The Ramsey Show - App - An Eagle That Doesn't Leave the Nest Becomes a Turkey (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 10, 2020

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thanks for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Jenna is with us.

Jenna is in New York. Hi, Jenna. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So, my significant other and I are going through the baby step process together. Now, I will be done in June, and he is expected to be done before the end of the year next year.

Great. Now, we aren't married, and we are keeping our debts separate, as you would recommend. Good. But we are probably going to be married before the end of the year. Great. Now, we aren't married, and we are keeping our debts separate, as you would recommend, but we are probably going to be married before the end of the year. So my question is, do I stay gazelle intense and continue to save and just put that money in my savings, preparing for the storm that's his debt? Yes. Okay. So let's pretend that you saved up enough to pay off all of his debt. When you come home from the honeymoon, pay it off. Awesome. But until then, it's in your name and in your account, okay?

Absolutely. So it has the exact same mathematical effect as if you had paid his before you were married, but you don't have the problem of having been unwise. Okay, perfect. Very cool. Hey, congratulations. Very well done. Bobby's with us in New York.

Hey, Bobby. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I just have a quick question. I've been doing your plan since December myself.

Paid off over $23,000. It's kind of a household name now in my home. But unfortunately, I'm having a little issue trying to educate my daughter with student loans that she's incurred because she went to school for a couple years, decided not to go back. And now she's approximately $100, dollars in debt with the student loans and i'm just concerned because i don't think she's really taking it seriously like she should wow how old is she uh she's 20 okay does she live in your home she lives at home with us um kind of close and you know i think she just thinks that she's still in high school at certain times, and she's really not taking this the adult way.

Tell her she's got to move out. Well, I've brought that up, but my wife seems to think that she won't be able to do it. Oh, yeah, she can do it. I know she can do it, but that's the biggest problem is how would she be able to pay the student loans and how would she be able to pay rent and car insurance and phone and everything else? I don't know. She's not going to take your advice. I guess she needs to figure it out.

Put her butt in the street. I wish my mom could be listening to this right now. Well, wouldn't your mom have done that to you? She gave me the option when I was 19, and I actually moved out, and I did learn from what she was telling me. Yeah. You found out later she was a genius. And the older you got, the smarter she got.

Yeah. So, no, I'm serious. Here's the thing. No one is going to live under my roof that I love while I finance their immature, irresponsible behavior. It's not good for them. I love my kids too much to allow them to be crazy and me finance it. Right.

So I want them to find their way one way or the other. The least painful way for your daughter would be for her to wise up and listen to her old man because he's a genius okay i'm serious as a heart attack because the best thing for this kid mathematically would be to go okay i'm going from 13 years old to 33 years old emotionally because i decided to today. And I'm going to get industrious, and I'm going to take three jobs and have the benefit of living at home with no rent and no food cost and no utility cost, and I'm going to attack these student loans with a vengeance because my dad convinced me that that's the best way for me to get out of this debt.

And, you know, I sit down with her and reason with her and tell her that that's what's going to happen and if it is not going to happen she's getting she needs to make plans to move in the next two months because you are not going to let her stay there and be a parasite but the other hurdle is myself and my wife because then it causes a conflict between us. Well, then your wife needs to understand what's the definition of an enabler. Because your wife is not helping your daughter. She is hurting your daughter. Because your daughter is continuing to live in a delusional state about how life works.

Because your wife is allowing it. And so she's bringing harm to your daughter so people say all the time dave you're that's tough love no it's love the best thing for this child is for this child to become an adult right it is the best thing because any you know any eagle that does not leave the nest eventually becomes known as a turkey you know it just it's a problem and she's not going anywhere because she's her growth is emotion her emotional growth is stunted yes she's acting like she's 13 and she's not a bad kid she's just not she's great She's just a happy, doesn't care about anything because she doesn't have to care about anything.

Right. And I want you to help her have some problems. I'm trying to because I think it's going to be a big problem in June when the loans start kicking in as opposed to when they were supposed to in May 2025. You know what the next thing is going to be if you don't fix this? If you and your wife don't get on the same page about this, the next thing is your wife is going to want you to start paying these loans for her. Yeah, well, I think that's going to happen too. Yep. And I'm not doing it.

Yep. Well, that's coming too. So the conflict is coming if your wife doesn't start to understand what the best solution is for her daughter. And so it's not a matter of being mean. It's a matter of loving someone enough to help them to the shortest path out of their pain and the shortest path is for her to listen to you and you're moving into the street if you don't listen to me is a good way to get somebody's attention and i i really would do that i mean for because i lovers you're not gonna live under my roof and do cocaine you're not gonna live under my roof and smoke pot you're not gonna live under my roof and dot dot dot right

you and your boyfriend aren't staying in the bed upstairs that ain't happening at my house okay i got those issues though you know that kind of stuff right so it's just not happening under my roof if you're gonna do that kind of crap you're doing it somewhere else and you're writing the checks and so we had a real clear understanding with this of our kids growing up and actually all the way through college that we pay for their college but you're going to behave and walk in such a way that you have a job and you're living on a budget and you're not misbehaving with your character while you went through school and you're gonna have a plan to get out of school in four years and they all for graduate in four years But we weren't mean to our children.

We were tough enough on them to let them feel the realities of life so that it built muscles in their character. But your daughter has no muscle in her character right now, and she's a good kid. She's got the opportunity to do that. But if you don't get this going in the right direction, she's going to have a long decade ahead of her. By the time she's 30, she's going to hate her life. So I hope you guys can turn this around. I hope you and your wife can get on the same page and love this kid well.

This is The Dave Ramsey Show. We've been voted one of the best places to work in Nashville 11 times. You want to know how we do it? Well, our team has been using LinkedIn jobs for years to find the best people from all over the country to come and help us change lives. Think about it. LinkedIn has more than 600 million active members. I'm talking about people who come to LinkedIn to make connections, grow their careers, and discover new job opportunities. In fact, 90% of LinkedIn users are open to new opportunities, but not actively scanning job boards. This means LinkedIn Jobs gives you access to an entirely different demographic.

Don't wait. One hire can change the direction of your company. Post a job today at linkedin.com slash Ramsey and get $50 off your first job post. That's linkedin.com slash Ramsey. Terms and conditions apply. thanks for joining us america we're glad you're here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Joshua is in Florida. Hi, Joshua. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey. Hey, Dave. Honored to be with you. I'll just cut right to the chase. So, in my current home, about 11 1⁄2, 12 years, we're in baby steps four, five, and six. We're looking to sell the home. We're not having to move out of the area but we're

just kind of outgrowing the home over the last couple years we owe 155 on the house uh realtor comp second sales about 300 000 my wife's unhappy with the home she wants a little more space just wanted to see what your take was on that how old are you guys we're 38 both of us how many square feet have you got we've got uh 19 uh 2 000 square feet 2 000 square feet we've got a family family of six four kids not complaining by any means we're extremely blessed with what we have yeah the neighborhood also has kind of gone a little down the hill over the last couple years years. A lot of rentals. How much time is left on your mortgage? I've got, so we're in a 15-year.

We've got 10 years left. I have a payoff plan where we make additional payments every month on the principal. So the way it stands today, if you paid the regular payments, it would pay off in 10 years. 10 years, yes, sir. From today. We're making aggressive payments from today. Yeah. Okay, so how much, what does your take-home pay?

Take-home is about $11,000. I gross about $145,000. Okay. And that's your household income, right? Yes, sir. Wife is stay-at-home lawyer. I work within the home. Gotcha. Good.

Okay. So here's the thing. It would be a break-even for you in your overall Ramsey plan if you moved to a home with the equity that you have out of this house, you sell this house, any other money you can scrape together that's not out of a retirement plan, you throw it in as a down payment. On a 10-year fixed-rate mortgage, where the payment is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay, which would be an increase in your payment. Okay.

And that would increase the level of house you bought. As a matter of fact, if I'm doing the math right in my head, it would move you up substantially in-house. We're looking at somewhere in the $400,000 range, low $400,000. Okay, well, $400,000 with $150,000 down is $250,000, and I wonder what $250,000 is at 3% on 10 years. See what I'm doing? Right, yes, exactly. That's about the math that I've run as well.

Let me put that in and see if I can get it to come out. Go ahead. I could stay in the home for another five years and pay it off. Essentially, the aggressive payments we're making every month, my Excel spreadsheet I had, is we could pay it off in the next five years and keep going. She is just at the point where she's ready for a little more payment. Yeah, you can do the deal you're talking about.

You'd be at a $2,400 payment plus taxes and insurance, and that would be less than a fourth of your take-home pay with your current income, and your income is probably going up from this point forward. The point is you would pay this house off in five years, and you're going to pay the new house off in 10 years. And you said you're 36? 38. 38. So you'll be 48 with a paid-for home that has increased from 400 to whatever value, and you'll be in great shape.

Right. Yeah, I think I would move up to that. I would do that. Okay. Really? All right. You're not increasing the time that you're – you are increasing the time you're in debt, but you're not increasing the time that you're you are increasing the time you're in debt but you're not increasing your mortgage time you see what i'm saying

right we're doing a 10 to a 10 right yeah i i fully feel like we would be capable of doing that uh essentially i've had her making about a500 a month payment right now with additional principal. So we're comfortable with that payment on a next mortgage. So, okay, great news for sure. Now, kind of leads into a question about my kids' college. So I don't have a lot saved for their college. I have about $5,000 apiece. I do have a post-9-11 GI Bill that I'm assuming I have passed along to my children at one years of benefits for each child. So they each get one year, 12 months of benefits.

Can I assume that that's worth about $10,000 to $15,000 per that one year per child at a state school? And kind of my calculations for what they need for a full amount. Yep. You'd be about right. The average state school is around 10 grand. only okay now does this cover more than tuition no uh well the post 9-11 gi bill will give them a stipend as well but my goal is for the children to stay in state um maybe get some of the florida bright bright bright futures that my my wife and i both did um and go from there but I'm not going to try to do anything else for them. Okay, very good. Well, you're in good shape. I mean, you got four kids to set that up and run that in your calculation as well. You're doing a great job. I mean,

you're really on top of this. You're thinking it through. You're managing expectations of everybody involved, you, your wife, your emotions, everything, and you're making good, solid choices as a result. So, hey, thanks for the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You guys jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Emilio is with us in Ohio. Hi, Emilio. How are you?

Hi, Dave. I'm good, and you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So here's my situation. I am a graduate student in physics. I have about a year left to get my PhD. And I make around, after taxes, around $22,000.

And projected to make about $100,000 when I graduate. Good. I have some student debt. It's about $30,000. And I do have some credit cards of $4,000 or $5,000. So here's my question. So I'm purely in debt and I shouldn't go in any more debt. But I am planning to propose to my girlfriend.

Good for you. And we're also planning to go on a short trip during the summer. So combined, these two will probably be adding $4,000 to my debt. So my question is, so my plan is to pay for this using credit card with some promotions of zero interest rate. And the idea is that I'll graduate and I'll increase my income before the interest increases. So essentially, I'll be able to pay them off with no interest. And my question is if my judgment here is good or bad.

Bad. What do you recommend they do? Bad. It's a dumb idea. You're deeply in debt already. You don't need to go further in debt. You can't afford to go on a trip. You're broke. Right.

Now, if you want to get her a $1,000 ring and you save up and pay cash for that and get engaged, I don't have an issue with that, but you don't need to be traveling around the world, man. You're deeply in debt and broke. When you get out of debt you can do that right so the um like the the way my i'm making excuses in my head is you are like um right so um for example many people might say like um i don't have money now but amelio if you want to do it go do it you asked me what i thought i think it's a

really dumb idea i wouldn't do it okay you can you can rationalize your butt off the rest of your life but at the end of the day you are in debt because you keep buying things that you don't have the money for and at some point son you got to stop that you need to stop it pay cash for things or don't do them and don't go on trips when you're in debt you don't need to be doing this stuff it's just not wise and so you guys are you know you're she's going to be just fine my wife got married with a thousand dollar ring on her finger and she has a headlight on her finger now so it'll work out there is no correlation between the size of the ring or the quality of the engagement trip and the future marriage being successful none whatsoever that is not what causes marriage success so that you know

no i would not do that but you're gonna do it but i wouldn't do it thanks for the call open phones at triple eight eight two five five two two five you jump in we'll talk about your life and your money I'm going to go. If you do this one simple thing that we all do, you are literally at risk of being hacked and someone stealing what you've worked so hard for. Do you ever use public Wi-Fi? I'm talking about getting online at a coffee shop, a store, the airport, or even at home. Hackers can use a simple $100 device to mimic Wi-Fi, and with just a little bit of skills, they can take over your financial life. This means you may think you're on your bank's site or app or securely making that purchase online, but hackers

could see and steal that information. That's why I trust CyberG vpn cyber ghost thinks about cyber crime so you don't have to you can try it for free for seven days protect up to seven internet devices and keep all of your internet connections secure that's cyber ghost vpn downloaded today from your app store and be are with us. One of our own team members, Ms. Katie is. She works in the smart dollar area here at Ramsey Solutions. Welcome, guys. Thanks. Hey, thanks.

And so our own family here to do a debt-free scream with all your family and team members looking on. Life is good. You've got a big crowd gathered here. How much have you paid off? So we paid off $140,000. Way to go, you guys. Excellent job. Very good.

And how long did this take? About four years. Four years. And your range of income during that time? Nope. Oh, we're not talking about that. That's right. Four years. And your range of income during that time? Nope. Oh, we're not talking about that. That's right. Thank you.

That's just a, that's my brain just automatically does that. So yeah, we don't do that with your team members standing here. Thank you. Thanks for catching me. Good. So Katie and Matt, Katie, you've been with us about two years on the team. So two of the four years you've been doing this stuff. What got you guys started on this?

Because you obviously didn't start when you were here. Yeah. So we, well, we started, we got married in 2015. And before we got married, Matt proposed. And he said, I have $120,000 in student loan debt. That was his proposal? Well, I was a couple days before the proposal. It's not part of the proposal.

Yeah. And I, you know, everyone had student loans, so I thought it was fine. And we got married and started our journey. And, of course, you get married and you get a credit card. And our budget was, let's just make sure we max it out and pay it off every month. And then we got really scared. And so we were about a year into our marriage and some medical things popped up and we had about more medical bills added to it

and our payments every month were more than our rent and we didn't really know what to do and we wanted an easy way out so we went to the bank to see if we could find different things and I was listening to Entree Leadership at the time and Ken talked about a money and marriage event and so we went November of 2017, and I still have the piece of paper at my desk because that was the first glimpse of hope that we saw. And I knew I had to be a part of the mission that we were doing, and just the Lord's hand through it all has been incredible.

And so I started here March of 2018. Right. And, I mean, we went through FPU. I, of course, had access to SmartDollar and the DebtSnowball tool. And we were just all gung-ho from there. And the last three months of this journey, we paid off $22,000 in the three months. Wow. Yeah.

You got it. Man, you saw the finish line is sprinted. We did. Yeah. So, Matt, what do you do? I work as a products manager at a company in Franklin. Okay. Very cool.

Right around the corner then. Good stuff. And spent a lot of time Ubering those last few months as an additional form of income. So it was like eight hours at the 9 to 5 and then another eight hours until about 12 or 1 o'clock in the morning. Whoa. You're hardcore. Yeah. So how many nights a week were you doing that?

Doing another eight hours it was probably um friday saturday and then another like six or seven uh monday through through thursday so it was six days going at it what kind of money did you make in a month with uber doing that uh it was about a thousand a week i was bringing in on top of of my other job so it's about four thousand a month yeah that's good okay but you were going all the time oh yeah yeah you're just gone yeah it was like you said it was a sprint to the finish line it wasn't a sustainable thing for for crazy amount of time but um we we kind of looked at each other and i think it was october of last year was like okay let's

get this done before the end of the year yeah um and we started sprinting at that point so very good good for y'all well done hustle and grind baby yes love it good for y'all very good very good so what advice do you have for people listening you paid off 140 000 in four years what's the secret they're not secret what's the what's the principles you use to get out of debt what should they do that are listening uh well one thing that I would say is four years ago when we started, we definitely had a shovel problem and kind of realized very quick, like we needed to bring our incomes up. So I think at that time, everybody in my phone book knew that I was looking for another opportunity. It was kind of just like banging down people's doors trying to find more opportunities which finally panned out and just started going from there so I'd say like that intensity if like

if you have a shovel problem then find a way to solve it yeah so getting your income up and you and then the sprint to the end here with these eight hour uber shifts yeah yeah income income income yeah and then just budgeting I think you know when we had a budget if one of us were to freak out um we joke it's kind of like raising a child like when one person's losing their mind and freaking out then the other one can kind of step in and smooth things over so um just having that teamwork and having the budget in place to kind of something concrete to look at was a big deal as guardrails yeah and for, I would say don't Ramsey-ish. Cut up the credit cards.

I mean, we were overspending. That emotional connection is huge. And we were paying them off every month, but you've got to cut them off. You've got to get rid of them because you need to know that your money, as soon as you're spending it, it's coming out. And so that was huge for us when we finally just chopped up those credit cards and stopped using them. And it really opened my eyes to, yeah, you may get points or that's what everyone was telling us. But the amount of money that you can actually save for that vacation or whatever it may be,

if you're intentional with your money, is far more than you're ever going to get just getting some points for overspending your money. So cut up the credit cards for sure. Wow. Very cool. Good for you. Good for you. So Katie's a relationship manager in our financial wellness area. It's called Smart Dollar, which is where companies like Costco was on earlier in the show. A lady had gone through Smart Dollar from Costco and lots of companies, large and small, big companies like Costco, but lots of small companies too, are paying for as an HR benefit, the Smart Dollar program, which takes their employees through, the employer pays for, takes their employees through our processes and teaches them budgeting and getting out of debt and teaches them all these Ramsey principles that we've all talked about for years here.

And so as a relationship manager, you're talking to the companies all the time that are doing the, that are already signed on and you're helping them implement, right? Yeah, that's right. So as soon as a company purchases the program, I help them launch the program, get them set up in our admin portal called Smart Center, which has everything they need. HR contacts are really busy, so we give them everything they need to launch it. And then I help renew the program year over year, because this is something you can continue they need. HR contacts are really busy, so we give them everything they need to launch it. And then I help renew the program year over year because this is something you can continue to

offer to your team because we've got tons of tools and resources that help them through the journey of the baby steps. So it's such a fantastic opportunity and there's some great contacts and companies out there. Yeah. But what I was thinking of was that as you're doing that with your personal story, I bet you end up sharing it a bunch. Oh, I have so many fantastic conversations. And it goes back and forth, really. There's some incredible stories out there from users and from HR contacts as well where this is changing their life. And we just sit and we talk and we share, and it's awesome.

Yeah. Because, I mean, you can say, hey, we paid off $140,000 at our house. Yep. You know, and that's pretty cool. It is. It's pretty cool. It's like proof in the pudding, right? Yes.

So, very cool. Well, congratulations, you two. We're very proud of you. Other than your team here, who were your biggest cheerleaders? Well, kind of like Matt said, we really helped each other through this. We had some moments where I broke down and, you know, got really frustrated at times. And he pulled me back out and said, you know, suck it up. We're doing this type of thing. So we really cheered each other on.

And, of course, our family here as well. They were really supportive and, you know, Costco gift cards and gas gift cards and all those things to kind of help us through and birthdays and christmas and stuff yeah yeah very cool good for you guys very well done very well done we're proud of you i know that i know your team's proud of you they're all here to cheer you on so it's katie and matt from right here in nash, Franklin, on our team, one of our family members here, $140,000 paid off in four years. We're bringing the young man in the picture. What's his name? This is Cal.

Hey, Cal. He doesn't like debt-free screams. It's okay, bud. All right, count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. All right. Three, two, Let's hear a debt-free scream. All right. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

Yeah! Wow! Woo! Love it! Way to go, you guys. Very, very proud of you. Very well done. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Our scripture of the day, James 1.22,

but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Andrew Carnegie said, The older I get, the less I listen to what people say, and the more I look at what they do. There you go. Blinds.com gives us our question of the day. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee that means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, they will remake your window blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping,

and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more use the promo code ramsey to get the best possible deal carolyn is in arizona i opened an esa an educational savings account for my one-year-old before the law was changed to allow use of the funds for private school now that a 529 can be used for more than college which is better can i have both a 529 and an ESA as long as I follow contribution guidelines? Yes, you can. You can do both. Absolutely. The ESA obviously is limited to $2,000 a year going in the 529. Most of them you can put up to around 10 grand a year in. And so be sure if you're picking out a 529, though, that you always get the type of 529 that allows you to pick the mutual funds inside the 529, and they do not move unless you

move them. So no life phase autopilot crap, and no fixed purchases that you can't get out of don't get into one of those and we don't do prepaid college tuition which is a 529 program technically also so stay away from all of that and make sure that you are putting the money directly into mutual funds that you control and no one else. And that's the best way to go at this. So good question. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Cameron is in Arizona. Hi, Cameron.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Thanks so much for taking my call. I feel honored and kind of blessed to be talking with you today. You too, sir. How can I help? Yeah, so just a little bit of a backstory. I'm 24 years old. I'm married. My wife and I have one child. He's about a year and a half. We are currently in a pretty decent financial situation. We do have about $4,000 in my wife's student loans, and we've got about $7,200 in some hospital bills. So right around $11,000 is where we sit with debt. So my wife and I, you know, I love her more than anything on this planet.

We're super partners, and we compromise on a lot of things. But I'm sure, as you know, in marriage, you pick your battles. You win some and you lose some. And I feel like I'm kind of losing the battle on showing her the value and what Financial Peace University could bring to our marriage and how it could help us pay off some of this debt. I'm just looking for some advice, maybe some words that you might be able to provide me that I have not already. How old is she? She's 22 right now. I'm 24. And how long have y'all been married? We've been married for about three years now. How often, how many times a month do you eat pizza? Do we eat pizza? Well, she doesn't like cheese, you know, so we don't eat pizza all that often, but we go out to eat. So what do you spend on restaurants a month?

I'd say we're about $200. So you go out twice? We go out once a week, but we're pretty frugal with what we spend. We're right around $25 a week. Yeah, okay. So for half of what you're spending on restaurants a month, you could learn how to handle money. Right, and I see the value in that. I wasn't trying to talk you into it.

I was giving you the answer to your question. Sure. It's kind of crazy that you guys are willing to spend that kind of money on entertainment and not spend any on improving yourselves. Right. And that's what I would bring up. Okay. People spend more on cable in a lot of cases than they do,

and they haven't read a nonfiction book or done anything to get better at their life in a decade, you know, because they don't have the money to go to that class. They don't have the money to take that course. They don't have the money to attend that seminar, you know, and they do have the money is my point. You're just spending it on entertainment and on other stuff. What's your household income? We're commission-based. We're making anywhere between $45 and $55 a year right now.

Good for you. Well done. Well done. Well, I think it's this. The number one cause of divorce, you know, it could sound like this, honey, the number one cause of divorce in North America today and the number one cause of marital discord of marriage people fighting is money. If we could learn how to handle that number one problem in marriage better, I think there's no question it's going to make our marriage better, and I think there's no question it's going to make our money better. And so just trust me on this and go with me. And this is something I want to do, and trust me and go with me.

And, you know, that's not losing a battle. I mean, it's just like saying, I don't want to eat that kind of food. Well, I want to go there one time and try this restaurant. Okay, well, let's go. It's about the same kind of money. I mean, it really is. And so that's what the decision you guys have got to make hey thanks for joining us open phones at 888-825-5225 david is in ohio hi david welcome to the dave ramsey show

hi dave how can i help uh so my question is um stupidly I've allowed my student loans to go into default. I'm just looking for some advice on how you would approach getting it back out of default and begin to kind of knock that debt out. I'm on baby step, too. I've already paid off my car. I've already got my $1,000 emergency fund. Good. How much do you make?

I make $15 an hour, but I work about 60 hours a week, so I'm bringing in about $1,000 a week. Good for you. I'm trying to get as many hours as I can. Yeah, you're working your butt off, man. Good for you. Cut down. Well done. So how much student loan debt do you have?

Currently it's $21,595. Okay. And how long has it been since you paid payments on it? I've never paid payments on it. Oh. I know that's stupid. How long? Five years.

Okay. All right. So how long has it been since you talked to them? I actually called them the day after I started listening to your show. I called them because I knew I needed to start working on this debt thing, and I went ahead and paid my car off that day too. And they gave me a couple different options, and they told me they would settle for $16,494.

And I've done my budget, and I believe it would take me about eight months to have that much money because I, I really, I'm in a good situation. I'm actually renting from a friend and he actually lets me live there for free. So, um, I, I just bare minimum, I'm just barely paying gas and electric and water. And that's's it i'm willing to throw everything else besides food at this bit can you i assume your credit's bad yeah horrible okay all right well you don't have 16,000 a day so you can't take that deal what was the other deal they offered you uh i could start paying uh payments about eighty dollars

a month but i have to pay it for nine months that would come on a default and then that would um after it comes out default it would go back to sally may and there's not guaranteed that i would be able to to do the the um the deal they're going to give me yeah why don't you tell them why don't you call them back and tell them you'll do the sixteen thousand dollar deal um you said you could do it in eight months yeah okay why don't you call them back and tell them we'll do sixteen thousand dollar deal eight payments of uh two thousand dollars um i i kind of mentioned that to them but they said if i accept the deal i only have three months to pay them off. Yeah.

Well, tell them that that's not the deal. My personal plan was. That's not the deal. You know, tell them you can do eight months of $2,000 if they want the money. If not, I'll just have to, I just can't pay you right now. And just start piling up money. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We'll 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. Hey, guys, it's George Camel, host of the Dave Ramsey Show video channel. You can now listen to the show on your smart speaker. Just tell your Alexa or Google device to play the Dave Ramsey show or find out all the ways you can benefit at DaveRamsey.com slash smart speaker.