Don’t Trade Peace for Payments
The Ramsey Show
This episode of The Ramsey Show addresses common financial dilemmas faced by couples, focusing on balancing personal goals like buying a hom
Key takeaways
- Prioritizing financial goals in order (Baby Steps) leads to sustainable success rather than overwhelming stress.
- Renting temporarily can be a strategic choice, especially in high-cost housing markets, allowing time to save for a down payment without burdening the budget.
Main topics
- Financial prioritization using the Baby Steps framework
- Renting vs. buying in high-cost housing markets
Notable quotes
'You can't do everything at once. You've got to organize it, not say something's not important.'
Conclusion
The episode emphasizes that financial peace comes not from rushing to achieve multiple goals at once, but from
Transcript preview
Speaker 4 (0:01) Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Speaker 3 (0:11) Broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life and your money from the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. This is the Ramsey Show. I'm Jade Warshaw. Next to me, George Camel. And we will be taking your calls about your life and your money. For the next couple hours, 888-825-5225 is how you get on the line. We've got Daniel here who's in Orlando, Florida. Hey, Daniel, how can George and I help today? Speaker 1 (0:37) Hey, guys. Thank you very much for taking my call. I'm sort of in a dilemma and would like your guidance and expertise right now. So I make about $90,000 a year before tax. My wife is a second-year pharmacy student with two years left in her educational. She's not working. We have $95,000 in liquid cash, 80K saving, 15 in a brokerage account. and $40,000 in my 401k employer sponsor account. We have $26,000 in student loans. I have about $11,000, and she has about $15,000 in her student loan. We're currently living with my parents rent-free, which has helped us save tremendously. We've been married for a year now. Speaker 1 (1:30) But my wife recently has been asking for our own space, right, for the sake of our marriage. For sure. And because of that, you know, I started looking into buying a house, a $350,000 house. It was a 20 % down. But the conflict I'm facing right now is I'm fighting hard to keep us out of debt. Just this year, I paid about $4,000 out of my pocket for her semester of second year. So we don't... continue inquiring more depth. But my dilemma is, you know, if we purchase a house and we put down 20%, that's our saving, right? It takes 50 % of my net $6,000 net take home pay on a single income. So my question is, how do we balance saving our marriage and getting her space without trapping us into a house poor nightmare? Speaker 3 (2:25) I love that question. I think it's a fair question to ask. And I think she's in the right for wanting to have your own space. I think there's a couple of things to consider. Number one, just because you get out of your parents' house doesn't mean you have to move. immediately into a home that you've purchased. The option to rent is there. And I actually don't mind that option because it does buy you some time and it buys you some money to save up the down payment that you want, which gets me to the second option, which is you kind of arbitrarily landed on 20%. And my guess is you landed on that because we tend to teach that. Like there was a time where that. that formula really worked out. It's like, hey, save up, you know, five to 20 % down on your down payment. But we all know that the housing market has inflated to such a degree that for many folks, putting 20 % down does not allow that mortgage payment to be in a comfortable place in their budget, especially where we teach it to be 25%. And I think I heard you say that you bring in 90,000 a month. So how much, or I'm sorry, a year, how much per month is that for you? Speaker 1 (3:30) So after tax, I would say about $6,000 net take home. Hopefully I make $90,000 a month one day. Speaker 3 (3:37) Right. But if you do what you said you do, I mean, and this is just a guess with the property taxes and insurance, but if you do a $350,000 house at 20 % down, just looking at the Ramsey Solutions mortgage calculator, you're going to be around $6,000 a month, which is fair to say, you know, that's half of your take home. You're going to be at $3,000 a month of half of your take home. Speaker 2 (3:59) So I think what's happening here is we've prioritized the home above all else, and right now it's like goal number five. So goal number one, you mentioned this, I don't want to go into any more debt. I love that. So can you guys cash flow the rest of her school? I Speaker 1 (4:13) think I can if I'm truly still living with my parents, right? I can pay off my school. You've got a lot of cash. Speaker 2 (4:22) You said you have $95,000 cash and $80,000 in savings. Speaker 1 (4:26) Correct. Speaker 2 (4:26) So we can use that to cash flow her schooling. But the problem is you've already earmarked it for that house. And so in your mind, you're going, wait, that's house money. No, no, no. That is money to help us build a financial foundation. And once we get to that part of the game, now we can apply it to the house. So right now I would be working on cash flowing school, getting out of the 26K in student loan debt that you have. And then we can work on an emergency fund, three to six months of expenses, then the down payment. And then once you can get that down payment high enough to where the payment on that mortgage would be no more than a quarter of your take-home pay, now we're ready. Which means in the meantime, we need to go rent somewhere that we can afford off of your income alone, which is going to be about, what, $1,500 to $2,000 is what we're talking about here. Speaker 1 (5:11) So can you find a place Speaker 2 (5:12) nearby? Speaker 1 (5:14) Yeah, and I've been looking, truly. I started looking ever since she brought those concerns up. So yeah, there is some available rent. apartments to rent, which, again, I just wanted guidance from, you know, my mentor. So, yeah, it's doable, definitely. The Speaker 2 (5:32) question is, how is she going to handle that? If you go, hey, honey, listen, we're going to cash flow school with all this cash we had that was going to be a down payment. We're going to rent for two years while you finish school. Well, I think you have Speaker 6 (5:42) to phrase it really the way that we did, which is, honey, dear. Speaker 3 (5:47) Sweetums, whatever you call her. These are all the things that we've said are important to us. We care about school. We care about moving out. We care about having a house. We care about not going back into debt. But we need to prioritize those in the right order of what we do first so that we can do them all at some point or another. And that's all you're doing. You're just taking it and you're organizing it. You're not saying that something's not important. You're not saying you don't want to do one of these things. You're just saying. We can't do everything at once. We've learned here, this is a Ramsey thing. We've learned that focused intensity over time on one thing creates momentum. So what George laid out is perfect to say, okay, first things first, we got to get you out of school and we can't go into debt to do it. So that's first things first. Second thing, okay, now we got to move out. And after that, now we got to save up. And so I think that that's a fair way to put it. And I think that if she's, I believe just listening to you, that she's a very intelligent, very smart woman. she's going to understand that. Speaker 1 (6:45) Certainly. I mean, again, I'm putting her needs above mine, right? These, that money saved was prior to our marriage. So I want to make sure that, you know, we're a team, right? So back to your question, George, I think she would be delighted. I think just having to get out of, you know, having our own space, especially new wed is a must, right? To continue building that foundation. But I think that's Speaker 6 (7:08) a Speaker 1 (7:08) great game plan, guys. So thank you very much for breaking this down for me. Speaker 6 (7:12) Absolutely. Thank you so much for the call. And it Speaker 2 (7:14) represents a lot of what people are feeling out there going, I want to buy a home. I don't want to. I'm putting air quotes on this if you can't see me. Waste money on rent. Yes. And renting is one of the smartest decisions you can make, especially in a market like we have right now. Yeah, Speaker 3 (7:28) absolutely. Where houses Speaker 2 (7:28) are so expensive that to go buy that same house would cost you five grand a month in a mortgage versus two grand a month to rent it. Speaker 6 (7:36) Yeah. Absolutely. No one wants us. No one wants you to be in real estate more than us. Right. We want you to be in real estate. We realize that it's a major part Speaker 3 (7:44) of wealth building. We realize it's a major piece of just stability, familial stability and just feeling like you have your American dream. But there is a way to do it where it's a blessing and not a burden. And that's where rent shows up like renting. It literally is buying you time until you can buy. Yes. Speaker 2 (8:03) So home ownership has a very clear spot in the seven Ramsey baby steps. Baby step one, $1,000 starter emergency fund. Baby step two, knock out all the consumer debt. Baby step three, fully funded emergency fund, three to six months of expenses. Then baby step three B, you save up for that down payment. Because what happens there, you've got financial peace. You've got no consumer payments. You've got an emergency fund. Now you can move in without stress, with a lot of peace. Absolutely. Speaker 2 (8:59) Here's something that keeps a lot of parents up at night. Kids are growing up with more access to information than ever before in history. But most of the content is calculated to keep them distracted, make them mad, and keep them scrolling, not help them think for themselves. Worldwatch exists to be the antidote to the algorithms. Worldwatch is a video news service built specifically for preteens and teens. They're daily 10-minute videos that explain what's happening in the world through a factual Christian worldview. No outrage, no noise, just clear reporting you can watch together and that your kids can actually understand so they can come to the dinner table engaged and curious instead of worked up or zoned out. And I love that World Watch doesn't talk at kids. It gives families something to talk about. Because when my kids are older, I want them to be able to think for themselves and separate news from noise. And right now you can try World Watch free for 30 days. Click the link in the description or go to worldwatch.news slash Ramsey and use promo code Ramsey to get started. The Ramsey offer includes your first full month free on top of the standard seven-day trial. That's worldwatch.news slash Ramsey. Speaker 3 (10:21) Back to the phone lines where we have Matthew who's in Portland, Oregon. Hey Matthew, how can George and I help out today? Speaker 7 (10:29) Hey, great to hear from you guys. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out a balance for my wife and I, where I currently work six days a week to pay off our large debts. And we have discussed about me going back down to five days a week. And we are trying to figure out how to make that work. Speaker 6 (10:48) Wow. How long have you been working six days a week? Speaker 7 (10:51) Almost two years now. That Speaker 6 (10:53) is a long time. And is she working as well outside the house? Speaker 7 (10:57) No, we are fortunate enough that she was actually just able to become a stay-at-home mom for our new daughter. And so she's staying at home. Cool. Okay. Speaker 2 (11:09) And how much debt do you guys have left? Speaker 7 (11:12) We have $330,000 about, all of it in student loans. We started at $450,000, and in the last 10 months, I have religiously to the penny tracked every single expense and paid off $115,000 in debt. In 10 months? Speaker 2 (11:31) You're throwing like $11,000, $12,000 at this debt every month? Speaker 7 (11:35) Every single month, tracked to the penny. We've gotten two brand new cars paid off. a bunch of other small, stupid debts that we had. And all I have left, no credit cards, no nothing, is just student loan debt. Good. Speaker 2 (11:50) It's plenty. Speaker 7 (11:50) We Speaker 2 (11:51) don't need any more. That's the good news. Speaker 6 (11:52) What's Speaker 2 (11:52) your Speaker 6 (11:52) income? I got to believe with this kind of student loan debt, there's got to be a nice, I'm hoping, a nice career with a nice income to back it up. Is there? Speaker 7 (12:01) Yes. On my six days a week that I'm working, before bonuses or anything, it is $228,000. And at five days, it would be $190,000. Okay. Speaker 2 (12:12) And what do you do? Speaker 7 (12:15) I'm an optometrist. Speaker 2 (12:16) Okay. Wow. Wonderful. Is there room to grow in that field? What does that look like to be making more money if you were working five days a week? Speaker 7 (12:25) So typically the place I'm at now, it would be based on bonuses and the exam volume that I see would be making more money. And I've recently stepped into a manager role. And so that's what's led to the increase in the salary. Have Speaker 6 (12:41) you charted it out? Because you need to know what this looks like, right? You want to know how long am I in for? Have you Speaker 3 (12:49) charted this out at both work weeks? How long it would take at? 190 and how long it would take at the 228 that you're at now? Speaker 7 (12:59) Yes. At 228 right now, we would currently take about four years to finish paying it off. Given the reduction in my wife's income at the five days a week being as extremist as possible, it would be probably around eight years to nine years to pay it off. Whoa. Speaker 3 (13:19) Now, what was your wife making before she started staying at home? Can I ask? Speaker 7 (13:24) Yeah, so she was a school teacher at a private Christian school, and she was making around $38,000 a year before she became a stay-at-home mom. Speaker 6 (13:33) Okay, so that didn't majorly set you guys back, especially when you think about child care. Okay. I'm confused Speaker 2 (13:39) how going down one day a week doubles your debt-free date. Yeah, Speaker 6 (13:42) that's crazy. Speaker 7 (13:44) It's because we got a higher mortgage payment and if I cut down from six to five days, that is a $1,700 a month reduction in my income per month. How Speaker 6 (13:56) much is your mortgage payment? Speaker 7 (13:58) Mortgage payment, right now we're paying $37,000 for it. Speaker 3 (14:03) Okay. The minimum Speaker 7 (14:05) payment is like $34. Speaker 3 (14:07) Okay. And you're not investing or anything, right? It's just pure cash? Speaker 7 (14:13) Doing a 401k match and then $100 a month for our daughter for investments just now. Speaker 6 (14:21) Okay. So the good news is there's a place that we can trim to find a little bit more. It's not going to be the be-all, end-all, but I'm guessing Speaker 3 (14:29) what's the match, 4 % or 5 %? Speaker 6 (14:32) Yeah. Yeah, 5%. So Speaker 3 (14:34) if we can bring that money back temporarily, because again, this is temporary and you guys are young, so there's plenty of time to get back in into investing when the time comes. The truth is, and I mean, you're a dollars and cents down to the dime guy. So every bit of money, you know what I'm talking about, it is going to make a big difference. So if you temporarily pause your investing, knowing that you're building the foundation so that later you can invest and do so with no worries, with no risk, I think that's worth it for Speaker 6 (15:04) you. Speaker 2 (15:05) That's an extra 12 grand a year. So that's a full month you're gaining toward your debt-free date. And you said you're going down on income about $20,000 a year based on your take-home? You said $1,700 a month is what you'd be losing? Speaker 7 (15:19) Yeah, roughly $1,700 is what I'd be losing. Speaker 2 (15:21) Okay, so you just gained $12,000 back by pausing investing right there. So now you're going, okay, there's an 8K gap. Can I do anything else to make up the difference? Because the goal is how do we keep you on this amazing momentum and not delay you by four or five years for your debt payoff journey? Because that's also, there's hard on both sides. Absolutely. Being Speaker 5 (15:39) in Speaker 2 (15:39) debt for eight, nine years is a slog. And being at work an extra day every week for four years, also a slog. Speaker 3 (15:46) And I mean, I want to encourage you, you know, Sam and I, we had major Speaker 6 (15:50) amounts of debt and major amounts of student loan debt. And I'll tell you, I mean, I was a person, I worked seven days a week for a long time, Matthew, for years. I worked seven and six days a week and it's not fun. But there's a part of this where to George's point, you're choosing your hard and the Speaker 3 (16:07) time is going to Speaker 6 (16:08) pass Speaker 3 (16:08) anyway. And so you have to ask yourself, which do I prefer? You know, when I look up and... four years, do I want to just know that I'm going to be done? Or do I want to elongate this, possibly, like you said, maybe not eight or nine years, but significantly into the future? And I think when you frame it like that, you just kind of go, okay, what I would suggest, and this is just a suggestion, I would suggest you continue to work. the six days, because you doing that is going to be better than any side hustle. You're going to earn more money from that than any side hustle could bring in. But then what I would suggest on top of the four years, because your wife is like, man. This is not what I envisioned. I want to be able to see my husband. So we need to try to meet her where she is there and for you too. And I think you guys can do that by setting up some milestones and kind of setting up a reward-based system in this so that you're feeling not only the momentum from paying off the debt, but you're also feeling excitement when it's like, hey, for every, you know, you guys can set this up. For every $15,000 we pay off, this is something that we do together. We go on a date or we, you know, get a sitter. Like whatever those things are, that are gonna make you guys feel refreshed, I think that's good. Or you're working six days a week, but you decide, hey, there's one Saturday that I don't work, right? One Saturday a month. Little things like that go a really long way. So I don't think that it's all or nothing. I either work five days or I work six days. I think it's, let's set out to work mostly six days a week. Let's make sure that we're adding in some milestones and that way we're making this something that we can sustain. But there's no version of this that feels easy. Speaker 2 (17:49) Right. But you told me that you can throw 11K right now at the debts every month. Speaker 7 (17:54) That's what we're averaging, and it's surprising to me that we're able to hit it this hard. Well, think about this. We've Speaker 2 (18:00) been Speaker 7 (18:00) roughly doing that. Speaker 2 (18:00) I'm crunching the numbers right here. If you pause your investing, that's an extra $1,000 a month now to throw at the debt. You're not throwing $12K a month at the debt. You've got $330 left. You're done in 27 months, just over two years. So instead of four years or eight years, I'd rather see you sacrifice hard for a shorter period of time versus sacrifice but late. a little lower, take the foot off the gas a little bit, and it'd take eight years. And Speaker 3 (18:23) I'd also be interested in, is there anything that your wife can do from home? You know, she's obviously right now, if you guys have a newborn, she's in the throes of it, but maybe six or eight months from now, there's, you know, there's a little bit more. mental load margin that can free up for her and maybe that there's something that she can do from home or at certain hours per day and again every little bit counts towards this so i Speaker 2 (18:47) wonder what are these cars worth you said you have two new cars that are paid off Speaker 7 (18:50) yep so we we uh bought a 2024 kia sportage and i have a 2025 honda accord and they are We initially bought them for about $30,000 each a year or two ago, and those are part of the initial that I just paid off because it was the highest interest and got it done as quick as I could. Speaker 2 (19:11) Okay. I'm just wondering, let's say you're like, man, I could shave off three months of sacrifice and get it down to two years flat if we sold one of these and downgraded to a different car in cash. That might be something you look into. Speaker 7 (19:22) Mm-hmm. Speaker 2 (19:23) If you want to speed this up. So there are levers you can pull. It's just you guys deciding as a couple, which ones are we willing to pull and for how long? Absolutely. And in my book, man, I'd rather be done with this sooner rather than later. Now you're making crazy money with no payments in the world. Speaker 3 (19:37) Exactly. And you can enjoy your degree. You can enjoy your profession instead of working for the money. And I think that's the thing. When you have debt, it changes the way you work. And I want to see you being able to work because you enjoy it, because it's something you believe in, not because you have to make your next payment. Speaker 8 (20:13) Hey guys, it's Rachel Cruz. 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That's CHM. chministries.org slash budget and promo code Ramsey. Speaker 6 (21:30) The truth is anyone can be a millionaire. It's not that complicated. Speaker 3 (21:35) Dave and George are actually going to show you exactly how at our Investing Essentials two-night virtual event. It's the only place that Dave is going to unpack his playbook for investing in wealth planning. He'll cover the basics of investing from mutual funds to real estate, which is really cool. Plus all the new content on reducing taxes. George, you guys have... 529 plan information, passing on character and wealth and more. You want to say anything about that? Speaker 2 (22:00) I mean, we just started the rehearsals and this content is stuff that we have never talked about. So it's very exciting for us to go, how do we frame this up in a way that people can take and grasp and make actionable so that they can build wealth with confidence? Because there's so much noise out there. So our job is to sift through it two hours each night to go, here's what you need to know. Here's what you need to do next. So I'm pumped for this. You can join us from the comfort of your own home. Tickets start at $199. That's like getting coached by Dave Ramsey for $50 an hour, if you're doing the math at home. Yeah, Speaker 6 (22:29) that's pretty great. Pretty incredible. Speaker 2 (22:30) So I'll be joining Dave. Get your tickets today, ramsaysolutions.com slash events, or click the link in the show notes if you're listening on podcast or YouTube. Speaker 6 (22:38) Fabulous. All right. Speaker 3 (22:40) Julian is in Memphis, Tennessee. Hey, Julian, how can we help today? Speaker 7 (22:46) Hey, so... I've been saving up for quite some time. I'm 23 years old, and I want to buy my first home. And I have an uncle who's invested in real estate in the past. He was telling me my first home should be like a duplex or a triplex. That way I could ideally have somebody else paying my mortgage. It would also be my first time buying a house. I plan on putting at least 10 % down, but I know how, you know, I've listened to some of the podcasts. things like that. And I know how you guys feel about borrowing money. I Speaker 2 (23:22) mean, Speaker 7 (23:22) is it a good idea to do that considering it'd be my first time owning a home? And then also, you know, it'd be my first time investing in a real estate. I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone, you know, by trying to do this. Speaker 6 (23:36) So I had a guy, Dave and I were hosting together a week or so ago, and a guy called in and he purchased a home the correct way where the payment was no more than 25 % of his take-home pay. Speaker 3 (23:47) And he was able to cover the entirety of the mortgage on his own, but he then had a couple of roommates that came in and rented rooms and paid him. Speaker 3 (23:57) We praised him because we thought, hey, this is great. That's a smart move. And then he took that money that he got from the rents, was going to save it up and use the money to pay off the house and then buy his next rental. That was his plan. So there's a way to do this that I think is smart, especially if you're young and single and you have the money to be able to afford this on your own. I do worry, Speaker 6 (24:19) and I mean, George, I don't know how you feel about this, but the duplex and triplex, I do worry a little bit about that just because it's a lot. And those tend to not be in the greatest of areas. And so that's the part that gives me a little bit of an orange flag on Speaker 3 (24:37) there. So I want to know more about your numbers. I want to know what you want to spend and what money you actually have. Speaker 7 (24:45) I got like... Around $70,000 saved up. I've been saving it for quite some time. I have no other debt besides a vehicle payment that I purchased about two years ago back in 2021. What's left on that? $9,000. Well, $9,700. Speaker 2 (25:01) Okay. And what do you make? That's the only Speaker 7 (25:03) debt I have. About $85,000 a year. Speaker 2 (25:07) Awesome. Okay, so all the cashier name, $70,000, is what we're working with here. Speaker 7 (25:12) Yeah. And that's... Speaker 7 (25:15) just the cash. I mean, that doesn't include the other investments that I have. I have two Roth IRAs and I have a traditional. Fantastic. Speaker 2 (25:22) And Speaker 7 (25:22) they're my employer. I got a 401. Speaker 2 (25:23) And what makes you want to become a landlord? Speaker 7 (25:27) Just the passive income. You know, I mean, I've read some of your, you know... You ever have your tenant knock on Speaker 2 (25:35) the door that's next to yours to say, hey, toilet's busted. You got to fix that. Speaker 7 (25:41) I haven't yet. You got to stop the party next door Speaker 2 (25:43) because you can't sleep. Speaker 2 (25:47) Or they stop paying? Speaker 7 (25:51) Well, I haven't experienced it yet. I hope you don't. But I'm Speaker 2 (25:56) just saying that's the reality. Because what your uncle's doing and what you see on TikTok is a bunch of guys saying, here's the path to wealth. Just get a multiplex and then do that 17 times. And all of a sudden you're a bajillionaire. And it just never works like that in reality. And the reality is, Jade's right. These don't go up in value the same as a single family home. They tend to be in rougher areas. And I don't want you biting off more than you can chew just so that you're, quote unquote, they pay the mortgage. Speaker 6 (26:22) Now, if I were in your shoes, I would follow the blueprint of the gentleman that called earlier. I'd say, okay, the primary point here is you need a Speaker 3 (26:29) place to live. So what if you bought something that had two or three bedrooms that you could afford? I'm not saying the $70,000 is going to get you there just yet, but this is just as a dreaming. What if I bought something that was two or three bedrooms? And I know a couple of guys, these are people who are reputable that. would rent a room. And even if they don't rent it, I can still afford it. But this is an opportunity for me to just kind of get my feet wet and what it feels like to own something of my own, what it feels like to collect rent. Do you see what I'm saying? What it feels like to fix something that's broken in the house. And then later on, if you save up cash because you've got people paying you, once you pay off that mortgage, because it's going to be nothing crazy, as modest as possible, then maybe you can start saving up for another piece of real estate, right? And we're kind of doing this slowly in a way that is serving you. And you're also able to learn from the situation that you're creating. You're not Speaker 6 (27:22) just jumping, you know, 10 toes in on something you've completely never done before with a triplex in a neighborhood of town that you're having a hard time Speaker 3 (27:30) finding great renters. You see what I'm saying? Speaker 2 (27:33) Yeah. Yeah. So if you want truly passive income, an index fund will do that. But if you're telling me you love real estate and you want to get into it, you want to become a landlord, that's a different story. So if you're going to do this, then make sure that this works without the tenant there. That this payment is no more than a quarter of your take-home pay, 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. And before you do any of that, you're paying off the car today. You're setting aside an emergency fund for yourself, three to six months of expenses. For you, that might be $30,000. Now you're left with $30,000 for your down payment. And now we can continue saving for the next year and start looking. And look for a house that you'd actually want before you just go looking for an investment slash a place to lay your head. I wouldn't try to combine the two at this stage of your life. Speaker 7 (28:17) Okay. Are you going to get married anytime Speaker 2 (28:20) soon? Speaker 7 (28:22) Not yet, no. Probably another two years or so. Okay. That's something Speaker 2 (28:27) to think about. If this is a long-term decision, you know, nice gal comes your way, I don't know that she wants to live there. She might have her own idea of what her single-family home or whatever townhome looks like. And so I would just tread with caution with an uncle saying, dude, you got to do this. I made so much money. Mm-hmm. It's always an uncle or a brother-in-law. So you're doing great. Like all things considered, to be your age and have that much in cash and now debt-free after this call is over because you're about to pay off that car loan, you're doing so good. So I would stay on the path and I would avoid TikTok real estate videos. And that's what's going to Speaker 6 (29:03) get Speaker 2 (29:03) served up to you now after we talked about this. Speaker 6 (29:06) That's right. That's so true. And I just want to say this because, you know, I don't want anybody to walk around Speaker 3 (29:12) with a bad taste in their mouth like, Jade and George, they don't like real estate. We do like real estate. And I particularly think that when you're a guy like this or a lady, you're young, you're unattached, you don't have kids. That is the time where you can try things, where you can do things that you maybe wouldn't be able to do, you know, 10 years of marriage. And I don't want to have roommates in the house at 10 years. You know what I'm saying? So he's in a phase where he can play a little bit if he does it the right way. And I think that. If he does this, it's a fair way to kind of get into maybe do I like renting? Would I want to live near? Because here's Speaker 6 (29:48) the Speaker 3 (29:48) thing. If you don't want to live upstairs from your boy, Speaker 6 (29:52) like your friend, you certainly aren't going to want to be duplex neighbors with Trevor, you Speaker 3 (29:57) know, who you've never met before. So, like, I think that's just a really great way for him to. dip his toe in and see. And to not leave him Speaker 2 (30:04) hanging, I'm going to give you a free ticket, Julian, to our Investing Essentials virtual event next week. And night one, the second part of night one is all about real estate investing. And Dave goes through, here's all the different categories. Here's all the ways to do it. Here's all the formulas you need to make sure that you're making a wise decision. Because this is the biggest decision. you've made so far in your life. So we don't want to jump into it just because we see one. It might not be a deal. It might be way overpriced. Right. And you can't get a tenant to rent there for what you want for it. And now all of a sudden it's not paying your mortgage. And then Speaker 6 (30:34) you need to sell it. And now you're messed up because maybe you didn't get a good deal. And now maybe you're not even getting what you sold it for. So hang on the line. Speaker 2 (30:42) Christian's going to pick up. We'll make sure we get you a virtual ticket to that event. And the rest of you can join us. RamseySolutions.com slash events. We're pumped for it. Speaker 4 (31:25) One of the biggest mistakes homebuyers make is talking to a realtor and shopping for houses before understanding their real budget. And that's how you end up falling in love with a house you can't afford and trapping yourself in a bigger payment than you can handle. That's why you should talk to Churchill Mortgage first. Churchill. shows you what you can actually afford, not just what a bank will approve. And with their certified homebuyer program, your financing is completely secured before you shop, so you won't miss out on your dream home while you're waiting for pre-approval. I've recommended Churchill for 30 years because they help you buy a home the Ramsey way. So here's your plan. Contact Churchill. Know your numbers. And then when you find the perfect house, you're ready. Go to churchillmortgage.com slash Ramsey offer for a special offer only for Ramsey fans. That's churchillmortgage.com slash Ramsey offer or click the link in the description. Speaker 3 (32:37) All right, our Ramsey Show question of the day is brought to you by YRefi. Missed private student loan payments can leave you feeling like your financial goals are on hold. YRefi helps borrowers explore low fixed rate refinancing options that fit your budget so you can move forward with a plan. Visit YRefi.com slash Ramsey. Remember, it may not be available in all states. Speaker 2 (32:59) Today's question comes from Olivia in New Mexico. My husband and I have experience in both residential and commercial property management, as well as in real estate. Instead of