The Ramsey Show - App - DAVE RANT: Are You Better Than You Used to Be? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: February 18, 2020

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is done, 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. Tyler starts off this hour in Pennsylvania. Hi, Tyler. How are you? Hello, Dave. It's an honor. I'm doing great. How about you? Better than I deserve. What's up? That's good. Yeah, so I just had a quick question for you.
Starting point is 00:01:06 My wife and I have both been through FPU, and we're on the same page about paying off debt. She worked real hard to pay off her smaller debts, and the only thing that remains is a big old student loan for $64,000. And our question is, what of our existing assets should we use to put towards that? I was on baby step three prior to marriage, and my wife also had her emergency fund. So we now have a collective emergency fund of $9,500. Do you think we should put that towards the debt and just drop it down to $1,000? Yep.
Starting point is 00:01:41 That's what we teach. We're going to use everything that is non-retirement money to throw at big old fat Sally Mae and kick her out of the house, give her her eviction notice. What's your household income? I'm pulling in $40,000 and my wife $13,000, so a total of $53,000. Okay. And you said, how much was the student loan debt? 64? Yes. Okay. And so if we throw 8,000 at that, that gets us down into the 50s. And we should do that in a little over two years. Plus or minus any other money you got. You got some other money? Yeah, that was a couple of the other ones I was wondering. The big one is I had a mutual fund my grandparents started for me
Starting point is 00:02:24 when I was a kid. And from what they started with plus the little bit I've added to, it's sitting at just over $23,000. Great. Throw it at it. That's going to be a painful one, but that's what you suggest. You married her. I suspect she's worth it, brother. Yeah. She came with a with a debt and that's okay it's no big deal we're just getting out of debt because here's the thing i think about your
Starting point is 00:02:55 grandpa and i think is he is he alive yes okay i think he'd be proud that you were getting out of debt so that you could build wealth. I think he would. Yeah, I agree. And so you're not dishonoring the gift by doing that. So in that sense, it's not painful. But it is something to give you pause and you're wise to think, you know, gosh, if I do this. Here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:03:26 If you do this, you have to play through, meaning you've got to finish knocking it out, and then you've got to turn around and build the wealth up, okay, because you don't have this thing hanging over your head. Otherwise, you're trying to drive along dragging a trailer with no wheels, you know, and that's what you're doing when you've got $60,000 student loan debt making $55,000, and you're trying to become wealthy. You're just dragging're just dragging stuff you're dragging a boat anchor behind you right and so we got to get got cut that thing loose so that we're free to drive with no friction and to build wealth with no friction and that's what this is the borrower is slave to the lender that means so many things there's so much depth to that one scripture that it's unbelievable.
Starting point is 00:04:08 The whole implications of slavery. So have at it, dude. That's what I would do. And any other non-retirement assets you have, let's chunk them on that and let's get rid of it as fast as we can. I think you're out of debt in a year. That's what it sounds like to me. But you're on beans and rice, rice and beans that year. Chris is with us in Colorado Springs. Hi,
Starting point is 00:04:30 Chris. How are you? Hi, I'm good. Thank you. I am calling because I'm a recent widow. My husband's been gone for one year. I'm sorry. And I have a 23-year-old. Excuse me. It still gets me when I talk about it. But my husband left life insurance of $432,000, and I'm trying to figure out. I own my car, but I don't own the home. And a friend of mine who follows you said he thought
Starting point is 00:05:07 it would be a good idea for me to try to pay the house off. How much do you owe on your home? So I, because I owe $213,000 on it, that would be the only $219,000 to invest. And I'm thinking, is that enough for me to live on the rest of my life? How old are you? So I'm 67. Okay. And do you have any other income sources?
Starting point is 00:05:40 Just my Social Security. Okay. And what does that amount to? It's $22.64 a month. Let's see. I wrote that down when it comes to. Okay. That's fine.
Starting point is 00:05:53 $27,000. Yeah, $25,000, $26,000. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Okay. And what are you living on now? What's it cost you to live a month now?
Starting point is 00:06:01 Not counting the house payment. About anywhere from $36,000 to $39,000. Including the house payment or not? $100,000, including. Okay. So if you didn't have the house payment, then you could get close to living on your Social Security if you had to. Right. Yeah, okay.
Starting point is 00:06:22 Well, I'm sorry. How long were you guys married? 25 years. Wow, okay. Well, I'm sorry. How long were you guys married? 25 years. Wow, good. That rips your heart out. I can't imagine. It does. I'm so sorry.
Starting point is 00:06:34 Yeah, it was. Here's the thing. It was unexpected. Oh, no. Yeah. If you had a paid-for home, what's the home worth? I had it appraised. I was told it was going to be $310,000, but appraisal was $397,000.
Starting point is 00:06:54 Okay. So you have a $400,000 house paid for, and you'd have $200,000 invested. Okay. If I woke up in your shoes is the way I answer these questions. He's been gone a year, right? Right. So while it still hurts and it's very recent, it's still a year ago. Because I tell people not to do, I tell people not to make big decisions in the first year
Starting point is 00:07:17 because it takes about a year to even breathe in a situation like you're in. Okay. So if I woke up in your shoes or you were my little sister i would tell you to pay off your house okay today so let's let's talk about where that leaves you then you're sitting in a paid for four hundred thousand dollar house you have two hundred thousand dollars to invest the two hundred thousand dollars could create about uh fifteen twenty thousand dollars a year in income easily without touching the $200,000, just income it creates, okay?
Starting point is 00:07:51 That on top of your social, you should be okay. Worst case scenario, if you're not okay, you sell the house and move down into a nice little $200,000 condo. Then you've got $400,000 to invest and a $40,000 income to go with your social security and you would be okay. But I don't think you're going to have to do that. That's if you had to or you wanted to because the house became more to manage than you wanted to manage.
Starting point is 00:08:19 So I'd pay off my house and I'd sit down with a good investment professional. If you need some help, then jump on DaveRamsey.com and click on SmartVestor and put in your information a list of the SmartVestor pros in your area that we recommend for investment advice. We'll sit down with you and help you. I'm not in that business, but that's who I recommend. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I love talking about companies that know how to do business right. You've heard of Grip6 belts, right? Well, if you haven't, it's the only belt you can get online with no holes no flap and no bulk i'm talking weightless and the buckles come in really
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Starting point is 00:09:51 Check out this month's special offers from my listeners at Grip6.com. jenny is in waco texas welcome to the dave ramsey show jenny thank you for taking my call sure not going to help i am we're on baby steps too we We've been on a program a month. We have a third car because my husband just started a new job at the beginning of the year that he got a company car for. And that car that he used to drive is upside down, extremely bad. It is our largest debt at $34,000. We have an opportunity over the next three months to be able to pay $7,000 on it, and my in-laws have offered to pay $10,000 so that we could trade or turn that car into CarMax. And I just didn't know if that's the best opportunity to get that large debt off,
Starting point is 00:11:00 or do I stick with the snowball? So the $10,000 that's coming from your in-laws is a gift? No, it's a loan. Not a chance. We do not borrow money from relatives. Okay. No, absolutely not. So you're $17,000 upside down in a $34,000 car?
Starting point is 00:11:26 $18,000 upside down. So the car has 34 owed? Yes. How in the world did you get that far upside down? You must have rolled negative from the other one into it. It was, yeah. It was at a stake on a car purchase, but we were not told that it was a salvaged car,
Starting point is 00:11:49 and so we had to get rid of it, and it just snowballed from there. It was a bad mistake. So you took a bad mistake and made it worse? Yep. Okay. All right. Wow. What's your household income?
Starting point is 00:12:03 My monthly income is $ right. Wow. What's your household income? My monthly income is $73,025. Okay. So it's $100,000 a year income, roughly. Or $120,000 a year income, roughly. Yes, sir. It would take a $650 payment off plus probably half of our insurance and that we could be able to roll start rolling really into our debt is your credit back we've owed our in-laws before and we've just i don't care there's no way i'm ever going to tell you to borrow from in-laws ever okay the borrower is slave to the lender and you you just run all
Starting point is 00:12:43 there there is no upside to that, only downside. Okay. They can be the nicest people in the world. A Thanksgiving dinner doesn't taste the same when you eat with your master. Yeah. So how much other debt have you guys got? We've got about $105 total, including that car. Including $34.
Starting point is 00:13:04 And what's the rest of it? It's our largest. It's bad decisions. We were living too high for our income. So what's the rest of it owed on? One more car. It's not an expensive car. We just owe on it.
Starting point is 00:13:24 How much? We bought it. How much? We bought it. How much? And then I would say just not credit cards but loan debt. So you just have $60,000 and $50,000 in personal loans? Yes. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 00:13:45 So the other car is like $10,000 or something? The other car is at, sorry, $14,000. Okay. Do you have the ability to get a personal loan for the hole that you're in? No, we tried because, yeah, we tried. Who is the loan with on the car? On that car, it is, you know, I don't know that one because my husband pays that bill.
Starting point is 00:14:13 I don't know who it's with. I'm sorry. That's okay. All right. Yeah, you need to combine your finances from this point forward going on too so that you both know what's going on with all that. I just don't know who he pays, that's all. I know uh with all that i just don't know who he pays that's all i know what it is i just don't know what he pays yeah he does the paying part and i
Starting point is 00:14:30 do the budget part so we both have a hint i mean we is it is it a is it a bank or do you don't have any idea it is a bank okay is it a bank is it a local bank that they would work with you on the deficit? No. Unless you sign a note for the difference? We have tried. I've tried. With your existing lender? Yes. We've tried everything. This was our only option was to get the $10,000 from his parents.
Starting point is 00:15:01 That's not the only option. They just won't give us the full amount because they don't think we should sell it for that cheap. They think we should try and sell it for what other people could sell it for, which is about $24,000. I agree with that. I agree with that. There's no panic here. There's just a lot of disgust. Every time you look at it sitting in the driveway, you feel stupid. But that's not a panic.
Starting point is 00:15:21 There's nothing to it. I agree that you should sell the car for more, and I do not agree you would ever have you borrow from them. So what would I do? Where was the $7,000 coming from? That's our income. Oh, no, no, no, no. I thought you said there was $17,000 and they were going to loan you $10,000,
Starting point is 00:15:41 and where was the other $7,000 coming from? Oh, we have, well, I get an extra paycheck this month, so between this month and the next two months we can pay that towards it. Oh, I see. To get it to where we could just clean it up. Yeah. You know, CarMax would pay the $18 for it. Do not sell it for CarMax.
Starting point is 00:16:03 Let's sell it for 22 instead of for 18 or 24 instead of for 18 slow sale but don't do that until you've got the money lined up and it sounds like that the money is going to come from you saving up the money to do this and if you want to do that before you start really attacking the debt snowball you can but um you know it's not the end of the world either way. But, you know, I don't think I've talked you out of it, but there's not a chance I'm borrowing the money from the – you've got to quit borrowing your way out of these things. And, you know, your in-laws at your age are loaning you money.
Starting point is 00:16:35 Oh, my gosh, you've got to stop this. It's just a bad practice. It's going to bite you one of these days. There's so many control things and so many things that happen with that kind of stuff. It's just a bad idea. So, yeah, if you want to stop your debt snowball and just say, we're going to get rid of this car and cover the difference in the next few months and then officially start the debt snowball, you could do that.
Starting point is 00:17:00 If I were in your shoes, would I do that? I might because you've got insurance issues and you've got a $600 a month payment that's clearing up. It might be worth it to get that out of the way. And there's such a level of disgust around this particular purchase that was a bad purchase rolled into a bad purchase rolled into a bad purchase. But don't give the car away for wholesale. Don't panic. I mean, you know, $5,000 is a lot of money in your world right now. And $5,000 more getting
Starting point is 00:17:27 for the market for that car rather than selling it to CarMax is helpful for the situation. And it lowers the amount that you need to do this. So yeah, that's how I would look at it. Thanks for joining us. Mike is in Houston, Texas. Hey, Mike, how are you? Hey, Dave. Howdy from Houston. How can I help? Quick question for you.
Starting point is 00:17:51 Maybe not quick. We'll see how it goes. So I've got a son that's going to be turning 16 at the end of the year. And this got me thinking about buying a car, a third car for the family. And in the process of this, I came across a side business idea, and that's joining the peer-to-peer car rental business. You know, buy a car, put it out there for rent, and I've already considered all of the liability issues with that. But here's the thing. I've got three options for this, and we're doing a debt snowball right now.
Starting point is 00:18:34 So let me throw these three options out there and get your opinion on them. So, number one, I can just abandon this idea altogether and continue paying down the debt snowball. Check. Okay, number two and number three, you don't even need to hear them. You know what they are. I'm not doing peer-to-peer. I'm not putting a car out there, someone else driving a car that is in my name. There's so
Starting point is 00:18:54 many downsides to this that don't offset the little bit of money that you get coming in. I mean, peer number two that rents the car, gets drunk, and hits somebody head-on in a car you own. You've got a mess on your hands, dude. I don't care how much liability insurance you've got.
Starting point is 00:19:11 You're not Hertz. And I think this is a really, really dangerous practice. The chances of me doing that are zero. So, hey, thanks for the call. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. For over 20 years, I've recommended Zander Insurance and their term life programs. I'm still amazed at how many families have no life insurance or not enough and would be financially devastated if a spouse or parent died. It's inexcusable since the cost of term life is just plain cheap,
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Starting point is 00:20:45 You pick the path to getting your family protected. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Spencer and Emily are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? We're doing great, David. Welcome. Where do you guys live? We live in Elizabeth, Indiana, which is just across the river from Louisville, Kentucky. Ah, gotcha.
Starting point is 00:21:15 Okay. Great T-shirts. Live like no one else with gazelles on them. Thank you, sir. I love it. How much debt have you paid off? We paid off $70,000. $70K.
Starting point is 00:21:24 How long did that take? 23 months. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? We started about $51,000, and we went up to $101,000. Whoa! How did you double your income in 23 months? Well, Emily started going to work full-time and a couple job changes.
Starting point is 00:21:43 My parents opened up a small business, and we kind of started working there on the weekends and stuff to kind of make a little extra income. Okay, so lots of extra work that wasn't there the year before. Gotcha, okay. Money everywhere, though. Good for you. What do you guys do for a living? What are your careers?
Starting point is 00:21:59 So we work at the same company. We work at Rinaldo Designer Jewelry. Okay, doing what? I work in sales, and he's Jewelry. Okay. Doing what? I work in sales, and he's a shipping manager. Okay. Great. Very good.
Starting point is 00:22:11 Good for you guys. And what kind of debt was the $70,000? It was all our mortgage. You paid off your house? Yes, sir. I am looking at weird people. I love it. How old are you two? We're 24.
Starting point is 00:22:23 Oh, my gosh. You're really weird. I mean, you're not just weird 24. Oh, my gosh. You're really weird. I mean, you're not just weird. You're like really big time weird. Yeah. 24 with a paid for house. Yes, sir. What's this house worth?
Starting point is 00:22:32 Right around 100. You have $100,000 paid for house. You're 20. Yeah, this is unbelievable. Nobody does this. Way to go. Thank you. Way to go, you guys.
Starting point is 00:22:44 Absolutely incredible. There's got to be a story here. So tell me, how does this way to go thank you way to go you guys absolutely incredible there's got to be a story here so tell me how does this happen 23 months so you start this you're 22 yes sir this is yeah tell me what what in the tell me how this happened um so i um grew up kind of knowing about you my dad kind of talks about you through our house we didn't really live by it but we kind of knew about you and your principles. Um, and so I was like, I'm going to go to college and I'm going to graduate debt-free payoff semester, you know, at a time. And so I did that for the first two years. And then I met Spencer and I kind of told him my plan and he was like, okay, we're doing this. So then we did the rest of the rest of my school, um, cashflowed it. Wow. Then we got married, cashflowed that, and then we bought a house
Starting point is 00:23:25 and we were like, okay, we're paying this off as quickly as possible. So we kind of made the goal for ourselves two years and we did it in 23 months. So did somebody tell you you should do this?
Starting point is 00:23:37 I mean, not really. My aunt and uncle gave us the book Complete Guide to Money for our wedding and we kind of read through it. We're not very good at reading, just sitting down and reading, so we kind of would just read it in the car.
Starting point is 00:23:49 She'd read it while I was driving, or I'd read it while she was driving. So we kind of went through. So once we decided to buy the house, we followed your principles, put it on a 15-year fixed rate, and made sure the payment wasn't more than a quarter of our take-home pay, and we just said, we're going to kill it. Just get on it. You look up, and when you bought it, did you think you would pay it off in two years?
Starting point is 00:24:10 Maybe not quite that fast, but once we started throwing down some chunks of money, we looked at it, and we were like, you know what? Let's set our goal at 24 months, and we should do it. And then December of last year, we were like, like hey we can finish it this month let's do it as a christmas present let's kill it month early yep yeah there you go so emily you were just coming out of school that's what you getting the job is is that what that was yeah i didn't work i was um going to school for education so the last semester i couldn't work at all and so that's why we were only at that 51 000 right i got you okay so then you come out and out of school, take the full-time job,
Starting point is 00:24:45 and then both of you work an extra and everything else, all kinds of different jobs, everything just going crazy for a period of time. So Spencer, was your family doing this? I mean, did you grow up? No. I mean, I never really had even heard of you until I started hanging out with Emily and her dad, you know, had some of your videos and a couple books and stuff and so I was like this guy seems like he knows what he's talking about so both of you just kind of it's your nature to have avoided dad I mean you just it was a natural thing for you yeah and that that probably somewhat attracted you to each other then too wow amazing way to. Way to go, you two. I mean, did you have people?
Starting point is 00:25:30 I mean, were there cheerleaders in the offing somewhere? I mean, people telling you to go on, you can do this? Or are most people telling you you're crazy? Yeah, most people were cheering us on, especially her parents and stuff. Every time we'd go throw down a couple grand or a few grand down on the house, we'd tell them about it, and they'd be like, that's's awesome just keep plugging away at it and keep going and keep going and uh we're actually uh fpu coordinators that were just started our second class this past wednesday and uh having that community it is really important in uh just your accountability and stuff like that yeah the
Starting point is 00:25:59 community is encouraging because everybody's on fire everybody's gazelle intense living like nobody else and then when you're leading it you have to do it i mean it's on fire. Everybody's gazelle intense living like nobody else. And then when you're leading it, you have to do it. I mean, it's like, you know, it's, it's not like a rule, but I mean, it's like, you'd feel weird. You'd feel like a hypocrite if you weren't into it, you know? So, and you, this is your second class. So most of the time you've been doing this, you've, you know, been through a couple of classes during the 24 months in. Wow. Well, thanks for leading a class. Got gotta be pretty inspiring to have your coordinator walk in and go i'm 24 my house is paid for shut up yeah really i think they can go you know can't really argue with that this is this stuff works wow way to go you guys what do you tell
Starting point is 00:26:38 people the key to getting out of debt is i think the key is to just do it i'm not trying to make this a nike commercial or nothing but it's uh it is it's just do it. I'm not trying to make this a Nike commercial or nothing, but it is. It's just do it. Like we were sitting there and we were like, could have decided to be like everybody else and just, you know, spend, you know, 20, 30 years with a mortgage. But we decided we were going to do this. And so literally just not being that victim mentality, having life just happen to you. We were going to happen to life and we were going to do it now, to start right now.
Starting point is 00:27:08 Well, you've got an early start. You're going to be so wealthy, it's going to be unbelievable if you keep your eye on the ball and keep the thing between the ditches, man. I mean, the math on where you are is incredible, absolutely incredible. Emily, what do you tell people the key is? Pretty much the same thing. Just go ahead and start doing it, and then it's just going to get easier from there. Not easier.
Starting point is 00:27:29 I mean, it is definitely hard, but just start it, and then you're going to learn it and get an accountability partner. We were both kind of on board from the start, so it was really easy for us to keep each other accountable. But if you don't have an accountability partner or your spouse isn't on board, if you can't get them on board, just find someone who's going to stay with you and help you through it. Just walk you through it. Wow. You make it sound so simple. What was the hardest part for y'all? Tell me, tell me something was hard, please. Honestly, for me, it was vacations and not even like extravagant long vacations. My grandpa owns a house on a lake in Michigan, and that place has always kind of been home to me. It's kind of where I grew up, going up there with my dad and stuff.
Starting point is 00:28:13 And we didn't get to go up there as much as we wanted to because we were making a decision that we weren't going to spend that extra money on that. And then last year we skipped out on a family cruise in order to be able to throw some money on the house. Ouch. Yeah. So what are you going to do to celebrate now that everything's paid for? I want to buy a nice guitar. Oh, good for you. But what?
Starting point is 00:28:36 You make $100,000 a year, you don't even have a house payment. Why can't you buy a guitar? Of course you can buy a guitar. I'm sure I will. Yeah. Emily, what do you want to do to celebrate um i'm going to get lasik and that's about five thousand dollars so we're just going to save up for another you know a few months and get lasik and then we're looking at buying our
Starting point is 00:28:54 you know bigger forever home um with cash down the line so kind of just start saving for that start moving towards something a couple hundred grand yeah wow you guys are impressive you're amazing i'm 24 years old wow wow wow wow we got a copy of chris hogan's retire inspired book for you that is the next chapter in your story you will be millionaires quickly before you're 30 easy oh my gosh amazing amazing so congratulations you two sp Spencer and Emily from Louisville, Kentucky. $70,000 paid off in 23 months, making $51,000 to $101,000. That includes they paid off their house. Wow.
Starting point is 00:29:36 Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! We're dead free! Man, oh man, oh man. You see why I'm a fan of millennials? You find a couple of them like that, you'll become a fan of millennials.
Starting point is 00:30:10 Because there's a whole bunch of them that fall in that category too wow that's so impressive they get on something they get on it man now if they're not on anything they're enthusiastically ignorant too but the ones that are on it man these that like that couple they got it dialed in man that's just dadgum impressive very very very well done. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us. What if you never had another debt payment? What if you never had another credit card bill? You got rid of that student loan that's been around so long you think it's a pet? What if you never had another car payment? What if you never had to worry about money again? What would you be willing to do to get there?
Starting point is 00:31:17 Well, you'd have to change a lot of stuff for sure. I mean, you'd have to take some of the stupid stuff you've been doing off your list of things to do, right? I did. I used to do stupid with zeros on the end. I know exactly what it looks like. I looked in the mirror, and there he was, stupid. You know, you've got to change, right? You can't keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. That's the definition of insanity.
Starting point is 00:31:40 How do you change? Well, the only way I've ever figured out that people change is you give them new information that they didn't have. You put them in a community that walks with them and holds them accountable and encourages them. And you show a very clear path for transformation. You don't want to be normal. You don't want to be normal. You don't want to be normal. Financial Peace University has helped about 5 million people take control of their money and change their lives. If you join one of these groups and get a membership that lasts you a year for the online and the every dollar plus to tie to your bank, and you go to one of the groups and go through
Starting point is 00:32:23 the nine lessons at your local church, and we'll give you the kit to go through that, and you learn to stay on a budget, a written plan, using that EveryDollar app, the most robust, beautiful app out there when it comes to budgeting. Four million people now using that app. By the way, you can try it for free if you want. But if you want to get in Financial Peace University and do that one-year membership and then go to the group, it's going to change everything for you. Because you can't be, we will not allow you to be comfortable being normal
Starting point is 00:32:57 anymore. Check it out. Go to DaveRamsey.com. Visit Financial Peace University. Or call 888-22-PEACE, 888-227-3223. You know, I started talking about this several years ago. When I very first started teaching this stuff 30 years ago, I started pulling up statistics. The Wall Street Journal says 70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That means 7 out of 10 houses on your street have too much month left at the end of the money. Normal is a car payment, a student loan, a MasterCard, a Discover card, an American Express card. Normal is if I go on vacation, I pay for it for the next year after I go on vacation. Normal is Christmas is a crisis.
Starting point is 00:33:45 Normal is the brakes go out on my car, the tires go out on my car, it's a crisis. Normal is I have no freaking idea how my kid is going to go to college and I feel like a dog because I've not done a good job prepping for my own kid. Normal is I don't know how I'm going to retire and I'm really sure that social insecurity is a stupid plan, but I've not done anything about it. These are all normal things. Normal is the number one thing couples fight about in their marriage is money. I think it's pretty safe to say normal sucks. I don't want to be normal. I don't want to be normal
Starting point is 00:34:14 at anything for that matter. Normal is not okay. And I love that scripture in Romans that says be not conformed to this world. Don't be normal. Find out what people are doing that are not winning, and don't do that.
Starting point is 00:34:34 Hello. Is that what we're saying? Don't be conformed to this world. Don't do what people that are losing are doing and expect to win. I don't know why that's rocket science, but it seems to be. And in that scripture continues, it says, but be transformed. How are you transformed? When were you ever transformed?
Starting point is 00:34:59 I've been transformed in different areas of my life. Sharon, I've been married 37 different areas of my life. Sharon, I've been married 37 years. It's a really good thing for Sharon. She's not married the same guy that married her 37 years ago because he was a twerp. I'm a lot better person than I was 37 years ago. Oh, I've not arrived yet. Believe me, she'll tell you that straight up too, okay? Just don't get her started.
Starting point is 00:35:23 But she also, in a moment of weakness, will tell you that straight up too okay just don't get her started but she also in a moment of weakness will tell you the truth and that is that thank god her husband's not who she married 37 years ago have you ever been transformed i've been transformed i'm a better daddy i'm a better grandpa than i was daddy yeah papa dave man i don't know how great grandkids were going to be, I'd have been nicer to their parents. Are you badder than you used to be at something? I hope so.
Starting point is 00:35:52 I hope you're getting badder. Were you ever transformed? Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. Transformation. Be transformed. How? It says, by the renewing of your mind, you have new information in your brain
Starting point is 00:36:10 that you didn't have. That's why a lot of you listen to this show. You listen for new information and for the inspiration that comes from people that call in and you go, wow, that lady just inspired me. That guy just inspired me. That debt-free scream just inspired me.
Starting point is 00:36:25 You do not listen for the fact that this show has absolutely new content every day because it's basically the same content every day. For 25 years, I say the same thing over and over. My preacher told me the day he goes, you say the same thing over and over. And I said, so do you. You got one story, dude. You tell it every Sunday. The gospel, right? I mean, come on. I got one. I'm a one trick pony. I help people transform their lives and believe that they can take the steps to not only get away from the edge of the
Starting point is 00:37:00 cliff financially, but then also become wealthy. And I'll show you exactly how to become a millionaire, exactly how to become a multimillionaire. And it's not theory. It's proven now. Tens of millions of people last year in the last several years have done this. Last year alone, the debt-free screams were over $50 million on this show. That's the ones that were on the air doing their screaming, and it's a six-week wait list to get on the air here. And we don't let everybody on. If you're still using your stupid credit cards, we're not going to let you do a debt-free scream. You don't qualify. You ain't figured it out yet. And not everybody gets on that wants to get on that
Starting point is 00:37:41 qualifies. So there. It's not a privilege. It's not a right. It's something we do to inspire the listener. It's not for you. It's for the listener. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. New information in your brain. New inspiration in your brain. The renewing of your mind. The renewing of my mind.
Starting point is 00:38:06 Yeah, my pastor does tell the same stories, essentially, that in 37 years I've been going to church, you know, 35 years I've been going to church, and still hearing the same stories, but you know what? Every Sunday they're different, aren't they? Every Sunday's another experience with God, isn't it? That's why you go to church, I hope. I hope you don't go because of some obligation or something. You go for the renewing of your mind. It transforms you. It transforms you. And that's
Starting point is 00:38:37 what we're doing here. And that's what you need to embrace, because I got to tell you, you don't get transformed by osmosis. You get transformed by you get your mind renewed and then you change your habits. You change your decisions. You change your beliefs first. You change your attitude second. And then that causes you to change your following your activities. And so you change your beliefs about that and you change your attitude towards that. And then the action is you get out of that.
Starting point is 00:39:04 And that's when you get out the credit cards and actually cut them up. That's when you look over and go, I have $22,000 in my savings account, and I have a $12,000 debt. Why am I still in debt? Just because you haven't written a check is the only reason. You need to be out of debt, like right now, at this moment. But see, if you haven't done that yet, that means your belief system has not changed you've not yet been transformed so i still have work to do because that's what we do here we're all about making you believe that if you plant corn corn will grow
Starting point is 00:39:36 so plant some corn that you're going to reap what you sow if you'll take these steps if you submit yourself to a different process than you've ever used before, you're going to get a different result than you've ever gotten before. If you want to get something you've never gotten before, you've got to do something you've never done before. In your marriage, your parenting, your career, and your money. Some of you need to just repurpose yourselves at work and say, I'm actually going to work while I'm at work.
Starting point is 00:40:11 Whoa! There'll be a breakthrough. That's transformational, isn't it? It's transformational. Your belief system has to change that something good's going to happen if you do that, because otherwise you're just a slave to the man, and you whine and carry on the little man can't get ahead. Blame everybody else for your crap because you're making stupid decisions. It's time to not be normal.
Starting point is 00:40:32 Normal sucks. Transform. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, guys. This is James Childs, producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm excited to announce that we're now carried on 600 radio stations across the country. To find one near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.

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