The Ramsey Show - App - DAVE RANT: Quit Doing Stuff That Gives You Mediocre Results! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 29, 2020

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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. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Chris Hogan, Ramsey personality, is my co-host this hour. The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Chris, I was looking at the statistics on the show, and we not only have listeners that have been with us on radio and podcast and YouTube for many, many years, in some cases decades.

But we've got a new batch coming in almost daily. The numbers on the podcast and YouTube growth and our ratings on radio are all skyrocketing. And so it occurs to me that occasionally, instead of just answering questions, we have to just stop and go, you know, we teach some pretty basic stuff here, and yet it always, it was the first time I got hate mail from somebody saying that I was crazy and that you shouldn't cut up your credit cards and that you don't need to live on a budget and whatever. I was kind of tickled because I thought you know that's just weird i never thought you would talk about helping somebody with their money and you'd get hate mail oh yeah but we can bail our freaking hate mail

around here i mean i use it for kindling in the winter i mean it comes in by the bushel and uh certainly those of you that without any backbone at all don't sign the letters, of course. And we don't answer hate mail. We answer other letters. And, you know, in, of course, digital world, you can say anything you want to say behind an avatar because you're a complete wuss. And so people say all kinds of crazy stuff. But what all that outlines is not that we're thin-skinned and that don't that we don't we don't love criticism but anytime you stand for something it immediately means that you stand against something else that's right you can't it's it's

it's philosophically theologically impossible to not pick a fight when you stand for something right even though you weren't trying to pick a fight, it's not what you're trying to do. But when we say, listen, don't be normal. Normal is broke. 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. You always talk about driving down your street, right? That's right. And you can see this, Dave, and you think about it. You know, when I first joined, having been in the former industry of banking I was in.

Shocking. Yeah. You come over, and I would hear you talk about stats, but you talked about them in the former industry of banking I was in. Shocking. Yeah, you come over, and I would hear you talk about stats, but you talked about them in the way that it was representing individuals and families. And so when you hear 78% are living paycheck to paycheck, I tell people, think of 10 of your friends. Now, some people don't have 10. Borrow two from somebody.

But think of 10. That means 8 out of the 10 of your friends are living paycheck to paycheck and you bring it closer to home you think of 10 family members and so 10 people on your street on your houses on your street anywhere you go and so in any neighborhood any yes not just the big houses in any house and so as i hear that and the the teaching got more and more personal for me because now when i hear those stats i think of family members i think of people and so you know it is but here's the thing if you keep doing what you've been doing yeah duh you're gonna keep getting what you've been getting if you plant corn don't be shocked the corn grows yeah if you plant nothing don't be shocked that corn grows. If you plant nothing, don't be shocked that you have a dirt farm.

Yeah. I mean, why would you be shocked? But we're always like, you know, like we keep using the same recipe, wanting chocolate cake, it always turns out vanilla. Change the recipe! You know, so quit doing the stupid stuff that gave you mediocre or bad results in your life. And that's what happened to me. I went broke, and I said, this doesn't work.

This crap that I've been taught and that the culture believes that you borrow your way into prosperity is absolutely moronic. Yeah. It's ridiculous. Well, there's good debt. Dave Ramsey doesn't understand. No, you don't understand. You're an idiot. We've got this figured out.

When you don't have any payments, it is the shortest path to wealth. Why is this hard? No, well, and you told me. What's the percentage of homes, Dave, that get foreclosed on that are paid off? Zero. Yeah, we did detailed research on that. We did serious research. And so I think.

American Express calls my house. It's a wrong number. Oh, yeah, there's no business there. None. You know, I don't have American distress. No. a wrong number. Oh, yeah. There's no business there. None. I don't have American distress. No. But here's the thing, Dave. When you start to go against the norm, people are going to have opinions.

People are going to have opinions. So, listen, what we're telling you folks is this. If your broke friends are making fun of your new Ramsey financial plan, that means you're on track. Yeah. I mean, if fat people are making fun of your diet, it means you're on track yeah i mean if fat people are making fun of your diet it means you're on track you know it's just seriously think about it normal is not excellent that's right normal sucks normal is you live paycheck to paycheck your whole life and you hope the government which is well known for its ability to handle money will take take care of you. That's dumber than a rock.

It is. And Dave, according to this, listen, the extra 600 people who have been getting on unemployment is running out next month. Ding, ding. Your comfort zone is gone. So what are you going to do? The Calvary's not coming out of Washington, D.C. Turns out you are responsible for you and you can do this.

Is it easy? No. Oh, Lord, no. It's not lord no it's not easy and it's not always fun excellence is never easy yeah yeah mediocrity is always easy yeah losing is easy quitting is easy laying down is easy getting run over is easy yeah pushing back and saying not me it's for me in my house We're not doing it this way. Yeah. We're going to save money.

We're going to be outrageously generous. We're going to live on a plan. And if you want to make fun of him, you're going to be down in bed and he can't go out to eat. Well, kiss my butt. My kid's college fund is funded. That's right. I mean, really.

How you like me now? Yeah. You know? You've got to be more concerned about your future than you are somebody else's opinion. Because I've got to tell you, when you're 74, they ain't going to be standing there feeding you. They're not going to protect you. And you're absolutely right. And so that was the power of the what now event that we did.

That visceral moment of never again. I'm going to tell you, my social media lit up. I had friends reach out and they say, you know what? You, Dave and Rachel shook my cage. They said, we said, our spouses together, they said, we said never again. And it was just this thing. And if you all haven't seen it, you need to tap into it. You need to go watch it because it was America's wake-up call.

I'm going to tell you. So when you start getting out of debt and you're living on a budget and you're walking the baby steps and you're building your emergency fund and you are doing this and you're doing that they're smart things with money you're agreeing on your spouse you're slowing down you're not acting like a four-year-old on the cereal aisle i deserve it i'm entitled you're not entitled you're just a brat you know that's ridiculous you're entitled to nothing unless you killed it and drug it home that's what you're entitled to that's it and even then you give half that to your governments for people that think they are entitled so if if you're doing these things you 100 of the time are going to have people that don't understand your upcoming success yes 100 the time. These people are known as losers. And you need

to spend less time with them. Because losers always tear down someone else's dream. Dave, it's the crab in the bucket. Come on back down here with me. Stay in here. It's comfy. Yeah, don't let the other crab crawl out. Don't crawl out. You gotta slap them. Slap a crab.

You forgot your upbringing. No, I didn't. You dadgum right. I forgot parts. Yeah. Climb. You forgot your upbringing. No, I didn't. You're dadgum right. I forgot parts of it. It sucked. Yeah, well, I left it behind. That's right. I left it over there across the track.

You can keep it. I'm grown. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Folks, I love telling you about well-made, well-thought-out products. Today, I'm talking about Grip6 belts. I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of traditional belts. They never fit right, and they're uncomfortable. Grip6 belts are unique. Owner BJ designed a truly modern minimalist belt made of high quality materials with no holes, no flap, and no bulk.

And the buckles come in really cool designs and are interchangeable. I personally own these belts in different styles. And talk about affordability, Grip 6 belts come with a lifetime guarantee. And that means if you no longer like or fit the style of your belt, you can replace them for free. Plus, I like the way these guys do business. Grip 6 is determined to help build and modernize american manufacturing to learn more and get this month's dave ramsey special visit grip6.com that's grip6.com Ramsey personality Chris Hogan, number one best-selling author, is my co-host today here on The Dave Ramsey Show. travis is up in missouri hey travis how are you uncle dave thanks so much for taking my call man how are you doing better than i deserve how can we help great great chris good

talk to you too well thank you sir hey guys yeah yeah big fan. So my wife and I have been working on paying off our debt over about the past year, and we've paid off somewhere around about $130,000. Wow, good for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a cattle loan and vehicles and credit cards. And yeah, we're down to baby steps four, five, and six. And I was wanting to make sure the other day that we had enough money in our emergency budget. So I created sort of a rock bottom budget of what it took, you know, for us to live for six months. And I did that. I figured out that we had enough money put back in our emergency budget. And we were, we were good there. We also carry about

15,000 in our checking account. But it got me to thinking, you know, what if we, what if we stayed with a conservative budget like that? And we lived like that for four years. And we took that money and we got the house paid off. And we really kind of supercharged our retirement fund, which currently has about $65,000 in it. But I'm 35 and that's not quite where I want to be at. So I approached my wife and she's a stay-at at home mom. She's been in quarantine for five years. Yeah. Cause we live, we live in the middle of nowhere and she's a stay at home mom. So I told her, you know, what do you think about, you know, going to this conservative budget?

Let's, let's live off of, you know, $4,500 a month, which isn't, you know, we're fortunate to have that to live off of, you know. But it leaves us with an extra $4,000 every month that we can put towards paying the house off early and putting money back for our two children's college fund and our retirement. And we lived like that, you know, for four or five years. And she instantly got really defensive. She's a good woman. I love her to death. She's the best mom I could ask for. You're a good man.

I love you to death. But you screwed this up. Did I? Yeah. Did I say it wrong to her? Well, yeah. You know, you're a tightwad, dude. Yeah.

I hear you squeaking through the phone. Oh. And God let you marry her so you would have a life. Right. Because you would live in a cave and collect lint. Eating Vienna sausages. Well, that's all right. Well, hey, I'm just trying to get there, man.

I'm just giving you a hard time, brother's the nerve you touched okay and uh she's like we worked our butts off to get out of debt and have the emergency fund in place we're on baby steps four five and six and uh the ramsey bunch says let your foot off the gas a little bit and have some enjoyment in that budget and you just took all the joy out as far as she was concerned right yeah you you mandated listen to me buddy you mandated to her the budget and the numbers you didn't invite her into your dream and so what i want you to do is backtrack now and talk from your heart you're talking from the numbers no how about listening instead and ask her about hers too yeah yeah lead with the heart i'm gonna tell you because i gotta tell you she

listen she paid she was on this trip where you paid off 130 grand that's the same woman you didn't change women i mean this is the same chick so she didn't change she's committed to living a financially wise life yeah she's not a spin thrift. She's not a princess. And so, you know, I'm with Chris. I think if you'll just listen and say, okay, I like the idea of paying a bunch of this stuff off. Obviously, I dialed it back too far, and you're calling me on that.

I pick up the flag. I'm out of bounds. I got it. So I know you want to get the house paid off too, honey. What do you think we ought to do? And let her monkey with your little budget. Okay. Then it'll become our budget and our plan, not your plan.

And I'll give you a prediction. You want a prediction? Yeah. Based on her track record and how she behaved before, I'll bet that instead of four thousand dollars at all this stuff she's going to only lighten up your budget about a grand i think you're still going to have twenty five hundred to three grand a month to throw at these things because she shares those goals she just knows she just knows that she doesn't want to do that for another four years because you've

been on beans and rice right yeah we have yeah that's all it is and she she wants to she wants to travel and she wants yeah yeah you know like i said we live in the middle of nowhere she wants our kids to see the world and i do too and you know what and it's not that you know it's not that expensive thousand bucks a month coming off this thing's twelve thousand dollars a year you can do all everything she wants to do for 12 grand a000 a year. That's my prediction. In other words, I don't think she's going to say we blow all $4,000 because it's inconsistent with her having participated in the other process y'all went through, right? Right, right.

So I think you just overplayed your hand, man. Yeah. And, Travis, she knows you, too. I may have pushed too hard. Yeah, and she knows you. She knows have pushed you hard yeah and she knows you she knows that this round this is the number you're saying but probably in three months you're going to want to ratchet it down again she knows you but as dave is saying talk about it have her plan a trip uh listen to her heart invite her to be a participant in this you all knocked out 130

grand you're not doing stuff by accident you guys are you guys killed it you're just you're busting it you're gonna get to do everything you want to do and everything she wants to do because you're goal oriented just got to get on the same page and it's just a matter of speed that by which we get to these things and the more stuff we more money we spend on these trips the longer it's going to be before we take even better trips yeah no it's a good point but She's going to dial back. She's not a problem. She's not a problem. You just played it wrong.

You took it down too far. You need to lighten it up a little bit and have a family and have a life. Instead of paying off everything in four years, you're maybe going to do it in six. Oh, well. You're going to get there. Deal going to be gone. You're doing good. You're doing so good.

I'm so proud of you. So proud of you. So proud of you. Thanks for letting us pick on you, brother. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Edgar is next in Texas. Hi, Edgar. How are you?

Hey, hello, Dave. Hi, Chris. How's it going, you guys? Good. How can we help? Having a good day staying safe? Well, I have a little bit of a decision here coming up and making, and I want to see what you guys thought about it. Unfortunately, I'm

going through the wars, and I have a little bit of a 401k plan, I guess, saved up around $29,000, I think, as of last week. And unfortunately, as you might know, I'm going to have to give some of that up. Or the other solution, or the other option, basically, is to negotiate that or the half in terms of child support.

My wife is supposed to be paying child support, and she's behind for about a year. And so my attorney is thinking maybe we can just allow you to keep all that money, which I'm not sure if it's a whole lot of it, but by negotiating child support. So that means that you probably won't pay child support for the next three years, maybe four, I don't know. So what do you guys think? So $14,500 is half of your 401K. How many years of child support does $14,000 represent?

Well, you know, right now she had a small amount. I think she's supposed to be paying like $500 a month. How much a month? $500. $500. Okay, so $6,000 a year. So $14,500 is a little over two years. And how much is she into you for?

Well, right now she owes a year by now. She owes a year. Okay, so it'll offset this year and next year and a little bit of the next year, right? Yeah. If it's a dollar-for-dollar trade, I would do it. Sure. Especially if you can feed the kids. You've got custody, obviously.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do have custody. Yeah, you just want to make sure you're getting good legal guidance and understanding the numbers, and don't be emotional. This is business. See the numbers. They need to make sense before you agree to it or don't. But look at it, understand it, and know, are you okay with this long term?

Yeah. Sounds like the divorce isn't final. No, it doesn't. Yeah, you've got to finish the negotiation, too, as a part of this. So, that's the plan. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I heard a statistic recently that absolutely blew my mind. 43% of Americans are not protecting their loved ones with life insurance.

This drives me crazy, people. What are you thinking? Taking care of your family has to be a top priority. Think about it. If you died today, would you be the hero by making sure that your family had the money necessary to carry on their life without struggle and hardship? Would they be able to pay the bills and plan for the future? That's what term life insurance is all about. Regardless of where you are in the baby steps, you've got to make this a top priority.

Have I gotten my point across yet? That's why I talk about Zander Insurance every day. They keep it simple and make sure they find you the best rates out there. Zander will do their job to find you the best rates and make sure you're served like I expect. But you have to take the first step. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. My co-host today on the Dave Ramsey Show, Ramsey personality Chris Hogan, is with me. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

On the debt-free stage in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Jason and Valita are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Thanks. Doing well. Thank you for allowing us to be here. Well, we're honored to have you. Where do you guys live? Burnsville, North Carolina. Which is near? Asheville. Asheville. Well, we're honored to have you. Where do you guys live? Burnsville, North Carolina.

Which is near? Asheville. Asheville. Okay, cool. Beautiful area. Yes, sir. Yeah, very nice. Well, welcome to Nashville. Thank you very much. Good to have you guys all the way over here to do a debt-free scream. How much have you paid off? $100,220. I love it. How long did this take? 25 months. Good. And your range of income during that time? From $73,000 to $110,000. Nice jump in two years.

So cool. What do you guys do for a living? I am a professional services consultant for Architects BIM Building Information Modeling Software. I work for Graphisoft. Oh cool I'm a North Carolina State Home Inspector. Oh very good good for you that's good both great fields and related yeah good. So what kind of debts the 100k was the 100k? Cars, student loans and actually some land that went into foreclosure next to us that we wanted to make sure to control who our neighbors were so we invested in that so you make yourself your neighbor yes i like that that's a plan okay so congratulations you were kind of normal

just going along so what happened uh 25 months ago what lit you guys on fire so actually if you back up to 2006 uh the church i was attending i went through the financial peace university but i was always ish and then i met jason who was like baby steps i don't even have debt. Ah, go Jason. All right. Thank you. And so it was actually my best friend who 25 months ago had said, you know, I need to get out of debt. I'm doing the Dave Ramsey. And I'm like, yeah, but I like the last chapter first. So I'm jumping to Chris Hogan. And I went to Retired Inspired. And then I realized, wow, I'm way behind.

And so that's what kind of made us realize, actually made me get on the same page as my husband. Ah, okay. I got you. So how long have y'all been married? Almost five years. Okay. Well, congratulations, guys. Thank you.

What was the hardest part about getting out of debt for you all? Well, when we met, I had just finished building a house and had done it step by step. Took me five years. Did most of the work by myself. Wow. I'd work as a tool and die maker 50 plus hours a week and then work in the evenings, weekend vacation, finishing the house. And, uh, probably the biggest problem we had in our marriage was when the land became available and we were trying to figure out how to

afford that. And, uh, when it was mentioned, maybe we mortgage the house. And I said, no, no, that's, that's not going to happen. There's a lot of blood and a lot of sweat and a lot of tears in this house i'm not putting it up yeah so coming up with the finances to do that was our our biggest challenge and to actually the hardest thing for me was actually go back in debt amen so but she was in debt when you married her then correct and with two cars uh student loan debt as well okay and you brought two cars into the marriage in debt? No, it was one car, and then I had persuaded him to get into debt with another car. Oh, you did talk him into getting into debt.

You were a bad influence. I was. You were a bad influence. Yes. So then she comes to you and says, we want to do this Dave Ramsey thing. And so, Jason, what did you say? Thank you, Jesus? Yes.

Yeah. I'm all on it so she actually taught the uh the course at church and gave her testimony at church and so uh we've had a lot of cheering yeah on that point yeah that's very cool well congratulations you guys i know for jason it feels great and and really for you valita i mean you've kind of done a full transformation so it's got to feel great for you. Yes, it does. Now, all that land, that house, those cars, they're all yours. Correct. It's a different feeling, isn't it?

It is, especially with the way the world is right now. Oh, yeah, especially. Are you going to go back? No. No. Absolutely not. No. Yeah.

You work too hard. Correct. You know, you work too hard. And that little cute girl out there with you, who's that? That's Paisley. She is a doll. Thank you. Very cool.

That's amazing. Proud of you guys. So when you're teaching the class now, Valita, and somebody says, how do I get my wife on board? Because you were that wife he was trying to get to do this stuff, although he didn't really call it this stuff, just the way he lived. But what do you tell him the answer is to get somebody like you, so to speak, on board? Does that make sense? Absolutely.

For me, and I think the connection is we all have debt, and it's a number, but when you actually sit down on paper and you see what you're paying in interest every month, and I like to call that the debt membership, that is what has really been my message in connecting with those people. You're giving away $1,000 plus a month to just be in debt. Ah, okay. Good for you. That's good. I like it.

I like it. I like it. Now, once people ask what the key to getting out of debt is, you too did it. You paid off $100,000 in just a little over two years. That's pretty impressive. How'd you do that? What's the key? One of the things I always tell is we'll have young people come up and they're like,

well, it must be nice to live in this house and have this and this. And I said, well, you know, it didn't happen when I was 20 years old. You want to just smack them? Yep, I do. Born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Yeah. While you're working a full job and driving nails at night.

Exactly. You're lucky. Yep. So I tell them that, you know, it doesn't happen when you're 20 years old. I was in my mid-40s before I lived in a house. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, just being able to keep the momentum.

Anytime we had any extra money, we would apply that towards debt. Student loan debt, we sold our camper. We sold the Tahoe. And thankfully, I have a husband that can do almost anything. And so he started flipping cars as well. And so that brought in extra revenue doing construction as well. Oh, so extra work. A lot of extra work. Yeah, very cool.

Not afraid to work around your place. I'm proud of you guys. Thank you. You're very fun people. You're heroes. And Paisley's whole life has changed, and she doesn't even know it completely. She doesn't know. Pretty amazing.

Yep. Pretty amazing. Her whole world is completely different from here on out. Well done. We've got a copy of whole world is completely different from here on out. Well done. We've got a copy of Chris's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. That is the next chapter in your story for sure. All that land and that house, you might almost be there now. That's pretty cool.

Congratulations. Thank you. Very, very well done. All right. Paisley, you've been practicing your debt-free scream? All right. Here we go. Jason, Valita, and Paisley, Asheville, North Carolina area.

$100,000 paid off in 25 months, making $73,000 to $110,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! Love it! Woo-hoo!

Way to go go you guys you know what he did when he was a single guy is the way people uh that's a throwback a few generations that's the way people my grandpa's age would have done you know you work my grandpa built a lake house that way you know they they wanted a they want a lake house that way. You know, they wanted a lake house. We called it the cabin. We called it. But basically, you know, he would go after work and build that thing. Go down.

And it took two. He'd drive 30 minutes over there and build until it was too dark to build. And drove every nail, put the thing together. Still there. Wow. Still a nice house. And but there wasn't any way he was going into that to do it. He just brought it up with his hands, and that's what Jason did.

And, you know, there's a lesson to be learned from that. Those are timeless principles. That required a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice, and a delayed pleasure. It took him a few years to build the house. That's right. It wasn't a 90-day build. No, and that sacrifice, that's time away from your family. That's a lack of sleep.

And let me tell you, when you do that, too, do you notice what happened? She says, let's borrow money on this house. He's like, no! Absolutely not. You know, you got those calluses in your hand from having swung that hammer. No! No! No way you're going to put it up to risk.

And once you get out of debt, they've done it now in their whole lives. They ain't going back. Neither one of them will go back. No, they won't. Changed everything. I'm so proud of y'all. Very well done. Very well done.

You need people. Love it. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Most people's money problems come from not paying attention. That's why before I spend a dime of my money on something, I do the research and make sure it's going to live up to what it claims. Recently, I got a great pair of sunglasses from a company called Shady Rays. When you're looking for sunglasses, it feels like your options are limited. Name brand sunglasses cost too much

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Thanks for joining us, America. Chris Hogan, Ramsey personality, is my co-host this hour. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Chris, when you make a wrong decision, it always hurts in the pocketbook, and you always pay some stupid tax. When you make a wrong decision on a house, it really hurts. Oh, it hurts, Dave. And not just does it hurt a little bit, it can hurt a whole whole lot it can take a decade to get over it really can and so you have got to be wide open and you

have to truly understand the magnitude of the decision and get the right kind of guidance so here's the thing get the facts and our team's created a one-stop shop for everything homebuyers need to know. Just go to DaveRamsey.com slash homebuying. DaveRamsey.com slash homebuying. All right. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. It means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, they'll remake your window blinds free.

You get free samples, free shipping, and always great deals if you use the secret word, the promo code Ramsey. Chris, our question. All right, here we go. Here's the question. She visited DaveRamsey.com to ask, what are the steps to catching up on saving for retirement at 50 years of age? I feel the window to save is closing, but also trying to remain hopeful and focus help. Well, here's the reality. You know, Angie, you've got to be aware of your dream and know what it is you're chasing

and why it matters to you, and it is never too late. If you wake up with air in your lungs, you've got an opportunity, but you have to have a plan. You've got to get on a budget. You've got to get allergic to debt and now right now sell some stuff look at taking on a second job if you have to but you have to

delete the unnecessary in your life so you can grab what's valuable and you may have to look at downgrading lifestyle and you do those things that i'm going to tell you're going to grab back control get over to ramsey plus get plugged into a community so you're not doing it alone, but you feel connected. And that's how you do it, Dave. Yeah, that's exactly right. The window is closing mathematically, and yet the shortest distance between where you are and wealth is still the baby steps. It's still get your emergency fund in place and get rid of your debts, which gives you the cash flow to pour into your

retirement and increasing that and getting it up to 15%. If you save 15% of your income from age 50 to age 65 and you have an average income, you'll be able to retire. And I suspect you might make more than that and you might work longer than that through that period of time. It wouldn't be unusual for someone in their 50s. Average income entails also taking into account what people that are 22 years old make. Right. And so typically a 50-year-old has had an opportunity to grow their career.

And I don't know what you do, Angie, but I'm just going to make a reasonable statistical assumption that you have an above-average income. Well, it's possible. I mean, that's the thing that I want people to hear out there, Dave, because I still get this question a lot. Is it too late? Can I still do it? Well, I know you can. The bigger question is, will you? Yeah, I mean, you've got to treat it like the house is burning down.

Yeah, I mean, it's urgent. Yeah, you really do. But do you panic and skip no no no not at all no i just you just have an extra urgency to work the steps because the quicker you get out of debt the quicker you have your income and your control to build wealth with and so just turn up the heat on that baby right and be allergic to excuses now dave i had a coach he was about 150 years old that's that's not true because that'd make him biblical, but he was old and crotchety. He probably wasn't biblical at all. No, he was not at times, but he told us something that as players out there, he said, don't make excuses, make plays.

And I say that in this, because even in the period of COVID-19 right now, people can use that as an excuse not to stay focused on the plan. And it's really important not to do that for yourself because that's how you end up losing a year or two or three because we're going to say, I'm going to wait until this or I'm going to wait until that. No, no, no. Be urgent right where you are right now and don't make excuses for stupid. Now, that dogged intensity, dogged determination that pushes through in spite of the obstacles is the one that crosses the finish line and busts the tape, and that's you. You can do this, Angie.

You can do it. Amber is with us. I got sneezing. Amber is with me. Okay, there's nothing I can do. All right. In Texas. Hey, Amber, how are you? Hi, Dave. Bless you. Amber is with me. Okay, there's nothing I can do. All right. In Texas. Hey, Amber, how are you?

Hi, Dave. Bless you. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Well, I got Hogan's mic open, and I've got a mute button I could have hit if I was in here by myself, but it would have just sneezed over his mic, so there's nowhere to go. I'm stuck.

I don't know how I got blamed in this. It's all your fault. Amber, help us. Anyway, what's up, kiddo? Thanks for taking my call, guys. I'm a 33-year-old on Baby Step 4, working on saving for a down payment on a home. I currently make between $95,000 and $103,000 a year.

I paid off $61,000 thanks to you. My question is, I unknowingly at the time made a really bad investment on a single stock, $27,000. Not because of COVID, but because of a lawsuit. It's now only worth $11,000. Do I cash out and take my losses? What are your suggestions? Yes. Oh.

Ouch. Amber. Yeah, that's a lot of stupid tax you're paying. I paid a lot in my life. Yeah, I did too. And you've now paid the tuition to the school. You passed the now or flunk the class or whatever happened i don't know this says don't buy single stocks because you never will again no never again so here's the thing i assure you the very reason that the stock is down i'm gonna guess unless you have information you didn't

share with us in this if you do it's, it's okay. It might change my answer. But the way I analyze it is not what you've got in it. It's what's it going to do from here. So what is the likelihood that this is a fabulous investment over the next year? I think it has potential, but I think it has potential. If you had $11,000 piled in the middle of your kitchen table, would you buy $11,000 more of it? I won't buy a single stock again. I mean, based on...

No, I'm talking about aside from the philosophical shift, I'm saying, would you invest in this company because you think it's going to go up? It's a pharmaceutical company that I think has the potential to go up. It's a simple answer. It doesn't have to go up. It obviously doesn't have to go up. It's $11,000. You put $27,000 into it. It obviously doesn't have to go up.

Would you or would you not invest $11,000 more into this? No. Why? Why? I'm not confident that their products are going to continue to make money. Okay. For that reason, we don't think the $11,000 that you currently have in it is going to go up, do we? I don't think the $11,000 that you currently have in it is going to go up, do we? I don't.

So it's just taking the emotional ouchie of saying, you know, I just made a mistake and I goofed up. I put $5,000 in a gold future one time when I was in my 20s. It was gone in about 42 minutes. And that was my last time I did something like that yeah i got my throw punch from aol single stock hey oh i don't don't judge me ramsey okay it still stings i just well this damper we we got enough stupid around this table to not to not condemn you or shame you for having done something stupid but you know what what you just did there is that psychological shift that has to happen sunk cost it is and and did you hear her wrestling is that psychological shift that has to happen. Sunk cost.

It is. And did you hear her wrestling with that? Yeah, I did. I wanted her to feel it. Because that's the thing you've got to get to. And no, it doesn't make the $16,000 that you lost come back. But it's not coming back. It's right.

You are preserving what's there. Yeah. It's gone. It's gone. I don't, I mean, I, that's why i said you sell it yeah and then i walked back walked back into it and make sure that that was the right thing right but the way you do this folks is you ask yourself the question it's called a sunk cost analysis it's a technical financial process but it works for life if you're looking at something and it has

a value and you say if i had that much in the middle of my kitchen table, would I buy that thing again? If the answer is no, it's time to sell that thing. Yeah, but I paid. It doesn't matter. Right. I got a $7,000 boat sitting in the driveway. If I had $7,000 in the middle of the kitchen table, would I buy a $7,000 boat again? If I didn't have a boat.

Well, I haven't used the thing in four years. Well, then time to sell a stupid boat. That's right. You know, I love boats, but maybe you don't. Yeah. And so, you know, don't keep something based on the past. Keep it based on the future. There it is.

That's what it amounts to. There it is. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about an event, product, or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes section or head over to DaveRamsey.com and click Dave Recommends. Thanks for listening.