The Ramsey Show - App - Anyone Can Win With Money (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 15, 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'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show, America. Thank you for joining us. It's your show because it's all about you. Open phones this hour as we talk about you right in front of you. The phone number is 888-825-5225. It is a free call, and some say the advice is worth exactly what you pay for it.

Up first this hour is going to be Larry in Tacoma, Washington. Hey, Larry, how are you? Hey, morning, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? Well, so right now I'm actually in the beginning, and I fell on hard times and staying in my car.

But I'm reading your book, and it's very motivating, and it's really common sense. So I'm about to start a job, and I'm motivated, and I want to take care of that. I'm in a huge deficit. Wow. What's your new job? I got a government job that I bless.

Although I fell on hard times, I'm anticipating this job. I'll be working for the government for DOT. Okay, very cool. Making what kind of money? It's about $4,500 a month. Wow. When do you start? Hopefully I start.

I do my drug tests and screening in two and a half weeks. They called me last week. They looked over my credentials and whatnot. So we're kind of headed in that direction. Excellent. Excellent. Good for you. So did I hear you right?

You said you're living in your car? Yeah, I'm living in my car, excuse me, reading your book. And it's very hopeful, you know. It's a lot of common sense, practical things, but we're just so naive and ignorant in terms of finances, and me personally made a lot of bad choices. But as I read your book and get more in-depth of it, it's very hopeful, and I thank the Lord for that.

Good. Well, praise God, man. It sounds like you're getting it turned around. I'm proud of you. Very well done. There's always a light at the end of the tunnel. It's not a train, right? Right. That's right. So how old are you?

31. Okay. And you're single, I take it? Well, yeah, because of my bad decisions I have today. But, you know, it's life. You don't have to, but I'm just curious, because I don't get a lot of calls like this. What were your bad decisions that put you in the car? Oh, man, first and foremost, I'm not trying to get religious on all the callers and everyone, but just not doing God's will, you know, it's just plain and simple in that regard.

And then I made poor choices, many poor choices with my finances, with credit card debt. I had an auto loan that I financed that got re-pulled. And while I'm talking to you, thinking this car that I have now, it's actually, it could get re-pulled if I don't start this job sooner than later, so I'm kind of in a dilemma. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And how much debt do you have now?

Well, I have my, I did my budget yesterday. I bought a big bulletin board from Dollar Tree, which is only a dollar, and I'm in $27,000. Okay. $27,000. How much of that's the car? I think about $11,000. I got $27,000. How much of that's the car? I think about $11,000. I got two student loans that accumulate to about $6,000. And I got credit card debt.

Okay, good. Good, yeah, you're going to blow through that real fast, making $4,500. Your life's not going to change just a little bit. It's going to change freaking dramatically, dude. I mean, absolutely amazing. So what's your living plans for the next two and a half weeks? Just the car and then start work out of the car, or you got something else figured out? Yeah, I've been staying in the car for about two months now, but one day at a time.

So hopefully in the next two weeks I'll stay in the car, but I'll eat a little better, you know. Okay, that's cool. Is the shelter there helping you in the area? Yeah, yeah. I go to church also, so more so I go to the church. I try not to just go anywhere because there's a lot of crazy people, you know, in the world we live in today. Absolutely. So I try to we live in today. Absolutely. I try to watch where I go.

Absolutely. So the bad choices you made, any of those involve substance abuse? Yeah, alcoholism. Oh, okay. All right. How long you been dry? Oh, man, about four and a half months. Way to go, dude.

Well done. Well done. Only at a time. Well, you're turning it. You're turning it. You've identified the steps you've got to take to turn it around, and you're doing the right things, and I'm proud of you. How can I help you?

Well, no, it's just I more so wanted to say thank you because I came across your Total Money Makeover book from my sister-in-law, and I'm in the middle of it, and everything makes sense. And I look at my credit cards, and just two days ago, I cut it. And I look at all my finances, and I'm like, man, I put myself in this predicament, but there's not at the end of the tunnel, as you may have mentioned. So I'm very motivated and inspired by your book, and I wanted to say thank you. Yeah, well, thank you.

I'm motivated and inspired by you, dude. You're doing all the right stuff after having done all the wrong stuff. So you can't ask any more of a man than that. And you squared your shoulders and you faced the demons down. You turned the corner. I'm very, very proud of you. I want you to go through our Financial Peace University, and I want to pay for it. There will be one taught in a local church there that we can get you plugged into.

I'll put you on hold, and Kelly will pick up. And do me a favor. As you're going through that class, call me back this fall and tell some of our listeners and me the story of how this is continuing to turn around. You're an inspiring dude. Hey, thanks, Dave. Thanks to all you folks over there. And so I contemplated on calling, but I said, hey, I'm starting.

And then I do, I definitely wanted to call you when everything gets better and make progress. Yeah, cool. Well, we want to hear the follow-up on your life, man. You're doing good stuff. Hold on, Kelly will pick up, and we'll get you signed up for Financial Peace University. That's something we can do to help you lift.

And you stay plugged into your local church here, and they'll walk you signed up for Financial Peace University. That's something we can do to help you lift, and you stay plugged into your local church here, and they'll walk you straight into that new job and straight into the new life that's ahead of you. Very well done, sir. Very well done. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Someone asked me the other day what I've learned in 25 years of doing this show, and the answer was, anyone can win.

I think Larry just gave you a pretty good illustration of that. Anyone can win. Is it easy? Well, Lord, no, it's not easy. If it was easy, everybody would win. But anyone can win. Is it easy? Well, Lord, no, it's not easy. If it was easy, everybody would win. But anyone can win. And there's an element of taking personal responsibility of, hey, man, problem with my life, most of it's in my mirror. I don't know about you, but it is in mine. That guy, he likes chocolate chip cookies, you know.

That guy doesn't always do what he's supposed to do. He doesn't always say the things he's supposed to say. Biggest issue in my life is the guy in my mirror. Once I get that figured out, I'm on my way most of the time. Larry is. You can be. But, you know, you notice he wasn't blaming everybody else for his problem. You notice that?

That's a key element there in whether or not you get to win. Because you don't get to win when you blame everybody else. Oh, you don't know about my house? Shut up. Shut up. Just shut up. After that call, just shut up. This is the Dave Ramsey Show.

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761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. Welcome back to the Dave Ramsey Show. Joining me this segment, our own Chris Hogan, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author of the book, Retire Inspired, and America's Trusted Voice on Retirement and on Wealth Building. Welcome back, Chris. Thank you, sir. Good to be with you. You know, Chris, something has happened since I started this show. It's almost 30 years ago now.

When I first started, I pulled up a bunch of statistics to kind of make the case that people were struggling. Like everybody didn't know people were struggling. Duh. But you have to have statistical evidence because nobody knew who Dave Ramsey was and nobody cared. And a lot of people still don't know and still don't care. But I found this thing in the Wall Street Journal,

and it said 70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And for years I quoted that stat. Sometimes I forget and still quote that stat. From the Wall Street Journal, 7 out of 10 Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Now, apparently, at my career of helping people with their money, I'm a failure. Because the latest statistic says not 70% are living paycheck to paycheck, but 78%. Yes. Ah!

We're going the wrong way. Well, there are more people now, Dave. No, the percentages don't fix that. I know. I tried. Math goob. I know. I tried.

But that reality, when you look at that and you think about it, you're talking about almost eight out of ten people. And when you think about your family and your friends and you start to count off and you get to ten, you start to realize something, that this is not something that's okay, that this is a trend that needs to stop. And Dave, that's what we're doing. Regardless, we're trying to help people turn this around and take control of their money when you're living paycheck to paycheck like that

you're broke what ends up happening is is that something well there's a lot of drama i mean when you're broke everything that can go wrong well i mean your life looks like a country song i mean i just remember everything that can go wrong does. It's just depressing. It really is. And you can lose hope. And Proverbs says, hope deferred makes the heart sick. And I think what happens is I remember distinctly some of the dumbest financial mistakes, some of the dumbest mistakes, period, that I've ever made in my life.

The things I regret the most, I mean big ones, were when I was desperate. When you're desperate, you're scared. You do stupid stuff. And that's how people get in with these payday lenders. Because they know it's 800%. They know it's horrible. They know it's crack cocaine for money. They know what it is. Once you get in there, you can't get out.

You're stuck. But only desperate people would go into one of those places and get just completely screwed over by them. Only desperate people, people that have given up hope, would pay for a washer and dryer six times while they did rent a home instead of just buying one used at a garage sale but you've given up hope and they're you know and what happens a lot of times is when you're living paycheck to paycheck and 80 78 eight out of ten well they end up doing

stupid stuff and a lot of it's around debt they go into debt going to debt going to that you're always going to have a car payment the The little man can't get ahead. You're stuck. And what we figured out is, is that debt's not really a tool. It's a trap. It really is. And it's not only a trap, Dave. It's a thief. Because what I want people to understand is it steals from your now, but it also steals from your later.

Because it prevents you from doing what you could be doing, and that's growing your money. Now, looking at this, are you ready for this? We conducted the largest research study that's ever been done on net worth millionaires. I mean, ever. And the number one thing that they all agree on is this, to get out of debt and stay out of debt. Now, the same research also shows the majority of net worth millionaires have this. They've never held a penny of credit card debt, Dave.

Not one penny ever. Not one penny ever. They've've never held a penny of credit card debt dave not one penny not one penny ever they've also never had a car loan okay and they've never borrowed money from family or friends now looking at this you understand there are some things that they've done but there's some things they didn't do they never took out student loans to get their college degree and they all say this dave your favorite line they live on less than they make to stay in control but some of them did the majority didn't right but some of them did and in every case not every case but the vast almost 99 or whatever they said we quit doing it years ago i did have a car loan once but it's back in my 20s i did use a credit card one time i cut it up

i did have a student loan but boy i boy, I got rid of that thing. And in every case, so if you're listening and you've got a credit card debt and you've got a car loan and you've got student loan debt, you could still be a millionaire. You could still make it, but it's got to stop. This believing that this is the path to wealth, it's got to stop. It's the path to the poverty house. The poor house is what it is. Well, I heard you make a statement years ago, Dave, and you were talking about when you use debt that you're making other people rich. And that was a line that really stuck with me because looking at it and understanding I wasn't doing things that were technically savvy. I thought I was being cool. I thought I was being cutting edge. And what I was doing was being stupid, making the same mistakes and getting in the same traps that keep people stuck.

And we want to help people get unstuck by following a plan that actually will work. So we've been teasing you about this millionaire study. You guys have listened to me a lot. Chris and I have been talking about it a lot because we've been really excited about it behind the scenes over here. I mean, our teams, the findings are amazing. And so we have announced and we are launching the pre-sales of Chris's new book. Now, you talk about a number one bestseller. This thing is going to be zoom, zoom, baby.

Every Day Millionaires, How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Wealth and How You Can Too. This is going to ring the bell. And again, it's based on, it's got the statistics in it but it's also got the stories i like good stories and it's got a lot of your aspirational talk from the coach chris chris has got a coach down inside of him somewhere and that comes out in the book too and so it's not just a dry white paper of the 10 000 millionaires but it's got the data the data's there the hard data that shows. So these stories aren't just made up.

This is what really happened. And it changes everything if you start to believe it. And we've got a deal for them. We really do. You right now, ladies and gentlemen, you can preorder my new book, Everyday Millionaires, for only $20. But get this. You're going to get $50 in free bonus items. By that, I'm talking about the audio book. You're going to get $50 in free bonus items. By that, I'm talking about the audio book.

You're going to get the e-book. You're going to get a video from Dave. You're going to get a video from me talking about how to be able to retire inspired. You've got an opportunity. Here's what you need to do. Just go to DaveRamsey.com or go to ChrisHogan360.com or give us a call at 888-22-PEACE. There you go. That's a deal. Now, the book comes out

in January, so you'll get the book, the audio book, and the e-book all then. We'll collect all your data now and help you do that. And, of course, we'll send you the talk I did on It's Okay to Be Wealthy and the talk that Chris did, the video that he did on Retire Inspired. And you get to

see both of those now. But the better deal, the best deal of all, is this. We're going to bundle this like we've never done before. We've never bundled a book launch with Financial Peace University. But the whole purpose of Financial Peace University is getting on a budget, getting out of debt, building your emergency fund, so that you can become an everyday millionaire. You need to be one of these people because that way you live like no one else, so later you can live and give like no one else.

Now, Financial Peace University, for the nine lessons with a local group and the one-year membership for every dollar plus, all the stuff includes $129. We're going to just sell it for $129 and throw in Chris's book. Or you can say you buy Chris's book and you get a discount on Financial Peace University. I don't care how you add it up. It's $129. It's the best deal we've ever put out here on this. And we are so excited about this new book.

So you could actually go through the nine lessons this fall at your local group with Financial Peace University. You've got the membership for the whole year. And then in January, when you kind of got everything moving and you need another kick to get going, fall at your local group with Financial Peace University. You got the membership for the whole year. And then in January, when you kind of got everything moving and you need another kick to get going, you need one more rah-rah session, hey, in the mail comes Chris's book now, right? And, you know, you're going to get the – it'll show up there, and you're going to see this smiling face, everyday millionaires, how ordinary people build extraordinary wealth. And how you can, too. Yeah, that's the deal right there and uh so don't miss out on this folks you do not want to miss this brand new all-inclusive bundle for 129

dollars or the book at 20 bucks either way you get the 50 dollars and uh check it all out now this is this is what we've been talking about on this show for 30 years, and this data proves that you do not have to live paycheck to paycheck. You're not stuck. That's right. No matter who you are, where you are, where you were raised, where you went to school, you've got an opportunity to make a difference in your financial future. But you need to act now. I love that saying Condoleezza Rice says,

It doesn't matter where you're from, it matters where you're going. So where are you going? What about you? Are you going to sit around and talk about it or are you going to do something about it? Where are you going? You, talking to you, where are you going? Thanks for hanging out, Chris. Thank you, Dave.

This is the Dave time to buy life insurance? My answer is typically now. Life insurance is not part of the baby steps because it's needed when your family has debt and not enough savings to provide for their financial needs. That's when they're at the highest risk. And no matter where you are in your baby steps, it's a necessity, not a choice. This includes working husbands and wives, as well as stay-at-home parents. It's pretty expensive to replace those stay-at-home parent responsibilities. I only recommend term life insurance since it's the most affordable way to get the right amount of coverage and not break your budget.

Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. These are the guys I personally use. Term life insurance is inexpensive and your family needs this no matter where you are in your baby steps. That's Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Zander.com. Thanks for joining us, America. Zachary is with us in Portland, Oregon. Hey, Zachary, how are you? Doing well. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up?

So a little background on me. I am 30 years old. I have no debt to my name minus a mortgage. And I have about $6,000 in a savings account or my emergency account rather. I just found out after being with my company for over two years that this November I'll be out of a job. And I work in the film industry. So the film industry is pretty scarce up in Portland, Oregon. and so there isn't really any other job like that where I'm at. And so part of me was thinking about, as soon as I'm unemployed in November,

to dip into nice emergency funds to start up a small business idea for passive income, or if I should just start looking for other jobs around the country. My concern, though, is that I have that house, and so I'm not really sure what to do in this situation. What do you make? I make about $60 a year. Any severance package with this layoff? Not that I am aware of, no. Okay.

And what do you mean by passive income? Well, I was trying to think about creating, like, an online course to sell. So every now and then if someone decides to buy it, I'll just be reaping in some income. What does that got to do with being in the film business? Oh, there isn't really much of a film industry where I'm serving at film. Oh, no, I got that part. I heard that part. But I'm just saying that seems like it's a departure from your career track.

In a way, yeah. Well, I mean, unless your course has something to do with film, does it? It does. Oh, okay. All right, then it's not. All right. And so you're going to teach people with an online course to do what? To do basically what I do. I make animations for film. Mm-hmm. And I want to teach people how to do what I do, basically, on the cheaper end, I guess.

Gotcha. Okay. Any reason you can't start that now? I have, actually. But I've been doing it part-time since I am working full-time. So how much have you made? Zero, because I'm still building it. How much have you made?

Zero dollars on the website. Zero? Zero, because I'm still building it. How much have you made? Zero dollars on the website. Zero? Zero, yeah. That's not part-time. That's no time. Good point. It's not a business yet. It's still a hobby.

I mean, you're not charging? Well, I haven't. I'm still in the process of creating something, which takes a lot of time to do. Like I'm creating video tutorials, basically. Okay. I don't want you to spend your last $6,000 on launching a business that hasn't got any more concept-proofed in the market than this. That's scaring me i'm not saying you should never do this but i don't want this to be your primary way of surviving um because so far there's very little marketplace

proof for your idea i don't think your idea is a bad idea i think it may work but i don't want to bet the whole uh survival of zachary on this one idea and the last few dollars that you have. So you're going to make a decision then. Are you going to work in another field that you find that job immediately in order to stay in Portland while you work on this side deal and get it going on the side, but you make some money to eat with in another field? Or are you going to put your house up for sale and you're going to move somewhere where the film industry is more active

to suit your taste. I was kind of under the impression Portland had a pretty active film community. We have one. That's about it. Montreal and Vancouver, Canada have the most. Well, and little places like L.A. Exactly. Yeah, okay.

So I don't know what, you know, but I would have thought animation would be something you could do also almost on a contract basis and remotely for anywhere in the world, couldn't you? You can, yeah. I mean, that's almost like web development or something these days. Absolutely. So you're saying, like, maybe on November, as soon as I get laid off, start looking for freelance work? Maybe you start now. Got you. And maybe you find that you can do $100,000 a year in freelance work and go ahead and quit.

That'd be lovely, actually. Yeah, I'd like to do that. I'd like to have a little, we got a good runway from November. Let's have a solid takeoff here. Let's not kind of crash the barrels on the end of the runway as we go out, right? For sure. I definitely don't want to dip into my emergency fund. Yeah, so let's get some freelance going. And the more freelance you've got going, then the more you can have the time to unfold and proof text this concept in the marketplace on teaching people

gotcha because online learning uh especially tech stuff like you're doing specialty stuff like you're doing is really hot and i think people will pay for that if you've built the platform properly right and um i mean we do some of it here and are pretty successful with it so uh but it's more of a consumer-based thing. You're more on the side of business side. But, you know, I think you've got something there, but I don't think you've got time or money to get it off the ground in time to be hungry in December.

Got you. So throw some freelance in the mix if you're going to stay in Portland. I probably would just stay there if you like it. You've got a house. I would just stay there. And, you know, let's get the freelance up and running, get up $100K of that coming in. Then you got the money to work on the side, on the other stuff. Just a way to think about it.

The good news about today is you can just decide you're in business with freelancing or with anything else. You can just decide and go, oh, I'm in business. Just did that. I'm there. I just did it. Daryl is on the line in New York. Hi, Daryl.

How are you? Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So my wife and I are in the process of closing on a condo, and we agreed to combine two-thirds of our finances into a family budget. So each of us brought debt into the marriage two years ago.

She brought in her student loans, and I brought in a mortgage on what is now a rental. And I agreed to use my one-third to pay down debt because I'm really into that. And I want to know, like, which one should I pay off first, the mortgage or the student loan? You're not going to like my answer. I don't like your plan at all. And here's why. I'm an old-fashioned guy, and when the preacher says,

in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, unto thee I pledge all my worldly goods. You don't have a roommate, dude. You have a wife. And so you need to combine 100%. When you got her, you got all the good, all the bad. You got your crazy mother-in-law, and you got your wonderful brother-in-law. You got all the good, and you all the bad. You got your crazy mother-in-law, and you got your wonderful brother-in-law.

You got all the good, and you got the bad. You got the debt, and you got her income. You got all the joy that she is and all the heartache that she is. That's called being married. And she got all that with you, too. So she doesn't have debt anymore. We have debt. That's what I would do if I were in your shoes.

And to not do that, I think, is a huge, huge mistake. You're sowing seeds of division in your relationship. I think if the two of you put your arms around each other and hold really, really tight, you've got a chance of surviving against this mean old world. But when you're bifurcated like this and split up and divided you're asking to be divided so um again i told you i'm not i didn't think you're gonna like my answer but that's okay i'm gonna tell you the truth anyway we have seen more healing of marriages when we force couples to combine their incomes and combine their goals and combine their debts than anything else we've seen

in financial peace university we've seen in Financial Peace University. We've seen a lot of people get out of debt, a lot of people become wealthy, but the surprise, the one that was a surprise was we didn't know we were doing marriage counseling. And forcing people to handle their money together forces them to love each other well. It forces you to communicate at a level you don't communicate otherwise. And so, dude, you really got to try it my way because I'm completely right. And your system is screwed up. Hope that helps you.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. John's on Twitter. Does it count as debt-free if all we have left is a house payment? We count that as one kind of debt-free, and we count it again when you pay off the house. Some of the people that do debt-free screams are debt-free everything but the house, and some of them are debt-free house and everything.

We count it either way because you're heading in the right direction, my friend. Thanks for following us on Twitter. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. our question of the day comes from blinds.com brand new custom blinds from blinds.com are the easiest and most affordable way to give your entire home a facelift. With Blinds.com, you get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the magic word, the promo code Ramsey, and you get the best possible deal. Blinds.com. Questions from Keith in Minnesota. I've seen a lot of companies marketing prepaid debit cards for kids.

They claim parents can set spending limits for the kids. Are these a good idea? I feel like it's just conditioning for the kids to rely on cards. Yes, I agree. I don't recommend the prepaid debit card for a child, except if they were, like, going on a trip and you wanted them to have something in their pocket and they didn't have a traditional debit card.

What I would rather you do is teach your child to work, teach your child to give, teach your child to save, and to teach your child to spend wisely and in control. Work, give, save, and spend. We teach this, Rachel, Cruz, and I, in our number one bestseller, Smart Money, Smart Kids. It's a book for parents on how to teach your children to become good adults. My friend Andy Andrews says, you don't teach children to be good children. You teach them how to become good adults. And the money piece is part of that equation.

So how does that apply then to the Visa prepaid debit card for a kid? Well, for them, it's just like daddy's an ATM. They just walk up and you hand them $20 bills. You walk up and you hand them a piece of plastic. They do not equate it with money unless they put the money into the card. And even then, they don't naturally equate it with money. Instead, what I would suggest is when they reach 15, at that point or somewhere around there,

if they have shown responsibility in working, giving, saving, and spending up to that point, we put ours on a checking account, which had a debit card on it, and the children used the debit card a lot, primarily. They very seldom wrote a check. But they had to learn to balance to reconcile the checking account, so they didn't write out or take out more money using the debit card than was in there. And, of course, we put money in there, and they put money in there,

but they had to keep up with both. And that way they knew what was in there, and they knew not to overspend. It wasn't just like a magic card. Oh, look, it's a magic card. Oh, my magic card doesn't work anymore. I'm going to cry. You see, that's what happens when you, that's children, that you're teaching your child to be a child. So that's how most people use the Visa prepaid debit card. Now, is there an instance or two where I might use it? Again, I've got a 14-year-old that's not on a checking account going on a school trip four states away. I can either hand them a pocket full of cash or I can put a prepaid debit card in their pocket that I could actually recharge while they're on the road on the web if I wanted to.

That would be a fine use for that. That's like we used to use stuff like, remember when you traveled, some of you old people like me, we used to get American Express traveler's checks. No one does that anymore. But I quit doing business with American Express because they suck about 35 years ago. But aside from that, no one does that anymore. But you kind of would use it the same way if you were sending a you know those checks if they got lost you could

redeem you know you could get new ones printed off they had the numbers you turn them in as lost they take they kill them you can do all of that with a prepaid debit card it would work fine for travel that's the only instance i would use it well you could use it for college no by college they ought to be able to run their checking account, honey. All three of my children went through four years of college in four years, graduated, walking with Jesus. All three of my kids did it in four years. All three of them graduated with having never bounced a single check

during that four-year period of time. I did have one. Rachel. She tells the story in the book. Bounced a check when she was 15. A couple of checks, as a matter of fact. And I made her go to the bank and sit down with the bank manager and apologize for lying. Because she told the bank there was money in there by using that card and there wasn't money in there.

That's lying. Poor child scarred for life. Never bounced another check, though. Shut up. She told the bank there was money in there by using that card, and there wasn't money in there. That's lying. Poor child's scarred for life. Never bounced another check, though. Shut up. Teach your kids how to be quality adults. Dan is with us in San Diego. Hi, Dan.

How are you? I'm doing great, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? My wife and I are debt-free except the home. We've got about 28 years left on our mortgage. But I'm wanting to pay it off.

I think we could pay it off in maybe 10 to 12 years. And we have $66,000 in stocks that we need to get rid of, put them into mutual funds. Is there a best way to pay down the house early? Do we, you know, put the $66,000 into the house? Are you debt-free other than your home? Yeah, the home is the only debt we have. Good, okay. You have your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses, not counting the $66,000? We do.

Okay. Yes. Is the $66,000 in a retirement account of any kind? No, it's in individual company stocks. Okay. Yes, I would cash that out, and I would pay it as extra principal on your home. Contact your mortgage company and make sure that you take the right steps to make sure that is applied as additional principal payment, not applied as a prepayment of payments.

We don't want to prepay payments ever. We want to slide you forward in the amortization schedule. So we want this to reduce your principal by that amount. And so how can I make this a principal-only payment? Some mortgage companies have a very simple process for doing that. Others, you have to kind of spoon-feed it to them to make sure it happens, and then you check back and make sure your balance is reduced by $66,000. Now, you may have some taxes on that depending on what that money was from,

how you put that money in there, or if there was a gain. So make sure you get your tax figured and you hold that much back because we don't want you to have a tax problem later. We want you to pay the tax bill, and anything that's net of that, we'll throw at the house here. And, yeah, that'll accelerate you getting the house paid off, and we definitely want to go that way. Good move.

Thanks for calling in. Kelly's with us in Rochester, New York. Hi, Kelly. How are you? Hi. Good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Thanks for taking New York. Hi, Kelly. How are you? Hi. Good. How are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up? Thanks for taking my call. I had a question. It's kind of career-oriented. So I'm currently 27 years old, and I have a great sales job that I love in Rochester, New York. And my family actually recently decided that they're going to be relocating to Austin, Texas. And I would, I'm on Baby Step 2, just to give you a background there. And I would love to follow them down there.

I've applied to about 15 plus jobs that I know I'm certainly qualified for, and I haven't heard back from any of them. So what kind of a position are you looking for? So I currently work in senior housing sales. So I've been looking for whether it's a community relations position or inside marketing, whatever it might be. So I've kind of stretched myself a little bit in some of those positions, but most of them would be kind of a lateral move. Okay. Well, what's happening is you're getting lost in a pile of applications, and somehow we've got to get your application to the top. Sure. That's going to involve some extra phone calls, maybe a personal visit on your part.

It's going to require you do something in the mailbox that gets their attention and gets you out of the pile. Sure. I'll give you an example, okay? To date, it's August. We've hired almost 100 people. Okay. We had 14, we've hired almost 100 people. Okay. We had 14,000 applications. You could get lost in there. Right.

No matter how diligent we are as the potential employer, you could be a real diamond and get lost in that pile. Right. So you need to do something to get yourself differentiated out of there. Do you know anyone in that business in Texas? I do not. I do not. So I've been doing my... Does your current boss know anyone in that business in Texas?

No, unfortunately. And I've looked a little bit online in terms of, and I want to maintain, you know, honesty in the process. And I know a lot of people have said to use, you know, a friend's address, but I don't want to be misleading since I'm not there already. No, I'm coming there. You don't have to mislead. I'll hire you.

Nobody's not going to not hire you because you're not there as long as you're coming. Right, exactly. They know you're not going to commute from Rochester, New York to Texas. You're not brain damaged. It'd be a little far. That's nuts. I'm moving there. My family's moving there.

I'm in the business already. I know the business. I can add value to your organization. How can I get an appointment to talk to you about that? That's called an interview. I'm in the business already. I know the business. I can add value to your organization. How can I get an appointment to talk to you about that? That's called an interview. I want to talk to you. Sure. I'm coming.

What day do you want me there? Yep. And somehow you've got to get your name out of there. And sometimes it's a connection to a person. Sometimes it's a little bit of a technique on your part in that you push your way through the front door, through the receptionist, and get to talk to a decision maker. But somehow you have to differentiate yourself so that you get attention in a pile of applications. Hey, guys, it's James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show.

And this hour, the show is over. Thanks for making us the third largest talk radio show in the nation. You're one of 12 million weekly listeners on 575 stations. Find a station near you at