The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Choose Company Loyalty Over Family (Hour 3)

Episode Date: February 13, 2020

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show. Thank you for joining us. Open phones this hour as we talk about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. So thank you for joining us. Open phones this hour as we talk about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225.

That's 888-825-5225. Kim starts off this hour in Seattle, Washington. Hi, Kim. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? My question for you today is, my husband and I own a house and a condo. We are currently living in the house, and the condo is rented out. And we're trying to decide if we should sell the condo and use the money to pay down our house mortgage, or if it's better to keep the condo long-term for the rental income.

So what is the condo worth? About probably $330,000 to $350,000. Okay. And what do you owe on it? $45,000. Almost nothing. Almost paid for. Good.

Okay. And what do you owe on your home? $298,000. Oh, there we go. All right. So you could just pay it off, really. Really close, anyway. Really close. Pretty close, yeah.

What's your household income? Monthly or? Either one, annual, monthly. Annual, okay. My husband makes $65,000 a year, and I'll make, I'm on maternity leave right now, but when I go back, I'll probably be about $60,000 a year. Okay. All right, cool. So you're making like $125,000 between the two of you. Good. Very good. All right. Would you rather have a paid for house or a house with a mortgage and a condo? That's what we're trying to decide. We keep going back and forth. We like the idea of having a simple life, paid for mortgage

and not worry about that. But we also like the idea of having this condo as an investment and have our money working for us in that way. So we don't know if there's a better option in the long term or if it's kind of just what we choose to do lifestyle wise when in doubt i get out of debt because lack of debt is your number one key to building wealth not borrowing money to buy condos right that's the number one key to building wealth so if your home was paid for would you go borrow 300000 on it to buy a condo? No. You would not.

If you were sitting there with a paid-for house, would you go borrow against the house to buy an investment condo? I don't think so. I know I wouldn't. I would sell this condo, and I'd be out of debt. And then I would take my old house payment that's not there anymore, and I would use that and anything else I can get my hands on to build some wealth and pay cash for a rental property in a few years. But I would be debt-free as soon as I get this thing sold,

especially while this market's hot. It's a great time to get that condo sold and get your property paid off. That's what I would do. You do whatever you want to do, but the shortest path to wealth is to get control first and foremost of your entire income because that is your first and primary source of building wealth.

It is not borrowed money. Borrowed money does not most often build wealth. Borrowed money most often causes problems. And so you're not in a situation that's desperate or crazy or in the stupid column or something like that. It's just a matter of deciding, okay, what data points do I believe? What processes do I believe will take me to where my family prospers the most, the fastest, and with the most stability in the

prosperity. And that is debt freedom, and then use that debt freedom to build wealth with. And that's what I would do if I were in your shoes. Brooke is in Waco, Texas. Hi, Brooke. How are you? Good. Hi, Dave. Hey, what's up? So question for you, newer listener, love your show, been working on my debt snowball since the beginning of the year. I paid off so far already $16,000 of the credit card debt I have, so no more credit card debt. Way to go.

I have my house and my car. Good job. But I made the mistake of buying into a vacation ownership in 2016. Time share. Yes, the dreaded time share. And I've listened to, you know, some of your information on that and obviously know now that that was a huge mistake. And so I have listed it and I'm trying to get out of it. I was fortunate enough to be able to pay for it with cash when I bought it.

So I paid $38,500 for it and it's an odd year, you know, 2-2, whatever. And then every other year the maintenance fee on it is $2280, so essentially $11.40 a year. I got an offer for it for $10,720, which just is a punch in the gut, obviously. But my question really, I guess, is should I take that, take the money and run, or should I continue to try and sell it? What system is it in? It's on Red Week right now. it's not a disney it's not a oh what kind of condo is i'm sorry which which timeshare system who's the company uh it's through interval international hyatt hyatt residence club it's a hyatt deal okay

yeah it's a hyatt connolly all right um the the problem with these things is you're in a unique one that actually does have a little value 98 of the time i get this call it has zero value and listing it as a waste of time um but regardless of what you paid for it um you've got an offer on the table. I'm out of there if I'm you. Because as you said, this is a bad decision, and you're giving up $20,000 here or more than that to say I goofed. But I have no idea what the market value on this is because 98% of them is zero. Right. I'm shocked and happy for you that you know you can at least get 10 for it.

I'll tell you what I would do. Call the guys at Timeshare exit team that we endorse. You don't need to exit this Timeshare the way they typically do it, but they may have some information as to what the actual market value of that is. They work with the Timeshare companies getting people out of the timeshares all the time, and they've got more knowledge of the marketplace than I do. Just call them and have a conversation with them on the phone. Say, hey, Dave asked if you would check into this for me and tell me,

is this thing, if I hold on for a few more months, can I get 20, or should I take my 10 and run, or what? And see if they'll help you. Just call Timeshare Exit Team. I think they'll probably you. Just call Timeshare Exit Team. I think they'll probably give you some advice because I don't know the market, obviously, in this particular product. Because, again, 98% of the time, it's zero value. You can't even give them away.

And that's what Timeshare Exit Team does for people that are stuck 98 of the time you pay them a fee to get you out of the thousand two thousand dollar a year maintenance crap and that's what you do in that case but in your case you actually have an offer for real money oh that's tempting i'm probably taking it but before i take the offer i'm gonna do a little bit more investigation because dave doesn't know what he's talking about on values on this. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Business leaders, I'm not going to lie. Finding the right people to make an impact at your company for years to come is hard work. But I can tell you from personal experience, you can find them when you use LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs reaches candidates you just can't find anywhere else.

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visit linkedin.com slash ramsey that's linkedin.com slash ramsey terms and conditions apply Thank you for joining us, America. Gabriel is in Redding, Pennsylvania. Hi, Gabriel. Welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, Dave. This is Gabriel. It's a pleasure talking to you today. You too, sir. What's up? Well, Dave. This is Gabriel. It's a pleasure talking to you today. You too, sir.

What's up? Well, I'm 29 years old. I've been working for a company now for about five years, straight out of college, and landed a job with this company, an internship, and kind of grown with the company up until this point. I'm expecting now my fourth, hopefully final child, and I am a bit stuck as to what I should be doing as far as continuing my career. Though the company is growing, the income on my end has not been growing as rapidly as I thought it should.

I mean, in the past five years, I've probably grown $10,000. What do you make? $45,000 now. Okay. And what do you do? I'm an IT consultant. An IT consultant?

Correct. Making $45,000? Yeah. And what's your degree in? Basically, I took a two-year course in technology and got several several certifications so are you how many classes and uh things have you done to increase your skills during the last four years in the it field initially not much um because when i started this particular job the owner if your last set of knowledge in

it is four years old you're useless um it the certifications are i'm talking about your knowledge certifications are certifications but i'm talking about if you're not continually growing and learning what you learned four years ago you know this is of no value right no no i i'm constantly learning constantly working on new systems i'm more i'm up to date as far as knowledge of the certifications okay that's what i was asking are you are you staying on in the the growth curve because if your knowledge curve is not staying up in your world and it's a steep knowledge curve you're like a doc you got to be reading and studying all the time to stay ahead of it um otherwise you're dealing with four-year-old information which you and i both know is useless

okay cool all right good so why are you that just doesn't seem severely underpaid yeah and the reason why i call it actually i've, I've been trying to make a decision on this for quite some time. I feel kind of like, it feels rude to me to try to leave the company for everything that the owner has done. I feel like I would be disrespecting him. You're not disrespecting him. You're not disrespecting him. If you can make $90,000 somewhere else and he's paying $45,000, you're not disrespecting him. I've got 700 people here.

I would expect somebody to leave if I was paying them half a market. I don't know if you're worth $90,000 or not, but you are disrespecting him if you leave for $1,000, you know, but, you know, no raise at all and or, you know, unless it's some kind of a promise of way up a ladder real fast. So I think what you need to do is go shopping and see what you're worth, see if you get some offers. And that is not disrespecting.

Okay, what did they – did you get some offers? I have, and now two years ago, at that time, I had enough, and I went out and applied. And I was making $37,000 then, and I got an offer for $56,000. When I approached him, he was first shocked. The next day, we spoke about it again, and he got my level down so much where I just decided that it probably made more sense to stay why um why did you stay at at 37 he got you up to 45 right yeah but you went 50 you could have made 11 000 more yes so i don't understand why you stayed uh i guess I wasn't being loyal enough. I felt that I was in the bad place.

Loyalty is a two-way street, dude. I mean, you have a responsibility to your family to earn what you can earn in the marketplace. Again, if there's a tiny bit of money involved percentage-wise, then loyalty comes into play. play and um but i i you know again i i would have no expectation as an owner here that someone stay here and make uh you know i had a guy working for me a hundred years ago i mean he was making thirty two thousand dollars a year and he learned back in those days he learned cold fusion it was way back in the day now we don't even use that we use ruby on rails for everything and other languages and more advanced than cold fusion but um but but you know he got a guy offered him 90k and he had two little kids and i'm like dude i can't pay you

90k i'm gonna help you pack your desk you ought to take that because i love you man i want you to win and i can't i can't even come close to that and you know i hate to do that to you i hate for you to do it to me too but you need to come here let's get a box and pack your desk you're gonna take that 90 000 job dude i mean come on seriously so yeah you need to you need to come here. Let's get a box and pack your desk. You're going to take that $90,000 job, dude. I mean, come on seriously. So yeah, you need to, you need to get a different job. Your loyalty has become loyalty is a wonderful trait. I suffer from the same thing. My hillbilly DNA makes me very, very loyal to people. And, uh, but, and I have been many times in my life to the point of toxicity that, that I get it used against me, and it becomes a toxic type of loyalty.

And, you know, you can't, you don't stay in a relationship that is not working, and this one's not working financially. You've got to go. You've got to go, man. You've got to go make some money. All right, Jennifer is in Detroit, Michigan. Hi, Jennifer, how are you? Hi, Dave, I'm good. How

are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I have a question. I have been listening to you, not too long, but all day long. So I have multiple sclerosis, and I just got approved for a social security disability. I have a son, so he will get benefits as well. And I'm on like baby step two. I have a little over $6,000 in debt. So I'm so excited to really throw these huge snowballs at my debt. Good. With that, and I used to work at a credit union when I was in college,

so my son has a 529 who, at this point, he doesn't plan on going to college. He wants to do skilled trades. I have both Roth and traditional IRAs. Because I've had MS for so long, I don't know that I'll live to retirement age. Should I keep that money liquid for him in case if I pass or... How old are you? I am 35. Okay. And you're the only income in the household? Yes. I'm a single mom. Okay. Your first goal is let's walk on through the baby steps, even in your unique challenging situation still going to get you out of debt still going to build an emergency fund and

i'm going to stop adding to any kind of long-term investing until you've done those two things your emergency fund and your six thousand dollar debt's gone because that's going to put you in a lot better place with the peace in your finances p-e-a-c-e peace like right and i've got several friends that are battling with ms and uh the one thing they all tell me is is that as stress has increased their symptoms increase right right so i love you have calmed me to give me hope like there's it it'll be okay yeah well Because you see there's a plan. Right. And there's something even better than a plan, and that's the plan executed.

Because if you were sitting there with $10,000 in your rainy day fund and zero debt, you would have even more peace, agreed? Correct. Which helps extend your life literally. It extends your life literally, for real. Yes. So let's do that. That's a big deal. And stop real. So let's do that. That's a big deal.

And stop all investing temporarily until you do that. Then we come back to your second question. Once you've done that, when you get to baby step four, do you add money into retirement with a life expectancy issue, or do you just build up some money in your emergency fund or in your separate investing? I probably would do some separate investing. I'd love for you to have like $100,000 in a mutual fund that you've invested and grown that is not in a retirement account. Okay.

And I have found an advisor who has the heart of a teacher, so I'm excited to be with him. Well, you call me back, Jennifer. Anytime you need some help, you call me back. I'll walk with you. But I think we get that financial peace in your life, and I think that'll help a lot. So stop investing temporarily and walk your way right up into that baby step four. When you get there, I'm probably not using retirement accounts at this stage. I'm probably just going to throw it in a mutual fund so that you've got access to it and it's liquid for you or your son, depending on who needs it.

Because at 35, you're probably going to have some cash needs before 59 and a half. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Kenny and Nancy are with us. Hey, guys. How are you? Hi, Dave. Hey, how are you? Nice to meet you. Good to meet you. Where do you guys live?

We live in Fort Myers, Florida. Oh, fun. Great. Welcome to Nashville. And all the way up here to do your debt-free scream. That's right. Love that. How much have you paid off?

$86,300. Wow. And how long did that take? 20 months. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? $150,200. Cool. What how long did that take? 20 months. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? $150,200. Cool.

What do you guys do for a living? I'm in law enforcement. And I'm in sales. Cool. What do you sell? It's a marketing consulting firm. Great. Good for you guys.

Welcome. So what kind of debt is this $86,000 freaking dollars? A lot of credit cards, a couple cars, a motorcycle, some medical debt. AC unit, everything. You guys were normal. That's it. You were just bopping along normal. What happened 20 months ago made you decide to be weird?

Well, I think it started more than 20 months ago. I was actually on a flight from Texas to Florida with a coworker. Hi, Scott. And he was telling me that all of his kids had paid off cars and paid off college. And he was telling me about Dave Ramsey. And I thought that that was crazy and awesome. And so I started reading your books and listening to the podcast by myself. And obviously that didn't do very good for about two and a half years. And then I started osmosis on Kenny with the podcast. And finally he came around and 20 months ago was Kenny's dad's passing, and we had children,

and we definitely wanted to change our family tree. Yeah, amen. Wow. Yeah, there's a friend of mine, I was doing a funeral for him a few years ago, and two of us were speaking, and the other guy said a phrase I've never forgotten. He said, death is the tuning fork that resets. You know, when you have somebody like that, you lose your dad. That's a tuning fork.

You reset, and you get in tune again. And so that's what it did. It gave you the wake-up call. It did. Wow. Very cool. Very cool. It's a lot to go through.

You know, the life insurance piece and leaving a legacy, all of the finances. We wanted to make sure that our kids had an advantage and a clean slate so you guys gave us a plan and we're so how many kids have you got we have two we have a three-year-old and a four-year-old gabby and geo are watching at home with grandma oh that's fun very cool very cool so what'd you do once uh once kenny decides okay i'm gonna listen to the podcast oh we got to do this stuff. He's on board. And so 20 months ago, it's game on. And what did that sound like?

I mean, you just sat down and decided to go or what? Well, I think she's a pretty good sales rep, so she sold me on it. So I didn't really listen to anything until after she kind of informed me on it. So from then, I kind of secretly would listen in the car and kind of follow along and so we sat down and went over our finances and started cutting things out that we really didn't need like cable and um stitch fix you know kinds of monthly subscriptions that you're just used to but you don't need so we did that and it was game on from that point. He was in a bad motorcycle accident, actually, and I think that was his wake-up call when, if something serious were to happen to him on the job or in the motorcycle, we didn't

have life insurance, we had a ton of debt, our kids would have been a mess. And I think that was the first budget meeting that was really emotional and really intense. So do you ride a motorcycle as an officer or just a hobby? No, it was just a hobby, and I had it before we had kids. Used to, right? Yeah, used to. Oh, just a hobby? No, it was just a hobby. And I had it before we had kids. Used to, right? Yeah, used to. Oh, it's gone.

No, it's gone. We sold it after we paid it off. Okay, wow. Well, you lay it down once, it makes it easier to sell it. Yeah. Yes, it does. Wow. Unbelievable.

All right. So what, for this 20 months, what's the key to getting out of debt? What do you tell people you did? Because you pay off $86,000 in 20 months. That's radical. Yeah, I think it starts with the why. You talk a lot about purpose, and in sales we focus a lot about the end goal. And after being married for eight years, you kind of stop dreaming. You have those kids.

You have that house. And then what? So we started dreaming about building. We started dreaming about vacations. And every time I was upset. And legacy. Exactly. Every time I was upset about my Stitch Fix box not coming, I thought about the vacation Kenny and I just took in San Diego and this vacation in Nashville. And you dream about your why and you live within your means. I think the budget helped us live within our means for the first time. Eight years of marriage, but for the last 20 months, it's been lots of talking, lots of budgeting. Did you sell the motorcycle? Yeah, that was after the accident. It wasn't too much

longer. I think about six months and we paid that off. And then from that point, we sold it and then used that money towards the next bill. What else did you sell while you were getting out of debt? Anything? That was it. You just cash flowed this? Yes. Wow. You've been on beans and rice.

Yeah. We call it pasta. We're Italian. So not so much the beans and rice, but lots of pasta. I'm going. I love it. It's good stuff. Very fun.

Very fun. My oldest daughter is married into an Italian family, so they go over there and get gravy. Yep. And in the South, I just assumed that meant gravy and biscuits. Not if you're Italian. That's spaghetti sauce, right? Yeah. So my mouth is watering once I'm a known as spaghetti sauce right now.

Wow. Good stuff. All right. Love it. Well, congratulations, you guys. Very, very well done. What was the hardest part of this for you guys? We talked about that this morning because we kind of knew you were going to ask the

same question, Drew. And I think that it was just getting started and just coming up with a plan and then just continuing it and not getting off course. And all the stuff that we sacrificed really didn't affect anything. And we actually had more money than we thought when we really sat down. So the sacrifice wasn't really that much. And it was a lot easier, especially when you start paying stuff off. As soon as the first one happened, it was more of an addictive type thing.

And we just wanted to continue to pay everything off. So we were just so excited after, especially like our cars were done. That was one of our last things. As you got further into it and you got more excited, did you cut deeper? Yes. Yeah, then that was like throwing every last penny at everything. No more trips to Target. I just didn't even tempt myself.

There were no vacations to see grandma. No. I actually skipped a couple of friends' weddings. And so that was really hard, but it's all worth it now. Yeah. You're done. You're done. How does it feel now with no payments?

A little surreal, especially like the amount of money that we see that we're saving every month. We get to keep our paycheck. It's amazing. I know most people do like auto bill pay so the only thing in there is like the mortgage and your water and your electric so it's kind of amazing yeah that's pretty amazing you're right we're actually getting ready to teach our first fpu on the 26th because so many people have been asking us how we did it so we're so excited did you go through the class no we just podcast and did the whole thing so now you're. Did you go through the class? No, we just podcast and did the whole thing.

So now you're going to do it, go through the whole, the whole program and everything. Yeah. Good for you. Wow. Neat. Very neat. So now how does it feel? Amazing.

We're, we're on baby step, uh, three B and we're getting ready to build our dream home. And we would have never been able to do that with almost $90,000 worth of debt looming over our heads. I could definitely sleep better at night. Amen. Eight years of marriage. The first time you're debt-free? Yep.

Yeah, I had a bankruptcy before our marriage, and those bad habits started creeping in, and never again. They're gone. Yeah. It's permanent change. Transformation. I'm proud of you guys. Thank you.

Well done. Well done. Very well done. Thank you. All right, we got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired. That is a number one bestseller. In the next chapter in your story, to be millionaires. Yes.

And you're on your way. You make really good money, and now you control it. Life is good. It is. And outrageously generous as you go along. Kenny and Nancy, Fort Myers, Florida, $86,000 paid off in 20 months, making $150,000 to $200,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Love it! Boom! That's how it's done right there, man. That is awesome. Very, very, very well done. Love it.

Hey, I got to tell you, I'm so impressed with these people that we're meeting all over America that are making a decision to control their own destiny. Have you ever noticed there is really just two camps of people? There are those people who are going to control their own destiny. Have you ever noticed there is really just two camps of people? There are those people who are going to control their own destiny in spite of the obstacles, in spite of the problems, in spite of the tragedies, in spite of the walls that have to be claimed climbed over. And then there's those that are the victim. They're a victim of everything you can't

get ahead in america the one percent have everything and that's just the way it is i've been on twitter and i now know this i mean my gosh you meet these people that he or is their spirit animal you know it's just like oh it's bad you can't do anything now it's just bad i hope the president will fix my life. Well, he's not going to, darling. You're going to have to fix your life. That's how this works. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Our Scripture of the Day, Proverbs 16, 9.

The heart of a man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps. Washington Irving says, Great minds have purposes. Others have wishes. Folks, if you listen to this long enough, you hear the show long enough, and you listen to the debt-free screams long enough, you find

there's two types of people with money. Well, there's a lot of types of people, but people fall largely into two buckets. There's the bucket of people who are doing their debt-free scream. They are happening to their money. The other bucket of people is the people the money happens to them. Dr. Stephen Covey used to say in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly

Effective People, the number one habit of highly effective people is they are proactive. They happen to things. Everything doesn't happen to them. You make the assumption that we can't control all the external variables in our life, but we are largely in charge of our own destiny. Or we stand back and shake our head and wonder why everything bad happens to us. You either tell your money what to do, or you wonder where it went. Money flows from people who do not manage it to the people who do manage it. If you take someone who manages money well and as a result has become wealthy, and they lose everything, they will become wealthy again,

because the things that made them wealthy did not leave when the money left. And when you take someone who does not manage money well and they're given a pile of money, have you ever noticed they end up with nothing? Because they don't happen to their money. Their money happens to them. Case in point, lotto winners. Someone wins the lottery, the bankruptcy rate is fourfold the national average. Four times as likely to file bankruptcy if you win the lottery as not.

Isn't that weird? The vast majority of lotto winners a decade later have nothing. Because the very thing that caused them to play the lotto in the first place is gives you an indication that you're gonna lose it why some athletes when they get money end up with nothing because they had the only skill they've got is athletic skill. They had no character, no ability to manage the money, no ability to say no, no ability to have good relationships and boundaries.

Those are the things that lead you to build wealth. And so wealth is an intentional act. Now, bad stuff can happen to people, and sometimes people are poor because people are oppressing them. I understand that. I'm not picking on the poor. That's not what I'm doing. But what I am saying is that sometimes you're where you are because of a series of decisions you've made.

As a matter of fact, usually you're where you are. And you can make new decisions. You don't have to. Well, my family, the way I grew up in my neighborhood, my people, those are how sentences start when people are going to explain why they're losing and it's not their fault. The little man can't get ahead. People like me, you don't understand about the isms that are out there. Yeah, I do.

Isms are real. They're real. But I meet people every day who overcome their isms. Sexism, racism. People overcome their isms all the time. Hard work, hustle, smarts smarts looking forward controlling the destiny is can everybody do it apparently everybody can do it but most people choose not to they choose not to control the variables in their life and so it comes down to something

as simple in personal finance as doing a budget. When you do a budget, it is you exercising the fact that you believe you control your destiny. If you're a victim of destiny, why would you ever do a budget? If you're going to be controlled by an ism, if you're going to be controlled by the way you grew up, if you're going to be controlled by the people in my family, people of my heritage, people of my ethnic background, people of you fill in the blank, if you're going to be controlled by that, I grew up on the other side of the tracks, Dave. Most millionaires did, by the way.

The vast majority of millionaires grew up on the other side of the tracks. The only difference in them and the next-door neighbor that's still on the other side of the tracks is they decided they didn't want to live there. So they picked their butt up and they moved to the other side of the tracks. They lived like no one else so that later they could live and give like no one else. Consequently, we see things like the five million families that have been through Financial Peace University. You know what the number one data point between them being successful

are the ones that are successful going through that, getting out of debt, and the ones that aren't, the number one data point is to do a budget. We can predict your success in Financial Peace University by the second class. It's nine classes when you go through, nine lessons. The second lesson we can tell if you're going to be successful. Did you come in with your zero-based budget done in every dollar the way we teach you? No, I've got my own version of Dave Ramsey.

I've got my own version of smart. I'm ish. I'm Dave Ramsey-ish. I'm going to do Financial Peace University-ish. You're not going to make it. Our data, I mean, when five million people do something, you've got good data, okay? We've got good data. We know exactly who's going to make it. Our data, I mean, when 5 million people do something, you got good data, okay? We got good data. We know exactly who's going to make it and who's not.

We can study your behavior and tell you. If you keep on this path, you are going to fail. And you've already started down the wrong path, so you got to turn around and go back and start again. The people that do their every dollar budget complete the class. They typically go to all nine lessons. They stay in the membership for a year, continuing to watch online. They download the podcast. They watch the debt-free screams on YouTube to stay inspired, to stay on their budget.

How interesting. They were sick and tired of being sick and tired. They said, I'm not going to be those people anymore. I am going to control these variables. I'm going to control my destiny. Do sometimes their transmission go out? Do sometimes they're a car wreck? Do sometimes somebody get cancer?

Do sometimes somebody die? Yes, sometimes tragedy happens. Yes, sometimes they get laid off. Yes, but guess what? They get up and do it again. Sometimes they get knocked on their butt, and they get back up, and they do it again. And you get back up, and you do it again when you have a plan and when you believe you're in control of your destiny.

If you fall off your budget and you mess up, you get back up and you do it again. You don't take the EveryDollar app off your phone. By the way, it's fairly easy to put back on because it's free. And you sit down there and you do your budget. The correlating statistic between people that win at anything and people that lose are those that are intentional. People that win are intentional. You don't accidentally win the freaking Super Bowl.

They never interview the guys at the end of the Super Bowl and go, how'd you do that? I don't know, man. I just got off the bus and I just won. I have no idea. No, it's an intentional act of a decade plus, two decades usually, of practice and skill development that brought them to that. 10,000 hours of practice brought them to that. You don't accidentally play a guitar like Brad Paisley.

It's not an accident. It's an intentional act. Now, some of you got drunk and woke up married, but most people getting married is an intentional act. You date, you court, you're very focused, you do everything right, you smile at the right time, and you shave and take a bath. And it causes courting to work and you get married. It's an intentional act. You win at what you're intentional with.

Winning is not accidental. Winning at money requires budgeting. There's no exception. And you don't get a pass because you're smart. As a matter of fact, if you're smart, you've got to do it twice as much. Because you think you're smart. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it.

In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. This is James Childs, producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. Once again, you made the Dave Ramsey Show one of the top five most downloaded podcasts last year. To get your daily dose of motivation and inspiration, subscribe today.