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- What's up guys, George Camel here, and today I'm talking with the incomparable Jade Warshaw. Not only is she a fellow Ramsey personality, but she's also a multi-talented cruise ship singer, yacht rock lover, plant-based chef, motivational speaker, and debt payoff expert. I mean, really Jade, you couldn't leave a little something for the rest of us? All I have is mild neuroticism and an even milder resemblance to a much paler, younger version of Jeff Goldblum.
Jade and I often have the pleasure of co-hosting the biggest personal finance talk show in the world, The Ramsey Show, where she uses her financial wisdom and rock and roll energy to answer money questions all day long. And she has an incredible story. Years back, she and her husband Sam paid off almost a half million dollars in consumer debt, which, by the way, equals around 300,000 Costco hot dogs or 309,000 Sam's Club hot dogs if you want to risk it.
You make me sad. - I think we should start measuring debt in wholesale hot dogs. It somehow takes the existential sting off a little bit. So today, Jade's gonna share her story and give you advice on how to achieve your own total money makeover. Jade, welcome. - Thanks for having me. - Before we get started, it is kind of your civic duty. You're not legally obligated, but I think it would behoove you to do the honors for today's episode. - Yes, I did sign my contract and I know what I have to do now. I pity the fool who doesn't like and subscribe to this channel. I pity the fool.
I couldn't have done it better myself. Is that right? Yeah, if they haven't liked and subscribed by now, they should be fearing for their life. Well, it was in the contract that you also have to imitate what I just did. We'll save that for the behind-the-scenes Patreon in the future.
So let's start at the beginning. You have a world famous story at this point. You and your husband, Sam, paid off over $460,000 worth of debt. How did you get there? Because that hurts my brain to even think about, like, where would I start just trying to rack up that much consumer debt? Oh, well, you know, it's actually weirdly easy. Tell me more. I'm just saying, when you think about student loan debt, because most of our debt was student loans, $280,000 student loans. What were your degrees in?
I don't know that I want people to judge me in that way. There's no judge. Hey, I'm a communication major. I get the most judgment. We had music degrees, but my husband went to Berklee College of Music for the first two years. Out-of-state tuition, super expensive, private school. I mean, come on. As a Boston guy, I know. And above all...
I'm from Boston. He brought a large amount of student loans from there and then transferred again into another out-of-state school. And then I had my student loans. That was a big portion of it, which, let's be honest, like people's student loan bills are getting higher and higher. So that was over half the debt, just student loans. What else? We had two cars, Jeep Liberty, Hummer H3. ♪ Yeah ♪
Then we had credit card debt, like a little over $20,000 in credit card debt. And what did you spend the credit card debt on? You know what? Like, was it just to survive or was it like, we're living good? No, it was to survive. And that's why I have a lot of empathy towards people who are using credit cards in that way. Like, don't get me wrong. There's the people who are like, I'm out here.
or, you know, they see me rolling. And then there's other people who are like, no, I don't earn enough money. And I'm not quite sure what that path is to earn enough money. And so I'm using these credit cards literally to eat, literally to put gas in my car. And so we definitely fell into that category. And then we had, my husband had a townhouse from before that we got married. It was, you know, $70,000, $80,000 townhouse. That was in there too.
That was rolled in there too. - Wow. - Yep, so there you have it, 460,000 folks. - So what was the wake up call? 'Cause clearly you guys were like, "No, we'll just throw it in the pile, throw it in the pile." What was the moment you were like, "Something's gotta give"? - Initially we moved, we lived here in Nashville and we were making a move down to South Florida for a job opportunity. And there's something about moving when you're kind of like taking inventory of all your stuff, right? And you start thinking about all the costs. It's expensive to move.
So expensive. And that was really the first time I started looking at how are we going to get this money that we need to move? And I actually put my eyeballs on our finances for the first time after a year of marriage. So did you put your foot down and like, Sam, this is not okay? No, it was like, oh my gosh, we both had such poor financial hygiene. Like both of us had no idea what we were earning. Both of us really weren't paying attention to bills if they were being paid on time. Both of us
did not have that kind of financial literacy background at all. And so it was just kind of like, somehow we're existing. And then you realize, oh wait, like we're drowning. Like this is unsafe. Like we've got to figure out what's going on or else we're headed towards disaster. - So we're gonna dig into more of your story 'cause there's a happy ending. I don't wanna leave it there. Oh, oh my gosh.
Would you look at that? That's producer Alex, an unsound man who's not okay, clearly. But that signifies our long-running segment, word watching. Let's go. Okay. Spin that wheel. Well, what's going to happen is there's no wheel, first of all. I've got a bowl of a bunch of words and phrases in it. And as we continue the interview, you are legally obligated to work in the word into your answer as naturally as possible. Got it. But there's a twist. What?
because you have a musical background. I thought, let's make it more interesting and make all the words and phrases song titles or song lyrics. - So it's a whole phrase, not a word? - Yes. They're either lyrics or titles. Choose your destiny. I'm gonna play along. - Okay. - 'Cause there's a prize for whoever wins. All right, don't say the word.
The viewers will have it on their screen. Wait, I say this whole phrase, right? Don't say it. You got to weave it into your answer. Back to your debt story. Yes. What were you making at this time? You have over $460,000 in debt. What is your income? Early on, like the very first year that we started realizing, hey, we've got a problem. I told you we were moving down to South Florida for a job. We were going to be working on cruise ships, part of the production cast and their entertainment. And the fee was like $30,000 in debt.
a year combined for both of us. That's not a lot of money. - This is a money making scheme for them. - Well, for us, we were like, look, you know, you're on a ship. We can, theoretically, we could sell our house. We could sell our cars if we wanted to. We didn't yet, but there was like this idea of like in the future, maybe we could do this. Then we pocket more of the money. If I'm totally honest, just those first years of really understanding like what the problem was, we were really just like, like a plastic bag, just floating through the wind, trying to figure out
what to do. Like, where can we work? Where can we earn money? How can we get control of our finances? It was really just a lot of experiments in the beginning, I'll say. Well, we always like, you know, Dave Ramsey says, there's a great place to go when you're broke, to work. Because I imagine you guys woke up and you were like, I was afraid. I was petrified. I got to make some money in order to get on top of this 460 plus grand debt. That's right. Wow.
That's scary. Okay. So you worked on increasing your income. Obviously, there's sacrifices to be made during this time. That's right. Big sacrifices to be made. And you guys were not scared of work. And that's a huge factor.
What were some of the sacrifices you guys made during that time that would maybe seem crazy to people who didn't understand the journey you were on? Well, we knew that we had an income issue, right? And so when you have an income problem, you've got to get more income coming in the door. And so we were like, what can we do to side hustle? Yes, we've got this job. It's very seasonal time. You know, you're on for six months, then you're off for two months, and then you're on for six months again. So during those two months that you're off, we got to get to work side hustling. And, you know, girls just want to have fun. So your girl came with all the money.
all sorts of things to do with my spare time. I made cupcakes and sold them to people. I taught music lessons, voice lessons, piano lessons. I trained dogs with my husband. At one point, I got a job working at a vinyl tent and like lettering place where you go to get tent put on your windows. I was the person that was putting tent on your windows or if you wanted to have like letters, vinyl letters. You're like a renaissance woman. You can do anything. Bro, your girl was working. Working out.
Did you have any formal training in dogs and tent? No. I would literally read books, like the many books you have on your shelf, and figure out how to do, like, Cesar Millan, I'd read to figure out, like, dog training. And I read a bunch of cookbooks and found the best recipes and literally charged for everything. Yes, my husband taught me that skill. So as you're traveling around the world, right, islands in the stream, you're like, I gotta increase my income streams as well. Yes, that's right. What was the most lucrative side gig you did? Wow.
Honestly, they were all pretty lucrative because the greatest thing about coming up with a side hustle where you're utilizing a skill set that people wish they had, whether it's music or cooking, is you get to set the price and you get to determine how much you're going to work ultimately, right? So I always like that as a side hustle because you're way more in control of the money. I'd probably say the most lucrative one was probably music lessons. And I did it for the longest because...
I'm a musician at heart. And you can charge a nice hourly rate for music lessons. Oh, yeah. That's what's up. So what did your income start at? What did it end at as you started to increase your income to get rid of this debt? So it started at the $30,000. And over the course of the next five years, we were able to jump up like pretty incrementally. $30,000, $50,000, $80,000, $100,000. And by the time we did our debt-free scream, we were at $280,000. We're debt-free!
See, a lot of people watching are like, well, I can't. I'm not like Jade. I'm like, y'all just went out and made money. Like, there's so many excuses. I mean, really, when it's time to get out of debt, you got to live like you're dying, man. You got to do everything you can. Utilize every hour of every day to be productive. And if you do that and you work that thing, you'll grow it.
So how long did this take you guys from start to finish over 460 grand of debt? It was seven and a half years that it took to pay off every cent of the debt. So from the time that it was like, okay, we've got a problem to actually going on the Ramsey show, doing our debt-free screen, seven and a half years. And what year was that? That was 2017. So at some point you guys just had to look in the mirror.
And you were like, hey, the problem is me. The solution is me. So you were just like, hello, is it me you're looking for? That's right. I'm the solution. Lionel Richie. Absolutely. That's impressive. Call me Lionel. Good girl.
Oh my gosh. You hear that? Yes. That signifies the end of word watching. You're the winner because you're the guest, but also because you got there before I did. I didn't know that that was part of the game. Yeah. So, well, here's the awkward part. I was really hoping I would win because I have in my hands the ever elusive 2024 Ramsey goal planner, which you are a part of. Sweet. So I'm hoping they give you one.
I haven't seen this yet, so... - This is the first time you're seeing this? - You are revealing this to me.
And that's great. Well, we both work here, so now this is really awkward. What if we gave it away to one lucky fan? I love that. I love it. How do we know who? Well, how about this? Whoever has a serious goal for 2024, drop it in the YouTube comments with your Instagram handle, and we'll reach out and send it to them. Love it. On us. On you. On... You're paying for this. Yes. This is coming out of your pocket, Mrs. Generosity. Yes!
Okay, so leave a comment with your goal and your Instagram handle. And first one to get there gets this bad boy. I like it. For our last segment, I want to pretend like we're live on The Ramsey Show. Okay. As we co-host together. And you're taking people's financial questions. But instead of seven minutes to answer, we're going to make it a little rapid fire.
- I said, "Oh Lord Jesus, it's a five." - Here's the question. Sasha from Lick Skillet, Tennessee, you've been there, I'm sure. - Yes. - How do I feed my family of five without going over budget? - Okay, the best way to start would be to meal plan. And what I would do is I would pick recipes based on what you already have in the house. So you're not having to buy a bunch of extra stuff at the grocery store, so that cuts down on your bill. And then make it a goal to cook six to seven nights a week.
You gotta eat at home if you want to stick to the budget. But Jade, I don't have time. You can find meals that are very quick that you... It takes three hours just to prep the food. What is she making? What's she making? I don't know. She's doing the most.
Chicken cordon bleu. That one sounds like it takes time. Yeah, yeah. You got to get the Swiss cheese in there and the ham in there. What's the go-to? Like, I got 10 minutes. What's the go-to? Any pasta. Get you some noodles. You can do cacio e pepe when you got the pepper, parmesan, butter. Mix it up. That's it. It's the most delicious pasta ever. You want a full giada de la menta. Cacio e pepe. Stick it.
A little cube of the smoked mozzarella. Perfectly authentic. So what you want to do is grab your mozzarella. I'm like, girl, we got to either have the accent the whole time or we cut it. You don't get to just choose. I kind of understand that, though. Really? I mean, it's like... I'm Middle Eastern. I'm not like... Yeah, so what you want to do is grab your hummus. But your name is George. If your name was like... Yeah.
I don't know, like... What? I was trying to say it like Jafar. I was trying to say it with an accent. Jafar. Yeah, that's Arabic. You just have to cough. There it is. Jose from Toad Suck, Arkansas. Why? Home of the sucking toads. He asked, should I file bankruptcy? No. There's not a lot of details here. We don't know. Then my answer is no. No.
We've had those questions before on the show, right? Yeah. I think people go quickly to bankruptcy because they think, okay, this is a way that I can get rid of this debt. You know, I can knock it out of my life. They'll give me a payment plan and I can just clear it out. Not realizing that it's going to be an absolute atom bomb, right? On their credit. And it doesn't, like, that doesn't do much for your confidence, right? To feel like, okay, I destroyed everything and I wasn't able to get out of it without this person's help over here and I lost everything in the process. Whereas bankruptcy,
Most people can probably get control of their money using the right plan. Of course, we have the Ramsey plan here. You could probably walk out of that situation. It might take you several years, but you could probably climb out of it yourself without having to file bankruptcy. Well, I mean, I imagine a story like yours, 460 grand in debt. Out of all people, y'all must have been like,
Should we file for bankruptcy? I didn't even know what bankruptcy was back then. When I tell you, thank God that there were things that I didn't even know existed. Like, thank God I didn't know about bankruptcy. Thank God I didn't know what a HELOC was because I probably would have had one of those too. Like, my level of financial understanding was so low. And so when I found the Total Money Makeover, which by the way is the book that I found, it was like, oh,
This has so much information in it, and I had no idea that any of this was out there. And so it made sense to just be like, okay, yeah, I'm going to follow that. That's a good word. Yeah, do not turn to bankruptcy. Never, never that. Well, Jay, this has been a blast. I don't know if you've enjoyed it. Yes. I know the people have enjoyed it. I've enjoyed it. You may be miserable. We don't know. We have no idea. Awesome.
I'm happy. Okay. Just want to check in. Where can people find you if they want more Jade Warshaw? The best place to find me would be Instagram. I'm on there. That's actually me. I will probably reply to you on there. I'm also on Facebook and Twitter, but to be honest, I'm not like just chilling on there as much. At Jade Warshaw on Instagram. There's only one. Okay. The rest are bad replicas. That's right. Best.
So don't fall for it. Many imitators. Because someone messaged me like, Jade got hacked. I'm like, bro, read the username. It's got two E's. That's not her. That's right. So. Yes, read the name. If you don't know how to spell it, just know I'll probably never message you and ask you like about cryptocurrency. Things like that. That's for sure. Same goes for me. So give her a follow. DM her and say, hey, I watched you on Georgia's YouTube channel and you're awesome. That would make her day. Thanks again, Jade. You're welcome. You want to say bye to the nice people?
See you later, nice people. See you next time. Been real. Huge thanks to Jade for hanging out with us today. And here's the deal. If you've paid off debt or you want to get started, let us know in the comments how much debt, what kind of debt it is. And leave any other questions you might have about paying off debt, and we might just feature it in an upcoming video. As always, make sure to share this with all of your friends so they're always aware of how hip and with it you are. How do you do, fellow kids? Because an Insta story of your brunch, it's not cutting it anymore. It is mid. It is low-key mid. Not goaded. Thanks for watching. I'll see you guys next time.
