The Ramsey Show - App - Don’t Be Stupid Just Because the Market’s Stupid Right Now (Hour 2)

Episode Date: November 15, 2021

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the 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. You jump in. We'll talk about your life, your money. George Camel, Ramsey personality, host of The Fine Print, host of Entree Leadership, and co-host of this show today is my co-host. So check it out. George

Camel and I'll be here talking to you about your life and your money. It's common sense for your dollars and cents. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Tyler is with us in Springfield, Missouri. Hey, Tyler, how are you? Better than I deserve. How about you, Dave? Just the same, sir. What's up?

Well, I have looked forward to this phone call for a very long time, but at the age of 24, me and my wife are officially in baby step seven wow that's stinking impressive hero way to go it it doesn't seem real i'm not gonna lie what's the house worth uh roughly 275. Gee, man, how did you do that at 24? I sacrificed a lot of time away from friends and family to, uh, work a pretty well-paying job. Oh, cool. What do you do? Uh, I'm a truck driver. Okay.

So you've been like 80 hours a week, huh? Uh, well, that's not legal. That's not legal. It wouldn't be that many a week. A lot. With a partner, yeah. Yeah. Yes.

So I was calling since we are officially in Baby Step 7. job where I make roughly $110,000 a year to go work in the same field and take a pretty substantial pay cut, but be home every day of the week working 40 hours a week. What's the cut? I would be going to like $70,000 a year. Okay. So a $40,000 cut on $110,000. Yes. Okay. Well, because you guys are in Baby Step 7, it gives you options. And one of the reasons we tell people to live and give like no one else is so later they can live and give like no one else. And so what I love about your situation is you can afford to take the pay cut and it won't severely impact your financial life. Can you guys live off of your income?

Absolutely, yeah. Does she work outside the home? She does. What does she make? About $35,000 a year. Okay. So you're going to have $105,000 household income. You can live on that easy.

You've got no house payment, no nothing, no trouble. Okay. So that step is not the end of the world okay and yes you probably should or could do that without you've you got babies no babies yet okay not enough time for it hasn't been home enough okay yeah all right well the uh uh yes i would do that. Now, I've got to give you a huge caveat, though, okay? Because there's this, it has to be a temporary tradeoff. You're only 24 years old. I don't want you 34 driving local making 70. Yeah.

So I want to know what the next step is. I don't want to know today, but I mean, rhetorically, I want to know what you're going to do that's going to make you when you're 34, 150. So what career are you going to move into? Are you going to move into owning trucks? Are you going to, I don't know, but I'm not going to take you at 24 and that be the end of your career growth. Yeah. And you call that okay because of baby step seven we're just going to kick back and take it easy no no no no you're only freaking 24 okay so let's go

do something with our life now and use this step back as okay i can take some classes at night get certifications in x y or z i can do this or that on the weekend and get set up to move to the next level and start running a ken coleman program on your life where you move into a career that is really not only fulfilling i mean his new book from paycheck to purpose i'll send you a copy of it but purpose and time with family does not always need to equate to less money it can on the short term but it doesn't have to in the long term okay yeah so yes but not forever yes but not for long is the answer to your question yes i would do that so i'll give you an example okay out in 1990 or no it should 1994, I made 100. I was coming out of the bankruptcy, and I was doing real estate deals again,

and I made $120,000 a year in 1994. I remember this specifically. I had written the book Financial Peace, and I was selling them out of the trunk of my car for $12. You've got to sell a lot of those to get to $100,000, okay? It's not a lot of money. And I was doing some speaking and I was making like 250 bucks a pop doing speaking. I mean, I was not making it. And I started doing some coaching and I was making $150 for doing coaching and I was on the radio and it paid nothing. And I was doing it for fun and to feed the coaching that wasn't paying much and the book sales that weren't paying much. But the financial piece materials obviously grew into everything we know today is ramsey solutions right and so i had this

call and this pull on my life so is it okay if i move from 120 000 a year in real estate to move to the call that god has on my life and the first year we budgeted out we knew what we were going to make we're going to make 60 000 so i went from 120 to 60 and then sharon's walking around going the financial piece is where but um but the next year we made 100 and never looked back and i obviously make a good deal more than that now uh so the point being that that was not a permanent thing, but it was a decision to take a step back so that we could take different steps forward. And we had that ability because, like you, at that point we were debt-free. And so I could say I can step away. Plus, I knew I could step back into real estate if everything got real bad and get my income right back up.

So you could go back on the road if you get yourself in a pinch. But we don't want that to be our plan. I just want you to have a long-term career path that we take a step back in order to take 17 forward. Yeah, and if you love driving trucks, that's what you want to do. That's great, but have a plan for growth long-term, and if you don't love driving trucks, this is a great time to sit back and go, what do I want to do? Like Dave said, follow the Ken Coleman path, read that book, and figure out long-term. He's 24. He's got the rest of his life.

He's just getting started in his career. And he's a stud. Yeah. Whatever you do, you're going to crush it because you've got an incredible work ethic. Yeah, and just really focus and detail. Well done. Very, very well done. Hang on.

I'll have Kelly pick up. We'll send you a copy of Ken's new bestseller, From Paycheck to Purpose. It just came out last week and um it talks about this but the thing i want to push back on for our audience george and i'll do this every time ken's on the air i wear it out because it drives me nuts this assumption that in order for your work to have meaning you have to make less this assumption that in order to have a more balanced life and have time with your family that you have to make less um so you either have the horrible toxic job that pays a lot and you work too much and you never see your family or we have this sweet little job that has meaning and family but we make no money how about c none of the above not a

not b c the cool job that has meaning and i make more money than either one of them that's the one you want i like that option. But why do we have to assume that in order to have a better life, that somehow we have to take less? There's this thing out there floating around that needs to be destroyed. We've got to bust the myth. It's killing me. So from paycheck to purpose with a bigger paycheck.

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for free. You have free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code Ramsey to get your best possible deal. Today's question comes from Scott in Vermont. I know your company teaches to never use credit cards, but I'm having a hard time letting go of mine. The rewards that I earn are very beneficial to my family because we love to travel. My wife and I put all our utilities, groceries, and other expenses on our card and pay it off every month. What's the problem with doing this if we never pay any interest on the card? This is an age-old question dave how many times have you answered this one uh six or eight thousand um the uh but the thing is you just did a great episode on the fine print about this yes we did one on credit card rewards uh and the numbers the numbers

are worse than i remembered yeah the true cost of credit card rewards is what that episode was called and we talked to an ex capital one um lady named Elena, and she really unpacked the secrets that they're using to take your money. And a lot of people think, well, I'm not paying any interest. So what's the big deal, Dave? I'm not paying any more than I would have if I paid on it with a debit card. Well, obviously, that's not true. Okay, you're not paying any interest. But here's what we know from the studies. Carnegie Mellon did a detailed study using MRI, and they actually determined that when you use cash, it activates the pain centers of the brain.

When you use plastic, nothing happens. No brain. But, I mean, it's just a flat line, right? And so what it amounts to is you emotionally experience buying something and have a tendency to spend less when you spend cash. Visualize everybody listening right now, a $100 bill in your hand leaving your hand. Oh, God! Right?

And visualize you handing. Here's an interesting thing, too. Rachel Cruz brought up years ago when you hand them the hundred dollar bill they don't give you it back when you hand them your plastic they give it back think about when you were a kid or something and you were trading you know you traded something or when you give some you give up something to get something that's what you do when you pay for something with money but when you give up something to get something. That's what you do when you pay for something with money. But when you give them your card, they give it back. You didn't lose anything.

See how that feels psychologically? So it doesn't activate the pain centers of the brain, plus cash just does. And so here's what all the studies tell us. Depending on the area and the item you're shopping for, you will spend 12% to 18 percent more when using plastic than you will when using cash when using a debt that's when using a credit card when using a debit card you'll even spend more i use a debit card but you'll spend more i'll give you another example okay uh george are you old enough to remember walking inside the store to pay for your gasoline

oh yeah okay before you'd paid at the pump. Okay. Let me tell you what happened. The last time people had to walk inside and pay for gasoline and it doubled in price. There was almost a revolution. They were going to burn Washington, D.C. down. Now it goes from $2.50 to $5 and nobody notices. Because you just plug it in the thing, pay you for your gas, and walk away.

The only thing you notice is you didn't seem like I got that much gas. Oh, that's weird. Okay. And you drive off. But if you walk into the store, the physical act of walking into the store and pay cash, and that registers that freaking gas is doubled. I'm going to kill somebody. You know, you start to have this experience.

And so that, again, shows us that there's a behavior mechanism going on. You can take it one step further. Move away from plastic. Use to Apple Pay or Amazon Prime where there's no friction at all. I mean, you don't have – you're not even touching something physically. You're just waving your – you know, you go to Home Depot and you wave your little phone across. And you just bought like a house of lumber, you know. But you just waved your phone.

But you didn't emotionally experience it. No. I just bought tools. I don't even know what they do. But I just waved my little phone across. I do it with my Apple Watch. Oh, that's even worse. Oh, blasphemy.

Here's what I do, Dave. You're going to love this. Starbucks drive-thru line. You get the watch and you just hand it over like a tiny king, and they kiss your wrist as they scan it, and you get your $7 latte. Tiny king will have a mocha. Exactly. And the dopamine hits.

Kiss my wrist. You can't beat it. That's the Starbucks experience. That's why people go, to feel like royalty. Well, I have noticed that with the Dunkin' Donuts app that I buy more donuts, too. That's how it works. It's the same thing because you don't have to pay for it. It's already paid for.

It's built in. Chick-fil-A, you can eat like half the dadgum restaurant and not even know you bought it. So the point being, guys, everybody falls for this stuff. I teach it, and I catch myself falling for it. That's why Disney lets your room key, if you're staying on property work to buy things all through disney smart that way they can charge you 82 for a raincoat they paid 12 and a half cents for from china because disney causes it to rain every afternoon on cue but um you know it's built right into the system nine dollar ice cream cone right and but your room key did it and you don't even think anything about it it's the happiest place on earth and then you go to check out and you're like oh my god i

gotta refinance the house you know it's like so this is what's going on so that that's the problem with his little theory yeah is he thinks he's the exception to all that because he got some airline miles here's the other thing 78 of the airline miles are never redeemed that that's eight out of ten that's sad that's everybody okay so if you do try to redeem them jupiter has to be aligned with mars to get on the plane i mean you have to get the age of aquarius to get everything to work there's all kinds of restrictions on those points exactly and that they do points on purpose if it was actual money you'd know but with points you got i got 48 000 points yeah it's amazing i'm wealthy and your point in the your that was a fabulous metaphor you used in the fine print episode oh it's like going to chucky cheese you know you you spend 83 dollars

getting all these tickets to trade it for a 12 and a half cent plastic ring you know but i got me a lot of tickets and it's all free by the way it's all free because it came with a pizza you know i tell people to give yourself cash back save up for your own vacation that's what you can do when you're debt free and you make a plan for your money i don't have to hope at the end of the year that we have enough points to take our family on a trip you know we stayed 10 000 plus millionaires and um 90 percent of them 89 percent of them were first generation rich started with nothing and out of all 10 000 millionaires we interviewed not a single one said made all my money with my airline miles they didn't say that they didn't say you know i gamed

the system i scammed old capital one because me i'm smarter than old capital one i mean i'm smarter than i'm they they spent more on that one commercial that ran one time than i made in a year but i'm smarter than them the arrogance of this is unbelievable so the fact that you think you're whipping their butt scott is kind of humorous i'm sorry son you're not whipping their butt. They're whipping yours. This is how they built buildings taller than your house. You would love to just trade the furniture in their lobby for your home. But no, you've paid for every bit of it.

I know you think you didn't fall for it, but you spent more. And the number of times during your life you fall off the wagon, don't pay it on time, and accidentally slip into interest. Because a high percentage of credit card users eventually pay some interest yeah um and everyone thinks they're the exception a little bit like a fishing story you know like golfing story that one time when i hit the ball just right you know that one time i caught that big fish and you spent seven million dollars trying to get to the point you got that one fish you know and it's just like it's the same crap yeah so dude follow what millionaires do not what broke people with

theories do and that's what people playing credit card points are they're broke people with theories if that makes some of you mad out there good that's my spiritual gift this is the ramsey show spiritual gift. This is The Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Brad and Julie are with us. Hey, guys. How are you? Hey, Dave. Welcome. Where do you guys live? We're just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, in Cartersville. Yeah. Welcome to Nashville. Thank guys, how are you? Hey Dave. Welcome. Where do you guys live? We're just outside of Atlanta, Georgia in Cartersville. Yeah, welcome to Nashville. Thank you, sir. And all the way up

here to do a debt-free scream. How much have you paid off? $676,997.39. How long did this take? Five years. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? Started off at $75,000 and ended at about $175,000. Wow. What do you guys do for a living? Well, currently I just ended my 28-year career with one of the country's longest family-owned and operated wineries in California. So I just finished my consulting with them, and I'm going to reinvent myself. And Julie?

I am starting my own small business. I create unique handbags. All right. That's fun. Good for you guys. Thank you. So you were living in Atlanta consulting Napa? Not Napa, the Livermore Valley.

Oh, okay. Yeah. But yeah, so I was a director of operations. So I was passing the torch to the person who took over my position. Yeah. Plus helping out on some IT type of things. Very cool. Good for you.

So 677 over five years. You pay off your house? Yes. Yay! Two times. Look at the weird people. The California house and then the Carterville house. Wow.

Yes. Wow. Yes. Do you still own the California house? No, we do not. Sold it. Okay. All right.

We sold it and we came out very well. I can suspect that. Yes, sir. Yeah. Very well done, you guys. Thank you. Okay. So what happened that put you on this journey five years ago?

Well, in December of 2015, a week before Christmas, my dad passed away. And then the very next day, I found out I was losing my job. Oh, my gosh. So it was a dark time. Yeah.

It was a really dark time for me. And, you know, I was freaking out. You know, I realized, you know, sitting down and doing the bills, we're a thousand bucks short. Every month, a thousand bucks. You know, too many bills, you know. I mean, car and doing the bills, we're $1,000 short every month. $1,000. Too many bills. Car payments, 401k loan, a HELOC, a bed.

If we had the checklist of stupid from you, Dave, we ticked every box and added a few. Okay. Under miscellaneous. Miscellaneous, which is refi. Roll the car loan into the refi. Oh, yes. Two parts. 30 year.

Start over 30 year. Yes. Kick the can. Kick the can. Yeah. But, you know, and at that point in life, didn't even realize there's a can. Didn't care, right? Yeah.

Yeah, whatever. You're young enough. I'll work my way through this. You can make the payments. Yeah. No biggie. We're still eating, right? Until you can't. Until you can't.

Until you can't. And then you're $1,000 short. Then what'd you do? Well, then it was, you know, we realized, like, oh, my goodness. You know, it's just us. You know, we didn't get anything from my dad's estate. You know, this is us. No one to go to for help.

I mean, what do we... And I'm a huge talk radio guy. So I couldn't tell you how many times I was driving home from work, hearing you on the radio, and then listening to two minutes and going to the next channel because it's like, what's this get-rich-quick guy? There's no way. Until I was in that position, and that's why we've got to thank you, Dave. I mean, you literally saved our life.

And I'm hoping that we can touch somebody with a similar story as ours because I eventually stopped and I listened. And when I got home that night, I said, we got to check this guy out. He came home and he was like, Julie, I heard a guy on the radio. And I'm like, okay. And he's like, yeah, I really think we should get out of debt. I'm like, okay, Mr. Amazon. I'm the free spirit. I'm the free spirit. I'm the free spirit.

She's the nerd. I'm the nerd. And so, yeah, so that was in February of 2016, and then we signed up for FPU. Yep. And I got to give a shout out to Kim and Garrett, our coordinators. They're awesome.

We still talk. And yeah, we just went gazelle from there. It was actually funny because I was like, I have no job. I'm sitting in these FPU classes. I'm like, Dave, I'm not going to be able to pay this off. But once we

started going through the classes and working the snowball, whatever we could throw at it, it's like, oh wow, I think this is possible. And I must say, anybody out there that's thinking about FPU or what is it, if you have an opportunity to do it and we've gifted it before, do it. You're going to feel weird the first two weeks, undoubtedly. You're going to feel like Julie said, what am I doing here?

What am I doing here? But you meet a lot of, and I encourage you to go to the actual class. You can do it online or through DVDs. Go to the class. But go to the class. Meet other people. Realize you're not the only ones with these problems. Yeah.

And actually, I hate to say it, but I felt better. We felt better coming out of the class by the third week because we realized we had a lot of debt, but we were nowhere near some of the other folks in the room. But the other thing is, and this goes very, very true for single folks, you probably feel the worst because you feel like you have nobody out there. But, you know, folks like us, you can all relate. You all have debt. And that's what's happening right now in this country.

We've got a huge problem. What's going on with the, you know, with the what's happening right now in this country. We've got a huge problem. What's going on with the healthcare situation right now and all that, now is the most critical time for folks to shut the cards off, get down, get your feet dirty, and hammer it out because it can be done.

It's not going to be fun. It's not like, oh, this is awesome. Who doesn't like to go get a $5 coffee and treat it like royalty, you know? Kiss my watch. So, Brad and Julie, I'm looking at the numbers, and I'm just, like, in awe. How did you guys pay off $677 in five years making what you make? Did you sell some stuff?

What happened? Yeah. Well, yes. We'll get to that in a second, but yeah. Yes. Okay. So, our biggest one was our California house. That was, like, $188,000. second but yeah okay so our biggest one was our california house that was like 188 000 and so we

paid that off um in september of 2020 and we're like cool and then we're like let's move and so then we decided we were originally looking at tennessee we've settled on georgia and so we're like debt free for three months and then we bought we bought the Georgia house and moved across the country in January of 2021 and sold the California house and then paid off the Georgia house and. Oh, yeah. It was everything. It was comic books, musical instruments. I sold my motorcycle. And what was cool was the dude that I sold my motorcycle to, I gave him a screaming deal. He came out the night before, looked at the bike, came back the next morning with cash, and he came into our house. And I think you have some of the photos there.

We had a mortgage chain going down our hallway. So this guy's filling out, we're filling out the paperwork and I'm like, you know, and I see his face. I go, you wondering about the links on the wall? He's all, yeah, what's up with that?

So we told him, Dave Ramsey. He goes, oh, I know about Dave Ramsey. I go, yeah. I go, you're helping us pay our debt off right now. He goes, that's awesome. And I go, you know, for me, I love selling my motorcycle to a guy who appreciates it. He actually brought his high school friend from Southern California up to Northern California, and they were going to go on a bike trip.

And it was like, you know what? Everything happens for a reason. Yeah, it all works out yeah so and now you're 100 debt free and you can buy a bike anytime you want exactly yeah so what's your first big thing you're gonna do now that you're out of debt you know quit your job apparently well we already did that but yeah yeah we did that you know but i mean i've never been happier i mean our i think that's the thing, Dave. It's like what's going to be your big thing?

I don't know. You're looking at things differently, right? Yeah. Well, dude, we got a copy of The Legacy Journey for you. Awesome. That's the next chapter in your story to move on and be Baby Steps Millionaires. You're right on your way to do that. And we just got Ken Coleman's new book just in the mail a couple days ago.

So that's actually perfect timing for the job thing. Excellent the job excellent all right well let's count it down brad and julie currently of atlanta georgia 677 000 paid off in five years making 75 to 175 count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one we're debt free! Yeah! That dude's about to run through a wall. Hopefully not this glass. This is triple pain. He's not getting through it. But, man, what an inspiring couple.

Wow. They're on fire. Way to go, heroes. Proud of you guys. Very, very well done. That's how you live life, man. Get after it. Get it. Get get it this is the ramsey show you Thank you. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

George Camel, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Keziah is with us in Minneapolis. Hey, Keziah, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm getting married in Minneapolis. Hey, Keziah, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm getting married in February, and I am living in the apartment right now with a couple of friends, but I'm looking for an apartment to move into before I get married so that I won't be as hectic during the wedding. And there's just not a lot of apartments available in my area. Um, and I don't have a credit score, um, which is totally fine.

But, um, I also, me and my fiance both just got new jobs recently. So we also don't have any like proof of income to show the apartment. So we don't exactly know how to go about that. When did you get the jobs? Like three weeks ago, and they're looking for like multiple months, and I had jobs before, of course, but they're looking for someone that I'm currently employed with. I think you've talked to two apartments. We did an interesting thing. We did an experiment here a while back.

We called all the major apartment complexes in the nashville area like 30 of them two of them required a credit score oh yeah i i am totally i called them and they're totally fine with me not having a credit score i agree with that um but they just need a proof of income which i have an income i. So just get a letter from your employer. I'm gainfully employed. I just started a new job. I'm getting married. I mean, how many pay stubs do they need? Yeah, she said like they want multiple years or something for a freaking apartment.

That's silly. Now, you, I mean, you're not a freelancer, right? This is a salaried position? I have a, like, a lot of my income is from babysitting and then from an internship and then from a preschool, so I have multiple streams of income, but my main one, my... So you don't have a pay stub except for the preschool? Yeah, except for the preschool. Yeah, so that's your problem, yeah. Yeah, I think you're going to need to look around and find a landlord, find an apartment who's willing to look at all the sources of income and say, hey, this is clearly something that you can afford.

And recently on the fine print we did this day, we called all around the country. We called normal single-family homes with landlords. We called apartment complexes. And all of them just said, hey, you might need a little more deposit. So you're just going to need to explain your situation like a human, and they should be willing to work with you if you find the right place. Occasionally you'll run into somebody who's just being a corporate geek and is following the barney fife letter of the law or something but but most of the time you can say okay look here i can show you the budget i can show you exactly what's going on i'll show you i've got these six jobs

babysitting and they're i'm a legitimate nanny this is what i do it's just independent subcontract and i've got this pay stub. And your fiancé, if he's signing on it as well, if he has a traditional pay stub, that'll be enough as well. But, yeah, you're going to run into some people that aren't going to understand without a credit score, and you're going to run into some people that don't understand without a traditional job. But you just have to search a little bit more. That's why I was challenging the number of times you've done this. And the other thing is this.

Quit emailing people and texting them. Go sit down and look at them in the face, and that'll change your outcome as well. Go sit down. You seem like a very reasonable person. I'm sure you present well sitting in front of someone and say, here's the story, here's the situation, I'm getting married, here's the guy I'm getting married to,

and would you all consider it in this situation? No. No. No. Yes. You know, that's what you're going to get. You're going to get a few no's and you're going to get a yes. And you can find someone to do this.

But it is going to take more than just everybody does your deal because everybody doesn't do any deal. Yeah. And if you go there and you get a tour and you sit down face-to-face, I think it is a different situation than a cold email. Definitely. But you guys just jumped on the phone. Now, you were doing a credit score only. You weren't trying to save.

We asked them about the whole situation. They said, well, we need to have proof of income, and we need to make sure you're not a criminal. That was it. And other than that, they said you might need a higher deposit, which you'll get back if you don't trash the place. And that was it. And with her income being multiple streams and some of them being self-employed, like babysitting and so forth, she may have to put down a higher deposit in that situation because the proof of income is what she's running into. But still, you know, I've got a bunch of rental property and we would rent to you, but you're going to have to make the case. It's not going to be just automatic, like, you know.

Well, I'll make some money babysitting. No, no, you've got to show me what's going on. I've got to know you can pay the freaking rent. And then you're not talking to me anyway, but our property management team, that's what they would do. Bob's with us in Atlanta. Hey, Bob, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Hey, George. How are george how you doing great man what's up so i need a new car pretty badly i've been driving a 500 car for the last

five years and it's getting to the point where everything's starting to go on and it's got 280 some thousand miles on it you do and i'm shopping around almost every day and I'm having trouble finding a used car that seems like a good deal. A lot of these cars seem like double what they should be. So I went out over the weekend and looked at a new car. And I know you say that you have to be a millionaire to buy a new car, but I just don't see the benefit right now in saving 10 grand to get a used car that's got you know 80 90 000 miles on it no warranty so i don't know i don't know if right now the situation warrants bending your rules i just want to get your opinion on that well where are you at financially do you have any debt

zero so i'm in baby step seven and i probably got a net worth of like $600. Why are you driving a $500 car? Well, it was a hand-me-down from my mom. I know, but leave it in the side yard and plant something in it. Oh, my God. You got $600,000? Dude, go buy a car. Have you saved up for this car already?

Yeah, I'm not there yet. I'm probably like a month away from having cash for it. I looked at like a $40,000 Jeep. What's your $600,000 in? Half of it is my house, a quarter of it's in a Roth IRA, and another quarter of it's between brokerage and savings. So you have the money in there to go write a check and buy a car. Go buy a $10,000, $15,000 car. And this crap that all $10,000 cars are worn out or $15,000 cars are worn out.

Dude, you've been driving a $500 car. This is exponentially a better vehicle than what you've been driving. Okay. You don't have to buy new. There's no, I mean. But you're saying, he's saying, well, it's not a deal right now because of the car market. There's nothing that's a deal right now. New cars aren't a deal a lot of new cars are going for over sticker for the first time in my lifetime and i'm 61 years old

we've always been able to buy cars on new cars under sticker and some of them are sticker plus a lot of them are sticker plus right now because there's a shortage on them and that's what's driving the used car market bonkers as well is there's a shortage so i would just go get me some kind of car my god get out of a 500 car and then you're going to move out of move again out of the car it's not that big a thing it's not that big a deal so i was looking at a an escalade the other day and the brand new escalades are bonkers people have gone it's an upgrade they've got this like 36 inch screen in them they're nuts and uh the guy at the dealership's a friend of mine he goes yeah i'll give it to you

for sticker and i'm like i'm buying nothing for sticker and he goes dude if you go up the street to the other cadillac dealer they're 20 000 over sticker because you can't get these wow and i'm like unbelievable so i got neither that's what that's the move right there that was a different move but yeah it worked i mean i'm not mad at him it's just not the time for me to buy a car obviously now suit but dude you've got a five but a lot of people are in that boat they're going with a new car is going to be way better but if you get a five thousand dollar car it's 10x what you're driving i mean my god it's just you know anything is an upgrade yeah a bicycle might be an upgrade at this point move up a little, get something reasonable, pay cash.

Here's the thing. Don't talk yourself into stupid because of the market's gone stupid. You know, just because everybody else has gone nuts doesn't mean you have to. And you can justify, well, because of the supply chain, I was forced. No, you weren't. You weren't forced to do nothing. You weren't forced to do anything. You may overpay for that used car, but not nearly as much as you will that new car.

And it's going to go down in value faster. And those new Jeeps are sweet, though. There's some nice cars out there. That $40,000 Jeep. That's what did him in. He made the mistake of going to look at a brand new Jeep. And you smell that leather. And they are good-looking cars, man.

They look great. I'm a car nut. But he'll be a millionaire in no time. He'll get that Jeep. Yeah. Not worried about it. And why do we say be a millionaire before you buy a new car? Well, because depreciation is going to crush that thing like a bug, and a millionaire can

take the hit. Ta-da. His name is George Kent, ladies and gentlemen, and he has all the answers you could need. Good stuff. That's how it works. Good hour. Good hour, George. Well james and kelly in the booth i am dave ramsey your host this is the ramsey show and we'll be back with you before you know Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit theramseyshow.com and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.