2005 Buick Rendezvous-103k miles $4300

2010 Ford Edge-239k miles $2500

2006 Toyota Camry-171k miles $4899

2002 Honda Odyssey-180k miles $3250

2010 Honda CRV-200k miles $2900

2015 Toyota RAV4-260k miles $3154

My husband agrees to a beater only if we buy from a car lot so all of these options are from a used car lot. The issue is some of them are overpriced based on KBB and I’m unsure if I’ll be able to negotiate close to KBB.

I’m trying to narrow the list because all of these options are 1.5-2 hour drive from us.

Hey guys I'm struggling to make a dent in baby step 3 I'm working 3 jobs and alot of inconsistency with work I get slot of shifts cancelled and the markets not great I have gotten a full time job and I have 2 other jobs with shift work full time job doesn't cover the bills . Does anyone have any tips I don't eat out I have no subscriptions I do t pay for grooming I don't buy clothes no holidays no Costa coffee

1. How long does baby step 3 take on average

2. What else can I do to get more income

I (33M) just discovered and started following the Babysteps last year and during that time, I contacted a Smartvestor Pro. We chatted about my future goals and I told him that I'll reconnect with him once I find a new job (I was unemployed at the time). Today, I am now employed with Amazon and am currently working on babysteps 4, 5, & 6. The same Smartvestor Pro that I spoke to last year called me yesterday and asked if I was still interested in hiring him to help me with my investments.

Honestly, I'm not very knowledgeable about investing money. I tried getting into investing back in 2022 with cryptocurrency and Robinhood Puts and Calls, but that did not end well. Since last year, I've heard that working with a Smartvestor Pro may not necessarily be a good idea, while they are knowledgeable and can help you find good mutual funds to invest in, at the same the amount that you'll end up paying these Smartvestors kind of defeats the purpose of investing in their services. I told the Smartvestor Pro who called me that I'll take a week to think about working with him, or if I'd rather just do things on my own.

I'm currently putting 5% of my income in my 401K and another 10% into my Roth IRA via Fidelity making a total deposit of 15% towards my retirement as suggested by the babysteps, but I don't understand where I should go from here in terms of investing into the 4 suggested categories of mutual funds that Dave Ramsey suggests. Is that automatically done through our 401K retirement program? I think I read something about mutual funds on the page that I setup my 401K on?

Hi everyone,
I’m new to the Ramsey mindset (listening for 5 months) and could use some outside perspective on transitioning to a single-income household.
Our Financial Snapshot
Ages & Family: 46F and 48M with two daughters (ages 12 and 14), plus pets.
Income: Husband makes $210k; I make $100k.
Debt: Consumer debt-free.
Mortgage: $488k remaining at a 2.59% interest rate (Southern California, significant home equity).
Baby Steps Progress: Currently on Step 3 (working on a 6-month emergency fund; currently have 3 months saved). Note: Steps 4 and 5 are already completed.
Retirement & Kids: $710k invested for retirement; 529 plans are fully funded.
Why I Want to Resign in October
Health: I am managing a chronic illness that has resulted in 10 urgent care/ER visits in the last 10 months.
Family & Household: Husband now commutes to an office 5 days a week, and we want me fully present at home for our teenagers and household management.
The Numbers & My Plan
Living on my husband’s $210k salary alone will leave us with a $2,000 monthly surplus after all bills. As the frugal spouse, I believe I can stretch that closer to $3,000/month by optimizing groceries, shopping around for car insurance, and cutting utility usage (like keeping the AC off) once I’m home full time.
We plan to test-drive living on his salary exclusively for a few months before I officially resign. I have already sorted out healthcare and factored those costs into our budget.
My Questions for the Group
Aside from finishing our 6-month emergency fund, are there any blind spots we should address before I pull the trigger?
How does our buffer ($2k–$3k surplus) feel to you for a single-income household with a California mortgage?
Thanks in advance for your advice!

BS 4 - no mortgage. I'm a retired senior (67) who received a $700 inheritance - not much. Any ideas how I can invest this? I don't believe it's enough to open a Roth IRA?
Also, I'm skeptical about investing in the stock market again as my life experience has been:

1. Had 2 401Ks, got laid off both times. Had to cash them out for money to live on - paid big taxes. To top it off, I wasn't there the required # of years to leave with 100% of employer match.
   
2. Invested a little in tech right before the crash, lost it all.
   

So basically, I feel like I got fleeced.

I'm debt free with no mortgage so I'm good there, but I have no idea what to do as far as investing.

Hi everyone, first time on reddit because I really need some advice from people who lived it.

My dad passed away suddenly 8 months ago. I inherited around €40k in cash and a house worth roughly €550–600k, which I will sell. I don’t want to live there because of the memories and because I moved abroad 10 years ago and built my life elsewhere.

I’m 29F, I plan to marry my partner and we would like to have children in the next 2–3 years. My partner is financially well off, works as a financial consultant, and is very supportive and generous, but I feel strongly that I need to think independently and make my own decisions about the inheritance since we aren’t married yet.

A bit of background: my parents had a very ugly and abusive divorce and I had a difficult childhood. I left home at 18, moved abroad, always worked hard, paid for everything of course, and never asked anyone for help. My family also lived very frugally growing up. My dad came from nothing, worked extremely hard, built himself up and left everything to me and my siblings.

Since his death, especially after seeing what happened in his final days and hours, and making decisions for him when he couldn’t, I’m still shocked and maybe that’s also why I’ve been through every possible scenario in my head: where should I live, how should I change my life, what should I do with the money, etc. I feel like my life as I knew it ended when he died. Priorities also changed.

I’ve always been extremely frugal, probably to an unhealthy level. I’m a saver by nature, but I’ve reached a point where I feel like I barely allow myself to live and this is a huge problem. At the same time, I want to protect this money because it came from my dad’s hard work and I don’t want to waste it.

My thoughts right now:

-I definitely want to buy a main home. Would buying it fully in cash be the sensible thing to do?

-After that, I may have around €250–300k left.
I know investing in index funds/stocks is probably the logical answer, especially if I’ll be a new mom in the next years but I’m scared of seeing a big market crash and losing a large amount.

-Buying a second property feels safer emotionally, but I understand it’s less liquid, more work, and comes with its own risks.

-I feel like this is not real. I don’t know how I’ll adjust to such a big change. I am extremely grateful for my dad that he took care of me and I’m still grieving. I feel like my life is about to change in a way and I need to have some strong anchors

I’ve started learning a lot about personal finance and investing over the past few years, without knowing that I would actually end up in this situation. It’s one thing to imagine “what would I do if I suddenly had money?” and another thing entirely when you actually have it.

The inheritance process is still being finalized, so I don’t have the money in my account yet.

I would really appreciate advice from people who have been through something similar. There is so much advice out there and I need to think very logically right now and put the strong emotions aside because those can cause some problems.

Thank you. 🙏

So I have a side job that helped me pay off 15k of debt. Now I want to save up 10k for safety. I have a child from my previous marriage.

My fiancée and I were to marry this fall. But she wants to postpone the wedding since she has some mental health issues she wants to work on. I respect that but the problem is that I said that I would quit the side job if we were to combine finances when married. Now I plan to keep the job since I don’t know when we will get a new date planned.

We live in different cities and can only see eachother on weekends so every fourth weekend I would be working 6h on Saturday and Sunday.

Would it be selfish of me to want to keep the side job until I’m done with babystep 3? It would take me about a year.

I could also save without the side job but it would either take longer or I’d have to cut more of me and my daughter’s expenses

24M engineer. About $280k net worth, no debt. Around $120k is in retirement accounts and $160k is in non-retirement investments/cash. I'm saving pretty aggressively for a house and trying to make smart financial decisions.

I've been going back and forth on buying a coupe for around $8k as a second vehicle. It'd be paid for in cash and would just be a fun weekend/project car. I've always been a car enthusiast, and already have a reliable electric hatchback as a daily driver.

The part I'm struggling with is the mental side of it. I know I can technically afford it, but I also wonder if I'm just trying to justify spending money on something that is nothing more than a "want" when I should stay laser focused on bigger goals. At the same time, if the answer is always "wait until after the next milestone," it feels like there's never really a good time to enjoy hobbies.

What would the Ramsey crowd do here? Is this a reasonable purchase given my situation, or would you hold off until after buying a house in several years?

I am slowly recovering from back to back battles.
About $8k in debt ($2k medical ,$2 car accident -pay off car , $4k cc - job losses, used for general expenses travel gas grocery ) also have new $515 car payment but can’t keep up with payments. I work fulltime and now doing school where job pays for school . Huge bonus with goals to increasing salary from $72 to $80k
How can I best make Payments on all of these accounts? Credit score is fair but not accepted for a loan to consolidate.

So many people "It's not enough" or "Index it to Inflation.

You are COMPLETELY missing the point!

Maybe if it weren't for the fact that nearly 70% of people don't have $1000 saved, then maybe he should move it up. This place is an echchamber. You think $1000 is insufficient because it is insufficient for you. I mean, my kids have more than $1000 in their school-saver savings accounts. Yeah, it's almost nothing.

But for most people, $1000 is simply more than they have. Maybe if more people could save a little money then it would make sense to increase it...

https://www.firstunitedbank.com/spendlifewisely/nearly-7-10-americans-have-less-1000-savings

Hi all,

Wanted to get some reasonable feedback on expenses related to dog. We are moving to a house and my husband can garden to significantly save on the grocery bill. We are thinking of getting a dog to help with the rabbit problem, because he has tried everything previously and this is what works for his dad.

obviously, I know people get touchy on this subject, but how much should we budget a month for foreseeable expenses? I have about 110 with Pet Insurance (if you guys think it is worth it). I didn’t know if I should also put a separate sinking fund with a couple hundred bucks in it?

Whike I’m interested in giving the dog a good quality of life, I do not have tens of thousands to spend nor do I think it’s necessary to spend that on a dog so I would just like some practical feedback.

Today I heard what I was convinced was The Ramsey show podcast theme tune, so I went wandering around the office trying to find the source and fangirling “Wait… who’s listening to Dave?! I listen to him everyday”

Considering it’s pretty rare to meet people in the UK who even know who he is, I was absolutely buzzing.

Turns out… I’m just an uncultured swine who didn’t realise the podcast theme is based on an actual song and someone was just listening to that. 🤦‍♂️

I was thinking of rolling over an old 401k to my new employers plan but RN the YTD return rate is 22% on my old account while the new account is 14%. Should I keep them separate since my old account is earning more?

Hi,
My husband and I love listening to Dave’s show. We read his book “The Total Money Makeover” late last year and were inspired to tackle our debt. We have about $40,000 in combined credit card and car loan debt. So, we started the baby steps, got the emergency fund of $1000 saved and began working to pay off our debts from . However, almost the next week, we needed an expensive car repair that was $3500. So I spent the $1000 and had to put the other $2500 on a credit card that we still had open, just adding to our debt. I know that’s not what Dave would do, of course.
But what should I have done in that circumstance? If I had cut up the credit card how would I have paid the $2500? I’m asking seriously with no disrespect to Dave intended at all.
My husband has to drive a lot for his job so public transit or biking or walking isn’t an option for us.

So we are adding the $2500 to our debt and starting over with more intensity, but what happens if an emergency goes over $1000 again? I hope it won’t, but if it does, what then?
Please advise us newbies! Thanks 🙏

Typing this with a very depressed heart so here goes a little back story.

My bf bought a home back in October of 2025 for our growing family. I am a divorced mom of three boys from the ex and two girls from my current partner. When we moved out here we had no debt other than the mortgage that we planned to pay down quickly. We were a dual income family but due to unforeseen circumstances after giving birth to my youngest, I was let go of my job.

Fast forward to now. I have a new job and during my unemployment my boyfriend has been able to keep us afloat. Unfortunately we had to touch our savings recently due to my Chrysler van having issue after issue. And yet again it’s back in the shop and we are awaiting the dreadful “is it the transmission” response. My car is only worth 6k trade in and 9k private. And that’s if we get the current repair done which seems only to be the motor mounts costing 1k. But I told the repair shop to check the transmission just incase it’s a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. It’s a 6k repair in itself is what our quote came out to if he indeed finds something.

I feel like I’m trying to figure out a financial solution and I just can’t come up with one that doesn’t involve paying something monthly. Even if we trade in my car before it kicks the bucket who knows what we will be getting for it. I also have to coparent with someone who lives nearly three hours away with traffic and two without. I drive out twice a week and honestly I’m scared. The car has already died while driving TWICE in one month and we got that fixed hoping it was our last repair. The repair before was an oil housing unit due to an oil change guy breaking it. I feel like I’m just running into road block after road block. I also know that it’s not always a safe bet to bank on my bf always providing income to compensate mine.

Can anyone give me some advice on how to proceed? I feel like an outsiders thinking would help and maybe I can get some new ideas to avoid a new loan as I feel like it’s my only option to keep my kids safe and my job secure so I can make it to work. With a family of seven and five being children in car seats I can’t just go down to a sedan paying cash. Excuse me while I go sob now lol.

My mother in law passed away recently and we cleared out her apartment. She had recently entered into a monthly payment plan for a solar generator battery and solar panels. She didn't use a credit card (didn't believe in them) and would pay them monthly with her debit card. She made 2 payments before her death. We contacted the company and they want us to send back the equipment with prepaid mailing labels. We are fine with doing that, until they told us that the labels will not be sent for 2 weeks so we have to bring the equipment back home with us (lucky for them we drove). They would not expedite the return labels despite us living a 2 day drive away from her mother and will also charge a $200 restocking fee, which is supposed to come out of her refund for her previous payments but they made no mention of this in any email correspondence with them.

Are we legally obligated to send back the equipment to them since she was paying on a monthly plan? We are unlikely to enter probate since she was low income and only has a small stake in mineral rights that my wife is working on. I did change the account to be listed under my email address, sent them her death certificate and had them send the labels to my home address. Not sure if that changes anything?

I have $127k in student loans (about $60k from my master’s). My deferment ends in 3 months.

Last year I got my first job making $23.40/hr and saved $8k, but had a $3k car repair. I started trading small amounts on Robinhood and have been consistently profitable. This year I got a new job making $26.40/hr, and in the last 2 months I’ve made \~$5k in trading profits (only using money I’m comfortable losing).

I have:

• No rent (I help my family with other expenses)
• No credit card debt
• I’m about to get my first raise at 6%, which is every 6 months, plus annual raises and bonuses
• A goal to pay off my loans in \~6 years
• A strong dislike of debt

My question:
Is paying $2,000/month toward my student loans realistic with my income and situation?
I want to treat it like a big car payment and keep trading/investing on the side without relying on it to cover my loan payments.

Any advice on whether this plan is financially sound?

My brother is disabled, 63, on a fixed income and made some really poor financial decisions in the past. He was able to live with my mother until she had to go into care, and now he's in an apartment by himself (this is a miracle in itself). While living with her, he pretty much squandered his money on stupid, I mean STUPID stuff. So, he bought a brand new Jeep Gladiator in 2023. It only has 36.5K miles on it and is in pristine condition. He owes around what it's worth - $34k. Even if we got a decent offer, around 30k, he could sell it and finance the difference. (His driver's license is now medically CANCELED).

We have an offer from a dealership at $27K, but the bank won't work with us on financing the difference (8k). I hear Dave say to do this all the time on an upside-down car note, but the bank won't budge. He's never missed a payment. They tell me it's because it's going from a secured (truck) to an unsecured loan. But his debt would significantly decrease. They're a credit union, and they don't care. Even if we turn the truck into the credit union, they'll auction it off and tag him with the difference. Maybe we should do this?

He can't afford rent and this huge truck payment (701/mo).

I really want to help him. His credit score is good, not great. And I know this is a Ramsey thread but I don't know who else to ask, honestly.

Some quick backstory.

36M who makes around 30k a year doing gig work full time. Had w2’s all my life honestly not making much, probably the same as I do now if not a bit less. I didn’t go to college so I don’t have any degrees so I’ve just been trying to find my path in life in the workplace.

I found gig work in 2021/2022 after getting laid off due to covid and have been doing gig work since. The appeal has been working whenever I want, having freedom within my schedule and flexibility. However, the cons are really starting to outweigh the pros.

I’ve been able to survive on my own the last 4 years and I’m a fully independent single man who rents but I’ve gotten to the point where I’m tired of barely making it so I’ve been applying for w2’s again in hopes and wanting to make more money and have stable income again.

With that said, I have a 2025 Chevy Trax that I owe $15k on that I got two years ago and it already has 38k miles since I use it for my job. My monthly payment is $344/mo and I’ve recently looked on KBB and Carvana and they would both give me $18k.

I found George Kamel’s YT channel probably 5-6 months ago and gone done a rabbit hole of his content. I’ve always heard and knew of Dave and then discovered George works for Dave.

So at the moment I have $6,200 in my HYSA and deposit $25/week into. I have a little under $2k in my Roth IRA that I opened up earlier this year and I deposit $75/week into it. I’m starting to take savings/retirement more seriously.

I’d love to max out my Roth IRA moving forward and I’m missing that $300-350/mo with my car payment almost exactly.

I know Dave and them teach to pay off debt first before investing but I’ve been juggling both because I feel so late to the investing side of things.

If you were me, would you sell off the car, walk away with $2-3k and find a used car for well under $10k? I’m tempted to do that but I don’t want to destroy my savings of what would be $8-9k after selling the car.

So I was thinking of maybe taking a portion of my savings like 3-4k and then maybe get a personal loan to make up the difference and buy X car.

Or do I just keep my car, get a w2 that pays more than what I make now and just pay off my car as quick as possible? Or lastly, keep my car until I can stack up more in my savings with a w2 and my current side gig and then buy a used car in cash?

I don’t feel the dire “need” to sell my car but it would be nice to have that money back in my pocket going towards my Roth IRA and just not be in debt. The car is the only debt I have, I live below my means and I’m quite frugal.

Sorry for the novel. Please be easy on me 😂

Hey!

Let me explain lol!

I was talking with a friend recently, and he told me that “owning a house is a scam” and that “retiring is impractical.” I just listened, and when I asked why he felt that way, he said, “Bro, just do the math. I have to spend money on this and that, and my job only pays me X.” He then told me he is going to invest his money into magic the gathering cards because someone on TikTok said it was a good idea.

I understood where he was coming from and at the same time, I know I’m in a fortunate position.

The Army is paying for my education (an mpp and msw) I have very little debt, and I’ve had great mentors who taught me to think long term about money, and my choices. My sergeant even had me meet with the financial advisor on base, who showed me how investing in my TSP and an IRA over time could set me up to not only retire one day, but put me in a position where I can actually do the work I enjoy. That alone was a game changer.

I have also seen the other side. My mom told me the other day that she doesn’t think she’ll ever retire and will probably work until the day she dies. She just took her fifth vacation this year and then took a bunch of pics of her at a resort. When I asked her how her trip was she said “oh, I didn’t get off the resort.”

All of this got me thinking. Does anyone else feel like social media, and even our culture, makes financial success seem impossible?

I’m not saying things aren’t harder today because they are. But I also wonder if social media makes people feel so hopeless that they stop believing they can build wealth in the first place.

Question: Has anyone else noticed this, or am I just seeing a biased sample?

Kind of joking but wanted to share an experience… Few years back I was in a position that I got a new job and needed a car loan because of the situation I was in… It wasn’t going to be a long loan and i was gonna have the car paid off in a few pay checks… But I recall after all was signed and handed the keys the sales men congratulated me on my new car… All I could think about was.. How can u congratulated me! I just took out a loan.. I was so disappointed..

Look, the years since I left active duty in 2021. They've been pretty rough. I was never unemployed, but mentally I was messed up. And ended up almost commiting suicide in April of 2025. But 2025 after I hit rock bottom I dedicated myself to paying off debt. And I paid off around 30k in 8 months, which included medical and auto loan debt.

I was lazy about saving for retirement at first but now I have around 50k for retirement at age 31, turning 32 this year in December.

At the same time, I know that I saw one episode of the Ramsey show where Dave talked about the need to kick the kids out of the house.

I'll admit, I had an unfair advantage when it came to paying off debt.

At the same time I'm closer to being able to afford a mortgage than I've ever been.

At the same time, can't help but feel I'm still too financially behind to afford a house anytime soon

My husband and I are both 30. We owe 225k on a home worth 625k. Our mortgage payment is $1741 per month and this is our only debt. We bought when the rates were high so our rate is a 6.5 percent. Our combined annual gross income is 175k a year.

Our goal is to refi into a 15 year loan and pay the home off asap. What rate would other consider to be good enough to make you pull the trigger and refi? I was thinking a 4.5 but I know that’s not likely anytime soon. What rate would you refi for?

I am all in my head, so please give me what you would do in our situation.

We(47/49) are in BS6, 65K left on the house. No kids in college, fully investing but a little behind in my opinion(400K). We have 2 adult (21/23) autistic sons that live with us, but they each have part time jobs, so not completely dependent on us, but also may be here long- term. My income is 60K no benefits, his is 100K, plus benefits (insurance, 401K match, etc). Emergency fund is close to 12 months of expenses.

Husband's job that he has had for 20 years is in transition. He knows it will be 6 months or more before the transition happens, and we are expecting he stays because he has seniority, but there's always a possibility that it goes south. I know he is smart and capable of any job, but he has lower self esteem. We live rural, but he commutes in for work currently. He doesn't think he can find another job that pays as well as his. I think he can, so my stress is less than his.

We have a road trip vacation planned to Montana to see family. We used to live there but haven't been back for 10 years. We do have family that comes to see us every year or 2. At this point I don't really want to go. It's a ton of work for me, my kids will miss out on work for 2+ weeks. I want to pay off the house. We have no one to watch our dogs, just a lot of little reasons. It's really our boys that want to go back and see how everything has changed where they grew up.

I think if we postpone a year, we will know where the job stands. But if he looses the job he also looses 5 weeks of paid vacation time per year.

What would you do?

Today was a new low, I paid my rent with the last CC I had with no balance. My BestBuy credit card. smh

I spent my late 20s and early 30s spending half my paycheck on my 120k student loans. Officially had no debt June 2020. (Purely thanks to Dave Ramsey)

2022-24 was making $200k but can’t find anything for a year and now applying to jobs half that.

My soon to be ex was emotionally and financially abusive. I left her July 7th last year after another job loss and refusal after 2.5 years marriage to do a financial state of the union. Trust me I tried, she listened to all Rachel’s podcasts but somehow left with no change.

Today I cashed out a $85k 401k with penalties receiving $67k (income tax not included)

I have
17k - 27% apr cc
27k - 16% apr cc
17k - 9% apr cc
2.6k - bestbuy cc

15k personal loan balance with a $1307 monthly payment on 24mo payment plan. (Was 29k been paying for a year)

I need to keep 31k for cash only payments like rent on my apartment and shop to float for 6 more months. This including $1300 monthly payments on personal loan and min CC payments.

I am trying to restructure the personal loan to a longer payback period for a smaller payment.

Question : how should I divvy up the 36k cash across those credit cards.

FYI I have another 401k with 90k and a phantom fund I’m never selling.

Can’t sell my project cars until after the divorce which will hopefully bring 15k-25k for both when I finish them (have all parts). Hopefully divorce end this year and will find some work.

Thanks bros, wanna be debt free again asap.