The Ramsey Show - App - Can You Afford to Light $80,000 on Fire and Walk Away? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 2, 2023

Dave Ramsey & Jade Warshaw answer your questions and discuss:   EveryDollar, budget for the life you want today for free: Click Here "Can I afford to buy my dream car?" Paying off $27K in credit card debt, "Should I pull from my TSP?" "Should I sell my car or pay it off?" "Sell our house to pay off student loans?" Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Enter The Ramsey Cash Giveaway for a chance to win $3,000! https://bit.ly/TRSCashGiveaway Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: Click Here Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: Click Here Interested in advertising on The Ramsey Show? Click Here Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studios, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Jade Washall, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. As we answer your questions about life and money, the phone number is 888-825-5225. Michael is in Seattle. Hey, Michael, how are you?

Hey, I'm good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Yeah, so I've done the right things my whole life financially. I actually discovered you guys once I was on a really formidable path and kind of in a good place. But being that a lot of the Ramsey values align with how I already felt, I started kind of watching some YouTube videos, whatever. It's always good to find other people that are right.

Yeah, right. I like confirmation bias as well. But so like long story short, I'm in a position now where I, you know, all the big purchases are done and settled down. And I kind of want to treat myself to a second car, a sports car. And it just feels a little wasteful just for the fact that I know that I could do better things with my money like just even leave it in you know an online savings account right now at four and a half percent and you know that's still ticking up right so it just feels a little wasteful trying to figure out and what's it cost all the time the car would be like 80 after it's all said and done. What's your net worth? About 1.35.

Okay. What's your income? Last year it was about 440. Okay. Get the car. Get the car. Treat yourself. That's kind of how I feel. Yes. Come on now. Okay. Let me tell you the thing that Sharon and I do. Okay. Okay. Because it was hard for us to, after for so many years being frugal, for so many years, it was hard for us to make the transition to enjoy money. Okay. Yeah.

And there's two things that have enabled us to do some things that feel, in air quotes, wasteful. But really what that means is I'm enjoying some money. I've lived like no one else, so now I can live and give like no one else. There's two things that do that. Number one, I look at my generosity. And if I were buying an $80,000 car, I know that in addition to our tithe to our local church, we give way more than that. So if I were buying an $80,000 car,

my generosity to wonderful ministries and to help the poor and to help whoever in different ways, whatever struggling group it is that we're trying to help, is way in excess of our enjoyment. Okay, so that's one thing in other words am i am i spending more on me than i am on others okay that's one that's one thing that gives me peace about it and i'm not okay the second thing that gives me peace about it and this is probably even more important is i call it the uh burn it in the middle of the floor test. If you put $80,000 in the middle of the floor and you set fire to it,

would your life change? No. Yeah. So it passes the burn it in the middle of the floor test. If you put $800,000 in the middle of the floor and burned it, your life would change. Yeah. So you can't do that.

So there isn't, you know, that's where we are. Or if you have $100,000 to your name and you're going to take $80,000 and burn it, well, it changes your life, right? Yeah. So you don't pass the burn it in the middle of the floor test. And I never really gave it a name until just now. I like that. I just named the test today but um but the point is it am i doing something that tells me on rate i always look at ratios and the ratio of this car to your net worth and your income is small enough that jade without thinking said buy the car right and so and that's that passed the

past the the ratio is so small that you're not doing something dumb yeah when you reach a point that it is impacting your life for a luxury item or your lug or your generosity is smaller than your luxury item then that doesn't pass the test yeah so. So you have earned the right. You need to do this. And as long as our ratios are there, and we do this, Michael, in addition, we do this with our income because you make a fabulous income. So this is a formula we use. I just got one of my total money makeover royalty checks this week, okay? I get them like four times a year. I get them quarterly.

And so that's like mailbox money right so any money like that above what we need to live i just take that and i apply a formula to it uh number one the government gets 40 percent number two my tithe is 10 percent so that's 50 that's 50 of it's gone the other 50 i split among three categories enjoyment additional generosity beyond the tithe and investment additional investment and so that check is already spent there's a percentage that's going to go to enjoyment without guilt because i'm doing the additional generosity and because i'm being responsible with the investing and oh i'm paying my taxes there's that but yeah but you see what I'm doing so that same formula or that same philosophy is applied in that formula

do you feel it yeah absolutely and I mean I think you know the transition to learning how to enjoy is tough for people who have been through it is it's a new muscle positive yeah you get such a positive association with always saving money that any time you go to spend, it feels really weird and kind of foreign. Michael, that is so true. That's a normal malady of somebody that's got $2 million. That's the first thing. And the first time I moved from a junk car after bankruptcy into a decent car,

I went through this like this is so dumb because these things go down in value this is so irresponsible right and I was buying a five-year-old Jaguar it wasn't like I was buying some super expensive car at the time but my emotions were just you know fingernails down a chalkboard because I'm not going I'm not going to be broke again I'm not going to be stupid again i'm not going to get back there all this stuff in your head you know and so uh but yeah that that's kind of when i had to get okay if i burn this car up am i okay yeah it doesn't matter oh so i'm not spending that much really okay i can afford to do this i can afford this upgrade and you can do that with a lot of things. And it'll keep you from doing too much luxury stuff.

That's so good. I also think it's better money spent that we don't do a ton of extravagant travel. And, I mean, a trip is lighted on fire. Once it's gone, it's gone. You're no longer in the destination. You no longer have the money. So I always felt like the car, too, although it depreciates. But if you take good care of it and don't drive it a whole ton,

if your goals and aspirations or your desires change in a few years, you can probably get out of it with not too, too much damage. But you won't even need to get out of it. Hey, I got a 1960 Corvette because I was born in 1960, frame-up restoration, and I drive it about eight times a year. I promise you if I told my wife we're doing that instead of a trip, I would not own that car. So that rationalization won't work at Ramsey house.

I'm just saying, cause Sharon, Sharon's bags are packed to go on a trip. I'm just all the time. So yeah, but both, both fall in the enjoyment category. Both are okay. Yeah. But they're a small percentage of your world. That's right. That's where you keep it.

And then you don't have any reason to feel guilty, and that helps you to hit the enjoyment button. Buy the car. We didn't even ask him what it was. It doesn't matter. He gets to buy it. I want to know what kind of car it is. A Porsche 911? Was it? He told the phone screener. Oh,. I want to know what kind of car it is. Oh, yeah. A Porsche 911, was it?

He told the phone screener, oh, definitely get that car. This is The Ramsey Show. Jade Walshaw, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Jade has taught Financial Peace University many, many, many many times i don't know how many times you led a class oh probably about 10 or more okay i was going to guess higher than that okay and you are doing a budgeting webinar using the every dollar app on august 9th next week right yes that is correct around lunchtime and it's uh not only how to do a budget the basics but also how in important nuanced stuff like the irregular income like if you if you don't have a

predictable income how do you do a budget that's on the every dollar app and how you do it properly jade's gonna teach you it's completely free yes completely free this is what you need so many look i know who i'm talking to right now it's the folks who've been hanging out around our stuff dave and won't do it and they haven't done it yet you're listening to the show you peruse the website and you think oh you know when the time is right i'll do it this is the time listen if you want entertainment watch netflix okay if you want to change your life we'll'll entertain you while making you not only be entertained, but making you do this freaking stuff. So yeah, listen, if you want to aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. Yep. A budget is people telling their money what to do instead

of wondering where it went. Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell quotes right there okay so first webinar jade is doing is next week it is 100 free no salesman will call other than jake that's going to be doing the every dollar showing you how to do an irregular income and if you want to sign up for the webinar go to every dollar.com slash budgeting every dollar.com slash budgeting if you don't know every dollar is the best budgeting app in the world millions and millions of downloads of this app okay and it's called every dollar because the basics of a budget is giving every dollar a name every month before the month begins, giving every dollar an assignment, every dollar a mission before the month begins. And it's harder to do if you have an irregular income, but it's not impossible if you have

an unpredictable income. And it can be done, and Jade can help you do it. Look, the last webinar we did, actually two webinars back, because we're doing this regularly, I had a single mom come on. She had several kids kids and we walked through what she needed to do she needed to uh trade in her car for a less expensive car she needed to move houses she needed to get her income up don't you know she came on this last webinar just a couple of months later and she had done all those things completely cut meosha completely

changed her life around went from making her income. She more than doubled her income, Dave. Wow. This is what you can do when you get around the right community of people in a webinar like this with a tool like EveryDollar. That's all I'm saying. EveryDollar.com slash budgeting. Sign up.

It's going to be August the 9th will be the webinar. Obviously, webinars have limited spacing because the technology does not allow unlimited visitation. So you need to get over there, get signed up. And again, zero cost. Everydollar.com slash budgeting. Jade's Budgeting Every Dollar webinar, August the 9th. Laurie is in Minnesota. Hey, Laurie, welcome to the Ramsey Show.

Hi, thanks for having me. Sure, what's up? Well, yeah, I don't know even where to start. I just know that I'm frustrated and I have some credit card debt that, you know, I come to find out I went and visited a bank yesterday. 27% interest is actually kind of, I, I guess normal right now, but I was livid because I used to, before a divorce, I used to, you know, get like the zero to three to 7% cause I had pretty good credit and then I got a divorce and things just kind

of hit the fan. And so it's just been a struggle. Um, how long have you been divorced? Well, a long time, seven, 17 years now almost. Well, probably more like 16. Well, then the credit card is not the fault of the divorce. Okay. It's way too long time. 17 years now almost. Well, probably more like 16. Well, then the credit card is not the fault of the divorce. Okay, it's way too long ago. We've got to blame somebody else.

Yeah, no, blame me. Yep, I'm definitely. How can we help, though? It was necessities, you know, like a lot of it. Some of it was travel, you know, giving my son experiences. But again, I totally take accountability. That was kind of stupid. But I didn't realize it was going to get me in the prisoner of debt that I am. my son experiences but again i totally take accountability that was kind of stupid but i

didn't realize it was going to get me in the prisoner of debt that i am you know how much credit card debt do you have hun 27 000 at 27 interest look at that okay yeah it's awful so how can we best help you do you think well i don't know i read your book um and then i was trying the every dollar app and I get to my base bills. You know, I make approximately just from my teaching job. I carry three jobs, well, four with my coaching. So summertime I do two jobs and you know, after just the teaching, just the teaching salary during the school year,

I make about 3000 and my base bills come to $23.88 and that doesn't even include gas groceries. You know, like some of the medical co-pays, you know. Well, you said you have four jobs. What do you make combined? Well, I think I make about, well, I think I make about $60 for teaching, about six to eight for the driving. Driver's ed was about two this year and coaching 3,000. So it's spread out throughout the year. It's not monthly. Okay. 60 for teaching is not 3,000 take home. That's wrong. After union dues and medical and I'm contributing 50 a month for, and i was going to try to take that out because you say to not invest if you still have debt i think right and so i was going to take

that out and i'm like well it's only 51 dollars we'll take it anyway um so my union dues are huge and then we have tra which comes out and that's like 360 a month. What is that? TRA is like Teacher Retirement Association. Oh, you can't get out of that. Mandatory. Mandatory. Uh-huh. Right, right. Okay.

And your union dues are ridiculous too, right? Well, yes. Every paycheck there is 60 bucks. Yeah. Sheesh. Thanks to the teacher's union. Okay. Salute.

And I tried every dollar. What was your tax refund? I paid in. So 600 something. But that's because I screwed up. I had to take, I not screwed up. I intentionally reduced my increased my exemption so I can make it through Christmas and then through a couple

things during the year and so that was my own fault I knew I was gonna have to pay in so usually it's about a thousand do you have kids I do one one age 17 okay um you're gonna have to get your income up that's that's all it is to it well here's the thing and here's what i want you to look for instead of something seasonal i want you to look for something that you're bringing in a steady amount of money each month because that's gonna that's gonna give you a world of peace right now because like you said having you know if your expenses are coming to 2800 and you got you're only earning 3000 that margin is too too slim you're not going to be able to pay anything off that way and you're going to be frustrated exactly

right but what but how do you leave teaching i mean i'm not you know well i'm not necessarily saying that you have to leave teaching if you choose to do that that's fine but either way you're gonna have to get another gig that's pulling in more money, whether it's tutoring, tutoring. Yeah. Something you're doing on the side. Yeah. But again, for clarity, I want you to look for something not drivers that in the fall and not coaching volleyball in the spring. I want you. That's good. But I want you to do something that you're getting money week to week steadily so that you can continue to make steady efforts toward this debt. Yeah. Yeah. And even if it's three years to get out, do the debt-free stream. Oh, heck yeah. Look.

Okay. That's worth it. Yeah. And I'm thinking driver's ed and volleyball does not pay as much as tutoring. No. Am I wrong? No. Right.

You're correct. I mean, yeah. And so you might trade that in for something else i do do after school tutoring as well so when volleyball's done i do do after school tutoring what do you get how much you're getting for that uh it's about 30 an hour i was thinking yeah what i usually hear is 30 to 50 an hour is what people are getting these days right right yeah that i think i'd concentrate and double down on that let's grow a real tutoring business right right okay and and and use that to get rid of the twenty seven thousand dollars because if you could make two thousand dollars a month doing that the credit card the credit card's gone in a year yeah right right yeah okay

and that starts to get you in there so that that's the jade's point so what we're always looking at, Laurie, is what we call the shovel to hole ratio. How big a hole have you got versus how big is your shovel? Your shovel is your income. Your hole is your amount of debt. And so what Jade saw was you had a fairly small hole, but a tiny little shovel. And so all we're trying to do is get the shovel up. That's the whole thing. This is The Ramsey Show.

Jade Walsh, all Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us, America. All month long, we're giving away cash. You could win one of our $500 weekly prizes or the grand prize of $3,000. To increase your chances, enter daily at ramseysolutions.com slash giveaway. You can also get our best-selling books like The Total Money Makeover, From Paycheck to Purpose, John Deloney's number one bestseller, Own Your Past, Change Your Future, for as low as $12.

That's a deal. You can pre-order Dr. John Deloney's brand-new book, Building a Non-Anxious Life. It comes out October 2nd, but if you pre-order it. John Deloney's brand new book, Building a Non-Anxious Life. It comes out October 2nd. But if you pre-order it for $20 right now, you get $75 in free bonus items. Wow, on top of the $20 book. There you go.

So all questions for human cards, conversations cards are on sale right now, $12 as well. Go to ramsaysolutions.com slash store. That's ramsaysolutions.com slash store. That's ramseysolutions.com slash store. Jade Walsh is with me this hour. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Lynn is in Los Angeles. Hi, Lynn.

Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hello. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. How can we help? I'm 59. On the 10th, I'll be 59 and a half. And I have a TSP that and a few other small bills, and I'm wondering if this is the time for me to take out from my GSP,

or should I wait? What's the total debt? The total debt on my car is $21,000, and I have a personal loan for $7,000, and credit card probably about $1,500. Okay, so $30,000. And in order to get that, you're going to need to pull out $45,000. So you're going to have $150,000 left.

Mm-hmm. Okay. Then if you go borrow again, you kind of screwed this up, didn't you? Right. So part of this formula is never again. Next time you want a car, you pay cash for it or you don't buy it. Okay. Next time you want a dot, dot, dot, whatever the crud you spent this money on,

because you keep doing this, you're going to have no tsp left right right so the problem is pay all this off with no pain without feeling the pain of the stupid decisions that got you here and then you go back because you don't change your habits this would be really bad advice if you are if you can raise your right hand and swear to yourself i'm never doing this again, then it does make sense. Is this logical? Yes, very logical. Hey, Lynn, why can't we just keep working and pay off this debt? We can do that as well.

I retired in 2020 from the post office, but I am now a part-time preschool teacher. Okay. So, but I'm also a caregiver for my dad. Okay. So my work schedule is kind of, you know, we're wonky depending on his health. Are you married? Yes. What's your husband make?

My husband is on temporary disability, so he brings in about $2,500 a month. And what is his nest egg? He doesn't have one. Okay. So this is your whole household's nest egg? Correct. And he keeps wanting me to pull it out and put it in the bank. No!

But, no. I know that. Yeah, don't do that. don't do that don't do that one um okay what's uh what's your mortgage i don't have a mortgage we rent and our rent is 1800 a month okay i want to buy a home but i don't think i'm in a position right now to do that to myself yeah okay well i think the two of you combining your efforts and you as you're able to not to jade's point go back to earning an income uh and the more substantial income better because um uh yes you're debt free when we do this but debt free is supposed to lead you then to the ability to build wealth and if you don't take all these payments you used to pay by getting rid of the debt and any and a good income and you use it to build wealth and good

investments if i thought you could double or triple your nest egg by the time you're 70, because you got rid of this debt, I'd be a whole lot more excited about it. That's what I'm thinking about, for your sake. Does he see what I'm doing? Yes. So getting out of debt is one thing, but getting out of debt so that, it's so that, so that I can be more generous, so that I can invest more generous so that I can

invest more so that I've got more freedom that there's a it the the debt for the debt-free part is just a is just a it's a an exit ramp we take to get off and go do something better yeah I'm wondering and I might be wrong I feel like she retired a little too early. Or are you required to go out at a certain point when you work for a government job? No, you're not. Not the post office. But anyway, but yeah. But it's too late.

She's gone. Yeah, she can't go back. But I would look at what I can do for my second career. Yeah. Because you're young. You've got a lot of time left. And I would, you know, she's got a caretaking with her father issue and uh and her husband's on disability so i don't know what all's going on there but but i'm gonna uh do some

things to really and preschool doesn't sound preschool teacher doesn't sound um like a high paying job to me i could be wrong well she's part-time doing it too so i wonder if there's there there is there is something that she can do to earn more money. There's always something. And there certainly is over the next three or four or five years. That's right. Yeah. So let's just keep that going and try to figure out what we can do there.

So good question. Zachary's with us in Minnesota. Hi, Zachary. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up?

So about a year ago, I was very financially illiterate, and I have a question about a car loan at a very high interest rate. So it is 15.4%. I owe $11,500 left on it. I've completed reading your total money makeover book, and I've started the baby steps, and this is my only actual debt. And I'm wondering if it's worth holding onto and just aggressively attacking it, or should I just sell it by a car with the equity that I have in it and then have no payments and start there? What's it worth?

It is worth estimated private. It's 16 to $18,000. What do you make? I work at the post office and I make last year my gross taxable income. I was $62,000. Yeah, yeah, $62,000. I'm on pace to do a little bit better this year and I'm supposed to get a raise, a decent raise in November. What lucrative side job could you pick up and knock this thing out before Christmas? Currently, I am doing in my off time, I work about 50 hours a week at the post office, and then I've been doing some Instacart and then some door dashing, and that's brought me up to, I don't know, I've only done it for like two weeks now. I think I'm at like $500 roughly off of that. So you pay the car off by Christmas?

That's the goal. And I thought that it'd be worth holding on to because it's got really low miles and it's a terrible interest rate. Yeah, it's a terrible interest rate. Yeah, that's why you're going to have to go fast as lightning to pay this off. And I mean, honestly, you could go either way if you wanted to sell it and get some cash and go to a cash car but i would just probably keep it and pay it off i agree i agree i would keep it and pay it off it's because it's a small enough amount you can do it fast enough with your income and with your side hustle and just bust it man

just bust it and turn turn turn the thermostat down and you know turn the thermostat down and, you know, turn the grocery bill down, turn everything down at home. No life, no eating out, no partying, all work, no play. Get rid of the mess, right? Right, sir. I do have a two-year-old, and that is my number one priority, and I've been trying to, like, navigate around. I am cutting my budget up. Well, you have to feed the two-year-old. Right, exactly.

But you can work like a maniac for a short period of time to get rid of the problem. That's right. That's the why right there. Yeah, that's it. Hey, man, thanks for the call. This is The Ramsey Show. Jade Walsh, our Ramsey personality, is my co-host today i'm dave ramsey this is the ramsey show hey guys if you like what you're hearing we could use your help subscribe to the show

click the follow button leave a five-star review uh share hit the share button or tell someone where you're listening or click a link and copy it and send it to somebody and say, hey, check this out. All of those things help pretty dramatically. We appreciate it. This week we hit number 12 on Apple, which means out of about 4 million podcasts that are done in the world, we are number 12.

And you guys are the reason thank you we appreciate that very very much and that helps a bunch because when you pull up podcast and the first line is six and the next line is six we're right there makes a difference on new people learning about us and finding us it's a big deal thank you thank you thank you we appreciate you and um we know this is free and so that's what we're going to charge you. You've got to help us. Thanks. Christina is in Milwaukee.

Christina, what's up? Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. How can we help? Yeah, I have a question. So my husband and I have been working towards paying down our debt the last four or five years and have about $69,000 remaining in student loans. And we're just contemplating the idea of selling our home.

And there's a lot of nuances there. How much debt have you paid so far? So we have paid $37,000 to my private student loan, so that is gone. We paid $15,000 plus to credit card, about $28,000 to the vehicles. Yeah, and then there's been a lot of both of those vehicles have had significant maintenance. So $70,000 in three years. Yeah, four four years yeah what's your household income um so now we've both just gotten actually new positions so

i uh will be starting on monday actually at 140 and my husband is right around 70. What were you all making before? When I started. I mean, like during this four years, it took you to pay 70, which is pretty lame. What were you all making then? 65, and he was more like 55. Okay, well, that's a little better. Okay, all right, I won't be so tough on you then. Okay. So the good news is, listen, you doubled your income.

Yes, yes. Way to go. Rockstar. Way to go. So just don't spend any of it and pay off all the debt this year. Yes. Why do you want to sell your house? Well, so our house has about $265,000 loan and probably get about $420,000 or so for it.

And so we also know with vehicles that both of them are a little bit older, one for sure. Well, you know, we're working on trying to... Christina, why do you want to sell your house? I don't. I really don't. Okay, then don't sell it. But just having... No, you just doubled your income. One year, you're debt-free.

One year. You increased $100,000 in income, and you only have $69,000 in student loan debt left, right? Correct, yeah. Okay. And then after that, you can buy whatever car you want to buy with cash. Okay. You have an extra $100,000 that you didn't have before.

Yeah. Unless I did the math wrong did i do it wrong well it doesn't feel that way because it's been progressive i don't care how it feels it's math yeah um i mean you you made 110 before and now you're making 210 that's an extra hundred grand right yes okay and so why would you not be if if making 110 you were able And now you're making $210,000. That's an extra $100,000, right? Yes. Okay. And so why would you not be, if making $110,000 you were able to pay off $70,000 in four years, making $210,000 you ought to be able to pay off $70,000 in one year. Yeah. It's illogical. Yeah.

What's wrong? Why are you not believing me? I think you're tired. I am tired. You're tired and you're like,'re, I think you're tired. I think you're tired and you're like, man, this is what's happening. And tell me if I'm wrong, but you're looking ahead and you're going, man, another year of putting all of our income onto this debt. And then after that, we're going to have to save for his car. And then after that, we're going to have to save for my,

am I right? Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to, it's hard to, because our income was less before too, it's hard to envision being able to pay in cash for those bigger. So we have six in our family. My mom also lives with us because she had some medical issues the last couple of years. And so we need bigger vehicles and we both need a vehicle even though I work remotely because we have lots of appointments. I think what you're doing is you're still seeing it

through the goggles of your old income and it's like, oh, everything is taking forever. But like Dave said, you got 100 grand more. Things are going to go at double the speed. You got some new goggles. That's right. You got new goggles, girl. Put on those $210,000 goggles and start looking at this equation and you're going to see that you're going to move so much quicker and it's not going to be the slog that you think it's going to

be yeah so Christina I um in a few years back I quit but I ran a bunch of half marathons I've run like 20 half marathons. It's 13 miles, okay? And somewhere around mile nine, every time I run it, I question my sanity. My body is tired and my mind is tireder. The nutrition, the water runs out, the energy, the excitement, the blood sugar runs out and it and you just have to freaking finish the race yeah it doesn't matter what song plays on the podcast there's nothing in your ears there's nobody cheering on the side you just want to hit them

get out of the way shut up leave me alone you turn into a grouch for the last the last section of it and you're in that last section and the good news is there is a yellowouch for the last section of it. And you're in that last section. And the good news is there is a yellow tape around the corner, and you're going to run through it, and there's a finish line, and this will be done. I'm proud of you. You've done better than you feel like you've done. Dominic is in Delaware.

Hi, Dominic. How are you? Hey, Dave. How are you? Great, man. How can we help? Great. Thanks for having me on. So basically for the

past year i've been living uh with my girlfriend at her mom's house um we've been working you know both of our salary jobs and then an extra job on the side um saving as much as we can and now we've gotten to the point where i think we have enough to kind of you know buy our first home oh no no no no no no don't do that no no never buy a house with someone you're not married to okay under any circumstances you're about to get yourself in a huge mess yeah you complicate the breakup like nothing like nobody's business you're gonna buy a house with her you better put a ring on it first buddy i know that's right yeah that's kind of that's kind of the first thing right because we've been we've been together for about six years now come on

painter get off the ladder i know that's right beyonce taught us better than that put a ring on it i know i know i know but it's like i don't because if we get married right now you know that's you know a lot of money that we got to spend on the wedding and you're buying a house i know you're already sleeping together wait a second hold on hold on you're in her mother's house you're talking about buying a house but you're concerned about buying a ring let's look at this no no no the wedding i'm concerned about is using a lot of money on the wedding and all that you don't have to use a lot of money on the wedding dominic please don't buy a house with someone you're not married to really i've been doing this 30 years and i've heard unbelievable horror stories because you

now have a partner you have no protection under the law this is relationally backwards it's legally dumb and it's financially stupid and everybody thinks it's all okay because if we're going to play house we ought to have a house to play house listen to get married and then buy the house i don't care if you have to put off buying the house a little bit because you bought too expensive a wedding i don't care if you have an inexpensive wedding and go buy the house anyway but do this in the right order please i don't want your marriage doomed and i don't want your finances doomed and doing this out of order is it's just suicide, man. Don't do it, please.

If he's truly concerned about the price of the wedding, get married at the courthouse and do a party later after you got your house. Like it doesn't have to be all that. Just do it right legally. You're just going to get you just it's. You can't get out of the house. There's no I mean, when you go through a divorce, the judge tells you what you have to do. Yeah. When your girlfriend leaves and you got the whole mortgage and her name still on it and you can't find her to get the deed signed because she got remarried somewhere or got married to somebody else somewhere.

And now we're trying to get rid of the house. It's a dadgum nightmare. Don't do that, people. Get yourself in a mess. This is The Ramsey Show. Dave here. You can find all of our shows with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. It's the only place to listen to the entire back catalog of episodes. Download the Ramsey Network app in your favorite app store today.