Chapter 1: What insights do the hosts share about financial struggles?
What's up? Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network, live in the Beecham in Orlando, this is The Ramsey Show. Now we're talking. That's what I imagine everyone does at home when they're listening to the show in their car. Oh, this is so fun. Thank you for being a part of this.
We got a lot of people watching this at home, and we're just grateful to be out of the house. I got a newborn, and let me tell you, I was like, babe, I got to go to work. I don't know what to tell you. The people need me. Well, let's get to what you guys came here for. This is the Ramsey Show Live, and we are going to take your questions. Who's our first question?
Ah, yeah.
There she is. Step right up. We have a little stage for you. Tell us your first name and where you're from. Hello, everyone. My name's Michelle, and my husband and I have been married for five years, and debt is something that we have tried our best to tackle time and time again, and every time it feels we've taken two steps forward, it feels like we take three steps back.
Tomorrow, I'm actually going to be laid off from work. Sorry.
No, you're good. Take your time.
And it feels very scary. We have a two and a half year old daughter who is special needs. And she does various therapies. And we have a lot going on with her. I was the full-timer to be available for her. My husband is part-time right now. We also have a small business that we are still growing, but it's not enough yet to pay us full-time. So I think there's just so much going on.
So I'm just kind of like, what do we do? What do we focus on first? Because we don't know how long it'll take for me to either get another job or for our business to really take off or anything like that. Like, what would you focus on first?
Four walls. And you've probably heard us say that, but it gives so much peace to say the first things, the most important things are shelter, right? That's your rent or your mortgage, making sure that's the top thing, right? And then after that, we're just going through the line of priority. Yeah, you got to make sure the utilities stay on, right? You need AC, right? All that kind of stuff.
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Chapter 2: How can couples effectively communicate about finances?
But at least you know exactly what the gap will be. And not only will you know the dollar amount, but you'll know. And that $1,200 gap is these six items or these five items. And that's gonna give you peace as well.
Yes, thank you.
It's also okay to pause trying to get a business off the ground. It might be husband looking across. This might be the moment that you say, this can never happen to us again, right? This might be the moment that catapults y'all into taking control of your financial life. But it might be, like, I love what Jade said about, it's real easy to get into a dream job or career or small business.
Those are all real big, passion-y things, feeling things. Y'all have a really serious emergency math problem. And so tomorrow, he becomes a guy with four part-time jobs because he has a math problem to solve. Not a career, not a passion. We have a math problem we have to solve, right? And we're going to knock on every door we can find because we have a math problem, right?
And it takes some of the smoke out of it, and we just start putting out that fire. You got a good community around you, people you can lean on? Absolutely, yes. It's awesome. Please don't be afraid to ask for help. Yeah. Thank you. Please. Yeah. My wife went to the ER today. I'm out of town. I'm like scrambling.
And next thing I know, there's 17 people texting me, showing up, bringing meals, watching the baby. And so just know that like, I know you feel like weird asking for it and there's shame and you just want to be alone. But now is the time to lean on your people and they will show up for you. And we're praying for you to get that job real soon. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Praying for that baby.
Thank you so much, Michelle.
Thank you.
All right, something we like to do in the show, Jade and John, is we like to help couples out by settling the bait. People call and say, can you settle this debate? I think I'm right. Prove me right. And usually the person calling in is wrong.
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Chapter 3: What steps should one take when facing job loss and debt?
I'm a giveaholic. I'm a pleaser. And nobody's spending money in this house. It's just we're saving and we're giving. We're the nicest people on earth. That's not true. But we're Baby Step 7 for about a year. And, you know, I make low six figures and we do okay. But she likes to give to our kids. We're a blended family. He had three children. I had three children. We've been together 10 years.
It's been a 10-year process of blending and coming together. And our family trips and our family time has really... That's how I measure our wealth. I think it's more about with me, like, we do these trips. We spend $5,000 to $10,000. And they've been great trips.
But every single time for me, it's like, oh, it's like every, you know, whether we want to go spend a few hundred bucks to supper with all the kids. It's like, she's like, let's do this. And I'm like, I'm always glad after. But it always is like, oh. Every time, so that's the debate. Like, I need to figure out how to be okay with spending. You know what I mean?
It's like, me and money don't... How do we budget it? I think that's our biggest problem. I don't think that's the biggest problem. Now that we... I mean, now, where is step eight, nine, and ten? That's when you give back today. I'll send you his Venmo. There's no struggle here. It's not like you're not going to be able to retire because of this.
It's just more that Tom is feeling like we should be doing more over here, we could be doing more over here, and we're just spending willy-nilly on the family funding this fun life. Is that kind of it? What's behind that, Tom? It took a long time between the two of us to get... I've been with the same company for 38 years, working my ass off.
And it's just like, we're here now, and it's like, I want to just keep saving and make sure that there's enough. But I know there's going to be... But there is enough. Yeah, my guess is you guys are probably multi-millionaires by now, Tom. Is that right? There is enough. Okay, so on paper, if you sat down with a financial advisor, would they be like, yeah, you could retire, bud?
Yes, they have. And they've said it, yeah.
They've said it out loud. Yeah, well, my brother-in-law is a financial advisor, and he's like, yeah, you know, by the time you're 75, he said you'll have... Say it. But we... Is it like $25 million or something stupid? Okay. We have six children, hold it down. We wanna just, we wanna make them a priority while we're alive. We wanna live and give while we're alive.
We wanna see the difference made while we're alive. Can I throw an alternative? Yes. Is there a chance, a very common thing when there's blended families, That means that somewhere along the trajectory, the forever plan changed, and there's hurt, and there's fear, and there's, I want to make sure everybody's okay.
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Chapter 4: How can prioritizing expenses help during tough times?
And if you marry somebody and y'all together, y'all now have resources that maybe you've never had, I want to begin to buy laughter and joy. And it's not a bad impulse, but in a weird way, I end up using that money and those experiences to make me feel less guilty, less sad, less painful for the memories I had when they were little, right?
When they were asking those hard, hard questions like, where's this and why do we have to live? Those kind of things. And so it's almost a both and, which is practicing. I hate to use that word because we turn these into moral issues and character issues. I think it's a practice. And I made a joke earlier. I think this is where a budget can really help.
Your spiritual exercise, man, is I'm gonna budget fun money. I'm gonna practice exhaling and saying, thank you, God. Thank you, hard work. And I'm going to budget joy. And you begin to practice. I'm going to begin to look in the mirror and say, I'm a good mom. I've done a good job.
And I'm worth being loved just at a table with a bunch of delivered pizzas, not at some five, and the five-star, those are awesome, but also you're worth being loved and your kids and their kids and their kids will have tons of fun.
They'll tell the story at your funeral about the time you ran out in the backyard and sprayed them all with the hose, not the seventh vacation that y'all spent $20,000 on. And so it's both of y'all practicing. We've done good. Let's practice this next layer. And y'all get to ask yourselves that question. What do you want this to look like? You've worked real hard.
It just made me think of this quote, you can't spend your way into a meaningful life, and I'll flip it for Tom, you can't save your way to a wealthy life. It just goes so far beyond that, and so I think you both have some homework to do, and so for that reason, I think the judge is gonna preside and say, this is 50-50 right here.
Yeah, it is.
Both guilty as charged.
Congratulations.
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Chapter 5: What strategies can help maintain a positive mindset about money?
Why is that our only reference to someone running down in a game show?
I don't know.
That's great. All right, tell us your name and where you're from.
I am Caroline Goins, and I am from Winter Garden, Florida.
Lovely.
So here's a little bit, and then I'll tell you my question. So my dad has recently decided to spend time with me after not being there for most of my early childhood and up to now. I feel like I should spend time with him because it's the right thing to do, but part of me feels like, why now? Where should I keep my boundaries?
Good question. Tell me about the word should. Who gave you that story?
He kind of did, I feel like.
Okay. So when somebody opts out of our lives and they knock on the door to come back in, I always want to ask myself, what do I want my house to feel like? And is my body, like literally, not sounding like woo-woo, but like, is it excited to open that door or is it scared to open that door?
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Chapter 6: How do the hosts suggest dealing with financial pressure in relationships?
And probably both are true. And both will lie to you also, right?
Yes.
How old are you now?
28.
Do you have a dream of 35-year-old you having him over for dinner?
I do.
That's usually a cool place to start. And slowly reverse engineering it back to, okay, what must be true tomorrow for that 35, that seven years from now dream to come true? Do you have kids?
Not yet.
Not yet? Okay. Do you have a dream of him holding one of your babies one day?
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Chapter 7: What practical advice do the hosts give for budgeting effectively?
You better listen to her. I was going to pass it down.
I was going to say, do you want me to just get the card out and hand it to him or? No, you read it. The patriarchy's dead, Jade.
Read it.
All right.
She wants you to sing it.
Describe your co-hosts in three words. Oh, that was fun. I actually really enjoyed that. That was more like a jingle. Describe your co-hosts in three words. Sorry, you never should have done that.
It doesn't have to be like consecutive.
I know, I know, okay. Different words is fine? Yeah, it doesn't say consecutive. It says describe your co-hosts in three words.
Okay, and just top of mind, don't think about it too long, John. John. What do you think of me? Intentional. OCD. I'll allow it. Great friend. Aw. That was four words, so you're out. I was gonna say. You lost the game, but that was very kind. Hyphen, very short. All right, Jade.
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Chapter 8: What are the benefits of community support in financial planning?
Anybody who knows him knows that he puts a lot of effort into everything he's doing.
Oh, I just called that OCD, but yeah, you can see that. Thank you.
Okay, John, I'm going to go with genuine. I wanted to say fun, but that sounds so just like trite. Like you're way more than fun. You're like jovial. There we go. How about that? And I'm trying to think of a word that describes how smart you are without just saying smart. I said intellectual for George, though.
I was going to say academic.
Academic. But, yeah, that doesn't have any cachet.
Like, you've got, like... I was going to say, like, savant, brilliant.
Yeah, okay, listen. Take one of those. You put your John-ness on everything, and I like that.
That's good. Okay, Jade, I'll go quick. Fierce.
Yeah. Poised. Never do that again, Jade. Okay.
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