Transcript of The Ramsey Show Live From Chicago

Normal is broken, common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life from the Ramsey work live in the Den in Chicago. This is The Ramsey Show. Wow. How about this?

So good to be here, you guys.

This is amazing. So first of all, we're super, super glad that you all are here. We're going to have a fun time tonight. Yes? Yeah. I'm in Chicago. I got to have some deep dish with you. We got a special... Wait, what? Oh, my God. What do we got?

Is it tavern or is it actual deep dish?

Now, this is Lou Monate's here. All right.

Shout out.

Shout out to Lou. Do you like a slice, Ken? I'm going to get a slice. All right. Rachel, would you like a slice?

I mean, sure. If we're all here.

I'm going to be a gentleman.

You want to give that to Rachel?

Not partake. Pass it down. Here.

Yeah. Let me have one.

I had a gluten-free one downstairs. Don't worry. It was delicious.

Trust me, George already had a shot.

You had a gluten-free one? Yeah, they crushed it. Well, that's special.

Fun fact, I once ordered 67 deep dish pizzas from Lou Malnadi's to Financial Peace Plaza headquarters on ice.

Did you really?

Yeah. Too good. Okay.

We're here to do a show. Apparently. We are here to have some fun, and we're going to answer some questions. Let's get to our first live question. Let's bring our guest up here. Tell us your name and where you are from. There she is, I believe, or they. Oh, is this a couple question?

Yes, we love. We don't get this on the show.

Beware, we don't get to do this on the show. All right, tell us your names and where you're from and get to your question.

I'm Shay.

I'm Arnold.

We're from Portage, Indiana. Our question is, my mom Mom occasionally asked us to borrow money, even though her household income is higher than ours. So what are some tips or help to help her budget? Oh, man.

Oh, man.

She's not asking for budgeting help, is she? She's asking for money.

Okay, I think this is one of the hardest lessons to learn in life, and I think it took me thousands of dollars of therapy, literally, for this to settle in and realize you can't change people. As much as you guys want her to do X, Y, and Z, as much as you want her to budget, live on less than she makes, all the things, unless she wants it, it's not going to happen. So it's either, in my head, a pretty strong boundary of a conversation. It's probably really hard. Mom, I love you, but we have a set plan for our income right now that has to go to this. We're not going to be able to help you in the future as of now or forever, whatever you want to say. And/or, Hey, Mom, would you be curious to learn? Probably not to learn. It's probably a little patronizing. But would you like to find a new way to handle your money? Things that have worked for us. If you're curious about that, let me know. And you can open the door for her to walk through. But it's hard. And we get this question a lot with families because you're wanting them to not only change, but now in your case, they're asking you for money, right?

And so there's a boundary that has to be put up.

Rachel is the nicest one of all of us. I'll agree. I think Rachel is right, but I think that's step two. Step one is, whose mom is it? Mine. Mom, no more. You're a grown, blank woman. This is nuts, and I'm putting a boundary up. This is not happening anymore. Here's why. You don't have to attack her, but you talk about your reasons and what it's causing for you. And at some point you're going... By the way, you're getting to that age, and I'm really at that age, where you become the parent and the parent becomes the child. This is a function of life. I don't know how old she is, but it's headed that direction anyway. And this is causing strife for you. Yes or no?

Yeah.

All right. So no, mom. Never again. It stops. Never again. I'm putting up a boundary. Then you go to step two. But this is not okay. I know you're smiling about it, but I hope you walk away empowered tonight because you got to tell her to grow up.

Are you guys on the same page with it? Are you both annoyed?

It puts you in an uncomfortable position.

It's his mother-in-law. That guy is steaming Willy Beeman. He can fry an egg on his head. You can.

Well, here's the thing you can tell her that's maybe also kind is, I love you. I'm your daughter. I don't want to become your lender. I care about our relationship too much for it to become a business transaction. Now, you don't want to talk to me because you know you owe me money. I want to come over for Thanksgiving and give you a hug and sit down and talk about anything else other than the money you owe me. That's what really happens on the Ramsey show. You can send her calls if things have gone awry, but I do think that it starts with you saying no in love and then getting to the root of it if she's willing. One day she might be. Today might not be that day, but one day when she truly needs help and she sees the way you guys have been living, she's going to say, Tell me more about how you did it. That's the day you can start to introduce some of our principles and teaching to her.

Are you preparing Are you scared emotionally for her to get really pissed off and cut you off for a season? He's shaking his head, no.

She won't do that.

No, because the last time, it was more assertive, Why would I give this to you? Or, If I give this to you, when are you going to learn? So a little more mean than I have been, but she wouldn't cut me off.

Okay, well, that's great news. That's a good. That's a good.

That's a good. That's a good. Have you been giving her money thus far? Yeah. How many times? How much total? Oh, boy.

I'd say twice a year, and it can range from a couple of hundred to her refrigerator broke, so like a thousand or two.

And has she ever paid you back?

She's always paid me back.

What time frame? Is it an agreed-upon time frame?

The last time was the next day, which makes me most angry because you should not be that tight with money.

Was it like, I just need to get to the next paycheck and I'll pay you?

Tomorrow, yeah.

So you're her payday lender, essentially? Yeah.

What is this causing for you, young man? Your wife needs to hear this. This is your moment. You stood up. What stress is this causing?

Step towards the mic.

Step towards the light, my friend.

Oh, man, I'm so sad. Do you want pizza?

Do you want the pizza?

We'll give you.

You get out of the situation.

Rachel only had two bites. I'll give her her slice if you tell the truth. So you said- Get up on the mic. You said what stress is it called? What's it doing to you? It puts me in the middle because the Bible says we are the lenders, not the borrowers. So I want to be that, but not every time. And I don't want to be the only soul. Every time they're coming to us saying, Hey, we need this. So it puts me in the middle when I'm like, It's your mom, but we shouldn't be doing this. It's hard. Yeah, it's hard. Are you prepared tonight, ma'am, to draw a line in the sand? Yeah. Why are you smiling and laughing so much?

Because it's hard to explain because I've bought her every dollar.

Get up on the mic. We got to be able to hear you. I'm sorry.

I've already done all the things. I've bought her every dollar. I've tried. We talk about it. They work together. So they talk about every single thing she has.

You work together.

You work with your mother-in-law? That's how we met.

Oh, wow.

So we've done all those. This thing just got. I've tried. The next thing would be inviting her over secretly and just for nine weeks straight doing financial piece.

That's called staging an intervention. I would have snacks.

I would have fun stuff. No. Tell me about snacks. I know it would be easy. So it's not that. It's just like...

She told you out of here. I'm fine with the boundary. She doesn't want help in that regard.

Don't ask me, but I want to help her more than.

That's right. You want her to help herself.

I'm more of step one. Yes. You're an idiot. It's like it is together. So I'm more on the how do I help her stuff.

Yeah, first of all, I did not say that she's an idiot.

No, I did. I did.

Yeah, and I think, honestly, the idiotic behavior is you.

Helping her?

Yeah. And I'm not calling you an idiot. That's okay. All right. The crowd is like, oh. But I'm saying if I was going to label some really dumb behavior, it's actually you. She's broken broken, you're not broken. Got you. And she's going to have to hit rock bottom financially. I hate to say this for you to be able to get through to her. I do think it's a clear boundary. Love, I'm going to be your daughter, not your lender. Son-in-law, this is a weird deal because she's in the Cube next to you doing TPS reports. You're going to have to figure this out, too. You guys got to come together in very clear boundaries here, and mom needs to get a very clear but kind message. This is over for ever. At that point, you're going to have to move on. It may not be ugly in that she cuts you off, but she's going to come back, by the way. I don't think she's going to get this stern message the first time. Got you. So what are you going to do? You got to prepare for that when she comes back a second, a third, a fourth, and maybe even a fifth time.

Got you. You guys are brave. Thanks for standing up and ask this question. You all give them some love. So good.

And let me say this, too. The borrowing is different than the giving, right? So both need boundaries around it. But when you are lending money and expecting to be paid back, that's a no all the way around. Now, if there's a giving element and there's a family member, a friend, whatever, and you as a couple decide that we're in a good place financially, we feel like, yes, we can do this. We want to do this. We feel like they really, truly need help. It's not creating this sense of entitlements, and we choose to give it, that's a whole other prerogative. So there is a difference between the giving and the lending. I would cut the lending off hardcore right now today, 100 %. And probably the giving. I think there's an element of that that's all true.

Yeah, the question ask, am I enabling misbehavior or am I helping someone who's hurting right now? There's a big difference. Clearly, this is a long pattern of misbehavior on mom's part. Yes.

This is awkward, but I have a very personal experience with this with George. Years ago, when George wasn't making very much money at Ramsey. He asked me if I would front him some money for a very expensive blow dryer, and I had to say no.

He's got a great head of hair. I thought Ken would know what the best blow dryer is.

We got through it, though, didn't we?

We did. We salvaged the relationship.

The friendship stayed. We're here to tell about it. I must tell you, we've been talking about this segment of the show for a couple of weeks. We're going to settle the debate, and we've got a brave couple here who is going to jump in, and we are going to settle the debate. Now, how many of you love Judge Judy? Do we got any Judge Judy fans in here?

She's great.

Yeah. Honestly, not as many as I thought. How many of you are familiar with the Supreme Court? Let's hear from you. Are you familiar?

How many of you Judge Coleman presiding?

Well, no, it's the three of us. We are a mini Supreme Court on this decision. We're going to hear this case. We will ask questions. You all can applaud, moan, groan, laugh.

Well, let's all weigh in your opinions, too.

Weigh in with your reaction, and then we shall decide. Are you ready, Judge? I can't wait. All right, young couple, tell us your names and where you're from.

Hi, I'm Jenny.

And I'm Jake, and we are from Valparezo, Indiana. Okay, Jenny and Give him some love. This is brave. Okay, I don't know who is speaking for you or if you're both speaking, but please give us this argument. What is happening with you two? We have the age-old debate.

I'm a spender. He's a saver. He thinks I should spend less. I think he should relax and let me spend. And also, he needs to start spending a little bit, maybe, too.

But I think to add some context here, we are not quite in step seven, so I think the Gazelle intensity should persist. What step are you on? 4, 5, 6. Okay, boy, the crowd's turning on you fast. This is not going to go my way. These people over here are already ready to throw pizza at you.

Okay, what are you wanting to spend on, specifically? Is it lifestyle? Is it restaurants? Is it vacation? Is it what? New car? What's the thing you're-Is it $20,000?

Is it $200?

That's fair. Vacations, clothes, just look at Amazon. She did this.

Just look at Amazon.

Just cute- She did this? Cute sweater, add to car. Yeah. Nothing big. I don't care about cars. I don't care Okay, so it's like- Can we have a number? An extra, like what? $400 a month or something? Yeah, that's a good number. Okay.

Wait a second. You agreed with that too quickly. Is that really what you want, an extra $400? By the way- She already gets that. I don't know.

Wow, she gets that?

I'm going to ask you because this is the Ramsey show. How much does she all make a year?

Just shy of like 160.

Okay.

Both of you working outside? Just me. Just careful. She's working in the home. The way he said that. Poor kids. I think- What are their ages? What are their ages? 7, 5, 3, 6 months.

Oh, my gosh. Give her the money.

How are you even here tonight?

It wasn't easy.

God bless your ministry. How much did you... Did you pay a babysitter? No, her parents. There we go. This guy's not paying for babysitter. Knew it. Okay, so you have a Baby Step 6 goal to pay off the house early.

Okay, are you on track? I already have that set. That'll be done in five years.

Good. In your mind, is that extra $400 that should go to the house versus to her lifestyle?

Why not do it faster?

Okay, listen, I'm a tight wad at heart. How many tight wads are out there? Thank you for making yourselves known. Here's the deal. This is where you lost the audience. You said, We got to keep up the Gazelle Intensity. Guys, Gazelle Intensity happens in? One through three. One through three.

Not for this cyborg. Once you're through getting out of debt, you got the emergency fund.

We move from intensity to intentionality, which means we can let our foot off the gas a little bit. We can increase the sinking fund for vacations and upgrading the car in cash and buying clothes on Amazon if that's what you so choose. I think there's going to be a split here. You're on track to do the house. Let's move some funds over to let her enjoy her life while she maniacally takes care of four kids. Because five years is a great goal.

I mean, five years gets your house paid off.

Five years, the house paid off. Because how old are you guys?

Thirty-five.

Oh, my goodness. You have a paid-off house at the age of 40.

Incredible.

Okay. Debt free. Debt free, completely.

I have a couple of questions here. I'm not ready to decide yet. You said that- I'm locking in my vote, Bob. I'm sorry. Jake, you said... Have you already decided, Judge?

Yeah, I'm locking in my vote. Okay. That's what they do on Jeopardy. I said, Bob. Is that price is right? I'm mixing up my game chips.

I don't know. I need more information. Jake, you said that you already give her $400 a month? Is that just below money? Yes or no? I do the budget. She does the budget, and so the numbers are all moved to where they need to be moved to. We're zero dollars. No, but you said in front of this entire- I don't give her the money necessarily, right? It's like the weird- But she gets $400 for whatever Jenny wants. Sure. I would say it probably averages out to that. Jenny, on the mic, please. Do you concur with this information that you get round about $400 a month to do whatever Jenny wants with?

Yeah.

I mean, I make the budget.

He doesn't even want to look at it, and I do all of it.

I'm the spender, but I'm also the nerd. Boy, you are in big trouble, Jenny. I love a budget. I love a budget. I get it. Okay, so here's the deal. You're asking for the resettling debate, should you get more spending money? Rachel asked you- And he can spend a little.

He needs to spend.

He needs to, but he won't. Okay? That guy is not... He tweaks when he All right? I'm just telling you. Listen, there's no problem with that, brother. I'm just calling balls and strikes. All right? Jennie, how much more money are you saying you would like to allocate to the, Jenny, have a fun day because she has four kids fund?

I'm actually happy with the spending.

I just wanted to be not him having to side.

It's the purchasing. It's the attitude. It's the side eye. The amount is fine. Every time an Amazon package comes. Why are you getting guac with that?

Oh, no.

Now, Jake has something to say. Jake's got something to say. Go ahead. Now, I'm just being libeled. This is... Are you telling me that's fake news. You've never said anything like that. Absolutely fake news. Have you done a side eye when she spends the $400? Well, yeah, when there's package after package after package. Is it in the $400? I'm thinking, I have no idea. I have no idea how much this is cost. You know why you don't Because you're not in the budget. You have no skin in a game, but you're Mr. Opinion. I know. It's why I'm the judge. I'm on fire, people. I just think if I We're also a spender. We would be paying off our mortgage in 8, 9, 10 years from now as opposed to the five. No, you can't do it. I think someone has to run it in. I am now ready to rule. Any other questions?

I'm trying to play devil's advocate here. Who breaks down the boxes?

Every time.

It's not even an attempt. Are they thrown out in the garage? No, just right in the walkway.

The worst possible spot.

Can I tell you, I think that's the root cause of the rift in your relationship is it's a It's a hard time job for me breaking down Amazon boxes in my house, and I'm tired of it.

George, that's very perceptive.

If you bought it, you break it down.

Jennie.

Hey, I have a question. Okay. No, I don't agree with that. But...

Of course you don't. Spoken as someone who's never broken down a box in her life.

She's never had a splinter. She doesn't even know what it is. Look at these nails. Look at these things. That's big money right there. You can't hide money.

How did you grow up with money?

Oh, I can tell you. Yes. Exactly like Ken's thinking. Go ahead, tell us. Yeah, tell us. Okay.

We had what we needed, but nothing more, really.

Was it stress? Was there a level of stress with it? Okay. So I think the real issue, honestly, I think understanding what is going on. We had a couple, some friends over, and he was literally talking about how he got frustrated that she buys the nicer milk. And she's like, I just don't get it. They're fine, financially, all this stuff. But do you all relate? You got that? Where it's like, why?

This guy wants generic milk.

But the reality was, seriously, of what he viewed of money. There was a deeper level of security fear. Is everything going to be okay? It's It's one of these deeper questions that almost get triggered that you may not even realize. And then for you, you feel shame and you feel bad and guilty with doing the plan, the plan that we've planned out, and you're making me feel this way. And so I don't feel like I have permission to enjoy the income of our household because I'm getting judged with every little purchase, and that's probably hurtful, right? So deep down in it, I think seeing each other, two or three layers down of what's really, really, really going on under that. But I do want you more involved with the budget, because I do think if you see it's within a controlled element, she's not out of control, right? You guys aren't secretly deeply in debt, and she's not spending thousands and thousands of dollars. So there's a control issue. There's something else going on. And so for you guys in your marriage, I think that, yeah, to figure out, okay, what's really happening. But I've got my vote locked in.

We'll start with you, madam.

I'm siding with you, lady. What's your name again? Jenny. What's your name? Jenny. I was right there. Sorry, Jenny. That's a lady.

You're siding with Jenny.

I'm siding with Jenny. I think that it's totally appropriate. It does not feel out of bounds. It's not a crazy percentage of your income. It's a controlled matter. You're doing the budget. You're tracking in the every dollar. I mean, you know what's going on. You have the freedom to spend.

Judge George. I've always wanted to say that. It feels good.

The court has ruled. I'm going to go with Jenny Caveat, Jake must look at the budget and must find a hobby and more force a line item in budget to spend money. Jenny will hold him accountable for spending said money. Is that fair? And In response, Jenny must break down boxes for one month. That's fair. I'm fair. That's a good ruling. I'm tough, but I'm fair.

That's a good ruling. I have to concur with my fellow judges. Jake, to you, number one, you've been a good sport. Number two, you're terrified. No, I'm serious. I'm looking at a young man who's been terrified his whole adult life because of what he grew up with money. I'm I'm going to side with Jenny, but I'm going to tell you to, over the next 30 days, force yourself to have some conversations with people you trust, you feel very safe with, including Jenny, about your real fears of money. I mean, real tangible fears at this point in your life, a young man who's doing a great job providing for his wife and those little kids, you're terrified. And the thing that's going to help you is to confess what that fear is, number one. Number two, you need to confess to her that you have not You trusted her like you need to trust her. You've stayed out of the budget, so the trust is there to a degree. But the side eye and the bad attitude about the packages and all the things is a manifestation of the fact that you don't like the way that she spends.

We've got to get on the same page. As a guy who's 51, three kids that are teenagers, one's here in college in Chicago, and it goes like that. I told Rachel today, the days are long, but the years are short. I'm going to tell you something. If you're not careful, you're going to be fearful your entire kid's lives, and they're going to adopt that same view. As opposed to, you are not promised tomorrow, you better have some fun and make some freaking memories with Jenny and those babies. That's my ruling. Thank you, guys.

Thank you, guys, so much. That was so good. That takes a lot of bravery right there.

I want to do more of that.

Great job. What?

Pastor Pastor Ken. That was good.

Pastor Ken, rebuke in the fear.

I'm telling you. I love it. I'm telling you, that's what it is. You called it out. It's true, though. Yeah. Quick shout out to Rachel. You really helped me begin to see this on the show when you wrote your book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money. And I give that book away all the time on the show. You hear me do it to couples.

Because that's the deal. There's something else happening. That entire book would save marriages from financial ruin.

So if you know a couple that struggled with money, get Rachel's book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money, and gift it to them. It really does what we just did there. And I want to say thanks to them. That was fun. All right, let's get to our next question. Who do we got next? This is fun. Let's give them some love when they come up to the mic. There we go. Tell us your name and where you're from.

My name is Lynette. I'm from a little town south of here called Odell. My question is about the average person who's trying to make ends meet. My husband and I are starting a financial class at our church next week. I am also the outreach director at our church, so I'm in our community. I'm seeing the needs. I run our church's food pantry, and people just aren't making it. So what is your number one bit of advice that I can go back and tell our people for someone who's struggling to make ends meet and lives paycheck to paycheck?

That's a great quote. Give us a little bit more of a economic picture in that area. How much of this... We know a lot of this is debt. We get that. But how much of this is a limited economy for people to move up? Is it a low-wage Is that in the area is what I'm getting at?

Yes, I actually know the stats on that. I think we're at 15% poverty level and below. Then I'm not sure if you're familiar with the term Alice, but it's Income Limited Asset... No, I'm sorry. Asset-limited income constrained, meaning they have no assets and also the ability to make income is constrained.

Is that government housing?

We have some, yes. In addition to that, we're just losing government funding, so we lost our rural transit in our area for low income people. It's just sad. Yeah, that's hard.

That's tough.

Kind of sad for us. Not us, but our community.

But your community. That's right. Yes, absolutely. Well, yeah, I partial the two conversations. I do think there's a real poverty conversation, but they're in a very, very, very difficult situation. And then you have another group that's just living the middle class lifestyle in general and where their expectations are for lifestyle. So I would probably tackle of those two different things, probably differently, is probably what I would say. But I would speak probably more to the middle class situation that what our expectations are in life is so much higher than it was in the '80s. You look at square footage of home, you look at material of what our kitchens are made of. I mean, whatever the thing is, what we expect in life today is just so much greater, and it's not a reality, right? And so for people just to get what they want with the income that they I have. And that's what we tackle, I feel like, a lot on The Ramsey show. There's a lot of that because it's a lot of credit card debt and car loans. It's all the consumer side. But for your situation, specifically, I mean, that poverty, that's a much harder, bigger conversation Foundation.

Can you talk a lot about work finding? I mean, the income is that. That's the answer is getting the income up. How to do that and what that looks like, it's a lot. There's a lot of facets to that.

But finding- Yeah, I can't give a succinct strategy because the reality is this is a macroeconomic problem in your area. It feels micro because it's local, but it's macro. George can speak to how they can cut, cut, cut to the bone. But at the end of the day, if they're limited income, their quality of life is not going to be very, very good. Now, I hate to say this, but if you want to help those people, you help them find a path to a better job. That means a pathway out of that community.

Our largest community is about 30 minutes away, 30 miles away. So that's hard. For many of them, they don't have reliable transportation, which you can imagine with no income. But I agree with you. I mean, yes, we need to find something, somewhere for them to work to get them ahead. But it's hard where we live.

Well, and let me encourage you. The messaging for you needs to be, this is going to be a long path. It's a little bit of Dave Ramsey truth. You know what he tells people that call us and they got 500 grand in debt. He just goes, look, the next three or four years, this is not going to be a fun life. I think that the message there, George, is very similar to say, you're going to have to scrap and hustle and save for a very long time, do some things that are very difficult in your life to then be able to essentially afford a car that could get you 30 minutes away, or to say, we're going to... I mean, the pioneers did it with nothing. A covered wagon mentality. Let's say we're going to take everything we own and we're going to make a better life. Now, that is a message of empowerment. You don't get that in politics because what you get is policy and all the arguing. But in all reality, in your situation, it is an economically depressed area, and there is no simple solution. It is going to be rugged individualism, pull themselves up by their bootstraps with a lot of encouragement from people like you in the community that can say, We're going to help these people.

If it winnows down our community, so be it, because by the way, that's going to happen anyway. I'd rather it happen on the backs of capitalism and a rugged American individualism than to just watch the thing die slowly and watch them die on government benefits. That's not a good way out. They don't have much of a choice. But I want to bring George in because I think he's got great insight here on there is a way to teach and to promote living on very little.

Is it your book, George? No, I'm not going to. Just read my book. I'm happy to give that to you guys and send you a box to all the folks out there. I think the true answer is, as Dave would say, we don't sell magic wands. You're going to have to choose your heart. Heart is staying where we are. Heart is moving. I mean, I've come from a family of immigrants. My parents immigrated to this country, and that's a really hard thing to do, to leave the culture, to learn a new language, to learn new skills. But that's what it's going to take to get out of their poverty situation. So what you What we can do is on a case-by-case basis, sit down with everybody and have them make an every dollar budget and go, Okay, what is the root of the problem? Because at least then we have clarity. If it's an income problem, great. We know we need to go make more. If it's a debt problem, we know, Hey, we got to get rid of these payments. We're going to debt snow all this by making more, selling stuff, side hustles, whatever they can do.

The budget will give them at least a financial reality check of them just looking in the mirror instead of looking to all the things they can't control out there, which just creates a new cycle of cynicism and hopelessness. Sure. That person, the mirror, they are really the secret sauce. They are the solution. So your job, the best you can do, is help them believe that. I'll try. Thank you for what you do. It's a very noble- Get her some love.

Wow. I'm so inspired by Lynette. I know. That's amazing because I'm going to tell you something, that is really difficult work. It is difficult work to be a light in a community like that where there is no light. And so you're a great American. Is that your husband with you? Okay, what's his name? Colin. Colin. Okay. Well, I just wanted to shout you guys out. You really represent the best of us. Any way we can support you, just let our team know tonight, we want to make sure we get as much resources as we can to you. Let's pump as much sunlight of financial peace. James, our fearless leader, is here tonight.

James, the producer.

How many of you ever laid eyes on James Childs?

Producer James.

Give James Childs some love. This is our guy. You hear us talk about him, and he keeps us... I mean, God bless this guy to keep us all on the rails, including Dave. I mean- It's not easy. Isn't he handsome? Look how ruggedly handsome he is. A lot of personalities, literally. A lot of personalities. So number one, we wanted you to meet James. James is phenomenal. James, tell everybody real quick, how long you've been producer of The Ramsey Show? Fourteen years. Fourteen years. Great. I'm going to give it to James because we've got a fun little segment here, James. Tell us what we're doing. Well, before that, I just want to I want to say this is so much fun because we in the booth all have these same reactions, and it's fun getting to hear it live. When we react to these calls, and now we can hear it in the room. So this is a blast.

Jake, the crew agreed, we're going to take you wherever you are. We're going to take you out for drinks after this because you're a good spin. Yeah. And Jake's paying. That's right. Yeah, we're not paying. All right, so here's the deal. We have a fishbowl here. So most of the questions tonight are obviously from the audience about their life situations, but we also got a bunch of fun questions that are for you guys here on the stage. So these questions are meant to be quick, a little bit rapid fire, a little bit inside into your life and your personality. So we've probably got about 15 in here.

So I'd say let's hit like half of them, and then we'll come back again and do a little bit later. All right, so speed round, guys. So quick You don't need to tell us, Ken.

Go fast.

He's difficult, huh? Hey, listen.

Ken loves his words.

Dropping wisdom, all right? Mr. Sound bite over there, your coiffed hair. Okay, here we go. I'll read the first one.

You need your readers?

I might. Are you the free spirit or the nerd in your marriage? And give an example. That's all right? That's for all of us. I'm the free spirit. I just really love to buy clothes and stuff. We're responsible about it. Spend your free spirit. I'm very spontaneous, and I will just forever be a free spirit. I do the budget, but it's exhausting. I sometimes need to go buy something after we do the budget. Just to enjoy it. Just to regulate my nervous system. Purchase.

Yeah, free spirit for sure. I think the best example is Winston. We have the every dollar budget, and I'm great with that, and I love it. I'm like you, I'm a spender, but I do like checking it. I feel in control. It feels great. Winston has, I think maybe three, four, maybe even five Excel documents on his computer mapping out different things. He changes the code in the Excel thing, and it changes all. Oh, I can't.

All you people are repressed. I'm just going to tell you, you're repressed.

Oh, my gosh.

Okay, you go. No shock to anybody. I am the nerd. I have my every dollar budget. I have outside spreadsheets that I'm working on. I get the bank transactions to my text messages, and I'll text my wife like, Hey, was this you or fraud? Because I almost think if it was fraud, they would spend less than my wife does. Then she goes, Guys, you've heard this one? I'm going to return most of it. You can't even argue with that. You can't argue with that. So there you go. I am the nerd, proudly.

Love that. Okay, next question. What's the best gift you've ever received or the best you've given? So you can either go give or receive. I'll go receive. I got a giant Blackstone griddle. I mean, it's like my own little habachi table. You know what I'm talking about? My wife got that for me for a Father's Day, and it's just I love cooking for the family. I love cooking for all of our... We were a house where all of our kids' friends were over all the time. So I got so much joy out of that. And I'm going to say the Blackstone griddle because you can cook anything on it. Burgers, fried rice, vegetables, you name it.

That's good. What do you got? Winston got me a nice ring when our middle daughter was born, and that was a really special ring. But I'm not a creative person. I'm not good at creating anything. Don't ask me to do anything creative. But I'm thinking of the Lakehouse, and I think one of the most creative gifts I did was to mom and dad. Or no, it was to dad for Father's Day about five years ago for the Lakehouse. Maybe it's on my mind. And it's a sign. I got it off at sea. A sign, and there's an arrow. I didn't make it. No. I order it from Etsy. But it's a sign, and one arrow points and it says Papa Dave's Doc, that way. The one below is the arrow back to the house. It says Mimi's Kitchen. And they have a fence for all the dogs, and the other arrow goes the other way to the dog park. It's like a little arrow thing for the Lakehouse. Isn't that creative?

That's really cute.

I mean, somebody was creative. You clearly weren't.

I came up with what was on the side.

I think it was a lovely gift. George, one last quick question.

I'll give you a recent one. I have a one month old son now. It's our second. Thank you. Thank you. I didn't know about this, but there's a new thing called a push present where the woman demands a gift, understandably for carrying a human being for nine months and pushing it out, hence the word push present. I thought, We have a lot of stuff. I'm done with stuff. Let's do an experience. I got my wife tickets to Backstreet Boys at the Sphere in Vegas in January. I'm very proud of myself, Ken, because boy, did that hurt. I was like, Does this count as your birthday and Christmas and our anniversary next year? She's like, No. That was one gift.

One gift.

Such a great husband, George. You know who needs to have drinks with you? Jake. Yeah.

We already talked. We're going to compare spreadsheets later.

Oh, man. I got to tell you. The Backstreet Boys, huh? Yeah, it's her one dream.

It is one of the best concert I'm telling you.

Rachel went. It changed her life.

You all, with the sphere, I had chills. I I was so... I almost cried. I was so emotional. But I think you're only feeling that if you're in the ages of 32 to 45.

Is it a certain song that pulls that string?

No, but what I learned, I won't call my whole tangent. I learned this. Actually, someone on Instagram sent me this article, and I was like, yes, that's what I'm talking about. When your music between the ages of 10 and 16 of when your brain is forming certain parts of your brain, music, specifically during that age, sits in a part of your brain that is different than any other in life. So when that gets triggered, it's a level of nostalgia that gives you like, literal, like something chemically happens in your body. And that was happening to me as a sphere.

It's science, Ken. How can you argue with that?

Well, this explains a lot. This is why to this day, if I hear Hold on by Wilson Phillips, I really enjoy it, and I feel a little guilty about it. I got to turn my man card in, but now I get it.

Yeah, for me, it's living Lovita Loca, so you can have your man card back. Right.

Ricky Martin.

You got to look. By the way, I'm not going. She's going with a friend.

Good.

As she should. I don't want to be a part of that. I got sensory issues.

I don't need- You just need the girls screaming.

Women screaming in my ear for three hours over men who can't dance anymore. Yes, they can.

No, they can still sing in it. It's very impressive. It's very impressive.

I'm telling you. It's an animatronic up there. I'm convinced.

It's AI. I'm telling you, the amount of been gay in that green room after the show, unbelievable. Their dogs are barking back there. Yes, they are. I just got to say this hot take.

Their dogs are barking. You never heard that? No.

By the way, inside baseball, Rachel knows very little cultural reference phrases at all. Like, My dogs are barking.

Has anyone not heard of that? I'm from Boston. I learned that in the south. Okay.

You're raising your hand what? That you don't...

Of course you do.

Has everyone never heard of that? Because this guy's got some dogs that are barking. Okay, we got some guy.

All right, wait a moment.

Let's keep the dogs in the house, pal.

All right, let's get this show back on the road. You heard of that one, Rachel?

Get the show back on the road? Yeah, get this train on the tracks.

Perfect.

Nailed it. Okay. All right. Next up, we're going to go to another question. Laura is joining us. Give Laura some applause as she comes to the mic. Hi, Laura. Tell us where you're from.

Logan Square here in Chicago. Great. Yeah. I am 29, baby step two. Just student loans left. But I'm a bridesmaid for my friend's Black-Tie wedding here in Chicago. I've already gone to her bachelorette and then went to the bridal shower, didn't get a gift yet. And then I'm going with my boyfriend to the very nice rehearsal dinner and then obviously the very nice wedding. What would an appropriate gift be? My boyfriend and I disagree about, obviously, we each do something since we're both going together for all these events of how much we should each be giving.

Oh, this is great.

Okay, I'm a little old-school wedding etiquette here. Have you given a gift at all at any point?

No. Other than- Anything. Other than when we travel together, I think we all split the Airbnb for the- Sure.

Okay. But you haven't given a physical gift yet? No. Okay.

I got a quick question for everybody and you, Rachel. Why does the boyfriend... He's just the boyfriend. Why does he have to buy a wedding gift? Am I too cheap on that? George?

Is he friends with the groom?

Yes. We're going to a wedding Actually, the weekend before, that's just for my friend. He's not giving a gift for that one. I'll give one for both of us.

Okay, I have an idea. Oh, I like it. I don't really have an idea, but an idea. Because I'm not creative. Go on Etsy. What's That's a really sentimental, really not expensive, but really cool thing that you could do that's like, Oh, yeah, it's not going to be an obvious kitchen aid mixer. You know what I mean? That she's going to know the price of it.

Do you think someone wants that for their-I don't know.

I don't know. But between your friendship or something, it's a gift to her. That's fair. It's something there that's not going to cost a lot.

I thought it was like a faux pas to give something that's not on the registry.

You're all black tying me up. I can't. No.

Ask her to name 30 things on the registry. She'll lose track after seven. I guarantee.

She was just adding. I wanted to just give money. I don't want to give her stuff. Ideally, I thought I should give.

Oh, you're just going to give a-I mean, ideally, I wanted to give like 150 each person. Oh, I hear you.

I can make it sentimental. Oh, I like this. Just a little more specific.

Okay, I got you.

She's really a fancy person.

It usually is a phone call, but honestly, you've spent so much already. I just be like, thanks for being my friend and being here for everything.

I don't care what gift you give me. Let me get this straight. You're a bridesmaid? Yes. Okay, color me stupid. I thought if you were a bridesmaid, you don't get a gift because you're doing a lot already. You're spending a lot of money to be a bridesmaid.

You agree with this? You still get a gift.

Okay, I'm hearing from the... Especially the older ladies in the room saying you're an idiot.

I like your 150. I think 150. Each person? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Total?

My boyfriend thinks- This feels like prices right now.

Oh, yeah, this is good.

Listen, I love this. I told the audience to speak up. I love it. It's my opinion. I'm going 150 as you. I'm not speaking on behalf of the boyfriend, but I'm saying to you, I think 150, that's nice. That's nice. If it's cash. I don't believe you would not- Well, I just know the amount of money you've already spent.

I mean, the way you're talking about, it's a very elevated... Everything's been elevated experiences. So I can't imagine what you're spending on dresses. I mean, you're spending a lot. I'm assuming maybe not.

I've spent over a thousand already.

Okay, that's what I'm saying. Thank you, guys. Go to etsy. Com.

Is that not a gift? I didn't ask for a gift from my groom for my own wedding. Listen, I agree.

Yes, you usually give a gift. But I'm saying...

Normalize no gifts if you're in the wedding. No. Thank you.

No, it's etiquette. I don't think that's stupid.

It's etiquette. I went to the bachelor party. I'm taking up all my time.

I hear you. That's what I'm saying. Get creative with the gift itself. I do think giving something.

I'm going to go more, Rachel. George, I don't think you're being realistic, and I don't have a fundamental problem with either one of your answers. I just don't think it's realistic with people expecting you yourself just revealed to me another sign of the Apocalypse tonight, that we have a push gift now.

Push presents. Push present.

Push present, whatever. That didn't exist when my wife had a baby. She got flowers and whatever. I don't know. Too many gifts. So we live in a society now where everybody expects something. I'm trying to give you practical advice. I would go with a low-cash gift or else she's going to be mad that you didn't give her something.

Would you go low-cash? Because it's so obvious. That's my thing, right?

I thought it was supposed to be that you were supposed to give money to replace what they're paying on the plate of food. I'm getting two dinners, rehearsal, and then regular. They're nice like salmon and steak.

How do we know she's even paying for this with her own money? Now we're paying the parents for covering the bill?

No, she and her fiancé are paying for it.

Wow, that's on them. Listen, Some of my friends are fancier than me. I can't keep up. I cannot keep up with my fancy friends.

I guess the easy solution-I know. I'm out of my element, though.

Don't invite me to your wedding. How about that?

Now, that I concur. I think I go with Rachel.

I think $300 isn't going to break you. I think if you decide to do that, it's fine. But I do think this idea that we're just going to keep going and going and going and going and going Friends today, how expensive it is just to be a friend with someone.

Then there's the 30th trip and the 40th trip, and you better come with me internationally.

It just keeps going. The more I hear this, the easiest solve is to get the exact same thing on Ets that she got for Dave and Sheryl. Just say it's for your grandkids one day because this is the gift that keeps on the gift.

They have a Lakehouse.

Yeah, you could. I think that's the play. Thank you. You need a sponsorship with Etsy, by the way.

I never go on. I'm not crazy.

Give her some love. Wasn't that good? So far.

But can I say? Yes. I am not as bougey as you, even though I'm the truffled mac and cheese up here. A black tie wedding feels like a dream. That would be so fun to go to a black tie wedding.

Only a woman says that.

Because the people that have to actually wear the black-time. I think it'll be fun because you have to wear the long... You're the bridesmaid, but everyone's just... I don't know. It just seems so like, oh.

Yeah, I think I'd rather get a colonoscopy. There are a lot of people.

Hey, have to pay for fun, though.

There's a lot of people in this room who get it. Open bar?

Look at him shaking his heads. Learn your money back, girl. Learn your money back on that open bar.

That's right. Milk that open bar for all it's worth. Amen.

No guy wants to go to a black tie, anything. All right, there it is. All right, hey, fun segment coming up. You ready, guys? We're going to call it Two Truths and a Lie. All right, so let me set this up because you all, the audience, get to weigh in here. Okay, so all of us have done The Ramsey Show for a long time before that, The Dave Ramsey Show. So we've been on. And when you do that many hours live, you hear some things, right? People call in and say some things. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to roll through a list here, and I'm going to read three statements, okay? A, B, and C statements, and you all are going to guess which one is the lie. You got it? And these are actual things that callers have said.

Two out of the three are.

That's right. Two out of the three. One is a lie. One is It's a lie.

Two are real calls we took on the show. One is not a call we took.

We got that? I love it. Here we go. A, my husband thinks the government isn't real and has stopped paying our debts. Hold, hold, hold, hold. Just real. Some of you people, that's all you do is listen to the show.

You don't get extra credit for that.

Yeah, just calm your jets. You're going to get to vote in full throat in just a second. B, I was scammed out of $100,000 being catfished on a dating website. And C, should I install a payphone booth in my house to get free phone service? Which one is the lie? C.

All right, let's go A.

Who's A? Who thinks it's A? A is A the lie.

Anybody think it's A?

Okay, not A.

We got one back there.

All right. Anybody think it's C? Yes. All right, the real answer is B. George and I on together when a lady called in and said, My husband thinks the government isn't real and has stopped paying all of the taxes, debts, everything. It was a... Do you all remember that? It was just... Oh, boy. I have a true confession here on the live show.

Hey, keep your men off the internet, ladies. All right?

I'm just going to say it right now. I mean, that's a call where George and I couldn't say what we really wanted to say. It was just a train wreck.

You're telling me he's going to go to jail?

I told her she's going to go to jail.

She's going to go to jail if she doesn't want to go to jail.

That's sad.

Yeah, it was really sad. Okay, here we go. A, should I pay $5,000 to bail my boyfriend out of jail? B, should we prioritize a reverse vasectomy? And C, I'm 14 years old and have $21,000 in debt. What is it, A? Is A the lie? How many think it's B? Should I prioritize a reverse vasectomy? A few people. Then finally, how many of you think it's C, I'm 14 years old and have 21,000 in debt. Okay, the real answer, the lie is A, should I pay 5,000? George and I, again, were on when we took the call about prioritizing a reverse vasectomy.

What did we say?

I bit my lip because I thought it was insane to reverse it in the first place.

Yeah.

Much less pay for it.

What was the situation? What was the situation? Second marriage?

I deemed it was not worthy of a reversal. Okay.

Just Google it, Rachel. Reverse vasectomy on Google. The call will pop up.

Yeah. Then this call came in. A 14-year-old really did tell Dave once that he had 21,000 in debt. Okay, next. A, my wife maxed out her credit card on McDonald's.

The Diet Cokes are good.

Yeah. B, my house is haunted by ghosts. Should I sell it? C, my husband took out a on our 12-year-old. You all think B is the lie? C? I can't hear anybody. All right, the lie is C. My husband took out a credit card on our 12-year-old. George and I, again, took this one.

You all have the craziest shows.

We get the good ones. George and I get the good calls. My wife maxed out her credit card at McDonald's.

I did the math on air and could not crack it. This lady was spending like 30 something dollars a day at McDonald's.

Yeah, a lot of Happy Meals. Oh, my gosh. How do you do that? A lot of toys. That's crazy. All right, next. A, should I sell my daughter's Taylor Swift tickets to pay off her debt? Easy, easy. E, easy. You folks out there, they don't miss a beat. B, I bought an expensive monkey, and then it started attacking my fiancé. And C, I won $1. 5 million from a scratch off. My mom got me. Am I obligated to give her some of the winnings? What is the lie? A, B. B. Okay. Well, actually B is the truth. That Dave took that call in the early years. That is a true story. Bought an expensive monkey, and the monkey beat the snot out of his fiance. He still had to call Dave I can talk to him about it. The actual lie is I won 1. 5 million from a scratch off. My mom got me, and Rachel and I took the infamous Taylor Swift ticket call. Yes.

You shocked me on that one, I remember.

You thought I was going to be a little fuddy day.

You were going to say, yes, sell the tickets, get it to the debt. But you said, go to the concert. I thought, Ken, I am just a good influence on you.

Because I have a 16-year-old daughter, and I was like, this is where you got to live a little bit. That's great. Okay, let's see here. A, this is the caller speaking, Dave, you're stupid and arrogant.

That's just what Rachel said. I can't even the crux of the call.

I would never say that. I am respectful.

B, our beef jerky side hustle made our electric bill go up to $400 a month. C, I financed my wife's breast implants, and then she cheated on me with my boss. Which one is the lie?

B.

I'm hearing a lot of B.

The actual lie is B, our beef jerky side hustle. Dave took the call For the guy who financed his wife's breast implants. A poor guy. He was a double loser on that deal. What I recall, Dave couldn't collect himself. Spent the money and didn't even get to use them.

Yeah. Dave was beside himself, losing. He couldn't get through the call.

I don't know that I would have been sadder for a guy if I had taken that call. Terrible. Okay. Then I was on the call with Dave when the guy started the call, Dave, you're stupid and arrogant. I just was like this. I don't know what was going to happen. But, man, I think I replied to the guy, I've got a great book for you. It's How to Win Friends and Influence People. How about that? That's pretty fun. You guys are great. Yeah, you all were great. Yeah, you guys really were.

I knew it. You knew it.

Yes, sir.

I made my own little bonus question here. You are known for the crew Infamous for having quite a bit of doosies that you don't even realize what you're saying. We have our own booth quotebook for Ken.

Oh, boy.

We call them Kenuendos.

Kenuendos. They happen all the time, and they're so great.

Can I say before he reads these, I truly don't in the moment know that they come across the way that you're about to hear them.

The best one is I don't feel comfortable saying in front of an audience. That is true. I picked two, and the third one is not Ken. Here's the Ken version.

A, head on over to your local hardware dealer and make mama happy.

All right. B. That's a whole different process emotionally than drinking your mama's milk. C.

He needs a good sip of grown-up juice. So what's the non-kin statement? C. James, tell them. The answer is B, but it was a real statement said by Dave. They were all real, just not by Ken. Rachel was on with me when I made the hardwood dealer comment, and I Does anybody in here remember that one? You all remember everything else. You all remember that one? It's good to know you guys listen when Dave's not on. That's great. Just quick context. You remember this? Oh, yeah. Young couple called, and they had been saving up to renovate their house. And been living in just a dump of a floor. They'd saved up. They had plenty of money.

She wanted to do it.

She wanted to finish their hardwoods on the first floor. This guy was like, My boy Jake over here. He was Because he called us and he's just him and then on. And Ken, should I do it? Rachel, should I do it? And I finally said at the end, You know what? Tell your wife, hang up. Tell her, go out for dinner and then take her down to the hardwood dealer and make mama happy.

Except, Ken, you said it a little more like this, take mama down to the hardware dealer and make mama happy. It was more like that.

That is true. It was a little bit more juiced up. That is true. I looked over at James and the entire crew, they're dying laughing. I know that I've said something, but I don't know what I've said. We go to the commercial break, and these guys are amazing. They pull it up and they show me the clip, and I just want to fall under the desk. It happens twice a week, every week.

Twice a week? It's like ESPN playback, slow motion. This skin just careens off.

It's That's correct. Yeah, it's great. Okay, we are going to now go to another question. Is that right? We got Ricky. Everybody, welcome Ricky to the mic. Hi.

Hello. Hi, Ricky. Hi, Ricky.

I live up in Skoki, which is one of the suburbs. I brought one of your biggest fans with me, my daughter, Ruthie.

Hi, Ruthie.

George, I read your book. You read my book? What? She's going to be a future millionaire. I love it. She was. That's fantastic.

So speaking of books, are there any books that you've read recently that you recommend, either lifestyle, relationship, financial, not yours, because we've read all of those, Particularly for people in Baby Steps 4 through 7? Oh. Oh, that's good.

Books that we've read lately that would help you in four?

I have two money ones that are not Ramsey, but I loved them. They're best sellers. I feel like people have probably read them. But The Psychology of Money. Yes. It's a great one. Okay, so if you read that one. And then Die with Zero. Have you read Die with Zero? It's a great one. I don't agree with everything in it, but he does a really good job presenting the case of using your money while you're alive, whether that is if you're... Instead of leaving a big inheritance, give it to your kids when you're alive and when they need it for a down payment on a house, all of this. Because this whole thing is if you die at 85 and all your grown kids are 60, 65, They're fine. They don't really need the money at that point because they've built their life. So if you can use it throughout your life, which again, we say at Ramsey that you should leave a legacy to your children's children, all the things. So there's a balance in it. But I think he does a really good job of saying, Hey, if If you have done well financially and you do have the ability to spend it on experiences with people you love, if you're able to use it to help your family, if you're able to be generous, instead of leaving it all in charity when you die, be giving now more.

I love that mindset. So Die with Zero. It's a great one.

Real quick, I would say The Pursuit of Happiness is the name of the book. It's written by Jeffrey Rosen. And what he does is he goes back into our founding fathers. Obviously, many of us know the phrase The Pursuit of Happiness the first line of the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson. But this book goes back and it examines who influenced the founding fathers to the point that they use that phrase, and it goes back into the stoics. The reason I'm recommending this book for people in four, five, and six is because you've been Gazelle in Tence. And so now you're in that stage of living like no one else. And this book does a fabulous job of explaining what that phrase means. It's become an American phrase, but the real heart of it is that the pursuit of happiness as the stoics, and then our founding father saw that phrase, it was not about gaining stuff. It was about growing in your virtue. I think that's a perfect book for people who are going, now I can use my money in a very different way to live like no one else. And so the pursuit of happiness was a pursuit of getting more virtuous, and thus you were happy.

So I guess that's the one that I would recommend. It's good.

Beautifully said. I'm going to go with Five Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom. Yeah, great book. I'm a guy who is very focused on the financial side. But if you look at it like a tire, I had a flat tire on the other sides, like social relationships, physical health. And so this book talks about, yes, financial, but also all these other areas of life that if you don't have them under control, your quality of life will suffer. And he talks about parenting and the different seasons of life and the amount of time you have with your kids. And it just helped me to look beyond just the money stuff as the nerd and go like, oh, I probably should work on these other areas now that I got the money stuff under control. That's a great one, regardless of where you're at.

Yeah, great question. Thank you, Ricky. Thank you so much. Thank you, Ricky. Give me some love. Thank you.

Thank you, Ruthie.

Yeah, way to go.

Thank you, Ruthie.

All right, next is Ashley. Keep the applause going for Ashley. Where is she? Here we go.

There's a man following you. Be careful.

Yeah, that guy looks shady.

They told me he could come up.

Okay, great. Introduce yourself, Ashley And?

I'm Ashley.

Hey, Den Theater. My name's Jim.

Hey, Jim.

Jim. That's Jim. Do you do voiceover work?

I have done that in the past life, long, long time ago.

Okay.

Well, you haven't lost it, pal. That's his side gig. Very exciting. Okay, what's your question, Ashley?

We're in Baby Step 4, 5, and 6, and we're just feeling stagnant.

It's boring.

I mean, I'm happy that we're here, and we're able to invest the 15%, and we are saving for college, but we're just not finding... Every single time we have any extra money, we can't put it towards our mortgage. It's like we have a plumbing issue or we need a new car, which was a $5,000 car, just so you know. It's just been really difficult in this phase because we got out of debt really quick and we saved our emergency fund really quick. And now we're just like, Okay, let's move it. I I really want to pay off the house. I want to walk in the grass.

How many kids do you guys have?

We have two. How old are they? Yeah, we have a 13-year-old son and we have a seven-year-old daughter. Okay.

How long have you guys been in Baby Steps 4, 5, and 6?

Year? About a year and a half.

Yeah. Okay. Because I do think we have this picture of because the steps are so succinct, that everything is just going to go up like this, and we're just going to keep going and going and going. It's going to be great. But the truth is, life happens. You're in it a year. On average, I think from our Millionaire Study, nine years, I think is the average that they're paying off houses.

I think it's seven for baby steppers, 10 for millionaires in general.

Okay. Okay. Okay. So seven is a year. So give yourself another six-year runway, meaning within those six years, your income is going to go up. Stages of life with kids is going to change. Things of life are going to change. And I really do believe if you are disciplined and your goal is to to pay off the house early and you guys are looking and working the plan, it's going to happen. I really do believe that. I think just give yourself a little bit of grace because life does this. Cars break, refrigerators break, things happen. You got to buy plane tickets for the family to go somewhere. If there's a funeral, whatever it is, things are going to be up and down. And so I would just say, give yourself some patience. I think you really are going to get there. I really do. And I know it can feel frustrating right now, but you will get there. You're seeing it in a really short window where I feel like the runway is much longer for you.

With the airplane analogy, it really is like when you're getting up to altitude, it's exciting. There's like, announcement happening. We're like, we're taking off. And then you're 40,000 feet up. You're like, three hours to go on this flight, I guess. Watch it. And so it does get boring. What helped us was tracking it, maybe make it visual if you want to do like rings for the mortgage. Right now it's like, 300 went to principal. Towards the end, you're really making progress. So it does get faster and your income are going to The kids will be out of the season where they're mega expensive and hopefully off your payroll eventually. Just know that right now it might feel hard. I also would do a budget audit and go, why can't we make progress? Is your emergency fund good? Okay, why can't we cash flow these things in our budget? Do we need sinking funds for maintenance and repairs so that it doesn't feel like it's derailing this other goal.

Yeah, actually, I just wonder, maybe we're putting away too much in our sinking funds. Maybe we have too many sinking funds. That could be. I think that that's something we should probably reevaluate.

But we need them all the time.

Because stuff comes up. Right. That's what you're saying.

It was just yesterday.

What happened yesterday?

We did need it yesterday.

Tree roots blocking our sewage system. I'm sure the Den Theater wants all the details. Yikes. Well, I imagine that Jim, when you saw that, you went, Oh, my, this is unfortunate.

That's a great Jim impression.

This must end stat. Yeah, that's good. Jim likes the microphone more than I do, and that's saying something. I love it. That's saying something. I have a quick question because you said boredom. I'm just wondering, when was the last time you guys planned and saved up to do something fun?

Yeah, I think that's also the situation. We're taking a year off from fun because we've had a lot of fun. We did have a lot of fun after we paid off the debt.

We just went on a Royal Caribbean Cruise just a couple of months ago.

Oh, that's fun. Yeah. We're trying not to take any vacations this month.

Okay, got it. You answer it.

Okay. This That's what we're here. Got you.

You have a set goal every month for how much we want to put toward the mortgage? Can you tell us what that is? On top of the normal payment, how much do you want to put toward principal?

That's the thing. I don't think we... Yeah, we probably should be more specific.

I would be very specific and go like, Is it $500? Okay, we're going to do $500 before the other chaos happens in our life. Like, make it a priority if it's a priority. Sure. Then track it and you'll see the balance go down and go, Can we do 600 this month? Hey, we got a bonus coming up. Can we put that toward it? As your income goes up, the amount will go up, the principal We'll start to sink down, and you'll feel like you're making progress. How much is left on the mortgage?

A hundred and fifty-five.

Okay. When you go below that six-figure mark, you're going to get a new pep in your step, a second wind, if you will, in that marathon. So just keep at it. You're doing all the right things.

You guys are doing great. Congratulations for being on the staff.

Yeah, thank you, guys. Give me some love. Thank you. All right, we're going to go to another question. We got Amanda is coming up to the mic. Give Amanda some love.

The ladies have shown up tonight.

Can I just say, the guys, no bravery, pure cowardice.

No, guy, come on. I think some of them come.

George. Hello. Hi. Where are you from?

I just recently moved to Milwaukee, so an hour and a half up north. Nice.

Yeah. So my My question is, I was incredibly blessed with a 22-year career in the United States Air Force.

I recently retired.

Thank you for your service. Thank you. You're a great American.

Thank you.

Like a lot of veterans, my identity was completely wrapped up in the uniform.

My question is, how do I find meaningful work on my terms while I differentiate myself from my military career?

Yeah, I love this question. I'm going to go back to the whiteboard example that I used a minute ago. We would look at your entire career in the Air Force, and we would look at all the skills that you've acquired. I think this is an exercise I'm going to challenge you to do tomorrow. Absolutely. Okay. So once The first side of the paper, I want you to write down talent, and I want you to write down all the skills that you've acquired. Let it flow. I was really good at this. I learned this, all that stuff, and it just creates the proper narrative. Then the second thing you're going to write down is all of the experience and describe the experience. I had these talents and skills, but my experience was over here in crisis management or in whatever, logistics. Just write it out. Then you can look at both of those sides of the paper and go, Oh, this is who I am, regardless of whether I was in the Air Force or not. That's the first thing. Second thing is to realize that a lot of employers really respect people that come out of the military.

It's the greatest organization in the world. Amen. Come on. That's the narrative. Hey, I'm trained, and this is what I acquired, and this is what I did. And then take that and now go out there and look online and just see what's out there. You don't have to apply, but just see what's out there in the world, because ChatGPT, by the way, is amazing. I would literally take those things I had you write down, and I would put it in ChatGPT and say, Hey, describe for me potential paths outside of the military with this skill set and this experience below your freaking mind. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm also going to give you my get clear career assessment. Excellent. Thank you. And so Grayson right here, the handsome guy in the red hair, see him afterwards, he'll get your email. I want you to take the assessment, and I'm not going to describe it for a lack of time, but it'll really just create, I think, an ideal job description for you, and it'll actually give you some AI suggestions. But that's the exercise, because right now it's really hard for our men and women from the military.

That's all they've ever known. So it feels so scary Am I nailing it?

Transition has been difficult for sure.

Of course. But a lot of it is you're just terrified because of the unknown. You've only known one world. Here's what we know. If you've ever driven in a car, Amanda, and it started to rain really, really hard, so hard that you couldn't see, what did you do? Pulled over and waited for it to- Pulled over, slowed down. We stopped, right? And we stopped. We moved back onto the road when everything clears up. The lack of the unknown is one of the most paralyzing fears that we as humans face. The exercise I've given you is going to help you see what is out there. Now, once you see what is out there and you match it all up with the exercise I gave you, plus assessment. Now it's all about, I'm going to tell everybody I know what I'm actually looking for. I think you're going to find there are a lot of great Americans who want to help a great American. Absolutely. I really believe it's that simple. Seeing lead leads to believing, and believing will lead to you getting the thing that you want to get, and you're going to do great out there.

I absolutely believe that. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Okay. Oh, this is very exciting. This is very exciting. We've never done a really cool group debt-free scream.

We got a lot of debt-free people in here.

We got a lot. How many debt-free people are in the room?

How many debt-free people we have? Oh, yeah.

They're not excited about it, but they are debt-free.

They are. They're here.

They are here. And so what we realized is that we just had so many of you. And so we said, well, let's do a group debt-free scream. So we're going to try to qualify you and see if we can do something fun here. Okay. So who has become debt-free in the last twelve months? Stand up if that's you. Stand up, tall, don't sit down. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

All right.

Okay, that's a good amount. That's great. George, you got your writing utensil?

Yeah, I'm going to use-Oh, you're going to use your phone.

Now, here's what we're going to do. Stay standing. Stay standing. If I miss you, because I can't completely see around me, I'm going to start to my right because I see some folks right here.

We're going to add up how much debt has been paid off in the last year.

We're going to add up how much debt has been paid off in the last 12 months in this room, right? George has got his handy dandy calculator. So yell it out loud and proud. Right here, this couple, how much?

Round up. $280,000.

$280,000.

All right.

Okay, next. $3,500. Hold your applause. $3,500. Okay, next. Forty-thousand. Forty? Probably 75,000. Seventy-five thousand? You guys are going to have to help me. If there's anybody else, go around the room like the wave. What's next? George, you got these numbers?

Here on the front.

Right here. Forty-eight thousand? Forty-eight. Ma'am, right back here, I'm pointing at you. Five thousand. Five thousand. Okay, up in the top. 46,000. This couple right back here. One hundred and twenty-six, and then? 48,000. 48,000. George, you keeping up? Okay, you, sir, in the hat? 4,000. 4,000. This couple right here? 1,75. By the way, sit down once you give me your number. That'll be great.

One time a half.

Yeah, right here. 15,000. Back here? 42. 42, all right. 265,000. 265,000.

Can I tell us? This is for fun. The total for just the year has been in this room.

Oh, I like this. Drum roll. Like a Joe Drum roll.

In this room in the last 12 months, $1,172,000. That's wild.

I love it. How about that? Oh, my gosh.

Okay, so for the debt-free scream, I think everyone in the room who is debt-free stands up.

Is that what we're going to do? We're going to do a... So everybody who's debt-free stand up.

And that can be consumer debt, too. It doesn't have to be your house.

It doesn't have to be your house.

Baby Step Two or Baby Step Seven.

Oh, my gosh. Look at all these debt-free people. This is great.

Oh, my gosh. Here's what we're going to do. Rachel, I think you should be the one that counts them down.

Do I count it down?

Do a three, two, and one. Everybody count with She's going to take over. When she counts you down, we want to hear the loudest-No, I think I set you all up just like we do on the calls.

All right, go for it. We're going to count it down. Let's do a debt-free scream. There's your total. Then you all say three, two, one. Okay, all right. Live from the den in Chicago, making anywhere from zero to $250,000. We have an entire group of people that have paid off one point, almost $1. 2 million in this room. So you guys, count it down for your big debt-free scream.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free. You guys, so fantastic. We applaud you.

Incredible. Incredible.

We don't want to just applaud you because you know what we What do we do, George? What do we do on the show when we have a debt-free-We give them a little parting gift.

So on the stage, if someone does the debt-free scream live from Ramsey headquarters, then it goes to a break after the braveheart plays. Then we sneak out, we go to the lobby. That's right. We yell, celebrate everyone We're going to watch the show in the lobby. We hug, we take pictures, we give some stuff away.

That's right. And one of the things we give away is one year of every dollar premium. So we thought it'd be fun for anyone who did their debt-free scream to get a year of every dollar premium. How does that sound? Now, we know there's a lot of people who are in Baby Step 2. They're in the thick of it. They're trying to make it through, and they're going, That feels I shouldn't. I feel like I need it. So, Ken, can we do some outrageous generosity today?

We're going to do something crazy and borrow a page from maybe one of the greatest television givers of all time. It's our Oprah moment, because if you stand up and turn your chairs upside down, everybody gets every dollar Nice. Yeah. You get it every dollar, and you get it every dollar, and you get it every dollar.

This is so good.

Hold it up. There it is.

This is great.

There it is. How about that?

Can I add, this is not your grandma's every dollar. If you guys didn't know, we just released an all-new version of Every Dollar, and it's way more than just a budgeting app. Rachel and I, with Jade, did this premiere explaining it all. So give them the spark notes of what's now included.

Yes, so EveryDollars, again, not just a budgeting app anymore, ladies and gentlemen. It's over your entire financial picture. So it's coaching, it's group calls, it's your budget still. It's the roadmap to what you need to do with your money overall. So it is a much bigger version. It's the all-new EveryDollar. We're so excited for you guys to experience. And you guys, we are so excited about tonight. You guys have been fantastic.

Thank you guys so much for coming.

Chicago, we want to say on behalf of everybody back in Nashville, Tennessee, from Ramsey Solutions, for our entire crew, the camermen, everybody that works so hard to bring financial peace to people, our entire team, we're so proud to be associated with you. You are the ones that did the work. You guys are making a difference. You've got financial peace, and you have changed your family tree. So we still believe in you. We're never going to stop believing in you. So proud to serve you tonight. And just on behalf of Rachel and George, entire team, thank you all for being here. Good night. Thank you, guys.

Thank you. Thank you, guys.