The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Steal From Your Future to Clean Up Your Present (Hour 1)

Episode Date: April 24, 2020

Chris Hogan, Anthony ONeal, Budgeting, Savings, Debt, Insurance Tools to get you started: Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR  

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. Sitting in for Dave, I'm Chris Hogan, and I'm excited to be here with you. And I'm joined in studio with Anthony O'Neill, who is also excited to be here as well. I really am, Hogan, man. Exciting times to be here on a Friday afternoon with The Voice himself, Chris Hogan, expert on retirement, man. So we're going to have a good day today.

We are going to have a good time. And so, Anthony, you have been traveling around the country, smacking student loans upside the head and helping people all over the place. And got a new product now. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. I don't know if I've been traveling all over the country, but I've been traveling all over virtually. Prior. Prior to the lockdown.

Prior to the lockdown. Man, I've been safe, bro. But, yeah, we just launched a brand new, brand new quick read. It's literally a quick read called Destroy Your Student Loan Debt. And you know, Hogan, with everything that's going on in the country right now, the president and the government have went ahead and paused student loan interest and payments. So now is a great time to get this quick read. And you know, one thing I do not like doing is reading out loud. So it takes me about two hours to read it myself. And so it's very easy for you to get. You'll be done with it within about an hour and a half.

You can listen to my voice, which is better than Chris Hogan's voice. And it'll take you about 30, 45 minutes to listen to it. Very good. Very good. Well, it's called Destroy Your Student Loan Debt. You can find out more about it at AnthonyO'Neill.com. And if you're out there and you've got a question regarding that, student loans, feel free to give us a call. We are here for you.

Now, speaking of which, if you've got a question, we want to hear from you. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Call us. We'd love to be able to talk with you. And if you prefer, you can find us on social media, at Ramsey Show. You can find me at ChrisHogan360 or Anthony O'Neill. We are on all the socials.

You can find us all over the place, and we'd love to talk to you. All right, we're going to the phones. Anthony, it looks like we've got somebody up for you. We've got Jackson on the line. Jackson, how are you? I'm good. Thank you. How are you, Mr. H thank you how are you uh hi mr o'neill hey jackson man we're doing good about yourself bro um i'm good i had a question on student loans um i'm a future uh

aerospace and computer engineer okay um and i have gotten into four schools, and one of the schools I can practically get paid to go there. The other three schools, it's going to be around, like, anywhere from 15 to about 26 a year to go to those. Okay. All right. However, for the one that I have to, that I'm going to get paid practically to go there, I have to work in New York State for about five years because there's a grant that I'll get.

And what's the downfall to that, Jackson? Because it sounds like you're kind of hesitant about that one. Right, right. I guess the bad thing about that is there's no real aerospace jobs in New York State, especially where I live, I think that's, you know, where all the jobs in aerospace are. And, um, I was wondering, um, what, what your thoughts were on it basically. So let's, let's walk through this Jackson. It's a great question, man. And Hogan and I really want to walk you through this process. You're 18 years old. If you go to this one particular school that is, that pretty much will pay you to go there, they're saying you've got to give them four years in that particular state, correct? Yeah, five.

Okay, five years in that particular state. All right. The other schools, do you have any cash to where you can pay cash to go to it? I have about $10,000. I estimate about $10,000 at the end of this year in my bank account. In your bank account. Can you get scholarships and grants to where you do not have to take out any student loans? Probably not, because with those prices, I've gotten about half scholarship for each of those schools, if not more. So here's the thing, Jackson, you're 18 years old.

You go to this school, you give them five years, you'll be about 26, 27. I'm going to have a conversation, Hogan, with the school and ask them like, hey, if I come to this school, will you help me secure a computer engineering job here in this state for these five years that this grant is mandatory, is making me do? If they can do that, there's no, for me and my son, if this was my son, there is no conversation. We're going to go here because it's affordable. It is the cheapest one and they can help me get a job and I'm going to avoid debt. And now I'm taking control of my money earlier on. That's what I'm going to do.

I'm not choosing between schools I have to pay for rather than a school that can actually pay me to go to school. Yeah, no, it's important to definitely have that long-term approach and thinking about it. And Jackson, I like, you know, at 18 years old, you're walking through this and doing the math and really learning how to count and understanding where you are and where the options are going to be. And I think it's really important to have those conversations. I would also research and find out what are the jobs in your area that supposedly, if you're going to give them four to five years of working in that area, what are those options? So keep your eyes open, young man.

I love the path that you're on. You're being very, very focused and very intentional. But these decisions like this tend to end up impacting the next five to seven to eight years of your life. And unfortunately for people that are signing on with student loan debt, it could end up impacting 10 to 15 plus years. So it's important to keep your eyes open. I've got a question on social. And it says, I'm a retired school teacher and i have 450 000 saved for my retirement i also get a pension it says my house is paid for but i have three rental properties that are not paid for since i get a pension should i pay off the rentals using the 450 000

it won't wipe it all out but it will take the majority of it out. Leslie, okay, listen, I love that you want to get out of debt. I love that you're intentional, but here's the reality. I'm not going to stop the money that's growing, the $450,000 that you have right now toward retirement. If you pull that out, you're going to have penalties. You're going to have taxes on it because you don't want to do that. I would encourage you to look at the rental properties, and I would be willing to sacrifice those. I'd put those bad boys on the market.

I would reach out to a real estate ELP. Let's get comparables on those rental properties. Let's find out what they're worth on the market, and I'd put them on the market. Leave your retirement savings alone and let it keep growing because that's the reality. You've got to be able to sacrifice A.O. in this day and age you really do hogan you're the retirement expert i can't say that any better than the way you said it yeah no it's important we got to be careful and i'll tell you another thing you know the uh the government they're frustrating me frustrating is a nice they're frustrating me because they are making it easier now through

the cares act for people to be able to access their 401k. Oh, my goodness. Listen to me. You do not want to touch that money. That money is put in there to grow for your future. Don't steal from your future to clean up your present. Now, I know things are tough, and we're going to anchor down and get intentional and take on extra jobs and go into conserve mode. But please, don't steal from your future.

Just because they say you can doesn't mean you should remain intentional. People. We got dreams to chase. This is the Dave to capitalize on a down market because you know what else is down interest rates if you have student loans and you still haven't talked to Splash Financial, do it now. The Fed just slashed interest rates, so Splash is getting their customer really low rates. Combine that with not having to pay closing costs. This is the time to get your student loans refinanced. Everyone is asking about the interest rate waiver for federal student loans.

First off, it applies only to government loans, not private loans. Also, the waiver is only temporary. So what you need to do next is connect with Splash Financial and review all your student loans. Guys, stop dabbling here and get it done. There is no money out of pocket, and you could save a lot of money. Go online to SplashFinancial.com slash Ramsey and get started to take advantage of these low rates. Hello, everyone.

I am Chris Hogan filling in for Dave Ramsey, and I am joined in studio this hour by Anthony O'Neill. And we are very, very excited to be with you. But I wanted to share something with you. Everyone is feeling the effects of the coronavirus right now, either in their health or in their money or probably both. We right now have 26 million Americans who have filed for unemployment, 26 million. And the impact that it's had on our communities, our economy, and businesses are all huge. And one thing we know for sure right now is that we have had an issue of financially not being prepared. And Americans weren't ready for this type of an emergency,

let alone a global pandemic. And so as a business leader or HR professional, you are still facing a lot of uncertainty right now, just like your team members. Your team needs hope and a plan to get back on track. And I want to invite you to tune into our live stream series as we show you how you can help your employees get through this and come out stronger on the other side. Dave Ramsey and I will be hosting a message of hope, America Moves Forward, which is going to be focused on helping leaders just like you. So join us on Monday, April 27th at 11 a.m. Central. Again, that's Monday, April 27th at 11 a.m. Central, and you can check it out on Dave's Facebook and YouTube channels. And another thing, we've gotten such an incredible response to our free offers

for employees that we're extending them. So you can offer free access to SmartDollar, our financial wellness program, through the end of the year to all laid off or furloughed employees. And so you can do this for them. This is a great opportunity to be able to help them get back on their feet, help them to take control of this money situation and get on a plan. You can do that. If they've been laid off or furloughed for any reason, you have an opportunity to be able to help them with free smart dollar through the end of the year. And you can also do something We'll see you next time. smartdollar.com slash hope. That's smartdollar.com slash hope to connect with us about getting this free offer. Again, that's smartdollar.com slash hope. Now, I want you to hear me. We will get

through this, and we will start to move forward, but we're going to do it together. It's a great opportunity to be able to help people. People are in a time of need right now. And leaders out there, you're in an excellent position to be able to guide your team members because they know you, they trust you, and now you've got a great opportunity to be able to help them. So this is something you should definitely go to. Again, it is DaveRamsey.com or SmartDollar.com slash hope. All right, we're going to get back to the phones.

We've got Seth on the line. Seth, what's your question for Anthony and I? Hey, guys. I hope get back to the phones. We've got Seth on the line. Seth, what's your question for Anthony and I? Hey, guys. I hope you guys are doing good. So I was wondering, I got a really good job this summer. I'm working at summer camp. I'm going to be making about $3,500. The problem is that they're going to be paying me in one lump sum at the end of the year.

So I was wondering, what are some things I should do to kind of keep on to that longevity of money and make sure I don't, like, blow it very quickly? Right. Seth, wait a minute. You're going to be doing this camp this summer? Yeah. And you're going to work this summer, and you're not going to get paid until December? I'm sorry.

I meant August. Okay, well, I was about to get riled up over here. I was about to call some labor laws or something. We was about to get riled up over here. I was about to call some labor laws or something. We was about to get riled up. So how long will you be working this camp, my friend? I'll be about eight weeks. Okay, okay.

So $3,500 for eight weeks? Yeah. That's a great opportunity. So you want to know what steps to take to be able to make this money extend. Well, I would tell you this. First of all, I'm going to look and I'm going to probably set aside about 25% of that for taxes. Okay? And I would just leave that in a savings account. Are you still in school?

Yeah, right now I am, yeah. Okay. What year are you in school? Are you a junior or senior? I'm a sophomore right now. You're a sophomore. Okay. And so I would set that aside in taxes.

But, Anthony, what else can he do with that $35,000? Man, Dave, I mean, not Dave. Hogan, you're hitting it dead on. Hey, this camp, are you staying on the camp, Seth, or are you just going there working eight hours? It's all expensive. I get free food and free lodging. Oh, yeah. Then that's perfect, man.

Then I'm right there with Hogan. Set aside 25% of that to go ahead and go towards your taxes. You're a rising junior, so that means you have junior prom coming up. You're about to be taking some college trips coming up. You're 16, I'm seeing here. So do you have a car already uh i have one that i can use it's not i don't know it's not yours or is it is is it someone else it's my parents they just want to use okay cool cool cool so i'll ask your

parents like hey can i buy this car from you can it be my car if, save some of that money to go purchase you a car that is yours, man. And so right now, $3,500, I mean, for three months worth of work at 16 years old, Hogan? Man, let me tell you this much, too. Save and put some towards college. But if you have college taken care of, man, I'm going to have a conversation with mom and dad. Like, hey, I'm going to put some of this in my savings. I want to buy a new car. Then from the rest of it, put that into a roth ira yeah seth it's amazing but one of the

things i taught my three boys was we're we're going to give we're going to save we're going to spend yeah and i think this is the same kind of category that you can fall through this uh with this process and setting some aside obviously for giving but set it some aside for a vehicle and if your parents don't want to sell you that car, start to save towards your own. But I like the fact that you at age 16 are already thinking like this and asking for guidance. I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to send you Dave's book, The Total Money Makeover. Zach will get your information off the line.

I want you to read that book, young man, because I think you're going to learn and apply these lessons and also to be able to avoid things. And for the rest of you out there, if you have not read The Total Money Makeover, that book was the game changer for me. That's where the light bulbs went off. You've got to understand, I had worked for about 12 years in the banking industry, and I thought they knew what they were talking about. And I'm not bad mountain banks. I'm saying they're good for some stuff like savings accounts and growth, you know, for emergency funds and money market accounts and things of that nature.

But to learn how to handle it day to day. And that's the Total Money Makeover. That's the book. Right now you can go over to our website. Go to DaveRamsey.com slash hope. And actually, all the books that we have here that all of us have written are currently on sale for $10. And so it's a great opportunity for you to be able to grab that book. And right now with things being slow, you've got a great opportunity to read and to learn. Also, not to mention, we've got the FPU, Financial Peace University,

free trial going on right now. I'm telling you, people are out there talking to me about all these shows on TV that I have not seen. I don't know what's going on with Tiger Queen or whatever it is. You haven't seen Tiger Queen, Bob? Listen, I'm a grown man. I've got things to do. I'm focused, not finished. I'm trying to make good stuff happen.

But listen, don't send me no emails. There's not a problem having fun and watching something good. But listen to me. Let's grow our knowledge. We got to grow, right? We got to do something that's going to help us in the long run. And so, again, it's okay with entertainment, but I'm going to tell you something right now. To be able to plug in right now with Financial Peace University for free, it's a great opportunity.

You and your spouse can sit down. You can watch it together and really start to take this to the next level. We've got great opportunities. All right, A.O., I've got to note that we've got social questions firing in. People are listening to us. Here's the deal. John from Instagram says, we're on baby step number two. We've got a $1,000 starter emergency fund.

However, we recently had a $5,000 dental bill. It was an emergency. We didn't have any way to plan for it. The $1,000 emergency fund obviously won't cover that. In theory, where do we pay for something like this? Well, hey, man, here's the very first thing. What you're not going to do is get a credit card. You're not going to get any kind of debt.

Just call them and get on a payment plan and just roll that inside of your babysit number two, your debt snowball. Bottom line, okay? And so, John, listen to me clearly. I know they're going to try and talk you into maybe putting it on one of those little cars, little health cars out there. No, avoid the debt. Put it on a plan. Put it inside your debt snowball and attack it that way. Absolutely.

And listen here, now that you know the dollar amount you're dealing with, we've got to lock down the budget. We might have to take on a part-time job. Your jaws are fixed now. Now it's time to work. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. For most of us, health care costs seem to increase every year, and saving money on health insurance feels more and more out of reach. For example, take the Olcheski family from LaGrange, Texas. Jeff and Cherise had just celebrated the birth of a new baby boy.

Shortly after, they had a health scare involving one of their kids that was completely unexpected. With today's health care climate, this could have bankrupted them. But thanks to Christian Health Care Ministries, the Olcheskis were spared from a ton of medical bills. As members of Christian Health Care Ministries, they're part of a group of believers who financially and spiritually support each other. CHM is the original health cost sharing ministry and is a Better Business Bureau accredited charity.

It's biblical, affordable, and it's shared nearly $97,000 to help the Olszewskis. To be a part of Christian Healthcare Ministries, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Hello, everyone. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show show i'm chris hogan filling in for dave this hour and i'm joined in studio by anthony o'neill as well one of the ramsey personalities here and we are excited to be with you if you're out there and you've got a question we want to hear from you the number to call is 888-825-5225 again that's 888-825-5225 call us we'd love to be able to talk with you or if you, you can use social media.

We're on all the platforms out there. You can find it at Ramsey's Show. You can find me at ChrisHogan360. Anthony, tell them where they can find you. At Anthony O'Neill. Right. And that's on Instagram, Facebook, and all the places there. So we're taking your calls.

We're going back to the phone line. We've got Terry on the line. Terry, how are you? Hi, I'm doing fine. Thanks for taking my call. What I was wondering is I'm retired. I'm 63, and my husband's 62, and he's going to work another year and a half. And we have a million in the market on mutual funds, and we have about another million with property, house, and land.

And we had taken out about $50,000 just in case my husband would get laid off or something before he wanted to retire. Okay. And we do have about that much in cash also. But what I was wondering is if there's anything else that we should be doing during this time or kind of just wait and ride it out? Right. Right. Okay. So you guys, is the home paid for? Yes.

Okay. We don't have any debt. Okay. Fantastic. So completely debt-free looking at this. Terry, obviously during this coronavirus, I am sure you have felt like you have been riding a roller coaster, haven't you? Yes. It is.

But I also listened to Dave and thinking, you know, you don't get hurt unless you jump. That's exactly right, Terry. That's exactly right. See, here's what you all did. You put yourself in a great situation because, number one, you got allergic to debt. You attacked it all the way around, you and your husband both. You guys then took it a step further by having a fully funded emergency fund. And so you cushioned it a little bit.

But you're everyday millionaires. And so I'm going to encourage you, just like you said, to ride this thing out. And I say that with confidence, especially as I look back at history. You know, we can go back to Y2K. Remember that in 1999, everybody lost their mind because the calendar was changing. Market went down out of panic, but guess what? It came back. Then we deal with an awful day on 9-11 when we were attacked. The market went down, it came back. SARS epidemic in 02 and 03, same situation. Market plummets 12%, but at the end of 03 comes

back 19%, higher than where it was before. And then most recently, the great recession of 07 and 09, where the market was down, it came back. I'm saying this because I want everybody to understand this is going to come back. Now, I don't have a crystal ball. I can't tell you exactly when it's going to happen. But being consistent and following the plan that we lay out for you is going to put you in a position to be able to weather this storm. And that's exactly what has to happen. When people make a knee-jerk reaction, when they're doing things, and I'm going to tell you, during each of those periods I just described to you, I could tell you 10 to 15 people that did something dramatic and drastic, right, because they responded with emotion instead of with facts. And it ended up costing them a lot of money over time. So if you are out there and you've got a question, get connected with your SmartVestor Pro.

I mean, I'm telling you, it's going to put you at ease to be able to get on the phone, walk through your questions, talk about what's on your mind, but again, be able to get it out. The crazy thing about fear is that it wants you to stay isolated. It wants you to just stay in your own head, and that's dangerous. So be intentional. Reach out to your Smart Vesta Pro. Go to DaveRamsey.com. You can find the Smart Vestor Pro right there to be able to click on it. Or if you've got a different investment professional, but I'm telling you, if you've got a SmartVestor Pro, you're in good hands. DaveRamsey.com slash SmartVestor, you can get connected for sure. All right, we're going to the phones.

I've got Brandon on the line. Brandon, thank you for calling in. What's your question for Anthony? Hey, gentlemen. How you doing? Doing good, man. How about yourself, Brandon? I'm good. I just want to say thanks for taking my call. You guys definitely given me comfort

during these past couple of weeks. My question is, so basically I have about $20,000 in student loan debt and then another $10,000 in credit card debt. The question I really have is I know it's always attack the smallest first. The thing is, I have two credit cards. One's $1,500. The other is about $8,000. But the $8,000 one is like 24% interest, and the other one that's only $1,500 is 0% interest. And I'm just kind of scared about all the interest that's piling up on my $8,000 credit card, basically,

because I'm getting charged about $200 a month for that. But I basically just wanted your guys' stance on how I should attack my credit cards and my student loan debt. Well, sure. What are you making a month, Brandon? A month, I'm debt. Well, sure. What are you making a month, Brandon? A month. I will make, I'm still working now. Thankfully I'm making about 20, 600.

Okay. Making 2,600. And, uh, how old are you Brandon from Miami asking? 23. 23. Are you living at home or you have your own place?

I have my own place. My girlfriend. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Living with your girlfriend. All right, cool.

And what would you say, what's your monthly expenses right now? Like what are you spending out of the $2,600? Are you living paycheck to paycheck or do you have some extra? No, so I'm on baby steps too. So I saved my $1,000. Basically, I'm putting anything I can into my credit cards. Other than that would be food, groceries. Okay.

Basically, rides to work because that gets expensive just because I'm all the way in New Jersey. Yeah. So here's what I'm going to recommend, Brian. And I'm going to say I just want to get a little bit of your bio and see exactly where you are. So you're making pretty decent income. You got a good age. I totally understand looking at your $8,500 credit card, how you can see that high interest. But here's the thing, Hogan, where I really want him to focus on. Still work the baby step number two. Do not cheat it. Do not go over it. Do not even try and manipulate it. Go ahead and pay off that

$1,500 credit card. And then when you get to that $8,000 credit card, you're going to be able to put more towards that and you'll be able to actually get ahead of the game rather than just fall behind. And then once you get done with that, you still got $20,000 worth of student loans. And I get there's no interest being on it right now, but you still need to attack that as well. But I do not want you to change the system just because you're nervous. Do not allow your emotions to actually hurt you in the long run. Go ahead and pay off that $1,500. You're making $2,600. So I'm saying within the next two to three months, you should be able to have this $1,500 paid off.

And I'll even say go back to the budget, Hogan, and see where else can you save that to put more towards this debt. Yeah, no, I think you're absolutely right. I think, you know, the reality is, is that getting out of debt has nothing to do with math. Right. Okay. Everybody, people want to look at it and go, oh, no, because of the interest rate. No, no.

Listen to me. Getting out of debt is about momentum. It's about you having confidence and seeing things happen. And you start to believe in yourself and you start to get that confirmation. And I'm going to tell you, that's where you start to run a little bit faster because you find things and you say, you know what? I can do this. I do believe this, and I'm seeing it.

And so, Brandon, I know you're counting and you're looking at that interest that's piling up on the larger one, but I'm going to tell you, that's the thing that should encourage you to move faster. That's the thing where I want you to move faster. That's the thing where I want you to be motivated to hurry up and get that thing out of your life. And so I like that you're working hard and that you're hustling. But I would even take a look to figure out what's a way to take on an extra job. How can I get some more money coming in to be able to attack this just a little bit faster? And so I want you to keep that mindset. And remember,

when you're getting out of debt, the last thing you want to do is add more to it. And so I want you to keep that mindset. And remember, when you're getting out of debt, the last thing you want to do is add more to it. And so be smart, especially during these periods of time. Anthony, I'm finding people are telling me, they said, Chris, you know, they're emailing all these offers in the emails and all this stuff. And I go, hey, listen, we're in conserve mode right now. We don't have time to waste any money. And so one lady told me on my Instagram live that I do. She said, Chris, you know what I did? She goes, I unsubscribed to all those emails. So those coupons aren't popping in her inbox anymore and tempting her. That's what you got to do, people. You got to stand guard, protect your time and money.

Sign up for e-meals and let them do the thinking for you. They have a shopping list generator that makes it incredibly easy. You can have your meals organized and planned for the week and have your groceries waiting for you when you get to the store. The average customer saves $2,000 a year and two hours a week. Get a free two-week trial at eMeals.com. Hello, everyone. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show.

I'm Chris Hogan, filling in for Dave. And I'm joined in studio by Anthony O'Neill, money expert. And we are taking your calls. We've had a blast talking to people, whether it's on student loans, building wealth, dealing with their budget. And don't forget that you can find us on social media, at Ramsey Show. Feel free to send your question in via Twitter there. On Instagram, you can find Anthony on Instagram. You can find me on there as well. We would always love to be able to help you. Here is a question, Anthony, from social. It's from Sydney from Facebook. She says, my husband and I are wanting

to tackle his student loans, but the way that he's been taught to do so is to invest in life insurance. The idea is that he's investing in our future and can use the interest earned money to make his student loan payments in the future. Have you heard of them, and what are your thoughts? This is dealing with whole life. Whole life. Yeah, Sydney, listen. Okay, let me just come on and talk to you here for a life. Yeah. Sidney, listen. Okay.

Let me just come on and talk to you here for a minute. Yeah, come on and talk to him. No, this is not a viable option at all. The reality is with this, I want everybody to do their role. And what I mean by this, when you start to deal in whole life, it can try to be multiple personalities. It can be, tries to be a savings account, it tries to be an investment account, and then it tries to be life insurance. And it's much more expensive.

So in reality, what I would want you to do is to let life insurance just be life insurance. Meaning you guys get 10 to 12 times your annual income in term coverage, term coverage. And you can go to Zander Insurance, ZanderINS.com, or go to DaveRamsey.com or ChrisHogan360.com and find out more about Zander. But get your quote there. And being able to deal with the student loans, Anthony, you know what to tell them. Yeah, get my book, get a quick read, Destroy Your Student Loan Debt. Okay, listen, there's no secret here. There's no quick way to get out of this.

You're going to have to line it up in baby set number two, pay it off with a debt snowball, and look at the interest rate. Maybe you might be able to get a lower interest rate with Splash Financial. But outside of that, you know, just line it up in a debt snowball and aggressively go after it. Stop worrying and stop putting your future at risk because you're not willing to do what you need to do today to get out of debt, you guys.

It's important. And listen, if you're out there and you're thinking, okay, wow. I've been busy, Hogan. I've not had a chance to call on life insurance. Listen, you have time right now. This is the time to be able to walk through and get a lot of stuff done. A friend of mine just called and actually got a reduction in their auto insurance by calling around and getting some quotes.

So let's maximize this time and be productive and get some stuff done, you all. All right, we're going back to the phones. I've got Joe on the line from Michigan. Joe, how are you? Hey, I'm doing fine. Thanks, Alex, for taking my call. You're welcome, sir. How can we help you today?

Well, here's what we're looking at. We spoke with our investor this week, just kind of getting an annual kind of checkup. And what they were recommending was that even though we have a fully funded emergency fund, homeless, paid in full. We have no debt. We right now are invested 70% in equities and 30% in bonds in our mutual funds. And they were recommending that we might want to consider being a little bit more aggressive at this time since, you know, basically investments are on sale right now. And maybe going 80% equity, 20% bonds. And I'm a little bit more conservative than that, so I was concerned that that might not be the right thing for me to do right now,

but I kind of wanted to get another opinion on it. Right, right. And so you are completely debt-free. What's your net worth, Joe? Net worth right now with our home being paid off is probably somewhere about between $400,000 and $500,000. Okay. All right. Fantastic. Congratulations on having the home paid off. Here's the reality. In looking at that mix, you have to be the one that's in touch with your risk tolerance. And so as you hire an investment professional, you remember you are hiring them as an employee. Okay, a lot of people get that confused. Like,

they work for you. And so they can advise you, but ultimately, you are the one that's making that decision. And if you are at 70-30, and you go, you look at this, and you understand, hey, this is what you're comfortable with, with you and your wife and the goals that you guys are striving for, then stay there. The mindset is, I want to make sure that I'm growing money. I want money to be able to outpace inflation. That's why we have to invest. Inflation is hovering between 2% and 3%, and who knows where it will be here sooner, but the mindset of investing money to be able to grow it.

And so, you know, you can talk with your investment professional. You can reach out and talk to another one. But ultimately, I want you to make that decision because that's where the buck stops with you. So take it with a grain of salt, but ultimately look at where you are. The other side of it is I tend to talk to people that are too conservative. And so, you know, there's a fine line in there. And so as you look at where you are, you guys are absolutely debt-free. The home's paid for.

You got an emergency fund. Stay the path, stay the course, and stay intentional, my friend. Thank you for your call. Next up, I got Paul. Paul's on the line. Paul, what's your question for Anthony? Hey, guys, I've been binge-watching you, so thanks for doing what you do. We appreciate you, Paul. Paul's on the line. Paul, what's your question for Anthony? Hey, guys, I've been binge-watching you, so thanks for doing what you do. We appreciate you, Paul.

Talk to us. How can we help? Basically, I called to start paying off some of my student loans, and I have seven different ones. And they told me that some of them are actually still acquiring interest right now because they're not federal funds. And it's a mixed bag of different amounts and stuff. But I was trying to figure out, since I have the extra cash,

do I go ahead and pay off some of the ones that have the interest rate right now? No, no, no. What's the total? How much student loans debt are you in right now? About $14,000. Okay, $14,000. All right, cool. And how much do you make a month, Paul?

Take home? Yeah. About $3,500. $3,500. And how much extra cash do you have right now? About $300. Okay, okay. I got it. And then last question for you is how anything, any, any other debt outside of your student

loans, outside of this 14 K and student loans? Only, only 2 K. I'm on the end of my baby step two. There you go. So you're 16 K in debt. All right. So here's what I want you to do, Paul. I think you already know what I'm about to say.

Follow baby step number two. Okay. What I want you to do. Follow baby step number two. Okay. What I want you to do is go ahead and get the debt snowball. And I get this question asked all the time. Should I attack the highest interest rate? No. And Hogan said this earlier very, very well. It's not about math. It is about momentum. So I want you to do is line up your debt from smallest to largest. You need to go figure out all seven loans, figure out what's the smallest one, what's the smallest one, what's the largest one, and put that inside of the debt snowball. Then you take that extra

$300. And before you even allocate that, I want you to go back and look at your overall budget and see what else can you cut down on to put more money with that $300 to start attacking your debt and even especially your student loans. So right now it's about getting on a plan. Okay. And the plan is a budget, looking at the budget, seeing where else you could pull some money out. If you've got Netflix,

Hulu and Disney plus cut to those, keep one, that's some extra money right there and put that on top of the baby step. Number two, which is the debt snowball. All right. That's what I recommend. All right.

Thanks guys. Yeah. Yeah. No, it, it, you know, it's, it's amazing that they'll start to pause interest rates on things, student loans and credit cards and things of that nature, and it can kind of get people confused. But what we want you to do is stay true to the recipe, right? Follow that through because it's going to lead you down that path.

And out there, and I want to talk about this because I've gotten this question a lot in on my show, the Chris Hogan show. People are asking, well, Chris, if my hours have been cut or my job has been lost, do I pause the baby steps? And I say, well, absolutely. If you've had that kind of change of life, you're pausing it. But notice the word pause, not necessarily stop. And so you would pause and you would stabilize your income, taking on an extra job, doing what you have to, because there's so many companies out there that are hiring. I mean, tons of them, Amazon, Home Depot, Domino's. I mean, the list goes on and on. And so I want to encourage people to, yes, you would pause. But again, that's not a reason to

take on debt. That's not a reason to go backward. However, if your income is stable and everything's all right, your hours are okay, your job is stable, you would keep stepping. That means keep working the baby steps, staying intentional, and keep on pushing, right, because you don't want to go backwards. Well, listen, I want to thank Anthony for joining me this hour. I want to thank all of you out there for tuning in and listening. I want to thank James Childs, producer, Zach Bennett, phone screener, and listen, I want you to stay tuned to us. We're going to be here for you. Go to DaveRamsey.com

slash hope to find some additional materials. Take care, everyone. In the middle of these uncertain times, Ramsey Solutions wants to give you some hope. For the very first time ever, we're giving you Financial Peace University free for 14 days. Go to DaveRamsey.com slash hope so you can watch from home.