The Ramsey Show - App - BREAKING NEWS: Dollar Car Rental Now Allows Debit Cards! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 5, 2019

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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. Now, you hardcore Dave Ramsey listeners

just noticed a change. Some of you, it drove past you and you didn't notice it. Some of you are like what just happened? Well occasionally in business, occasionally in radio, something special occurs. And this is a very special thing that has happened. It began in March of last year. It began years before that because as a debit card user, I have been pissed off at rental card companies for decades because they treat us like second-class citizens. And forever, I have thought if a rental car company would finally get it, get the memo

that those of us that have debit cards are, by and large, better risks than those of you that are deeply in debt with a credit card when we rent your dadgum car. So I took this call last March. Let's play it. Well, different car companies are, they move around so much on their policies that we can't keep up with them. We've actually been trying to get one or two of them to just say,

we'll just take a debit card because then we could advertise for them. Tell 15 million people that you could go to a certain brand that would be valuable to them. But none of them have been able to figure that out yet. So I don't know today who takes them and who doesn't. There's always somebody that does, and there's always somebody that doesn't. I got tired of chasing them, begging them to offer debit cards and do the right thing one of you are listening that is an executive of the rental car company here's a hint i'll tell 15 million people to use your service if you will accept a debit card and quit penalizing people who

actually have a brain and got rid of all their credit cards and use a debit card people like me well that was fairly plain fairly easy to understand so a guy named james is driving along listening to the radio he lives in fort myers florida he happens to be married to susan jacobs who is the senior vice president of brands for dollar car rental she is in a meeting while i'm saying that with some of her senior executives in the Hertz Corporation, which owns Dollar Car Rental. And her husband is frantically texting her and sending her the clip of the audio in the text, saying, you think, you think, you think you guys ought to look at this?

Because he's a big Dave fan, of course. And so the weird thing was we ended up connecting with Dollar because of that. And Susan Jacobs, the senior vice president of brands, married to James, came here and with her team. And we sat down and we've had several sit down conversations with them here in our offices since March. And they heard us loud and clear that you guys that carry debit cards don't need to be treated like second-class citizens when wanting to rent a car. And Dollar Car Rental is not only a wonderful company, but they've got some very creative team members and executives and leadership team,

and they're just nice people. We got to know some of the senior people, the chief marketing officers and so forth in this process. And all we were asking them to do was to say, hey, take a debit card and don't mistreat us, which they immediately went, oh, we get the memo, but we want to go further than that. We want to do all kinds of stuff for Dave Ramsey listeners, and we want to sponsor some of your stuff. How can we do that? And we said, well, we're sold out, but we'll let you sponsor the studio. So we ended up doing that, and so I'm now sitting in the

Dollar Car Rental studio. 28 years I've been doing radio, and we've never sold a sponsorship for the studio, and now we have a sponsorship for the studio. But that's a sidebar thing. Oh, and there's other stuff that's coming later, but for today, we're ready to announce that Dollar Car R rental loves you you dave people they love you they want to treat you like first class citizens if you use a debit card for your car rental if you rent a car from dollar car rental all you need is a debit card a driver's license to be 20 years old now you gotta have 200 in the bank because there's always

a hold put on a debit card just like when when you check into a hotel, same there, same kind of thing. That's a normal deal to hold the cost of your rental car. And they don't do a credit check. They don't hold one of your children in the vault. They don't point a gun at your face and question you as if you are a spy from another planet. You simply walk up with a debit card, a driver's license. You're 20 years old. You have $200 in the bank.

Bingo! You rented a car! Touchdown! Like a regular person! Wow! It's amazing! I love this! And it was a pretty incredible thing.

The way this all came together off of that little mini rant I did, which I've done extended rants on debit cards with credit cards, with all kinds of mistreatment that we debit card users get, but the credit, the rent-a-car companies were the worst, right? Not anymore. Don't get to a city and wonder if your debit card will work because you didn't do business with dollar. I am so wholeheartedly endorsing this company.

Why? Because they completely changed all of their policies in the last six months in order for me to do this today. I mean, they molded this program for you people that are listening and that are following the stuff we teach and don't have a credit card. This is pretty cool. No credit check. You just have a debit card.

You walk up with your driver's license and you're 20 years old and you have $200 in your account. That's it. That's all you got to do. It's amazing. Now, make sure when you're doing this that you tell them where you heard about it, that you're a Dave Ramsey fan. And this is the reason I was going to do business with one of those other brands that I'm not going to mention. But now, because you're going to treat a debit card user like a first-class citizen,

we're going to do business with you. Here's a better part of this, though. Even if it gets better. It's just hard to believe it gets better, but it gets better. If you sign up for the Dollar Express rewards with your debit card, you skip the counter and you go directly to the dollar lot. Log on to dollar.com slash Ramsey dollar.com slash Ramsey. Join the Dollar Express rewards. Even if you're not going to travel today, go ahead and get this all set up.

And it puts you one step ahead. It lets them know you're a Ramsey fan because you joined Dollar Express Rewards at dollar.com slash Ramsey. You walk past the counter into the parking lot and drive off with a car. This is amazing. I mean, you got this kind of service with credit cards with some of the other people. But those of us that have had debit cards, I haven't had a credit card in 30 years. And I'm 30 years worth of pissed off at being mistreated. And so I'm 30 years worth of celebrating right now that this is awesomeness.

Not only is it awesomeness because I actually found a company that has a leadership team that cares so much as a huge company that they pivoted their entire operation to where you can walk in and take your debit card in there today. That was a big deal. They got the memo from you folks that you wanted this. And from me, I spoke for you. So don't let me down. Go to Dollar Express.

Go to dollar.com slash Ramsey and sign up for the Dollar Express rewards. But anytime you're doing business with Dollar Car Rental, you're going to love the experience. These are great people. But be sure and say, I did this because of you people listening to what Dave was saying on the radio and changing. This is good corporate culture right here. This is actually when business works right, when they listen to the customer and change stuff.

This is amazing. I love it. I am now broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios. I'm proud of it, baby. 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?

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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. I'm so pumped, I'm just going to say it over and over again. I'm broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio. That's just fun to say. It just rolls off the tongue. So fabulous.

I love it. Wade is with us in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Hey, Wade. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, thank you so much for taking my call. Sure, what's up? Well, my father-in-law has just recently passed away. I'm sorry. Yeah,

he's a great man of faith, and he just loved us well. But today, my wife and I, we learned that she's going to receive a portion of his IRA, and it comes to about $33,000. We're on step number two of our debt snowball. We have right at $24,000 student loans and credit cards just remaining on our debt snowball. So my question is, what is the best thing to do?

Is it better to just roll it over and keep that for retirement in the future, or would it be better to take the lump sum, pay the taxes, and go ahead and eliminate the debt that we have? Yeah, the inherited IRA does not have any penalties, but does have taxes as you pull it out. And you have a required minimum distribution, and it's called an RMD, that you have to begin pulling out a little bit every year, depending on your age. There's an RMD calculation that's used.

So you're going to have to pull some of it out to do that. In your case, what I would do is cash it in and pay the taxes and be out of debt. Okay. And I'm assuming that that would make him smile as long as he knew you weren't going to go back in debt right right you know that's what because we wanted to make sure that you know we wanted to honor him because he was always very good with money and you know tried to you know he farmed he worked he he did what he could you know and if you you know as long as you don't ever go back in debt and you start living responsibly on a budget from this day forward then you've honored his memory with that action

and it's not a bad financial move overall i mean it's a good financial move so uh it's just taxable is all and so you know you're probably not you're probably gonna net about 24 or a little bit more maybe but not a lot more after taxes so what's your household what's your household income uh right around 55 each year very cool okay good very good all right well yeah that that knocks out a big obstacle between you and wealth building and now the trick from this point forward is to you know to continue your career growth and continue to live on a plan and don't go into debt again. But, yeah, that's what I would do. I would just cash it out in this case.

There's no penalty here. This is different than someone asking should they cash out their own IRA or their own 401K, which I never recommend, unless it is to avoid bankruptcy or foreclosure, and you're certainly not facing that. And so the penalties with the taxes are just too much to swallow. And I don't want you to mess with your IRA unless it's an extreme situation. But this is an inheritance that happens to be taxable.

Most inheritance is not taxable. But the fact that it was in an IRA makes an inherited IRA taxable. Charles is in Rochester, New York. Hey, Charles, how are you? Good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

So I'm on Baby Step 2, Me, My Life, and we both had individual whole life policies. And after discovering you, I canceled them and took the cash payout, and I'm putting that towards Baby Step 2. But when I told the insurance guy that, you know, I called him and explained what I wanted to do, and he was a little upset, and he started to give me the line. And then, you know, when I explained why and, you know, where I got the advice from, he really went overboard on being upset. And I'm just, he just got so upset, and I just want to make sure I did the right thing, A. And B, he was, I have my disability policy through him, and I have a term life policy through him as well.

And I said, you know, I'd still like to stay with your with you um but and he said he'd reach out to me later have his assistant or someone and i just i don't know he was just kind of rude about it and i okay so i go into i go into a restaurant i go into a restaurant and i say you you know, it's a steakhouse, and I really don't want steak. I'm going to order your salmon. And so the waiter gets upset and chews me out. Why would I go back to that restaurant? I know.

I just feel bad. Why? Why do you feel bad? Well, I thought we had a good relationship. You're the customer. The guy's being a jerk to his customer. Yeah. Man, you should have heard him. When he found out, when I talked to you about it, oh, my, they don't like you.

He does not like you. Whole life agents don't like you canceling whole life policies. That should not be a shock. Yeah, and he tried to tell me that, that you know if i just waited two more years it would have doubled and that's a bunch of horse crap and so listen but i do it you're a you're a nice person and you don't like conflict but you need to know you need to think about what just happened to you you're the customer yeah and you're you're you. You're the customer. Yeah.

And your company that is yelling at their customer, they're upset with their own customer. That's absurd. I don't care what you do. You do whatever you want to do. You called me, and number one, yes, you did the right thing to cancel your whole life. Always make sure you have the proper amount of term insurance in place before you do that. I told you that before, right? Yep, yep. And I'm, well, he was, I guess I'm going to go to Xander and look.

Yeah, get you some term insurance. I wanted to give him, I just, I had loyalty, I guess, to him, and they haven't gotten back to me. I gave him a week. Do you think that's, I don't know, I just, old-fashioned, I guess. Well, it's not old-fashioned. You're just a kind person. But I've got to tell you, I just old-fashioned, I guess. Well, it's not old-fashioned. You're just a kind person. But I've got to tell you, I'm not that kind.

Because if I'm the customer and the waiter starts chewing me out, you're going to order salmon in a steakhouse? What's wrong with you? Well, what's wrong with me is I made the choice to sit down at your table and stay in your place so you can take this whole place and stick it in your ear, and I'm walking out of there. You know? I i can't there's no way i'm doing that i'm not putting up with somebody with attitude oh i'm not putting up with somebody the attitude that's taking my money yeah so you just want to say one more thing is sure since i found you i just want anywhere out

there listening who's you know i don't make that much money a year, and just your baby steps and your plan, it's changed. Hello? It changed his phone connection, which is gone now. So, you know, by the way, there are two different insurance companies that we have found in the last 30 years that actually teach a class called intimidation selling, where they treat you like crap. And you feel so put down and you feel so much contempt if you don't go along with their plan that you buy. It is an actual sales technique. It's one of the more grotesque ones I've ever seen, but it's an actual sales technique.

So don't put up with crap off a credit card company when you call them to cancel your credit card. I'm the customer. It's a simple transaction. Close the dad blame thing, you idiot. You know, I'm not going to argue with you. I'm the customer. I called up being kind, but you're going to be unkind to me and expect me to continue to give you my money and my trust. Not a chance.

Sayonara, baby. You're out of here. Done with you. Done with you, man. So do whatever you want. But that's a pretty low bar on that for me but i eat conflict for breakfast i'm a talk radio host i get that i understand other people are nicer and more conflict diverse but um i'm extremely loyal but it ends when you start treating me like poop

i mean it's a pretty simple thing. Can't breathe. He probably told him all those lies. These whole life guys, they just make up crap. Jeff Zander and I get together and have dinner. We have laughed so many times at how many times he hears at insurance conventions and how many times I hear on the hate chats that are out there on Dave that I own Zander Insurance or I own a portion of Zander Insurance. I have never owned a dime of it. Now, he does give me money for endorsement because he buys ads here on the air.

But that's been happening for 20 years and pretty successfully, I might add. But no, don't own any insurance companies, nor do I own Churchill Mortgage. By the way. Mike Hardwick, that would come as a great surprise to him if he found out I owned it. Because I don't. But, oh God, you can't have an actual integrity transaction, especially if I don't like you. So I have to make up crap. This is the Dave Ramsey Show.

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Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. We are all at risk, and it doesn't make sense to wait. Numbers don't lie. That's Zander.com or 800-356-4282. Sammy is in Corpus Christi. Sammy, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. I can't believe I'm talking to you.

This is so exciting. Well, I'm honored to speak with you. How can I help? Me and my fiance are getting married next year, and we just finished our baby step one. And yesterday, he received a check from an insurance company for a wreck he was in that was just under five thousand we are wondering if we should use that towards debt towards moving out of our in-laws house or putting some away towards the wedding okay um to start with you should not be handling money together until you're married.

You should be discussing it, what each one is doing, but until you're married, you shouldn't combine your finances. And so, how much debt does he have? Together, it's just under $50,000. Okay. And he got $5,000 from a car wreck? Yes, sir. Was his car totaled?

No, he was in a work van. Okay. So he still has his car. Yes. Okay. So he doesn't need to buy a car with it. So the only question then is debt or wedding or move out, and you don't move out. There's no need to do that until you're married um and so

um i'm gonna uh you know what are you planning to spend on the wedding well our parents are giving us around um ten thousand and we were thinking of putting maybe $3,000 of this towards the wedding. When is the wedding? In April of next year. Okay. A year? Yes, sir. Why are you waiting a year?

His sons actually live across state, and we wanted a time that would be easy to get them without conflicting with their school. Okay. But that occurs all summer, too. Eight months before. It's not a year from April. You're talking about a year from this coming April right? yes sir

so like 14 months there's no time that these kids are off school for 14 months are you living together with his parents or your parents? is that what you're telling me? yes we live with his parents so I think I would find a weekend

before then and just get married. And, yeah, if you want to use some of this money to get married and move out, that's what I would use it for. But if I were in your shoes and if you were living in my basement, well, you wouldn't be living in my basement because I wouldn't allow you to live together in my basement. But anyway, if you were taking my advice, I would get married soon, soon, soon. And as soon as I can get the boys to come over. And certainly there's a time before 14 months from now before they have a break in school. If they have a break next April, they probably have a break this April. And putting together a $13,000 wedding is not that difficult, or you can't do that fairly quickly. And then use $2,000 to move out.

Yeah, I like that plan. And then we're married, and let's together do all we can, work all we can, and begin to work our way out of any debt that the two of you have as you combine your household after marriage. So, hey, thanks for the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Sophia is with us in New York.

Hi, Sophia. How are you? Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking the call. Sure. What's up? My husband and I are looking for advice regarding purchasing versus renting a home. This upcoming May, my husband will be graduating

from medical school, and I'll be graduating as a nurse practitioner. Awesome. Thank you. Big pile of student loan debt? Big pile of student loan debt? No, actually. We'll be moving in june to pennsylvania where he will be for five years for residency and thanks to our parents scholarships and grants we have no loans or debt okay cool good for you that's amazing well done and so he's starting

a fellowship and you're coming out what'd you say a nurse practitioner he's starting his residency yeah and i'll be a nurse practitioner wow awesomeness now when he finishes the fellowship will you stay in that area probably not and it's a five-year fellowship five-year residency yep wow what's his specialization he wants to do orthopedic surgery oh i was thinking that might be what it is since it was so long. Yeah, ding, ding. Wow. Now, the area, again, that you're going to move to is what? Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Harrisburg. Okay. Well, what I would do is do a little bit of research on the housing market there. And by that, I may meet with some realtors. Go to ELP Real Estate at DaveRamsey.com and talk to one of our endorsed local providers and say, okay, how fast do houses sell in Harrisburg, and how easily do they sell, and how much do they appreciate? So if the market is extremely horrible and slow, then you'll want to rent for the five years

because you don't want to get stuck with a house there. You're not going to stay there. But I suspect that the market in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, I don't know it personally, but I suspect it's medium, which would mean I would buy a reasonable home, nothing super fancy. You're there for a fellowship, and you're going to sell it in five years. And I would buy something that looks nice from the street, that has good curb appeal, which will help it sell when you get going to sell it in five years. And I would buy something that looks nice from the street, that has good curb appeal,

which will help it sell when you get ready to leave, and that has a good, usable, predictable floor plan. In other words, don't buy a weird house, okay, because it makes it hard to sell a weird house. We call them white elephant, right? And so you want something that's fairly cookie-cutter, that is going to go up in value, and that you can get rid of when it's time to leave. And, yeah, if you're going to be there five years, I would buy. You're out of debt.

You're 100% debt-free, right? Correct. Awesome. That is amazing. And he got scholarships through med school, and you did through nurse practitioner school? Correct, yeah. From who? From where?

Nothing major, but just enough. And also the biggest portion was definitely our parents helping us out oh okay okay very cool well that is wonderful you guys are so set up you know how far ahead of you you are of the students sitting beside you in nursing school or med school right walking out of... I was afraid you were going to tell me $400,000 in debt is what I was afraid of. No. But we don't have anything saved for, like, a down payment. So we consider it a position. Yeah, rent for a little while then and get your emergency fund built and then build up a down payment.

But that might only take you a year because he's getting paid through the fellowship and residency and you're getting paid well as a nurse practitioner, and you guys can bust it and really build your emergency fund and then a good down payment. About 12 months rental probably, and then you buy for four years. Okay, that was our question. Is it still okay or a good idea to buy for four years? Yeah, I think it would be, but again, check the market. Do some investigation.

Here's the statistic you're looking for when you meet with a realtor or talk with a real estate agent. Is DOM, average days on the market. DOM, days on the market. And so it kind of sounds like this. If you ask them, we're looking at a certain neighborhood here in Harrisburg. And you're thinking of this neighborhood. What's the average DOM? Well, if the average DOM is 30 to 90 days, that means the house typically sells in, you know, one to three months, right?

But if the average days on the market is 290, well, that's a year, you know? That starts to scare me. I might be thinking about renting. That means that market's really really slow and depending on the housing that you're looking at and depending on the neighborhood that you're looking at and depending on the overall economy of that particular town or city you can find a very slow real estate market still there's some of them out there and don't buy into one of those you'll get stuck just rent you bet you're gonna come out better off but i think you're gonna find harrisburg is just fine don't

know much about it but i think you're gonna find find harrisburg is just fine don't know much about it but i think you're going to find i don't have any reason to believe it's not going to be fine i don't i mean i don't think you're going to find it to be white hot one of the hottest markets in america today but i don't think you're going to find it to be a market that has cobwebs and is is you know at the speed of molasses or something so i I think you're going to be fine. Very cool stuff. Very cool stuff. I love it. And congratulations. Nurse practitioner, neurosurgeon, fellowship, debt-free.

Wow! They got a bright future. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Tim is with us in Dallas. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Tim. Hey, Mr. Ramsey. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up?

I'm calling to see what would Dave do question. My wife and I have been praying about a remodel for the last eight months. Just to add a little color to the backstory, we bought a home eight months ago and moved in with the intention of living there for two years in order to save up and pay for the remodel. Throughout buying it, we found out that there was some serious, about three months ago, we found out that there's some serious piping and plumbing issues where some sewage had been leaking underneath the house. There were two bellies in the pipes, and it needed a ton of work.

We just gave birth to our fourth child. Within that time, we tried to patch it. It still produced other problems. Therefore, we decided in November of last year to move out and go ahead with the remodel. We have plans to move forward with the remodel next week. We are going to spend $500,000 on the remodel, which we have cash for. But my wife and I are struggling if it's the right thing to do.

A $500,000 remodel. Yes, sir. That's a bunch. That's almost like pushing it down and starting again. What is the magic that makes you want to do that with it? What's the price range of this house? Yes, sir. We bought a house for $400,000.

And you're going to spend $500,000 on it, and then it'll be worth what? About $975. Okay. So the reason you would do this is not because you're going to have instant equity, because it's not. If I spent $500 on a $400,000 house, I'd want it to be worth $1.6. I would not make $75,000 on all of that. Because, I mean, here's the thing.

You could spend all this effort. It's going to take a ton of your time and your emotional energy. It already has. Yeah, and your emotional energy. And it could, you know, and you're really not getting anything for that other than this finished product. So is the finished product that special? We bought the house because of the lot in the neighborhood. And so is the finished product special?

Yes, it would be what we think is our dream house. But it's like I go back and I go forth and I seek counsel and I seek other people and I still cannot get over the barrier. I mean, why could you not buy the house in the same neighborhood that's already been renovated for $975,000 in a similar lot? The lot, probably not. The home, we probably could find something like that. There's only 15 half-acre or bigger lots in the area.

But I guess my point is that you could take your money, if you sold the house for what you've got in it only and you didn't make any money on it at all, you sold it for $400, you got $900,000 in your pocket for that kind of money you can buy... We don't own the home either, so I have a $300,000 mortgage on it. Oh, I see. You don't have it paid for. It is in your name, but you have a mortgage.

Okay. Correct. And the $500,000 is in cash? You borrowed that money? No, sir. That is what we have saved up over the last five years. Okay. In order to do this deal? Well, we had been praying about a home and a lot.

And we found this home and this lot and decided to buy it. And then sold our home that we were in. How many renovations have you all done? Zero. Okay. And how you all done? Zero. Okay. And how old are you? 32. What do you do for a living?

I'm in sales. Okay. What's your wife do for a living? She's a full-time mama for kids? Yes, sir. And you're a really good salesman. Okay. You make some bank.

Okay. Good. All right. There's two ways to lenses we can look at this. Let's look at it through both of them. Okay. Let's look at it through a pure real estate transaction. I don't like it as a pure real estate transaction.

I'm not mad about it. If you want to go ahead, I won't call you stupid. But if I were on the bubble, I would lean away from doing it because you're an inexperienced renovator getting ready to do a very expensive renovation. And if you're off only 10%, it's a $50,000 error on the estimation of this process here. And you're emotionally already kind of sound like you're drained with this thing just talking to me. And by the time you get done with this, you may wish you had never seen real estate. And when you finish, you're only going to have $75,000 to show for it, equity, for fun. If I'm going to have $900,000 and something and go to all this dad-blame trouble,

I really would like to have a property worth $1.6 million. I'd like to have some equity for all my sweat that you're putting into this. That's what I'm saying. So on the real estate only front, that's how I would analyze it. I'm a very experienced renovator. I've owned thousands of properties. We buy property all the time. We own commercial property that we have to do tenant improvements on.

I'm very familiar with the construction and the renovation process. I would not do this deal because there's not enough room in it to make it fun as an experienced investor. Again, $900 invested over $75, over $975 being the value. So that's my real estate analysis. But again, I don't think you're stupid. If you love the lot and it just is your dream come true, that's fine. I just don't want your dream to become a nightmare, and that's what I'm afraid of. Now, that's one lens, okay? Let's switch gears. Let's look at this. You mentioned two times or three times you were praying about this.

And so from a Christian perspective, from a faith walk perspective, I look at three things when I'm making a large decision like this. Is the action that I'm engaging in contrary to biblical principles? Is it biblical? Number one. Number two, is the timing right? And then number three, do I have peace about it?

And if I don't get peace about something in my spirit that is as big a project as this is in your life, I don't go forward. If the timing is off, or if I ascertain that it's not biblical. So in my sense, I strongly believe the Bible does not tell us to borrow money. As a matter of fact, it tells us several times not biblical. So in my sense, I strongly believe the Bible does not tell us to borrow money. As a matter of fact, it tells us several times not to. And so if I had to borrow money to do it, I wouldn't do it because it's not biblical. It violates one of those three things, right?

Or if I just don't have enough time to mess with what's going on, even if it's a great idea and it's a biblical idea, and I kind of like it, I'm kind of excited about it, but I just don't have time, my calendar, my plate's too full. I'll push it off just because the timing is off. And I call that God speaking to me on the timing, okay? Or if I just can't get settled about it and my wife can't get settled about it. The two of us together on a decision like this have to have a deep abiding peace. And that's different than house fever. That's different than I'm excited about

a purchase or a final product. That's different. I just am disturbed inside. And I want that peace that passes understanding. And I use those as a Christian, and it sounds like you are. I use those as guidance mechanisms. What does that idea say to you? I agree. Do you have peace? I feel like I have had peace in the process over the last three months of planning this. I've had days of peace, but it's come to the point of signing this away and starting the process. And I feel like, I feel overwhelmed by it.

I feel, I feel not peaceful. And I laid awake with my wife last night until two, thinking about this and talking about this again. And we've done this for so long. So here's what's going to happen. Every time there is a hiccup in this renovation process, and you and I know there's going to be a bunch of them, you're going to go into freak-out mode, man. Yeah.

You're going to second-guess yourself. This is going to turn into a nightmare. I don't think your general concept is bad, but I think the Holy Spirit might be talking to you. I think he might be very clearly talking to you in the middle of the night last night. You do what you want to do. I'm not saying God said this. I'm just saying that's how I make decisions, and I'm just listening to you, brother. And you're a good man. You've got a good heart, and you've done a good job saving money. So you do what you want. If I woke up in your shoes,

I'd probably sell this house and use my money to buy something else. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. 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.