The Ramsey Show - App - Avoiding Your Problems Doesn't Make Them Go Away (Hour 1)

Episode Date: December 28, 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. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, is my co-host this hour on the show. Thank you for joining us, America. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Tay is in Chicago starting off the hour.

Hi, Tay, how are you? Hi, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Okay, so my sister and your brother are homeless. We left my mother's house because she was mentally abusive and also financially irresponsible. So your brother left my mom's house and moved in with my friends in their basement. And then literally not even like three weeks after that, I lost my job.

And I got a new one right after that. I'm at that one currently. I've been there for like two or three weeks now. But I hate it. I hate it bad. I really cannot stand it at all whatsoever. You don't like your job though. Hey, Tay, before you keep going,

can you tell us how you really feel about your job? What do you hate about it, Tay? I mean, you haven't been there long enough to really hate it. I mean, what's the problem? What's the problem? They only gave us one week of training to learn the system, but then they didn't give us any training on the actual questions that the people are going to ask us.

So they tell us to call a helpline to get help to answer the question, but then the helpline doesn't know the answer to the question. And then the answer to the question is also not in my system. So what do you do then? What do you do all day? Because you don't know the answer to the question. The helpline doesn't know the answer to the question. You can't answer the question.

What do you do? What do you do with your day? Just tell people I don't know the answer all day? Basically, I'm going to manage it for you because this is a little confusing. I'm going to transfer you. That's all I do for eight hours. Okay. So how much do you make?

This job here is $2,000 a month. Okay. So go get another job. That's the plan. But the issue is I'm trying to get, I'm trying to, we're homeless. I'm trying to get out of my friend's house. Yeah. I didn't tell you to quit the job.

I said go get another job. Then quit the job. Okay. Yeah, you're living in your friend's basement. You don't have a lot of luxury right now. You don't have a lot of wiggle room. You're going to have to do some really uncomfortable things and stick it out. And if the worst part of this transition is that you're in a job that's annoying and they're not training you very much, but it's inside and there's a heater and you've got to –

And they give you money? Yeah, they're paying you. I would ride that out and find something that's going to pay you more money, that's going to be a better fit for you as soon as you can. Go find a job making $3,000 and soon as you do quit the dumb job, okay? But don't quit the dumb job when you're living in somebody's basement and you have no money. Okay. You don't have that luxury. Unless there's something you haven't told me, like you have $100,000 in your bank account

or something. I wish I had $100,000 in my bank account. I got a feeling you wouldn't have been calling me if that were the case. That's right. Otherwise, lead with that, right? But yeah, feel free to go get another job, of course. But don't quit that job until you've got another, what do they say? Matter of fact, feel free to go get three more jobs.

Right. If you're in somebody's basement. So you're never this broke again. You've got an emergency. That's right. How many hours a week are you working now? 40. And then I also have my own.

I do have a second job. I work for a jewelry store as well, but they furloughed me, and they just brought me back. So I only work 13 hours on the weekends for that job. That's not enough. That's only 53 hours. You need to be working 80 hours. You're broken in somebody's basement.

Work more. Go get a different job. Dump the dumb job and get your financial plan going listen here's the deal pretend with me for a second you made five thousand dollars a month how much different would your life feel that's what i'm prescribing for you it's not that money is the answer to everything but when you have no money money is the answer to almost everything it's like you know i mean it's not it's not a spiritual thing it's a matter of you freaking you're right on the edge of homelessness right and so you've got to pile up some cash and the

only way money the only place money comes from is work right so you need to be like you really i'm being real serious you need to have no freaking life you don't need to see the inside of a restaurant. Your friends are going out for drinks, toughies, unless you're serving them from behind the bar. I mean, you are not doing squat except working and making money because you have no money and you need some. It is that primitive a formula. Right. You've got to get going, and you've got to look at your situation and think, I'm in a basement. You know, they're not training me. That's not a thing right now right you are running it's like

a gazelle running through the woods right and being like this terrain is really uncomfortable we're gonna need to go over there and run in that grass you know what you just got to run you got to run you got to run you got to run yeah because there's a cheetah on your butt that's right yeah and you don't get the luxury of where you're running that's right you just run go that's the deal go that's it good for you and here's the thing of where you're running. That's right. You just run. Go. That's the deal. Go, go, go. That's it. Good for you, Tim. And here's the thing.

Stick it out. That's right. Stick it out until. And then tell them, take this job and shove it when you get the other one. I'm fine with that. I ain't got any issue with you changing. I do have an issue with you quitting. There's a difference because you don't have that mathematical option, kiddo.

Christine is up next, and Christine's in St. Louis. How are you, Christine? Hi, I St. Louis. How are you, Christine? Hi, I'm doing well. How are you guys doing? Better than I deserve. How can we help? Well, I am currently on Baby Step 3, but I'm looking forward to Baby Step 3B. I have heard you guys say that it's okay to pause investing for saving up for a 20% down payment on a condo or a home.

Yes, ma'am. for about three years or so. But then I've also heard you say to people who currently have a home and then say they want to go at this mortgage quick and they want to pause investing. You guys say not to do that because that's stealing from your future. So I'm just confused as to how the difference of rationalization is there kind of a thing. And if I should be pausing investing to get that down payment down then once I get to 3B. That's a very good question. Really good critical thinking skills. Good job.

The difference is that almost always the second part of the equation where you're going to stop your baby step four in order to pay off your baby step six faster involves a lot of years the typical the typical person calling me there is not a three-year scenario it's a five to a five to a ten-year scenario where they've abandoned their 401k and so it's one of them is a short period of time and the other one in other words, the number of times someone calls and says, Dave, I want to stop my baby step four in order to pay off my house, and I can pay off my house in three years or less, is less than 5% of the time they ask that question. 95% of the time they ask that question.

It's a long-term play. Okay. And that's what changes the equation. But you're really thinking clearly. Good job. You're're really thinking clearly. Good job. You're going to be fine. You're paying attention.

You're listening. You want to know why because I'm not doing stuff just because some goob on the radio said to do it. I want to know why. I want to understand it. That is going to cause you to be wealthy. And it's going to be a long play, right? So you've got to settle in and not get really raged up. And I've got to pay this house. I've got to settle in, follow get really raged up and I've got to pay this house. Settle in. Follow the plan. Millions of people have done it.

Keep doing it. Keep doing it. I said it in another hour and I don't think I've ever said it that way exactly. We go from gazelle intensity in one through three to intentionality. There you go. It's not intensity. It's intentionality. 11 baby steps, 4, 5, 6.

That's what we're talking about here. So you're going to do so great. Well done. Business of the day, Ramsey. Has your family grown larger over the years? Ours has too. Christian Healthcare Ministries is now helping over 425,000 members bear each other's health cost burdens. CHM offers budget-friendly options to suit a variety of needs,

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options are right for you and your family. chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Thanks for joining us, America. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. Tis a free call. 888-825-5225. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today on the show. John is in Texas.

Hi, John. Welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dr. D and Dave. How are you guys doing? Great. How can we help? Well, I'll try to keep it brief. 31 years old, baby step four.

Dave, been listening to you since 2016. Going through this journey, I've paid off all my debt in 18 months and full emergency fund and everything like that. But I just feel like I have something missing in my life, and it's something that I think might be the spirituality side of everything that you teach. I was raised by non-practicing Muslims, and so I never really had any kind of religion or any kind of spirituality in my life. And it's something that's kind of getting bigger and bigger inside of me. And, you know, I don't know if it's that for sure, but I know that I definitely have something missing in my life. So kind of just wanted to call in and ask Uncle Dave and Uncle. Well, I was pretty much the same way when I was a little bit younger than you, about 24. I kind of just wanted to call in and ask Uncle Dave and Uncle about the week.

Well, I was pretty much the same way when I was a little bit younger than you, about 24. And I read a quote years later that kind of explained it. Pascal said, in every man there is a God-shaped hole. And sometimes we try to throw things in that hole. People do it with drugs, and they become drug addicts. People do it with material things, and they become materialistic. People do it with pornography, and they become addicted to that, and so on. People try everything in the world to fill the hole that really only has one thing that fits in it properly, and that is the spiritual walk.

It is God. And that made sense to me when I heard it, and I was sitting in a seat similar to the one you're sitting in right now. You see what I'm saying? Yes, sir. So it's natural, in other words, to kind of have this, everything's going along, it seems like I'm doing well, but there still feels like something's missing. That's a fairly natural thing. That's the way we're designed.

And that's what I discovered anyway. I was in my mid-20s, early 20s, when I discovered that. You're a touch older than i was at that time so and the same situation i didn't grow up in a muslim non-practicing muslim home but we weren't church people so to speak and so um good people nothing wrong with the morals or anything like that that's not the point but uh the point was this whole discussion wasn't something that ever came up so um i i did what you're doing and i kind of went on a quest and i started trying to learn about it and i tried to find people that that weren't kooky that actually made sense when they were talking about spiritual things and some of

them are kookier than crud i'll just tell you but uh uh but i found you know some people that were fairly level-headed and would walk me through it. And I became introduced to the Bible, and I started reading that. And I started going to a non-kooky church. There are seven of those across the country. Seven. And warning you ahead of time. I mean, because I have discovered in 40 years of doing this stuff that there's nothing kookier than a kooky Christian. So, but, yeah, you know, so I would tell you to try to poke around.

Do you have any good friends that you feel like in your circle that could maybe give you recommendations? Maybe they're not up to coaching you on this subject, but they could say, hey, I'll hook you up with this guy. This pastor over here I know is a really good guy, and he can answer some questions for you. Do you know anybody like that? I do. I just feel like at the same like I'm missing it in my life, but I'm also afraid because I'm afraid if I like, for example, turn to, um, Christianity, which is actually the most I know about any religion is just because listening through you that I would maybe be

judged by, you know, like family. Well, you would be, you know, you would be, I don't think there's any question about that. And that's not even a, I mean, it's accelerated. I mean, it's more prominent because of your family's heritage. But as Dave mentioned, Christians feel that too, right? But Christians feel that too when they, I mean, if you go from a Catholic church to a Baptist church or I'm going to go to a different Baptist church on the street, that's just whenever you decide to really go on a journey to find out who you are and why you're disconnected,

people around you don't understand that. There's always going to be someone that goes, well, that's not the way. That's not the way. And, well, this is my journey. This is my walk. And so, I mean, some of my old beer drinking buddies that i used to raise hell with didn't understand you know uh different religion right but but they didn't understand they're like what what happened to you man well you're no fun anymore man i'm like yeah

i'm more fun but in a different way that's right so i got my crap together finally so um but your fear john as you're standing over the precipice and you're looking over the edge of a cliff and you know if i take this step there's a chance that everything that i know is different it's normal to be scared of that yeah um that's that's what bravery is bravery is not going and doing like going to battle when you know the outcome it's knowing that i'm scared i'm not going to battle when you know the outcome. It's knowing that I'm scared. I'm going to go do it anyway. You know, I think once you sit down and maybe write out four or five things that you need the answer to,

that doesn't mean you necessarily start wearing around a shirt that says I'm a Baptist or something. You're just starting to get some answers. And one of them might be, you know, how to handle, you know, some negative input from people in your past. And I think that's pretty standard anytime anyone makes any kind of shift. I mean, I've known people that just changed denominations because their whole social structure was tied up in their denomination and everything else. And people are like, they think they're the only ones going to tied up in their denomination and everything else. And people are like, they think they're the only ones going to heaven is that particular denomination.

And then, you know, they rule you out, you know. And so I've known that to happen. And so, you know, you've got to, they would have to ask the same question is my point. And so, but I don't think there's any requirement that because you asked someone five or six questions over coffee three times, that all of a sudden you got sucked into something. You know, I don't think there's a requirement of that. If you'll gather more information, you'll start to see things more clearly and more than we can give you on run radio call, truthfully. And, John, can I burst your bubble before we hang up?

Yes, sir. Avoiding this is not going to make it go away that hole doesn't go away by by running from it and i've been avoiding it i know i know you have i can hear it in you i'm just telling you that feeling you feel that emptiness that disconnect you're afraid if you step over into the tractor beam it's going to suck you in. You know, like you're going to lose control or something. And you never, our faith anyway, you never lose your choice. You've always got a choice. You get to decide.

There's no mind-sucking amoeba that takes your brain out, and then you're not allowed to make choices anymore. You still will make the choice all the way along the rest of your life no matter what that doesn't stop at any point so you don't have to be afraid about this getting out of control so to speak if it gets out of control it's because you chose to take steps and you no one made you do anything along that way so if i were you i talked to one of your buddies that's got a real good pastor what city in texas are you in dallas okay great very cool there's a church on every 11th foot right you know where that is yeah there's tons of tons of great places around there and we've got lots of friends there that we could hook you up to if you need to, too.

But I would just find somebody and continue the journey, continue asking questions, because John's right. This has been awakened inside of you, and until you get the questions answered, it's going to scratch and claw at your heart, and that's a good thing. It'll be great. Yeah. I'm proud of you.

If you want to talk some more, call me back anytime. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today in the Ramsey Solutions Lobby on the debt-free stage. Nick and Elena are with us. Hey, guys. Hey, Nick. Where are you guys from? From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And made the trip to Tennessee to do a debt-free screen. Absolutely. In person. Well, welcome. Good to have you. How much did you guys from? From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And made the trip to Tennessee to do a debt-free screen. Absolutely.

In person. Well, welcome. Good to have you. How much did you pay off? Paid off $95,000. Awesomeness. And how long did this take? 19 months.

Whoa. And your range of income during that time? Started at $81,000, then dropped a little bit when you switched jobs, and then ended at about $100,000 with all of our extra jobs we picked up. Okay. So what do you all do for a living? So I actually just, in between jobs right now, I was in accounting and I'm moving into commercial real estate. Okay.

Cool. And then I'm a software support specialist and I do marketing on the side. Very good. Very good. What kind of debt was the $95,000? So about $90,000 of it was student loans, and then we had a $5,000 family car loan, and the rest was medical. Okay. So how did you clear that that fast? I mean, you must have been, if you cash flowed all this, did you have money in savings you threw at it or something?

A little bit at the beginning, but we were, for eight months before we got married, we lived with our parents and we just didn't do much. And then when we got married, we did even less. But yeah, so just scorched earth and really went after it. So how long have you been married? A year on the 10th. Yep. We're down here celebrating our anniversary, my birthday this weekend. Yeah, being debt free.

And being debt free. Hey, celebrate. A palooza. Yeah, absolutely. Here we go. I like it. Very cool. anniversary my birthday is this weekend and yeah and being debt free and being debt free so celebrate a palooza yeah absolutely there we go i like it very cool so you you did part of this as two singles and then part of it as a married couple yeah uh and you literally just lived on nothing yeah yeah very very slim we only time we went out to eat if we had gift cards or something like that but uh yeah yeah we picked up a lot of extra jobs. You were working four jobs at one point. I did babysitting at the church, marketing on the side.

We were bodyguards. I know we look tough at high school football and basketball games as well as clean parking lots. Wow. And then on the side, we have a little furniture restoration business. Made a little Instagram, so I had fun with it. Yeah. Yeah. So, just.

So, what got you guys so fired up 19 months ago? Yeah. So, my senior year of college, I took a financial planning class as part of my dual major at school, and the capstone to the class was to do a three, five, and 10-year personal financial plan. And so I'm writing the intro to that and had some ideas and I'm bouncing them off of my dad. And he's like, hey, you should do a Dave Ramsey quote at the beginning of it. I was like, okay. So put the quote, if you live like no one else, later you can live and give like no one else. And had the premise of you got to live, you can't have that YOLO lifestyle when you're young. And

kind of kept that theme throughout the paper. So paper did well. Got an A on it. All right. That's good. So that kind of got the fire underneath me. And I started to listen to the podcast nonstop. Tried to push it onto me.

And I was like, no, he sounds crazy. Oh, yeah. I was way too overbearing. And then my parents' church, when I was going there, I saw the FPU class. I'm like, oh, we're not getting engaged for a while. And I was like, might as well get plugged in here. Took the class because we had some awesome family friends teaching it. I was like, might as well.

And then we fell in love with it there. We're on fire ever since. Oh, my gosh. So Financial Peace University podcast and a college paper. Yeah. Get the whole thing started. I love it. And you got an A.

Because personal finance class with tenured professors, you use my name, sometimes it goes against you. Yeah. Well, I will say I did talk about using credit cards and stuff like that, but I quickly learned to stay away from that. You don't have to worry. I'm not going to get the grade change. It's okay. It's okay. You got your grade.

Well, congratulations, you guys. Thank you. Now that you're Financial Peace University graduates, you've been listening a while, obviously, and did this incredible feat. I mean, the depth of your sacrifice in these numbers is very real. You really had no life. You had to have friends making fun of you. Oh, yeah. Oh, absolutely.

Friends, family. Yeah. People thought y'all friends making fun of you. Oh, yeah. Oh, absolutely. Friends, family. Yeah. People thought y'all were a pair of nuts. Oh, yeah. Like, y'all are crazy. Yeah, absolutely. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? You did it.

Yeah. I would definitely say living on a budget and having that why. I'm a fan of Simon Sinek's book, Start With Why. And obviously, you learn it in financial peace as well. It's just dream together, find out why you're doing what you want to do. And she definitely was the driver behind that why. I'm a giver. She's absolutely a giver.

I love to give. I can't wait to wear Baby Step 7. That's what I'm passionate about. Yeah. Get some tears in their eyes every time we watch that last lesson about living and giving like no one else because that's just what we're doing this for. That's fun.

It's very exciting. They're a power couple. I tell you what, man. How old are you guys? 24. I'll be 25 on Saturday, so yeah. Sometimes somebody gets on the stage like this and all I can think to do is just get under the table here.

Just crawl under the table. Just hide. Just hide. Because the 24-year-old you was not this smart. The 24-year-old me was super not this. The 34-year-old me was considering this. I mean, what you guys have done to set yourselves up, and when you hold your first baby, you if you hold your first dog you're gonna have a different dog for the first time yeah exactly yeah yeah yeah what y'all done is

incredible guys well done heroes very well done very very proud of you so who were your biggest cheerleaders yeah so we have our friends jake and angelo they're watching they're can't wait to get down here they were original fpu coordinators so coordinators. And then I coordinate a class at our church now, and so we have that team behind us and then friends and family. Awesome. Awesome. And your dad, who gave you the original idea to pull the quote. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

He's been behind us 100%. I love it. He's the guy who actually gave us the car loan for me, and I had the money, but during the class I was like, I don't want to pay it. I don't want to pay it off. And then we were sitting on the couch, and Nick's like, do you want me to tell you what Dave's going to tell you on Thursday, or do you want to just, I'll let you do it.

And I was like, okay, I'm going to do it. And the next day I wrote his dad the check to pay off the rest of the car because I had the money, and that was just the best feeling. I love it. Little wins like that. Yeah, that's a big deal. Well done. That's so cool, man.

Good job, good job. Well, we got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. We want that to be the next chapter in your story, and there's no question that's where you two are headed. Very well done, guys. Way to go heroes all right nick and elena pittsburgh pennsylvania 95 000 paid off at 24 years old one year anniversary man and happy birthday did it 19 months making 81 to 100 count it down

let's hear a debt-free scream three two one i love it that is absolutely amazing very very well done you guys very well done dave at at this point after my first year of marriage, I don't think me and my wife could stand this close to each other, much less on a stage. It would have been a, yeah, we've had a gap between us, man. I don't know that we were even speaking, much less able to come together like this and get a great plan. Definitely in sync, without a doubt.

And that is an indicator of where they're going as much as where they've come from. I love it. It's very, very, very well done. I mean, and folks out there, all of our data points tell us that not only getting out of debt, but building a level of wealth and being in a position to be outrageously generous, like she was talking about, there is this tremendously huge statistical correlation between the couple working together and being unified like that and and you know hitting these financial milestones it's all i almost never i won't say never but almost never hear a story of someone who became

a millionaire someone who paid off a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand dollars worth of debt and they drug their spouse the whole way. Yeah. Or they were pulling in two different directions the whole way, whatever. I just don't find that. And so for some of you spouses that are kind of on the bubble, you know, you need to be unified. Even if you're unified, hate me, that's okay. But you need to be unified on what you're doing because you're not going to get there.

But if you are unified, very few things can stop you. Nothing's stopping these two. It's awesome. Nothing's stopping these two. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today on the air. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Common sense for your dollars and cents, your life, your career, whatever you want to talk about. 888-825-5225.

The worst feeling is to pay someone who does a sucky job. And the hard thing to admit is that it may have all started with a bad choice. It comes to buying a home. You get a real estate agent that does a bad job. It could be because you made a bad choice with a real estate agent. Well, it would be because you made a bad choice. And maybe you were ignoring the signals. Maybe you mailed it in when you were doing your selection

and just kind of went, well, we're going with Charlie at the church. And that will always get you messed up. Sorry, Charlie. Sorry, Charlie. There you go. So good agents are really hard to come by. You don't need some joker who just got his license and is looking for a commission check. What you need is someone who really knows the business, sells a lot of houses, and can walk you through the whole process.

And for them, it's a machine. They're just walking you right through something they do all the time. Do not settle for a crappy agent doing real estate deals. Go to DaveRamsey.com slash agents and get the right kind of high-protein, high-octane agent. DaveRamsey.com slash agents, especially if you're buying in this market right now. All right, Jeremy is in Ohio. Hi, Jeremy. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show show yeah hello dave uh i just got a question for you a little bit or maybe you can

think about my situation here i'm a laid-off coal miner of uh 15 years and uh i'm wanting to start a business and i'm wanting to do a rollover for business startup. Have you ever heard of the Rob's account with my 401K? Sounds like somebody's trying to sell you a franchise. Well, it's not a franchise. It's just starting to start the business. Are they trying to sell you a business in a box, though? No, no, no. This is a business.

I want to start a service center in my local hometown, which is a college town, and it should get enough business to sustain itself. Okay. And... Like an auto service center? Yes, sir. Like tires and brakes and oil changes and... Is there a brand name company that's trying to sell you a dealership that's pitching you

the rob? No. Really? You just dug this up off the internet yes okay because 99 percent of the time i get this question it's some franchise salesman trying to show you how to finance the deal that they want to sell you and that's what i was trying to figure out okay so you're starting a scratch you're starting something from scratch you're going to put your name on the front of it, and you're starting cold turkey. So how much is in your 401K? $174,000. What's it going to take to start this place?

The building is $120,000. Why do you need to buy the building? Why don't you rent it? I got the building that I talked the guy down from $155 to $120, so I figured if it doesn't work out, I could sell the business and make money on the 401K. Well, you'd need to keep the business and the real estate separate, at least in your mind, okay? Yes. You could buy the building by rolling the 401k into a self-directed IRA and put the real estate in that

and then build the business using the other technique. Yeah. But you're not having money. Well, throughout the years, I've saved about $13,000 to live off of, and I don't have any debt. My home is paid for. My cars are paid for. I have no credit card.

I have no student loan. So the only thing I have is cell phone, electric, water. How long do you think it's going to take you to get this business up and going? I'm hoping about a year. Okay. Why don't we rent this building from this guy for two years with an option to purchase it okay he won't do that then get a different building because you you are going all in you're doing james bond on me you're pushing all the

chips to the middle of the table on one hand and this is either going to work or it's not and you're going to be broke or you're going to feel like you hit the home run and i i don't push my chips all of them to the middle of the table anymore my life's too short i don't want to do that and so i want you to break this up in some way where you're not using up every dime you have on an idea that is completely unproven except between accepting your dreams over coffee in the morning. And he mentioned this is a college town, so there will be enough traffic. And I'm watching my old college colleagues talking about not coming back or doing the whole fall online.

So it just takes one weird glitch in the matrix when you're all in. Even when it's a sure thing, the college gets a call back. There is not a sure thing. There's no such thing as a sure thing. The rules in business are it takes twice as long as you think it's going to, costs twice as much as you think it's going to, and you're not the exception. Those are the three rules. And I have to remind myself and my team of them all the time

because we always get all hyped up and we can always see, you know, every entrepreneur is an optimist. We have six ideas in the shower every morning, and we just know that we know that we know that this is all going to work out, and most of our ideas suck. Now, I don't think this is a bad idea, but I don't think what you don't i'm positive you don't know what you don't know about what's going to happen here and how long this is going to take and how hard it's going to be please don't use up your last dime and most of it really not on the business most of it on the

piece of real estate so when you walk away from this shop and you come back a month later, there's a real good chance he's going to rent it to you with an option to purchase over the next three years. You get the business up and running, and then you want to roll some of that money into a self-directed IRA and buy that shop. I won't gripe about it too much, but you call me. I love your dream.

I want you to run a business. I want you to open the shop. I do not want you to put all your chips in the middle of the table on one hand. That's scaring the crap out of me for you. And I wouldn't do that, and I wouldn't recommend my best friend do that. And for this moment, you're my best friend. Don't do that. So hold on.

I'm going to send you a copy of the book Entree Leadership, which is our playbook around here, how we grew our business from a card table in my living room over to where it is today. And so it's our playbook. Hold on. Kelly will pick up and get you one. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Amy is next in Illinois. Hi, Amy.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Pleasure to speak Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Pleasure to speak with you guys. You too. What's up? Well, I am a school teacher in Illinois. I coach a couple sports. I'm advisor pretty much to everything at the high school.

So I hadn't had a lot of free time, but due to COVID, had a little bit more free time lately. So when I thought I was being gazelle intense when I started last October, I realized I wasn't because then I binged your entire 14-day series, your 14-day free trial, and realized I could be doing a lot more. So I went for it. I went gazelle intense, and I had student loan debt, car debt. I ended up selling my car, and now I am down to the final student loan, a little bit left. And my situation is I currently rent my home that I own, and I have terrible tenant, but that's besides the point.

So I've been hesitant to go ahead and pull the trigger. Tomorrow I could potentially make my last student loan payment if I really put down the extra money that I had just kind of gotten in, or I could reserve that additional $2,500, make my regular $1,500 payment since there's no interest and kind of hold back on using that $2,500 because I have this little hesitation. Is your income stable? My income is stable. My hesitation is my tenant, something going wrong with the house.

They will be out in two months because their lease is up and I'm choosing not to renew it. But there's just this little hesitation. So I don't know if I'm too intense or if I just need somebody to say, go for it and be completely out of debt. Let's play it out, okay? Are they going to pay you? I pray that they do each month. No.

I heard that, but I heard they suck. I got that part. But are they going to pay you? Do really think what's what's the probability 50 50 90 10 i'm gonna say 90 10 good chance they're gonna pay you but they're just a pain in the butt about it big time big time okay that's all right we'll we'll create a you know reverse pain in the butt until we get our money but the uh uh okay, so you're going to get your money, and you're going to be okay. They're going to move out, and then you're going to, but if you pay off everything today, you can pile up cash between now and the time they move out. As long as they keep paying you, you're going to be fine.

So, yeah, play through. Play through. You got the baby steps? Be out of debt. Be out of debt today. And then let's play it on out. You're going to be okay. It's going to work through. Good question. Congratulations. Congrats. Be out of debt today. And then let's play it on out. You're going to be okay. It's going to work through.

Good question. Congratulations. Congrats. Yeah, that's awesome. Puts us out on The Dave Ramsey Show in the books. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. On your smart speaker, you can add our skill by saying, Alexa, open the Ramsey Network skill.

From there, you can listen to all our shows, ask Dave money questions like, how do I invest my money, or what is the debt snowball? Find out more at daveramsey.com slash smart speaker.