The Ramsey Show - App - Being "Good" at Using Credit Cards is Like Being Good at Juggling Swords (Hour 3)

Episode Date: August 2, 2019

Home Buying, Savings, Debt   Tools to get you started: Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE   Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Ryan is with us in Houston, Texas. Hey, Ryan, how are you? Doing good, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Hey, I have a quick question. My wife and I, we are on baby step two. We just got there. We're working towards paying off all our debt. However, my wife, her father, my father-in-law passed away and he did not have a will. However, in totaling up all the assets, there's going to be about $450,000 that we're going to be inheriting. You know, obviously my wife and I had to hire a lawyer because since there was not a will, her sister has tried to take some of the money. And we're paying legal fees right now to get to that money. However, when we do receive it, we're trying to figure out what type of places to put that money when we get it. You'll walk right up the baby steps with it, wherever you are at that time.

Okay. So what's your household income? It's about $65,000. Okay. And how much debt do you have, not counting your home and baby step two? We have about $45,000. Okay. All right.

And so if it takes you two years or more to get this money which it probably will uh you're going to be already out of that yeah and that's what i was kind of thinking so you'll be on yeah you'll be on the baby step three then okay we don't have we don't currently have a house right now we're we're living in an apartment but she's about to go to physician assistant school and that was the money that was supposed to be used to go towards that stuff. That was my only concern. Wait a minute. I'm sorry.

She was going to physician assistant school. How did she know her father was dying? No, she was going to go to physician assistant school, and the money that she was going to inherit was going to be used to pay for it yeah so don't sign up until you have the money okay yeah i don't know yeah because you because it may take you two years it may take you four years yeah we're already a year in so that's kind of the debacle as well yeah so you just wait on pa school until you can pay for it or until you get the inheritance in meantime Meantime, you walk the baby steps. And wherever you are in the baby steps at the time that the money comes in,

then you just accelerate that. So let's say that you're all the way up to baby steps four and five. You don't own a home, so you're putting 15% of your income away for retirement. You're starting your kid's college fund. You're starting to think about how she can go to PA school if you never get this money and buying a house someday if you never get this money. And so you start talking about saving a down payment or saving up money for PA school, and then that money comes along.

Well, boom, you pay cash for a house, you pay cash for PA school, and you finish up the kid's college fund. You're on baby step seven all of a sudden. Perfect, perfect. Yeah, that's how I was just wondering. I didn't know if we would put it toward mutual funds and then take out student loans for it, or how would that work? Okay, you've not been listening to me for very long, have you?

About six months. Me and my wife are just getting barely started. Okay, because you never would have heard me say anything about anybody taking out a student loan, right? Correct. Yeah, okay. So we would never do that, no. Okay.

No student loans. No student loans in any circumstance. Hey, thanks for the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Scotty's with us in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Hey, Scotty, how are you? Hey, Dave, I'm great. It's an honor to talk

to you. You've changed my family tree. I'm honored. How can I help? Hey, so my wife and I are recently out of debt to Baby Step 2 as of Friday, and we will fully fund Baby Step 2 probably this month or the next, and we're going to continue on to Baby Step 3. We're going to save up for a down payment on the house, and we're not sure whether we're going to buy on to baby step three. We're going to save up for a down payment on the house. And we're not sure whether we're going to buy a house or build, kind of depending on what's on the market a year from now when we have a down payment. And I know you suggest a real estate agent walking alongside us when we're buying a house for sure. But in building a house, the process, you know, I've talked to a building company, for example,

and I just don't know. I read on your website that you suggest a real estate agent in the building process, I guess, but if you could walk me through that process and any other suggestions you have around building a house. I know the rules that you give on buying a house, but just in the building process, I guess, I don't know a whole lot about that. It's not like the cookie-cutter way of getting a house, I guess, in the normal sense. Gotcha. Is this your first home?

Yeah, it'll be our first home. And how old are you guys? We're in an apartment. I'm 31 and she is 25. How long have you been married? Six years. Wouldn't build a house. I wouldn't build a house as my first purchase.

I would buy a house as my first purchase. Okay. Unless you're a contractor and you do this for a living or something. No, no. Building a house together can cause a divorce. Yeah, we've got a real strong marriage. I know, I know. Sharon and I do too, but we've thrown kitchen sinks at each other building two houses.

And I would say yes, dear, to a lot of the decisions that would be made. Yeah, yes, dear, yes, dear. That is a lot of the answers. You're right. You can do it that way. But no, dear, this is not in the budget. What do you. Yeah, yes, dear, yes, dear. That is a lot of the answers. You're right. You can do it that way. But no, dear, this is not in the budget. What do you mean it's not in the budget? Well, we have a budget for this freaking house, and you're going over it.

Oh, but I want it. Then stomp your foot and get red-faced, and it's not. Just buy a house. Okay, all right. On your first one, and then I would build maybe as a second or third house later on. There's nothing wrong with it, it is there's nine million details there's a lot of extra stress it's probably 5x stress of just buying a house um and you do get a cool brand new house that you picked out everything that's very neat uh but sometimes people are under the illusion that

that's going to last because your dreams change almost by the time you get the house finished so your dream home your dream home's a moving target and uh it just i i'm okay with you building a house i've built a couple and it's an you know it can be an enjoyable process if you're a project management type brain um which that's the way my brain works anyway but so yeah all that to say brand new young couple first house, I'd save up and just buy something. I really would. I think you'll be glad that you didn't have all that extra stress. It's got to be at least 5X stress, at least. But to answer your question further, yes, I strongly recommend, because it's 5X stress and because there's 5X or 10X, the detail that you have to go through, that you have a good real estate agent that knows about building that's going to walk you through the whole process and that's yeah having a real estate

agent walk with you when you're building a house is absolutely vital especially if you've never done it before now i grew up in a real estate business i've run rehab crews i used to buy and sell property for a living so me building a house was kind of a no-brainer. It's not a hard process for me. But having a real estate agent in your corner, if you've never done that kind of stuff before while you're building for the rest of you that are thinking about buying a new home or building a new home, yeah, I definitely would have one in my corner 100% of the time. Hey, thanks for the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life, your money. This is common sense for your dollars and cents. Common sense is so rare in America. It's like having a superpower. Well, there's 15 million listeners to this show.

Go figure. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. 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. Christian Health Care Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry. A Better Business Bureau-accredited organization, CHM members share

to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years, and our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Rebecca is with us in Bakersfield, California.

Hi, Rebecca. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm well, thank you. Better than I deserve. How can I help? Yeah, my husband and I just? Hi, Dave. I'm well, thank you. Better than I deserve. How can I help? Yeah, my husband and I just started Baby Step number two. We have quite a bit of debt, $97,000 in student loans.

Well, that's a private student loan, and then another $20,000 in federal student loans, and then $7,000 in credit cards. I read your book. I'm inspired to get weird and to pay this off, and I think we can do it fast. We make about $90,000 together take home. I want to do this in five years or less. How much debt have you got again? Say that again. Seven on credit cards and 25 on a student loan, and what on a student loan? The first large student loan is $97,000, Sally Mae student loan.

And then there's a $25,000. And then a $20,000 federal student loan. $20,000, and then $7,000 in credit cards. Yeah, so we have a lot. I think we can do it fast. We cut up our credit cards. We're budgeting. Yeah, five years is not fast.

Yeah, but he thinks it's going to take like ten years still. No, it's going to take less than three. Okay, see, that's what I mean. I need to hear you say that it's possible, because that's what I want to do. Yeah. Well, let's just do some simple math here, okay? You make $90,000 a year. Yeah. Okay.

$40,000 a year for three years pays it off yeah you can't live on 50 we can i think we can we just have to make a lot of changes yeah i mean it's radical this is rip the band-aid off stuff you know it's not tear it off slowly it's rip you know sorry but that that's what's successful is when people get that intense i actually think you're probably going to do this in less than three years because i don't think your income is going to remain the same what do y'all do for a living i'm a registered registered nurse and he is a respiratory therapist wonderful both of you can work like animals yeah that's what the plan is to is work in strikes working And you can make more than $90.

You just have to work all the time. Yep. But you're not going to be able to go on vacations or go out to restaurants anyway because we're getting out of debt, so you might as well be working. I know. I know. It's for a short period of time. We're going to live like no one else so that later we can live like no one else. And, yeah, you're out of debt in less than three years.

But you have no life. That's all I believe is possible. You have no life during that three years well here's the math okay you pick up all the ot you can pick up i mean you pick up some emergency room work or whatever right yeah he does the same thing you can get your income to 120 in this house yeah but you have no life okay just for two years so 120 minus 50 000 is 70 000 to live on 50 000 a year for two years almost knocks this debt out in two years yep but you're working all the time yeah and you have no life and your your friends are going to think you're crazy. And your mother's going to think you need counseling. You know, but you'll be done in two years. Not ten years, not five years. And that's when people are successful is when they get that intense, that focused, and they just go crazy on this stuff.

And that's how you'll win. You have the perfect careers to temporarily increase your income dramatically without doing harm to your career. Yep, yep. Because you can scale right back down and not do any harm once this is over. Yep. But, you know, you don't do 40-hour weeks when you're in a mess. You do 80-hour weeks when you're in a mess.

Mm-hmm. We're in a mess, for sure. Yeah, yeah, and you can do this. You really can do this, Rebecca. This is so freaking doable. But it's going to be all about just making this the only thing you're doing. You have no life, no lifestyle. It's scorched earth, beans and rice, rice and beans. You're going to see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there.

Okay. earth beans and rice rice and beans you're gonna see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there okay i mean you just completely focus on getting out of debt because here's the thing the the deeper people cut the faster they get out and the faster they get out the higher probability is that they get out and so it truly is a rip the band-aid off thing it's do it it's you know boom hit it hard hit it fast hit it often that kind of thing that yeah you can do this you definitely can do this yes thank you i think so too hey thanks for the call mandy's with us in atlanta hi mandy how are you hi i'm doing well thank you thanks so much for chatting with me today certainly how can i help, so I have a question for you. My husband and I are in baby step two, and we've got a long road ahead of us. We have about $107,000 in debt.

Most of it is student loans. And so both of us are on salary. We have no opportunity for overtime. And so I was thinking about things that I can do to help this along, become a gazelle. Um, and I came up with an idea and I just wanted to see what you thought about it, see if it's worth pursuing. Um, so I, the work that I do is in bookkeeping. It's, um, it's creative in creative problem solving, but not, you know, physically creative. And I, you creative and I find myself to be a creative person

so I was thinking of how I might be able to apply that and get some extra income a few years ago I made a table for my nephew where I used a technique that made it very unique and my sister-in-law just really loved it and so I thought well maybe I can do something like that and do it like an Etsy shop style project. So I'm wondering if you have any advice on how to maybe test the idea to see if it's something that people want. I can't find any comparable products on Etsy or other sites like that. I mean, there's tables, obviously, but there's not things that are in this style.

And it would probably cost me about $60 to $70 per item. That's not counting shipping it to wherever it would go. How long does it take to make? It takes probably, I think there would be a learning curve to it. I think I would be able to become pretty quick at it once I got back. If I ordered one today, how long would it take you to make the first one? It would probably take me about two weeks. Okay, good.

You can put it on Etsy without owning one. Right. Take pictures of the one you gave away. Sure, yeah, I can definitely do that. And just say it's two weeks to get there. Okay. Delivery is two weeks. Yeah, absolutely.

Would it be worth it to, because I know there are feeds, I don't know the exact, I looked it up a while ago, but I don't remember the exact fees for Etsy. Do you think it would be worth it to do it on a different platform first, like a Facebook marketplace or something like that? I don't know why you couldn't put it on all of them. Okay. None of them are exclusive, meaning that they all allow you to be on anything

and then just find out where people buy tables, which one of these platforms is the best way to sell it, and how can you move them the most and so forth. And, you know, if you can make it in two weeks and it costs you $60, what are you selling it for? I would imagine I'd have to sell it for maybe $150, $175, something like that. Okay, so you make $100 with how many hours invested? Like I said, I think it would speed up pretty quickly,

especially if I could get my company to help me. How many hours will it take you to build a table that you're going to make a hundred dollar profit on i'd probably say about two hours okay 50 bucks an hour is pretty good job yeah yeah okay why does it take two weeks um well i just i actually had surgery on my hand today i'm sorry yeah so i would have to give myself a little bit of time to heal before. Oh, okay. But after we get past that, you could turn the thing in a few days. Oh, yeah, definitely. Oh, okay. All right.

Well, that makes good sense then. Yeah, all right. I didn't know. When I was asking this, I thought it was just like what a normal customer would get. Oh, no. A month from now, if somebody buys one on Etsy, you can get it to them by the end of the week and make them all custom, right? Yes, yeah, I'd be able to do that.

Yeah, that's the thing to do. Put them out there on everything. Hold on, I'm going to send you a copy of Christy Wright's book, Business Boutique, Equipping Women to Make Money Doing What They Love. And check out the website, businessboutique.com, and all the community there. There's a lot of ladies making a lot of money on businesses and side hustles, both that are businesses.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. In Stamford, Connecticut, Belen is with us. Hi, Belen. How are you? Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? Thank you so much for taking our call and being on your show. It's so exciting. I see on my screen you're debt

free. Congratulations. How much have you paid off? Thank you. A little over $40,029. Good for you. And how long did this take? It took about 12 and a half months. All right, cool. And your range of income during that time? It was $115,000 to $116,000. Good for you. And what do you do for a living? I'm a nurse in Connecticut.

Okay, good. You're working a lot. I'm working a lot. So how much, what kind of debt was this $40,000? Well, it was a little of everything. I took out a retirement loan a few years ago, and then I decided to treat myself with a new car, and then I had lots of credit card debt. So what happened 12 months ago that got you on this plan? Well, I was in school to get my master's degree in nursing for nursing education, and I started, you know, thinking, oh, well, you know, when can I retire?

And started looking at my money and was like, oh, wow, how can I retire if I'm going to retire in debt? So I got online and started to see if I can, you know, learn some more about financial planning. And then I came across your show and that was it. I started listening to the show, and I read the total money makeover and was like, I have to do this. There's no way I can, like, retire with all this debt. Good for you. Yeah. So you just rolled up your sleeves and got after it then, huh?

Yeah, pretty much. Cool. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? I mean, you paid off $40,000, girl. Well, number one is to find out your why. Like, why do you want to get out of debt and, you know, set your intention? And so my why was, you know, eventually, like, you know, stop working but retire in, like, dignity, not to have to borrow money from families or anything like that.

And the second is you have to set a budget. There's no way that you can do this without setting your budget. And then the third is to just be gazelle intense, exactly what you say. You have to just get in there and just do it. You have to get fired up and mad about it. Yeah, I mean, you did. You got down to beans and rice, rice and beans to make this happen, and it looks like you picked up some overtime maybe, did you?

Oh, yeah, yeah. I was working a whole lot, and every dollar that i made that was overtime went towards the debt started to do meal planning and uh forget starbucks like that was out of the question just um making coffee at home uh we started doing game night at home instead of, like, going out and just hitting it hard. Yeah. Way to go. Way to go. What was the hardest part for you over the last year?

The hardest part was, like, looking at that number and staring it in the face. And I thought, oh, yeah, I have, like, this, you know, finance thing, you know, down pat. But looking at that number and, like, being real and truthful to myself was, like, oh, boy, you know. And being a single mom and, you know, making sure that, you know, my children share the journey with me so that they don't make the same mistakes in the future. That's how you change your family tree right there. Good for you.

Yes, yes. How old are the kiddos? My oldest one, he's working right now. He's 24. And my little one, he's here. He's 10. Okay. And how old are you?

I am 44, Dave. Have you ever been debt-free as an adult? No. And now you are? No. Have you ever been debt-free as an adult? No. And now you are. No, thank you. I'm proud of you. Well done. Thank you.

Very well done. Did you have people cheering you on? Well, I had people that thought I was a little crazy. Yeah, I bet. Yeah, so definitely being a single mom and uh you know i i looked to the show to get the inspiration so you know every day listening to the show and sometimes if i was working i would just catch it later on youtube or something and listening to the podcast and hearing all those people scream that they were debt freefree, I was like, well, if they can do it, I can do that too.

That's right, and you did. Twelve and a half months later, boom, mic drop. Good for you. Well done, well done, well done. Thank you so much, David. All right, we got a copy of Chris Hogan's retire-inspired book for you. That's the next chapter in your story to be not only debt-free, but now move towards millionaire status.

So you can hit that Y that you were talking about, that debt-free retirement. There we go. There's something to reach towards. Good job. All right, Baylen, and it's $40,000 paid off in 12 and a half months, making $115,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Okay.

Ready? Orlando? Three, two, one. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Okay. Ready? Orlando. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Great job, kiddo. Well done. Good job, good job, good job. Andrew's in Kansas City.

Hey, Andrew, welcome to the dave ramsey show hey thank you so much for taking my call sure what's up um okay so my wife i just started listening to you um we had no clue um the shape that we were in uh real eye-opening moment um so anyways we are uh we got enrolled in one of your classes. It's going to start next month. And we've got a lot of debt, but we do have some in savings, and we also have some money in our kids' savings. So the question is, do we take money out of their savings to put towards debt,

or do we just leave that there? Well, as you're working the baby steps what we teach people to do is use all of your savings that is not in a retirement account to work your baby steps baby step one is a thousand dollars saved a starter emergency fund two is to start paying on debt how much do you have in savings not counting the kids? We've got about $15,000 in savings. Okay, so you would take that down to $1,000 and throw the $13,000 or $14,000 difference at your debts. How much debt have you got, not counting your house? It is about $24,000.

Okay, and what is the $24,000 on? That is all credit cards. Okay. Have you cut them up? We haven't um we haven't used them um tonight okay well we were going to wait until we started the class i didn't know when it's okay you can cut them up tonight you don't start the class to have plastic surgery tonight right and i just started uh paying attention to our finances i thought that she knew what she was doing. You're going to laugh at this, but I thought she was really good with credit cards, and so did she.

We haven't paid a penny on interest. Really good with credit cards is like saying I'm really good at juggling swords. It's not going to end well. So, no, cut them all up tonight. Let's draw a line in the sand and say, this has not brought us to where we want to be. We're changing direction. Right.

Oh, by the way, if you get completely out of debt and hate it, you can always get credit cards. They'll give them right back to you, right? So if I'm wrong, it's not a big deal. So just cut them all up tonight. Get on a written budget. How much money is in the kids' savings? It's $3,000 to $4,000.

How much is your household income? Well, that's the thing. She just quit her job. She's just working part-time because she's in school full-time. What's your household income? Right now, about $50,000. Okay, good. You can make it without cashing out the kids' stuff.

And I would leave the kids' stuff alone. Technically, it's your money because they're minors. You can do with it what you want to. But it just feels weird as a parent to use that money. It's not enough money to solve the problem. And the problem is not so big you can't solve it. So let's just leave it in there use your savings and don't add any more to any savings until we get these debts cleaned up cut up the

credit cards tonight Our scripture of the day, Matthew 19, 26. But Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Abraham Lincoln said, Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Mmm, there you go. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com.

They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. It means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, if you mess up, they will remake your window blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code RAMSEY to get the best possible deal. Kaylee is in Texas. I never quite understood if my husband and I should each be contributing 15%

of our own incomes to our separate retirement plans, or if we should both contribute a total of 15%. He puts 7% of his income in. I put 8% of mine in. Kaylee, when you put in 7% of your income and he puts in 8%, nobody's putting in 15%. It's math. Sorry. it's um it's math and so um sorry uh no here's the thing okay i want you to combine your incomes i want you to quit looking at it as his and hers and i don't care whose retirement plan you use so if your household income together is X, take 15% of that.

Look at that in a dollar amount. Let's say your household income was $50,000. Average household income in America is about $57,000 right now. So we'll use $50,000. That would be $7,500 a year. It's 15% of $50,000. Okay? The two of you together make $50,000.

15% of that is $7,500. That means that's how much we need to get into some kind of retirement plan somewhere. It doesn't matter if it's at his work or your work or whether it's individual Roth IRAs or whose name it's in. Because in the event of a divorce, you will have access to his. He'll have access to yours, and it'll all wash out one way or the other. You don't have to protect yourself. You're married. And so if you're not married, you've got to do different stuff. But if you're married, that's one of the many benefits of being married.

So anyway, now 15%, so $7,500. So if you wanted to both do a Roth IRA at $3,750, you can put up to $5,500. But we're only trying to get to 15% in Baby Step 4, so you could both do $3,750. Or one of you could do $5,500, another one could do $2,000 into Roth IRAs. It would be that simple. Or if you've got a match over with your 401K and you put some in the 401K to get that match at one of your works, that would be preferable. You want to get that match, that's a good thing.

Then, you know, if you have $2,000 you're putting in over there, then we've got to find $5,500 somewhere else. We might do a Roth and do the 401K. But you're trying to get to a total of 15% of the household income at Baby Step 4. While you are then doing your kids' college savings, while you are any other money you can get your hands on paying off your house early. Those three, Baby Steps 4, 5, and six, run simultaneously together. Amber is with us in Virginia. Hi, Amber.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I have kind of a what would you do if you were in my situation question. I am 28 years old. I'm a divorced mom of two kids. They both actually have autism and I'm trying to decide if I should go back and finish school or if I should move to a better area

where they can get like the therapies that they need, better schools. I can have more job opportunities. My income is so low right now that I'm not sure if it makes more sense to go back to school to try to finish my degree or to move to a better area where it's better for everybody. Okay. Why could you not do both, move to a better area that's better for everybody and go back to school? The thing that I'm concerned about is in the new area that I was looking at, I have family near Richmond, Virginia. The cost of living is much higher, and so is the cost for child care for children with special needs. Where here, I live in a really small community here.

It would be cheaper here for now, but not better in the long run. And you have family in Richmond? Yes. Okay. What if you lived outside of Richmond a little ways where your costs all went down? I mean, Richmond is not that big a town. Right. If you were to live 30 minutes outside of Richmond, you're not even in Richmond. Right.

And all of a sudden your property values would go down and, you know, maybe your care would go down, but yet you might have access to some of these other things. Now, you may be talking about a school system. What level of autism? Are they severe or light or what? They're both moderately affected. They're verbal but very difficult to understand. Okay.

So they're not high-functioning, but they're functioning. Yes. Well, academically, they're high-functioning. It's just socially. Okay. All right. And so that does require a special environment, certainly. Okay.

Right. And, well, is the Richmond school system itself, the actual school system itself, very equipped for that? That's one of the things that's appealing? The therapies that they could get around the school system is what's most appealing. Okay, but by around, do you have to live in that district to get those therapies, or could you live 30 minutes out like I'm talking about? I could probably live a little ways out. Okay. It's in Midlothian is where the therapies are.

I got you. Okay. All right. So it's access to the quality of care in the health care community, not in the school system itself. Right. Okay. I got you.

Okay. Yeah, I think what you've got to do, most cities, if you think about it this way, if you drop a pebble in a pond and it has the rings go out, if you drop a pebble in the middle of a city, as the rings go out, there's exceptions, mountains and water and other stuff that affect that. But as you go out through those rings it gets cheaper with most cities and richmond i mean richmond's pretty much laid out that way it is it's not contingent it's not contiguous to another major metro area where it blends in together right you know it's not a baltimore

washington dc so those things you don't know when you left one drove into the other one if you didn't have a sign you know so uh. But in Richmond, you would. So I think you've got some semi-rural communities around Richmond that you could get close enough proximity to get the care and yet not drive your costs way up and maybe hit two or three of these goals at the same time that way. And give you some more career opportunity as well to get your income advanced, right? Right. I think that's a move you need

to look at plus your family's there right just don't use the drama that is your life right now because you got plenty of drama kiddo god knows god knows you got plenty of drama oh my goodness don't use the drama that is your life to rationalize buying stuff you can't afford, like housing. Right. Don't make yourself broke by, you know, but I had to do it for the children. You know, that's the drama thing, right? Right. You know, instead do the other thing, which is be responsible for the children. And you're being very wise in the way you're asking this question,

because you are really facing some pretty tremendous emotional strain with a low income and with the two babies facing this stuff. I mean, you got a lot of stuff going on here, kiddo. And I think it'd be great to be near family and in a good church and, you know, get some good social support around you as well while you're doing this that you probably don't have now. This is a move you need to make. Okay. Does that make sense? Okay. Yes, thank you so much.

Hey, thanks for the call. God bless you. You got your plate full, kiddo. God bless you. Wow. Open phones this hour. This is the Dave Ramsey Show where we talk about real life. You ever been really scared?

I have. You been really, really mad at yourself for doing something stupid? I have. Several million dollars worth. I've done so many dumb things. Oh. If you have, then you've found a place where you can talk about it and listen to other people. Yeah, we don't beat up on you for the entertainment value here.

We're not going to allow you to live in stupid. We'll call it out. But if you've ever been scared or you've ever messed up, this is your show. It's called The Dave Ramsey Show. That puts us out in the books. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer. Kelly Daniel, our social producer and phone screener. I am Dave Ramsey, your host.

We'll be back before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know you can now listen to The Dave Ramsey Show on Pandora and Spotify? For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at DaveRamsey.com slash show.