The Ramsey Show - App - Don’t Borrow Money So Your Kid Can Play Beer Pong

Episode Date: June 14, 2022

Dave Ramsey & George Kamel discuss: Getting your kids to go to school debt free, What to do when your boyfriend won't propose, Selling a rental house, The fastest way to pay off a house. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, 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. We help people build wealth, do work that they really love, and create actual amazing relationships. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. George Campbell, Ramsey Personality, host of the Entree Leadership Podcast, is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money. Emerson is in Chicago to start off this hour. Hi, Emerson. How are you? Hey, I'm doing great, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up?

So my wife and I were on baby steps four, five, and six. We are a blended family with five beautiful children, the oldest getting ready to go into her senior year of high school. She just got her CNA and wishes to continue the nursing path and get her RN here after her senior year. My question is kind of two-part. There's a local community college here that has a great RN program. My wife and I have saved enough money to send our daughter through that with cash, debt-free. However, she has recently gone on several college visits to expensive universities, and that would require her to go into a significant amount of debt. So I guess my question is, how can I create more buy-in for her to try and lead her down the debt-free path? And if we are unable to do so, how would you recommend we spend the money we saved for her, being that we intended to keep her out of debt and not use it to get her out of debt?

So what has the conversation been like when you say, hey, we've saved up enough money for you to go to this school? And she says, no, I want to go to this expensive school. And what's your next question? How are you going to pay for it? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. How are you going to pay for it? And, yeah, absolutely. How are you going to pay for it? And, you know, the student loan thing comes up all the time. I feel like we've kind of thrown a lot of data. We've used up all our Dave Ramsey weaponry. Clearly that's not working.

Just saying, well, Dave said it's got to be on her terms and she's got to understand the implications of the weight of student loans, which she has no clue about right now has she been working you said as a cna uh yeah uh yeah well so she she just got her cna a couple weeks ago um at the end when she graduated uh so you're you're a really nice man um because i wouldn't have let my daughter go on tours of colleges. She lives in my house. You can't go test drive Bentleys if you can't afford a Bentley. There's no reason to go on the lot. No reason to go on the lot except get pissed off that you can't get a Bentley.

That's all that happens. And so, yeah. She certainly has. You said blended family. is this your stepdaughter no it's it's my daughter however she's she lives mostly with her mother oh so that's that's part of the uh the battle here okay so her mother and you you're not talking about your current wife and you have saved up enough money your ex and you so so my current wife and i have saved up the money oh your ex is not putting any money in the equation correct and yet she's stirring up the

pot you got it found the problem not the kid okay i mean you you can't you can tell it's not about dave ramsey okay here's an idea what about this do you have any good friends that are rns that are like 40 years old or 50 years old yes have one of them take her to dinner and knock her on the head okay and go i'm an rn and the dumbest thing you could ever do is go pay money in student loan debt for the college experience when you can go get an rn for free because your dad will pay for it that's dumber than a rock have them tell her that okay she'll listen to a nurse right that's what she wants to be because here's the point she is not going into debt to become an rn she's going into debt to attend a freaking college that she

wants to go to she can be an rn without debt we've established that so really all she's borrowing money for is beer pong that's right that is correct this is bullcrap i mean they got a good call they got a good football team which which you don't play on, darling. Okay? I mean, you can attend the game over there for a lot cheaper than you can attend the college over there. We talk about this in the Borrowed Future documentary, which I would recommend you sit down and watch with her and have a conversation about it afterwards. 88 minutes. It will definitely change the way she sees the entire college i'll

give you a free we'll give you a free link to watch borrowed future together and we'll send you a copy of debt-free degree uh but here's what you're gonna have to do is there any chance you get to talk to your ex in a reasonable tone and she actually catches on to the idea that this has to stop and she needs to quit this no No, I've tried that. I sent her a long text message and used soft gloves, so to speak, and kind of just a little bit of where she's coming from. You know, she thinks, you know, that because some places offer free parking and free laundry, that's worth going into debt for. So I missed the part where it's free.

Exactly. Yeah, that's dumber than a rock. Oh, my God. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Well, I don't know if you're going to counterbalance your ex-wife's stupidity. It's going to be difficult.

But I think if you get a good RN to take your daughter to dinner and knock her on the noggin and tell her that she does not need to do this, it's a dumb idea, go be an RN, and then you can have some experiences. Because you'll be making a lot of money, and you don't have to go to that other college to do that, number one. Number two, we'll give you a link to – hang on, Austin, I'll pick number two we'll give you a link to uh hang on austin pickup we'll give you a link to borrowed future watch that with your daughter the next time she's there lock her in the room with you don't say anything let her talk when the movie's over believe me george and i and the gang in borrowed future will do our jobs it is uh it

will scare the bejesus out of you on student loan debt when you watch this thing it is a the student loan program is an epic failure um but here's the thing oh you asked me one other question i didn't answer if you don't do what i want you to do that i think is wise and good for you because i love you i will you no money. I will not fund your stupidity partially. I will not participate financially in your crazy butt decisions. This is Dave talking to his kids. This is exactly what it sounded like at our house. No is a complete sentence.

No. It's dumb, and I'm not going to participate in my daughter who i love being dumb and crazy and i'm not going to fund it now you're going to be nicer than that because you are a nice guy i'm just that dad so hang on elston will pick up we'll get you the book and the documentary and yeah you You done riled them up. Man. The landscaping, the football team, the water slide. The ex-wife, the lazy river, the whole thing.

It's got the whole story here. This is the Ramsey Show. you've got a lot on your plate a job your home your marriage and your growing family while you're enjoying the present you can't help but think, your home, your marriage, and your growing family. While you're enjoying the present, you can't help but think about your future and your finances. As you explore your options, consider Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, for your health care. Their generous maternity program and budget-friendly monthly programs have been a blessing to members welcoming children into their families. Visit chministries.org slash budget to see if it's right for you. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a Ramsey Trusted Provider.

Real estate markets slowing down, but still one of the best times to sell a house. Probably the best time in the next five years right now. Real estate market's slowing down, but it is not going down in price, and this is the best time to buy a house. It's a very unusual time that it's the best time to sell and best time to buy. Usually it's one or the other. Right now, at this moment, it may not be in six months, but at this moment, it is the best time to buy usually it's one or the other right now at this moment it may not be in six months but at this moment it is the best time to do both right now you do need a pro in your

corner someone who actually knows what they're doing someone who sells a lot of houses uh if you're gonna if i assigned you if you work for me and i assigned you the task of marketing a five hundred thousand dollar project and you hired a marketing consultant who had done it one time i would fire you for stupidity note to self really that i mean seriously if you're going to hire a marketing consultant to do a five hundred thousand dollar project and they've only ever done it one time they're not a consultant. They're just unemployed. Okay? And that's what a real estate agent is. They're a consultant on how to do a transaction, the proper way to price a transaction, and carry you through a very complicated project called the sale of your largest asset.

You do not want your Uncle Charlie, who got his license three weeks ago, to sell it for you. That's dumb. Or your aunt who has a friend, Joyce, who just got in the business. And Joyce really would like to lease your house. Well, I bet Joyce would like to lease your house. Joyce, don't use her. No, that's dumb. You get a professional who sells 100 houses a year, 50 houses a year,

300 houses a year to do your house deal. This is smart, you know, and that's why we have endorsed local providers that we endorse go to ramsey solutions.com they're high octane we don't put our name we don't tell you to go to so-and-so endorsed ramsey trusted if they've done two transactions last year that they're not qualified okay and let me you, that's most real estate agents. Most of them. 90, I'm making this up, but 95% of the transactions are done by about six or 8% of the agents in the market. The rest of them got their license, thought it'd be fun and didn't work much.

That's what it amounts to. Sorry for your newbies, but that's how it works in the business. I've had my license since 1978. I know this business. RamseySolutions.com slash agent. Find an agent that we recommend in your area. Our question of the day is from Blinds.com. Find out for yourself why they are the number one online retailer of custom window coverings with free samples, free shipping, and new promos. They run every month. You'll save even more.

Use the promo code Ramsey to get the best possible deal. Today's question comes from Erica in Houston. My boyfriend and I have been together for five years and have a three-year-old son. We're both 24 years old. We rent a house from his parents. Last year, he earned over $110,000. He has 12 months of expenses saved in addition to his $10,000 emergency fund, along with two other accounts that are well over $10,000. The only debt we have his $10,000 emergency fund, along with two other accounts that are well over $10,000. The only debt we have is $25,000 on his car. I'm a full-time college student, work part-time, and I'm home four days a week with our son, so we don't have child care expenses. We have a great

relationship. He can clearly afford an engagement ring, but he still uses our finances as a reason why we aren't engaged yet. Is this a legit concern? If not, what do you think the holdup is? Well, Erica, I don't know that he wants to marry you. Based on his actions and his behavior, he has plenty of money. He has 12 months of expenses sitting there in a savings account, so the fact that he's saying he can't afford an engagement ring is an excuse. There's something else going on here. He's scared of commitment, even though he had a child with you and lives with you. So there's a deeper relationship issue here. This is not a financial issue. i'm sorry honey um well it's a problem yeah i i think that you probably uh need to sit down with a good counselor both of you um and decide if this relationship is going to go forward i hate

that it might not because there's a five-year-old involved because y'all got things out of order here. And when you get things out of order, people's lives get messed up. And y'all decided to have babies before you got married and that's getting things out of order. Sorry, but it messes things up and it makes your life difficult and it hurts. So I sure hope that a good coach or a good counselor, a good therapist can walk him through his immaturity because I have a feeling you're sleeping with a little boy and I'm not talking about your son. I don't think you got a man here. He makes a little bit of money but he's not acting very manly. He's acting like a scared little boy and if I was your dad I'd be

scared for you right now and I am scared for you. I sure I was your dad, I'd be scared for you right now. And I am scared for you. I sure hope I'm wrong. I hope you can get him to the table. But if I wake up in your shoes, I'm going to begin a process, a gentle but steady process of bringing this to an end or bringing him to the altar. He gets a choice.

And I'm not going to stay. You get a painter, get off the ladder here, buddy. That's a deal. You don't get to keep this arrangement. It's not good for you. It's not good for the baby. You're vulnerable. You are very vulnerable here.

He could just stand up and walk out the door, and you got nada except a broken heart and you're a single mom and uh yeah he needs to uh he needs to decide what he wants to do and i would get some professional help in helping him decide that and hopefully we can bring him around i'm sure he's not a bad guy but he is immature and he's scared george is right and uh so it's time for him to grow up he's a daddy and he needs to act like it and uh it's a crisis we have in this country right now absolutely thanks for the thanks for the email i'm sorry for you honey this is the ramsey show open phones at 888-825-5225. George, I've got to circle back to our call before the break. As we have studied the student loan crisis as an epic failure in America,

$1.7 trillion in student loan debt, 45 million people carrying this debt around their necks. When we do know that mathematically you could choose a community college, you can choose an in-state school, you can work, you can get scholarships, and you can go to school debt-free, but people are making choices like that very nice gentleman's young daughter being influenced by her mother, his ex-wife, to make a stupid decision and pay money to get virtually the same education but go into debt to do it. And it's just a disaster.

But Rachel said something as we started talking about this about three years ago that stuck with me, that we really do not have a student loan crisis. We really have a parenting crisis. So in his case, he has a parenting crisis because he cannot completely make the decision because he's got his ex in the mix messing up the decision but um and you parents who say well they're 18 they can do whatever they want if they're 18 you need to have more influence in their life they live under your roof eat your food drive your freaking car and are on your cell phone plan so they're not free agents they are a dependent which means they are dependent

on your butt and they need to understand that so you don't have to be mean to your kids or rough with your kids or something like that i never was was that. But no one was confused about who was running the asylum. It wasn't the inmates. And so we have a parenting crisis. A guy called up and said, well, my son told me he was going to this expensive school. We never had that conversation. My kids didn't tell me stuff. I told them stuff.

Well, you didn't listen to them. Well, that's why they're in counseling now. But they don't have any debt. Okay? So it's unbelievable. So the parenting crisis, moms and dads, is you need to start today. If your kid is 1, 11, or 18, you need to start today saying, we're not going to have student loan debt.

We're going to go in and get post-high school education at a trade school, at a tech school, or a four-year degree, but we're not doing it with debt. So we need to be thinking about how we're going to do that. And you can start talking about that at any age. We are a non-debt family. You will not be going into debt. We are going to figure out a way for you to go to college without that. We're going to save up money.

And if you want the money that's in my name that we saved up for your use, you will do it my way, baby, because I have your best interest at heart. This is what's known as a benevolent dictatorship. I'm benevolent, but I own the freaking money, and I love you so much, I'm not going to participate in your crazy. Start talking to your kids early about this. We've forgotten that college is for education, not for the landscaping and the football. Mail that one in.

I don't know what's going on. Who knew college was not for your pleasure and entertainment? Oh, I thought that's what it was for. Give me a break. That was sarcasm in case you people didn't know me. We'll see you next time. George Campbell, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the Dead Free Stage, Brandon and Katie are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hi.

Hey, Dave. Welcome, welcome. Good to have you guys. Where do you all live? This is right up the road, Bowling Green, Kentucky. All right. Home of the Corvette. That's right.

Very good. I picked one up up there one time. Oh, good for you. I was actually at the museum two weeks before it fell in. Oh, yes. Yeah, that was scary. Big sinkhole. Really, that was a while back.

But yeah, welcome to Nashville. How much debt do you pay off? $105,000. All right. How long did this take? Six and a half years. Wow. Okay.

And your range of income during that time? About $62,000 to $78,000. All right. How long did this take? Six and a half years. Wow. Okay. And your range of income during that time? About $62,000 to $78,000. Cool. And what kind of debt was the $105,000? It was our house. Yay! Yay! Look at the weird people!

Baby step seven! What's this house worth? Today, $220,000 maybe. All right. Very cool. Good for y'all. Not a payment in the world, baby. That's good.

I love it. I love it. So tell us about your journey. How'd you decide to do this and get connected to the Ramsey stuff? So it started back in 2012. Katie's mom actually introduced us to Financial Peace University. But we did it on CD. And so we went through it.

And so we started following the baby steps, made a lot of sense. We paid off car debt. Fortunately, we didn't have a lot of college debt. I had an RTC scholarship and Katie's family was very generous. So we were already on a good path, but still needed a lot of direction

and that's where the baby steps really helped. But it wasn't till 2020, we did the actual Financial Peace University class and that's when things got real. We just, I was calculating the numbers and I was like, we can pay this house off we can do it kept running the numbers again and again and um yeah just knock it out cut up our credit cards we we were all in at that point um and so that was that was a big big change there

very good guys way to go you guys fun fun so you started this six and a half years ago but just two years ago you kind of got amped up to go just full throttle towards the finish line here what was like the first four years were you seeing some progress but you went we could do we could do better than this come on yeah i think so i mean you know that initial kind of introduction to the baby steps and everything was good for helping us to pay off that smaller debt. But then it almost seemed not hopeless in its entirety, but just didn't seem as hopeful when we bought our house, which, you know, we, we put more than 20% down and everything and did the, did a 15 year mortgage at the right way, so to speak. But it just didn't seem very feasible.

But then when Brandon sat down and we went through the class and everything, we're like, oh, it just, it just kind of clicked. And we were like, oh, I bet we can do this. And it just seemed more feasible. And we just kept, I think it helped that he just automatically just took out a little bit of extra money each month. And we essentially, I mean, we obviously budgeted around that. And so we just kept chipping away at it. What do you all do for a living i work up

at western kentucky university i'm a federal employee but i work in the army rtc department and so i help high school college students if they want to become an army officer and help them with scholarships enrollment that's very cool yeah and i homeschool our children and she's got the harder job yeah that's a party job yeah very good good for you guys that's fun okay so uh what the pandemic is around the time you kicked it in too so that kind of gave you a little wake-up call you're like oh we need to get this done that's right yeah we started the class yeah january 2020 so right and we finished the last one and as the pandemic starting and so everything was shut down credit cards were done because that was always a budget buster yeah we could pay them off

every month um but at the end of the month i'm like all right we got some money left over and then it'd be like oh now we got to pay off the credit card bill so that was like that was freeing just getting rid of that um and then yeah anything extra we were just tossing at the house and yeah i just watched kept going through the numbers even though they didn't change i'm just watching it and like we can do this we can do this yeah good for you guys way to go y'all proud of you what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is now that you've done it i mean i think for me it was um just being content in a lot of it and just any time, well, not any, every time, but sometimes when we would see people like, you know, they brought, they bought a house

or they, you know, before we bought our home or they bought a car and our mentality was there's two ways to go about it. You either paid cash for it or you're in debt. We obviously had no interest in being in debt and if they paid cash for it, that's wonderful and good for them. And so that just kind of helped our mentality, I think, just continuing on with it, for sure, for me. That helped you curb all the comparisons. Yes, exactly. Wow, that's powerful. Good for you guys.

Well done, well done. Well, we've got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you. That's the next chapter in your story. You're definitely going to be there, a number one bestseller. And we'll also give you another number one bestseller, the Total Money Makeover. You can give that away to somebody and get them started. And we'll give you a one-year subscription to Ramsey Plus to Financial Peace University, which is good for you guys on DVD.

But you can give this to somebody and let them get started on their journey. You brought the kiddos with you. Let's bring them up. What are their names and ages? Joseph is about to turn seven, and then Juniper is three and a half all right beautiful cute cute cute good stuff all right brandon and katie joseph and jennifer 105 000 paid off in six and a half years house and everything looking at weird people. Making 62 to 78. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free. We're debt-free. That is how it's done, ladies and gentlemen. Joseph is jumping for joy on the debt-free stage. We love to see it. Beautiful, beautiful. Well done, well done.

Those kids don't even know what just happened. Gotta love it, gotta love it. Nicole is with us in Detroit. Hi, Nicole. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. I appreciate you for taking my call. Sure, what's up?

Well, I'm calling today because we bought a new home two years ago and we are using our old home as an income property. We don't owe anything on either of our houses. And we are considering taking advantage of the market and selling the rental property. So wondering your thoughts on that. Our only holdup is we just don't know what to do with the gains. We've lost some money over the course of the last six months with the stock market being so volatile, and it's got us a little nervous to put it in the stock market.

You haven't lost anything if you didn't sell it. you sell it no we didn't sell it okay it's just your value is down but you haven't lost any money i haven't lost any money because i didn't sell it you're right you're right okay i've got to flip my thinking on that um but so what are your thoughts on on selling the house? Why would you sell it? Well, we would like to pay off our debt that we have. I thought you had no debt. Well, we don't have house debt, but we have a truck and we have a fifth wheel that we have loans on. Oh, crap. What do you owe on that junk?

We have $88,000 in the truck and the fifth wheel. And you want to keep the fifth wheel? You owe $88,000 on the fifth wheel? No, on both. Oh, the pay and clean the truck. I have a truck and a fifth wheel. That's some expensive camping. God, you could have stayed at the Four Seasons a lot. It's glamping, but we enjoy it.

No, it's more than glamping. What's your household income? My husband works. He is at $88,000. I'm on disability, and it's a total of $107,000. You're not going to like me. Okay, give it to me. You should not invest in $88,000 worth of things that go down in value when you only make $100,000. Okay.

So you're selling the wrong thing. Selling the wrong thing. You need to sell the junk. I'd sell the fifth wheel before I sell the rental. And the truck. And I'd keep the house that goes up in value instead of having a camper sit in the backyard rotting while you sleep in it six nights a year. That's some nice camp. You can afford that if you make $300,000 a year.

But you cannot afford that if you make $100,000 a year. It's too much loss because that camper is going to be worth nothing in six years. Nothing. Nada. Something goes down in value. Those puppies. George Campbell Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Tristan is with us. Tristan is in Canton, Ohio.

Hi, Tristan. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Mr. Ramsey. How are you? Better than I deserve, sir. How can George and I help? So I've got a bit of a mouthful for you. I'm 22 years old.

My girlfriend and I have been dating for around six years. We're only a boyfriend and girlfriend right now. We live in my mom's house, and it's currently a good night situation. You know, nothing bad's happening. My question is that with listening to your show for the past month or so, we kind of realized how bad we are with our finances and our debt. About two years ago, I bought a motorcycle and I currently owe around $22,000 on it.

And I also bought a truck about four years ago and I owe around $8,000 on it. Now, me and my girlfriend, we want to get engaged and buy a house or save up for a house here soon. My question is that should I sell a motorcycle and break even on it and then just work on paying off my truck or I've already budgeted out monthly and I figured out that I could pay off all 30 grand sell a motorcycle and break even on it and then just work on paying off my truck.

Or I've already budgeted out monthly and I figured out that I could pay off all 30 grand within 10 months, but that's all I'm focusing on. I'm not focusing on saving anything or nothing. Okay. What do you make? Currently, I have two jobs and I make around $60,000 to $70,000. Okay. Good for you. You're working hard000 to $70,000. Okay. Good for you. You're working hard.

I am. Thank you. Okay. So I want to back up. I got confused on the details a little bit. Okay. So you are living with your girlfriend at your parents' house? Yes, sir.

Okay. And y'all aren't married. Why? Because we haven't gone that far. Well, we want to. I'm buying a ring, and we're going to propose. I've already got the blessing from her dad and everything. Her dad, she was living with her parents, and they left the state,

and she wanted to stay here with me, and she didn't want to go get an apartment, so I finished my basement, and she's living in my basement. so you don't live in the same room no sir okay i'm soaking okay i'm just i'm the clarity on this is helpful thank you um i'm sorry okay um wow how much money do you have in the bank uh right now i have around three grand okay is she working uh she works two part-time jobs and i would say probably annually she can bring in 15 20 is she in school uh no sure bob how old is she a stay-at-home mom uh she's 22 she's a stay-at-home mom you have a kid no she no she wants to be she doesn't want to go to college or anything right now. She's making money on the side.

Oh, I see. Okay. Okay. Well, if I'm in your shoes, I'm selling the motorcycle. I'm getting a ring. I'm getting married. I'm moving forward with our life because I think she's more important than the motorcycle. Would you agree?

I would agree. Oh, yeah. You didn't have a choice on that answer, brother. That was a trick question. He completely trapped you. Yeah, you were dead. Trick question. Dead meat.

Here's the thing. Here's the thing. Actually, I'm the one who's wanting to sell the motorcycle. She does not want me to sell it. Yeah, that's sweet and all, but it's dumb. You need to sell the motorcycle, yeah. Okay. So what's your household income for the year?

$60,000, $70,000? $60,000 a year, $1,000. This feels like a lot of motorcycle and truck to be $60,000? $60,000 a year. This feels like a lot of motorcycle and truck to be $60,000. And your truck is, how much is your truck worth? I owe about, well, it's worth around $15,000, but I owe around $8,000 on it. Okay, good. Yeah, let's get rid of the motorcycle. Wait a minute.

You have a $22,000 motorcycle? Yes, sir. Oh, we're definitely selling the motorcycle. Yeah. What's the payment on that? $440 a month. Yeah. That's a sweet bike.

What is it? It's a 2020 Harley-Davidson Fatboy 30-year anniversary. Jeez, man, that's a beast. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I was a smart aleck, but you still got to sell it. Oh, my gosh. Oh, that's a beast. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I was a smart aleck, but you still got to sell it. Oh, my gosh. Oh, that's a wonderful bike. But, yeah, it's completely out of school here.

It's the thing that sticks out in your whole story is the dumbest thing in the whole story. The rest of the story is pretty good. That's what I tell everyone. Yeah, the rest of your story is a pretty good story. I mean, you got a good situation going on. You're being very moral and very right. You ask your dad for his blessing. He gave it, which means you got a good situation going on. You're being very moral and very right. You ask your dad for his blessing. He gave it, which means you're a good guy.

Man, I'm just, I think there's a whole lot good going on with you. Yeah, the motorcycle is just the dumbest thing in the picture. Yeah, I'd get rid of it. I love it, though. It's awesome. I'm sorry. You'll get you another bike, though. You'll get you another bike.

I mean, someday you'll get a bike, and you'll own the bike this time, and it won't own you. Yeah, I just listened to your show. We kind of just realized how dumb we are. No, you're not dumb. I mean, really, overall, you've done a good job. It's just that's the one thing that's sticking out big time. So then you only got $8,000, and in a couple months you're debt-free, and you don't need to buy a house. You just go rent you an apartment, and you guys get married.

Okay. I think she needs to find some work she enjoys doing. It's fine if one day she wants to be a stay-at-home mom. Start developing a career even if she does choose to come and just be a full-time mom after babies come and all that. But if I were you, I would work diligently to be out of the car debt and out of your mom's house and married by fall. Okay.

And I think you can do that. I think I can, too. Okay. We believe in you. Yeah, and, of course, the motorcycle's gone. And you started your life. I mean, you know, when I was 22, Sharon and I were married. We lived in a one-bedroom apartment.

We had two junky little cars, and we started off our life. And we were dumber than a rock. We were a lot dumber than you, Tristan. I mean, we really were. I mean, if you looked at our life and we were dumber than a rock we were a lot dumber than you tristan i mean we really were um i mean if you looked at our finances they were horrible and you know and i just expanded that horrible and made it you know with me and said it was horrible and then i went broke and lost everything because i expanded my stupidity so tristan you really got a good start yeah you really it's a reversible decision it was a cool thing to dig into your story though i start to understand what all was going on there because at first it sounded like it's one

thing and then i got a whole nother definitely a strange situation not the norm you had to learn a little bit about what's happening there good i like it jeremy's with us in grand junction colorado hi jeremy how are you pretty good how are you guys good how can we help? Starting off on baby step six. Good. I just have a question about paying off early. Good. Can I potentially pay off earlier by throwing the extra $500 in an S&P 500 fund? No.

Is it too risky to do that? It's not too risky, but I just throw it at the house. Just throw it at the house? Yeah. You're not going to gain enough to screw with it. Just beat the crap out of that house. What's left on the mortgage? $200,000.

Mm-hmm. What's your income? Income is $160,000. So how fast do you think you're going to pay off $200,000? I'm hoping 10 years. 10 years? While throwing extra? Yeah.

What's stopping you from throwing 50 grand a year extra on the mortgage? I guess I'm working on baby steps five and six right now. But you'll throw a few hundred bucks in college funds. How old are your kids? Oldest is 16. Okay, so you're trying to play catch up on college, and that's draining a lot of your income right now. Yeah.

Okay, because if you weren't throwing a chunk in there, I mean, out of 160, you certainly do more than $20,000 a year, right? Yeah. Yeah, so I don't think it's going to be 10,000 a year, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I don't think it's going to be $10,000, but I think it might be $6,000. I was guessing $4,000, but I didn't have your college number in my head when I did that. So I was with George. If you didn't have college, you could throw $50,000 a year at it.

Agreed? Yeah. And you'd be done in $4,000. But now we've got college, and so we're not going to quite do that much. So it's going to take, instead of $4, of four it's probably going to take six or seven something like that but yeah i don't think it needs to take 10 still but yeah you just throw money at it dude just throw money at it and it's you know the people that we meet that have become millionaires in our millionaire study that we did over 10 000 of them they had a paid for house and they had a

stocked full retirement account and so it often sounded like a paid for $500,000, $600,000 house, and me and me and one, me and two, and their 401k and Roth IRAs. And it took them, you know, 15 to 17 years to get there from the time they got to where you are right now. And so if you're not already a millionaire, you probably are going to be in about 10 or 12 from where you sit today. Sweet. Can't wait. Yeah, with the value of your house and the value of your investments. Agreed?

Yeah. Yeah, and you will be a typical Baby Steps millionaire at that point. What I would do, too, is jump onto the mortgage payoff calculator at RamseySolutions.com, start playing with those numbers, and that gets you fired up. You go, what if I could do an extra $100 in that, and $200, and $300? And you start to see that the amortization schedule starts to dwindle and you start paying less interest and more on the principle boom yeah once you introduce the concept to your brain that uh oh it's only 200 i mean that's divided by 10 is 20 000 divided by 5

is 40 000 divided by 4 is 50 000 just big math? And all of a sudden you go, hmm, I think I can do this. You can do this. Out of 160. Most people do it faster than they think they can. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Once you believe you can, it's a big deal. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books.

Dave here. You can find all of our shows with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. It's the only place to listen to the entire back catalog of episodes. Download the Ramsey Network app in your favorite app store today.