The Ramsey Show - App - Debt Only Works Until It Doesn’t… (Hour 1)

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. John has a new book coming out in just a couple of weeks from tomorrow.

It comes out on October the 3rd. This recording, as you're hearing it right now, is September the 18th. And today is the last day that you can pre-order and get the e-book early. If you ordered a day, you'll get the e-book for free tomorrow. That's pretty cool, John. I didn't even know that. That's fantastic. Yeah, it's pretty neat. Nearly half the U.S. population reports that their lives are affected by anxiety, stress, or burnout. The book is Building a Non-Anxious Life, and he walks you through the six daily choices to recognize and break free from a life spinning out of control. The book is already a huge success, and it's not even out yet.

The sales are huge because there's a problem out there that's huge. That's right. It's an absolute mess out there it was it was good this past weekend to connect with a live audience and um man they're feeling it yeah just real regular moms and dads and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles are feeling it out there and so yeah it's a mess yeah at the smart conference this last weekend john did the talk smoke smoke fire and, which has a lot of the content of the book in it, or some of the content of the book in it. And, yeah, that audience are sitting on the edge of their seats, followed by a standing ovation.

So it's absolutely, yeah, it's touching a nerve to say, yes, anxiety is real. Yes, there's a lot of things real in the mental health space. The statistics of death and despair are huge. And yet there's a lot of things real in the mental health space. The statistics of death and despair are huge. And yet there's hope. Yeah. And this book is a roadmap. And I think that's missing a lot. Most of the solutions are come pay us a whole bunch of money

and we're going to try a bunch of stuff over the next four weeks, five weeks, six months. And this is a pretty consistent roadmap. It's been around for a long, long, long time. I didn't invent any of this stuff. This is as ancient as time. But it also incorporates the latest neuroscience, which, of course, that's just going to confirm what we've known for generations and generations. But it's a roadmap.

It's a roadmap to completely doing life differently you know the six choices that you can make daily to um really prepare your your life for when anxiety comes not if it comes then you can handle it and it's not so debilitating because anxiety is not a uh it's not a disease right think of it this way we've all agreed um that we're gonna brush our teeth twice a day so that if there comes a moment when we have really bad breath we probably have a tooth infection we need to go get it checked out but we're just decided not have bad breath every day anxiety can be very in burnout and this distress stress stress this way we've chosen to construct our lives.

Man, if you work on this stuff every day over time, it really straightens your life out. And then you know when something sideways comes, when you're about to get fired, when you lose your job, when your spouse is cheating on you, it sounds the alarms appropriately so, and then you can have a plan to go forward there. Yeah. and what's weird is this. Forty-five years ago, I was in class in college, and the professor was talking about the advent of computers and how they were going to change our lives and change business. And we were taking computer classes with card readers. We had to type out the little cards, you know, thing.

I mean, that's how antiquated it was, right? But the professor said something that has stuck with me ever since i don't even remember the guy's name but i remember the statement he said more information is not necessarily going to be better man and how how relevant is that how many people do we meet that and you and i are in a position where people ask us, how many cups of coffee have you had with somebody? About 40. Just make the decision, right? Yeah.

Or how many times, how long have I spent on the computer researching workout programs? But I have more data. I could have just gone to work out. But I still don't do anything with it. It's not helping. I've got more data. I've got more connection in my hand that's not real because facebook friends aren't real friends i've got more connection in my hand with this little magic wand i carry around than anybody in history and

yet we're the most disconnected so more connection doesn't equal more connection that's so strange more communication doesn't equal more connection right there we go so i can communicate with everybody all day long but man i need to be in a room with people. But it's low quality communication. That's right. I mean, the lowest possible quality communication would be a text. And we've heard that. We've heard the statistics. Next would be a voice.

And the best quality communication is in person because you get tone, body language, eye movement. You get everything then. And you can go, oh, she's lying. Well, and we all know that 70 to 90% of communication is nonverbal. But we took out all the nonverbal stuff. And which leaves us with, you know. A 16-year-old that only knows how to do a breakup on a text. Dave, I had a graduate student come in one day crying and shaking and handed me his phone

and he had just been served, like, you're getting papers today. He got divorced via text. Oh my gosh. And get this, my response is, are you going to talk to her what are you doing like why are you here and the response was well we've got a zoom call set up for friday and i said that's i think i know why you're getting a hundred percent know the problem i think i think i know why this was me i would have been on i would have been on a plane on a jet plane this morning oh my gosh and then sitting at your kitchen table going, what in the devil?

But I can look at that kid and say he's weak, or I can also look at that kid and say, oh, he didn't have any skills. He didn't have any skills. Yeah. He didn't have any lie. That's right. He didn't tell him a lie, that this is okay. This is the way we do this.

This is the way to have a friend as a Facebook friend. This is the way to do a breakup is on the text. This is the thing. So all these things create anxiety is my point correct and uh so building a non-anxious life does not mean you live in a cave and you don't embrace any technology ever that is not what it means but what it does mean is that you control technology instead of it controlling you correct one of the items it's exactly right and you be intentional as weird as it is and as hard as it is, you be intentional about having friends and making connections.

You be intentional about taking care of your one precious body, the only thing you got. Most of us treat our cars better than we treat our bodies. So there's several things we can do on a regular basis that over time, man, puts the fires out in our living room. And then the smoke detector doesn't have to keep ringing off the wall. Yeah. When those brake pads wear out, they tear up the rotor. Yeah, they do. Because the metal on metal.

Yeah. I did that. I've done that too. A lot because I was too broke to replace the brake pads. So then you get to spend eight times more replacing the rotor too. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. I do remember those days.

So building a non-anxious life. If you pre-order today, you'll get $75 in free bonus items, including instant access to the e-book, the newest talk, Smoke, Fire, and Freedom. We'll ship you the audio book and the book two weeks from tomorrow on October the 3rd. And we want you to have this book, and we want you to be able to spread it around. It is an incredible, incredible work.

Just go to RamseySolutions.com. Again, if you're listening to this on the 18th of September, you're catching the last possible day to get the e-book early. We'll still give you the e-book, but you'll just get it on the 3rd when everybody else gets their stuff, so that's okay. But we'll send it to you today. If you buy it right now, right now, Ram ramsaysolutions.com it'll come today this is the ramsey show dr john deloney ramsey personality is my co-host today open phones at 888-825-5225

cammy is with us in Springfield, Illinois. Hi, Cammie. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi. Hi. What's up? Nothing. I am recently divorced.

Mom of two. And I just feel like I'm extremely defined financially. And I just was looking for tips and advice on how I get out of my situation that I'm in currently. Okay. What is his income, your ex-husband's? He makes about $45 an hour, but I do not take anything from him. What do you make? I currently make $18 an hour hour and I'm a personal trainer, but I am only training for like

six to eight hours a week. I think we found your problem. Yeah, no, I know. I've been applying to jobs left and right. It's just I cannot seem to find one right now. Yes, I know my issues. I don't have enough income. That's something that I'm working on, but I didn't know. I don't know. I just don't know what to do. Are you only applying to be a personal trainer? No, I'm applying for all sorts of different positions, state positions, city positions, random places, you know, in town.

I'm applying all over the place. It's just, yeah. Why isn't he paying child support? I was the one that wanted the divorce, and I just... It doesn't matter. State law says he pays child support. I know. I just didn't want anything to happen the rest of my life,

and I figured that I could do it on my own, and I want to be able to do it on my own and i want to be able to do it i know that it was probably done looking at it now but i think that when i am finally successful and i am out of my position that i'm in currently when was the divorce final um july of this year how have you lived since j July on eight hours a week? I take shifts at the restaurant that I worked at. I'm not scheduled. I just take shifts as they come.

He works long hours, and we split the kids 50-50. But unfortunately, with his work schedule, I have been the one that has had to take the kids on the nights that he has to work late. So me getting a full-time job for the longest time was out of the question because our babysitter actually got shut down for a little while because she wasn't properly licensed. And so, yeah, I have just been living on tax return tips that I'm getting. The problem is that these priorities have gotten all backwards on you. Okay. All of these things you're throwing at me are solved when you tell them all to take a side seat because you have to work and you have money. And when you have money because you're working, now you find a different babysitter and you're not dealing with some jackleg

who's not even licensed and gets put on the street and shuts your whole operation down. Oh, and by the way, when he calls and says he has to work, you say, well, I'm sorry, you have the kids, I'm working. Yeah. You don't revolve your life around all of these other people you set your life up and they revolve around you okay that's what's the problem do you feel guilty that you filed for divorce here um i don't feel guilty no but i just feel like anytime that the kids are not

going to be properly taken care of by him i just feel like since i was a stay-at-home mom for so long that it's my you're not a stay-at-home mom anymore you made a decision to be a career person now that's right and yeah what you're trying to do is to have it all at the same time with no pain that's what i mean you filed for divorce you left him for whatever reason you left him and you can't eat right and so're going to have to put your ego aside and possibly go back and say, hey, I need some child support so our babies have groceries while I'm trying to find a job.

That's ego talking right now. He does have to pay me $500 a month for six months. We're currently on month two of that. I am getting state assistance through Blink and medical insurance. That is not a good long-term plan. It's not a plan. No, it is not. No, I do not know. A plan is you working 40 to 50 hours a week making $25 or $30 an hour and you can get back where you can eat. But you have defined good mom as being there for everyone except making money. And I'm redefining good mom as one who goes and makes some money to provide for her family because she's now a single mom redefine it okay a good mom is

one now that works 45 or 50 hours a week and everyone else sits to the side while you do that they fit you figure it out because you cannot be at home with the children anymore. Right. You don't have that option. I'm sorry. I wish you could, but the decisions have been made. That is now done. And so the best way you can be there for them is go make some money, not because money makes the world go round, but it does buy food, lights, and shoes.

Okay. And you're struggling to do that right now. Right. And you're scared. Yeah, no, it's a little bit scary, but I lived on my own for a little bit while I was working full-time before the daycare got shut down, and then my place was infested with mold, so I had to move out, and I'm currently living with my

parents and um I do sell beef um I raise cattle on the side so I Cammy Cammy yes you need a job sorry you need a job I know quit explaining to me all the reasons you don't okay yeah no I'm not okay beef and beef and picking up shifts and working around the unlicensed daycare and working around the ex-husband who still tells you when to jump and you jump. All of this are not good enough reasons. You have got to get back to full-time employment for the good of your children, your sanity. Yeah. You don't have a choice and once you decide that then the mold and the unlicensed daycare all these other things start to move away when you add three thousand dollars a month to this equation

it changes the equation because money what it does is it gives you options it gives you power it's not the money itself that matters and i'm not all about money day room is all about money single mom called he's all about money now i want to feed her dadgum kids right and get the stress off of her because she's scared to death but your your head's spinning and all you can do is just go into this kaleidoscope of reasons and excuses rather than going and doing it and you have got to go do it girl and this is not the time dave it's not the season for follow your dreams. No. And I'm going to start the dream job and I'll show them. This is not that time.

No, no, no, no, no. We need to eat. This is anyone who will hire you. I got to get a job that I can make the most money and be the most impactful. And by the way, often when families get divorced, mom and dad think the greatest thing they can do for the kids is FaceTime. Let me tell you, the greatest gift you can give your kids is a present, stable, non-anxious mom and dad. And that means you got to be able to pay your bills.

You got to be able to eat. If you're worried about your kids eating while you're sitting in the floor playing with them, they're going to feel that tension and they're going to absorb it. They're going to make it their fault. Yeah. You can't do that to your kids. Exactly. And you can't do that to your kids. Yeah. We can't, you know, the best thing you can do for you and them is go make a little money right now. You don't need to go make $300,000 a year, but you do need to go make $50,000 right now. Right now. And there's people doing that. And so hang on.

We're going to give you a copy of ken coleman's book from paycheck to purpose and his other book the proximity principle and as soon as they hit your mailbox i want you to sit down and read them and turn the stupid television off you don't need to have a tv on in your house at all right now yeah turn it off it's just you need to be reading these two books and you need to be working call local school there's people are so desperate for teachers right now you've been a teacher as a trainer start thinking outside the box a little bit but call local schools and see if you can get in as a as a teacher yeah anything i mean targets hiring ups that were coming into christmas every retail out there is hiring at 25 an hour right now they can't get

people and so you can get the hours and you can get the dollars coming in and but some of these people are just gonna have to line up in your life and stand to the side instead of you being the one that stands to the side every time. That was the moral of the story we heard when you called us, Cammie. So we love you and we want you to win, kiddo, and understand why you're scared. But the chaos leaves when you rise up above it and start telling everybody where to dance instead of being the one told when to dance. This is The Ramsey Show.

Justin's in Houston, Texas. Justin, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hello, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. I was wondering about taking a loan out for home repairs for the end goal being to sell the home. And I know that that is bad, but the situation is that I have two elderly relatives with a fixed income, and the houses that they have fortunately are completely paid off the issue is that they have like significant damages to the

foundation to their wall a lot of it they're safe to live in but I was thinking perhaps if there's some equity loan could be taken out against it in order to fix those significant issues and then sell off those houses so that they can eventually live in like a smaller place like a condominium or a townhouse where they wouldn't be burdened by the property taxes that these houses are in. If that would be acceptable in your opinion? I would not do that, no. Because as always with a story with debt, your story only works if it works. But I've been there when it doesn't work. Like when these people with hardly any income

have a home equity loan, the house won't sell and the interest rates go through the roof. Did you notice interest rates have been rising? And now they're sitting there trapped. Oh, now they get foreclosed on. That's the people I've met. So the debt plan only works when it works, and it hardly ever works because life hardly ever works exactly the way you map it out in your head. So, yeah, if everything worked exactly like you said, would that work?

Yeah, it would work, but it doesn't. It's not how life works. The contractor screws them doing the basement repairs. Now they've got all the debt, and the repairs still aren't quite done, but they've borrowed all they can borrow. Now they're trapped with a partially completed construction project. Oh, and then the interest rates go up, and then one of them falls ill. Yeah, this is how real life unfolds here.

So why wouldn't you just sell the houses outright right now as is and get the cash? Well, my concern is that the damage are such that uh that the amount that the houses would sell for would be significantly less than they they could potentially get yeah that's true but they're not in the real estate investment business they're in the broke old people business yes that's correct and and that was like in my my ideal vision is that they could get as much money for their houses to be able to sustain their retirement. They're in their 80s. Do you have any money? I do, but not enough.

How much money do you have? My wife and I have around $98,000 in our retirement accounts. And, yeah, we have no debt. We've been very blessed. So you don't have the money to give them for this, do you? No, sir. Okay. You are a kind person, Justin,

trying to do something good for your grandma or grandpa or your uncle or aunt or whoever it is. But you're getting ready to create a bigger mess because you don't see all the unintended things that could come about here that actually are more likely than the scenario that you've laid out in your head. That's what I'm trying to describe to you. So, yeah, I would go to Ramsey Solutions and click on Ramsey Trusted for Real Estate

and get an agent to come over there and tell them, hey, help me with this because I don't want these people to have to give these houses away, but they simply don't have the money to fix them. And how can we get an investor in here to give top dollar as is, as John was suggesting? Because that's where this needs to go, man. I mean, my grandparents did the exact thing we're talking about here. The neighborhood they were in in the same city there in Houston was starting to be gentrified,

and they had some major work that needed to be done on the foundation, some major work needed to be done on the driveway, and they just sold the house. The guy came up and wrote him a check in the driveway, handed him a check. I mean, it was transaction. Now, that's not as much as if it had been fixed up. That's right. That's what his point is, and he's right about that. But we're not in the house flipping business.

That's right. That's right their that wasn't their game to play and they may have had to go to a different nursing home or whatever but they did they i mean it's just not the business we're in you know broke 70 year olds don't do rehabs for flips yeah that's what it amounts to especially on margin especially especially when you're borrowing a home equity loan or a paid for house it's just um and – and that's being cold, but really this is the actual fact of what we're facing. Now, how do we walk through it? Yeah, well, so I don't want them to have to sell their house so cheap. That decision was made years ago when they didn't bother to keep the maintenance up.

Now we're just having to execute the decision. That's when they gave up that equity was when they didn't do the maintenance up. Now we're just having to execute the decision. That's when they gave up that equity, was when they didn't do the maintenance years ago, and they didn't take care of their money so that they could. But they chose to buy a couple of houses. Which is very sad. Instead of fixing up the one. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

So, yeah, get with a Ramsey-trusted real estate agent there. There's a bunch of really good ones in Houston. Somebody will help you try to get this and try to help get these folks out of this because bless their hearts they're they're in a mess of their own making but they're in a mess and we don't want to make the mess bigger which is what debt does so yeah the um the you know i i actually i thought 100 years ago it feels like now i was in a a bible study and from a christ Christian or a spiritual perspective or a biblical perspective, this guy was pointing out, and it's not words we use anymore because it's so long ago, but he said, when you borrow, you are presuming. And there's all kinds of scriptures against presuming.

Presumption, yeah. you know that the lord don't presume upon something you can't control as as like the future you know because who the crud knows you're going to have a fauci quarantine i mean who the crud knows you know apparently fauci did but the rest of us didn't i mean it's just like wow so this is and hey i grew up in the house of somebody who worked at enron don't tell me no my business is secure no my company is doing great. It's life. We wouldn't have jobs if life didn't turn that way, man. Yeah, if it turned out the way you thought it was going to turn out every time,

nobody would be calling. And if you want to count on one thing over the next 24 months while we go through the presidential cycle again, it's going to get chaotic out there. So I wouldn't borrow. Imagine. Tammy is in Austin, Texasxas hey tammy what's up hey dave how are you better than i deserve what's up so i'm calling in um uh my question is should i pay for my daughter's out-of-state tuition based on my current financial situation age no and retirement

i had all kinds of money and i refused to pay out-of-state tuition because there's absolutely no value add for it okay if you go to auburn university versus going to the university of tennessee you know what the difference is in your education none none and you pay five times more you know what the difference is you go to alabama versus university of tennessee alabama wins at football that's it that's the only difference they used to until lately but yeah you know what i'm saying i mean it doesn't matter it's nothing the number of people that we didn't hire here because they went to in-state versus out-of-state, is zero in 1,000 employees. Oh, that's a hard no.

Okay. Yeah, it's a hard no. It's no value for it. Why would she do that? Well, you know, friends, that's where she wants to go, green school, all of this. And I'm sitting here like, do I give this to her? Do I make this happen? Like, you know, you feel guilty.

I don't feel guilty my kids got you know my kids had like an extra fifty thousand dollars in a mutual fund that was in their name when they graduated because i didn't allow them to spend it on out-of-state tuition that's what i would rather do yeah it's my money so i did i did what i wanted you're the mama you get to do what you do. Yeah. Hey, and by the way, the whole ecosystem, here's how the game works, because I've been on the inside. Let's make this kid believe that this is the one. They use the same language that kids are taught to find the one that one person that Romeo and Juliet um like there's one person cruising the world God got me into the school yeah no he didn't they reached

hey we saw you 17 year old and we picked you university to fill in the blank and then they you leverage that to make you feel bad about it mom and dad and then you write these checks that you you know while you're writing them this is stupid yeah don't do it we have a a local private school called Brentwood Academy BA stands for before Auburn because they all go across the line to Auburn for no apparent reason that's what we call it before Auburn before Auburn yeah so and after why because they all follow their friends and their brothers and sisters. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Just to be clear, we are not against higher education. We're not even against Auburn, although we used them as an example there. I love Auburn. They're great. Picking on them. But I see absolutely no logical reason that presents itself with a return on investment for why you would pay $25,000 to go to basically the same school that you could go to for 10 and it makes no sense at all and I can go a step further and say those schools that are quote famous unquote that supposedly afford you a quote better education unquote several of

the people that graduated from there work for me and i went to the university of tennessee so kind of mic drops on that uh that's how it works so you know the question is not the quote what you're after here is not a degree from a fancy fancy place that guarantees your success what you're after is a degree that indicates that you got knowledge. Knowledge is the currency, not the degree. Knowledge is the door opener, not the degree. Knowledge causes you to win in the marketplace, not the degree. And if you get knowledge about something that no one gives a crap about,

you become a barista. So you get a degree in left-handed puppetry, then you are waiting tables or some nuanced bullcrap that somebody talked you into that has nothing to do with anything in the real world. Then your knowledge base that you paid for, it has no market for it. You need to get knowledge that has a market probably one of the best bangs for your buck if you're so inclined i'm not because my brain doesn't work this way but if i was a bit more of a detail person which would be like any more possibly any detail at all would be more than i am but if i was a detail person, I would go to code school for $10,000 and go make $250,000

coding. I mean, I would become one of the top program programmers in the world and go make, you know, 250, 300,000 bucks coding. And you can get that for 10 grand. Um, in my case, I probably would end up, you know, getting a welding certificate from the trade school. Cause I like that kind of stuff. But, uh uh and you can make a hundred thousand dollars doing that so we're not against higher education we're against paying for stupid things that have nothing to do with furthering your life and that is the name of the college that you went to and that is a a degree that is useless yeah um man there's so much to be said there i just ask yourself what you're looking to do not um don't ask a 17 year old or 18 year old i think a very unfair question which

is what is your passion um or where are your friends going yeah yeah what's right for you and your family what's right for where you think you're going to be in a couple of years? What are you interested in right now? And if coding's not for you, then you can never go wrong learning how to write real well because it helps you think. If you're really into math, go get a degree in business. There's just so many opportunities that you can get a broad base so you can walk into any industry and be of service to those folks. Add knowledge. Add knowledge. And keep adding knowledge. In relationships adding relationships keep adding knowledge keep reading a book read a non-fiction book this year hello a bunch a bunch of them don't i mean if you're if your entire

repertoire is tiger king you're screwed i mean you really should learn something of value that you can use in the marketplace and uh so that that this is very important and i'll tell you there's one thing worse than your kid going to school where all their friends are going it's if they go where their boyfriend or girlfriend is going why is that well if you follow if the reason i'm going to this school is my boyfriend or girlfriend is going there yeah if that's your reason for picking that school about a hundred percent of the time approaching a hundred percent that's your reason for picking that school about 100 of the time approaching 100 that's that deal's not gonna last so i may have done that dave you might and

you might have it might have worked for you we broke up two days into school oh i did that i met somebody over the summer completely i threw away 100 full ride scholarship to one college went to another school because she was the one in my 18 year old mind and we lasted 48 hours wow but i met my current wife so it worked out wow and what you got for that forgiven scholarship is one story to tell in front of 25 million people i don't tell that story very often i wouldn't i wouldn't have admitted it ever. That one goes in the old back pocket. That one goes in the back pocket. I've done a lot.

A full-ride scholarship. I still take, I had several, and I still ask my mom, like, how did y'all let me? And they're like, I don't know, man. We couldn't stop you. There was no stopping you. I mean, they stopped me doing other stuff, but I don't know, man. The Ramsey Show Question of the Day, sponsored by Neighborly, your hub for home services. Most American homes have dozens of appliances. Chances are, at any given time, something's wrong with at least one of them.

Mr. Appliance, a Neighborly brand, offers expert appliance service to your schedule. Visit Neighborly.com today and find home service experts, including Mr. Appliance, in your area. Today's question comes from Andrew in Nevada. Hey, guys. I love listening to your show, and it's helped me give me a lot of comfort in my life. I've heard Dave says he gives a 10% tithe, and I do as well and believe the same. My question is, would there ever be a time when you wouldn't tithe in order to get yourself out of a bad financial situation? I was in a situation where it was hard to tithe, and I'm just curious as to what thoughts

you guys have. I realize this is probably more of a spiritual question than a money question. What do you think? I'm 100% sure that your tithe has nothing to do with your salvation. I'm 100% sure from Scripture that God loves you if you tithe or if you don't tithe exactly the same. He's wildly crazy about you. The purpose of the tithe is not to get a

Boy Scout badge in heaven. That's not the purpose of the tithe. Your father, who's crazy about you, says son, the best way to live your life is give a tenth of your income off the top before you do anything. And I'll love you anyway anyway whether you do

that or not your father says stay out of debt because the borrower is slave to the lender your father says don't build a tower without first counting the cost lest you get halfway up and you're unable to finish and all who see you begin to mock you and this man began to build and was unable to finish that's j Jesus' words saying, do a budget. Don't build without a plan. Don't build without a plan. This is your father. None of these things affect his love for you or your salvation.

So tithe or don't tithe. God still loves you. Now, if my dad, who's crazy about me and knows more than me, says tithe, I tithe. But it has nothing to do with earning anything my grace is taken care of it's substantial it's substantial it's taken care of so you know it's way more grace than i need to answer your question i tithed all the way into bankruptcy court and all the way out but it had nothing to do with i was scared of god it had nothing to do with i was trying to earn his favor it had to do with apparently you can live on 90 of whatever if you're not making much and you're having a hard time it's not it's 10 of not much and so i did i

tied all the way in all the way out and it wasn't because i'm a legalist and it wasn't because of that it was because i i think it's the best way to live just like i think staying out of debt's the best way to live yeah i i like to look at some of these um quote unquote rules the scriptural rules as they're not this is the best way to live your life they're not rules it's a gift it's the best exactly so um there's something about giving there's something about a spirit of gratitude that keeps your head your eyes out of your navel and helps you look up and see your neighbor. It just changes the way you work your way through life.

And there's something about meeting people eye to eye, hand to hand, that changes the way your heart beats. And so I think this is much less, it is a spiritual question more than a money question but it's actually a physiological question it's a relationship question it's a way to do life it's a way to do life and and your father who is the great i am who's standing there five years from now knows where you're going to be and he was standing there five years ago and knows where you came from at the same time not bound by time is saying son best way to live and so i'm it's for me it's just like it's a it's an act of faith at that point faith in in that but it's not but if someone says uh you can't you can't be blessed because god because you're not tithing not true yeah not true at all not true

can't find it in scripture oh you can find scripture taking that context point to that but um you god is not god does not need your money he's god if he wanted your money he'd take it and there'll be a greasy spot where you're sitting he's god he doesn't need your money but he wants you to win he wants you to what you heard in this episode and want to know more about getting started on the ramsay baby steps go to ramsaysolutions.com and click on the get started button we'll help you figure out the best next step for you based on your specific situation that's ramsaysolutions.com and click on the Get Started button. We'll help you figure out the best next step for you based on your specific situation. That's ramseysolutions.com and click Get Started.