The Ramsey Show - App - DAVE RANT: You're Going to Be OKAY (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 18, 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. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. That's 888-825-5225. Well, as you continue to follow the coronavirus saga that is out there, the panic and hysteria continues to escalate. People who are normally level-headed are becoming mean, angry, and out of control. And they're doing damage to themselves and to others around them. Because of their ignorance and their hysteria. And it's really a sad thing that is happening. My friend Art Laffer says, no one makes good decisions when they're panicked or when they're drunk. And when you are panicked, you don't make good decisions. Calm down.

You're going to be okay. Calm down. You're going to be okay. You really are. I know you're scared. I know some of you are completely freaked out to the point that your voice tone is changing. The octaves are shifting in your throat because of the tightness in it. If you catch yourself doing that, you're just a beagle chasing a rabbit at this point.

I mean, calm down. Calm down. You're going to be okay. Some of you have lost your jobs. I understand. We do a lot of business with Marriott, all of their various brands, all the way from the Ritz down to whatever the other brands are, through a whole bunch of their properties and wonderful people. We enjoy working with them. They laid off 10,000 people today or this week. 10,000 people today or this week. 10,000. Wow.

Now, is Marriott going to close down? Is Ritz-Carlton going to close down? No. Not permanently, no. Most of those folks, if they want their jobs back, will be able to go back there. But it's pretty disturbing for those people that just went home not getting a paycheck. And that's just one example of many out there because of this demand that everyone close by people on their way to work.

Yeah, it's out of control. It's out of control. And, you know, public health issues are real. The virus is real. The good news is that way less than 4,000 cases in the U.S. and less than 100 deaths in the U.S. And, of course, we all know that that's substantially less than the flu, substantially less than car wrecks, but none of you quit driving cars. You're still driving cars all over the place. Calm down. The number of my friends that I thought had a brain that have called me in the past 24 hours screeching about getting out of the stock market because it's going to completely collapse.

Let me explain something to you. If the Fortune 500, the 500 largest companies in America, all become worth zero, you understand that the United States of America has come to an end. So when you have the presupposition in your decision-making, you've panicked to the point, or you've been drinking to the point, that you think that the stock market is going to become worth zero, the set of assumptions you've used to do that mean that you have decided that the United States of America

is going to come to an end, that the entire economy has collapsed and really a foreign power will come in at that point. That's the decision you're making. Now, guys, that's asinine. And some of you were acting exactly the same way after 9-1-1, and some of you were acting exactly the same way after 2008. When are you going to learn that we're more resilient than that?

And the capitalism in this economy is way more resilient than that. It's off 5% today. 5%. It's diving! We're going today! Oh, my God. Calm down. Calm down.

Now, you can argue about how long it's going to take it to go back to where it was. It's under $20,000 probably today. It was at $30,000. How long is it going to take it to get back? You can argue about how long it takes it to get back. But if you make the argument based on the fact that the possibility of your mutual fund is becoming worth zero and it never returns, ever coming back, then you're making the argument that the United States of America,

our economy has collapsed completely, not taking a hit, not taking a bow, not taking a step back, has completely gone. That's asinine. That's absurd. You need to breathe. Count to 10. Now, I think it'll be back inside of 12 months. There's a lot of historical data to indicate that after 9-1-1. The market dove after 9-1-1, and it was headlines everywhere based on the attack on the towers, based on the terrorism, based on the crazy people taking over planes, based on all

of that, the market dove. By the way, those bricks were showered literally onto Wall Street, where the stock exchange is. They felt the literal bricks hitting there. The market dove. You know how long it took it to come? Oh, by the way, headlines in every newspaper, every newscast. You know how long it took it to come completely back from that dive? Anybody want to take a guess? 57 days. It was back before Christmas.

Did you see a single headline with that back then? That the market was so resilient that it completely recovered the 9-1-1 losses in 57 days. You cannot find an article written anywhere. But all you got to do is pull up your Dow Jones Industrial Average or your S&P 500 charts, and you can look at it and see it. But not a single headline said that. And the people who lost money when the market went down and panicked are still going around 20 years later telling everyone how they lost all their money after 9-1-1, which they didn't,

by the way. They lost some of their money because they're so stupid they sold at the very bottom. Calm down. How long did it take to come back after 2008? Year, year and a half. I don't remember the exact number of days on that one. How long is it going to take it to come back after this? Less than a year.

Financially, it's not as big as 2008. That's my prediction. And that's worth what you pay for it. Economists and weather forecasters are the only people that can be wrong all the time and still keep their jobs. So I'm probably wrong. Might be quicker, might be longer.

But is it going to take 10 years for the United States to recover from this? Absolutely not. That's asinine. Calm down. You're all right. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options?

Do you wish you could find an affordable biblical solution to your healthcare costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major healthcare costs. Christian Healthcare Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry. A Better Business Bureau-accredited organization, CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years, and our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, Thank you. I got home from my latest trip and there was a couple of books laying on my desk here at the office. I took them home, read two or three books that weekend.

It was a great weekend where I could just curl up and read the whole weekend in front of the fire. It was awesome. One of the books I knocked out was a brand-new book by my friend Patrick Lincioni. And Patrick is an incredible leadership writer and thinker and teacher, speaks at our Entree Master Series always, and I'm sorry, our Entree Summit always, Entree Leadership. And he and I have known each other a long time. He's one of the best writers out there on the subject of organization. He's got a new book out called The Motive. He writes a lot of his books in fable form, meaning it a story and uh that makes the points that he wants

to make immediately when i finished the book i emailed pat and i said hey uh getting me in touch with your folks i want to buy two cases of these for my leaders and i still need to get those bought pat how are you i'm doing just fine we got to send you those yeah i'm ready for him and i'll buy them obviously so uh pretty cool man this uh book the motive in the middle of a leadership crisis in america today yeah um a lot of us looking at our teams and having to make really difficult decisions around our teams um it starts to make you wonder why you're a leader well and if you if you're doing it for the wrong reason you're certainly feeling now. And that's what the book is about. The book is about the why of leadership. And that only some people should be leaders just because they're ready for the sacrifice and it's not about themselves.

Unfortunately, in our society, a lot of people go into leadership because it's for themselves. It was a reward for hard work. Yeah. It's like, well, I finally arrived. Now I get to be in charge, whether it's of a school or a church or a company. And now I finally get to do what I want for the reasons I want, and I get to enjoy this. Whereas the reality is when you get put into that top spot, it's time to – the burden is going to be greater than it's ever been, and the selflessness is going to be greater. And if you weren't doing that for the right reason, it's not going to be a good experience for you or the people you lead.

And that's more common than we'd like to know. Well, I can tell you me and my leadership team in the past four, five, six weeks have felt every day an increasing weight on our shoulders. I guess that's normal. It is. And this is the time to do the hardest things in terms of the difficult conversations and the constant communication and knowing that we're not in control of everything but listening to people and being there for them. And there's going to be some leaders who back off because they don't have all the right answers and it's uncomfortable,

and they don't want to take that on. And there's going to be others who enter into the danger of just being there with their people and doing everything they possibly can. Even though they don't have good answers or even definitive answers, leaders need to step up now and be more vulnerable and more uncomfortable than they've ever been. Well, we pulled our team in for a stand-up yesterday, and I gave them the numbers of worth of revenue, you know know where we are where we would get in where their jobs would start to come into peril uh we're nowhere near that everything's going good here we're in good shape but um you know we don't have infinite cash to keep uh this place afloat and i

don't borrow money and um so and with a thousand people team, we've got a little payroll here. Exactly. And these are not issues that we can't face head on. And I find that some leaders are reticent to share those things with people, and I think that it's much better to be up front and that people can deal with reality much better than they can with emptiness. When nothing is being communicated, people fill it with the very worst thing. And I think that all of this, we're all in this together. And boy, there's people out there living paycheck to paycheck, and I feel for them. And I hope that there's good things that can happen for them. But being there and being honest and talking to people about this and listening to

how they feel, this is a time for exceedingly human leadership. It'd be nice to be, I think about, I think about that picture of Eisenhower standing on the beaches before they left for D-Day and standing there with the soldiers and just being with them. And people knew what was going on. And this is not a time for leaders to go sit in the bunker and, and not to be around. They got to be be with people. They've got to be dealing with this because it will pass. The question is just how bad is it going to be, but we're going to get through it together. And I like to say to people, what are you going to look back in October and say, did I handle that well?

Did I do the right things? Because October is going to come, and we're going to have to acknowledge, did we lead well during that time? And right now, people can't even think about October, but we have to have to acknowledge did we lead well during that time and right now people can't even think about october but we have to look to the future and say am i going to look back and say i did what i was supposed to do well you're making me feel better you and i didn't get a chance to talk we've been friends a long time before we get on there but it's canceled my dad gum caribbean dive trip next week because i gotta be here in the middle of this crap and stand here

on the beach i don't have a choice. And so that's what leaders do, and you're making me feel better. Thanks. Yeah. You know, we're in a lockdown out here in California. Yeah, I'm a little pissed about canceling my dive trip, I'll just tell you, but oh well. My sons, I have two boys that are seniors in college,

and one day college just ended. Yeah. They said, Dad, I'm done with class. I will never – and they like school. And they said suddenly they just walked away. And they said, we're done. There's probably going to be no graduation, no nothing. And it's like everybody's got those things.

And in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big of a deal. But these are very real losses. Now, of course, nothing compared to the people out there that are in the hospital. Oh, exactly. And I think what I keep wanting to tell people is this is about protecting the elderly and those at risk. Because for most young people, it's not going to be that bad in terms of their physical threat. Exactly, exactly. So you say in the book, and I love the line because I try to convince people around here of this all the time,

not everyone should be a leader. No, in fact, last year I spoke at the leadership summit, and it's all about everybody leading. And I got up at the beginning and I said, you know, I think that we should have fewer leaders in the world than more. And they kind of gapped. And I said, the thing is, anyone who's doing it for the wrong reason, anyone who's a reward-centered leader, it's really better that they change or they have to stop leading. Because reward-centered leaders create a path of destruction around them. Because they make things about themselves. And they don't do the things that leaders are supposed to do. Leaders have the hardest job in the room. And some people are like, no, I don't think I should. And it's like those, it would really be better for the world if those people just found a job as an individual contributor somewhere. The very first person I hired,

this feels like a hundred years ago now, was a coach, a financial counselor, worked for me for 25 years and retired here. And as we started growing, the people that were there, I started offering them the first leadership roles. And he said, wait a minute, if you put me in charge of this P&L, I have to do hiring and firing, and I have to do budgets, and I have to lead people. And I said, yeah, and you'll make a lot more money. And he said, no, that would be leukemia to my spirit.

And, you know, that's awesome. At least he had the wisdom and the courage to say so. Most people think, well, that's what I'm supposed to do. So we take somebody who's great at sales or something else, and they're a great salesperson. We take them out of that role and make them a bad sales manager. Yeah, oftentimes. And this happens all the time.

Leadership is not the next act in your career. It's a calling. And if that's not your calling, don't do it. Yeah, you better be willing to put others first and have a heart of service. If you're going to be a high-quality, what our friend Jim Collins calls a level five leader, you better be able to lay that out. And I've got to tell you, not everybody can do it. No, and people don't like to hear this because the acronyms, you know, the letters CEO, nobody has a lot of sympathy for them.

And what I like to say is this. It is the loneliest job you can have. I mean, at the end of the day, Sharon is a great wife, but you don't go home and have her sit. You know, you have nobody. You have no manager. And doing the right thing, you go home at the end of the day and you say, I hope I did that. But there's not a lot of reward for CEOs. There's financial ones. But at the end of the day, it's a lonely job. And you don't have anybody to tell you if you did a good job or not. You don't have a manager to pat you on the back. And so I'm not saying

that everybody should feel sorry for them. But if you're not going into that job knowing there's going to be a lot of loneliness and a lot of burden, then it's not going to live up to your expectations. One of the best books on business I've read in quite a while. The book is called The Motive by Patrick Lencioni. His book, The Advantage, one of my other favorites, an ideal team player, and five dysfunctions of a team, bunches of bestsellers. The Motive by Patrick Lencioni. Love you, my brother.

Be careful. God bless you, Dave. You too. We'll be right back. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, because he has to be here. It's his job. One of our own team members, David Pickle, is with us, a digital developer. Been on the team about three months, right, David? Right around three months, yeah. Congratulations, man. Honored to have you here.

I'm certainly honored to be here. And you paid off all your debt. Yes, I did. Get to celebrate the debt-free scream. So how much have you paid off? $40,200. Awesome. And how long did that take?

That took right under 17 months. Awesomeness. And your range of income during that time? I mean, would you like me to show that as a team member? Oh, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I just do that automatically because I've been doing this for 30 years, and I just say the same thing over and over. No worries.

I'm not supposed to do that. Your team members are standing around you. I'm not going to tell them your income. Duh, dummy. Okay, not you, me. All right, well done. $40,000 worth of what kind of debt? So it was about $5,000 credit card and then just under $8,000 student loans.

At the time, that's what was left. And about $27,000 on a car. So you've been here three months, but your journey on this started 17 months ago. What's the story? Well, a little more than 17 months. But, yeah, so in July of 2018, it's kind of a fun story. A recruiter here, Mary Hope, reached out to me and said, hey, you know, we're looking for developers. Are you interested? And I said, you know, yeah, that sounds interesting. I knew who you were at the time. So I was like,

yeah, let's, you know, set up an initial phone call and talk. The fun thing is, from that initial sort of starting to correspond, I didn't get a job from that initial interaction, but I did get something else. I started watching some of the videos on YouTube channel and listening to your podcast, watching other debt-free screams. And that got me to start really opening my eyes and saying, what on earth have I been doing with my finances? Kind of leading up to that, just to give a little context, about two or three months before, I had such a distinct moment where I just felt disgusted with myself. Part of it was finances. There were some other things besides just finances. But I looked at my situation in life, so many things I was frustrated about, and I just said, I'm so, so tired of having to pay for the decisions that my past self made,

that I'm now obligated to try to follow up with things that, you know, if I could go back in time, I'd change it. And I was just so sick at the time. I'm like, I can't keep doing this. But I didn't quite know what steps to start taking, I guess. So a few months later, in that initial interaction, I started paying attention to finances. And that was just one element. And so yeah, by God's grace, I started taking steps. I was, I will confess a little bit Dave-ish at first. I was also in an apartment at the time that considering my financial context was too expensive. And I was coming off of a time, I don't want to miscategorize and say it was depression, but it was definitely a darker time in terms of mental health in my life. The blue period.

Yeah, for sure. So all those together, it was a slow start, but several months in, I started picking up momentum. And then about six months before I was finished, I looked at my car, which was still the biggest debt, and I just said, you know, I could speed this up if I sold it. And so I actually sold the car, got an older car that was used, that was reliable, that was going to be just fine. And that cut my debt by about $10,000 in one day. And that really lit the fire. Then I'm like, okay, I'm close now. I had about $10,000 left at that point. And so by the time you came on here, you were well into it, almost done. Well, that's another fun fact.

My first paycheck, actually, here at Ramsey Solutions was what I used to pay my last payment. Wow! Yeah, so it was a very, very joyous occasion in many ways. So we're like that girl that won't date you until you get out of debt. Yeah, I mean, we waited until you got out of debt to hire you. Sure, why not? No, it just get out of debt. Yeah, I mean, we waited until you got out of debt to hire you. Sure, why not? No, it just worked out that way.

But that's pretty cool. Yeah, it is not a requirement to work here, people. But yeah, very interesting. Yeah, it was more or less on schedule. I was estimating when I sold the car, okay, I bet I can get it by the end of 2019. And so then November, because I was planning to move for relocating, I kind of paused just a little bit. And then once I moved, I'm like, okay, game on. And yeah, so. Pop it.

Yeah, that was it. So how old are you? I am 31 years old. Have you ever been debt free as a working adult? I was. And that was part of my bad financial decisions. I ended up going back to school and that's what started it. I see.

And so I've been on the other side of it. But now on this side of it, I'm like, okay, I feel like now I have a lot more than I did then. I have the knowledge and experience to say, okay, here's what not to do, and I have a plan going forward. And you've looked in the mirror and controlled that guy. Yeah, that was – Once you get him under control, he can do anything. Yeah, that's definitely one of the big steps. So I'm certainly grateful. Yeah, very proud of you, man.

Well done. We're honored to have you on the team. Certainly an honor to be here. You've got a bunch of your team members gathering around out here to do a debt-free screen, or to cheer you on as you do your debt-free screen. Very, very cool. What do you tell people the secret to getting out of debt is? I've heard so many good answers to this question when you've asked others.

I think for me, the two things that stood out the most were trust and persistence. And those go hand in hand. Trust that if you have a plan that millions before you have followed and it has worked wonderfully, you don't have to think so hard and come up with all these extra things and figure all this out. It's like, no, just trust. This is going to work. Every day God will give you the grace to keep stepping, keep making progress. And then the other one, persistence. The job I was in before was very stressful for me.

There were so many days I just wanted to throw in the towel and quit. And I said, no, that's not part of the plan. Let's keep this going. Let's stay strong. And so just even if some days don't feel like you're making as much progress as others, so long as you keep taking steps, you will eventually make it across the finish line. So I guess the tortoise and the hare thing, you know, just keep going one way or another. Absolutely. Very well done, sir. Thank you. Very proud of you. Very proud of you. I know you probably already got a copy of Chris's book, but if you don't, you get one. It's the Everyday Millionaire's book, How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth and How You Can Too.

And that's the next chapter in your story. How old are you? 31. 31, and on your way to being a millionaire. Wow. Very, very cool. Congratulations. Thank you.

All right. It's our own team member, a digital developer, been with us for three months. Got a bunch of digital folks on our team, and we're so happy to have him. David Pickle is with us. $40,000 paid off in 17 months. Count it down. our team and we're so happy to have him david pickle is with us forty thousand dollars paid off in 17 months count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one i'm debt-free Yeah! Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! That's how it's done! Wow. Very well done, sir.

Very proud of you. Excellent job. Excellent, excellent job. It can be done. Brandon is in Tennessee. Hey, Brandon, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. I sure appreciate you taking my call.

Sure, man. What's up? So I'm 23, and my wife is still in school, so we're cash flow in her school right now, but she graduates this summer. And I'm just wondering, is it smart? Technically, I'm in baby step four, but I haven't officially started investing yet. And I'm wondering, is it smart to go ahead and start investing now since the market is low, or is it not really going to make a mathematical difference? You know, with me cash flow in her school, we don't have a whole lot of room in the budget after we start investing and so i'm just wondering you know what would be the wisest plan now when do

you get married oh i'm already we're married already married i'm sorry i misunderstood okay all right so she's in school and you have no debt. No debt. And you have an emergency fund. Yes, sir. And you're cash-flowing her college. Yes, sir. Okay. And when will she graduate? This July. This coming July. Okay.

Yes, sir. I would wait. I mean, if you want to build up the emergency fund a little bit more, or if whatever... I've got about $40,000. I've got about $40,000. I've got about $40,000 piled up. Okay. You've done pretty good. So you're thinking about buying a house later or what? I've already bought a house, and I owe $140,000 on it.

And so I was wondering what I need to do with the $40,000 on top of if I should start investing. Yes, you should start investing. I'm sorry. You've done so well. What an incredible job you've done. And you're going to add her income to this equation soon, right? Yes, sir. That's right. Wow. Impressive. You're going to be going zoom, zoom. Yeah. You need to decide what portion of the 40 is your three to six months emergency fund. What do you think? About 10 grand. We'll be fine with that. Yeah. Go ahead and make it 15. And then let's put the

rest of it towards your mortgage and towards getting your investing started and both. You know, you can get your Roth IRAs going and some good mutual funds, get your 401K loaded up down at work, all that kind of stuff. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Well done. Good job, man. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. The April 4th Smart Conference in Orlando has been postponed to August 15th.

Same exact location. Your tickets will work that day that you already have. Same exact lineup of speakers. Same exact lineup in the day. Just going to give ourselves a little space here to breathe. Trying to be sensitive to what you guys out there, our customers, not our critics, want us to do. We're not motivated by our critics. We never have been.

We're always motivated by loving our customers and our team, and those are the ones that come first. This is the conversation I have with the marketplace and our team has with the marketplace. So again, excited that it worked out perfectly, no issues at all, and we're already telling you the date, so mark it down. We're moving the April 4th Orlando Smart Conference to make it the August 15th Orlando Smart Conference. Exact same location. And tickets are still on sale, by the way. And exact same location, exact same lineup, exact same day, with a little less coronavirus around.

And hopefully a lot less. So there you go. I have noticed, if you noticed, that fear is more contagious than the virus. That if you hang around people who are freaking out, that you are more likely to be freaking out. I have noticed that the level of anxiety that you are carrying is directly correlated to the number of hours you watch television news. What are your inputs? Who are you actually believing? And I got to tell you, I'm friends with a lot of those folks in New York at Fox and at CNN.

And, um, I know how those shows are produced and that is not my input. I'm not going to, I'm not going to sit and watch Corona central 24 seven. You're not going to do that unless you just want to be freaked out because it will freak you out. Normal human beings watching other wise normal human beings freaking out

get freaked out. And I am not going to let this parlay me into hysteria like it has some of you. And you can tell you're hysterical based on some of the things that people are saying and doing out there. You've lost control of your thinking ability, your critical thinking skills. Calm your butt down. Calm down. Yes, there's a real thing going on,

but it's nowhere near as big as the hysteria surrounding it. And it won't get anywhere near as big in your personal life as the hysteria surrounding it. Some of you have parlayed this into your death and you're 26 years old. Why? Why? Why? It's crazy. So, listen, you're going to be okay.

We're going to keep talking about this over and over and over again. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Emily is in Maine. Hi, Emily, how are you? Good, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I just wanted to, I don't have any questions that I needed to ask you, but I just wanted

to say that I'm so incredibly thankful for you and for FPU. I'm a coordinator and have been doing it for a few years now. And I am now debt-free. I'm also a single mom. And during this whole outbreak, I have had tremendous peace because of being debt-free, like not worried about what's to come. I've got a small emergency fund, but I just wanted to praise you. Well, I'm praying.

I didn't do it. You did it. I'm proud of you. Well, I'm praising you. I didn't do it. You did it. I'm proud of you. Well done. You're a hero. You took care of your life. And so is your job okay?

Yeah, I'm an estimator for a construction company, so I am able to estimate from home. Okay, so you're working from home, but your job, they haven't laid you off. Right. That's great. That's great. I you off. Right. That's great. That's great. I'm happy for you. That's awesome. Thank you so much.

I'm so proud of you. You did a great job getting yourself out of debt. That takes the pressure off, and then starting to build your emergency fund takes the pressure off. I mean, if you've got a pile of cash and no payments, you can still move into freak-out mode just on an emotional basis, but there's nothing financially driving your freak-out then. It does give you two words that don't go together, financial peace, right? Exactly. That's what you did for you and your child.

How many kids you got? I have one. How old? He's seven years old. Oh, wow. How long have you been a single mom? Seven years. Oh, the whole time.

Okay, wow. That turned you into a warrior, won't it? It does, yeah. Yeah, when you get foreclosure notices, that's when I really had to do something. Yeah. Yeah. Way to go. Way to go.

Way to go. Way to go. Excellent. Excellent job. Well, I'm proud of you hero you did it man you're just something else thank you for calling in and encouraging others that they can get there because you did it single mom with a baby and uh currently working from home very cool very cool nate is with us in pennsylvania hi nate how are. How about yourself? It's an honor to speak with you today. You too. What's up?

So I'm trying to plan out for my future here. I'm 25 years old, and I don't have any debt currently. And I'm with a girlfriend that I would like to get married with in the next year, year and a half. And she has approximately about $74,000 in debt, $65,000 are student loans and about eight, eight and a half are a car loan. What I kind of want some advice regarding this is that whenever we do get married, I expressed to her that I would like to help her with this debt. And together we have about $33,000 in savings. She's a little bit reluctant to allow me to help. She's very humble and wants to take this on our

own. But I know as you have taught us that once we're married as a team and we like to tackle it together, what are some of your advice and words of advice as to allowing us to work together as a team to pay off this debt? After you're married? Yeah, correct. Okay, so you pile up a big pile of cash, and after the honeymoon, you pay it all off or pay a big chunk on it, one of the two. Okay. But that makes her uncomfortable because she feels like it's her responsibility. Absolutely.

Well, that's a nice thing because it means she's a good person. She's not a parasite. She's a person of character, and so that's a nice thing because it means she's a good person she's not a a parasite she's a person of character and so that's a good indicator uh that you got it that you got a good lady there uh but i think the thing is i'm just real practical about stuff even romance and marriage and kids i'm real practical about it and so i just look and say okay what are the data points tell us and the data points we know from married people who become millionaires, a very high percentage of them in the 90 percentile, I forget the exact number, work together and share everything. They do not have separate bank accounts and separate

lives. And they do not pull, one of them is trying to pull you down while the other one's trying to pull you up in other words teamwork and unifying your decision making and unifying your money is a is a is an absolute must from the data if you want to become wealthy if you want to get a level of financial security and so uh you, I guess you could tell her that. It's not real touchy-feely, but of course the other thing is this. I love the idea that when you share your spending and you share and unify your financial goals, you are truly becoming one.

Jesus said your treasure is where your heart is. And so when we unify our planning for crisis, we unify our planning for the future, we unify our planning about our kids, when we unify, we become one. And so, you know, Sharon and I have been doing this stuff right for about 30 of the 39 years, 38 years we've been married. We've been working it together with high levels of communication and not going against each other's decisions and those kinds of things. And it has just drawn us so close together that we know what the other one's going to do.

She's a little more fear-based. I'm a little more anger-based. She's a little more security-based. And I'm a little bit more of a bold risk-taker. But we know that about each other, and we know what the other one's going to do, and we know we're going to do this together. And it's a huge blessing in our relationship, and it gives a huge indicator that we're going to be able to win with money,

and we have. So that's what I would tell her. I don't know if that sounds real romantic, but that's all the truth I know. Hey, man, thank you for joining us. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. This is James Childs, producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. Once again, you made The Dave Ramsey Show one of the top five most downloaded podcasts last year. To get your daily dose of motivation and inspiration, subscribe today.