Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
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888-825-5225 gets you on the line here with Dr. John Deloney. My name is Jade Warshaw. Let's get into it. William is in Atlanta, Georgia. What's up, William? Will I am? Hey, how are y'all doing? Good. How can we help today? So I've got, I am 22 years old, and I am engaged recently. She has two children of her own that I've inherited, and we have one on the way.
So I, with her, we've kind of planned, we're getting married, we are one, as Dave likes to say. We're kind of thinking of, The ballpark of what our debt would be together, and it's around $15,000 to $16,000. Okay. And we're really trying to figure out what the best way to pay that off is with the income that we currently make. Right now or after you get married? After we get married.
We'll be getting married at the end of this year. Okay. First thing I want you to do is not ballpark anything. Okay. Get an exact dollar amount. Okay. It's $15,668. Okay, so you got that. Way to go. All right, and you're 22 and you're about to have three kids. Yeah. All I got to say is, dang, Gina, it's a lot of kids. Yeah, what kind of money are you guys making?
So right now I'm making right at $52,000. What about her? And she is making, I'm sorry. Yeah, what will your soon-to-be wife be earning? Forty two thousand. OK, good. OK. And is she going to continue to work after this baby or what's the plan? Yeah. So she's actually got a really unique opportunity. My mom does Medicare insurance policies and everything. She was a cop before this.
I was a cop before I started doing what I'm doing now. Um, so she has gotten a really new opportunity to work for my mom. My mom only makes her come in three days a week for, uh, five hours at a time and she pays her $1,100 every two weeks. All right, sweet.
So the main question then is how do we, is it, how do we combine our money to pay off this debt or just, we know how to combine the money, Jade, how do we pay off this debt? Yeah, essentially, how do we pay it off? What I'm really struggling with is, you know, as you said, 22 with three kids. And I was just kind of thrown into the other two. And obviously, that's not their fault.
And I love them to death. But I've never really had to budget around kids. I've always just kind of budgeted around myself. Absolutely. So just kind of jumping into things. It's kind of weird for me. To be able to just jump into it and be like, OK, well, I have to spend this much on groceries now and we have to pay this much in rent and everything.
And then even with some of the money we have left over at the end of the month, we're still kind of paycheck to paycheck as it is now. Are you already sharing money or is this just hypotheticals? Like, are you hypothetically, I'm sorry, when you said that we're kind of, you said, well, we're doing this, but we're already kind of running out of money.
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Chapter 2: How do I pay off my debt effectively?
Yeah. Okay. Is it daycare? Yes. Daycare is a very big expense. How much is daycare? Because your wife's making $1,100 a week, $4,400. How much is daycare? Every two weeks. Oh, every two weeks. So she's making $2,200. How much is daycare? Daycare is not far off. It's about $1,200. Okay, okay, so there's still something to be said for her paycheck or yours. Yeah.
When it comes to food, whatever you think the number's going to be, multiply it by probably like 3,000%. Yeah, that's been the biggest one for me is groceries. I never knew that they could cost so much. Bro, how old are these two kids you're inheriting? Four and two. Just wait until they're 12 and 14. And how much is rent? What are you guys paying for? Are you renting or what is it?
Yeah, so we're renting. We live in a two-bed, one-bath house outside of Atlanta. I pay $10.50 a month. $10.50? $1,050 a month. Okay. And then bill-wise, we try to keep our power bill low, but power bill rates here in Georgia have been skyrocketing. Okay. So like last month, our bill was $200 and then we got it this month and it was almost $400. What about cars? What about your cars?
So my car is paid off. I don't like new cars. I have a 99 Tahoe that I drive around and she has a 2021 Traverse that she is upside down in. What's she owe? $25,000. And what's it worth? Probably around $15,000. My, my, my. What's the payment on it? $535,000. My gosh. Okay. And our interest rate is 6.7%. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, talking about paying off this debt, if you guys can get out of that, that's going to free a lot of margin for you. Yes. Now that $15,000, is that private sale or is that what a dealer would give you? That, yeah, that's private sale. We've gone to a dealer and just seen like, you know, trade-in wise, could she get in something older and just kind of the rest of it roll over?
or how we could work it out. But they would offer way less than we could get in private. They sell a lot more in private. So what I would be looking at here is, so you owe 25. I mean, if you wanted to get out of it, you could try to possibly get a loan for the difference, but you'd still have to get something cash, which you'd probably spend about 8,000 on. So you'd be at 18 instead of 25.
Whether or not that's worth it, eh, whatever. Probably not. I think you guys can just bear this out by doing the two things we always teach, which is there's really only two ways to do this, John. I mean, he's either going to work more and she's going to work more or you're going to cut things out of your budget or you're going to do a combination of both. That's the way this works.
So listening to you run this out, I mean, I'm estimating you're taking home about $5,800 a month. Does that sound about right? Yeah. Yeah, roundabout. And the good thing about my job is I work a union job as well, and I just started. So in four years, I'll be making about $93,000. Which I love that, but today you've got a debt problem of $16,000.
Now let me be clear, I truly don't think you guys need to be combining money until after you're married. That's where I am on this, but you're already there now. I doubt you're going to go backwards since you're getting married at the end of the year. Yeah. But the key here is we've got to find margin. $10.50 on rent's not bad. The $1,200 on the daycare is not bad. $400 on utilities.
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Chapter 3: What should I consider when combining finances with my fiancé?
Y'all don't eat out at all? Y'all cook at home? Yeah, she cooks at home every night. Or maybe you have some dogs or like some cats or something that you're spending a lot of money on pets. That's a big one. You got to just take the sucker down to bone, man, on your expenses. That's what I would do. That's the answer.
And if you have to get a second job on top of it, yeah, you got to work extra, but y'all got to grind it out. This just is hard, man. Times are tight, and one of the easiest ways to save more money right now is to stop overpaying for your phone plan. Boost Mobile gives you one low monthly price, just $25 a month for unlimited talk, text, and data. And that price never goes up.
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I'm in a good predicament. My wife and I have recently went debt-free, paid off our house about a year ago. Way to go. The situation is we, I pastor a church, I'm bivocational, and been doing that for 26 years now. We made a choice when we got married and started having kids for my wife to stay at home. So I've been working a full-time job plus extra jobs all these years now.
just to make ends meet. So we're in a position right now where we're both 58 years old. A year ago when we paid off our house, we just started investing for retirement. My question is, I feel like I've been gazelle intense for the last 26 years. But I feel like I still need to keep up that intensity to have enough in retirement.
And how did you be gazelle intense, but just started saving last year for retirement? Because I was the only income working two and three jobs just to make sure that our bills were paid. And we had six kids and keeping food on the table. But you guys also, you paid off the house. So you paid off the house before you started investing. Yes. Got it.
And our house got torn down by a tornado, taken down by a tornado in 2019. Shoot. And that actually helped us. Insurance allowed us to buy another house, and we ended up owing less on that house than we owed on the one that we were living in. So that helped us to pay off that house quicker. But we're in a position right now where we've got...
Right now I've got about $20,000 in Roth IRAs and mutual funds, and we've got about $40,000 in savings. And what's your household income now as it stands? Well, yeah, right now my wife has started working since all of her kids are out, so now we're making $120,000 a year. Okay. We've been putting... between $1,500 and $1,800 a month into our retirement.
And we have like $500 that we set out each month for the next vehicle that we may end up having to buy. We've got $200 a month that we set aside for car expenses. And then the rest is insurance and things like that.
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Chapter 4: How can I balance financial support for family with my own budget?
Um, you know, I don't know if we're saving out too much money for the next vehicle or, you know, I could throw more into the retirement. I just don't know. what the best options would be. I think at this point, your best option is to put as much into retirement as you can simply because, I mean, you said it yourself, you've only got $20,000 plus the $40,000 you have just in regular savings.
And so, of course, replacing vehicles is important, but I am worried about you having something there because as a pastor, you don't have Social Security taken out of your check, right? Well, I've had Social Security taken out because I've been working a regular job for the last 30 years. Okay. Okay. And I'm still working that regular job. Okay.
And do you know, I mean, I'm just trying to get all your numbers. Do you know what that will be if you wait and do late distribution on that? I do not know what my Social Security will be. My pension is going to be right around $1,800 a month. Okay, well, that's helpful. Yeah, I mean, that would be my biggest thing. You do have the pension, which is nice.
You do have a little bit of Social Security. Hopefully your wife will have that too. But yeah, my goal would be like, how much can I build up this $20,000? You said you were putting $1,800 a month in right now? Yes.
OK, so, I mean, if I run that math as it is, if you start now or last year, like you said, and you do this till you're 72, I mean, that's seven hundred thirty five thousand dollars you'll have there. And I feel pretty good about that considering you'll have a paid for house.
But obviously, if we can bump that up, you know, that's going to every bit that you can bump that up is going to give you a little bit more peace. Right. Right. Right. Yeah, I guess I've just had a point where I feel like, you know, I've been working two or three jobs plus pastoring for the last 30 years. I'm like, okay, I'd like to spend some time with my wife. Yeah, sure.
But at the same time, this was... All these were choices. I hate that. Yes. Everything was a choice, man. I totally get it, dude. I totally get it. And it's a tough pill to swallow. 58, is that what you said? Yeah. Yeah, that's a tough pill to swallow. But it's like, we chose six kids. We chose to pastor a church. We chose to pay the house and not put any money in retirement.
We made all those choices. And then here we are. And really at 58, like I'm looking at a guy who has given his whole life to serving people and y'all have a math problem. It's just a math problem. Like, are we gonna have enough money when we are 82 years old to be able to get groceries and pay the ever escalating energy bills, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Right.
So, I mean, that's what I would do. I think the 1800 you're doing is great. And that's like I said, it's going to get you to 730, you know, between seven and 750. If you can get to 2000, that's even better. But John is exactly right. But John, I want to take a moment and talk about what he just said, because I hear that a lot on this show. I've experienced it myself, which is I'm just tired.
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Chapter 5: How can I eliminate or consolidate my debt as a single mom?
Yes, I know. I moved up to West Virginia from Mississippi in the hopes that I would be making a little bit more money in the career path that I'm in. And I don't know that I did the math the correct way before I moved up here. What's your career? Yeah. I am in property management for student housing. What's your income? I make $77,500 a year before taxes and insurance and everything.
Before taxes. So after, I mean, what are you, $4,600? I bring home about $2,300 every two weeks. Okay. Okay. And then what does it cost to make your life? Is it your rent that's too high? What's going on? It is rent. It is daycare, car note. I had zero credit card debt moving up here. But since I have moved here, I have accrued about six grand in credit card debt.
And that's just closing the gap on your budget, right? I don't think you're going out living la vida loca. I am not.
Chapter 6: What financial challenges do single parents face?
Tell me what you pay for daycare every month. It is $1,400 a month. Ooh, mama. Tell me what you pay in rent every month. $1,590. Okay. That's not that bad. That could be worse. Is that a two bedroom or a one? It's two bedrooms. Okay. How young is the child? I mean, their daycare age, but how young? My son is 18 months old. I think you got to get a one bedroom. Oh, man.
Is there a chance you can move? I've spent my career working with these adjacent campus villages at universities. Is there a chance you could get into a campus apartment for a while? Where I work is not directly affiliated with the school. I know, but with the adjacent campus community, would they give you a place? I, I've never heard of that. I would ask. To be honest with you.
I had never heard of it either until I asked. And then because I was in charge, I created it for myself. But my wife and I and our infant, I mean, our two year old toddler moved into a campus living environment for a year. Okay. And it changed our whole life.
And it wasn't the best thing in the world and it was not how I drew it up, but it ended up, dude, my two-year-old son had like 175 college students. They're just fawning over him all the time. It was a dream come true for him. Yes. That's, that's awesome. I will definitely look into that.
Chapter 7: How can I protect my financial future while raising a child?
Thank you. You know why? Cause it's going to quote unquote, help you with the student experience and help you with marketing, blah, blah, blah. You know, all the right words you got to say.
agreed yes that is correct which they the university technically considers any off-campus housing to be in you know like direct competition i know um with the university and we're actually not even allowed to market on campus but anyway well if you could live in do you live on your property i do not know that's what i'm talking about is there a possibility you could move on to the property
Oh, yes. I would have to reach out to my supervisor and all the things just to see if we had like a concession. Of course. Reach out today. Yes, we'll do. Yeah, reach out today. We'll do. I love that idea. It's a great idea, yes. I know that there's like a list, like a company-wide list for however much they can allot per property, and all of my current staff lives on site. Fire somebody.
I'm just kidding, but maybe. I did two weeks ago. Oh, there you go. You've got to find a place to live. But there's a bigger issue here, and that is do you need to reconsider going back to Mississippi? I relocated up here because I was not going to make even this much money doing what I do in Mississippi. Is it time to find a new career path? I've been doing this for four years.
I know, but you can't afford to live. That's right. If you were in another situation and you told me that you made $78,000 a year, I'd be like, okay, great. That's a fine income. You didn't call me telling me that you're making $40,000 or even $52,000. I think the problem is twofold.
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Chapter 8: What steps can I take to start a business while managing family responsibilities?
Number one, you're in a season of higher expense whenever you're in a daycare season. I mean, John, you know I know. Daycare is expensive, and it's not forever, but it is the most expensive four to five years of your life. So that's thing number one. Thing number two is this car. Tell me about your car payment. My car note is $600 a month. That's the big, yeah.
How different would your life be if you had that $600 back? It would be much better. Yeah, you wouldn't be putting it on a credit card every month, right? Yes. I wouldn't have to put daycare on a credit card every month. Right. So tell me, tell me the situation. What do you owe on your car currently? I owe $24,000. And what is it worth? Last time I looked, I believe it was worth about $13,000.
Oh boy. And you're positive that's private sale? It's been a minute since I've looked, so don't quote me on that. It could be completely different, but around about $13,000. Do a little homework on that tonight. It sounds like you might have rolled some negative equity in there at some point, but just do a little homework. What other debt?
Is there anything else besides the car and the credit card? No, I don't have any other debt other than the car loan and my credit card debt. So I go back to what I said before. Do you know anybody where you are or are you just brand new? No friends, no community yet? No community yet. I'm working on it. I'm trying to get involved with a church in the area.
I packed myself and my son up and we just, this was my better opportunity. Where is this child's father? Not, has never been involved. I told him I was, you know, pregnant. He told me to get an abortion and I haven't heard from him since. Okay. But he still has a financial responsibility for this kid? He does, yes. And I am working on that. That would help you significantly as well.
Yes, it would.
So if you were to look up in 90 days and you're getting at least some money from deadbeat and you're living on campus at a free or reduced rate or not on campus, but on your property and you go trade this car in and you go to a local credit union and take out a $5,000 loan because you found some way to sell it and you're going to take, you're going to owe 5,000 bucks to a credit union and you got a cheap, just crummy car.
Your whole life is different then, right? Yes. Yeah. Yes. Those are I mean, those are your your three homeworks. Number one is check out the campus thing. If the campus thing doesn't work, then you at least have to go down to a one bedroom to save some money. You're going to save 300 bucks by going down to a one bedroom.
Thing number two, like John said, yeah, we need to look into this car, do some due diligence on that. Yeah. See if you can get a loan for the difference. And you're buying like a $3,000 beater, um, which is, you know, that's what you're getting the loan for to cover the difference. Plus a little bit to get a car. Um, Yeah, that's what this is looking like.
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