Define Your Future By Setting The Right Financial Priorities

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888-825-5225 is the number. 888-825-5225.
Hey, we'd love to hear from you. Always fun to be sitting alongside my good pal, my friend.
I don't know if you can call a lady a pal, but I just do it. Just my old pal, Rachel Cruz.
Old pal. Known each other forever.
And we love, love taking your questions. So let's have some fun.
Let's get some hope established for you so you can move forward. Let's start off in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The city of? Rachel. Brotherly love.
There it is. She used to make fun of me.
You're welcome. I think you've been paying attention to my little quotes.
That's it. You're so happy about it.
Melody, how can we help? Hey, guys. Thank you so much for taking my call.
I'm excited to talk to you both. Well, we're excited to talk to you.
What's happening? Awesome. So I'm in a little bit of a professional conundrum.
I love a conundrum. You do.
Great word. Great word.
I'm currently working two full-time remote jobs. That has been great for my family.
Wow. I have kids in school and all that.
I'm been fortunate to find two remote jobs. Hold on a second.
Hold on. This is fascinating.
I've got to know. Do both companies know about the other? Of course not.
So you are a professional polygamist. Are you aware of this? Can we say? Yes, you can say.
Melanie, i am so sorry that you have to deal with him no she's not offended she's not offended at all i i expect ken to give me a hard time i listen not even doing that i just wanted to say professional polygamist because you've got you i've got two you got sister wives you got two companies that you're working full-time for and they don don't know about the other. And I'm not even trying to.
I think sister wives know about each other. That is fair.
You get my point. It's a fun little metaphor.
How are you pulling this off? How long have you pulled this off? I've been doing it now for a year. Are you exhausted? Huh? Are you tired? I'm a little tired.
Yeah, I'm not going to lie. I'm a little tired.
Two full- full-time jobs yeah yeah keeping them away from each other it's like it's like having a mistress it's exhausting so it's a lot of great time management that's all i can say you must be incredible so what kind of money you knocking down so i'm netting 96 a year a 96 a year okay all right so what's your question So I've justting 96 a year. Okay.

All right.

So what's your question?

So I've just been offered a different job that will cause me to be hybrid,

three days in the office and two days working from home,

with a base pay of $100K and with up to a potential of getting a 20% bonus of my base pay. Oh, wow.
And what has kept you from saying yes to that offer? Well, because I technically would be netting less. I guess, you know, right now my husband and I bring home about 12 a month, and then if I take this, we'd be bringing home about 97.
Why would the net be less? That's not including the bonus though. Yeah, exactly.
And you're not cheating on another company and thus risking getting fired from one or both. Yeah.
And also I think professionally, the job that just offered me this position would be a step up for me professionally. Great.
But I just, I don't know. I just, I'm a little nervous about.
So it's the net. Giving up to remote jobs and, you know, flexibility with the kids because I do have like school-age children at home.
Let me ask you, Melanie, let me ask you a real question. And you've been a great sport because Rachel thinks I'm being mean.
I'm not. I'm not judging you.
I'm just trying to coach you. How long do you think you're going to be able to keep this up and then not find out about it? How long do you think you've got? Not very long.
I mean, honestly, I think it's more just to do the debt snowball for my, you know, for if my husband and I were at baby step two. I don't think you understand concept.
Hold on a second, Melanie. I don't think Rachel understands the concept.

She's working two full-time jobs.

I hear that.

It'd be like you being a personality for another company and they not know about it.

She knows she can't keep this up because she's going to get found out, and then she's fired.

Yeah, but wouldn't it be like having a part-time job, but you're just doing more hours?

It's pretty much what it's like because they are in two different fields. No, no, no, no.
Okay, hold on. Just for a point of emphasis here, okay? We're not going to get stuck on this, but I've got to help my friend Rachel.
And Melanie ain't going to help you. Rachel has to help me here.
No. No, she doesn't understand it.
Once she understands it, Rachel, listen to me. Here's what's happening.
One company, let's call it ABC, is paying Melanie to work a full-time job. Yes.
That's, what, 40 hours a week minimum, Melanie, roughly? Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. Company XYZ is also paying Melanie to work 40 hours a week.
And, Melanie, just tell us, how many hours you work in a week for both companies 80 now i didn't see that coming she's trying to get me on a technicality i still think it's i think it's it's it's unethical that they don't know about each other yeah i can get the secret yes and again not to judge you melanie because there's no judgment it's more protection so we've already covered how do you get my no i always hope but in my head if she's if she's working but i get the secrecy right but if you're working both full time okay i said i acknowledge that she kind of had me on a technicality but it's still dishonest and we still have an ethical issue that she could get penalized for but with one which all i care about is but if abc company doesn't care that she's also working for xyz how do you you know? Because they don't know. No, but what if they're not? Then in your book, is it okay? If they're okay with it? Yes.
If they're okay with each other? 100%. So it's the secrecy that's bothering you, that they don't know about each other.
It's not bothering me in a sense that I think she's a bad. It's just, it's risky for Melanie.
Yeah. I'm literally playing defense lawyer for her going, I'm not going to tell you what you did was wrong.

My job is to help you keep getting paid and not get fired.

Yes.

So now the question is, do I take this other job, which has a bonus above and beyond the 100 base,

plus a path for growth, Melanie.

You said this is a job that's a better play for you long term.

Yeah.

Melanie, it's a no-brainer.

Now I'm not working 80 hours a week. Yeah, now you're not working 80 hours a week and you're not cheating on another company.
And again, it may be a lifestyle shift because it's a hybrid idea. And, but maybe you get into that and, and it works and it's great.
And you can, you figure out the logistics with the kids and your kids are in school, which is helpful. or you pan back a year from now and say, wow, this is hard.

So maybe I go back to LMNO company and you find another job. Right.
But, Melody, you do know I'm on Team Melody, right? We love you, Melody. I do.
But listen. I do.
And I just wanted to make sure that I'm not kind of shooting myself in the foot with the $3,000 less that I'd be making. Yeah, but you told us you're not including the bonus in that exercise.
I'm not. So you've got to put the bonus in, amortize that over 12 months, and then you start looking at the monthly amount.
It's not quite $3,000 because you said $97,000. So my point is, I, all in all, it's not going to be that much of a difference at all in the short term.
And we know long term is better if you take this new job. And just for your own benefit, so you're not working 80 hours a week, you're working 40.
Yeah. That's true.
That's true. It frees up a lot.
Thank you so much. I appreciate your input.
Yes. Thanks for calling.
Yeah, Melanie, take the job. Man, you've got to get out of jail free here on this one.

I mean, whoa.

By the way, this is a new trend.

She is not alone.

There are millions of Americans that are professional polygamists.

They have two full-time jobs, and they don't know about each other,

and it is cheating.

I don't care how you slice it.

I'm all for you getting them paid,

but, man, you could get fired and it makes

me nervous, you know? Oh man. This is the Ramsey show.
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career, your relationships, anything and everything, 888-825-5225.

Up next is Karina in Boise.

Hey, Karina, welcome to the show.

Hi.

Thank you.

Yeah, absolutely.

How can we help?

So last week, me and my fiance broke up because we couldn't decide on finances. And also, more importantly, we couldn't decide on how to inherit our kids.
He has two boys and I have one son. And I have a paid for house and I make a bit more money than him.
And he has a house with some equity in it, but he has a roommate on the title and mortgage because I guess they invested together. And then, so I am Christian and I know God wants us to put our spouse before our children, but I think in our arguments, I was just having such a hard time.
And, you know, I haven't been with my fiancé for a week,

but just moving forward with him or without him,

I need to figure it out for the next time that this comes about

and, you know, figure out how to deal with it, you know.

Do you guys share children?

Yes, children. Are your children from different folks you share them what's the situation oh yeah he has team boys with his first wife okay and i have a son and i pretty much raised him alone um his father was not involved okay gotcha okay yeah and what was the disagreement Karina? So I think it all started when I mentioned to him that when I moved into my house, which is paid off, I wanted to leave this as an inheritance to my son because I think I sacrificed a lot of quality time when my friend was little because I was going to school for engineering and I was single and I was working.
So I didn't get to spend that quality time with him. And when I finally got that stability, I wanted to give it to him kind of to make up for what I couldn't do before.
So it's really emotional for me to talk about finances. And my ex-fiance, he wasn't understanding that.
And to this point, I get it. Like, your spouse should come first.
But in terms of finances, I'm just having a hard time dealing with that.

Yeah.

Did you initiate the breakup or did he? It was just kind of mutual. We just kind of got tired of talking about different scenarios and how we can make it work.
And we both argued our points. Like, I know he wants to protect his children, and I want to protect my son in terms of what we have established already.

So what's your question for us specifically? like how how can how do you go about finances in like a second relationship when you already bring in children? Do you, like. Because how old are the kids? Just inherit them or do you just not get married? Yeah.
My son is 21. Okay.
And then his kids, he has a 13- old and a 15 year old okay so no i i i let rachel take the bigger crux of the relationship and money but he's 21 and he has a 15 year old um no my son is 21 my fiance is oh you're oh my gosh i'm so sorry i thought you meant he has more he as in your fiance i'm'm sorry. I apologize.
Yeah, I just want to point out something that's come up twice in the conversation with us. And I just want to get that out of the way and let Rachel kind of help you on this.
And I can weigh in on the marriage stuff too. But this idea that the Bible says that you value your spouse over your kids, this idea that that means you disinherit your son.
No, no, no, no. This is all going to fall under the same umbrella that Rachel's going to advise you on, on y'all being on the same page.
And it doesn't matter if the kids are coming in from previous relationships or not. But no, under no scenario are you going to disavow or, as you're saying, disinherit your son.
That's not part of the equation and if that's part of the conversation it's not healthy and you did the right thing by walking yeah and Karina for you as a mom um because I can only imagine the sacrifices that you made when he was little and that's where a lot of this emotion is coming from and so I feel Like I would I would I would kind of challenge you to say you know this is a symbol this house is a symbol of your hard work you feeling guilty probably a level of mom guilt of leaving your son when he was younger and it's excruciating you know when I would delete my kids I had a four-year-old crying in the garage when I pulled out to come do this show like it's it's not it's not fun like it is it is hard as a mom uh for those working and that you're like oh and so you as a single mom especially went through so much Karina so much in order to have this but I I would I would just challenge you not that this would change your decision but I want you if you can, separate this house and what you did for your son and the relationship you have with your son. This house has become a symbol.
And I don't want it to be the make or break breaking point for you in the future with relationships. And I understand that it's to protect this for your son.
But just as a mom, I don't want you to carry that burden of still feeling like I have to make up for what I did. Because Karina, you did what you had to do.
You were a single mom. And that was the situation you were in.
And so you were not a bad mom for doing this. So giving your house a son or not, giving your son a house or not, doesn't make you a good or bad mom um so i want you to kind of separate that that language in your head because i feel like that's twisted into this decision does that make sense yes um because i i i under and i and i and i applaud you for um being so protective of it because again i i hear what you walk through with.
So it makes sense. But I also don't want this house to be the symbol of what I did and I feel bad.
And now I have to make it up to my son. Because you know what your son wants, Karina? He wants you.
And if he wants his mom to be happy, if this man that you love, your ex-fiance, if that is a relationship that is good for you and it is healthy

and you guys can find the way to reconcile these two things

or this thing of the inheritance, which is a big deal,

but also at the end of the day,

there's a point too of companionship and love in a marriage.

That's the question I have, Karina.

And pardon me for, I was trying to listen.

Are you guys on the same page with debt and everything else?

Or is there also some separation in the way he sees money and debt

and all that stuff?

Because you've done everything the right way.

Where are you guys on the rest of the stuff?

The rest of the money stuff?

I mean, he's good with money. and yeah, he's very smart with money, and I don't think there's an issue there.
I think it's just more about combining households and, you know. Is he on the same page with you? Right, but let me ask you this.
Is he on the same page in relation to debt? That's yes or no. Yes.
Okay. Is he also on the same page that when we come together as a married couple, we combine our finances? Yes.
He is more for that than me. Oh.
He said that we should combine everything,

and at the end of the day, we just split it up.

Like when we both passed away,

we just split it up evenly between all our kids.

Okay, all right, all right.

I'm the one that's kind of like selfish

because I'm like, I'm bringing in more,

and he has two kids, and I have one kid.

Yeah, but Rachel's right.

I hope you heard Rachel.

I'm telling you she's right. So I got to tell you, I'm taking a little bit different tack here.
I think you guys need to have a nice dinner. And I think you guys need to sit down and get this hashed out and say what really matters.
And let's look at the big picture. And you're going to have to let go of some stuff.
I love Rachel's advice there. I want to see her give this a chance.
I know. Because I feel like this is just about the investment through the inheritance.

I know, and it becomes this thing, and we don't want our stuff to own us.

And at that point, it's owning a part of you for good reason.

I understand it, but I want you to have freedom from that,

and I think it's attached to that mom guilt, Karina,

that I really want you to think through.

So thank you for calling.

I hope that helps, and I hope you guys can go the way that you need to go, whether it's together or separate. Thanks for calling.
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Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Excited to have you with us.
I'm Ken Coleman. And the graceful Rachel Cruz is alongside today.
Yeah, I know. I'm trying to look for another adjective.
So how about that? I'll take graceful. You'll take it? All right, very nice.
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All right. Today's question comes from Elizabeth in Missouri.
We have two elementary school age kids, five and seven. We budget for the kids to buy school lunch once a week.
The school is cashless, so we add money to an account to be used for the kids to scan their ID card in the lunch line. In addition to the regular lunch, the school sells snacks at checkout.
We have told the kids that they can get lunch, but would have to pay us back from their piggy bank money for any extra treats that they buy initially we thought this would be a good intro and teaching them about money management but then realized that it's more like buying on a credit card and paying mom and dad back later are we teaching them that credit is okay uh with this plan that they in the cashless system where there's no tangible money to be exchanged uh how else can we teach young kids about money management? Oh, that's funny. No, I don't think that's teaching them about debt.
I'm like, they're buying snacks at the cap. As long as the pain comes from the piggy bank, they're learning.
Yes, yes. And the reality is, too, you're teaching them about money management in 2024.
I mean, there's a lot of cashless vendors and retailers that it is what it is. So what are you going to do with that with your debit card and all? So yeah, that doesn't bother me.
I think this is great actually because treats at school is ground zero for kids learning to kind of be content. You're the queen of contentment over there yeah you know what i mean like you think about it that's where their greatest temptation i know to spend is the treats do you have a story this felt well this just felt close to home because we're our school is the exact same way and there's an app of course that you go and you can load and use apple pay to load the money back in the school lunches all of it um and it turned i didn't know this this is back when my oldest was this was a few years ago when i didn't know how everything worked and one of my friends was like you know you can go back and look and see what all they bought and i was like what no and sure enough tracking little amelia's spending sure enough there were treats upon treats upon treats and i was like sweet girl I know.
I just said Amelia. She was like, well, some of my friends wanted some.
She was buying some for other kids. And I was like, no, no.
So the teachers are great because when they're little like that, like first, second grade, you can email them and even tell the teacher, hey, they're only allowed a treat on Fridays. And they kind of help, you know, manage it.
But some of these kids, it wasn't always just Amelia, but some of these kids are bartering and hey, you pay me that and I'll get you. I mean, they, they figure out how to work the system.
Those little ones. It's like an open air market overseas.
It's amazing. Yeah.
I like it. I like it.
She wasn't buying treats for little Johnny, was she? Do it? Who's little Johnny? I don't know. I'm making it up.
I don't know. I don't think so.
that'd be caroline probably let's be honest i love it i love it all right let's go to davenport iowa where daniel is daniel how can we help today hey jenny rachel how are you doing today good what's going on uh so i'm wondering if i should stay with my current employer or if i should start looking for a different job. Tell me more.
I got to know more. Should we stay or should we go is the question.
So I am a husband and a father. I got three little girls, and I got another one due in about four and a half weeks.
Wow. Congratulations.
Thank you. All girls.
Oof. I'll pray for you.
God bless you. you yeah lots of prayers right now um so my current employer i told them that my family is growing and what i'm making they're just currently isn't cutting it and just being professional i informed them i'm a trucker so i informed them i'm getting my hazardous materials endorsement to get a job that pays me more money a job where I can be home daily so I can be with my girls every night.
Great. They had no problem with that.
They understood. But then they asked me to wait about a couple days to a week later saying that there could be a significant raise coming down the pipe because they did some third-party research in our area and found out that their salary is pretty uh bottom of the barrel okay um so that was about four months months ago and i've been kind of uh politely pestering them and they there has been no raise thus far and every time i ask about it they just say because it has to get shot up to corporate and they say that corporate has not given them an answer thus far.
Yeah, so you're being stonewalled.

Yeah. time I ask about it, they just say, because it has to get shot up to corporate, and they say that corporate has not given them an answer thus far.
Yeah, so you're being stonewalled. So this was four months ago that they told you hang out for about four days or a week.
So I love the fact that you have taken this into your own hands and getting that extra licensing. So when are you eligible to step into that role or driving those hazardous materials, which you the big raise and a better schedule well i've done you have to get like fingerprinting all this stuff through like the federal government and everything i've done all that i literally just have to go to the dmv and take the test i've taken the test twice but it's a very hard test and i missed it by four questions last time so i just passed, get the endorsement, and I can walk onto these jobs.
Let's go. But do not quit yet.
We've got a baby on the way, three girls at home, a lot of responsibilities. Do not leave this current employer until we have the other gig lined up.
That's my clear-cut advice on that. So let's go.
Stop waiting for this current company, my friend. Daniel daniel the current company they're not going to call you back it's it's i remember in high school you know like i'd have some buddies that i know i always got the quick clue rachel but i had some buddies who would ask a girl out about three or four times after the second no it's time to move on you know uh and and they're not answering your question they're kicking it up to corporate and i'm not even sure they're talking to anybody in corporate so the sign is on the wall is what i'm getting at it's time for you to take the next test let's get this thing done and let's move on okay um now i'm only allowed one question correct allowed, I'm being a smart one.
Well, I took this. Oh.
This just takes care of my immediate, but I actually took your Get Clear assessment. Okay, great.
And so I just kind of wanted some guidance on that. Sure.
So I'll just tell you my purpose statement. I got it memorized.
Okay. But I was created to use my talents of instruction.
I thought I had it memorized. my talents of communication, instruction, and imagination to perform my passions of leadership, advising, and performing to fulfill my mission of service by providing assistance and security.
Gotcha. So what's coming off there for me is that's a lot of people work, people and ideas, right? So when it's, there's some creativity in that, but mostly all of those answers we're driving at, you're good at people stuff and you enjoy people work, correct? Correct, yeah.
All right. So at that point now, I mean, if you don't have the book, find the work you're wired to do, I'm going to give it to you.
Do you have the book? Because you need some more coaching. I actually currently have it checked out from the library.
Oh, well, fantastic. I'm going to give it to you for free today.
And from Paycheck to Purpose. Great.
I'll give you both for free today. Christian, let's get this guy hooked up here in just a minute.
We'll give you both for free. But here's what you've got to do.
What you've got to do is take that purpose statement and you now look at that as a job description, okay? Because it's all laid out for you. So now you go, okay, if this is a job description for me, then where in my area, where in the world of work where I live, are jobs open that allow me to do this? It's that simple.
So you're not sitting around scratching your head. What am I supposed to do? So it's, it's, you're going to be doing people work.
You talked about the imagination piece, the instruction piece. So that is a communicative, you have the communication, instruction, and imagination.
That is, you are going to be working with people, training them. The leadership thing popped up there, the advising thing popped up.
So, you know, guide, instructor, coach, that's the type of thing you're looking for. But it may take some time to get into that.
So I really like the path that we're on. Let's move into the hazardous materials right now, as soon as we can.
Bump up that salary. New baby.
Let's get everything stable there. And then let's take the steps next to go into that work that you were absolutely wired to do hang on the line Daniel you're a good man you've already got your sign your current company they're not going to bring the race let's move on hang on the line we'll get you those two books and I'll coach you through via the book quick break she's Rachel Cruz I'm Ken Coleman this This is The Ramsey Show.
We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman.
I'm joined by Rachel Cruz. The phone number is 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225.
We're here to answer your questions. Let's go to Jason, who joins us now in Los Angeles, California.
Jason, how can we help? Hey, thanks for taking my call. Sure.
What's going on today, Jason? So I have a, excuse me, I have a, sorry, I have a quinceanera that my daughter wants to plan. And I don't know if you guys are familiar, but quinceanera is pretty much like a sweet 16.
Yeah, yeah. We, and I'm in a bit of a pickle as to whether I could or I should, or if I could afford it or should I do it? How much is it going to cost? So I'm estimating between $10,000 and $15,000.
Wow. You got an itemized list on that? No.
Another detail on this is that I'm currently going through a divorce with her mother, and this is kind of being planned by her, and these are their prices, kind of, or her prices as far as what they've found.

I'm just trying to see. The problem is that I have just recently actually fully funded my six-month emergency fund, but that takes into account any support that I pay her, my ex-spouse.
I don't know if I'm technically I can dip into that, but it's an emergency fund and this is not an emergency. Yeah, not only that, you can't afford it.
You're calling us, asking, the way that you're talking, we know you can't afford it. Am I right? You can't afford're talking we know you can't afford it am i right you can't afford 10 to 15 and they're expecting you so they're planning like she's planning it and they're going to expect you to foot the whole bill uh not foot the whole bill foot half she was asking for uh at the beginning of all these talks was uh half of it a half of 10 which was five but I don't think that's realistic of what it would cost.

I can, if I save up until the point of when this is supposed to happen, I could probably save about

4,000. Okay.
But I'm just, whether I should do this at this time in my life is a big question. Jason, do you have any other debt, Jason? No, no debt.
No debt, okay, but your fully funded emergency fund, how much do you make a year? Overtime's been good this year, so it's about at $120,000. $120,000, okay.
So here's my two things that I keep thinking as you're talking. Number one, how we define an emergency to actually dip into an emergency fund is when something is unexpected.
So this doesn't really qualify because we know that she's going to be, yeah. Is it, is it, is it 16 years old or is it 15? It's 15.
15. Yeah.
Okay. So we knew she was going to turn 15.
So it's not unexpected. Is it urgent do i have to do it like right now right now right now yeah i guess i guess urgent would somewhat qualify and because there's a date there and is it necessary right so these are the two things so honestly this whole thing it does not check off all those boxes for me so no it's technically not an emergency um so that's that's one part of discussion.
The second part is that you could bring together some money, right? And let's just say and pretend that it is $10,000. They want you to do $5,000.
You could save $4,000. Could you take $1,000 out of the emergency fund to get to the $5,000? Sure.
Like you could, right? I mean, it's not the end of the world. But my biggest problem with all of that, though, Jason, is that just like weddings, just like weddings just like another party just like vacations anything if you don't keep a strict budget and have a limit to what you're going to spend it gets expensive more expensive i mean a house even when you build a house same thing like the line continues to move so jason if you decide to do this and to save the 4 000 for her which i think would be great right like i don't think that necessarily a bad thing.
Okay, Ken's not that happy about it. If you do it, though, there has to be very clear communication and boundaries with your future ex-wife to say, and your daughter, I would bring her in on it and say, guys, this is what's going on.
Here's what I will have for you. This is it.
This is all I can do in good conscience and in good faith at where i am in life this is what i have work with that right and you set the tone you set the amount on what you can do jason because if you tell them sure i'll do half it's going to go from 10 to 15 to 20 and there's going to be no boundaries so you have to set that boundary okay ken's dying over here dying i'm dying i agree with everything rachel said i just want to say this i'm going to try i'm going to i'm going to answer this as if i was in your shoes and i don't i don't know if there's any special features to this party so i'm completely ignorant uh but if my daughter josie who by the way turns 15 tomorrow uh if she came to me and said i want a big party and i've got a budget i think it's going to be 10 i would ask for an itemized list there's no way i'm even going to give four five six without seeing where what are the specific where is the where in the world is 10 grand going for a party for a bunch of 15 year olds so i'm starting there um and and so i would say that everything rachel said is absolutely right you give your number after they give you numbers you don't just get well it's going to be 10 maybe 12 maybe 15 you give half and and you you you have to ask for specifics and have a real conversation with their daughter and you're in a very tough situation now with the divorce. And now she's got two.
And don't let the guilt right over that, Jason. Just say, baby, here's the deal.
Okay. Give me your budget.
What do you want for your party? Let's just walk through it. Let's teach her.
This is a teaching moment to go, yeah, I'd like to drive a Lamborghini, but I can't. And so I know you want a $10,000 party, but guess what? Me and mom can't do a $10,000 party, but we can make it an amazing party.
And this is how much money I can give towards an amazing party. I think that's the conversation.
Well, it's not I think. That's exactly how I would talk it over with my daughter, Josie.
I'd get her wish list, get real numbers. And then how can I meet her expectations in a much more budget conscious way? I think that's where you start.
It takes the pressure off because now you're dealing in reality. And then you go, look, babe, this is what I can do.
Yeah. And this stuff, Jason, and I know it's such a cultural part, right? I can see it.
Like, I know that it is. And I know, like, you know, and I remember we had a guy call, I it was from India, and the wedding that he wanted to spend was like half a million dollars.
So like I totally am aware that there are certain things culturally that the expectation is really big. But culture should never outrule common sense.
But that's it too. So I'm like, and you could say that about the American culture, right? Weddings you could plug in other things so so you do have to there's going to be multiple areas jason within you that you're going to have to be like this oh this is not doesn't feel right it's not what i wanted but part of being a grown-up too jason is looking at the numbers what ken's saying and it's like here's just here's the reality here's the reality of what we have and what I have and what I can do.

So coming back to you, Jason, you have a real number in your head that you feel like I can't afford. You feel like a guy who's in control of his money situation.
You sound really stable. What's the number that you go, if I set it on fire for my daughter, it wouldn't bother me.
It wouldn't give me a Maalox moment. What is that number? Well, right now, the big thing that is heavy on me is that I haven't even gotten into my investing portion of my life for the future.

I get that, but you didn't answer my question.

What's the number that if you know I can give this money to my daughter

and I'm not going to lose sleep over it?

As of now, I would say maybe for something like this, $3,000. Okay.
Then now we've got a starting number. Yeah.
I'm trying to coach you through this practically. You've got a number where you go, I know you don't want to spend any money because you think you're behind.
You're not. You're going to be fine on your investing.
You've got to weather this divorce. You've got to figure out what the payments are going to be and all that,

and you're going to restart.

But you're okay.

But if the number is $3,000 where you go,

that's my baby girl.

She wants this.

I can give her $3,000.

Then let's start with that.

Then go get the itemized list.

Let's see if we can get closer to it. That's what I'm trying to do is get you to a point where you don't let guilt

run the day and make a bad financial decision. And I think the 3,000 is a common sense number.
Would you agree? I would say so, yeah. All right.
And your ex-wife's not going to like it. Yeah.
So prep for that. And your daughter may not like it.
She don't like you right now anyway, so we're not losing that deal. I mean, I'm not trying to be insensitive.
I'm just keeping it real. What are you going to do? Make her not want to be married to you more? I mean, we've already crossed that bridge.
So you got to stick to your guns, man, and get the itemized list. Yeah, Jason, you're a good man.
You're going to be fine. It's going to be a great party.
Rachel, by the way, will come do a dance or something. Send that request.
15-year-old girls.

That'll be great.

You'll tell a story.

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Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show.
Thrilled to have you with us. 888-825-5225 is the number to jump in.
888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman.
Rachel Cruz joins me this hour. Let's go to Preston, who joins us now in Dallas, Texas.
Preston, how can we help? Hey, how's it going, Ken? Thank you all for having me this morning. Sure.
You know I'm a married guy with three kids. We've got a good income of about $185,000, $190,000 a year, but it seems like we are hemorrhaging money through our miscellaneous budget item and our food item.
You know, we've got one car loan. We've got about $12,000 left on that.
I've got some medical debt. We had a child this year, so we've got about $6,000 there.
And then we've got just some student loans left over that amount to about $4,500. And then a mortgage that's about $200,000 left.
So total debt is about $222,000. We make $185,000, $190,000.
And it feels like at the end of the month we just have nothing left.

I really just kind of wanted to get some insight on what should a family spend, you know, monthly in a miscellaneous item, maybe in the food budget.

But we are just spending pretty much what we earn.

And, you know, we've gone up in salaries over the last five years tremendously.

We've doubled what we make, but we're still spending everything we make. And so I cannot figure out how to get over that hump.
Yeah, it's the classic lifestyle creep, right? It's just a little bit here and there. And over time, that starts to become your norm.
And then you just add a little bit more, add a little bit more. And then you look up and you're exactly, yeah, what you're saying.
Preston, are you guys doing a very detailed budget? Very detailed. I am in accounting, which is kind of ironic that I'm not good at accounting my own expenses.
But, you know, we set a food budget of, let's say, $1,500 to $2,000 a month. And then you sit there and go, hey, we just spent $3,000 on food.
And you sit there and go, how are we doing that? Well, as George would like to not hear, we eat out all the dang time. Yeah, that's it.
That's it. I mean, yeah.
But yeah, let's go out to eat a TV year. I know.
And we all know that we're going to spend way more there than we do eating at home. But it's really just frustrating be well there's no that's what's hard about this Preston is with personal finance we always say it's it's 80 behavior it's 20 head knowledge so you have the head knowledge of the numbers down with the budget of here's what we're going to do but then you guys are not living on the plan that you've created you're going over a thousand dollars in're throwing, you know, a few hundred bucks here or there throughout the month on all this other stuff.
And so when you realize that it's more of a discipline problem with you guys and the choices that you're making in everyday expenses, it is. It's sucking the life out of y'all.
What I would do, Preston, I would challenge you guys to say, and you know, if you hold on the line, I'm going to give you the premium version of EveryDollar because I think EveryDollar is one of the most helpful budgeting tools because it's going to be able to connect to your bank and you're going to be able to really be able to see in the way they do the paycheck planning and everything. It's just, it's a, it's a really well, easy thing to see.
see and your wife can have the same login so you guys both have the app on your phone and I would practice Preston acting like you guys make 80 okay act like you're like you're making 80 grand and do a budget off of that and just see what see what happens say okay we then that means we have to way cut back here. That means these, you know, 18 subscriptions we're paying for, we can't do that.
That means maybe the kids that are doing the fun little gym classes every two days a week, they're not going to do that anymore. Like, you will have to cut back because I want you to take that 80 grand or more, quote unquote, I'm kind of just using a random number, but I want you paying off the student loan, student loan the car loan I mean all these loans that you guys have beside your mortgage you guys could get this knocked out so quickly and what I love about this we always just call it gazelle intense because it is deep sacrifice you are running like your hair's on fire and it's like it is scorched earth it's like we're doing nothing we're doing nothing and we're

cutting back and so that means maybe even cutting back more than 80 i was just saying as a fun mathematical game on the budget just look to see what you would cut start there and then i would trim back as as much as you guys can preston because i want you guys to feel progress with your money and it feels like you're spinning your wheels you got all this debt hanging around, you're living still paycheck to paycheck. And there's been no progress.
And so in order to get these wins, like there's some stuff in lifestyle that you will cut and it'll hurt. It will not be fun.
And I know with a new baby, it's like you guys are all exhausted. I get it.
But this is the time to do it, to buckle down and say it's now or never. It's for a short period of time because then when all that's gone, Preston, I mean, how much is going out in payments for this debt per month besides your mortgage? Do you have that? How much is going out just to debt? I do.
So for our medical debt, we actually, we've got a high deductible insurance plan. So we've got an HSA that I've got that set up to wipe that out in a year to where, you know, that doesn't hang around.
So that's automatically off the top. And then we've got my wife's car loan that we pay about $2,500 a month on it.
Holy crap. What kind of car is it? We're taking some chunks at this.
Oh, you're paying extra. You're paying extra.
Oh, okay. Payment's only $500.
Okay. Okay.
But I think we've got more in the budget. But, you know, we just, once we get to

the end of the month to make an extra payment, it's not there. And it's just super frustrating.
Yeah. I mean, it's because you're living like you're making $1.90 and spending everything.
Yeah. So let's just look at this.
What's the smallest debt that you have? That would be the student loans.

You know, we've got three of them for the Sally Mae loans, but they total about $4,500. Okay, so instead of focusing on the $12,000 car loan, focus on the student loan and go ahead and just get that knocked out.
So what's the payment? What's the minimum payment on the student loan right now, the three of them together, if they're all a bunch? And that's the bad deal is youall know they're in forbearance, so we haven't even been paying on them. We've been just chunking at her car loan, and I know that's not what baby step two is for that gazelle intensity.
Here's the point I'm trying to make. If you stay with this, if you stay with this, and you work this plan, you guys cut.
First of all, you need to stop eating out. Like like no more.
You guys got to stop. You got to get everybody on board.
Eat turkey sandwiches at night. Do eggs and bacon for dinner.
I mean, like you can do cheap meals, right, for a season. It's not forever.
You're an accountant. Your issue is not the numbers.
The issue is the behavior. And if you guys try it for one month and go, you know what, we're all in.
we're not going to eat out one time at all just to see how much money you can save extra.

And the point is we knock out the student loans, then we knock out the car pay, and all of a sudden you've got more margin than you realize.

Here's the, I know you're discouraged, but you've got more margin in that budget than you realize.

But you've got to change your spending habits.

And if you do that, and if we can get some extra income, we sell some stuff

in this debt snowball, whatever we got, we can find margin pretty quickly. As detailed as you are,

grasping the numbers, you and your wife have got to sit down and go, if we do this, and then we do

this, and we do this like crazy for the next six, 12 months, here's how much progress we'll make.

And then all of a sudden you go, oh, this is doable. I think you're just discouraged right

now. And Preston, I'll add on that for Ken, because this is always helpful for me.

and I'll see on that for Ken because this is always helpful for me whenever we're doing a big goal so whether for you it's getting out of debt or you know it's saving up for something look at the time frame run the numbers like what we're saying and just know and say okay we are confident you know it's July right now so we are confident you know by dang Christmas by dang Christmas, we're going to be, we're going to do it from now till Christmas. It's just, it's go time or whatever the date is, but have that date because that gives you the light at the end of the tunnel that you're not going to like live in this world forever and ever.
Amen. You can actually enjoy what you're working, but you're not enjoying your money now because again, I think so much of it is this debt and so much of it is that lifestyle.
Because once you guys pay this off, do you have any savings at all, Preston? Do you guys have cash in the bank? Yeah, we have some, but not enough to cover any of it. How much? We've got our emergency fund just to start emergency fund.
Okay, so you got $1,000. That's where you're at.
Yeah. Can you sell your wife's car? We're running out of time, but you got to look at everything, man.
Selling cars, everything. You got to reduce your monthly payments and increase your income.
So for you, my friend, I know you're an accountant, but there's a lot of gig work right now for accountants. I'd be working 60, 80 hours a week doing accounting work because you can get paid very well for freelance work.

Income goes up, expenses go down.

You guys get an access to quick.

Like, get after it.

And then you'll see some breathing room,

and then you realize, okay, we can stay the course.

Thanks for the call.

You'll get there, Preston.

This is The Ramsey Show.

I talk to people every day who want to know how to do better in two areas, money and relationships. That's why I'm pumped to bring the Money and Relationships Tour to a city near you.
Join me and Dr. John Deloney for a night that will challenge the way you think about this stuff and possibly change how you live forever.
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Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. Thrilled to have you with us.
I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me as we are here taking your calls, 888-825-5225.

We're talking about your life, whether that's your money situation, your work situation. We are here to help today.
Let's go to Ogden, Utah. Connor is there.
Connor, how can we help? Yeah, thank you for taking my call. So my wife and I are about ready to move out of our home.
We have a little daughter and we're outgrowing it. Um, so I've been looking at our options and, uh, because my parents are so generous and we've been so blessed, uh, they told us about a week ago that they're going to be giving all their kids, uh, an inheritance early so they could watch them spend it.
And inheritance is about $300,000. Wow.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

And so that opens up a lot of options for us. We have been kind of weighing it in our heads.
And one of the things is our current home is in a college town and we've been thinking about maybe just paying that off with $100,000 or $115,000 is what we owe on it still, and then renting it out, and then using the other $200,000 as a down payment to our next house, which would get us a comfortable house payment. But the other option is we thought maybe we would just sell this house now and take the $200,000 in equity and put it towards our next down payment along with $300,000 or whatever to basically buy our next house in cash and not have a house payment.
So we're just trying to figure out between those two options what would you, maybe there's another option that I'm not thinking about either that you can fill me in on. No, not off the top of my head of what you guys want to do.
I mean, i think this is a really smart move and i think a beautiful way to honor your parents and the the legacy and the inheritance that they're giving you i'm sure they would appreciate seeing this versus taking 18 trips around the world or something i mean i don't know there's something about it that it's like oh there's like a stability. It's an investment.
Which way are you leaning? I'm curious to know, are you two leaning the same way? One of you leaning one way, one leaning the other? My wife is leaning a little bit towards the renting. And I'm kind of honestly in the middle.
I could see it either way. I like the idea of having that extra stream of income coming in every single month.
But there's also that feeling of just not having any debt at all with our next home and just being free and clear. Connor, do y'all want to be landlords? Like the idea of an investment property sounds like, oh, that sounds great.
And yes, there's passive income. And I come from a real estate family.
My husband loves real estate. So I get it.
But because of that, I also know all of the work that goes in. And then you said college town that I'm sure you can find the great group of college students to rent it out, but you're also renting it out to college students.
So, or possibly, you could obviously not do that. But I mean, the landlord thing, that's not just a, oh yeah, that's cool and fun.
I mean, it ends up kind of being a part-time job. And if you're working full-time-time i'll be honest it may land into your wife's lap of her having to go and fix this the sink breaks and they you know like it's it's a it's a thing too so i just want you guys to keep in mind so it is a great a great way to have um passive income but if i were you i would just be free and clear and then if you guys want to up, because you won't have a mortgage if you just sold it and then paid cash for your primary residence.
Yeah. I mean, that's phenomenal.
Then you could save up a lot. And if you guys chose to go into real estate investing, then you could and start small, maybe even a different location.
Right. Yeah.
So fun little exercise. How much do you think you could get per month for that house in the college town? If you paid it off with some of this inheritance, how much? $13.50 is about what the rent would be.
Okay. So, again, you know, what's that going to end up being? $18,000, $19,000, $20,000? I'm not really great at math, but somewhere in that range, right? Mm-hmm.
$15,000, $16,000, something like that. So you have to sit there with your wife and go, okay, here's the income that this would spit off, but that doesn't include the expenses which Rachel was touching on.
I was about to say, it's not going to just be that. It's not going to be free and clear, $15,000 to $18,000.
You're going to have to replace carpet in three years. You're going to probably repaint the wall.
I mean, it's just, yeah, it's a thing. I learned that one from George.
I was with George Campbell, threw that at a caller the other day. I was like, that's a really good exercise because it's like, is it worth? Is it worth all the work? Let's just call it net, just for easy numbers, $14,000 a year.
You're going to have expenses. You're just going to.
And you got all of this for $14,000? and to Rachel's point, what's the trade-off on a huge down payment or buying a house cash in this point in your marriage? So I'd get rid of the house too. I really would.
But you've got to sit down with your wife and cast vision on that. I don't think there's a wrong answer here.
That's correct. Because one of them is going to be paid off.
If you were going to still have debt on it and debt on a primary residence, I would tell you to get rid of it, hands down. But for it being paid off, there's not, yeah, it's not right or wrong.
It's just truly where you guys want to put your time and your efforts. You know, if it's my dad or my husband, they're probably going to keep it because they love real estate.
And they're like, oh, it is worth it because of, you know, they they just it's part of what they love but to me i'm like and to call it oh man i just remember that i remember renting a house in college oh man winston lived with like six guys in a rental house it was disgusting i'm already disgusting it was terrible oh yeah block parties and games and all that kind of stuff. We were good renters, though.

My group of friends.

We were very clean.

We took care of that house.

I was an old soul.

Yeah.

In the college days.

Yeah.

I think you're still an old soul.

I'll take it.

Not as old as me, though, apparently.

Not quite north of the border.

What kind of is.

Melissa's up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Don't get me started on Chattanooga.
Melissa, how can we help? Hi, Rachel. Hi, Ken.
It is a pleasure to speak with you today. I'm so grateful.
I'm in a situation now. I have a possible fork in my career path, and I'm hoping you can kind of help me unpack it a little bit.
Sure. So what's going on? I had my quarterly check-in with my supervisor today.
Now, kind of a back story. We work for a big company who has two retail locations.
I work for the smaller of the two, and it's quite a bit smaller. I manage, I oversee it, and I have three teammates who work for me.
So we've been working really, really hard for a few years now, even through COVID and all of that, on expanding, growing, providing more service for people. And we're at the point where the company or the building that we rent, we're possibly having our lease being bought out by somebody else who shares the building.
Now, we're not in a position where we can rent a new location. We've got a really sweet deal at this building.
So what it sounds like, I've got probably a 60 to 75% chance that we are going to close my location and we're going to be absorbed into the bigger location. My teammates will blend just fine.
The thing that we run into is my position. My director is super awesome, super supportive, and really thinks that there is a path of progression for me to take her position as she plans to exit the company in the next two to three years.
I'm not so confident, but I'm also kind of interested. I think maybe it would be a huge leap from assistant manager to director.
But I'm just not sure what I want to think right now. It's a lot.
I get it. So what would the interim look like? So if they shut this down, the smaller location where you're in a manager position, and then you go to the bigger location, you're underneath that director, what role are you in? Are you making the same amount of money? We just started discussing that.
It would be a new role created for me, sort of a GM in training along with whatever else. So I actually get a legit paycheck with a legit job at the other location while I'm training and helping that business grow, but also learning the role for me to be a director over there.
Okay. If you knew that the path was two to three years, it was guaranteed you were going to replace her, would you be on the phone with us? I'm pretty sure it could happen.
I'm just not sure if it's the right choice for me. That's what I'm asking.
If that makes sense. Yeah, okay.
So you're not sure if that's the long-term play for you. And I love that.
So how soon is a decision going to be made where you're going to have to choose? I got about 30 seconds. So give me the quick answer.
We're looking at probably end of year, we'll know what's going to happen with the lease. All right.
So here's what I would decide if I'm staying or going. All right.
So here's what I would do. I would spend time right now thinking about your long-term future, knowing that you have a safe option to at least take this for the interim

while you still figure this out. Okay.
So I just want you to breathe, stay with the company until

you figure it out long-term. Hang on the line.
Let's get you an assessment, the Get Clear Career

Assessment. I'll give that to you, a link and a code.
I want you to take that as you consider

long-term what your options are, but I'm glad you're stable right now. Thank you for the call.
This is The Ramsey Show. Listen, guys, I've heard just about every excuse for why folks think they can't get ahead with money.
So let's go ahead and settle this right now. The truth is you get to decide what happens with your money.
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Go to RamseySolutions.com slash insurance, RamseySolutions.com slash insurance. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show.
I'm Ken Coleman joined by Rachel Cruz. Thrilled you are with us.
The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.
Levi joins us next in Reno, Nevada. Levi, how can we help? How are you all doing today? Well, we're having a blast, Levi.
What's up? Well, I wanted to say thank you first off. Started listening to you guys about six months ago, and it's really made an impact.
Awesome. I can't actually just started binging yours, looking to change careers soon, but that's what I've got to do with my questions.
Yeah, great. So I've never been married, and I've got a girl who I want to propose to.
Where does that fall on the baby steps as far as buying a ring, and how much should someone spend? I just finished paying off all my debt last week. Wow, congratulations.
Congratulations. How much did you pay off? It was about, I'd say about $20,000 in six months.
Nice. Nice, Levi.
Congratulations. That's impressive.
What's your emergency fund going to be? Three or six months? Four months? Five months? And how much will that be? Right now, it could be very little. I'm in a unique situation where I don't have rent, which is how I paid everything off so quick.

Awesome.

But which rent in this area?

$20,000 would be a good one.

Okay.

All right.

How much are you thinking on the ring?

We have Rachel here, which I feel like is an expert on this.

When it comes to jewelry, she's the expert in the room.

No, I think our rule of thumb is one month's salary.

Oh. Is what we's salary.
Oh.

Is what we would recommend.

Oh.

And where does that fall as far as should I be focusing on getting that emergency fund before spending, you know, $3,000? It would be nice to have some But also

I'm like

We don't tell people to like stop the baby steps to get married and to do all this so if you can do both at the same time uh save some money for the emergency fund and then be saving on the side too for the ring how long you've been dating ideal i've been with her for two and a half years and we actually lived together and her elderly parents uh who did not know anything about ramsay live with us oh boy that was a loaded chuckle that was a loaded chuckle what does that mean uh they they had no money saved up uh one of them actually needs to be in a nursing home. All right.
We can't afford it. So in all seriousness now, I'm assuming that she's going to say yes, right? You feel pretty confident we're going to get a yes out of this.
Is there expectations for the parents to give you all to continue to live together and for you all to have to take care of them, that's a pretty heavy burden. Yes, it's a package deal.
She's from Guam. It's just kind of their culture.
Got it. And you're all in on this? Yes.
Okay. All right.
That's great. Yeah, so Levi, to answer your question, I would do both.
Well, now that I know what I know, Rachel, I'm going to tell him to wait. Get the emergency fund fully funded.
They're living together. I mean, what, are we going to wait a couple more months? I'd wait and get the emergency fund.
Well, Mike, you're basically married. You're playing married.
So I want you married as soon as possible. Oh, I see what you're doing there.
Yeah, I'd go quicker.

I would say save it up.

Could you pick a flush fund in the budget?

Yep, yep, and just put some money aside.

Yes.

Will you guys want a wedding,

or are you guys kind of low-key with it and no big deal?

I'm definitely low-key.

Yeah?

She will want some kind of ceremony.

I've never been married.

She has been. Okay.
So the ceremony is important but yes very inexpensive yep that's great so be cash flowing that as well um and then once you guys get married combining your incomes and all of this and if you have anything left to build up the emergency funds uh do that but i would i would um yeah i'd get married as soon as i would i would get married yeah you guys know do you know where you're gonna get registered he has no idea what i just said do you even know what that means i don't oh that's so great i knew it well uh she can explain it to you it's where married that's where engaged couples they they go and they put their gifts together Oh, you old man. Levi.
I just think that's funny. You know where to get registered?

Levi. That's where engaged couples, they go and they put their gifts together.
I know, you old man. He's like, Levi? I just think that's funny.
You know where to get registered? You do, Ken? I could tell. I think it's funny because Levi is so naive, and I think that that's really great.
He doesn't understand about all the stuff he's about ready to get into. They're older.
We got married young, so the registering was really exciting. The younger you are, I feel like the more exciting that stuff is.
I just thought it was funny. I brought no redeeming value at all.
I agree. Let's go to David in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
David, how can we help? Yeah, I wanted your take on a reverse mortgage. I'll be turning 65 next year and getting tired of construction work.
Iondering if I could go part-time and use a reverse mortgage so that I can stay in the house that we had built for a few years longer. No, David.
No, we do not recommend reverse mortgages because it does exactly what it says. It puts you back in reverse.
You guys are progressing, paying off your house and building this equity and you're going to start right back over and so it's it is a product that is marketed to 60 plus you know whenever you look at any even even i mean seriously no it's true seriously david it really is i'm calling because it is it's doing exactly what you are thinking it's like oh that's kind of nice i can

pull back from work all of that and that that it's not it's not the way to go because you're going to be losing equity in it and and it's it's not smart not smart at all so what david you said you're 64 i'll be 65 in january okay okay and uh how much you guys have left on the mortgage uh We've got left on it about $180,000 and it's valued at almost $500,000. Oh, nice.
Do you guys have any other debt? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we've had the land forever.
We've got about $20,000 in debt. Okay.
But we keep paying off and going on vacation and running back up and then paying it off. Okay, David.
Listening to you guys has been a good send.

Good.

How much do you guys make a year?

We make about $65,000 a year.

$65,000.

Okay.

Is it all credit card debt?

Yes.

Well, yes, it is credit card debt.

Because here's the thing, too, David.

And that might be high on the credit card debt.

It's probably more like about $10,000.

Okay.

So what's the other debt of the $20,000?

What else do you owe?

Maybe some medical and the wife.

We've been budgeting quite well.

And it's something that we've learned over the years to uh try and keep a control on that spending beast okay and david do you guys have anything in retirement about 30 40 000 okay um okay i've got i've got some property that i'll be selling. Okay.
I've had it for years.

And by all means, I'll start selling some of my heavy equipment that I've got that haven't been using. Okay.
So, if you sell the land, liquidate property, or liquidate the machines, everything, how much do you think you'll come out? Probably close to $300,000. Oh.
Okay. Nice.
because I'm just thinking of your retirement and you guys long term because i know you probably want to pull back from working for sure um but these the habits that you guys have been in david like you said like well we go on vacation we pay some stuff off we go back all this this reverse mortgage it's going to just magnify the bad habits that you guys have created so it's not going to to be good for you in any sense. It's not a great, it's a terrible situation in general, but also when you, when you guys are not, you're not being disciplined in it.
And so I would, if I were you and your wife, I would sit down and really map out a plan and say, okay, we are 65 years old. We owe 180 still in the mortgage.
You got $30,000 in retirement, $20,000 in debt. And it's time to really start cleaning this up, David.
I mean, honestly, be paying off this debt as quickly as possible. You guys need some savings in the bank for an emergency fund.
And then we're going to start piling on retirement and whether that means selling the land early to get some money in. But I want to be able to map out, I want you to be able to map out a plan to get you to retirement and reversing the mortgage doesn't do that.
It gets you back into a horrible situation. You're not pressing forward when you do that.
Yeah, great advice there. And hey, you still got time and you've got some assets that you're going to be able to get a windfall of cash.
So really dive into the baby steps, really walk it out. Hey, David, hold on the line.
Austin's going to pick up and give you guys a free trial at the Financial Peace University. I want you and you to watch to go through it.
That'll do it for this hour of the Ramsey Show. Thank you so much for being with us.
What up? What up? It's Dr. John Deloney from the Dr.
John Deloney Show with some amazing news. The latest episode of United States of Anxiety is available right now exclusively on the Ramsey

Network app. This docuseries follows real people from my show as they embark on a 90-day journey

to transform their lives, and I personally walk alongside them every step of the way.

Okay, now here's a sneak peek of what the new episode is all about.

And don't forget to click the link in the show notes to download the app.

What's up, Kelsey?

So I've lived with crippling anxiety for as long as I can remember.

How do I stop it from constantly coming up in different areas of my life?

What does crippling anxiety mean? Paint me a picture of that. All right, so you ready to jump in? I'm ready to jump in.
We're going to check in with Kelsey. 30 days, 60 days, 90 days.
I cannot even function because I'm just crying. My mom left us when I was four.
I truly felt like for a while I had no family. She's experiencing things that really hurt a long time ago.
Tell me about this boy. He triggers me a lot.
Scared of losing Paul, scared of doing the wrong thing, scared of not being enough. It just feels like it would be exhausting to be Kelsey.
It is. Whenever somebody's playing whack-a-mole with their anxiety, when it just keeps moving, that tells me the underlying system's not okay.

How do I get my inner child out of this relationship?

Because I feel like she's running the show.

One of two people that's supposed to never leave took off.

I was this burden.

You're a burden, that's right.

To the one person who should carry it, all of it.

Did you ever tell that little girl that it wasn't her fault?

I don't know what to do.

Do you either have to choose to let this guy love you

or you got to choose to let this guy go?