The Ramsey Show - App - Be Purposeful with Every Paycheck (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 21, 2019

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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 may mean you're on your way to being an everyday millionaire. That's right. The third week of the Everyday Millionaire theme hour continues. The third week of the tour continues. This is a theme hour to talk about it. Chris Hogan, the author of the book Ramsey Personality, is joining us, number one best-selling author. And the book is Everyday Millionaires, How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth and How You Can Too.

This project has been so exciting, and these three weeks have been very blinding. It really has, Dave. I am so excited to be out, to be meeting people, looking them in the eye, and talking about this message. This is a project that we began a while back. And so to be here and to be out on the road, it's just exciting. It's time. I mean, it feels like we've been hatching this thing for a while.

Been sitting on it a while. But tomorrow, Chris will be doing the Smart Money Live event here in Los Angeles at Mariner's Church, Irvine. Of course, I'll be doing that with him. And it's fun to be in L.A. and to do this. Really, really good stuff. Now, Monday, January the 21st, we'll be doing a book signing, Chris will, at the Barnes & Noble, Los Angeles, at 6 o'clock at the Grove at Farmer's Market. And it's not just a book signing. No, it's not, Dave. We're also going to be giving away $1,000. And so you've got an opportunity to come out. Now, you've got to be present in order to

win, but you don't have to buy a book. I'd prefer that you did, but you don't have to, to win the $1,000. But it's a great opportunity just to get together, Dave, see some people that are all motivated and moving in the right direction. I can't wait to get this movement started. So I know you got a little traffic in LA, and I know the book signing is tonight at the Barnes & Noble at the Grove at Farmer's Market. But I also know somebody's going to get $1,000 for braving the traffic. And everybody else is going to become an everyday millionaire if they follow the guidelines in this book

because we show you statistically how the millionaire did it. That does two things. One is it gives you real hope based on real facts, and two is it destroys the mythology out there that has stolen the American dream with this victim mentality because I'm a victim of something. I'm not a person of privilege. None of these millionaires that we found were hardly persons of privilege. Only 4% actually became millionaires because of their inherited money,

according to their own responses in the survey. We added a little bit to that and found that some of them did inherit money, but they didn't inherit enough or soon enough to cause them to be a million dollars. In other words, they might have already had $2 million and then inherited $200,000. Right. So that did not cause them. They did inherit money, but that didn't cause them to do that. It didn't cause them to be a millionaire.

They were already a millionaire. Or they got it so late that the million was already on its way. And so what we can determine from these numbers are 93% of America's millionaires are not millionaires because of inherited money. That's an important number if you think you're a victim. No, it really is, because if you're looking and you're saying, listen, I didn't get anything. I don't plan to get anything. Therefore, I can't become a millionaire. That's called false.

These millionaires, over 10,000 of them that we talked to, these are people that were focused and they did some things consistently, Dave, over time. And so they realized that they were in charge of their future. They decided to make decisions and move in a direction. And so what it tells you, America, is that it's available. This is something that you can do as well. It's just a matter of getting started, Dave, and having the right information. It's the largest study ever done of millionaires in North America. And we found that 94% of them grew up in middle class or less.

Around 80%, 8 out of 10, said they were lower middle class or below. And so this idea that you have a silver spoon or this idea that you are a person of privilege whether it's due to race creed color national origin it's just false yeah yeah does everyone have obstacles of course yeah of course we're not saying no one has options this is not a pollyanna thing it's not easy if it's easy everybody do it we wouldn't need to write the book. But this is doable. Yeah, it really is.

And listen, we all have obstacles and we all have different starting points as well. But the reality is that it's a matter of making decisions, being intentional, and staying that way. Not getting distracted. Not following this next whimsical thing, but following a surefire plan. And that's what we walk through in the book. So hear me, the book is fantastic. The team did an amazing job working on this. We have the statistics from over 10,000 millionaires. We talk about the attributes that these billionaires have, all of them have in common, but we also more importantly, tell you their stories. I mean,

it is amazing to hear where some of these people have come from, what they walked through, some of the obstacles and challenges that they had. But guess what? They didn't let it hold them back. They were very, very focused and extremely hardworking people. It's like Condoleezza Rice said at Entree Summit last year. It doesn't matter where you're coming from. All that matters is where you're going. I love that quote. I do, too. I do, too. So Los Angeles, here's the deal.

Tonight, Chris will be signing books in Barnes & Noble, 6 o'clock at the Grove at Farmer's Market. $1,000 given away by the SmartVestor crew. No purchase necessary. Must be present to win and must be 18. That's always the giveaway rules, right? He'll be signing books in San Jose, California. And folks listening up there in the San Fran area and San Jose area,

make plans to come out to the Barnes & Noble at Stevens Creek Boulevard. Again, $1,000. That's Wednesday night at 6 o'clock. On Tuesday night, we'll be doing the Smart Money event at Mariner's Church in Irvine. Chris and I will be doing that together. And then, of course, on Thursday, Chris will be in Sacramento. Listen up, Sacramento. Here we come.

Barnes & Noble, 6 o'clock at Arden Fair. And that's a $1,000 giveaway there as well. Again, all of this brought to you by the SmartVestor team and the $1,000 giveaways and all that. So you want to be there. Because SmartVestor connects you up with the ability to do the investing that causes you to be an everyday millionaire. See how this all works together.

It's not an accident. On Friday, you'll be in Seattle at the Barnes & Noble there. More information coming up on that really, really soon. Busy time. Last week of the book tour, three weeks out. Are you going to make it? Oh, absolutely. I'm going to make it, Dave.

You still got energy. I'm still fired up and ready to go. I may extend it a couple weeks. Really? No. But I am excited. Listen, California, i want you to come out i want to see you you all have always treated me fantastic and and really turned out excited i expect to see you there we're we've already kicked off a new year now it's time to get on a plan that's going to

take you where you want to go this is is not an accident. The American Dream is available, and I'm coming to see you to prove it to you. Well, it is available. It's hard. Yeah. It's not easy. Not everyone will pay the price that you have to pay to win. And then I guess it's comfortable to take a victim narrative if you're not willing to pay the price to win.

And that's just sad. Yeah. Because we want better for you than that. We believe in you. We are proud of you. We know that you can sad. Yeah. Because we want better for you than that. We believe in you. We are proud of you. We know that you can do this stuff. And we think that hope is alive and well. And it's not Pollyanna, and it's not just some kind of false positive thinking thing.

This is statistical facts of exactly what occurred, and it gives you a model to follow. And if you follow the model, its best practices, you will be one of the everyday millionaires that we're talking about. And we're meeting people everywhere that are now self-identifying. They're walking up to us and whispering, I'm an everyday millionaire. It's like they don't want to brag about it, but they're proud. But they're proud. And there's nothing wrong with that. And so if you are coming out in California and you are an everyday millionaire, I want you to come up, shake my hand, and lean in and just tell me. Because it's good for me to hear it. He might yell through the store.

Oh, yeah. No, don't yell at me. And I promise I won't. But I want you to give me a wink and tell me, Chris, I'm an everyday millionaire. And when I shake your hand, I'll know. I'll know it's not an accident. I know you made a decision to start to build your family tree in a whole new direction. The book is Everyday Millionaires, How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Wealth and How You Can Too.

Barnes & Noble tonight in Los Angeles at the Grove at Farmer's Market at 6 o'clock. Be there. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs.

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John is in Tampa. Hey, John, welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, how's it going? Better than I deserve, sir. How can I help? Hey, I've got a quick retirement question. I understand that I need to invest 15% of my income for retirement. Right now, I've just gotten the ability to get into my company's 401k program, and they have a 6% match.

Good. They also have a Roth or a traditional option good so so i wanted to know your opinion on which of those options i should choose and then what do i do with the excess above the match should i put that into a traditional ira or roth ira um okay let's walk it through. The best thing you can get is tax-free growth with a match. The next best thing you can get is tax-free growth. Tax-free growth is called a Roth, all right? So we're going to do the tax-free growth with your 401k with a match in the Roth for sure. Now, the matching portion, the portion your company puts in, is not Roth. It's traditional.

You can convert it to Roth at the end of the year, but you'll pay taxes on that amount when you do. It'll increase your tax bill, okay, which I do that. We match here, and, of course, I match myself, which is kind of a mathematical weirdness. But anyway, like our guys here, they'll convert at the end of the year the portion that the company matched if they're doing Roth, and that'll increase your tax bill a little bit. The income taxes on that amount of money is what it amounts to.

There's no penalty. Anyway, that portion is 100%. We're doing that. Take the 6% with the match as a Roth at your company. Pick good growth stock mutual funds, and we recommend and have always invested in, and I personally invest in four types. I spread it evenly across the four types, growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international.

Look for those four types of funds and look for stuff with good track records and long track records. So not something that's been open for a year or three years, but something that's been open for 20 years or 30 years and that kind of a thing, as far as the mutual funds inside your 401k that you have to select from. Do you know which companies are represented in your 401k? Just Vanguard. It's all Vanguard?

Yeah. Okay. All right. Well's all Vanguard? Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, they've got some good funds. All families have good funds and bad funds, so don't just automatically say, oh, everything Vanguard's got is awesome. I personally buy some Vanguard. Okay.

I've got some in my own portfolio. But some of their funds don't perform up to par. So look at them and pick them out on those four categories. Now, once we've done that back to your question then do we continue to get to 15 in your 401k roth or do you do a individual roth out to the side if you've got good mutual funds in your 401k i would just continue in the 401k for convenience. If the mutual funds are substandard, we're going to take them anyway for that first 6%, right?

Because that 6% is a 100% rate of return. And then if the mutual fund underperforms, we still made 100 and something. So definitely doing that, okay? But past that, I'm going to continue in your 401k only to the extent that those mutual funds are good. They're medium to good. If they're poor funds, then past your match, step out and do a Roth, a traditional Roth. I mean, a regular Roth IRA, an individual Roth IRA for you and your wife, which is $5,500. Unless you're over 50 years old with $6,500 a year, you can do each there. So always do the match first.

Tax-free match is the best. Tax-free growth with a match is the best. Even a traditional 401k is better than Roth if it has a match up to the match. Mathematically, you're going to come out. Because you got a 100% return before you started, right? So you can pay some taxes out of that and come out uh but but you don't have to worry about that in your situation so you know have you looked at your funds uh that are available through vanguard are they good strong rates of return over long periods of time i have not had the chance to

investigate all of them yeah okay all right if they are you'll just stick in your 401k and load it up are you married no i'm not okay yeah we just load your 401k up but you can easily get up to 15 there unless you're uh you know unless your company has 401k problems where you're a high capacity earner and they're limiting your contributions if they do that then you're gonna have to step out and do the roth as well but you're if you got good options i'm just going to start maxing that almost the first 15 percent's all going to go in there get the match and it's all going to be in a roth the tax-free growth is incredible so hey good question john get after it man that's how millionaires are made investing in their 401k over long periods of time rick is with us in portland oregon hi rick how are you

i'm doing well, Dave. How about yourself? Better than I deserve. What's up? So my wife and I, we actually just finished up Baby Step 2. Thank you for your guidance. And so we're in Baby Step 3, and we've got about four months of emergency fund left built up, and we just found out that we're pregnant.

Yay! Oh, yes. We're very, very excited. It's actually going to be our first child. Good. Yeah. So my question is, well, originally the plan was to build up to about four or six months and start contributing to retirement.

As your guidance is. Now, with the baby on the way, our HSA accounts are kind of low on the money side because we haven't been contributing to them until just recently. So my question is, should we build up maybe a little bit extra above the six months just to make sure everything's okay with my wife and the baby and then start building the retirement or start going towards retirement it'll be about maybe an extra month yeah i'm gonna put i'm gonna put enough in the hsa to make sure i take care of your portion of the labor and delivery because that's tax-free money that you're paying that with it's pre-tax money that you're paying your your medical with. So you want to make sure

the HSA has at least enough in it to cover your out-of-pocket for the labor and delivery. That's going to be part of your plan. And then, yeah, just get it to, if you were going to do four to six months, I'd do six months and then make sure your HSA is fat and sassy. Past that, you can go ahead and start your 15%

because you're not going to have anything past a six-month plus an HSA that's going to hit you that hard. What is your coverage in the event there was complications? Is your coverage 100% after deductible on your HSA or 80-20? 90. 90. Okay. So you can calculate that out and go up $100,000.

That's $10,000 out of pocket. And probably labor and delivery is 100%. Okay. I'm guessing. Look at it and see. out and go up a hundred thousand bucks that's ten thousand dollars out of pocket and probably labor and delivery is a hundred percent okay i'm guessing look at it and see normal labor and delivery without complications so if there was a big time not a big time complication a medium complication big time complications a million dollar nick you stay but a medium complication of some kind a hundred thousand that'd be a that'd be a pretty good event, right? That's $10,000 out of your pocket, and normal labor and delivery is paid 100% probably. Your six months and your HSA would cover that.

If that all happened, I'm probably stopping my retirement temporarily if something like that hits me, because you're going to want to rebuild your emergency fund. But to be ready for baby and be calm and financially peaceful, six months plus some fatness to the HSA will get you there. Does that make sense? Yes. And then I guess I have a follow-up question with that. So with us starting our 15% towards retirement, we'll have some extra money built up,

and that was going to go pay off the mortgage. Now I want to throw it into a 529. However, I can't start that until the baby's born. So should I just hang on to that money and then throw it into one lump sum once the baby's born? What's your household income? Before taxes, about $200,000. Oh, okay.

Man, you've got money flying everywhere. You do? Good for you. What do you do for a living? I'm an engineer. Good for you. Well done. Good.

Okay. Yeah, you're $529,000. You can put up to, most of them are $10,000 a year that you can max. And so, you know, if you want to just say, I'm going to plop $10,000 in as baby's birth announcement hits, and you can get the Social Security number, which you have to wait to do that, if you want to just say, I'm going to plop $10,000 in as baby's birth announcement hits, and you can get the Social Security number, which you have to wait to do that, as you pointed out, that's okay if you want to. The good news is, five years from now, all of this is going to be rocking.

You're going to be pounding on this house. College is going to be rocking. Retirement's going to be rocking. You know, you're making good money. You're actually being intentional with money. You're going to be wealthy. Your kid's going to be great, man. Just stay on beat.

Just keep aiming. Keep aiming. Keep aiming. Keep aiming. Keep being intentional. You're going to work your way through these things. Good job. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Do you know who is a prime target for identity theft?

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Hey, guys, how are you? Hey, Dave, we're doing great. How are you? Great. Better than I deserve. So I see on my screen you're debt-free. Congratulations. Thank you.

Thank you. Very well done. How much have you paid off? Well, we paid off about $33,000 in the span of 18 months. Good. And your range of income during that time? It's between 38 and 40. Wow. That's a great job.

What kind of debt was the 33? It was all student loans. Wow. Got rid of old Sally Mae. Yep, sure did. That's fun. fun gave the old woman her eviction notice get out of my house that's right i like it very cool congratulations so tell me the story what happened 18 months that made you guys flip the switch and say we're gonna kick the old woman out of the house well we got married dave oh that'll do it yeah and uh we graduated from college too okay so you're starting off you're starting off life and you go get the big boy big girl job that's right and we say hey you got thirty three thousand

dollars here and the first order of business is clean that up why didn't you let it drag out like everybody else why'd you get in attack mode how did you know to do that yeah we uh i mean we we watched your show we read some of your stuff um and obviously we saw that you know paying it off as quickly as possible um it's so important um because of the interest piling up with that and it's just something that we really wanted to get to get rid of so we wouldn't have to worry about it anymore and we could move on with our lives and start off with the other plans in place. So were either one of you's parents good with money? My oldest parents were pretty good with money.

I mean, we came from Christian households, so I feel like both of our parents were good with money, but they didn't really teach us your principles. Gotcha. So how did you know to attack it using the debt snowball and do this stuff? Well, I started listening to your podcast probably every day. I'm sure my boss can tell you that I listen to it almost every day. So that's really how I started learning about the debt snowball was through your podcast. Okay, cool. Very cool.

So tell people what the secret then is that you've used. The two of you have done it. You're not theoretical. You're real human beings. It really paid off, $33,000 in 18 months making $ to 40 grand that's pretty impressive you've been on beans and rice i mean you guys have been watching every penny what is the secret to getting out of debt um i would i would definitely say it's discipline um it's i mean when you get that paycheck um every two weeks it's looking at it and saying,

man, we have to use this paycheck and we have to be purposeful with it, looking beyond the here and now and the self-gratification, the things that we want at the moment we can't really have. We have to go ahead and knock this out right now. Yeah, I got you. Okay. Well, congratulations, you guys. Very well done. What was the hardest now, you know. Yeah, I got you. Okay. Well, congratulations, you guys. Very well done. What was the hardest part for y'all?

I think the hardest part for me was Miles' grandma died, and we got an inheritance. And we actually only have one car, so we really debated on whether to get a car or to pay off debt with that inheritance, and that was a really hard decision to just pay off the debt and not get a new car and suffer through just having one car. So now you can go get a car. You save up and pay cash, right? That's right. We're working on it. Yeah, it's first order of business once that emergency

fund's in place well good for you guys very well done we've got a copy of chris hogan's retire inspired book for you uh he's going to show you the rest of the way of how to become millionaires and we want you to call in on the millionaire theme hour and talk about how incredibly generous you are and how smart you are someday and that'll be your next story in our next chapter in your story okay all right well congratulations you two very proud of you very well done your heroes miles and abby dallas texas 33 000 paid off in 18 months making 38 to 40 a year. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

I love it. Way to go, you two. Very, very well done. Chris is with us in Denver. Hi, Chris. How are you? I'm well, thank you. Yourself?

Better than I deserve. What's up? So I've been working at Plan for a little over a year, and I'm at an intersection point with a rental and the rest of my debt. I'm sitting at about a $130 in debt, or $140 in debt and $130 in equity on a rental property, and I'm wondering if it's worth it to sell it to be done with it or hang on to it and just be patient. Typically I refer to patience as the virtue I don't have time for.

I'm wondering if it's worth those moments. That's pretty good. So what's your household income? Take-home is just under 103 okay so this speeds uh up your debt freedom by about three years or so uh-huh yeah i'm selling it all right yeah does that make you 100 debt free except your personal home then uh yes yeah i'm with you i think patience is a virtue i don't have time for i'm with you that's a great line feel free to use and abuse it yeah i will i'll use it i'll and i and i won't

give you any credit either so seriously man that's that yeah i would be uh if i woke up in your shoes and if you listen to this show you know that's how i answer your question is what would be, if I woke up in your shoes, and if you listen to this show, you know that's how I answer your question, is what would I do if I woke up in your shoes? I would love being debt-free more than I would love that rental with debt on it and that other debt sitting around my neck for the next three years or so while I pedal my way out. No, I'm pulling the trigger, put the machete on this thing, be done with it, and then move on. And you'll save up and pay cash for rentals later i did but and i love real estate it's my favorite investment um personally

i own a lot of real estate a lot of mutual funds and it's what i put money into so i i'm a big fan of real estate but not but in this case you can trade out and be debt free and then move along to building wealth. And at the point you're building wealth, you pay cash for your rentals on the next go-round, and you'll be in really good shape. Hey, good question. Thank you for joining us. Emily's with us in Louisville, Kentucky.

Hi, Emily. How are you? I'm good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? My husband just received $800 in savings bonds, and they've matured for anywhere from 6 to 12 years.

We're not really sure. We haven't really dug into them. We actually just got them last night from his mom, and we're just kind of wondering what to do with them. Cash them out and put them on wherever you are in the baby steps. Where are you? Well, kind of like 3 1⁄2. We have our 10, you know, we're going step three,

but now I can't start saving for retirement from our work until I've been here full time, but I just graduated college. And so I can't do that, start saving for retirement through work until next January. And so right now we're just trying to pay on our house bill, $40,000 left, and our current income is about $90,000. And so if we kind of attack that, we can have that paid off by mid-next year. Okay. Well, I wouldn't do that.

I would finish your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. I'd start putting 15% in retirement, which you can do Roth IRAs and do a couple of those, and I'd use the $800 towards that. You need to be putting about $15,000 away and then paying extra on your house. It will delay your home being paid off, my plan will, by about four or five months is all. And there's no way I'm going to stop in your case. You're making really good money. I see what you're doing, and I understand.

It's not a bad plan. But what we teach and we believe is you need to get retirement started and then start tearing in and paying off the house as fast as you can. The neat thing is putting 15% of your retirement away in baby step four, 15% of your income going away in retirement is not going to delay the payoff of your house but about four or five months. You're still going to be very young with a very paid for house you're doing great you're doing great that's what i would do i cash the bonds in and use them towards that end this is the dave ramsey show Thank you. our question of the day comes from blinds.com you know jade steinfeld my friend started blinds.com

about 20 years ago to make the complex process of ordering and installing new custom blinds simple. With Blinds.com, you get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you're going to save even more. Always put in the promo code RAMSEY and you'll see the best possible deal out there. That's the magic word, RAMSEY, at Blinds.com. Callie is in Washington D.C. She says my husband refuses to cut up our credit card because we plan to travel to Europe at some point soon and he thinks we'll need it for booking hotels. Is there a way to travel internationally and not use a credit card?

Sure hope so. I'm going to France in three weeks. I guess I'm probably not going to be able to stay in a hotel there. I bet I won't be able to eat out there. Maybe I should stay home. That's dumber than crap. Come on, Callie, really? I mean, that's just dumb dumb they don't take debit cards in europe give me a break if they take visa they take visa if they take mastercard they take mastercard i mean no this hasn't got anything to do at some point we try plan to travel to europe well when would that be like after you get out of credit card debt because you believe carrying a credit card in your pocket is a good idea? That's just dumb.

It's just straight up dumb. You don't even have a Europe trip planned. I'm leaving in three weeks for Europe. But I don't have a credit card. I sure hope Europe's still open. I sure hope they let me in. I got my passport. Maybe I'll be okay.

What do you all think? Your debit card will do everything your credit card will do, except run you into debt. It won't do that. So you better make sure you have money in your account when you go to Europe in order to pay for the Europe trip, which if you don't have the money to pay for a Europe trip, you probably shouldn't go to Europe.

There's a shocking idea. I think now we got the core of your problem didn't we yeah there it is right there that's what's really going on with your husband he's afraid he won't get to make his europe trip unless he borrows the money to do it that's what's really going on julie is with us in saint paul minnesota hi julie how are you hi dave i'm well first off i just want to say thank you so much for the help and guidance that you provide to so many every day. Well, thank you. How can I help today? I have a quick question.

My husband and I are divorcing, finalizing probably this summer. I'm sorry. Thank you for that. We have two children, 18 and 14. My question is, I potentially have the opportunity to stay in the family home until our 14-year-old is 18. So that would be the next four years with my soon-to-be ex offering to pay half of the mortgage over these next four years. I'm wondering if this is a good idea because in the meantime, I have student loan debt that I would like to pay off by the time that next four years come to an end.

What is the mortgage payment? The mortgage payment is $1,200 a month. So you'd be on the hook for $600 if he pays his portion. How stable is his career path? Very stable. Okay. his portion how state how stable is his uh career path very stable okay um so you've been married 20 years yes um how likely is he to keep his word uh i trust him we're divorcing amicably. I have no reason not to trust him. How do you divorce amicably after 20 years? That's a hard question with a lot of emotion involved. I imagine.

Okay. All right, here's the thing. So what is the tradeoff if you don't do this? I guess you get the equity. You're half the equity in your pocket, right? My portion of the equity would be significantly lower than his portion. Why? Because he received some money through a property sale from his side of the family that we turned around and put into the house to finish the

basement and so he has a larger portion of the equity coming his way okay so how much equity would be coming your way if you sold the house um my portion would be about 20 000 okay and of course your port it's a percentage and so your portion will go up if you live there four years and the value goes up right right? Correct. Okay. And what does he make and what do you make now? He makes about $70,000 and I make about $50,000. Okay. All right.

Well, if you're a $50,000 a year single mom with a teenager at home or two and you can find a place to live in saint paul for 600 bucks that's not bad the uh rents in the area that we live in are what i'm finding is about a thousand dollars yeah that's what i'm saying 600 bucks isn't bad your half of the payment is a good deal, right? Right. You couldn't rent that house for that. Right. And is there any reason for you to move in all the emotion? There's no reason to move.

On paper, I feel like it's smart to stay in the house and pay off the student loan debt that I have over these next four years and get out from under that and then start to build. Agreed. I'm sorry, go ahead. Agreed. I agree with you. I think that's smart. I mean, it's a low monthly cost for nice housing.

Absolutely. You've only got $20,000 tied up, and you use your income and your tight budget to go ahead and clear up the remaining student loan debt so that you know you've got this four-year thing on the horizon here. You know you've got to move then. But by then, the last kid is out, and you're going to make different housing choices than you'd make today anyway. Absolutely. And so unless there's something that has occurred in the home that you don't want to look at those walls for four years emotionally. And that's a reasonable thing, by the way.

This is a personal finance decision, and that means it's also personal. And so if something bizarre has happened in the home and you don't want to, other than just 20 years of marriage, I mean, that's enough. But, I mean, if it's something that's just too painful to be there, then maybe you rethink it. But mathematically, it all works. Okay. And I thought it looked good on paper, but I just really wanted to get your opinion to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

I think it looks great on paper, actually. But I want to give you permission to use things other than math to make this decision if you need to. Sure. And there isn't any reason why I feel like I need to move out of the house. I just want to make sure we're setting ourselves up, you know, the kids and myself, for a stable financial future. Well, if it's, like you say, it's amicable and he's steady. Now, if he doesn't pay the bill, you're going to get yourself into a mess. Correct. Or if he decides he's going to hold that over your head for this or that

or decides to get nasty at some point and this thing starts to unravel, then we just put the house up for sale. Sure. We just end the thing. Absolutely. That's the biggest downside is you're still tied in, but you're still tied in with kids. Right. So, you know, you've got some contact anyway, and I suspect there's some child support, is there not?

There will be some child support coming, yes. So, I mean, if he's not bringing that and he's not bringing the house payment and that's the agreement, then I guess we'll talk to the judge about it. You know, it's called contempt of court at that point. So, you know, that's just the kind of thing you're talking about. There's not going to be a, quote, clean break emotionally. You are still going to have to deal with him. But it doesn't sound like that's too bad a thing.

It's obviously not a great thing. But, yeah, the math on it works. Probably doing it. But make sure you've got a plan after your four years. Don't let it sneak up on you because, as we all know, you blink your eyes and four years is gone. It goes really, really fast. Thanks for the call. I'm sorry you're going through this.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. Sharon and I are getting ready to celebrate 35 years. I told her if she leaves, I'm going with her. I'm just stuck. She's stuck with me. She is not getting rid of me. It's not going to be that easy. Polly says on Twitter,

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