And to be fair, I loved it and I read it to my daughter Mia. But it's truly just for me.

It is. I'm glad for where I am all about gratitude. So make sure to check it out. All right. Up next, we have Lynn in Houston, Texas. Hey, Lynn. Welcome to the show.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call.

Absolutely. How can we help?

So my question is, when do I know that it's time to walk away from my hustle job? Obviously, the answer is when I'm done paying debt, but I'm not done paying debt. So that's why I'm calling you guys. I still owe my husband and I still owe $40,000, and we are just trying to kill this debt. So I am a stay at home mom. I homeschool my kids. So I can't just work a nine to five. What I usually do is I have these multiple streams of small incomes, so I just hustle and just try to get as much as I can, throw it at the debt. So this month, I made $2,000, and 500 of that is from a martial arts school that I teach. And I manage the school. I don't own it, but I manage it. And I really, really love my job. I love teaching kids, and I love even just the administrative work of it. So the part of it that I don't love, and that's why I'm bringing up the question, is my boss, even though we get along really well, he is a hot mess when it comes to finances.

And that is starting to trickle down to his employees. So he owes me about $3,000 in back pay, and.

Oh, boy.

Well, and he's also been writing me, like, weekly checks, which is trying to cover some of the back pay, but at the rate he's going, it's going to take him two and a half years to catch up.

Is the business struggling or what's the purpose? What's behind him not being able to pay you?

So he runs two businesses and not very well. Right. I create the budget every month for the martial arts school. Our budget, on paper shows that we should pay all of our bills. I don't write the check to pay the bills, though, so by the time it comes time to actually pay the bills, they don't get paid. And I thought that this was just something that I was dealing with, but I've heard from his other employees, even his other business, that they're dealing with the same issues that I'm dealing with. So what's eventually gonna close?

I mean, eventually enough people are gonna say, well, enough people that work, they're gonna say, I'm not getting paid.

I can't pay rent.

I can't. I can't work at a place that I don't know if I'm gonna get paid. It's not, you know. Right.

Some of that, we've seen some of that. And I am in a position where, you know, my husband pays all the bills. This is just my hustle money.

Right?

Like, this is just the money.

You guys have $40,000 of debt. Like, you're not rolling in it.

No. So I would quit. But the concern is like, man, $500 if I made 2000 this month. 500, that's a pretty.

How much time are you putting in?

I don't know. You're going to even make that next month. He may not even pay you.

Well, yeah, that's true. He pays me. He just pays me, like, very late. And it's always like, hey, can I deposit this check today? And it's like, just wait a minute. Let me. Let me pull up my account, see if there's any money in there. It's like, it. He is all over the place, and I can't fix that.

I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. I think you can. I think you can make $500 elsewhere.

And actually get paid on time.

Yes, I think you can love the place, love the people. And it'd be really sad. But for you guys, you're just not in a position financially to have such a gamble with your time and your money, you know, like, and that's not you being selfish. It's the fact that he's not. He's. I mean, to a degree. I mean, it's not that he's being immoral, like on purpose, but you. And you don't pay your people. He owes you $3,000. You know, so, like, it's just. I don't know. I guess my other.

I guess my other concern, too is that if I walk away, am I also walking away from that money that I worked really hard to earn? Because I can't say for sure that, oh, yeah, he'll get that money to me if I'm not there every week asking him, like, where's my paycheck? So I might be walking away from 3000, which for me and my work and my ability to work through, that was a lot of money.

Totally. Yeah.

You need it in writing an agreement that he's going to pay you this money regardless of if you're employed or not, it's still owed to you.

Okay.

So I would fight for it.

Yeah.

Even if it hurts the relationship. Doesn't sound like he was a lifelong friend. Because at some point, if my friend was this incompetent, I would have to stop being friends with him.

George. I'm sorry, George, you can like the person. That's why I just said, you can leave. And like, the guy, he just sucks at running a business.

Yeah. And I brought up like, hey, man, you know, you want to put your money on paper. You want to try to figure this out. And he just kind of smiles like, no, that's okay. Because I think at one point he was, he has a lot of fun, expensive toys. And I think at one point he was making a lot of money. He was very lucrative, pre COVID, and I think just kind of destroyed everything. And he's still kind of living in that world, but that the income's not matching. And so it's trying to be like, hey, guy, you can't live like that anymore. You know, that's been hard. And he's much older than me, too, so it's almost like I'm trying to talk to my father about.

Yeah, it just kind of feels toxic. I just don't. Yeah, I just. I don't know. I. I probably. I would be out. I would be out. But I would put in writing to George's point that you're owed that money. I mean, you did the work. So he does owe you that. So I would bring that up. That's not being unkind or mean or unreasonable. That's, that's fighting for what you've worked for. And, and again, like you said, I mean, unless like he just doesn't pay and you want to get a lawyer involved and all that, what you probably don't want to do because that's going to end up costing you more than 3000. You know, you may not see it. That's a good point. But also going forward there's a gamble that you may not see the money that you're working for tomorrow. And so the unstable environments is, I don't think it's worth it for your time and your stress load. I mean that's a lot even from the administration side to deal with. And if people start coming to you because they're not getting paid, sometimes in that position, George, people can take a ownership that's not even theirs to be like, I just like, it's my responsibility now to like hold this place together that, you know, you end up being the glue.

And it's unfair at that point too that that's, it's not your business and you're not running it like that.

No. So I would look at how much time you were putting into this. You said you were making 500 a month. Let's say it was 25 hours a month. That's 20 hours, $20 an hour you were making. So if you can try to replace that and go elsewhere and make $20 an hour doing literally anything else, you can easily replace that income.

Yeah, for sure.

And that she's putting more work in than she's actually worth into this job considering how much she's doing.

Yes. Yeah. If you're great at that admins function, you know, things like virtual assistants. I mean there's, there's admin work that can be done even virtually from home that you get paid on. Right. Maybe you just do a couple hours a week. It doesn't have to be a ton, but you can find some things to get some money in. And again, it's a long road. You know, we always say with debt you can wander your way in, but you can't wander your way out. So there is a 1ft in front of the other day after day grinds.

That's real and it's for a season. Maybe you don't do everything forever, but who knows? Maybe eventually you go, here's what I really love to do. We're out of debt now and I can choose. I have more flexibility.

Yeah, I'm a big part of it for sure. And with side hustles too. You know, finding what you're naturally good at, I think, is the key because you're naturally going to be able to do it more with ease than trying to, like, learn something new. Right?

That's true. We actually have a new side hustle quiz that's free. George campbell.com side hustle. We built a tool to help you people find the side hustles that are right for them.

Brilliant, George.

I just remembered that. So, Lynn, go check that out.

Well done. Well, thanks, Lynn, for the call. Thank you, America, for listening. Thanks to everyone in the booth. My great co host, George Camel will be back live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions. It's the Ramsey show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I am Rachel Cruz, hosting this hour with my good friend and bestselling author, George Camel, also my co host of Smart Money, happy hour or other show. And we are here to take your calls. America, triple 8825-5225 this can be about your money, your life, your career, your relationships. But we are here for you. So give us a call up first. We have joy in Washington. Hey, joy, welcome to the show.

Hey, how are you doing?

We're doing great. Thanks for calling in. How can we help?

Of course. Yeah. So I wanted to ask a question about tithing, if I can give a little context first.

Yeah.

So my husband and I moved to DC from Washington state about a year ago. When I was living in Washington state, I was volunteering at a pregnancy center, and I got to see how they used their money, and it was really great. So we decided when we moved to DC, we didn't have a church. So we're like, oh, we'll give our tithe money to the pregnancy center. I was volunteering at fast forward. We currently found a church. We love the community. The people are great. And my husband and I have had the conversation of, do we want to move our tithes over from the pregnancy center to the church we're at? But the problem that we're having, just justifying that, is we kind of look around the church that we're at, and as great as the people are, it's hard because the kind of way that they're using the money, we don't necessarily agree with. For example, they're about to go on a missions trip to a first world nation in Europe, heavily christian already. And, you know, that's a good example of, like, it's hard to say, sorry, pregnancy center. We have to give our tithes to this.

And just a couple different other kind of scenarios. We just don't feel like they're necessarily using the money as we feel. And since we are managers of God's money, kind of hard to justify that. So we'd love to hear kind of what you would do in our situation, how we can either change our mindset or what we, what, you know, just kind of some wisdom, and that would be great.

Yeah. I mean, for me, especially when it comes to something like the tithe, I never want to be legalistic about it because I feel like that just, like, rips the whole spirit of why you're doing it in the first place. But the, you know, the main reason for it, especially when you look in the Old Testament, was for the local storehouse, and it said to give your first fruits. And the reason for that was to make sure that, I mean, basically the priest at the time, right, was able to sustain and be able to continue the local church. What was the local church in the Old Testament, right. What would have been. And so I think that's the purpose of our tithe, is to keep the local church in a state financially where they're able to sustain and continue to grow and do what they need to do. Now, will you agree with every single decision? No, because I don't think any church is perfect. No church has your specific passion, right? I mean, you talk to somebody that has a passion for Eastern Europe and people meeting Jesus there, you know, they may be all about this mission trip that you see as a first world country, but someone else may say is on their heart.

Right. Or, you know, the church may buy a new drum set or something. I don't know. And you're like, that's stupid. The drum set, fine, right?

Always the drum set guy.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, every little decision. Now, if they're doing something immoral or illegal, obviously there's red flags there. Or, I mean, for some people, even going into debt, some people take on a ton of debt and they're like, I hate that my tithe is freaking going to, like bank of America, right, to pay the interest. Like, you know, so I said there are times that people don't feel aligned, but. And I don't want to, I don't want to push away your reasoning, but I would say I would look at the overall heart of, number one, why the tithe is there, and number two, to have a little bit of grace that, yeah, every little decision, you know, you may not fully agree on, but the purpose of it is to make sure that the local church stays afloat right into a degree financially and takes care of the staff and that it's being used in that way. But obviously, you guys do have a heart for this pregnancy center. So my goal, joy, honestly, would be able to do both. I do in our home. And, George, you can say what you guys do.

I mean, we do. We take 10% off the top. We don't even look at it. I mean, that and taxes, it's just like, we don't even bring that money home because it's just something for me where I'm like, I just want to be able to have my local church. And that's. That's where I believe scripturally is where my money is. But then we do give on top of our tithe to the things that we are passionate about. And so whether it's local ministries or different organizations, that is something we do as well. Where that part of our heart that we do feel we long for that those in certain communities or whatever that may look like, if that's where it's given.

So I like that take.

I don't know, but so I don't want to be legalistic about a joy, but I would. I would. I would push you to just say, hey, you know, I would also ask.

More questions and find out, okay, because sometimes the tithe goes to operational stuff for the church, and then outside of that, they raise money for missions. And so I would. I would inquire with, you know, whoever runs the finances at the church and say, hey, I love being here. I would love to just know kind of how the finances work. Is there transparency with the budget? Some churches are very transparent with, here's how much tithe money we brought in. Here's where it's going. And that seems to be a growing trend because people like joy want to know. I want to know where this money is going, if it's being used wisely.

And not to be like a picky church member here. But Winston and I, first season, for about two years at our church, there was a certain part of the church that was growing that we loved. And we even emailed and just said, hey, we would love our tithe. Use it as you need. Right? We kind of gave that disclaimer, but we would love that money to see that money in this part, because we're so excited for that. So maybe that's even what you do. Joy is like, hey, you know, the way my husband and I are feeling, we want to be able to give to the local church. But are you, you know, can we.

Give to certain areas?

Yeah, I mean, yeah. You could even ask that, right? Yeah.

We don't want to be of the mind of like, oh, you're not doing what we want, so we're not going to give you our money. Obviously, that in and of itself is not the right heart, but I like the idea of being able to just have that conversation with them. Maybe not ask, you know, so super legalistically, but, you know, ask for, like, a breakdown maybe a little bit, and just kind of see what their heart is long term. That's a really great idea.

Yeah. And a lot of churches and nonprofits, for that matter, if you are a 501 c three, legally, you do have to disclose a level of the budgets that, I mean, on most places, you can go to their website and see. So I think churches would fall under that for me to know because, yeah, golly, if you got in there and you're like, holy crap, they're taking all the money home or something, and it's not being used for other things, that's more my, you know, that would be.

If they're mismanaging it versus just, I don't love this mission trip they're going on that. Those are two different things. But I think you're of the right, you know, spirit about it, just wanting to ask more questions and wanting to make the best use of your tithe money.

Awesome.

Great.

I appreciate your time.

Absolutely. Thanks, Joy.

That reminds me, Rachel. I did a mission trip in. In college. So it wasn't through a church, but it was a christian college, and they did a mission trip sort of like living on Mission Panama City, and we went to Europe.

Oh, did you?

Truthfully, these are southern kids who have, like, never been outside Alabama. We're gonna all traverse to Europe on a mission trip. We're all just, like, experiencing the culture, and we're trying to have these conversations with people and, you know, not ram this down their throat, but have an intentional conversation with random people in the hostels and wherever we were.

Right, right.

So we got back from the mission trip that, you know, people from my home, church funded in Boston. They're like, how many souls did you save?

And we're like, oh, my gosh.

Like, I feel like I had some.

We planted some seeds. We had some good conversations. You know, the Lord will bless. There was a little bit of that. The people who. Who donated wanted to know, like, okay, what impact it.

Send George the freaking fray.

And I'm like, I had a. I had a good baguette outside the Eiffel. Tower.

I don't know. The croissants are fantastic.

We'll never know this side of heaven, the impact we had on that trip. Rachel.

There's people for eternity, George, because you sacrificially took your time.

That's what I did.

Other people's money and what kind of person I am.

It was, you know, you take a 20 old to Europe, you can't expect much to happen.

I know. God bless.

It was a sweet trip, and I learned a lot about culture.

This is the Ramsay show.

I know you work hard for your money, and the key to keeping more of it in your pocket is by making a plan for your spending with a budget. And everydollar is the budgeting app that I use personally, because it's perfect for looking every dollar you make in its little president face and telling it exactly where you want it to go, just like you told that guy in traffic exactly where you wanted him to go. And even better, everydollar walks you through the entire budgeting journey, so you always know your next right step. Download everydollar for free in the App Store or Google Play today.

Welcome back to the Ramsey show. I am Rachel Cruz, hosting this hour with George Camel, and we are taking your calls at 88825. Up next, we have Griff in Cedar Falls. Hey, Griff. Welcome to the show.

Hi. Thanks for taking my call.

Absolutely. Thanks for calling in. How can we help?

Yeah, so just a little bit of a backstory. My wife actually got a great job promotion in a different city around 2 hours away. So we were in the process of purchasing a home closer to her work. And during that time, we actually found out that Nelnet, they transferred her student loans, which she currently owes around $50,000, to Mola. And we found out during the application process that she was getting charged twice for that amount. So we're just kind of wondering about how to go about. Go about the. The process of fixing that with. With Nelnet, which no longer even services student loans.

And so you guys were able to find out that you guys were paying double? Basically, yeah.

So is that on the principal, or is it. Was it going toward the student loan? You were just making double payments toward it?

So we actually weren't making student loan payments as part of, like, the save program. So they transferred it from Nelnet to Mola. So we started just, you know, kind of knocking that down during the process while not having any payments due. But during the application process for the new mortgage, we actually found out that, according to the credit reports that she owes 50,000 with MoLA, which they were just transferred to Nelnet, who no longer services loan, student loans. So she. Yeah. So according to our credit report, we're showing that we owe $100,000.

Got it. Okay. I would contact the new student loan company and see what they can do, but also contact the credit bureaus and have them dispute that information on the report and say, hey, this is incorrect. You'll need proof from the student loan servicer that it is doubled and incorrect. But that should be a pretty quick fix. And I have to change it for free. Okay.

Yeah. Just doing a little bit of research. It seems like it's affected a lot of people. But I just. Previously, being in the mortgage industry. I know, you know, probably some people are getting declined based off of, like, those incorrect information.

Yeah. Well, we tell people, pull your credit report now. We don't care about credit scores, but pulling your credit report once a year is a good idea, just to make sure that there's no, you know, fraud and mistakes, all of that. So pulling it once a year. Make sure you do it for free. I believe the website's annualcreditreport.com. You can go on there and pull from all three for free. And so I think it's a good idea to do. And then contact all three bureaus and contact the student loan service provider and say, hey, we need to fix this ASAP. And they should be on it. So it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Just the hassle of.

Yeah, it's just sloppy administration on their side. They just didn't.

Surprise, surprise.

Unbelievable. All right. Up next, we have Peter in St. Paul. Hey, Peter. Welcome to the show. Peter, are you there?

We lost him before we ever had him.

All right.

Such a shame. We'll see if we can get you back.

Put you on hold, Peter. So let's go on to Will in Scottsdale. Hey, Will. Welcome to the show.

Hey, what's going on? I'm a huge fan of the Ramsey show. You guys helped me get out of debt several years ago. So thank you.

Oh, awesome.

I'd love to hear it.

For sure. How can we help?

Yeah, I have you an interesting question. So I may have. It's so basically, I'm debt free. I'm 27, I'm single, not married, no kids. And I'm looking at doing one of two things. And I wanted your guys advice. So one of the things I was looking to do is I'm originally from Chicago and I live in Arizona. So I like to go back and forth because I work remote and I was going to buy a condo in Chicago and have my sister live in it as a renter, kind of almost as like an investment property. And I'm debating if I should do that or just save up for a primary residence here in Arizona. And I'm just kind of confused on what to do.

Are you renting right now for your primary residence?

Yes, I am.

Yeah. I would save up for sure and buy a house for you first before you think about rental properties. That's kind of the step after your home is even paid off. So when you look to invest. Yeah. In rental real estate or real estate in general, whether you're going to do flips or long term rentals that will be with cash later on after your primary mortgage is even paid off. So I would. Yeah, I would focus on. Yeah. Saving up a good down payment for something there in Scottsdale. How much do you make a year?

190,000.

Good for you. What kind of houses do you think are you looking at condos or townhomes or single family that you would want.

To buy for yourself a house?

One of the things that I'm kind of going through right now is to get a 20% in, like, the Phoenix market. It's pretty difficult with how competitive it is out here and how expensive homes are, and especially with interest rates. So I have people telling me, wait, keep waiting, keep saving up. But I'm not really sure what to do because it seems like the prices just keep going up.

Yeah, well, we tell first time homebuyers you can go down to even 5%. I mean, that 20% to avoid PMI is ideal, but even if you want to go ahead and get in at 5% down, you could do that. So that's. That's an option. And, yeah, I mean, as we're seeing, the prices are not going down. I mean, if anything. And, you know, in an area like you guys, I mean, it is competitive and, you know, we, I don't think it's going to skyrocket prices like they did in 21 and, you know, 22. Like, it was just crazy. They have slowed down in that sense, but they have continued to go up. So if you have a good down payment, I would go ahead and get in because to your point, you could just keep getting out price. Yeah. Of it.

So we tell people, wait until you're financially ready, but don't wait for the right time in the market. It's kind of like timing the stock market. We don't want to ever do that? Because you'll end up regretting it. Usually, yeah.

Do you have any money saved, will?

Now 50,000 and then about 75,000 in my 401.

Good for you, man. You're killing it at 27. Well done.

No debt. So how much can you save in a given year, making 190. How much of that could you sock away and add to, like, a high yield savings account on top of the 50 for a down payment?

That's what I'm doing right now. So I'm just keep stocking away. Keep stocking away. So, I mean, my goal would be to get to 100,000 by the end of this. So we'll see if I can make that happen. But, yeah, that would be my goal. Yeah.

How much would you have to save to get into the market for where you are and what kind of home you're wanting? Do you know? Have you read numbers?

Yeah, I've ran some numbers. I mean, in like, the Scottsdale Phoenix market, you know, for 20%, I would probably need well over 100,000 for, you know, four or $500,000 home, thinking about it correctly. But I could also go a little further out in the city and probably get something for around 400, but it would still be a decent sized down payment.

Sure. Yeah.

You could also look at a condo or townhome that will still appreciate in that market because that was, you know, Whitney and I when we first got our home, when we got married, it was a townhome and appreciated, you know, well over 50% in just a few years. And so it was a great purchase in a great part of town. So there's nothing wrong with doing that, especially as a single guy. You don't know what the future holds and where you'll move to.

Yeah, I think that's one of the things too, is just wondering, like, should I just keep renting until I meet someone and then get married?

No. I mean, yeah, where you are financially, I mean, unless there's somebody like that you're dating now that you're like, oh, yeah, she lives in, her family's in Connecticut, and we may want to move to Connecticut. Right. But I mean, I probably wouldn't wait. I would go ahead and get in and, yeah, start that process.

If you move four or five years from now, it's okay. People move all the time. So that's not a huge deal down.

The line, but well done, Will. That's, that's incredible. That's, I mean, where you're at financially is, is applauded here.

So with rental properties Rachel, we say, we don't want you to be a long distance landlord. And so that's, that's one of the tough parts of managing a property that's multiple states away is a difficult thing to do. Of course, you can pay a property manager, but you still have to deal with it. It's not, you're not absolved of all responsibility. You still got to make sure that you're on top of them and that they're hiring the right people and doing good work and charging the right price.

Yeah.

So it can be a hassle. And when you involve family in it.

That's what I was gonna say, too. I was like, and I don't want to be the Grinch here, but my brother's landlord. Yeah. I mean, there's a, there's a lot of family drama that we get on this show of, well, so and so she, you know, she said she would pay, and she hasn't paid, so I'm letting it go a few months. She is my sister. And then you're stuck with a mortgage because you went into the rental property, you know, genre, with debt, and you.

Don'T want to charge market rent to family, and now you're losing money on this investment. It just, it gets dicey.

Yeah. Even though the heart's good, the motivation. But I would let your sister find her own place, and. Yeah. And you. Yeah, do what's best for you, Will, which is to find a primary residence on. If you'll be in Scottsdale for the foreseeable future, you're in a really going good place financially to really start saving and looking for a down payment soon. So thanks for the call.

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

So, you know, I've written two kids books and kids and babies. They're just on our heart. And look who has appeared for the first time ever on the radio show. Mia camel is here. Is she not adorable, George?

I can't believe it's my baby, to be honest.

I mean, she is the cutest thing in the entire world.

Well, she loves your kids book. And I was like, I can. I know, I know. The author, Mia.

I told her, I was like, we can read this, Mia. We can hang out and talk. I mean, does she have a 529 set up, George?

She does. That was the first thing I did, truthfully. I was so excited. I was like, no gifts, please. Just fund the 529. Thank you.

Okay. And how old is she?

Tell everyone she's now eight months tomorrow.

Eight months tomorrow.

Which, by the way, happy early birthday.

Oh, to me.

To you.

Yes. Thank you.

It's your birthday tomorrow.

It is. It is my birthday tomorrow, yes. But, hey, and how's she been as a baby, George?

She's been great. Fatherhood is wonderful. Whitney, if everyone knows my Ramsey story, I met her here at Ramsey. She worked here for nine years. And as of last week, she now stays at home with little Mia.

Yay.

So she has officially retired, and it's been a huge blessing. And truthfully, the principles at Ramsey is what allowed us to be able to do this. It wasn't a financial decision. It was just an emotional one.

That's right. Yeah. And you're in.

She loves this place so much in the place.

Yeah. To be able to do it and tell you.

And one day, Mia will take my spot on the Ramsey show. She's made for the camera.

Her and Charles could really take over an hour.

That's succession.

Dave, if you're listening, probably trump a lot, a lot of the content. I know. Well, it's such a beautiful picture of what. Yes. All of this, like, getting out of debt and saving and, like, everything we talk about on the show, it is ultimately to bring you peace and to bring you options. And look at, hey, I'm starting to.

Think about legacy and getting more emotional. I'm like crying at bank commercials. I mean, what is wrong with me?

What is happening? It's so, so great.

Mia, we're so be taking your calls this segment.

That's right. So give me a call.

We'll see if she can dole out any advice.

825-5225 all right, we're going to head to the phone. So we got Eric in Louisville up next. Hey, Eric, welcome to the show.

Hello. I've been watching the Dave ramsey show for a few months now, and I'm a really big fan of you guys.

Oh, awesome. Well, thanks for calling in. How can we help?

So just a little bit about me. Back in 2019, I joined the service. I was part of the Marine Corps for five years. I recently got out back in January of this year, and now I am part of the Kentucky National Guard. But during my time in the corps, I fell into a very dark depression, and I used money as a way to escape, and I got into some financial trouble. And I'm just wondering to see if. If you guys can help me. Just try to steer me in the right direction to help get out of this situation and be more responsible with my money and hopefully make my dream come true.

Yeah, for sure. So what kind of decisions did you make that put you in a financial hole? Was it gambling or what kind of things?

No, it was just spending money that I don't have. Pretty much a credit card and a personal loan.

Okay, so how much debt do you have?

26,000. And I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but to someone that only makes about 44,000 a year, it is a big deal.

Yeah, for sure. No, it can feel overwhelming. I mean, regardless of the dollar amount, it carries a lot of weight. For sure.

Are these across multiple cards, multiple personal loans? How many individual debts are there?

So, originally, I was in $40,000 worth of debt, but I got a bonus, and I used that entire bonus to pay off four out of the six.

Good for you, Eric. Well, that was a good. Yeah, that's a great decision.

But now that I'm kind of on my own now with money and not really receiving any bonuses anytime soon, it's. It's just. I just want to get my finances back on track. I haven't just got my apartment May 6. I don't really have any student loan or house payments or anything like that. But, I mean, the only thing payment wise, I have is just a car payment and cell phone and insurance. That's all. I really have.

A car payment as well.

Yes.

What's left on the car loan?

It's on. It's 10,000. And my monthly payment is 268 a month.

And that's on top of the 26,000 it is. Okay, so we got 36,000 total in consumer debt, making 44. And as we're going to help you with a budget, because the key here is to look at the reality of here's how much I'm taking home, and here's how much I have in expenses. How much do I have left to throw at the debt? Because the key to all of this, as you know, is paying off extra on the principal, on all of these debts, and using the debt snowball method.

If I may ask, what is the debt snowball method?

Yeah. Well, this is where you lay out all of your debts, smallest to largest. That's why I ask how many individual debts. It's hard when you stare at it as a mountain, when you try to attack highest interest first, because it sounds mathematically smart. What we found is that paying off the smallest debt first by the balance is what causes people to actually get out of debt. Because there's a psychological win, you feel motivated, you free up a payment faster. So with the debt snowball, you list out all of your debts, smallest to largest. Make minimum payments on all of them except for the smallest balance.

Yeah. So let's do r1 quick with you, Eric. So what, give us your smallest debt, whether it's a credit card or a personal loan. What's the smallest amount total?

So the. So the personal loan is $9,787.94.

Okay. What's your next smallest debt?

Well, honestly, so my next most debt would be my car, which $10,000, which would be $10,027.88.

Okay. And then the next one.

Then a. Another credit card, which is 1300. And after that, it's just the very big one, which is my 15,000 credit card.

15,000 credit card. Wait, did you say a $1,300?

Yes, I did. I was looking at my. I was looking at my expenses.

Yeah, yeah. So your smallest. Yeah, your smallest is at 1300. So that's the first debt that you're going to pay off. So your goal is to your. We want you to get a $1000 emergency fund, first and foremost. So do you have any money saved?

No, ma'am, I do not. Well, just $100. Really?

Perfect. No, you're great. So that's where you're going to start, Eric. You're going to start on the very first step of the baby steps. And maybe step one is a $1000 emergency fund. So I want you to be driving Uber. I want you to do instacart. I want you to work at Target. Like, I don't care what you do, but I want you working to extra because I think your biggest benefit, Eric, to this formula is going to be upping your income, which is going to mean a lot of work. Are you single?

I am, yeah.

So that's great. I mean, in a sense, it's sometimes easier just to be like, this is my life and I can work.

That's when every night, you're young, able bodied, you make that kind of sacrifice right now.

So you're going to do what you can to get a. Even if that's looking around and selling stuff. Like if you have stuff sell it, do whatever you can to get $1,000. And I want you to do this in 30 days. Like, I want this to be a really fast goal for you. Um, do what you can. Cut eating out. I want you on a budget. Do what you can to get that thousand dollars. And then after you have that, you're going to put that in a savings account or a high yield savings account, but just put that money away, that thousand dollars. And then the next goal is to pay off that credit card of 1300. And then once that's paid off, then you're going to move on to the personal loan of the 9700. Once that's paid off, then you're gonna pay off the car loan. And then last will be that big credit card debt of 15,000. And Eric and I would encourage you to cut up the credit cards. I mean, like, I would go scorched earth on all of this. And if you. Awesome. Good for you. Well, and I think you're at a great place.

Eric, I know you. I feel like you may feel so defeated, but what we have found, and we call it people's I've had it moments where people call in and they talk about their debt free journey, and they say it started somewhere. And it usually starts in a point of crisis or a point of pain, which sucks. I wish pain wasn't a great teacher, but sometimes it is where you think, okay, I'm done. I'm so done. And, Eric, this is your moment. This is the moment that you said, from today on, from April 24, 2024, I started changing the way I viewed money. And I really believe if you can up your income and even make, you know, 1000, $2,000 extra a month, even if it's just through side hustles, I mean, you can get this. You can get this knocked out.

And I'm going to gift you one year of every dollar premium to help you with this. And it's going to connect to your bank. It's going to be tracking your transactions. This will be sort of your accountability, partner, as you knock out this debt. And we are rooting for you, man. You are not alone. A lot of people listening are relating to your story, and we believe you'll be on this debt free stage sharing that and inspiring others, for sure.

Yeah, and we'll throw in George's book, too. Breaking free from Barrow. Breaking free from broken, because he does talk about a lot of the money traps that we can fall in. And I think it'd be really helpful for you, Eric, too. So we'll give you that book as well. So thanks for the call, Eric. We are rooting for you. This is the Ramsey show. Our scripture of the day comes from Matthew 1016. Look, I am sending you out a sheep among wolves. Be as shrewd as. As snakes and harmless as doves. Jean Sebelius said, pay no attention to what the critic says or what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic. There you go. That's good. Don't pay attention to the critics, George.

I never do, except every time in the comment section. But that's for my own entertainment. It fuels me.

So sad.

That's good, though. It's good.

They're not, they're not too mean to us. And on YouTube, maybe your comment section, Rachel, you YouTube people are very kind.

I've been told I have a punchable face, which I don't know what that means. They are. Does that mean they think they could take me in a fight? Because they could.

It just looks like you're. Someone just wants to punch your face. I don't know. It's so sad.

I know. I always just think, like, they need to hug, you know? They're just hurt. They're hurt people.

Well, usually those people that are after people, you're like, man, I don't know how much time you have on your hands to actually, like, type things out. You know what I mean?

Like, people in comments sections generally aren't doing great. You know what I mean?

That are being mean. That are being mean.

Sure.

Yeah. I don't know. It's funny. All the people I follow on Instagram, some of these women that, you know, they do clothes. Like, that's how I shop now. It's like, I follow certain people that I like. Love there. Yeah. I love their clothes. And that's all. Find something. But people are. Yeah. And even in their comments, they're like, hey, they get so mad. I'm like, I've never once stopped on someone's post or seen a video and say something that I'm like, man, yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna put this out there.

I don't know. I tried to do some videos on money hacks, so I put a video out, like, here's how to save money at target in the comment section, rachel. It was just like, boycott target. I can't believe he's a sellout. He's getting paid by. I'm like, I'm not getting paid for any of this.

I'll be happy to, though.

I just figured people shop here. Let me help them save money. So you can't win on the Internet.

I just can't win. But, you know, we're here to help.

You win a never stop helping you.

Win when it comes to your money. All right, next up, we got Michael in Des Moines. Hey, michael, welcome to the show.

Hey, thank you very much for having me, you two. I think only you could go from Matthew ten to punching somebody that face really quick.

That's how we do on the show.

Just read some scripture, punch someone in the face.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah, thanks, Michael, for calling. How can we help?

So I am through baby steps one through four, and I'm doing something I probably shouldn't do. And I want to buy a truck.

George loves trucks. Michael, you called the ride, man.

I love paid for trucks.

Well, I do too. And hopefully I can get that done here sooner than later. But I'm looking at purchasing a truck. I've got quite a few different investments. So I've got a mortgage right now of 290,000. But in one of the two properties, I am currently living in one of them and I have three other roommates who are helping pay that off. And then in the other house, I have two tenants that are living in there. So combined, I'm getting about $3,300 between the two. But with that, I've got no other credit card debt, got no other student loan debt, got no other debt. Like I said, I'm to baby step number five and I'm looking at about a 44, $40 to $44,000 truck.

What do you make a year?

Currently? 60,000. And that's before commission. And then with rentals, it's about 35,000.

On top of the 60?

Yes, sir.

Okay, so you're making about 100,000, let's say 90,000.

Yeah.

Okay, well, this is a lot of truck. Do you have a car right now you're driving?

I do. It's a fully paid for 2013 Ford Fusion.

Oh, you would sell that and get the truck?

I would sell it, yeah, for about 6000.

Okay. All right, well, if you're and this is a used truck you're buying, I.

Would like it to be used just because I know the whole off the lot, minus appreciation.

What's your net worth?

Net worth right now is about 380,000.

Okay, well, if you're buying this thing used and the total of all of your wheels and motors, everything with wheels and motors, no more than half of your annual income, which is about 95, that would put your purchase price at about that 40 45 range. So I think you're right on target. As long as you're paying cash for this thing, it doesn't violate any of the Ramsey parameters. You're not hurting your financial future, other than, of course, driving a depreciating asset, which is fine. We all do. They all depreciate. And so you're doing this the right way. I would still try to find a good deal, try to get the most out of your current vehicle as you sell it, you know, private party versus having a dealer say, I'll give you three grand for it. So I don't see anything wrong with it, Rachel.

Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think if it's. Yeah, if it's cash, if it's used and it's in that reasonable price range. Yeah, I think you're fine. I think you're right.

So I don't have too much cash put aside. I've got about 20,000.

Okay.

Would that be something to consider when. When putting that down payment in?

Well, that's where you lost me.

No, no down payment.

We said pay cash, so if you don't have the cash, you don't do this.

Yep.

Okay.

And I would also make sure you have a. You don't touch your emergency fund. This is not an emergency. So have three to six months saved up. You also need some savings for those. Those rental properties. And so I would have some. A separate savings account for those. And then when you have the 40 grand in cash saved up, you can go make that.

Yeah, this is a. This is a total just want purchase. Right. Your Ford Fusion is fine, right. It's getting you what a car does to and from where you're supposed to go. You just want to have something different, which is fine, but at that point, that's when you say, okay, I need to slow down. Do this the right way financially. So you're not kicking yourself down the lawn, you know, down the road, where you're like, oh, my gosh, I have car payments now. And all of it, you've gone backwards financially. We don't want that for a truck. For a truck. Right.

Yeah.

Paying interest on a depreciating asset is about the most backwards math you can do.

Yeah. So don't do that. So it'll take you a little bit of time, Michael, so you'll probably slow down your purchase timeline to do it the right way. But we're not mad at. Well, George might be mad at trucks, but we're not mad at trucks.

Just when they cut me off and, you know, they're like lifted 90 off the ground under light led.

Michael got it. A lifted truck. George would say, no, no.

I just guarantee almost every truck in the road that's lifted with an underlight led kit has a $1000 payment on it. They're not paying cash, Rachel. That's my. That's my real.

That's your. That's your knee jerk reaction. So, yeah, it's Michael's not the problem. No, no, no. But, yeah, save up, Michael. Save up and pay cash for it. And we'll. We'll give you the green light if you do it that way. All right, let's take our last call of the day, George. Let's go to Danny in Princeton, New Jersey. Hey, Danny, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

Absolutely. How can we help?

All right, let me not try to talk too fast. So I'm 41 years old. I'm kind of in the best predicament. Predicament I've been in my life. I'm 41, no debt. I follow the Dave Ramsey. I got $200,000 saved. I'm currently renting. And basically I live in a very, very expensive area. This whole Princeton area. I pay very low rent. I'm only like 1400 a month. Basically, I'm trying to figure out my two hundred k to me is almost useless. Will I live? I'm trying to figure out, did I just keep continuing to save for a house? Which at this point I'm not even sure it would be an investment because I feel like in six years I may or may not be moving because my son will be 18 years old. Or take the. Put the whole thing and start investing in stocks. Mutual funds index split it in half. Like, I'm in a good predicament. But where I live.

Much makes sense to buy.

Everything around here is about 500k, right? And it would literally be 60% to 70% of my take home.

What is your income?

Anywhere between 110 and 165, depending how much per diem work I take.

Okay. So the goal, Danny, when it comes to owning a home is not only diversifying what you have. So you're gonna be investing in retirement and also have some money in real estate. But the goal is to eventually pay off your house. And so that way you have no payments at all. Right? No rent payment, no mortgage payment and you own a home with equity. So that's the ultimate goal to get there. So that's why we say don't just rent forever. Amen. But, yeah. And you're in a timeframe that's really close. I mean, if I always say, if that five year timeframe is where you.

Want to be, underneath that, just put it in a high yield savings. If it's five years or further, you could invest it.

Yep, that's right. So, I mean, if you're gonna be moving in five years, you may not want to buy, but there is a part of me that's like, man, do you go ahead and get in?

Yeah, if you put 200 down, get a 500,000, or even if it's a.

Condo, Danny, it doesn't have to be a single family home. That could help as well. So thanks for the call. Thanks, everyone in the booth. Thank you, America and George Camel. Good times, good times. And remember to take control of your money and create a life you love.

Hey, folks, Dave Ramsey here. You know, budgeting doesn't have to be boring. You just need a budgeting app that's made with you in mind. And that's everydollar. The everydollar app has helped millions of people work the baby steps and take the stress out of planning and managing their money. Start budgeting with everydollar for free. Right now. Just go to ramsaysolutions.com everydollar and download the app today. That's ramsaysolutions.com everydollar.