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Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
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. I'm your host, Jade Warshaw. I am joined by one of my favorite co-hosts, Rachel Cruz, best-selling author, host of The Rachel Cruz Show, and we are joined together.
Join forces to answer your questions about life, money, relationships, the holiday season, whatever is sticking in your crawl. We are going to help it come out of your crawl as we take your calls. Give us a call. The number is 888-255-225, and we'll chop it up with you. Let's go straight to the phone lines. We've got LJ from Tulsa, Oklahoma. What's going on, LJ? Yes, thanks for taking my call.
No problem. How can we help? I'm kind of new to all this. I just recently heard about y'all because some friends are talking about a concept of debt snowball versus a debt avalanche. And it got me curious. So I started looking and researching all up and found the baby steps and I got some savings, but I saw I'm trying to pay off debt.
So I'm looking at all the places to get my like hands on money, you know, to help pay debt off.
Yeah.
And I have a 401k that they call the target date. 401k from a previous job. Is there any downsides or is that a good place to look at getting money to help pay off debt since I'm currently in 457 at my new job? Yeah, I mean, I love the fact that you're looking for ways to pay off your debt. And I love that you feel that it's urgent for you to quickly get your debt paid off.
But I would not pull from retirement savings of any kind in order to do that. And, you know, the fact that you once had a 401k and now you have a 457, that's not really a license to do that because it's still retirement money. And so there's still penalties and fees if you were to dip into that money. Not to mention, that's not truly the solution, right?
We don't want you robbing from Peter to pay Paul. And so I think the solution for you is probably going to be finding that money either by picking up extra work or cutting back areas in your budget.
LJ, your 401k that was with your previous job, is it still there? Have you rolled it over into a traditional IRA?
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Chapter 2: How can I pay off my debt without pulling from my 401(k)?
I'm selling it. I would. Kevin, $83,000 in a truck? That has debt that's going down in value that you're paying interest on? Wow.
It took me a while to get it because I had to pre-order it.
I believe it. I'm sure you did. Yeah.
I bet. I do want to add it to the debt snowball, but I just... I'm trying to figure out how to go about it. If I should just pay more every month or just save up one giant.
No, no. You want to be paying on it. Yes. As you, as you get extra cashflow, you're throwing it at the truck, but we would, I mean, I would run the numbers, Kevin. I would Kelly blue book it, run a scenario, look on Craigslist, look at, you know, local dealerships for other trucks. And just for a, for a second, just think, Oh my gosh. Cause how much is your payment?
It's about 1700 a month.
Whoa. Kevin. Kevin. Kevin, run the numbers. Okay, go to RamseySolutions.com and pull up our investment calculator. If you invested $1,700 a month, if you invested that, Kevin, do you know how much money you would have? I wish I had my computer on.
I would do it right now. I'm a skeleton. Kevin, we're back. I'm dead. I am just... Wow. And do you have other debt besides this or is this going to be it? This is it. This is really my only payment I have a month is because... All my other expenses are paid for. Wow, Kevin. Rachel, you keep the conversation going.
I'll do the investment calculator. You got to go. We got like 30 seconds. Okay, I would... I mean, Kevin, I'm not going to sit here and convince you. You're a grown man.
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Chapter 3: What are the best strategies for managing debt?
You can do what you want. But our biggest goal is that we want your money working for you, not against you. There is so much of your income and heart. You make incredible money. I mean, $150 to $160 a year that actually you'd be building wealth for your family. You could actually be changing your legacy and building your wealth with this versus sending it to...
uh where ford motor company or wherever it is going right so so there's there's power in letting your money work for you versus it working for a car dealership and that's what you're doing right now with this truck wow if you sell it if you did 1700 a month to 2 million 225 dollars after 25 years 25 years you could have two million dollars this is the ramsey show
You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Jade Warshaw, joined by Rachel Cruz. Give us a call. The number is 888-825-5225. We'd be happy to hear from you. We'll go straight to the phone lines where we've got Caleb in North Carolina. What's going on, Caleb? Um, hi. So my question is, so I work with my dad after I'm done with school, like two or three times a week. And I make like $80 a week.
And I want to know what I can do with my money right now to set up myself for my future.
My goodness, Caleb, how old are you? I'm 12. Wow, that's so impressive. What kind of work do you do with your dad?
We go to people's houses and fix like washers, dishwashers, refrigerators, and like microwaves and stuff like that.
Caleb, let me tell you, not just the money you earn is helpful, but knowing how to do all of that later in life in about 10 years. I know, right? People will be very thankful to be your friends because not a lot of people know how to fix all that stuff, Caleb. So I love that you're even learning that trade now. That's amazing. Amazing. Thank you.
I would love to hear what Jade would say about this because we both have kids, Caleb. So we think about this a lot for our kids. But the fact that you're earning money like this, I think, is fantastic. So I think the first conversation I would have looking to the future, the big purchase you'll probably have in your future is a car when you turn 16.
So I'd ask your parents what their plan is for that. If they...
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Chapter 4: How can I effectively budget for unexpected expenses?
Okay. So, yeah, I would make it a goal, you know, to start chipping that away and working extra. And I guess is the $115 a year include you and your husband's income? Yes. Okay. So, yeah, I mean... You have a, yeah, I mean, you're making good money, but you also have a good amount of debt, 100K.
So I'm going to say that there's probably going to be a season of side hustles and earning some extra income. Do you guys have kids?
Yeah, we have three.
Okay. So yeah, so that's always a tricky thing to navigate. And Jade, I know you and Sam did that with kids too. And so like it just that adds a dynamic that's very real. Yeah. That makes it difficult. But I think for you guys to be as focused as possible and map this out.
But I sadly learn I don't I can't in good faith tell you to stay where you are when half of your income is going to be going to this rent because it's just it's you guys will not be able to get traction of paying off this debt. No, definitely not.
I agree wholeheartedly. Have you priced out some cheaper apartments in your area? Yeah, we have two dogs also, so we're in a house right now. So I feel like we need to stay in a house just because we're a family of five with two dogs. It's a little chaotic in our apartment, I can imagine.
So we're kind of on the outskirts of Dallas where it's cheaper, but I'm not sure kind of what we can find that's going to fit us that's going to be cheaper. Yeah, you're definitely going to need to find something. Otherwise, I mean, it goes one or two ways.
You either see your income going up substantially, like 25% more to where this knocks down to where it's supposed to be, or you find an apartment or a home to rent that's 25% less.
Yeah. And Lauren, and remember, this is just for, this is temporary, which I know it's like, it sounds, it sounds, it's easy on our side of the desk to be like, go find another place to move. And you're thinking of all the logistics and upbringing your family. Like, I know it's a lot. I know. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it is, it's a lot. So there's either going to have to be what Jade said.
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Chapter 5: What statistics highlight financial stress among Americans?
And then they come through with the stat that says 74% of Americans say they feel stressed about their money. I'm like, what is happening? You're making this choice.
Yes. Oh my gosh. See, that's what's funny is I'm like, and it's such a human behavior thing that it's like once you have your mind set to something, you're like, oh, I'm going to do it. Regardless of what the other numbers are saying, I'm going to choose to continue following this plan. And you're just like, wait, no, no, no. You can stop right now. You can stop and pivot.
Well, Ross on friends with the couch. He's like, but we can all pivot our plans. If your numbers are not adding up with this.
And if you're still paying Christmas from last year. Yeah. Let me tell you what I'm hearing in my heart that I know that I know someone is saying. I know someone is like, Jade, the year has been so hard. I feel like. I can't spend money on anything.
I just need a little joy.
I just need a little joy, Rachel. Like, I can't give up Christmas too. Like, I can't. Let me just go hard on Christmas. And then when January 1st comes, I'll get back on track. And please, Rachel, don't take Christmas from me. I got to get my gifts. Come on. I got to get...
And what's funny is the gifts, let's just be honest, some I'm sure really great sentimental things.
Yeah.
Probably a lot of crap for the kids that they're going to play with for two days and then they're moving on to the next thing. As you pointed out yesterday, Jade. Adults don't need gifts. Shipping gifts around to Aunt Rita who if Aunt Rita, quote Jade, needs the blender, Aunt Rita can buy the blender. That's right. So. So really, I'm like, it's either obligation.
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Chapter 6: How can we reassess our financial priorities during the holiday season?
That's a word, Rachel, because it really is like it's like a news cycle. Like when something is really big in the news and it's like the only thing anybody's reporting on. And then two, three weeks later, it's crickets. You never hear about it again. Yes. And I feel like Christmas is that like right now it's like Christmas. There's only two paychecks till Christmas.
And by the way, there is only two paychecks till Christmas. And it's like the only thing we can think about. But you're so right on December 26th. No one cares. I know it's over. Yep. Yep. December 26th. It's over. And you can go, wow. Okay. Like that is over now.
And honestly, and call me cheesy, but I'm being for real. I'm like, even just past Thanksgiving, I'm like, and I know Thanksgiving doesn't have gifts and all of it, but I'm like, when I look back with my kids, I'm like the memories we have, we took bikes to an empty parking lot from a high school down the road, road bikes around the parking lot. Cause Caroline can now ride her bike.
You know, we went on a hike. We did puzzles. I forced my kids to do puzzles. Because I'm 80 years old and I love puzzles. So we did like Christmas puzzles. We watched Home Alone 2. We saw My Family. We had a Friendsgiving. Everyone brought appetizers and stuff. And we all had a great night and played a game. You know what I mean? I'm like, you look back and it's like, that's the good life.
100 it's not all the crap that you clean out of your playroom 18 months later that's all you know what i mean like yes so that's it and so there's something to be said yes stuff is fun we are not against stuff on this show okay so like yes santa's gonna be bringing a new bike for one of the children and yes like we're gonna be having some fun stuff this christmas but yet like what do we all remember we remember the time the time spent and i don't want to seem like a hallmark movie
But it's just true, you guys. It's true. So that is true.
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Chapter 7: What should we consider when deciding to pay off a house or invest?
Don't go into debt like it. Don't stop. Just stop. It's unnecessary. Go ride bikes in an empty parking lot with your kids and have an afternoon.
I mean, it might be the first time you've ever done that because Rachel, what you're describing, that is a.
mindset and it for many that is a complete mindset shift like I was on a webinar the other day about budgeting and we were talking about look if your Christmas budget doesn't allow for it you may have to cut back and some of the people in the chat were saying oh we're not having Christmas this year and like oh I guess that does it for Christmas this year I guess we can't have it and I'm like
because it equals gifts because yeah that's what I'm saying that's a mindset shift because for a lot of people Christmas is gifts and we've never had it any other way we don't know what it looks like yeah to not have a stack you know yeah everybody posts that stack on Instagram where they're all like stacked up the wall and all the wrapping paper is the same and I'm like whose life looks like that but did I tell you my story about this last year no but tell me
We, I did that. Okay. I did that. Okay. I saw everyone posting their pictures. I thought it was sweet. And we were going to bed that Christmas Eve, you know, uh, I think Santa had come and yeah, the Christmas tree was all, it just like, it was a sweet picture for me. And I took a picture and I did put it on Instagram. I just said, happy Christmas. Yeah. Merry Christmas Eve, everyone.
Hope you're having a great time. Yeah. I hope you're having a great Christmas with your family. Jade, the amount of comments underneath that was like, I'm so glad you practice a minimal Christmas, Rachel. Minimalism is at the... All this stuff where I was like... No. Oh, I didn't think we did. Oh, my gosh. Winston, did we? So, obviously, it made me feel good. That's great.
Because there wasn't a ton, but I feel like we got good gifts for our kids. It just made me laugh because I was like, Winston, who knew it? We were minimalists. Look at that.
I didn't even know it.
And it was a great Christmas.
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Chapter 8: How can we balance home renovation costs with financial stability?
Okay. We were able to put 550,000 down. Wow. Nice. Yeah. So I, again, if it's helpful, I can go into all the financial details of like what the mortgage is. What's your question?
Um,
The question is that we hate the house. Oh. What? Yeah.
What changed? Oh, no.
Yeah. We're really unhappy. Shoot. Why? It's just, it's not a great layout for our lifestyle. Not a lot can be done to change it. It's a townhome, so, you know, there's restrictions on what you can do with an HOA. And not only that, it's a three-story townhome, so... it's just a big issue around layout primarily. Did you know that going in? Like you didn't buy it sight unseen. Yeah, I know.
Um, we, we did know it, but we, you know, we were first time home buyers and I think we really didn't spend enough time on thinking about the home. We were really concerned about whether it was a good financial decision and we spent a lot of time thinking about that.
Yeah.
And, um, Yeah. And, you know, this is like a very competitive area for real estate. So we just we really wanted to be homebuyers. And like at the end of the day, the question is, you know, we're already here. It's already done. Is it worth it for us to take a loss and try to get out of it as soon as possible? Or should we try to stay?
Do you feel like it's going to be a loss?
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