The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Live Under the Pressure of What MIGHT Happen (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 3, 2020

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Chris Hogan, and co-hosting with me this hour is going to be Ramsey personality Dr. John Deloney. Dr. Deloney has joined me before, and we've wreaked havoc on the world and we're here to talk about what's on your mind. Yeah. John, are you ready? I'm ready. Have you had coffee? I've had plenty of coffee. Are you wide awake? I'm wide awake. Good

because I am. I slept really good. My hair's looking right and I'm ready to roll. There is no shine up there. It's time to go. You better believe it. Now listen, if you're out there and you got a question, pick up the phone, people. 1-888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Call us.

We're ready. Kelly is ready to talk to you. We're ready to talk about your question. And if you prefer, you can hunt us down on social. John, tell them your social media handle. At John Deloney, D-E-L-O-N-Y. And that's on all the things. That's on all the things.

Bring them on, man. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. You got an Instagram account? I do. Okay the things. That's on all the things. Bring them on, man. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. You got an Instagram account? I do. Okay, good. I do. All right, I've got one of them things, too. I don't know how to use it, but I got it.

All right, listen. Find me. I've got some accounts. I don't even know how to log in, but we're good. That's right. At ChrisHogan360, you can hunt us down, and you can always find at Ramsey's show. So we're not going to mess around. We're taking calls.

We're going to jump right up. We're talking about life and money. Life and money. If you've got the question, talk to us. Relationships, fear, scared, money. Bring it on. on okay john's here for the emotional stuff i'm here for the money stuff people give me a call all right first up we got steve on the line in maryland steve talk to us oh hello gentlemen thank you so much for taking my call i greatly appreciate it sure um i i was calling because i was curious i work in an industry that is likely not going to survive the coronavirus outbreak,

and I was wondering if I should close out my 401K and roll it into a Roth IRA now, or if I should just hold tight until I know for sure. Okay, good. What industry are you in, Steve? I am a food and beverage manager in a movie theater. Okay, got you. And do you have an idea of what it is you're going to do next? No, I'm not entirely sure.

I'm thinking about going into accountancy. Okay, okay. Well, I can tell you this, in looking at that industry right now, it's having a hard time. Anybody in the hospitality world is struggling right now. I firmly believe it's going to come back, John. But here's the deal, Steve. I would not pull money out of the 401k. I would roll the money into an IRA.

Does that make sense? Yes, sir. And by doing that, what you're doing is you're not cashing it out because you're not tapping Uncle Sam on the shoulder and saying, Hey, come over here. I got some taxes I want to pay you. No, you just roll it over. Uncle Sam leaves you alone. That money continues to grow, and I think that's a want to pay you. No, you just roll it over. Uncle Sam leaves you alone. That money continues to grow, and I think that's a good move, Steve.

What baby step are you on, buddy? I'm on baby step number two after some setbacks. Okay, well, we've all had some of those. What kind of debt you got hanging around? I have probably about $12,000 pretty normal. No student debt, but it's a credit card and my car payment. Okay, all right. So which one is the smallest of those two?

The smaller of the two is my credit card. All right, so the plan is to attack that and get that out of your life, right? Yes, actually, I will have it knocked out within the next three weeks. Oh, the credit card's going to be gone in three weeks? Yes. Okay, so then when you get done with that, when's the car leaving your life? Well, the car, it's not a lease. I've actually purchased it to own, so that was on five years,

but I've been aggressive, so I should have it done within the next two. Very good. You know what, Steve, I'm going to put you on. Here's the deal. Year and a here's the deal year and a half buddy year and a half i want you in a year and a half i want you to have all this out of your life and it'll change the game it's possible it is and i want everyone out there right now who i've been in this situation where it's been two months now we're going on three months people are feeling nervous is my job going to come back what's it going to look like? And it's so easy.

This is a brain chemistry issue. It's a fear issue. We start trying to read tea leaves. We invent them. And we start trying to control the future that we don't know. So there's a fine line between wisdom. Our movie theater is going to go away forever. No.

Or hospitality is going to go away forever. No. Or are we in a weird season? And so the impulse is to do a thing. Sometimes the hardest, bravest thing to do is to exhale, chill out, go do something hard in the weight room, go for a run, go find some people. But don't fight this impulse to go freak out and do a thing and to make up tea leaves that you didn't read the future because you don't know. No, you're absolutely right. And it's also smart, John, to talk to some people.

Yes. Get some guidance so you can make an informed decision, not an emotional decision. With data. That's right. That's right. That's right. And so knee-jerk reactions. And John, I'm going to let you in on something.

See, you're fairly new here and I'll let you in on one of my secrets. Make a two-year decision, John. What I mean by that is look at your situation right now, develop a plan of action, and make some decisions that put you in a better position two years from now than where you are right now. I love it. What do you think of that? I'll give it to you.

I'll give it to you. That's excellent, man. I love it. I appreciate the delay, and you give me my kudos. No, I love it, man. I was pretty proud of that. I love it because it fools there to say in 10 years or in 20 years to paint a picture and it's foolish to say i don't know man let's just

let's see where the let's see where the tide takes us no yeah i love that i think i think 18 to 24 months is a great time to say i can control this moment right now okay that's good i love it i love it we're getting back to the phone we got r got Rachel on the line. Rachel, how can Dr. Jodl only and I help you? Hey, guys. So my question is, I am in Baby Step 2, and I am trying to get hired on to the county sheriff's department. Okay. But they check your credit, and I have two delinquencies on my account, so they cannot hire me because of that. So I was wondering if I should start making a payment plan just to show that those are current now. Because I've tried getting a loan through my credit union, and because of that, I can't get a loan.

So I don't have the money to pay those right now rachel what are the delinquencies that are showing up uh car repossessions okay so the cars have been repossessed and they're out of your life and what else is it is it both car repossessions or just one two okay you had two how long ago were these repossessions um one was five years ago and the other one was six years ago okay all right so you were you were doing some car stupid there for a while yeah well i went through a bad separation so that had a big big part of it so you say they can't i've never heard of that. I've heard that the credit report is used as part of an overall, you know, like a judgment matrix, but I've never heard of a can or

can't. Are they have a pretty hard and fast rule? If you have a repo, you're out of the pool? Or can you call your recruiting officer and say, hey, here's my situation. Six years ago, I was involved in a funky marriage separation, and here's where we're at. You know, so I did talk to a lot of people regarding that, and they said that I should just, you know, reapply and explain the situation. But I was talking to my background investigator, and she did tell me that they won't hire me because of that on my record. Okay.

Well, here's the mindset I have around that. A, you want to get a copy of your credit so you can be able to look to see exactly what's there. And there are three credit repositories out there, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. So it's called a tri-merge report. You want to be able to see that. I would write a letter explaining your situation to be able to send that in at least where you're giving a good faith effort. You need to see the dollar amount that's being shown on there as well. Typically, with a repossession, they'll show the total dollar amount,

not what they sold the car for, and there's an existing balance. So you stay on it, young lady. Stay focused and not finished. Keep pushing forward. Explain your situation. And don't let this get you down, because a setback can be a setup for a comeback if you choose to. This is The Dave Ramsey Show.

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Hello, everyone. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. Co-hosting with me this hour is Dr. John Deloney. And, John, you have spent some years working with law enforcement. Our last caller was talking about trying to apply. And I was looking at you because I knew not only was your father lifelong in law enforcement, but you've worked a lot with him as well. Yeah, I've done some crisis work and worked on some patrol stuff and helped train SWAT teams and officers. And, yeah, I've been in some pretty neat situations with those folks. And I had never heard of this idea that – I know companies check credit all the time.

I didn't know there were some instant disqualifiers. Right. Yeah, and so we talked off air. There's going to be moments for all of us that are disappointing, but we get to the end of the day and we say, because of my past, this opportunity is

not available for me. And I have to dust it off and then go on to the next thing. However disappointing that may be, if I want to go into a field that I want to be a banker and I've got a bankruptcy, it's not going to happen. That's right. I need to put that down and then move on to the next one.

And the longer I carry that and get upset about it and whine and complain and be frustrated, it's just going to, ain't going to change the banking industry. It's just going to wear me down. No, you're absolutely right. You got to pivot sometimes and be able to move on. That's right.

And you got options. You know, we got options and we need to look at that. And I think too many times we can get so focused on what we can't options. We've got options, and we need to look at that. And I think too many times we can get so focused on what we can't do, we don't focus on what we can do. And we've got a lot of opportunities ahead of us. I also want to say this. If you're in an industry, people grow up in five years. The guy I was five years ago was an idiot,

and he was just a little bit smarter than the five years before that guy. Give people the opportunity to talk about their past. Give people the opportunity. I don't like automatic cutoffs and automatic disqualifications so often because I want people to have the opportunity to say, hey, I grew up. Here's the situation five years ago, six years ago. I'm a different person. I'm out of these relationships. I've taken care of my money in this way. Give me an opportunity to move forward. And if you're a business owner, if you're part of an industry like that, give people an opportunity to speak into their situation. No, I think you're right.

Having dialogue about stuff gives you an opportunity to find out more of the story. That's right. And for her, who had two repossessions, which, you know, those are major and those are strikes on the credit, but to be able to explain the scenario, which is also, John, why I tell people don't get cars with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Never. Right? Do not. Don't finance a car to begin with.

Pay cash for the thing that way you own it. All right, listen, we're getting back to the phones. If you're out there and you've got a question, don't be scared of John. I'm friendly. Call me. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Back to the phones. If you're out there and you've got a question, don't be scared of John. I'm friendly. Call me. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225.

Or look us up at Ramsey Show on social media. I'm at ChrisHogan360. John is at John Deloney. We're here for you. All right, we're getting to the phone lines. We're going to line two, John. We've got Maggie. Maggie, how are you?

I'm well, thank you. Well, good. How can John and I help you? My husband is being offered a relocation package to Colorado Springs. We live in the country on the outskirts of Sacramento, and we own our home. We own about $237,000 on our home. Okay. And the relocation package would most likely purchase our home if we weren't able to sell it within 30 days. So they buy it at market value. Okay. And they pay off our vehicle, which we owe about $25,000 on.

What's he do? Like, he must be real good at what he does. I got a high five when I was coming to Ramsey. Man. Well, he is an intervascular ultrasound engineer. He works for Philips. And he is highly sought after. And they actually are trying to keep him here and offer him probably the moon to get him to stay because

they're closing the Sacramento site and they want to try to offer him a work from home situation. Okay. So what's the question? Yeah. So anyway, the question is, if we take this relocation package, we would be moving our family. We have a one-year-old boy and a two-and-a-half-year-old boy and three sets of grandparents within 30 minutes of us. Ah, there it is, the family component.

Yeah. And three sets of grandparents. We would say, yeah. Okay, so if it wasn't for the family component, you'd be ready to do this yesterday, right? Probably. I mean, they said that they're working on the package right now, so we know that there's a job being offered. We just are not exactly sure what it is, but we're pretty sure that this is going to be financial help.

Maggie, I know where this is going. Tell me, how does your husband feel about the move? He's nervous. He is worried that if we move, that they might decide within a couple years to close that site as well. But he also is nervous about taking this stay-at-home position as well because things are kind of falling down around his ears at this location as well. And how do you feel about it? I have a nervous feeling about this one from the stay-at-home, honestly, as much as I want it to be a wonderful thing. I have a nervous feeling about it. from the stay-at-home, honestly, as much as I want it to be a wonderful thing.

I have a nervous feeling about it. And what about the move one? I don't feel nervous. But, of course, I also am not thinking like, yay, let's go. Let's move from my mom that lives 25 minutes away. Right. Okay. So there's no ideal situation.

Okay, but the money situation, like what's your household income right now? Well, he brings in about probably about $3,800 every two weeks. Okay. So he makes $127,000 a year. Okay. And

we'd be going up above $130,000 if we moved to Colorado Spring. So how much? Did they give you a range? A range on how much he would be going up and pay. The recruiter said yesterday that he was trying to go above a 130. Okay. All right.

So here's the bottom line. You guys have some options. And in looking at this, I do old school, John, in the old Benjamin Franklin approach. That's a sales thing. You don't know anything about sales, John. You're in the academic world. You just wear boots and hold textbooks. But what you do is you put down a list of pros and cons.

The pro about this thing and the con about it. This is about family, and you're moving away from family, which is a support network, which can be tough. But the kids, I thought it was going to be a kid issue. I thought you were having a 15 and 16 year old that are in high school and blah, blah, blah. The kids are not a factor here. They're little.

They don't get a vote. They got to go. Now it's a matter of is you're moving away from family. Here's the reality. Yes, that is going to be tough to move lose some of that support network however flights come from sacramento to colorado car drive from second i think you sit down and you look at this what's the two-year decision i was just talking about that earlier right you could do the stay at home thing and it shuts down and you stay near

family right or you do this move that doesn't work out you've got a safety net that they're going to buy your house if it doesn't sell within 30 days right so you go to colorado you make more money i would drill in on that and find out how much more like i'm not going to go from 127 to 130 and uproot everything for three grand unless you're going to from 127 to potentially nothing to 130. There you go. I like to look at moves as a values proposition. We all love our parents.

I come from the same situation in Texas. My parents lived right down the street. My in-laws lived down the road. And we loved them. They loved being around our kids. That was a big part of our conversation but the other part of our conversation is for me and my house me and my wife sat down and said what are our values here and so one things i i often will coach families in this situation is

it feels like we're moving to colorado springs and that's forever put three years put two years and say we're going to commit to two or three years we're going to worst case scenario we have an awesome experience in colorado springs mountains and we come back to sacramento debt-free that's right we've won right what have we lost that's right and we got some great time with our family we got to do some good hiking and then we're back in sacramento and she mentioned one other thing that i want to comment on it goes back to the first caller we had chris which is every business might go away in three years or five years don't live like like that. Right? Don't live like that. No, that's you living under the pressure of what might happen.

And you're inventing scenarios that you're going to try to control. Don't live like that. Use the best information you got. Get wisdom from two geniuses like yourself and I. Absolutely. At least for me. At least for me. At least for me.

But here's the deal. You hush your mouth. Here's the deal. You've got to pray on it. You've got to talk about it together. You've got to don't make a decision until you're in 100% agreement. And then make it and then don't look back. Stick to it, baby.

This is The Dave Ramsey Show. You know, most of us are spending a little more time at home than we used to. And with that extra time comes cleaning out closets, working in the yard, and, if you're smart, protecting your family with term life insurance, especially when Zander makes it so easy. Look, Zander is open for business. Their whole team is equipped to work from home at full capacity, and they are ready to help you find the best rates from the top insurance companies in the industry. Their commitment to serving their customers, even through uncertain times, is just one of the reasons that I am a client and why I have recommended them for over 20 years. Don't hesitate on this, folks. No matter where you are in the baby steps, if you

don't have your term life insurance, then move this to the top of your to-do list. Visit zander.com or call 800-356-4282. While rates are low, now is the time to get this taken care of. That's zander.com or 800-356-4282. Hello, everyone. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, Ramsey personality, joined and here co-hosting with me is Dr. John Deloney, also a Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, Ramsey Personality Joint, and here co-hosting with me is Dr. John Deloney, also a Ramsey Personality, and we are taking your calls. We just had a caller that was talking about looking at moving her and her family. They were having to walk through some big decisions, but I want you to know something. If you're going to say goodbye to an old neighborhood and looking for a new place to call home, buying a house is one thing, but buying and selling at the same time is a whole nother ball of wax.

The stakes are double. The details are double. Not to mention that there's usually a tight timeline. You basically have to be an expert to get it right. So that's why it's important for you to have the right agent on your team. You don't want some jumpy amateur that you're going to have to end up taking care of and managing. You want someone helping you with your largest asset that's experienced and able to guide you.

That's why we've created a network of top real estate agents across the country who follow the principles we teach. So you don't have to wonder if the person you've hired is the real deal or not. Trust me, these agents are. So just visit DaveRamsey.com slash agent. That's DaveRamsey.com slash agent to find an agent that we've trained to take care of you. Chris, I want to comment on that. A lot of people give a lot of advice, especially the last couple of three, four months. God almighty, get more advice than like, what do you think?

What do you think? What do you think? And one of the things I learned a decade ago working in higher ed with everyone there who's got a PhD, they're all smart people. There's a difference between what people think and what people do. And so I always want to, when I can, I'm in the middle of buying a house. I called up the Ramsey ELP network. I got a Ramsey ELP, real estate ELP.

She's unbelievable. Really? really she is unbelievable we've had all kind of crazy this one contract fell through this thing the an inspector spilled she has been with us every step of the way and she's represented my family and my name with grace and dignity to all the other parties involved and so i like to shout out and say, this isn't just an ad. I'm doing this in my house with my kids and my name, and it's awesome. That's fantastic. I had the same experience with one of our tax EOPs,

where you get a chance to work with someone, and you go, these people get it. They're going to take care of me. And it's another level of pressure off of you where you can focus on the other things that you have to get done. So that's good to hear, and I know it to be true. So you some people, we talk about them all the time.

All right, we're getting back to the phones. We've got Tasha on line one. Tasha, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Oh, we're focused and not finished, I always say. What question do you have for Dr. John and I? Hi, guys. My question is,

I am living currently at home with my parents, um, due to some financial situations with relationships and having children and everything. So you just kind of, you kind of, you kind of, kind of leaned across some pretty heavy stuff, but go ahead. Well, um, my, i'm 29 and my my parents kind of just want me to go ahead and go because i never really wanted to come back home and i'm in the midst of trying to get the debt situated that i occurred in that in that um relationship and he never really wanted to help pay it, and it was all in my name. So I just kind of just said, let him go, and let me fix everything before I try to leave.

But my parents want to know, and I want to know, because I'm not really sure, but I want to, is it okay to move if you're not completely done paying off that debt yet? Now, Tasha, you've hit on a couple big things, and I just need some details, young lady. What is your household income right now? Before taxes, it's about $49,000. Okay. After, it's $37,000. I'm a teacher.

Okay, you are a teacher. High five, high five. And how many kids do you have? One. Oh, okay. You said kids, plural. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, don't mess with me like that. I was getting ready. I had my formula all situated.

Listen, after quarantine, one kid feels like about 35 trapped in a house. Talk to me about the debt. What debt do you have right now? Right now, I have two credit cards. One is $1,300. The other one is $17,000.

You laid that one out there. Wait a minute. You laid that one out there. Let me throw the flag. Did you say $17,000? Yes. Tasha, what did you buy um paying bills helping to move okay he um i'm gonna pay this bill and he forgot and i should have listened to my parents

that said keep the money in your back pocket to pay that bill just in case but i didn't okay so i had to swipe some cards. Okay. So you got these two credit cards. What else? I have a car that I have about $6,000 left on. Okay. And what else?

And I have student loans that are about $48,000. $48,000. Okay. So here's the mindset. You said your parents, I think it's important for you to go ahead and move out are you all having some tension no they just kind of know that I don't want to be here I live in a

town where I didn't want to come back to they're like well we're going to help you because they're actually I pay rent to them but I stay in because they move they're truck, I pay rent to them, but I stay in because they move, they're truck drivers. Okay.

So I'm basically, me and my child are here by ourselves. And how much are you paying them in rent right now? Like $500. Okay. So they're both truck drivers. So how often are they at home? My mom is every few days. My dad is once or twice a week, maybe.

Okay, okay. And so there's no tension. Here's the mindset I have. Obviously, yes, you definitely want to get back out on your own, and you want to be able to take care of you and take care of your child. But I'm going to tell you, you need to be aggressively attacking debt right now. Okay? I mean aggressively.

Now, you've got the $17,000 credit card. That's a big one. That's going to take some time. But this $1,300 credit card and the $6,000 car, these are things that you getting those things knocked out and then saving up your security deposit, you could start looking at places to rent. But you're paying right now $500 a month. I think it's important for both of you all, you and your parents, to sit down and talk and know that you're going to have a game plan on how you're going to move forward in your life.

But I'm going to tell you this. You need to be intentional about trying to get out of debt right now. I mean, not eating out. You're throwing every extra dime toward that. And even in the midst of this Corona virus, if I'm you, I'm looking for ways to tutor. I'm getting proactive and bringing in extra money.

So yeah, Tasha's not maybe called the wrong two guys on this one. Um, you lived in your twenties, lived in your twenties, put some stuff on the card in your twenties. Um, there's that old saying that you may be through with the past,

but the past ain't through with you. And those debts are coming. and so at some point and now may be the moment you called um you asked and so now it's got to be the moment where the town you want to live in the home you wish you were living in man you've got a golden opportunity and i'm always telling people to get out of their parents house you have a golden opportunity to pay $500 a month, lose your mind for a year or two, and get some of this off. I mean, you're in a $70,000-plus hole on a teacher's salary. Yeah. This is a big hole with not a big shovel.

And so let some of that dreams and where you should be and all that. You've got a good situation. There's not family tension. You've got parents who are trying to help you out this goes against what i usually say you gotta but you gotta put your your wants and your desires and where i should be when i'm 30 and you just gotta suck it up and get this thing done that's right and she can clean this up she's gonna have to get focused crazy yeah you're gonna have to do some tutoring you're gonna have to think different and you know what i want you tell yourself, where you are right now doesn't have to be where you end up. Yes.

Unless you stop. And so that means digging in deeper. But talk to your parents. Let them know, you know what? I do want to get out of here. I do want to move on with my life. But, you know, let's agree. Put a 24-month lease on it.

Or a year, 12 months. You know, but have the conversation where they don't think it's forever you can know it's not forever and you can feel confident about what you're doing you've got an opportunity here you're gonna have to get serious and very very very intentional and she's got a one-year-old who's learning what awesome looks like oh this child has an opportunity to not know what that ever was. And to know here's the strength of a powerful, extraordinary mom who put her head down and paved a new path for our family tree. And I tell you what, I'm a beneficiary of a mom who changed course halfway. And my family tree is different because my mom did that.

You better believe it. Hey, you got a one-year-old watching you, Tasha. This is your moment. Mama Hogan did the same thing. She a bad woman all right y'all you are listening to the dave ramsey show Hey, folks. Father's Day is just around the corner. If you're looking for the perfect, unique gift to give dad, I've got it. Grip 6 belts. If dad's like me, he's not a fan of traditional belts.

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Joined in studio and co-hosting this hour with me is Dr. John Deloney. He is dealing with anxiety and dealing with all the psychological things that can happen in life. I'm not dealing with it. Well, you help people. I help people, that's right. I'm good, man. I'm good. Sitting by you makes me anxious. I tell you, boy, you cause me anxiety. You're going to have to help me when I get off the line. Hey, listen, John's got some videos

on YouTube that you definitely want to check out. Here are some of the titles. Let's talk about some difficult things. That's Dr. Deloney taking on some emails. Are single people selfish? Ooh, that's a topic he's featured with Anthony O'Neill. And then what's your new normal? Dealing with all this COVID situation that we have going on.

So you can check him out. Also, I want to let you know, I'm on YouTube as well, at ChrisHogan360, with the Chris Hogan Show, and we take questions and we deal with a lot of things that are going on. And, oh, we also have the National Study of Millionaires. Now, many of you are aware of my book, Everyday Millionaires, How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth and How You Can Too. This was released in January. We did the largest study that's ever been done talking to millionaires.

We talked to over 10,000 of them. Well, the stories inside of the book are absolutely amazing, and there's great content. But many of you wanted to know more details about the study. Well, this study is now available. You can go to DaveRamsey.com and find it. This is going to give you all the information about the study that we did, the National Study of Millionaires. It's got charts and graphs. You people that love that kind of detail, you're going to dig into this and have a blast.

This is available as well for $9.99. Okay, we're getting back to the phones. We have had a blast, and thank all of you for taking the time to call. Pick up the phone and dial 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. We're here for you. I promise we want to talk to you. So we're going to the phones.

We've got Rose on the line. Rose, how are you? Hi, Chris and John. Thank you for answering the line. Yes, ma'am. How can we help you today? So far, I'm okay so far. Okay.

So I have several things that I have questions on. One of the first ones is yesterday I went to the dentist after over 15 years, and I apparently accumulated quite a bit of work that needs to be done. That is $28,500. Wow. So, hey, Rose. It's a down payment for a house. Rose, let me hop in here on this. I have a history of bad dental work, of bad dental costs, too.

I've got a small car in my mouth right now, okay? Here's what I want you to do. Number one, I want you to go get a second opinion, okay? The swings in dental response is there are some that are predatory. There are some that are extraordinary and remarkable. My dentist, Dr. Tate in Abilene, Texas, one of the best guys, had a wait and see philosophy versus we've got to do it right now. Just a brilliant, lovely guy. And then the second thing is

ask them to itemize the order of importance. What do you need to do right now? That's right. You can walk out of the dentist and it feels like your mouth is going to fall out and it's not. There's some things you need to root canal right now because you're going to start hurting real bad and tooth pain. God almighty, LW over.

But it does. I've been in your shoes and that's why I jumped in here chris oh you're good i've had that where i get in my car and i just think my financial future's over my face is gonna cave in yeah and um go get a second opinion and then ask them to put it in order of importance and make this a five-year seven-year ten-year plan as opposed to i gotta come up with 28 000 bucks right now because that's impractical rose because i could hear the stress in your voice so you said you were already tackling debt so how much debt do you have outside of this dental I got to come up with $28,000 right now because that's impractical. Rose, because I could hear the stress in your voice. So you said you were already tackling debt.

So how much debt do you have outside of this dental thing? Well, we're on baby step two, and we still have – we actually just finished paying off the credit cards that we had. Good. Congratulations. Okay. What's left? Now, the recent one that we started tackling is my student loan, which was at $6,000. They settled it for $6,000, and I still owe $4,000, but I have to pay it by August 9th. Okay. And then my husband has a student loan of $20,000. And then we have the cars.

We just have two cars, one $7,000, the other one's $10,000. And that's pretty much it. We're not paying rent or anything. We live with my parents in a loft area that they let us live in. We're constructing it when we moved in. So we only have flooring. The walls are not finished. The restroom is not finished. And we've been there for three years, but because of the excessive spending, the not being able to handle the money, we never found the money to

finish the room. So now we live with,'m sorry no no tell me this what's your household income um i make 42 000 and my husband roughly makes uh maybe 30 000 33 000 okay so where where in texas are you uh far texas okay that's p-h-e-r-R. Yeah, yeah. I'm a lifelong Texan before I became a Tennessean. Go ahead, Chris. Well, I look at this and I think, you know, what you have to do is prioritize. I love what John said about getting a second opinion because you're right. Some of these dentists can really roll up and stack up, and I want to know the priority of what needs to be done.

This may be something you look at doing over a three to five year period. 100%. Because you already have the timeline of the $4,000 for the settlement on the student loan. This one isn't optional. So, okay. So this one's got to get handled. So I don't want you guys all of a sudden assuming that now all of a sudden you've got to find $28,000 because here's the thing.

I want you and your husband to pinky swear that we're not going back into debt. We're not going to any debt for this. We're going to save up and pay cash and then get it done. That's right. And I'm going to sound like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth if you want to podcast this segment, but there's a difference between living rent-free in a home with a one-year-old and my parents are truck drivers and they're in and out and we're in a good situation versus living three years in a loft with a one-year-old and my parents are truck drivers and they're in and out and we're in a good situation

versus living three years in a loft with no walls. That's not a good situation for a marriage. That's not a good situation to continue to build a life trajectory. And if you're having to make settlements, that tells me you're struggling with payments as it is. And so you've got to sit down with your husband and here's what I want you to do.

I want you to paint a picture, literally get a piece of paper out and draw it. 12 months from now. I love Chris's. Let's do it 24 months from now. Where are we? And what is the plan to get there? And you have to pinky swear, promise where we're married, swear. You will not deviate from that plan.

That's exactly. And listen, John, income's got to get increased. Yeah. Okay. She said he's making a round in far Texas. bucks in far Texas will get you a long way. Right. But let's step it up a notch. Let's step it up.

Because when income goes up, debt can go away faster. That's right. And so I like this mindset. And again, this is the deal, Rose. You guys sit down and talk. I like that. Paint the picture. And start to lay out tactical steps of what we're going to do.

If you guys are not budgeting, you're getting over to everydollar.com right now. Right now. Right now. And get plugged in on it so you can start to learn to budget and control your money. All right, we're going to take a phone call. We're keeping rolling. We've got Shelly on the line. Shelly, how are you? Great. How are you? Oh, we're focused and not finished. I'm here with Dr. Deloney. How can we help you today? Hey, so my husband and I, we've been married for three years now. And over the next couple of years, we'd love to add some children to our home. Unfortunately, I was born with a condition where I cannot carry a pregnancy. And so I can't have biological children, though. So just, you know, we want several children.

You know, I don't just want one or two. I want a big home. So adoption and or surrogacy will hopefully be part of our journey. Okay. So my question for you, for you all is, how do you kind of save for that and add that to the baby steps journey? Ah, well, I can tell you this. Number one, I commend that you guys want to have children.

High five in you. And I'm sorry to hear about your condition, but I love your mind, that you're focused. You're pushing past that and being very intentional about what you and your husband want to do. And we've got several team members here that have walked through the adoption process. And I can tell you one book I want you to write down. It's called Adopt Without Debt by Julie Gum. And that's G-U-M-M. And this is a way that you have an opportunity to adopt.

I've seen the hearts and lives light up of our team members that have added people to their family. And you have an opportunity to do that as well. When talking about the baby steps, I'm going to tell you right now, you're talking about family. I'm going to put that to the top. And you do what you guys need to do. Bake sales, sell stuff, find stuff, do whatever you got to do. But that's the way to go. All right, listen to me.

I want to thank all the callers for calling in. Thank you all for tuning in. I want to thank James Child, our producer, associate producer Kelly Daniel, and, of course, all of you, America, for tuning in. We've had a blast. And maybe they'll let us do it again, John. There's no chance, but I appreciate this one time we had together, Chris. It was good. Thank you, America, for tuning in. We've had a blast, and maybe they'll let us do it again, John. There's no chance, but I appreciate this one time we had together, Chris. It was good. Thank you, my friend. This has been The Dave Ramsey Show.

This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Once again, you made The Dave Ramsey Show one of the top four most popular podcasts last year. To get your daily dose of motivation and inspiration from the Ramsey Network, subscribe or follow today wherever you listen to podcasts.