Learn the Power of the Magical Word, “NO”

Speaker 1 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 actual, amazing relationships.

Speaker 1 Number one best-selling author and host of The George Campbell Show, a big hit on YouTube on the Ramsey Network. Mr.
George Campbell himself is my co-host today.

Speaker 1 Open phones here as we talk to you about your life and your money. 888-825-5225 is the number.
888-825-5225. The call is free, and some say the advice is worth exactly what you pay for it.

Speaker 1 Megan's going to start us off. Megan is in New Orleans.
Hi, Megan. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

Speaker 2 Hey, guys. Thanks so much for taking my call.

Speaker 1 Sure. What's up in your world?

Speaker 2 Okay, so I have a question.

Speaker 2 And just to paint a small picture, my husband and I, we've been married for seven years. We have no debt other than the mortgage on our house.

Speaker 2 And so we're very thankful and have worked very hard for that. We've got two young kids.

Speaker 2 to establish an emergency fund and retirement accounts and college savings for them. But with all of that said, my parents parents are really not on a same financial path as we are.

Speaker 2 My dad is in his 80s now and still works full-time.

Speaker 2 My mom does not work and she hasn't worked before, but just recently they've been bringing up to us, kind of my husband and I, that they don't know what they're going to do for retirement.

Speaker 2 They have no retirement savings, very little in a savings account. They're not even really in a place to afford the house that they own with the money that they're making.

Speaker 2 And we're starting to get this feeling that they're they're expecting us to take care of them at some point or to do something to help them.

Speaker 2 And without tapping into our own retirement or savings for our children's college and things like that, we're just really not in that type of space. And so, my question is:

Speaker 2 is it too late for them to start putting together a retirement plan?

Speaker 2 What are some options for them, or how best really, what kind of boundaries do we need to set as a young family in helping out that other generation in retirement. Wow.

Speaker 1 I mean, it sounds almost ludicrous to just say out loud, he's 80 and now he thought about retirement.

Speaker 1 Golly, wow.

Speaker 1 Who's late to the party here?

Speaker 1 Like 20 years. Oh, my gosh.
Oh, man. So he's working every day and he's 80.

Speaker 2 Yes, every single day. And he's one of these people.
He loves to work so I think he always will.

Speaker 1 And at one point

Speaker 4 for right every day.

Speaker 1 But you can't always. You don't always have that as an option.

Speaker 1 I mean

Speaker 1 his health may fail him.

Speaker 1 What does he make?

Speaker 2 So he's I want to say he's making around

Speaker 2 right at about $100,000 total because he does have Social Security coming in as well.

Speaker 2 But around $100,000.

Speaker 2 But my mom has never worked. And so the question kind of is, if and when one of them passes before the other, what are they going to do?

Speaker 2 And that's where they're turning to us is this younger generation and asking us that question.

Speaker 2 And I don't really know what to say. You know, and the Bible teaches us to honor our father and mother, but how does that translate into something like this? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, let me address that before I forget it.

Speaker 1 Honoring. your parents means you honor the position of fatherhood.
It's like honoring the president. I may or may not agree with the president, but I honor the position of president.

Speaker 1 Does that make sense? And I can still disagree with the president

Speaker 1 because he might be wrong, you know, that kind of stuff, right? So

Speaker 1 if mom's doing cocaine, we don't honor that, okay? That's a misbehavior, but we honor her position as mother. Does that make sense? So we can honor them, and it doesn't require we give them money.

Speaker 1 That scripture has nothing to do with giving them money.

Speaker 5 So if there's no financial obligation, you can still not respect the honor.

Speaker 1 I mean, you just honor them, but it's just like, gosh, okay.

Speaker 1 Well, I think

Speaker 1 we got to head this off at the pass.

Speaker 1 And I think it's just time for a real clear in-person talk the next time you're in town and the holidays are coming up. So here we go.
Right.

Speaker 1 So we're going to sit down with them and leave your husband out of it and leave

Speaker 1 whoever else out of it and just sit down and go, mom and dad, couple things. One is, I love you and I'm worried about you.

Speaker 1 Two is, what's your plan? Three is, I'm not your plan.

Speaker 1 Okay?

Speaker 1 And so since I'm not your plan, I will coach you. I will cheer for you.
I will help you in any way I can. I don't have the financial mathematical bandwidth to be your plan.

Speaker 1 So if you've got this in your head that somehow I'm going to pick this up when one of you can't, we need to talk about what happens, dad, if you can't work anymore because your health fails.

Speaker 1 We need to talk about what happens, mom, if dad dies and $100,000 a year is not coming in anymore. How are you going to stay in this house?

Speaker 1 We need to talk about, because I want to love you all well and ask and walk with you as you face what looks like some very difficult decisions to me that you're going to be making.

Speaker 1 And I hurt for you, and I want to help if I can in the coaching and share shareing aspect, but not in the financial aspect.

Speaker 1 And I think you say all that out loud. What you might discover is that,

Speaker 1 you know, that they maybe have done something you don't even know about. Maybe they're further ahead than you think.
Maybe they're worse off than you think. But knowing

Speaker 1 if they open up the, if they put their cards on the table face up, knowing what's going on is going to be a lot better for you than just guessing, because guessing always makes us think it's worse than it is.

Speaker 5 And some tactical pieces you can do, do, Megan, is sit down with them and go, let's make a budget together. We're going to sit down and use every dollar.

Speaker 5 Let me get you connected to a Smart Investor Pro. Let's get you investing some of this $100,000 while you still have it.
Let's look at your total debt load. Do you need to downsize an home?

Speaker 5 What sacrifices must be made for you guys to retire with dignity? You can help them answer the questions, but I would not just start funding their misbehavior for the last 20 years.

Speaker 1 You do not have a moral, ethical.

Speaker 1 or moral or ethical or spiritual obligation to write them checks.

Speaker 2 And that's what we've been worried about. You know, and we want to see them do well.
And we've had some of these initial conversations saying, we don't have that bandwidth.

Speaker 1 Okay, what are they saying?

Speaker 2 So they,

Speaker 2 I think it may be just some of their own nervousness coming in. They kind of laugh it off a little bit

Speaker 2 and kind of joke saying, and this has been said by my mom, like,

Speaker 2 well, I'll just move in with you guys and help take care of your children.

Speaker 2 And that's, that's not really the

Speaker 1 plan that we want.

Speaker 1 And just say, you know, mom, I love you, but I would kill you if you moved in here and you would kill me. And so we don't want any murders.
So we need a different plan.

Speaker 5 She might stop laughing and go, oh, gosh, that was too real.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 1 But these are tough boundaries conversations.

Speaker 1 We're going to sell your house and we're going to buy you a condo that's one-tenth the size of this house. You're going to pay cash for it and live on Social Security, mom.

Speaker 1 That's what you're going to do. And that's going to be your best life now.

Speaker 1 And,

Speaker 1 you know, you just got to work. You got to push them on through it.
And the problem is it's just very difficult. It's very difficult.
But I don't want you to have,

Speaker 1 I don't want you to misinterpret that scripture and let that be turned into an enabling vibe. And that's what you're, that's what you're struggling with.
You're like, I want to be a good daughter.

Speaker 1 I want to be a good spiritual person, but I don't want to be an enabler.

Speaker 1 And it feels like they've been not dealing with this, and now they're going to want me to deal with it since they didn't deal with it. And that's that's most of America right now, by the way.

Speaker 5 Yeah, this is an epidemic. They call them silver squatters, Dave, relying on the kids.
Silver squatters, don't like it, but that's what they called it.

Speaker 1 Got little silver hair going, and they just squatted right there in the old living room and said, I'm going to take care of your kids. I'm going to take care of your kids.
The Silver Squatters.

Speaker 1 Oh, that's awful. This is the Ramsey Show.

Speaker 1 George Camel Ramsey personality is my co-host today.

Speaker 1 Yahoo Finance. Generation X has gone by many names over the years.
They started as the MTV generation, became known as the Latchkey Kids, were labeled America's forgotten middle child.

Speaker 1 But as retirement looms closer for Gen X, a new term is popping up in conversations that captures the anxiety and uncertainty many are feeling. Silver squatters.
There it is. There it is.

Speaker 1 It's a phrase that vividly paints a picture of a generation grappling with a looming financial crisis as they edge into their mid-50s without the cushion needed for a secure retirement.

Speaker 1 The silver nods to the graying hair. Squatters suggest where they might end up staying with their adult children.

Speaker 1 There it is.

Speaker 5 Median retirement for 55-year-olds.

Speaker 1 Which we call these adult children the sandwiched generation. They're sandwiched between their kids' college and their parents' lack of retirement planning.

Speaker 1 And they're supposed to take care of people on both ends of the spectrum. And in the middle, you get squashed.

Speaker 5 I feel like that would just create a cycle where they become the next silver squatters because they had to take care of the people on all sides and therefore couldn't invest in retirement because they were trying to fund mom and dad's retirement.

Speaker 5 That's scary. I say you change your family tree and go, we're not doing that.

Speaker 1 Well, I think you have to institute, you have to bring out the secret weapon.

Speaker 5 What's that?

Speaker 1 The ancient word. Uh-oh.

Speaker 1 The word that no one is allowed to speak anymore. You're not allowed to utter it in the American public.

Speaker 5 Has it been canceled? canceled?

Speaker 1 You can't say it in any place, particularly around government or around entitled people.

Speaker 1 You want to hear the word? I want to hear it.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 5 Dave, you can't say it on air. We're going to get taken off.
I know.

Speaker 1 Press your tongue towards the roof of your mouth. Make a kissing motion with your lips.
I know you've not used it in a while. No.

Speaker 1 No, we're not going on vacation. We can't afford it.
No, we can't keep this house. We haven't saved anything for retirement.

Speaker 1 No, you can't lease that car bozo you're broke no you can't afford a boat no you can't even afford the fish the boat would catch no you can't afford to put gas in the boat that the fish won't catch but no no no no no no dave you're no fun yes i am i'm a lot of fun no

Speaker 1 dave loves saying no it's one of your favorite it's how you got here today it's a great it's a great boundary exercise no mom you're not moving in with us no i've just i just found out today you're called a silver squatter squatter.

Speaker 1 Who knew?

Speaker 1 I wonder what that is. That's kind of derogatory.
I'm not sure that's honoring your parents. But yeah, no.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 No. I have to feed my kids.
No.

Speaker 1 You're 80 years old. You just now woke up and realized there's retirement.

Speaker 1 Where the heck was your brain 40 years ago? No.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 No. No, you can't afford to go on vacation.
No, you can't afford to eat out every night. No, you're going to eat beans and rice, rice and beans.
No, eating out. No, no.
You're broke people.

Speaker 1 Broke people don't do things like that. No, no.
You can't have a cell phone. No.
You're broke. No.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 No. No.
It's the ancient word. It will set you free.

Speaker 5 I want to make that a ringtone and sell it so badly. It's just Dave saying no, no, no.

Speaker 1 Well, it's not a killjoy thing because you're saying no so that you can say yes to living. It's live like no one else so that later you can live like no one else.

Speaker 1 It's no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but it yields a a harvest of righteousness. If I want my belly to be smaller, I have to look at a donut and say no

Speaker 1 because my belly grows exponentially just by walking past doughnuts, much less eating them. I didn't know smelling calories, though.

Speaker 5 No, fat boy.

Speaker 1 No more doughnuts.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 5 This could change America.

Speaker 1 I'm telling you, it's an amazing. It's an amazing thing.
But no one says it to each other or to themselves. And when you learn this magical word, it will set you free.

Speaker 5 Because I want to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good wife. So I'm just going to say yes to it all.
No.

Speaker 1 No, you're not an enabler. No.

Speaker 1 No, I love you too much to lie to you. No.

Speaker 1 Really? Seriously, it'll set you free. I love it.
So our Brack Friday sale is here, and you don't have to say no to that because the deals are so good.

Speaker 5 Some things you should have.

Speaker 1 I see you have to segue out of that. You're a marshing piece.
No, you can't. Okay.

Speaker 5 Shut up. Well, if you've budgeted for Christmas, there you go.

Speaker 1 What do I buy? Well, you can get hardcover books right now for just $12, audio books for only $8.

Speaker 1 Jade's new book, bestseller, Money's Not a Math Problem, on sale right now. Get rid of the we ain't got no money mentality.
Total Money Makeover, we've sold a couple of those.

Speaker 1 Great gift right now for $12. Go to ramseysolutions.com/slash store.
Check out the Christmas deals. Don't miss it.
And if you think you're going to miss it, don't. I said, no, don't miss it.

Speaker 1 No, don't miss it. All right.
I did.

Speaker 1 You see that? That was pretty smart. That might be a shareholder record count.
Alex is in Phoenix. Alex, what's up?

Speaker 2 Hey, how are you doing, Dave?

Speaker 1 Better than I deserve. How can we help?

Speaker 2 So I had a question.

Speaker 2 I recently just received, or I haven't gotten the check yet, but I'm receiving the second half of a settlement from a car accident I was in two years ago,

Speaker 2 which is for a million dollars. And I'm wondering if I should pay off my mortgage.

Speaker 1 Good lord, hon. What happened?

Speaker 2 So I was, me and my buddy were on a trip to Vegas and got in a head-on collision.

Speaker 2 There were two fatalities, and the rest of us were all airlifted to Thunderbird Hospital.

Speaker 1 Fatalities in your car, Han?

Speaker 2 There was one in ours, and then one in the other.

Speaker 1 Oh, man, I'm so sorry.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 5 How are you doing now?

Speaker 2 I'm doing really good.

Speaker 2 Still have like some minor things that bother me, like my wrists.

Speaker 2 I have like 90% mobility in it. Used to be a lot worse, but that, and then my

Speaker 2 abs are still healing. I had

Speaker 2 been

Speaker 2 two holes in my small intestine, a hole in my colon, so they had to gut me wide open.

Speaker 1 That was quite the healing process. So you're kind of crushed in the accident then?

Speaker 1 Wow. Yeah.
Unbelievable. Okay.
Well, first question is:

Speaker 1 if your

Speaker 1 income

Speaker 1 into the near and future or the long-term future is affected we need to set the money aside to some of the money to decide or whatever amount to offset that are you back to work are you are you moving again I mean what's happening with your income

Speaker 2 yeah so

Speaker 2 before

Speaker 2 the accident I was

Speaker 2 I don't even remember what I was doing. I don't think I was working a full-time job at the time.

Speaker 1 How old are you?

Speaker 2 I've gotten my, I'm 23 years old or 22 years old.

Speaker 1 All right. Were you working on education?

Speaker 2 No, I had gotten my EMT out of high school and then didn't like it and have done a bunch of construction jobs.

Speaker 1 So let me ask you this then. You're 23.

Speaker 1 You've got... Some aches and pains, but it sounds like you're largely healed.

Speaker 1 What's the 30-year-old Alex going to be doing with his life career-wise?

Speaker 2 Probably real estate. I got my real estate license, and I also do

Speaker 2 real estate wholesaling, and I've done a couple flips in the past with my family.

Speaker 1 So I imagine I'll continue doing that.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 And how much debt do you have?

Speaker 2 So the mortgage on our house is

Speaker 1 just under

Speaker 2 me and my wife.

Speaker 1 Oh, you're married. Okay.
All right. I missed that.
What does she make?

Speaker 2 She makes roughly $3,500 a month.

Speaker 1 Okay. And how much have you been making in real estate?

Speaker 2 I honestly, I have been slacking and haven't pulled in much in the last three months.

Speaker 1 Why?

Speaker 2 The only reason I got my license was so that I could get clients that my parents own a probate company and they have clients from that.

Speaker 1 That's not what I'm asking, hon. I'm asking why you're not working.
You're 23 years old and you're married. Is it medical condition or why are you not working?

Speaker 2 I am like working. I just haven't been working as hard as I could have, and I haven't been making the calls that I need to call.
I have, but I also just haven't, nothing's been working out.

Speaker 1 Okay. How much do you owe on your home?

Speaker 2 $290. Okay.

Speaker 1 All right. Yeah, I'd pay off my house.
I'd set aside if there's any taxes on any of this. Some of it will be taxable.
Some of it won't be, depending on how it's structured. And

Speaker 1 I want you to sit down with somebody and address.

Speaker 1 what it is that makes the sun come out again and makes you get your your ambition bone moving again because it sounds like this wreck hurts you physically but might have slowed you down emotionally as well it would have me by the way sounds like a horrible accident i'm so sorry this is the ramsey show

Speaker 1 George Camille Ramsey personality is my co-host today. If you're ever around the Nashville area, we're in Franklin, a beautiful little town just south of Nashville.

Speaker 1 And you can come by and watch the show. We do it live on the air on the glass from one to four, meaning folks sit in our lobby, anywhere from 50 to 200 of them watching the show.

Speaker 1 And we charge like nothing. It's worth every penny.
And there's free coffee to bribe you. And even better than that, free homemade cookies to bribe you.

Speaker 1 So when you walk in here, it smells like mama's kitchen. In the middle of that lobby right here on the glass, so we can look out the glass and see them.

Speaker 1 And I used to have a sign in here with me that said, don't feed the monkey. But then I wasn't the only one on the air and other people took offense to that.
It wasn't me.

Speaker 5 I know. I thought it was hilarious.
It was Ken.

Speaker 1 Any of us monkeys. But yeah, there you go.
So anyway, in the lobby is also the debt-free stage. Kyle and Samantha are with us.
Hey, guys, how are you? Good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve.

Speaker 1 It's good to have you. Where do you live?

Speaker 3 Manchester, New Hampshire.

Speaker 1 Wow. Welcome to the South.
Thank you. Good to have you.
And how much debt have you two paid off?

Speaker 1 $130,000. Good for you.
How long did that take? Four years. Four years.
And your range of income during that time?

Speaker 6 It started out at $130,000 and ended at around $150,000.

Speaker 1 Good for you. What do you all do for a living?

Speaker 6 I'm a dental hygienist and I'm a mechanical engineer.

Speaker 1 Excellent. Very good.
So what kind of debt was $130,000?

Speaker 6 It was our house.

Speaker 1 You paid off your house? Yes. How old are you two? 36.
36. And you're a paid-for-house.
Yes. What's this house worth?

Speaker 6 About $340,000 right now.

Speaker 1 Very cool. And how much have you guys got in your retirement nest takes so far?

Speaker 6 In total with the house, it's over $500,000.

Speaker 1 Okay. You're on your way to Millionaire already.
Way to go. And you're not even 40 years old.
Way to go, you two. Thank you.
Look at the smart people right here. I love it.

Speaker 5 You guys hit your early 30s. You're like 32 years old, been married a little while.
At what point were you married?

Speaker 6 We got married in 2010.

Speaker 1 12, right? Yes. Okay.

Speaker 5 This is kind of a deep into marriage, and you guys woke up four years ago and said, let's just go ahead and knock out the house. What started that journey for you?

Speaker 6 One of my coworkers at my first job, he said the best $12 you ever spent was on the total money makeover. So

Speaker 6 I ended up buying it and it was the best $12 I spent.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 3 Thank you. I don't necessarily always agree on this journey.

Speaker 3 I would have been lying if I said that you weren't a swear word at times in our house.

Speaker 1 It's a gift.

Speaker 3 It's a trigger when I hear the word spreadsheet. It's been a trigger.

Speaker 1 It's been a trigger. Now, I haven't thought of myself as a trigger.
I did think of myself as a swear word, but yeah, a lot of it was a true trick.

Speaker 5 So were you dragged, and then as you made progress, you went, okay, I get it.

Speaker 1 And what happened here? Yeah, I definitely,

Speaker 6 it took a while to win her over.

Speaker 6 It's still a work in progress.

Speaker 1 So the engineer, nerd,

Speaker 1 is coming in, nerding out your life, and you're like, I want to have one, a life that is.

Speaker 1 And you're trying to steal my life. I hate Dave Ramsey.
That sounds good. I like that.

Speaker 1 Is that kind of how it went? Yes. Yeah, that's what I'm doing.
I wouldn't really go on with that.

Speaker 5 Did he walk in with the spreadsheet going, babe, we could save so much time and money if we just made it up early?

Speaker 1 Yes. Wow.
12 years you're married to an engineer. You didn't know that he thinks spreadsheets are sexy.
Right. I know that now.

Speaker 1 It's his love language.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 5 Was your goal four years or was it more aggressive? Did you do it slower, faster?

Speaker 6 Well, once we decided to pay off the house, it was around two, two and a half years, but we had two kids in that amount of time to add to our three kids we already had.

Speaker 5 Hard tea. Yeah.

Speaker 6 So it took a little bit longer.

Speaker 1 Wow. Got the gang here.
Look at that. I love it.
And the dog. And the dog.
And the dog. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Wow. Beautiful.
Well done, y'all. Well done.
Life is good, huh? It is. We're very less.

Speaker 1 The number one career in the millionaire study that we did, the one most likely to be a millionaire is an engineer. So there you go.
So that stuff all pays off after all.

Speaker 5 So stereotypical.

Speaker 1 Yep, there it is.

Speaker 5 Just like you guys are doing it.

Speaker 1 That's perfect, you guys. Well done.
What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is?

Speaker 3 It's communication, for sure. You have to be on the same page, and it's also important just to have a village around you that supports you and make sure.

Speaker 1 What was your village?

Speaker 3 We have our parents, for sure. And then we got our friends over here that are with us, too.

Speaker 1 Made the trip down for the debt-free screen? They did. All right.
Very good. Cool.

Speaker 1 So what was the thing that drove you? What's your why?

Speaker 1 Why do this?

Speaker 6 I was more worried when we started having kids and trying to pay for college and stuff. So I just wanted to get out of debt because I had student loans and I didn't want my kids to have student loans.

Speaker 6 So that was a big motivator for me.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 5 It's changing the family tree. And you got a lot of kids.
That's a lot of college to pay. Yes, it is.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 5 I know where that freed up mortgage payment's going. Straight to the 529 plans.
Yeah. Wow.
What's the first big thing you guys did or are going to do?

Speaker 3 Well, I tripped to Nashville.

Speaker 3 We're calling it our yes year now. So now we can say yes to things.
Yep.

Speaker 5 As Dave said earlier, you got to say no a whole lot.

Speaker 1 So we did to say yes.

Speaker 1 You did it. You did it.
You did it. So, Samantha, what was it that actually did, all kidding aside, you actually did join the crusade here at some point.

Speaker 1 What caused the change that allowed you to do that?

Speaker 3 Just for me, my heart's always been for giving. And just, one, making sure that our kids see how important that is.
And

Speaker 3 really just being able to be generous and let our kids know the importance of that.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.
And you get yourself in a real strong financial position. You can do giving at a different level.
100%. 100%.
Yeah, and you're there now, way to go. And you're only 36.

Speaker 1 You're going to be so wealthy, so generous, so out of control. Well done, y'all.
Very, very well done. Very good stuff.

Speaker 1 So now that you're there, when you flip the switch and you paid off the mortgage, did you notice a change in the way just it felt?

Speaker 6 Yeah, yeah, it definitely feels different, especially every first of the month when that money doesn't come out of your account and you can see your account growing.

Speaker 5 Budgeting gets a lot more fun when you get to just delete the mortgage payment out.

Speaker 5 You got property taxes and insurance, but man, that principal and interest not being there, that frees you up emotionally, mentally, financially.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yeah.
It's huge. Yeah, way to go, you guys.
I'm proud of you. Thank you.
Who was cheering you on along the way? Your friends and your family and who else?

Speaker 1 Coworkers. Yeah.
My parents were.

Speaker 6 We were actually in a race to see who could pay off our house the first, and we won.

Speaker 1 Ooh, so it was a little competition.

Speaker 1 I love that.

Speaker 5 Were the kids aware of what was going on? The older ones? Were they like, okay, we can see the sacrifice. We're feeling it too.

Speaker 1 We got to beat grandma. I wouldn't say that.

Speaker 1 Cutting the snack budget. No, they weren't going along with it.

Speaker 3 Anything I take away his snack money.

Speaker 1 Oh.

Speaker 1 Well, there you go. There you go.
And now, if you snack like no one else later, you can snack like no one else. So there you go.
Good stuff. Well done, you two.
Proud of you. Excellent, excellent job.

Speaker 1 All right. It's Kyle and Samantha.
Manchester, New Hampshire. $130,000 paid off.
That's house and everything.

Speaker 1 They're debt-free. No mortgage, America.
You know what their interest rate problems are? None. They don't have one.

Speaker 1 That's right. They did this in four years, making $130,000 to $150,000.
And it's hard, but is it worth it?

Speaker 6 Yes. Definitely.

Speaker 1 Count it down, Kyle and Samantha. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Speaker 1 Three, two, one. We're debt-free.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 This is how it's done.

Speaker 5 I like the irony because New Hampshire's motto, live free or die. What better way to live free than knowing nobody?

Speaker 5 Really? That's it. That's about as rock and roll as it gets.

Speaker 1 How did you know that?

Speaker 5 I'm from Massachusetts. I was always jealous we didn't have a cooler state motto.

Speaker 1 Yeah, wow. Okay.

Speaker 5 Apparently from adopted by the state in 1945, it was from a letter from General John Stark in 1809, the live free or die.

Speaker 1 Live free or die.

Speaker 5 Here's your history lesson.

Speaker 1 That's good. All right.
I got it.

Speaker 1 Assert your independence. I'm not a trivia lesson.
But yeah, I'll go with that, though. I mean, here's the thing.

Speaker 1 All I can hear about when I'm doing media interviews, and you're doing media interviews, is that there's a whole generation that feels stuck.

Speaker 1 There's a whole generation that doesn't think they can get ahead.

Speaker 1 There's a whole generation, Gen Z, that says, says, and Gen X and Millennial, I mean, millennials and Gen Z that says they can't make it.

Speaker 1 And then you meet Kyle and Samantha, and we get to meet them every week. You know how stuck they are? Not

Speaker 1 stuck. No excuses.
That's how stuck they are. Not stuck.

Speaker 1 Not stuck.

Speaker 5 Get a reasonable home, pay it off aggressively. Let's go.

Speaker 1 That's the same interest rate on their mortgage I got on mine. Zero! Don't have one.
Not stuck.

Speaker 5 Take that for the two percenters out there who go, I'll never pay my interest rate.

Speaker 1 Dave Ramsey show. Full of crap.
Dave Ramsey's not stuck.

Speaker 1 Zero mortgage, zero percent interest. You got to love it.
That's how much I'm worried about the Fed. Not stuck.

Speaker 1 This is the Ramsey Show.

Speaker 1 George Campbell Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author is my co-host today. The Ramsey Show question of the day is brought to you by Why ReFi.

Speaker 1 Why ReFi refinances defaulted

Speaker 1 private student loans, which are different than federal student loans.

Speaker 1 Why ReFi refinances your defaulted private student loans and builds a custom loan based on your ability to pay?

Speaker 1 So kick your private student loan debt out of your life by going to yrefi.com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y.

Speaker 1 R-E-F-Y

Speaker 1 dot com slash Ramsey. Might not be in all states.

Speaker 5 Today's question comes from Andrew in Switzerland. I'm an American, but I live in Europe where salaries are much lower.

Speaker 5 I'm a seasonal restaurant worker spending winters in Switzerland and summers in Australia. I also get free rent and food, so I'm able to save $30,000 to $35,000 a year.

Speaker 5 I invest heavily in crypto, and I know it's not a safe method for long-term investing. What are some other investment options where I can diversify my investment portfolio?

Speaker 5 I know I need to diversify, but I'm an aggressive investor who thinks without risk, there is no way to win.

Speaker 5 This is a tortoise and hair situation here.

Speaker 1 He's the hare.

Speaker 5 He's going, I got to have the risk of my life, Dave. And you're asking us to diversify because you know you should have less risk.

Speaker 5 You know that you could lose your butt if one thing happens in the crypto world.

Speaker 1 Yeah, statistically, Andrew, the fastest way to get rich quick is to get rich slow.

Speaker 1 Because people doing the crap you're doing end up losing everything and they get started several times. You know how I know that? I did it.

Speaker 1 I was doing Flip This House before Chip and Joanna were born. Okay? And I lost my butt

Speaker 1 because I never met a risk I didn't like. I believed in me and I knew I knew everything.
And I'm so smart I could outwork the real estate market and the banking market, just like you're so smart.

Speaker 1 You can invest in something that's not even real called crypto. And you're going to lose your butt.

Speaker 1 And then you're going to get the opportunity to start over.

Speaker 1 And then if you don't fix this broken thing in your brain that's causing you to look for a shortcut called pride, which comes right before the fall, quit looking for a shortcut.

Speaker 1 There's no place worth going that there's a shortcut to.

Speaker 1 So you're not going to do any of this.

Speaker 1 Because

Speaker 1 I winter in Switzerland and I summer in Australia. Oh, brother.

Speaker 1 Seriously. Lean in

Speaker 1 and get in a grind and grind your way into some wealth, honey. That's where it comes from.

Speaker 1 There's no statistical evidence anywhere in any wealth-building study that I've ever seen or ever done that indicates anything you're doing is going to work.

Speaker 1 None of it's going to work.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 how's that for depressing? But yeah, I mean, we're here. We love you so much.
We tell you the truth. To be unclear is to be unkind.
We are anything but an enabler. We want you to win.

Speaker 1 So I'm talking talking to you like you were my little brother, worse than that, one of my kids. And so, no, if you're going to do this thing you're doing for your career,

Speaker 1 which also feels like some kind of a loss. It doesn't feel like a career.

Speaker 1 It feels like

Speaker 1 it feels like the whole thing to use a game.

Speaker 1 And, but, hey, dude, you do whatever you want to do.

Speaker 1 You're not an aggressive investor.

Speaker 1 You serve tables.

Speaker 1 You're not an aggressive investor.

Speaker 5 Okay. It doesn't look as good in the Instagram bio.

Speaker 1 I know.

Speaker 1 You need to steadily invest, steady, steady, steady, in things that are boring. The antithesis of everything you're talking about is

Speaker 1 the best way to become wealthy. All the data, which are called facts, indicate that.
That's not a difference in your opinion and Dave's opinion.

Speaker 1 No, your opinion's wrong, and mine's based on facts, data.

Speaker 1 So please don't do this, honey.

Speaker 5 So we'll answer your question. I mean, you want to diversify, diversify across some directions.

Speaker 1 I would cancel all the crypto, and I'd start investing in good gross stock mutual funds that have 50 and 100-year track records.

Speaker 5 And this means owning little shares of a whole lot of companies and

Speaker 1 much more money at the end of the story because you won't get the opportunity to start over three times. Because you're going to lose your butt in crypto.

Speaker 1 One of the wealthiest men in the world said if he could buy all the crypto for $5,

Speaker 1 he wouldn't do it. His name is Warren Buffett.

Speaker 1 If he said if he could buy the whole thing for $5, he wouldn't take it.

Speaker 5 Because it has no utility. What's he going to do with it?

Speaker 1 It's not even a commodity. It's a currency.
You're investing in currency.

Speaker 1 Just go buy the Iraqi dinar. Oh, my God.
It's a currency that failed. And that's what we're dealing with here.
It might make it, but it's not an appropriate investment for someone in your situation.

Speaker 1 It's an appropriate investment for someone worth $2 billion

Speaker 1 to put in $50,000 and play with it, like they were playing a roulette wheel or something. But this is Russian roulette here.
This is dangerous. Please, please, please stop it, Andrew.

Speaker 1 This is just a mess. Everything in this is a mess.
Nick is in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Hi, Nick.
What's up?

Speaker 2 Hey, guys. How's it going?

Speaker 1 Better than I deserve. How can I help?

Speaker 2 Me and my wife just started the the

Speaker 2 second baby step a couple months ago. And

Speaker 2 I guess I'll just paint a picture of what I'm looking at.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 after we started the second baby step, we started to kind of just put the ducks in a line and

Speaker 2 see what needs to be paid off first.

Speaker 2 We had a bunch of credit card debt and those credit cards were high in interest.

Speaker 2 So, we pulled out a personal loan and combined those with a small, a lower interest,

Speaker 2 so we would have an extra $100

Speaker 2 going to the debt instead of interest.

Speaker 2 So, we're working on paying that off right now, and then we have a bigger credit card

Speaker 2 that

Speaker 2 we're still paying normal minimum payments to.

Speaker 1 How much is the personal loan?

Speaker 2 It is

Speaker 2 thousand?

Speaker 1 And how much is the bigger credit card, Nick?

Speaker 2 $11,000. Okay.

Speaker 1 And what's your household income, Nick?

Speaker 2 About $78,000.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 And how much is your car payment?

Speaker 2 The card payment is $250,000.

Speaker 1 No, no, car with payment. Auto.
Oh, car payment.

Speaker 2 $258.

Speaker 1 What do you owe on it?

Speaker 2 $11,000. Okay.

Speaker 1 What other debt have you got?

Speaker 2 Other than

Speaker 2 mortgage, we just have those three.

Speaker 5 So about $26,000 total in debt, you make $78,000. We don't need to play shell games moving debt around anymore.
We just need to aggressively attack it. Yeah.

Speaker 5 What's your question?

Speaker 1 $100 a month screwing around with all this you could have found in a budget by staying out of restaurants.

Speaker 2 Correct. So the question was: I was just kind of looking for a little more money to pay down that personal loan.

Speaker 1 Cut your lifestyle. Put it up quicker

Speaker 2 with my lifestyle.

Speaker 1 Yeah, cut your lifestyle. That's where you're going to find it.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 You work in a 40-hour job?

Speaker 2 I'm a truck driver.

Speaker 1 Okay. Are you working a 40-hour job?

Speaker 1 Are you gone all week or what?

Speaker 2 Yeah,

Speaker 2 it's a 70-hour.

Speaker 1 Okay, so you're gone all week?

Speaker 2 Yep.

Speaker 1 Okay. And what's your wife make?

Speaker 2 She's a stay-at-home.

Speaker 1 Okay. All right.

Speaker 1 All right. So what we're going to do is we're going to, George and I are going to put you into Every Dollar, which is our budgeting app, to show you how to make the money that you have behave.

Speaker 1 Because we can tell from these numbers that it's not behaving. You're looking for a math hack.

Speaker 1 There's not a math hack. There's a spending hack.
And you make a good amount of money and don't, don't, your debt is not an overwhelming number.

Speaker 1 This is a number you can pay off very, very quickly, probably in a year or just a little over a year, but you're going to have no life. Rather, your wife's going to have no life

Speaker 1 while you're on the road. And you're going to have no life while you're on the road.
Peanut butter and jelly, beans and rice, tuna fish. These are the things that are in your future.

Speaker 1 While you get out of debt, okay?

Speaker 1 We're not spending money in restaurants. We're not spending money on vacations.
We're not spending any money anywhere because we're going to clean this debt up really, really fast.

Speaker 1 So what I'm telling you is, is I want you to find around $2,000 a month in this budget to attack this with. And I think you can do it.

Speaker 5 If you're bringing home six, that shouldn't be hard if you cut your spending.

Speaker 1 And you ought to be bringing home around six. It might be your withholding.
It might be some other stuff. We'll help you with this.
We'll even put you into Financial Peace University.

Speaker 1 You and your wife go through all of that. I'm going to pay for it for you and help you get moving.
It's not a hack you're looking for. It's a grind.
This is the Ramsey Show.

Speaker 1 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love,

Speaker 1 and create actual, amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, number one best-selling author, host of the George Camill Show on YouTube, is my co-host today, Ramsey Personality George Camill.

Speaker 1 Open phones at triple eight eight two five two two five. Haley in Savannah, Georgia.
What's up?

Speaker 2 Hi, guys. Thank you so much for taking my call today.

Speaker 2 My husband and I are both firefighter paramedics, and we've been together four years now. We got married this past May.

Speaker 2 We both want kids. We're both ready emotionally and

Speaker 2 me biologically to go ahead and start having children. And I've heard what you said on the show before about

Speaker 2 not waiting around to have kids.

Speaker 2 My husband and I kind of disagree about something. He thinks that our current situation, it would be irresponsible for us to have a child.

Speaker 2 And I just, I don't agree.

Speaker 1 No, you're right. He's wrong.

Speaker 2 That's what I keep telling him.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you're right. He's wrong.
Let me ask you something, though.

Speaker 1 Is he saying to you without saying to you,

Speaker 1 when you quit being impulsive and overspend and make our finances all screwed up, then I'll be ready to have kids? Is he trying to rein you in?

Speaker 1 I don't know if you're not. Are you out of control?

Speaker 1 Are you out of control?

Speaker 2 I don't think I'm out of control.

Speaker 1 No, I didn't ask that. I asked if you are out of control.
Is that what he's saying to you?

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 1 He wants to control. Like, I don't want to.
I already have a kid. I don't need more.
Is that what he's saying?

Speaker 1 No. Are you sure?

Speaker 2 I'm positive.

Speaker 1 Okay. Who's the nerd?

Speaker 1 Who's the nerd? Who's the free spirit? He is the nerd.

Speaker 2 He is the nerd and I'm the free spirit.

Speaker 1 Uh-huh.

Speaker 5 So, what evidence does he have that you guys are not in a place to have this kid financially?

Speaker 2 so we have a HELOC and it's around it's got 44,000 left on it for us to pay off what'd you buy on the HELOC 3,000

Speaker 2 we were really stupid and had a big wedding

Speaker 5 wow so you owned the home before you were married then took out a HELOC to pay for a big fancy wedding

Speaker 2 So the HELOC was my father's and I'm on it with him. So we're

Speaker 2 obviously off what we put on it together. Yes.

Speaker 2 We're making really big payments on it, $3,000 a month payments combined. He and I make $136,000 a year.

Speaker 2 Our cards are paid off and the only thing we're paying on our living arrangements is property taxes.

Speaker 1 Okay, so you're together on your plan and you're living sacrificially to hit your goals.

Speaker 1 Correct. So he wasn't calling you a princess then, was he? I was wrong.

Speaker 2 No, he's, I mean, I am his princess.

Speaker 1 No, that wasn't what I meant. I'm talking about a negative princess.

Speaker 1 Not like you're my princess.

Speaker 1 I don't need that.

Speaker 1 That's not for the show. That's the loany show.
No. No, the

Speaker 1 all right.

Speaker 1 We are on the bottom.

Speaker 5 So is it because of the HELOC? He's saying, hey, we've got this big HELOC we're trying to pay off. Now's not the time to have a kid?

Speaker 1 No, he's just super conservative and he

Speaker 1 sees all kinds of pain every day.

Speaker 2 He's very conservative

Speaker 2 and he just I think he would feel more comfortable knowing that we were completely debt-free.

Speaker 1 Well, he'd feel more comfortable if you had $2 million, but you don't wait on that to have kids. So, well, gosh, you win the whole argument today, girl.

Speaker 1 I don't even get to pick on you. I don't even get to pick on you.
You fought your way through that. Way to go.

Speaker 5 And I don't know if he knows how kids work, but you have like a nine-month lead-up to get your act together and get this HELOC paid off.

Speaker 5 So it's not like an instantaneous thing.

Speaker 1 You have have $3,000 and you only owe $40,000, you're done in a year.

Speaker 2 I want to respect him and his feelings, though, about it.

Speaker 2 I don't want to push him.

Speaker 2 And I do feel like he is head of the household.

Speaker 1 Here's the thing. Opposites attract.
Assuming both of you are healthy and living sacrificial towards a plan, opposites attract. The spender always attracts the saver.

Speaker 1 The free spirit always attracts the nerd. And you need both of you.

Speaker 1 You need both sets of input.

Speaker 1 Because

Speaker 1 if two people just alike get married, one of you is unnecessary. So you need each other, right? So he needs you.
He needs to respect you too in this.

Speaker 1 So the year that Rachel Cruz was born was the year we filed bankruptcy. That's how irresponsible we were.

Speaker 1 And that didn't have anything to do with Sharon. That had to do with me being an idiot.
Sharon didn't cause any of that.

Speaker 1 So, but I think you guys face a lot of trauma in other people's lives all day long. and that can translate into

Speaker 1 being super conservative and trying to keep control on everything at home, can't it?

Speaker 2 Yes, sir. And I think part of the issue or nervousness for him is obviously my lifestyle is going to change.

Speaker 2 I can't work the physicality of the job while being pregnant, or obviously things will be different afterwards.

Speaker 2 It's a very demanding job.

Speaker 1 Yes, it is. We're away from home at night.
So you guys are here. That makes him nervous.

Speaker 1 I think he's got reason to be nervous because he's a young dad to be, and that's mandatory for all young dads to be to be nervous. It's like comes with the territory.

Speaker 1 But as the old guy here, I'm going to tell you to have babies.

Speaker 1 Right now. Right now.

Speaker 1 That's what I would do.

Speaker 5 And really, when you look at the actual cost of what it's going to take. Oh, it's not cost.
You know, like what's going to be in the budget.

Speaker 5 You can do all the math, but I don't think that's enough for him. I think he truly is just, he feels like he's not ready.
Well,

Speaker 1 if she is responsible, and I was accusing her of maybe not being, and I was wrong, because I think she held up to that, that interrogation. That was pretty strong on her.

Speaker 5 Yeah, she wasn't bowing down.

Speaker 1 She didn't back down. That's good.
Good, strong lady. So, I mean, because I, you know, because sometimes...

Speaker 1 For you ladies out there, sometimes husbands speak is

Speaker 1 they're saying one thing, but they really mean something else. Oh, wait a minute.
Wives do that too.

Speaker 5 Yeah, okay. It's human condition.

Speaker 1 Yeah. But yeah, so sometimes, you know, your husband's saying, we can't afford this.
What he's saying is, because of you.

Speaker 1 And that's what I was going, but I was wrong. I missed that one.
I missed that one. I don't miss him often, but I missed that one.
Rick. Rick is up.
He's in Albany, New York. Rick, what's going on?

Speaker 2 Hey, thanks, Dave and George, for taking my call. I'll be quick.
My wife and I just completed Financial Peace University. And during lesson six, which is about understanding insurance,

Speaker 2 I brought up a question about a whole life insurance policy I have.

Speaker 2 It's well over $100,000. It's got a fairly large cash value.
And I know I need to get rid of it and I want to sell it. And my question is,

Speaker 2 you hear about all these ads on TV like Coventry Direct and that they say before you let it lapse or you sell it, find out what it's worth and that you could probably get more for it.

Speaker 2 What are your views about selling it to someone else?

Speaker 1 That's a viadical and I would stay completely away from that. There's no point in that because it's still in your name.
It's still all screwed up. No,

Speaker 1 it's real simple, Rick. You're right.
It is a quick question. Just the things that you learned told you it was not a good product,

Speaker 1 and you decide to get out of it. You're just trying to figure out the best way to get out of it.
And the best way to get out of it is just cancel it. Surrender the policy.

Speaker 5 Surrender it. And get term life in place first.

Speaker 1 Before you do that, and then get your cash value back and use your cash value on your baby steps. And certainly, that includes investing in investing in anything is better than a universal policy.

Speaker 1 Putting it in a fruit jar, you'll end up with more money. This is the Ramsey Show.

Speaker 1 I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, George Camill. Ramsey personality is my co-host in the studio.

Speaker 1 Well, we've got a celebrity with us today, Jimmy Darts. Jimmy is a media personality, TikTok sensation known by his videos of him giving money and other random acts of kindness.
Jimmy is a...

Speaker 1 An expert on generosity, man. I mean, you have done some of the best video work on randomly messing up people's lives in an awesome way with generosity.
I'm so proud of you. Well done, sir.

Speaker 7 Thank you. Thank you.
It's a blast.

Speaker 7 It's what we're all called to do. And when we do it, we feel like we're in our purpose and we're alive.

Speaker 7 So seeing someone else's day made because you gave a sacrifice, whether it's small or big, it's always worth it.

Speaker 5 So, Jimmy, you DM'd me out of the blue and I was like, did Jimmy, did he get hacked on Instagram? And you were going, man, I'm a big Ramsey fan.

Speaker 5 And so we got connected and it's been a blast becoming friends with you. And I want everyone to know the story of how this got started because it's powerful and it started with your own life change.

Speaker 7 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
When I was a little kid, the first time I really experienced what it's like to give something away and it bless someone, my parents for Christmas gave us $200.

Speaker 7 They said $100 for you to keep, buy whatever you want, $100, you got to give away to someone else. And so the very first time I gave was a guy on the street.
He had a sign. I gave him $100.

Speaker 7 And just as a kid, seeing his face just melt changed my life and marked me. And then kind of lived for a knucklehead the rest of my high school years and did a lot of party videos.

Speaker 7 But then when I was 18, I just met the love of Jesus, got transformed, and never thought I'd pick up my video gift again.

Speaker 7 And I was out reading the Bible one day, and I felt like the Lord said, Jimmy, it's time to go back and make videos, but this time do it for me.

Speaker 7 And I said, all right, I mean, what do you want me to be? A preacher? What does that mean? He goes, no, I want you to ask people for help. And when they help you, change their life.

Speaker 7 So that's when I started doing these videos, asking someone to help me get a tank of gas in my car or to, you know, buy me a gallon of milk.

Speaker 7 And when they did did that, we gave them 500 bucks and just to see their reactions was powerful.

Speaker 7 And then the internet started donating and that person's $2 or $5 they gave me turned into them getting back like $50,000.

Speaker 7 And so it was pretty powerful.

Speaker 1 Yeah, the videos are, I can watch them all day. I mean, it just makes you cry.
Makes my eyes leak. I love it.
And just watching these people's face change.

Speaker 1 And, and, I mean, you're, you're really, really good at your craft, too. You've developed this.

Speaker 1 I mean, it's not manipulation at all, but I mean, your editing and the process, you build such a great story in such a short timeframe. The arc goes through that thing, and it works so powerfully.

Speaker 1 I watched like 10 of them this weekend.

Speaker 7 You got to get back to work. People need you out there.

Speaker 5 And like Dave talks about, you know,

Speaker 5 you're not the hero in these videos. The person is.
And it's why we don't see a lot of Jimmy in the videos. You want to make it about them.
You're simply the guide.

Speaker 5 And we've got a clip, and this is one of your favorite moments

Speaker 5 with our our friend Lulu. Can we watch one? Let's check it out.

Speaker 8 Over $42,000 was donated to help you out.

Speaker 1 No way.

Speaker 7 24 hours earlier, I met Lulu, a struggling mom who couldn't get a job because of her smile.

Speaker 1 Excuse me, ma'am.

Speaker 8 Sorry to bother you. I'm just trying to ask people for a dollar to get the bus out of here.
I don't know if you have anything, but it's not going to hurt you.

Speaker 1 No,

Speaker 4 it'll help you more than it'll hurt me.

Speaker 1 Thank you.

Speaker 1 What's your name? Lulu.

Speaker 7 I then surprised Lulu with a thousand dollars for her kindness and then she shared this with me.

Speaker 1 Thank you. Thank you.
Yes.

Speaker 9 I got five kids thanking for a lot. They're having a job.

Speaker 9 They act like they want to hire you, but then when you got a mess-doubt smile, they think about different things and they just, they say that they don't hire you because of that, but I feel like it is.

Speaker 7 The next day, I met up with Lulu to give her the surprise of her life.

Speaker 8 Over $42,000 was donated to help you out.

Speaker 1 No way. Yes.
No way. Are you going to be able to get new teeth?

Speaker 8 Is this something you've been praying for?

Speaker 1 Definitely.

Speaker 7 All all right what actually happened you walked up asked her for a dollar to get on the bus she gave it to you and then you did what yeah she uh she gave me a dollar to get on the bus and then i uh i i asked her her story and and she started telling me that she's been trying to get a job as a single mom but it's been really hard because her teeth were kind of messed up and people assumed she was on drugs and all this and um so it was just the saddest story ever and i ended up giving her 500 she starts bawling her eyes out and i gave her a hug got her number and i said i'm gonna be praying for you knowing that she doesn't doesn't know, but there's millions of people watching on the other side of that phone that are going to want to change her life.

Speaker 7 And so we ended up raising over $50,000 for her and ended up flying her out to Nashville. And she got brand new teeth.
Jason Aldean and his wife, their dentist, they helped make that happen.

Speaker 7 So she's got brand new teeth now. She moved, went back to Vegas, got a job.
She's giving her life to Jesus, I've heard. And so her life's got back on track.

Speaker 1 And we've got the photo here if you're watching the YouTube app.

Speaker 5 Look at that smile.

Speaker 1 Before and after. Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 7 And those are are the temporaries. It'll even look better than that.
So, yeah.

Speaker 5 That's incredible.

Speaker 1 That's so fun. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And,

Speaker 1 I mean, so your whole approach is you walk up, find someone, and ask them for help. And then they finally, I bet you get turned down.

Speaker 7 Yeah, yeah. A few times I get turned down.

Speaker 7 And when I do, I mean, you know, I'm just looking out there for the people that do pass the test because we're really trying to find people that have lived a lifestyle of generosity and kindness their whole life and never got rewarded for it.

Speaker 7 But in that one moment, they become the hero. And if you read the comments of my videos, like 90% of them are about the person and not me.
And that's why they want to help out.

Speaker 7 And so it's been really powerful. And there's been a lot of amazing stories.

Speaker 7 Yeah, my favorite one is probably Steve. He was a homeless vet.
He was in Anaheim. He was just sleeping on the side of the road.
Went up to him, saw he was struggling with addiction.

Speaker 7 And I was like, man, I don't know if there's anything I can do to help this guy. So I almost kept walking.

Speaker 7 That's when I felt the Lord say, no, no, no, maybe not money money this time, but ask him what he wants, what's on his bucket list. So I said, Steve, what's on your bucket list?

Speaker 7 And he just perked up and he goes, man, I want to skydive hot air balloon and go deep sea fishing. It was like he was ready for me to ask the question.
And I said, all right.

Speaker 7 And sure enough, a few hours later, I came back in my little Honda, picked him up, and he was jumping out of an airplane. And we were going over the sky.

Speaker 7 And he then got out of addiction, got moved into housing, got his life turned around. And all he needed was a spark to realize life can be fun again.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 5 Wow. powerful.
And we talked about this, Jimmy, but you've got to have the margin to be generous.

Speaker 5 You've got to have your eyes up looking for opportunity instead of looking inward, stressed about your own life. And that's part of why you follow the Ramsey plan.

Speaker 7 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
You know, yeah, having your fist like this with money in it, you know, obviously if God tries giving you something, it'll just hit the ground.

Speaker 7 And so when you're generous and give to people, God can also bless you more. And so that's just how it works.
And yeah, when you live within your means, you don't buy stupid stuff.

Speaker 7 You save your money. You can give to other people.
And that's just something that will never get old.

Speaker 7 And yeah, whether you've got a million dollars in your bank account to bless someone and get them a new car, or just like the poor widow in the Bible, and all you got is a coin, heaven is moved by generosity, and it'll make your heart come alive when you do it.

Speaker 1 Wow. Wow.
So Instagram and TikTok sensation, Jimmy Darts is with us. At Jimmy Darts is where you pick him up.
You guys got to watch these videos.

Speaker 1 They'll make you work your tail off to get your act together so you've got some money. You'll live like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else.

Speaker 1 They're inspiring. It's really, really inspiring.

Speaker 5 We talked about, you know, I love the Rachel Cruz quote, give a little until you can give a lot.

Speaker 5 And so what Jimmy's doing with even the GoFundMe, I might only have a few bucks to give to this campaign, but what we're doing as a community to change someone's life is powerful and it makes you want to give more.

Speaker 5 Generosity is addictive.

Speaker 7 Yeah, absolutely. Generosity is addictive.
And yeah, I mean, if all you have is a couple dollars to give, what's worth a couple bucks? A coffee.

Speaker 7 If you just, if you, if all you have in your budget is $10 a month to give away and you buy a stranger a cup of coffee every month, it might be outside of your comfort zone, but it's going to, it's going to blow them away.

Speaker 7 Because when's the last time someone bought you in the line, a coffee in line? I can't remember that happened to me.

Speaker 5 It's probably Dave Ramsey.

Speaker 7 It probably was in the lobby here, but yeah.

Speaker 5 That's why we give away free coffee. Oh, man, it's powerful.
And you've got a lot going on, Jimmy. You've got your kindness challenge cards.
People should check out.

Speaker 5 And it's kind of a scratch scratch-off you can do with your own family, your own friends, help strangers out. So, everyone needs to go check out Jimmy on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, at Jimmy Darts.

Speaker 5 You're an inspiration, man. I'm honored to know you.

Speaker 7 Thank you. Couldn't have done it without you guys, or I'd probably be in dead over my ears.
So,

Speaker 1 I got a feeling you're gonna be okay, brother. Yeah, thank you.
I'm proud of you. It's good work you're doing.
Thanks for hanging out with us. We appreciate you.
Thanks so much.

Speaker 1 This is the Ramsey Show.

Speaker 1 George Camille, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage. Jill is with us.
Hi, Jill. How are you?

Speaker 4 I'm good, Dave. How are you?

Speaker 1 Better than I deserve. Where do you live? Atlanta, Georgia.
All right. Welcome to Nashville.
How much debt have you paid off?

Speaker 4 $102,000.

Speaker 1 Good for you. How long did that take?

Speaker 4 About 27 months.

Speaker 1 Good for you. And your range of income during that time?

Speaker 4 Started at around $60,000 and ended up at $124,000.

Speaker 1 Cool. Good for you.
Well done. What kind of debt was the $102,000?

Speaker 4 Let's see, about $11,000 in credit cards, about $9,000 in medical bills and some IRS debt, and then $82,000 in student loan.

Speaker 1 Wow. You were kind of normal.
Yes, very.

Speaker 1 Not fun. No, it was not.
Wow. Okay, so what happened two years and some change ago? That was your wake-up call and you said we're going to get out of this and doing this Ramsey stuff.

Speaker 1 How'd that all happen? Tell us your story.

Speaker 4 Yeah, so actually, my story starts back in 2018. I was working full-time

Speaker 4 and decided I want to go to graduate school. But even then, I told myself, I'm not going to take any more student loan.
If I'm going to go to school, I have to pay for this in cash.

Speaker 4 And then that fall, my church was hosting FPU.

Speaker 4 And I said, yes, this is my chance to make sure I'm doing this right and not have to take out any loan and just make this whole process a little bit easier.

Speaker 4 So I did that. And I can tell you, Dave, I completely 100% cash flowed my master's program.

Speaker 1 Yeah, okay, step one. Yes, got that done.

Speaker 1 What's your master's in?

Speaker 4 Nutrition and Dietetics.

Speaker 1 Good for you. Okay, good.

Speaker 4 Yes.

Speaker 4 So then later, the end of 2019, due to some contract changes, all the dietitians and myself, we were all let go from our hospital. And so starting 2020, I had started a new job.

Speaker 4 And then we all know what happened in 2020.

Speaker 4 COVID happened. And so I just kind of went in survival mode.
I had finished paying that last semester of grad school. And so I just wanted to save because I had just lost my job recently.

Speaker 4 You know, I didn't know what was going to happen with COVID.

Speaker 4 So I just kind of just started saving and just, you know, continued to work some side hustles and some side gigs just to see, you know, kind of what happened.

Speaker 4 So once I got settled in my job and, you know, had kind of built up some savings. All right, let's get this started again.

Speaker 4 So I tackled the medical bills and the credit card debt all in about 10 months. Wow.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 And then so I was like, okay, I can breathe a second. I've paid off some of these big ones.
All I have left is the student loan.

Speaker 4 So at that time, I decided to move to Atlanta for a new job opportunity, pay raise, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 And then I was like, okay, we're settled. Let's do this.
But the thing, Dave, is my student loans were private.

Speaker 4 So while everyone else's student loans were on pause, the interest, payments, all of that, this whole time might have been going.

Speaker 4 And so I could have paused my loans, but I was like, the interest is still going to go. I just can't take this anymore.
It is keeping me from having time to do what I want. I'm working all these jobs.

Speaker 4 I can't stay for a house.

Speaker 4 I can't have a car emergency, nothing. And so, I was like, okay, we're doing this.
This is the Goliath I'm looking at. Let's go.
Let's do it.

Speaker 4 So, January of 23, I put my foot on the gas pedal and had a full-time job, two part-time jobs, two other side hustles. I was doing 60, 70, sometimes 80 hours a week trying to pay this off.

Speaker 4 And then my church in Atlanta did FPU again. And so I was like, okay, this is step, baby step three is actually in sight.
Like I'm getting so close. I'm in like the last six miles of this marathon.

Speaker 4 Like I can do this. So I had a great support system went through that.
And then in May of this year, I made my final student loan payment.

Speaker 1 Wow. Way to go.

Speaker 5 That's definitely pointing your far in the gap.

Speaker 1 Chris to the finish, threw the tape. She wins.

Speaker 5 I like it. Doubled your income.

Speaker 1 I did.

Speaker 5 And you went, all right, I'm going to sacrifice for a short time so that I can be done with this faster.

Speaker 1 And it worked. It did.
It did. So that was hard.
It was. It was hard.
Was it worth it? Oh, 100%.

Speaker 4 100%.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 1 You're free now. I am.

Speaker 4 I am. I finally have time to do the things I want to do, get more involved in my church, investing in people, and just being able to live.

Speaker 1 It's very freeing. Yeah, I guess.
Congratulations. Thank you.
So proud of you. Who was cheering you on?

Speaker 4 Oh, man. My parents first,

Speaker 4 first of all, when I made that last student loan payment, I had them on FaceTime. And

Speaker 4 they were with me when I hit hit send or hit pay, and we all just cried.

Speaker 1 I love it.

Speaker 4 It was great. My aunts and uncles, my coworkers are amazing.
When I paid off my debt, they had a little party for me, had a little banner made that said, Jill is debt-free.

Speaker 4 Friends, family, just it's been amazing. And being somebody who's single, it was important to me to kind of have that support and accountability.

Speaker 4 I couldn't have done it without them. Wow.

Speaker 5 Yeah, you brought a crowd with you just to support you. You got your own posse over here, which is awesome.

Speaker 5 And that is huge for folks that are single out there because it's so much harder when you don't have that built-in accountability of a spouse.

Speaker 5 Correct. So I'm proud of you.

Speaker 1 Thanks. Did people think you were crazy?

Speaker 4 Oh, yes. People were like, well,

Speaker 4 why are you paying this off? Like, you need to be investing.

Speaker 4 And I said, well, these student loans, this is keeping me from investing in my future. And this is keeping me from living.

Speaker 4 And I'm doing it this way, and here I am on the Dave Ramsey Joe.

Speaker 1 I love it. You did it.
Very, very cool. Good stuff.
So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? You are very successful at it.

Speaker 4 Yeah, so first and foremost, my faith in Jesus Christ is what helped me get through it.

Speaker 4 Having that great support system to help keep me accountable. And then when I got to the student loan part, I was at $82,000.

Speaker 4 And I was like, okay, so I made some payments, got into the 70s and I was like, okay, how fast can I get to the 60s? And then I just kept going.

Speaker 4 So I made it a game and I took the power back that that debt had over me and made it how fast can I do this? And that really changed my mindset.

Speaker 4 So changing that mindset and having that support system is huge.

Speaker 1 Taking the power back. It really does come down to hope.
It does. I can, you know, when you take the power back, that means that you now see that this is possible.
Ding, ding.

Speaker 1 Hope kicks in, belief kicks in, and then you don't even feel the sacrifice then, because, like you said, it's a game. I'm sprinting to the finish line.
I see the tape.

Speaker 1 Yes, I'm in pain, but I can see the tape.

Speaker 1 This is not forever. It's not.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but it yields a harvest of righteousness. Well done, young lady.
Well done. Very well done.
Now you're free.

Speaker 1 How's it feel?

Speaker 4 Well, Dave, you know how you tell people when they pay their house off the grass feels different?

Speaker 1 Dave,

Speaker 4 buying groceries feels different now.

Speaker 4 Being able to say yes to trips or friends are going to this restaurant, this new place opened in Atlanta, let's all go. Like being able to say yes to that,

Speaker 4 just being able to change like my priorities and my time. It's just, it's been amazing.
Deleting the student loan app off my phone was huge.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Yes, that was a moment.
You are now

Speaker 1 done.

Speaker 4 I like it.

Speaker 1 Never again will I go back.

Speaker 5 Worst app ever. Do not recommend.
Zero stars.

Speaker 1 Wow. Zero stars.

Speaker 5 Oh, that is incredible. So what's next for you?

Speaker 4 Obviously, coming to Nashville. My family, we're all going to Texas next month to celebrate another family member's birthday.

Speaker 4 So I got to do that. And I was recently promoted.
I'm a restroad dietitian and I was promoted to clinical nutrition manager.

Speaker 1 So now I'm. Somehow I'm not shocked.

Speaker 5 Yeah, in the midst of working your tail off, they go, hey, she's a hard worker. Let's give her the job.

Speaker 4 Yes, yes. God was just blessing that student loan balance coming down.
The job opportunity came in. I finally got to get rid of some of these side hustles.

Speaker 4 And it's just, I'm just excited what God has in the future.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's going to be big.

Speaker 5 It's going to be amazing. We want to bless you.
We've got two every dollar yearly subscriptions for you. You can use them, pass them on to someone to kickstart their journey as well.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Way to go.
Thank you. How old are you?

Speaker 4 36. Yeah.

Speaker 1 There's no stopping you. There's no stopping you.
You're wide open. I bet you were wide open when you were a little kid.
Mom.

Speaker 1 yeah, mom's shaking her head. Yeah, okay.
Yeah, it's kind of a Rachel Cruz thing right there. Yeah, Rachel was wide open when she was a little kid.

Speaker 1 I mean, we told, I told Sharon, I said, We're going to have to point this one at something. She's going to go off.

Speaker 5 You've got to use these powers for good.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's it. You're something else.
You're amazing. I'm so proud of you.
Thanks, Dave. Very, very well done.
It made you proud. All right.
Jill is in Atlanta, Georgia.

Speaker 1 She paid off $102,000, $82,000 of which was those dastardly student loons. 27 months, she did it, making 60 to 124.
Lots of work. Count it down.
Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Speaker 1 Three, two, one. I'm debt-free!

Speaker 1 Yeah!

Speaker 1 Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop.

Speaker 1 Yeah, baby.

Speaker 1 That's how it works around these parts.

Speaker 1 This

Speaker 1 is the Ramsey Show.

Speaker 1 Well, we just launched a brand new tour.

Speaker 1 Me and Dr. John Deloney are hitting the road and coming to a city near you on the Money and Relationships tour.
We're putting a whole new twist on these live events. You,

Speaker 1 the audience that have bought tickets, are going to shape the conversation that we have each night.

Speaker 1 At each stop on the tour, you get to select the topics that matter most to you in the pre-show, and then we're going to design the show right before we walk out.

Speaker 1 Whether it's budgeting budgeting or relationship dynamics or achieving your financial goals, whatever the question is, you get to choose the topic, and that's what we're going to do.

Speaker 1 We're going to be in Louisville, April 21st, in Durham, April 23rd, Atlanta, April 25th, Phoenix, May 5th, Fort Worth, May 7th, and Kansas City, May 9th. Dave Ramsey, Dr.
John Deloney, live.

Speaker 1 in person in those cities on that date. You're going to laugh.
You're going to cry. You're going to learn.
And we're going to do some Q QA.

Speaker 1 We're going to have, it's going to be very, very interactive. A way different kind of

Speaker 1 live event for the Ramsey bunch. If you're tuning in on YouTube or podcast, you can click the link in the show notes or you can go to ramseysolutions.com/slash tour and get your tickets right now.

Speaker 1 Cindy is with us. Cindy is in Orlando.
Hi, Cindy. How are you?

Speaker 2 Hi, thank you for taking my call.

Speaker 1 Sure. What's up?

Speaker 2 So,

Speaker 2 we, my husband and I are on baby step three, but six months ago he lost his job. And we're trying to figure out, do we get rid of the life insurance, the umbrella,

Speaker 2 to help with everything, or do we want to keep those things

Speaker 2 on our budget?

Speaker 1 Why isn't he working?

Speaker 2 He was laid off. He's in sales and he's been trying.
And praise God, he's been humbled. So

Speaker 2 he's been trying everything, and now he's even taking classes. And we only have the one car because we went Gazelle Intent.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 the car that we have for like Lyft, I think it's too old,

Speaker 2 the year of it.

Speaker 1 What was he doing when he got laid off?

Speaker 2 Sales.

Speaker 1 Sales. Selling what?

Speaker 2 Software.

Speaker 1 Software sales. Why did he get laid off?

Speaker 2 I think like production-based, like if you don't hit a quota.

Speaker 1 So he wasn't making sales?

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 What kind of income was he making?

Speaker 2 $50,000.

Speaker 1 Okay. And so what's he want to do with his life now?

Speaker 2 He's

Speaker 2 for the unemployment, he's doing the cybersecurity. He's taking the classes for that.

Speaker 1 He's taking classes for what?

Speaker 2 Cybersecurity.

Speaker 1 Cybersecurity.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 5 What do you make?

Speaker 2 $73.

Speaker 5 Okay, so you've been living off of your 73, but you're also trying to build up this emergency fund.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 he's not creating any income at all.

Speaker 2 Unfortunately, no.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 What did he make his last year in sales? What did he make in sales? You said 50K?

Speaker 2 Yeah, he made 50.

Speaker 2 altogether we did 130 in our taxes last year so he made like 30,000 in sales

Speaker 1 how many kids do y'all have

Speaker 2 two how old is he and one's in daycare how old is he he's 41 okay

Speaker 1 all right well there's there's um

Speaker 1 here's the thing when you are

Speaker 1 When you have zero income coming in

Speaker 1 and you go for a job interview, you walk differently and your voice tone is different than if you have income coming in.

Speaker 1 Right?

Speaker 1 And so the fact that he's doing nothing

Speaker 1 is not helping him land a position.

Speaker 1 So I would prefer that he cut grass and drive Uber 80 hours a week, clean toilets,

Speaker 1 whatever he has to do to get some income coming in, and actually put his hand to something other than

Speaker 1 YouTube

Speaker 1 or whatever he's spending his days on these days.

Speaker 1 He really needs to get to work for his own sake, and that's going to make him more employable at one of these other jobs. It's not that he's lacking a class.

Speaker 1 If he wants to take a cybersecurity class at night while he's working full-time during the day,

Speaker 1 that's fine. But sitting on his butt taking one class or two classes is not cool.
Y'all are broke.

Speaker 5 So you said he was humbled, but I think he needs more. We got more to go.

Speaker 1 We need to swallow our pride and go into something. I don't really want to care if he's humble.
What I want him to do is go to work.

Speaker 2 Understand.

Speaker 1 Yeah, my grandmother used to say there's a great place to go when you're broke, to work.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, I mean, and here's the thing.

Speaker 1 I don't care if he takes a career job until he gets a career job, okay? But I want him to do anything he can can do to go make some money.

Speaker 1 And what that does is it gives him dignity and it gives him purpose. And believe it or not, it gives you energy when you're working hard.

Speaker 1 And then when you walk in to a job interview, you got a little swagger instead of your head hung down and your lips stuck out.

Speaker 5 They can smell desperation.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Every human can smell it. We see the body language.
We see the pacing in your voice, the tone, the energy level. The eyes are lit up or they're glazed over, which is it?

Speaker 1 And all of these things happen. And so, and the guy you're describing to me right now is not going to survive a good interview.

Speaker 1 Understood. If he got one, how many interviews has he actually been on?

Speaker 2 Two.

Speaker 1 In six months.

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 So sometimes what happens when we get fired,

Speaker 1 which is what really happened because he didn't make his sales,

Speaker 1 then it takes some of your personality, or it takes some of your dignity and some of your self-confidence, some of your mojo. So I think

Speaker 1 you encouraging him to go be somebody is going to be really good for him. It's not nagging him.
It's lifting him up.

Speaker 1 So I'm going to be his coach at halftime and go, we're behind, and you've got the stuff. I want you to get up in the morning and shave and put on nice clothes like you're going to work.

Speaker 1 Oh, and by the way, go ahead and go to work while you're doing that.

Speaker 1 And I I don't care if you're serving at a restaurant. I don't care if you're delivering pizza.
I don't care if you're Uber Eats. I don't care if you're cutting grass.

Speaker 1 I don't care if you're working, cleaning toilets. You can get a job by the end of the week doing one of those things or all of those things.
And believe me, Orlando needs the help.

Speaker 1 There's people in Orlando who need help.

Speaker 1 Get you a leaf blower from Home Depot. Rich people are afraid of leaves.

Speaker 1 And so, you know,

Speaker 1 that kind of stuff, right? So, I mean, go do something. Because what that does is it gets you up off the

Speaker 1 pity party that we all, I went through that when I went broke. It took my confidence, like when you get fired.

Speaker 1 It took my confidence, and it took me a while to get, and, and I was, but I had two little babies, and I didn't have a choice. I had to go make something because we were starving to death.

Speaker 1 And so, I went out there and did anything I could do for a period of time until I could get the income moving again. And that, and then with that, came my confidence, it came back.

Speaker 1 And slowly, the more I did it. And so,

Speaker 1 you know, I hope that's all it is with him. I hope he's not lazy.
But most people aren't lazy. Most people struggle with hope.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 he's probably not a lazy guy, but he probably just doesn't feel great about him. You're over there making money.

Speaker 1 He got fired. And so I want him to get back out there and get back out in the marketplace,

Speaker 1 get back up at the plate, start swinging the bat again.

Speaker 1 And I'm going to send you Ken Coleman's two books, Proximity Principle and Paycheck to Purpose, and tell him to get on kencoleman.com and start using that proximity principle to get some positions and get some things moving.

Speaker 1 He's got to get an income moving. That'll help your household and help the mathematics, but more importantly, it'll help his mental state.

Speaker 5 That's right. And to answer your question, do not cut your life insurance and umbrella.
Like, you've got to keep the defense there while you're playing offense.

Speaker 5 So you need to find spending cuts somewhere else.

Speaker 1 Don't do spending cut. Increase your income.
He needs to go make some money. He could make $3,000 or $4,000 a month falling off a log man

Speaker 1 i mean he can almost get his old income back you know really i mean the number of people we talk to that make 1500 bucks a week delivering pizzas right now there's no excuse i mean you can do there's people in the economy there's a shortage you can do anything to go make money so and and

Speaker 1 there's a shortage of everything out there right now people that will work show up that have bathed and smile it's amazing it's amazing

Speaker 1 you can get a job and so i want him to go do something for him because

Speaker 1 I kind of smell that. I remember how that felt.
And it wasn't a good feeling. And I want better for him.
And with that, it goes better for you, hon. This is the Ramsey Show.