The Ramsey Show - App - 3 Good Reasons to Sell Your House (Hour 3)

Episode Date: July 23, 2018

The show about you

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show. It's all about you, America. We're glad you're here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Nicole is with us to start off this hour in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Hi, Nicole. How are you? I'm nervous.

Uh-oh. Well, we've never lost a patient. I'll try to help. What's up? Okay, so I just have a quick question. We have been working on your baby steps since the beginning of the year, around February, actually. And we've been making good progress. But I just thought of today, it just randomly came across my mind, that I set up an investment with my dad a couple of years ago. He had me put some money into some stocks. And I happened to pull up this statement today, and it's like $11,000.

And I didn't know if it would be smart to put that towards our debt or not. It's not retirement stuff. But I just didn't know what to think about that, so I wanted to ask you. Well, in the Total Money Makeover or in Financial Peace University, where we teach you the baby steps, we tell folks to stop adding to investments and clean out all savings and non-retirement investments and throw them at their debt in baby step two. Oh, okay.

So that's what I would do. I haven't been adding to it at all. It's just we set it aside. You kind of hadn't thought about it. It wasn't top of mind. I kind of forgot about it. Yeah, there it is, $11,000. We can throw that at the debt.

So, yeah, I would cash that in and throw it at the debt. Now, your dad and you started the investment because he wanted to teach you to be a saver and an investor, right? Mm-hmm. Okay. So if you do this and you quit halfway through and stay in debt and now have no investments, you blew it. Mm-hmm. Because the purpose of getting out of debt is so you can build investments, so you can be even more generous, right? Right. be even more generous right right and so if you use this eleven thousand dollars to get out of debt and being out of debt and concentrating on investing causes you to become a millionaire

then the eleven thousand dollars was really a wise move but if you use the eleven thousand dollars and you go halfway through and you don't change your habits and you go back to spending everything you make like you're in congress and you don't you know you don't have any money saved and money invested and you gave up your investments if you stop halfway through then what we just talked about was a really bad idea you follow me so you got to play through okay okay I will I have one more small question do you have a minute sure okay um we just found out that we're having um a baby Yes, it's very exciting. But we've been doing, I mean, I've been working a lot extra, obviously, trying to put money towards debt.

And so I know we're supposed to stop then paying towards debt and start saving up for the baby. But I was wondering, how soon do we have to start doing that? Because I'm really early still. I'm like, you know, less than 10 weeks. So I didn't know how soon we had to start doing that. Yeah, there's no panic. I just don't want you walking around with a thousand dollars in the bank you know

having a baby and going to the hospital right okay and it just i just i want you to have more i want you to have more margin in your life than that and here's the thing you really don't lose any ground because every dollar you would have paid on debt is not spent it goes in savings right and so as soon as you come home with baby and mommy are healthy and you you know insurance takes care of whatever it's going to take care of you write your checks and pay off that whatever's in savings that was gonna have gone to debt goes on debt so the only the only grounds you lose is interest on a portion of it for those months while you're pregnant but that's it it's a very small cost to give you that extra padded emergency fund so but if you want to wait till

second trimester and then stop your debt snowball that's fine okay you know that kind of thing i wouldn't go past second trimester though i'd stop everything by then at least the second third i'd pile up cash and i just There's just a comfort. Having your first child in particular, there's so many things you intellectually grasp, but you've never emotionally experienced and spiritually experienced, and it's just really good to have a pile of cash around while you're experiencing that. And so I want you to have an extra cushion, and then when you come home, clean out the account just like we were talking about a minute ago,

right back down to the $1,000 and get going again. Kayleen is with us in Colorado Springs. Hi, Kayleen. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? I knew that was the answer. Hey, my husband's in the military, and we just sold our house because we're moving to another assignment, and we have an opportunity to buy some land at a good discount price. Now, we have a choice. We have no debt. We have this chunk that we got from our home sale, and is it better to go ahead and invest it in some property or put it towards our investments, our mutual funds?

Okay. The land, are you going to build a home on it where you're moving for your next assignment? Well, no. It's local. The land is local. So it's probably more for investment than anything else. You're going to buy a piece of raw ground in Colorado Springs and then leave Colorado Springs? That's an option.

Okay. What is the land worth? It's worth about $160. It's been in a pre-sale for about $130, $140 right now, and it will go out after it gets listed for a little higher cost. Thinking about holding it for a couple years, I'm not sure if that's the best place for the investment or if it's just put in our mutual funds.

We have about a half a million in mutual funds right now. Good for you. Well done. Well, basically, here's the risk you run. Raw land is what we call an alligator in the real estate business. It does not create any income. And so you pay taxes on it. If it's in a subdivision, you're going to pay HOA fees

while you wait on the market to shoot up and you flip it, is what you're talking about doing. And, you know, you put in $130,000 and you might make $60,000 in two years, which would be a really nice rate of return. But that's kind of what you're thinking it sounds like uh the problem is if interest rates tick up and um things slow down it might be worth 110 and that's the downside and the bigger problem is you can't sell it at all and that's the bigger biggest issue is you get stuck in it so uh raw land i mean i i own some

raw land as part of my real estate portfolio um but but i did not really buy it to make money on one of them i did and i haven't been able to sell it but the other one is just a big farm i bought just to hold the earth together and i just like it so uh but i really did not buy that farm to make money on it only i don't yeah i will never sell it my kids or grandkids may sell it someday but i'll never sell it so uh or at least i don't think i will but that's different than what you're talking about i i if it were a house i might even consider a small rental house or something that you want to do a flip on i might even consider that but a piece of raw ground it might come out perfect

it might work perfect for you. But if everything doesn't work perfect, you're going to be sitting there on something that your money, you can't get your money out of it. I mean, quick. It's illiquid. So if I were leaving Colorado Springs, I love real estate. I know a lot about real estate. It's one of my favorite investments.

I would not do that deal because of what I just described. So in a town that I'm leaving, I wouldn not do that deal because of what I just described. So in a town that I'm leaving, I wouldn't do that deal. In a town that I was staying in, I still probably wouldn't do that deal. I'd probably just put in mutual funds and when you get ready to buy your next home, you've got extra money that way. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Guys, let's talk about that timeshare pitch that you fell for. They promised you exclusive access to travel anywhere you want. Tropical beaches, mountain getaways, or whatever. Oh, my gosh. They claimed it was the affordable access to travel anywhere you want, tropical beaches, mountain getaways, or whatever.

Oh, my gosh. They claimed it was the affordable way to travel, and then they convinced you it was a good investment. But here's the deal. Search any auction site for your exact timeshare and see what it's selling for. It's listed for a dollar with no bids. That's not a good investment. Now, I know I'm just adding salt to a very old wound,

but look, if you tried calling the resort and they won't take it back, if you tried selling it and no one will buy it, call Timeshare Exit Team. Timeshare Exit Team will get you out. You'll have to be patient. It can be a long process, and it costs money, but it works. They're so confident in their exit service that if they don't get you out, you get a 100% refund.

Call 844-999-EXIT. It's free to talk. 844-999-EXIT. TimeshareExitTeam.com. Well, this week we are celebrating a very important week. It is Financial Peace University Coordinator Appreciation Week. We're going to be hearing from these coordinators all week as they discuss their story and the impact that they've made on the lives of other people. Five million people have now gone through Financial Peace University. At any given time, there's 10,000 to 15,000 of the groups meeting and teaching the nine lessons. And, of course, you have a one-year membership with online access to the lessons, including the Legacy Journey now and others to be added later as we go along.

All kinds of things happening. One of those great coordinators is the CEO of Lafayette Schools Credit Union and has led Financial Peace University for six years. Connie is with us. Hey, Connie, how are you? Hi, Dave. I'm great. how are you hi dave i'm great how are you better than i deserve thank you for leading financial peace university six years how many people have gone through your your group we're over 500 now wow that's impactful you have seen it all hadn't you

i've seen a lot, that's for sure. So how does having that many people go through a class, a group, affect you? Oh, in so many ways. I'm able to tie in some of my experiences in the past. I've been working for this credit union for 30 years, and I've been CEO for 18 years, and I've seen a whole lot of struggles with money. And so I'm able to pass on some of that. But as far as how it's impacted me, it's impacted me as a leader of this credit union so that I could bring this information right here to our staff and our frontline

folks who have now become experts with their own money so they can help the members of our credit union. Yeah. And, you know, you're a much better credit union as a result, I'm sure. That's pretty cool. It is. Very, very cool. I appreciate it.

So have you talked, you've been doing this so long, you must have talked to other people into being a coordinator by now. Absolutely. We have about four others now that have regular classes going on. So very proud of that. All different religions, all different areas of our community. And it's exciting. It's exciting to just see it grow and the impact that this class has.

So what got them to do it? What made them passionate about it? I guess because it changed their life individually, and it was all about giving back for them. They just wanted to give back what they had learned so that they can teach and have an impact. And, of course, as teachers, the great blessing is that we learn. We learn every time we teach a class. You know, I've learned in our class that ended in March, I learned about the immigration process and how difficult it is to obtain citizenship and how much money it costs

and how they're sometimes throwing away money at attorneys that don't do anything. But I found what the solutions are so that the next time I'm faced with that particular problem, I'll know exactly where to go and what to do. So you had someone in the class trying to immigrate legally? Yes. And you had to go through the whole process? With four children.

Wow. Yes. And she just in tears kept saying, I can't send them back. They're going to die if they go back. They can't go back. Yeah, one of those tear-jerking sessions. Yeah, so what you did, just boots on the ground, you walked them through it and helped them get it. Were they able to get it worked out?

Well, actually, they had already worked it out. I just learned from them what the process is like and how to, in the end, how to be successful and it not cost a whole lot of money and what avenues and what resources they can use. Wow. That's a big deal. Okay. Very, very cool. So what's one of the...

It's the simple stuff, too, like this particular class. I hate to interrupt you, Mr. Dave Ramsey, but in this particular class, we're learning about Walmart pickups and how it not only saves you money because you're not walking around the store and you can stay within your budget, but you also lose weight in the process. How about that? Very good. Very cool.

Yeah, there's tons of studies. Rachel Cruz talked about this the other day in one of her videos that every minute you're in the store, you spend an average of, what, $2.47 or something. I mean, it's crazy. So the impulsing in grocery stores just destroys budgets. So you're right.

That's good information again. Very cool stuff. So what's one of the coolest stories you've had out of those 500 people? Oh, God in heaven. One that comes to mind right away is this family of, they have three children, a family of five living paycheck to paycheck, really depressed when they got to the dumping debt lesson and they knew that they would love to dump debt, but there's no way they could do it. And so they will get discouraged until they got to the insurance lesson and learned that they could buy term insurance,

they could cash in their whole life policy for $19,000, pay off most of their debt, and begin to build wealth and begin to teach their children the proper way to handle money. Wow. Yeah. So all the pieces have to fit together. That's what we're saying. They do. They absolutely do. Good. Yeah. So all the pieces have to fit together. That's what we're saying. They do. Very cool.

They absolutely do. Good for you. And so don't get discouraged early on in class one or two or three. Just hang in there. There you go. Well, Connie, thank you so much for being a coordinator. We really, really appreciate you. Over 500 people had their lives changed by Connie teaching this class through a local credit union.

She's the CEO of Lafayette Schools Credit Union. They're in Lafayette, Louisiana, or Lafayette, depending on which way you want to argue about it. But there you go. So very good stuff. Folks, if you've been thinking about leading a financial peace university group, today's a really good day to do it because what we're going to do is if you are promising to start your very first group for Financial Peace University in August or September,

we're going to give you the leadership materials, the leader kit to get that going. That's a $300, $400 value. The first 250 people to call our team are going to get that. And, again, it's a very simple thing. If you're a brand-new coordinator, you've never led the class, never led the group before, you just lead it. We're going to give you the kit to do that, and you'll start.

All you have to do is promise to start this August or this September and get going. So call 877-378-2667. That's 877-378-2667. 877-378-2667. Very cool. Ashley's in Ocala, Florida. Hi, Ashley. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm so happy I get to talk to you today. Very cool. Ashley's in Ocala, Florida. Hi, Ashley. How are you?

Hi, Dave. I'm so happy I get to talk to you today. You too. What's up? All right. So my husband and I are currently on baby step number two. We have already paid off about $70,000, and we have about $30,000 left. And we have been talking about selling our home in order to cover the rest of the debt, and we want to know what you think.

How long did it take you to pay off $70,000? About a year and a half. Well, that's pretty impressive. So you should pay off $30,000 very quickly, shouldn't you? Well, I was working last year, and we had a daughter last year, so I have since left my job. I got you. How long will it take you to pay off the $30,000 now? Probably another six months to a year.

Yeah, okay. But we're also possibly going to be moving. My husband's been applying to different jobs around the country, and so we're thinking if we're going to end up moving soon anyway, kind of get a jump start on it, finish taking care of the debt, our emergency savings, and then potentially just rent something. Moving because I got a different job is different than selling my house because I need to get out of debt that I can pay off in six months. I would not sell your house to pay off a debt you can pay off in six months. But if you're selling the house anyway because you're moving,

because you've got a job in another area, then, yeah, I would use that equity and pay off the debt instantly. But I wouldn't just sell the house and be staying in Ocala and be renting. Because it's only going to take you six months or a year or whatever. It's so expensive to move just for that, that the only time I tell somebody to sell a house is if they hate their house, they're moving anyway, like you said, or they hate their house, or they're moving anyway, or they're just about bankrupt if they don't sell the house. And you're not in any of those except you may be moving anyway.

And that's the only way I would do it here. Thanks for the call. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. I hate to see people waste money, and that's exactly what happens when you spend hundreds of dollars a year on ID theft protection plans like Trusted ID, LifeLock, ID Watchdog, and any of them. Well, let's face it. Identity theft is a nightmare, and it's not going away. But there's no need to freak out and buy the most expensive plans out there because you think you're getting the best protection. Wrong. I've been telling you for years, you need to protect yourself and Zander's ID theft plan

provides the maximum benefits and is literally half the price. They monitor your personal info, send alerts when you're at risk, as well as take over all the work if you become a victim. They monitor your personal info, send alerts when you're at risk, as well as take over all the work if you become a victim. They also cover your bank accounts if they get hacked and protect your children at no extra cost. The right protection at the lowest cost. It really is the smartest way to protect yourself and your family. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Kyle and Audrey are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hey, Dave, doing well.

Welcome, welcome. Where do you guys live? Kansas City, Missouri. Fun. And all the way to Nashville to do a debt-free screen. That's right. How much have you paid off? About $80,000.

Very cool. And how long did that take you? About 48 months. Good. And your range of income during that four years? We started about 80, and we've got some family and friends listening, so we'll

just say somewhere around double that. Okay. Alright, 150 plus. Alright, good. Good for you guys. Well done. Well done. What kind of debt was the $80,000? What wasn't it? A student loan, a car, credit cards.

Thought we were smart in doing the interest-free financing on things. But, yeah, that was about it. Yeah, just about it. You were normal. Yeah. How long have you two been married? Coming up on six years. Almost six years.

Okay. So you've been married a couple of years, and something happens, and you looked up and said, whoa, normal sucks. Yeah. So tell me what happened. Tell me about your journey. What started this plan? I mean, we heard about you. I heard about you in college in a class.

A guy gave a training on how to get out of student loan debt. And then I heard a relative that had gone through the program and never really put two and two together, but it was when Rachel actually came and spoke at our church. Oh, wow. And they hosted a class at our church afterwards. Which church? Country Club, United Methodist Church.

Yeah, okay, great. So we didn't actually go through that class, but took the class after that. And as I say, the rest is history. Okay, cool. So how long ago was it that you went through the class? 48 months? Is that when you started the whole thing? Beginning of 2013.

Okay, cool. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? I say having a plan, the determination, and perseverance. Okay. So, Audrey, when the class comes to the church, Rachel's there speaking, which one of you looked at the other one and said, we need to do this? Definitely Kyle. Kyle looked at you?

Yeah, he's been kind of the driving force behind all of this. If it were up to him, we would have had the debt paid off in a year. Oh, wow. He's been patient with me. She's helped me have a life. You balanced it out. Because when he goes forward, he goes wide open. Okay, very cool.

I'm the nerd in the relationship, if you can't tell. Got it, good. Well, I understand, too, you guys are super coordinators. You're coordinating a class now, right? I've coordinated three classes at our church. Three of them, yeah. Well, Debbie Powell says thanks to Kyle for his steadfastness and loyalty to his students. And Franck and Bryn Bruchet said Kyle's a wonderful leader when he taught Financial Peace University.

Not only was he there to facilitate the program, he took extra time to meet with us one-on-one and better understand the world of investments. He genuinely has the heart of a teacher. We appreciated getting to know him and to learn from him. Way to go, Kyle and Audrey. We're proud of you. That's awesome. You're true role models for what you teach.

Thank you. Very cool. Your class members are bragging on you, brother. Yeah, thank you, Dave. Well done. You guys are something else. So not only have you done this over four years, but you've had quite a few other families been impacted by you leading the class. It's just my way of paying it back.

You're my hero. You've changed my life. Well, I'm honored. And you get to sit front row and watch people change their lives. I mean, it's front row seat for life transformation. It's a blast. Fun. Well, I'm proud of you guys. You're heroes.

You're absolutely impressive. Very, very well done. So, Audrey, what was the hardest part of this for you all? For me, it was the budget. We probably had different things that were hard, but I always struggled with the budget. Probably always will. Not something I

enjoyed, but Kyle had grace with me and patience throughout the process, so it worked out. Okay, that's good. Cool. Cool, Kyle. What's the big deal? What's the hardest part of this process?

Because, I mean, four years is a bit of a slog. That's hard. That's a long time to work. I mean, you guys stuck with it. That's impressive. Yeah, I mean, just guys stuck with it. That's impressive. Yeah. I mean, just having a goal in mind. And like you said, slogging through the process. It's delaying gratification, I know, is one of the big things.

You know, seeing our friends travel and everything. And we're staying at home. I know that was a struggle for both of us. And just sticking with it sometimes can be a challenge but um just the determination that you're going to achieve the goal so great job great job and you brought the kiddos with you we did for the debt-free screen and what are their names and ages thomas is two and har-huh. And Harrison is ten months. Oh, perfect.

Okay. All right. Beautiful young family. Way to go. Thank you. You guys have changed your family tree. Very proud of you. Well done.

Got a copy of Chris Hogan's retire-inspired book for you. That's the next chapter in your story to be millionaires and outrageously generous as you go along. So, well done. Kyle and Audrey, Thomas and Harrison, Kansas City, $80,000 paid off in 48 months, making $80,000 to $150,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Ready?

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! We're debt-free! You scared the little guy to death. Fabulous. Well done, you guys. Very, very well done. I love it.

I'm so proud of you. Good. Thank you for leading the class, too. Very amazing stuff. Russell is with us in Boise, Idaho. Hi, Russell. Welcome to the Daveise, Idaho. Hi, Russell. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, Dave.

Hi. Hey, so I just want to let you know that today is probably one of the happiest and most inspired days of my life. Saturday I went and sold my big, stupid truck. Got $34,000 for it and bought a $2,000 clunker to replace it. Wow. truck got 34 000 for it and bought a two thousand dollar clunker to replace it so i'm getting there on on on getting rid of stupid stupid debt and uh you know getting into quality used cars one of these days would be nice wow that's a big move dude congratulations that's hard to sell

it's hard to sell the truck man it was very was very hard to stomach. How did I sell it? No, I said it's very hard to do emotionally. Oh, absolutely hard to do. Hey, so speaking of hard to do emotionally, so my question for you is this. So I'm the oldest of seven kids, and they're talking about changing your family tree. My youngest brother is somebody who struggles a lot financially, and I've talked to him a lot about your program. I've given him a copy of your book, but I can't seem to quite get him on board. So my question is, how do you inspire those around you to embrace this and to give it a shot,

to consider it and to eventually get on board with the program? Well, the biggest problem when it's family is we use the wrong voice. You're dealing with an adult, I assume. How old is your youngest brother? He's 22. Okay. First baby on the way. Yeah, so he's a young adult, okay?

Yeah. And if you're talking to him about this, you're pretty enthused because you just sold your $34,000 truck, so we know you've drunk the Kool-Aid, right? Yep. And so you sound like to him he hears Big Brother voice who joined a cult. That's what he heard. And instead, what you need to think about is pretend like this was a 22-year-old guy that you are not akin to, that was just a guy you knew at church that was younger than you like that.

You would use a different voice and a different set of words instead of, like, wagging your finger at him going, you little twerp, you need to do this stuff. I'm older than you i'm smarter than you you didn't say that but your voice did and that's what i heard instead you would persuade if it was somebody that you did not have as deep a relationship with you would have to resort to persuasion because you don't have the position in their life does that make sense right and so you've got to just talk about not what he's doing wrong or what he should do and condemning him because i'm sure he's doing stupid stuff he's

22 i mean i did and and so not all 22 year olds do but you're you know you're saying he needs help so uh what i would do instead is just talk about the dumb things that you used to do i used to i've done some of the dumbest stuff and when i got on a budget and I quit spending everything, man, it changed everything in my life. It changed my marriage. It changed when I got savings put aside for an emergency fund. It changed this. When I got rid of that truck, I felt like I lost 300 pounds, you know?

I felt like I'd lost a big weight off around my neck. And talk about your story and how it's positively impacted you. And he'll probably start asking you questions then. If you use your big brother voice, you're cooked. Okay, I need you to listen to this. Because one normal routine that everyone does can cause total chaos in your life. I'm talking about the simple act of using Wi-Fi. When you're on Wi-Fi anywhere in public or at home,

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Just search Hotspot Shield on iTunes or Google Play or go to hotspotshield.com. You can be secure in seconds. Download Hotspot Shield by Anchor Free today. Our scripture today, Matthew 7, 7. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Ann Landers said, Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work,

so most people don't recognize them. That's true. Edison said it a different way. He said, when opportunity knocks at your door, it's usually wearing work clothes. Efra is with us in Canada. Hi, Efra. How are you? Hi, Dave.

How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I'm just calling today. I've always had money anxiety, as long as I can remember. I've always felt that I never had enough.

I recently made a lot of financial bad decisions in the past, but I recently started tackling all my money issues and cleaning up a lot of stuff. So I... How's that feel? It feels pretty good. It feels good. So I recently, so I have no more credit card debt. I paid off whatever tax I owed. I have about 10,000 saved in my RRSP. So it's like a registered retirement savings plan. The only. I have about $10,000 saved in my RRSP, so it's like a registered retirement savings plan.

The only debt I have right now, so I rent, so I don't have a house. The only debt I have right now is my car, which has about $12,000 left on it. And I'm hoping to clear that up in the next four months or so. Way to go. So my question is, so once that's all paid off, I recently got a third job in order to dedicate kind of just to putting money aside for my investment. So I have about 10,000 in my RRSP. It's just sitting in cash. I've been focused for a while on just paying down the debt and cleaning out my finances. So now that it's getting clean, I have no idea how to invest my money to actually get a real return. I know you talk about, I don't know how it is, I think it might be a bit different from the states and Canada,

but I know you talk about, was it aggressive or something, growth mutual stocks? Growth stock mutual funds. And as you said, in the States, we tell you to spread it across four types, growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international. And I'm pretty sure you have similar plans available in your RFP there. Yeah, so I don't necessarily know the right questions. I don't know if you could lead me where to go because i keep reading like i read a bit of your book i've read like things

like the wealthy barber i've read some stuff online but i just feel like everything becomes overwhelming and there's too much information so i'm trying to find where i can just get something that's direct yep okay first thing first thing this. It's okay to go slow. That's the first thing. All right? There's no rush for you to get into a certain kind of investment at a certain time. Okay. You've learned some new skills in the past year or two where you actually have control of your money,

cleaning up debt for the first time ever. It's a new skill for you. It's a new feeling to be out of debt, to have that car paid off and to have the room with these things and so forth. And so, yeah, that, you know, then from there, what I would do is the next step is just to continue learning. And you need to meet with a financial person that has the heart of a teacher, someone who's going to teach you as you're investing.

And if they're going to teach you as you're investing, then you may not learn enough in one meeting to make a decision on how to invest. You may just gather some information and read. They may give you an article or two to read. And, you know, anytime you take up coaching or have a coach in a certain area, usually they meet with you, kind of get you started, give you a couple things to work on. Then you come back around, they give you a couple more things to work on,

and so forth. So I would look for an investment advisor that has the heart of a teacher. You will know they have the heart of a teacher if you learn something. If you meet with them and just feel sold or slimed, then you didn't meet with a teacher. You met with a salesman. You don't need a salesman. You need a teacher. And I would guesstimate that in my experience with the financial community,

somewhere around 15% of the community has the heart of a teacher. The other 85% are salespeople. And I'm not mad at salespeople, but when you're dealing with doing investments and you're brand new, especially like in your case, you don't put money in something you don't understand. You don't work with someone that doesn't have the heart of a teacher, and you take your time those are your three rules you will not get screwed over if you understand it before you put

money in it and i don't mean a cursory understanding or anything where you're nodding your head and going along just because you're too embarrassed to say i don't know what this means it's your freaking money don't put money in it don't nod and act like you understand it if you don't. Don't put money in it unless you understand. That's simple. Jeremy's with us in St. Louis. Hi, Jeremy. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, Dave, me and my wife, we are working on and my wife i'm having trouble understanding you you're going to speak directly into your phone please okay thank you me and my wife just started a financial peace university and we're working through our baby steps and we're currently on baby step two good and um we uh just got married back March, and she moved into my house,

and the house kind of has a really old, it's like a really old house, fixer-upper. And right now our next thing on our debt to pay off is a credit card, about $1,300, and it has a really high interest rate at 26%. But we really need a new roof. I mean, it's in really bad shape. The neighbors are taking bets on when it's going to fall in. You know what I'm saying? And so we've been saving up.

We have about $800 saved up for the roof, and we're just kind of, I've just been wondering, does it make sense to just pay that credit card off? What's your household income? Right now, our household income is about $45,000. And what is the bid to repair the roof or replace the roof? Well, we were actually considering doing it ourselves we have some men at church that are really good at that and offered to help so we were just going to purchase the uh shingles and the nails and everything and i'm thinking it's going to take about twelve hundred dollars to do

maybe more and you you have $800. Yeah, we have $800 right now. We're hoping to have it to do it in the fall when it's not so hot. It gets really hot here in Missouri. Gotcha. Okay. Is the roof leaking? The roof is not leaking in the house. We have a back porch addition, and sometimes it leaks back there.

But it's not in the house. So I've been like, should I chance it and wait another year and get, like, that credit card paid off and the next thing on the thing paid off? Or if we should just try and continue putting our steps on hold while we get the roof set? I'd probably fix the roof. It's not that expensive. You've got an inexpensive way to do it. While you've got the help lined up and everything's lined up, save up that other $400, pay cash for whatever you do,

and, you know, let's take, you know, let's go ahead and get this done while these folks are being kind enough to offer their services to help you uh but then dude you guys are going to have to tighten up and roll up your sleeves and take extra jobs and sell stuff and whatever else you need to do to get things moving to get the rest of this debt cleaned up you're moving really really slow on this um and so i want i want you out of debt faster than this so i'm fine with knocking the roof out, but this should not be – you should have a lot – I mean, like, here's the thing. By October, why don't you pay off the credit card and save the $400? It's only $1,700 by October.

You ought to be able to do all of that. And, again, you may have to work extra hours. You may have to do something else. She may have to do something. I don't know. I don't know what you're facing here. But the point is, it's only $1,700 from where you are today does the credit card and the roof. You ought to do that by October, if not sooner.

And so that's what I want to see is you increase your velocity of change, increase the speed of change that you have here. And let's see how that goes for you. Hey, man, thank you for being a listener. I appreciate you being out there. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We will be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

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