The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Try to Make Sense of Someone Nonsensical! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 31, 2020

Chris Hogan, Career, Insurance, Home Buying, Debt, Retirement 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 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'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Chris Hogan joins me this hour. Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author of the book Retire Inspired and number one bestselling author of the book Everyday Millionaires.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. So Chris, if I were to interview your sixth grade teacher, would she be shocked you had two number one bestsellers? Without a shadow of a doubt. Mine too. be shocked you had two number one bestsellers without a shadow of a doubt mine too and even dave my my freshman year in college my english professor she i think she would pass out yeah yes mine slid her wrist and bled all over one of my papers and uh called it called it correcting it was red everywhere red ink everywhere. That's so funny. Amazing. Tonight, we will continue the Message of Hope series. Chris Hogan will be featured this evening.

Last Thursday night, we kicked it off with Rachel Cruz and King Coleman and me. You can still watch that on our YouTube channels. And then Rachel Cruz last night. And all of these Messages of hope are spread over all of our individual YouTube channels. All the Ramsey personalities have a podcast. They all have a YouTube channel. They all have Instagram.

They all have Facebook. They all have Twitter. And all of them will be on all of them, so you can find them, this whole series. And you're going to want to watch these. They are inspiring. These are thought leaders in these spaces. They know what they're talking about, and so they have a reason when they say remain calm. And you'll be speaking tonight, of course, subject to money.

And you can't stay out of the stock market discussion tonight. I know you. Oh, no. There's no way. So we've got to dive in there, Dave. We're going to talk about the stock market. We're going to talk about the retirement. We're going to talk about our money.

But most of all, we're going to talk about the things that we can control. And I'm excited for people to hear this message. As we deal with a lot of change and a lot of chaos right now, we've got to get back and understand the things that we can control, but also gain an understanding and take a little historical glance at a few things. And so, Dave, I'm excited to share that with everyone tonight at 7 p.m. Central. Yeah, and the best place to go is just to your Facebook page. My Facebook page or Chris Hogan 360 or look me up on YouTube at Chris Hogan 360 or go to my website, and you're going to have a great opportunity to be able to see these messages. And I want to encourage you, if you missed the message from last Thursday from Dave, Rachel, and Ken, to make sure you watch that today. And then obviously Rachel went last night. I get to go tonight. And then

Christy Wright is coming up on Wednesday. Dr. John Deloney, the newest Ramsey personality, will go on Thursday. And then Ken Coleman is up Friday, followed by Anthony on Monday. And this is not an accident that we're doing this. Here at Ramsey Solutions, our focus is on providing hope. That is the goal and the mission of this place. And what we're going to do is to continue to put out messages to remind you, to make sure that you're hearing information in the right vein and in the spirit of who we are. Phone number here is 888-825-5225.

George is in Georgia. Hi, George. How are you? George? Did I do something wrong, Zach? George didn't like us. I'm sorry. I had you on mute.

I'm sorry. Oh, that's okay. I'd rather not be on mute. How can I help? I'm off on mute. I'm sorry. Oh, that's okay. I'd rather not be on mute. How can I help? I'm off mute now. Here we go. I do freelance programming. And for the past year or so, I've been working for a client,

and I was paid on time every time. We thought the project would take a certain amount of time. The time went over. The budget went over. I received very few requirements so a lot of it I had to make it up on my own and get clearance from him that things were good the client is in possession of 100% of the code of 90% of the work is complete I've signed over all accounts. We had cloud accounts on Azure.

He's in full possession and ownership of those. And now the client wants a refund, a complete refund, even I think a little more than what I was paid. I don't feel like a refund. Why? Why does he want a refund? Yeah. I don't know.

He's upset with me. Why he's he's turned it over to collections because we went over time and money but i mean he was there when that happened i know this wasn't like a sudden event every year every month he wrote the check and continued the deal yes okay so does the does the code not does the code not work uh the code is only about 90 complete but it works 100 of what's there works just fine and um someone else could finish it since he has effectively fired you yeah he's already hired another team, he told me. Okay. All right. But it's in collections.

He took it over to collections. I got a letter from a collector. Well, that doesn't matter. He asked for validation. They haven't responded yet in over 30 days. Yeah. How much money is involved? He wants 30.

I think it came in at about like $25,000. Yes, sir. Yeah, get an attorney. Okay. Because you're not presenting anything here to me that sounds like he has a moral or a legal case. That's, you know, the morality of it, that's something that really occurred to me. And I talked to my wife about it and some friends and i said you know i said legally there's there's nothing there i said but morally should i do this and they said no you did a good job for him you'll

stand i vowed warranty my work i stand behind it i told him i would help him well and it was incremental acceptance every incremental acceptance every month it wasn't like you presented him with a completed project or semi-completed project with a $25,000 bill, and you presented that to him six months late. He was incrementally, month by month, involved in receiving the code and paying the bill and agreeing to the calendar and the prices overruns. Yes. Yeah, then you've got no moral obligation. George, here's the thing you're wrestling with, my friend, and I really want to help you with this. overruns. Yes. Yeah, then you've got no moral obligation.

George, here's the thing you're wrestling with, my friend, and I really want to help you with this. You're trying to make sense of something that's nonsensical. You're trying to rationalize why on earth would this person be crazy, silly, and stupid. And I don't want you to waste energy going down that path. He may have Corona brain. No, he's a nice guy. I don't want you to waste energy going down that path. He may have Corona brain. No, he's a nice guy.

I don't even dislike the guy. Well, but he's not nice. That's the thing. Or he's bipolar. Something's wrong. But don't let it take up any more of your head space. As Dave said, I'd reach out to an attorney, have a conversation. If you can't have a conversation with a guy and talk him out of the tree, have you tried that?

Oh, yeah. I've wrote him a couple emails, and he's nice. He wrote back. He said, but you'll have to declare bankruptcy to get out of this. No, you will. Yeah. Okay. So, I mean, you know, now you've gone to threatening me.

Yeah, that's right. That's a bad move. Bad move. Yeah, you need to get an attorney, and you need to slap a cease and desist on him, and you need to have that attorney slap that collection agency into next week. They got no basis to collect a bill here because there's not a bill due. You could turn him into collections. I mean, do the same thing because he didn't finish the project with you um and you were under contract to do that so now hey listen if we screw up around here and we do sometimes

screw up we are in our i mean our in that case we own it right and we write the check immediately but um threaten me oh now we'll go a whole nother way that'll cost you. Threaten a hillbilly? Not a good plan. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. If you do this one simple thing that we all do, you are literally at risk of being hacked and someone stealing what you've worked so hard for. Do you ever use public Wi-Fi? I'm talking about getting online at a coffee shop, a store, the airport, or even at home. Hackers can use a simple $100 device to mimic Wi-Fi and with just a little bit of skills they can take over your financial life. This means you may think you're on your bank's site or app

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Chris Hogan, Ramsey personality, joins me this hour. If you haven't heard, go to DaveRamsey.com. There is a ton of free stuff there for you. One thing is the Financial Peace University, which is the crown jewel of what we teach, our curriculum that probably close to 10 million people have now been through. We are doing something we've never done in 30 years. These are special, weird times, and we're pivoting some of our ideas around here to try to help you guys.

We're making the Financial Peace University a free 14-day trial. Some of you that have been through the class or have been coordinators, please spread the word. Let people get in here for free. A lot of folks have the next 14 days at home for one reason or another, and this is a great time to spend your time learning and resetting. And even if you went through Financial Peace University eight years ago, go through it again. The Legacy Journey, the follow-up class is a part of this premium offer.

The Smart Money, Smart Kids class is a part of this premium offer. The EveryDollar Plus, which is the connectivity to your bank and you're the best budgeting app on the planet, is a part of this offer. The new Baby Steps Tracker app that you don't even know about yet is a part of this offer. All part of the free 14-day free trial. You cannot, I mean, you can get everything you need there in 14 days. And if you bail out, bail out. If you want to stay in, we'd love to have you there in 14 days. And if you bail out, bail out. If you want to stay in, we'd love to have you stay in. We're going to continue to put things into that membership and you'll be glad you're there. And you can watch it and revisit and

go back through and just keep using your every dollar budget. And you know, you don't lose any of that if you stay in, but get in here and get started, and you'll get a sense of power during these crazy times. Also, if you have been laid off or you own a company that has laid people off, we have a curriculum for companies that they use as an HR benefit called SmartDollar in the financial wellness space. For instance, Costco, all of their employees have been through SmartDollar. So when I go in Costco now, I've got all these new friends, and so do you, Chris Hogan. So, hey, Chris, it's like we're old buddies, right? And so we are.

We are. We're your friends. So the SmartDollar group, our team here, has said if your company has had to lay people off, we will allow them to go through the smart dollar product, the ones that have been laid off, completely free. So Macy's, you need to get in touch with us. You just laid 100,000 people off. We'll put all of them through free.

If you've had to lay off 10 people, get in touch with us. We'll put the people you laid off through smart dollar completely free if you've been laid off call your old boss say hey sign up over at ramsey and let me get in this free smart dollar offer you can learn about every bit of that at davramsey.com the high school curriculum is normally 120 bucks it's on sale for You've got high schoolers at home. You can take them through the class. You can begin to get the idea. There's all kinds of great prices on stuff at DaveRamsey.com. So far, almost everything I mention is completely free.

So you really can't beat this. This is an incredible moment in history, and we wanted to respond in an incredible, over-the-top way, and I think we have so far we're adding stuff to this page every day dave ramsey.com slash hope check back because there's all kinds of things there to serve you guys especially those of you that are needing to do things from home for one reason or another dave this is absolutely amazing uh to to be able to as a company if you've had to lay someone off or or or they've lost their job to be able to reach as a company, if you've had to lay someone off or they've lost their job,

to be able to reach out and say that we care about you, to be able to help them to get connected with SmartDollar for free, I mean, this is, I'm telling you out there, business owners, big corporations, wake up. This is a great opportunity to let people know that you care.

And I'm going to tell you, this is an amazing benefit to be able to help people get on their feet and understand how this money stuff works. Inside of Smart Dollar, you are taught by Dave, myself, Rachel Cruz. We walk through the stuff on debt, on budgeting. I mean, it gives you the tools you need to pick up right where you are and get life started back on the right track. Amen.

Caitlin's with us in Georgia. Hey, Caitlin, how can we help? Hey, okay, so first I'd have to say thank you. You're the reason my husband and I, after we get our house paid off, will be totally debt-free. Wow. How old are you? Yes, 29.

You're 29 years old with a paid-for house. No, no, no. We're almost. So once we pay off our house then we're totally debt free oh okay still that's great okay i misunderstood way to go all right cool um but so my question is a bit hopefully it's not confusing um we had our son in october and right before i was due to have him, our insurance went out of network with our hospital. So there was a bit of a scramble to make sure we were going to be covered or if we needed to change hospitals.

The hospital as well as the insurance both assured us they would work something out. We wouldn't pay the total amount out of pocket. And they did. When I see my statement, it tells me that there was a non-covered adjustment from the insurance and a contractual write-off, things like that. The insurance sent us several checks made out to us and told us we needed to send those to the hospital, which I did. And then our balance was zero. And six months later, so yesterday, I get several checks from our hospital addressed to myself. And I called the hospital and they said it just shows a patient overpayment. And I said, I think this is wrong.

We sent you checks from our insurance. And I called the insurance and they said that they don't know anything about it. So I called the hospital back. They said, they're your checks to cash. And I told them, I think there's a misunderstanding, but neither side has much information other than just cash the check and I just want to know what we need to do. You're trying to not take their money when they're incompetent.

Well I mean how much I mean and you've worked at it you've worked at it harder than they have so how much how much how much are these checks? In total, about $2,200. Okay. And the thing is, I told them, I told insurance, because our balance after everything had been adjusted and, you know, all these tweaks and all from both parties prior to all this, I told the insurance, you guys are sending us too much to pay the hospital. We don't even owe this much.

And this was back in October, November. And they said, well, just send them all. You know, they'll take care of it. So I did. And then here we are. And when I also look at our statement, it does say patient payment. And those amounts are the checks that I sent that were given to me by the insurance. And so what I think is something got, you know, scrambled up.

It sounds like something got doubled up, doesn't it? A double entry. Yeah, or just there's something. Well, here's the thing. So, yeah, if I were in your shoes, here's what I would do. I would take the $2,200 and I would cash it and I would set it in a savings account because eventually this is going to come up. When they do an audit, somebody's going to figure out that they didn't know how to add.

Right. Because you're positive. Listening to you, I think you're more competent at accounting than the insurance company and the hospital combined. Yeah, they need to hire you, Taylor. It's usually the other way around where we're not trying to get charged three times for a $2 Tylenol. Yeah. And we're trying to go through and audit the crap out of their bills because their bills are incompetent and overcharging. Multiple charges on the same event is not unusual.

This is the opposite, which is just mind-blowing. But the problem is I think if you take this money and use it, you're going to get caught when they do come back. That's right. And you're going to get caught. I would just set it aside and pretend like you don't own it because you're pretty sure you don't own it. Yeah, definitely. Caitlin, write down all the stuff you just walked through, the phone calls, who you spoke with, the date and the time. Take a picture of those checks.

Put this in a file and then go deposit it. And as Dave said, put it in a separate savings account. Let it sit still. Promise you, in the next year or so, they're going to wake up and look for it. Yep. Occasionally, you get one that's fairly easy to work with. I just had a, well, my lightning struck my house. And I had a $50,000 claim that the bid was $75,000.

And so the insurance company sent me $75,000, but it only took $50,000 to do the repair. So I contacted them, sent them the other $25,000 back. Right. Because they overpaid me. That's right. But they made that fairly easy for me to give them their money back. I bet they did. Business leaders hiring right now may be the furthest thing from your mind, but the fact of the matter is we will recover. One of the smartest things you can do for your

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That's linkedin.com slash Ramsey. Terms and conditions apply. Jack is with us in Texas. Hi, Jack. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How y'all doing today? Great, man. How can Christian I help? So I got a question. I need some advice. I'm 20 years old and I'm living with my mom right now, currently paying rent as well. And I've been following your baby steps and I've saved up, you know, $1,000 already for a little amount.

And then I've also saved up a good amount to be able to pay, you know, three months. I was paying full price for my mom's apartment. I'd be able to pay three months of it. So I've saved up a good amount. But my mom, on the other hand, has, you know, she's not very good with money. I'm going to be honest. And right now, due to this pandemic, she lost her main source of income, which was hairdressing. And now she's working at the hospital, but it's not making that much money. And she's truly living technically paycheck to paycheck now. And I'm going to be able to receive that $1,200 from the government. And my question is, should I just give her that $1,200 since it's basically free money? And personally, I don't necessarily need it.

But the way I look at it is I don't want to be a piggy bank for her and think that I could just give her money constantly. The way I look at it is I want to be able to support my mom and help her any way possible. But her choices of money, she doesn't have a plan necessarily. And my question is, what should I do necessarily? Okay. Chris? Well, Jack, have you ever had to step in and help your mom at any point in time before? Yes.

And she's actually filed for bankruptcy several years back. And, I mean, she's doing good technically now. You know, she's built up her credit and everything like that. But I have had to help, and she's had to borrow money from, you know, her family. How much is the rent? The rent is, I'm going to be honest. She pays too much for this place, and she has just re-signed a year lease, and it's about $1,900 a month. And it's out of her budget.

I'm going to be honest. And I just think it's a dumb decision on her part. I love my mom, and I support her, but she doesn't make the best financial decisions. How long have you been living with your mom? You know, I love my mom and I support her, but she doesn't make the best financial decisions. Yeah. How long have you been living with your mom? I've been living with my mom for like eight months. Yeah. You know, before I was working at a car dealership and I was making good money to where I could actually pay her a lot more.

But now, I mean, I'm paying a lot less. Okay. How much do you have in savings, you said? You said you had some side money saved? I've got about $3,500. Okay. And you're going to get $1,200 in. So, you know, here's what I would do on the short term.

Financial Peace University is a free 14-day trial. I would tell her, Mom, when we get the stimulus check-in, I'm going to pay this month's rent entirely under one condition, that you and I sit down and go through Financial Peace University every night, every day, whatever, whenever she's home during this 14-day free trial. We're going to go through it together. You cannot, as a 20-year-old, tell your mom that she's stupid with money,

even though your mom is stupid with money. But you can't tell her that. She will not hear that from you. But you can say, I want to help, but my condition is I'll pay $1,900 in rent this month with the $1,200, and I'm going to put some of my savings with it to help you while you got laid off here and while you're working a substandard job. But the condition is that you and I together, and you just sit down with her and go through the classes. There's nine lessons.

It's free for 14 days. Sign up for it with her. Get through the classes there's nine lessons it's free for 14 days sign up for it with her get her in that and then you need to make a plan to be gone in three months and let her know that you're going to be gone in three months and she needs to learn to live on her own and you need to learn to live on your own. Right. Right. Okay. Now, when you hear Dave say that, Jack, how does that make you feel? Well, I mean, I completely agree. I mean, that's my goal in the end

is to absolutely live on my own. I was actually thinking about moving in with my brother soon. And we'll just pay rent together. But, you know, I do want to help her as much as possible. But at the end of the day, I don't want to be just a pain in the ass. Well, it's time for your mom to raise herself, not her son to raise her.

Yes, sir. But you can help her and guide her and just kindly and gently say, Mom, I'm willing to do this, but I've got one condition, that we go through this class together. It's something I've been wanting to do anyway, and I think it will help you. Not you're stupid with money, you that we go through this class together it's something i've been wanting to do anyway and i think it'll help you not you're stupid with money you need to go through this class i made this mistake with money you cannot shame her into it that won't work but instead it's just i'm gonna do you a favor but but it's all it's conditional on you doing me a favor

and you go through this with me i know i need need to learn more about money, and I think it'll help you too. Just that simple. But, you know, you can't walk up to somebody and go, you're fat, you need to go on a diet. It doesn't work. You know, it doesn't work. It hurts people's feelings, right? Instead, you've got to be convincing and winsome and persuasive, and especially when it's you trying to tell your mom what to do.

Because, I mean, you can be 75 years old and your mama is 90 and she'll still smack you. Because you're still the baby. Yeah, you're still the baby. There's always that thing. So, you know, it's just that's okay, though. But it doesn't mean you can't help her, and it doesn't mean that your view of this is wrong.

That's right. I kind of think it's right, actually. I do, too. That's what I would do. And, Jack, I would tell her and let her know that in three months you're going to be moving out. Yeah. And that's not a threat. You're giving her heads up and notice.

Yeah. And then you've got to follow through. Yeah, absolutely. Because it's starting to get toxic. Yeah. Brian's with us in Idaho. Hi, Brian. How are you?

Hey, Dave, Chris. How are you guys doing? Great, man. How can I help? Hey, so I'm kind of between jobs a little bit, and I've been paying on COBRA for my family. It's about $1,600 a month, and I've got this new job starting here shortly where I'm going to get benefits in three weeks or two months or something. I haven't got a firm date on that. What's your take on this Christian Health Ministry that's on your advertisements as a gap?

Because according to what I'm looking at on their page, I'd save about $1,000 or or eleven hundred bucks a month just in this gap period until my new employer insurance kicks in yeah i'm not sure that they are designed for gaps uh yeah we endorse the concept and i think they're strong uh we have traditional health insurance here at our company that i am signed up on full disclosure but uh we've been friends with those guys for many years. They've always followed through and met their obligations for 30-plus years. It's a solid ministry. They know what they're doing.

They run the accounting part of it very well. They've got great hearts. I'm not sure it's designed as gap insurance. I don't think that's their i don't think that's their intent and so you can check with them and ask them about it they'll tell them what you're talking about doing and they'll say no we'd rather you not do that or they'll say oh that's just fine and if you want to get it covered use it as gap and they're fine with it i don't care but i i know that it costs a certain amount for them to put a client on the books

and for you to turn around and be gone in 40 days or something probably wouldn't make sense to them. But I don't know. Ask them. Ask them about it. They're good people. And, again, it's a reliable methodology. It's a reliable process. They've endorsed us, or we've endorsed them.

They've been clients and sponsors of our events and things for, gosh, Chris, probably five or six years. Oh, easily. Yeah, Dave, at least. And I got to know all the team and everything. They're just really, really good folks. So, you know, I just tell you to ask them. I know it is a, if you told me I was just going to do this from now on because I don't have health insurance, yeah, I would do that. I think it's a fine thing. I do endorse it, and I don't endorse things I don't believe in. So I'd tell you to do that. But I'm not sure about the gap part of it. And, you know, the first thing you need to do is figure out exactly when your new place is going to kick in.

It may not be worth the trouble for you to do it for just a few weeks, you know. But if it's 90 days or something it starts to change the equation at 1600 a month pretty quickly as a matter of fact thank you for calling in sir this is the dave ramsey show We'll be right back. our scripture of the day ephesians 5 8 for one for at one time you were darkness but now you are light in the lord walk as children of light. Aristotle said, it is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. Good reminders to be kind and extend some grace to each other, even people that you may not agree with during this coronavirus time. For every case of coronavirus in the U.S. right now, we have lost over 100 jobs.

And so different people are suffering in different ways in this situation. They're afraid of different things in this situation. They're concerned or worried over different things, and they may have information that you don't understand, or you may have information that they don't understand. Be kind. Yelling at people in Walgreens because they cross a blue line of social distancing is not an indication that that person has a problem. It's an indication you have a problem. Your character or lack thereof is being revealed

by your over-dramatization and the way you're acting while you're afraid. I understand you're afraid. Be calm. It's going to be okay. We're okay. We're going to make it. It's going to be okay. We're okay. We're going to make it. We're going to make it together. And it's a really good time to reassess your character,

how you react under stress. When you squeeze something, you find out what's on the inside of it. And some of the stuff that's coming out of some folk isn't so pretty right now when they're squeezed. So it's okay. I mean, if you disagree with someone on the economy or the economic effects or you disagree with someone on the coronavirus right now, you can get eviscerated out there. Oh, yes.

People will fillet you, not only on social media, but even family members are misbehaving towards each other. And some of you owe each other an apology, the way you've acted. It's shameful. Be generous. Be grateful. Be kind. Hope is greater than fear. And it is more contagious than fear, and fear is more contagious than this virus.

Yes. And this is a very contagious virus. But, buddy, fear is airborne right now, that's for sure. Emily is with us. Emily is in Texas. Hi, Emily. How are you? I'm good.

How are you guys? Better than we deserve. How can we help you today? So I'm a junior in college right now, and my boyfriend and I are planning on getting married next year when I graduate. And I wanted to get your opinion on if you think it's a better idea to rent for a few years or to just go ahead and buy a condo or a townhouse in Houston. Well, congratulations. What will your degree be in? Mechanical engineering.

What about his? So he actually graduated last May, and it was in maritime administration, so he is already working. Good. Great career fields for both of you. You should be making some very good money. Do either one of you have any debt? No, we are both debt-free.

You're just a couple of rock stars. Very nice. That's great. Well, what I would do, my children, Emily, are slightly older than you guys. My youngest is 28. And if I was sitting down with you and either one of you were my kid or you were friends of my kids or something like that, I would tell you, too, that you've done an amazingly good job.

And I would take one year of marriage and rent and see how big a pile of cash we can pile up to throw at this house. It might amaze you how much you could throw at the house. And after one year of marriage, you guys will have different insights into each other that you don't have now, and it will allow you to make a better decision on a house. A house is a big decision to make with incomplete information. And believe me, after one year of marriage, you will know things you don't know now. Yes, for sure. And so, you know, I always joke and say it takes a so for sure you know and you know i always joke

and say it takes a year of marriage to know how close to your mother-in-law to buy but it's just it's good wisdom and it gives you a chance to pile up cash you've done such a wonderful job though now you're going to get a lot of pressure from broke people that say run out and buy a house run out and buy a house oh you're just wasting your money well you're 23 one year of renting is not going to ruin your financial goals 30 years of renting will yes and i'm not suggesting that i'm suggesting 12 months and uh you know and it gives you time to pile up the cash to learn the market to learn the uh the areas that you're in, get really comfortable.

You can go ahead and start looking. But I'm saying don't close on something prior to that one year. And I would not build a house as my first house. Oh, my gosh. You imagine as newlyweds going through the building. Yeah, Emily, you don't want any of that. But I do like the idea. I agree with Dave.

Renting allows you all to get to know the area, to get to figure out what it is you really want. And when Dave was talking about you're going to hear from some crazy people telling you that you're throwing away money renting, that's called family on both sides. You're going to hear that. And so you and your new husband, be resolved on your goals and where you're going. I like the direction. Yeah. Boy, you guys are really done well yes they have you got a great clean start i suspect some members of your family

have done a really good job because that's how you know to do this so you probably all have some cheerleaders on a temporary setting on the sidelines temporarily i'm on the bench to get prepared to go into the game and that's all we're saying here. It's one year of that. And let's see. I mean, you guys, you might be pulling in a couple hundred between the two of you. It's possible. Oh, yeah. And what if you piled up $100,000 or $120,000 down payment?

That would be sweet. Jeremiah is in Kentucky. Hi, Jeremiah. Welcome to Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How's it going? Good, man. How can Chris and I help? So I was curious. With the market down right now, would it be

wise to temporarily increase my 401k contribution to the max? I'm currently working on the baby steps to get a student loan to it right now, but with the market low, I didn't know if it'd be wise to increase contributions in the short term. No.

I'd get out of debt. Okay. And here's the thing. Mark it down in your little black book. The time that I wish I would have been investing because of my stupid student loan debt. So then next time you get ready to go into debt to buy a stupid car, you don't do it because it causes you to miss out on opportunities like this in other words the fact that you're not

putting money into your 401k right now because of your stupid student loan i want that to permanently piss you off you follow me all right yeah that's what i did when stuff like this happens to me i just i get mad and i'm not mad at somebody, but I get mad at myself, and I'm like, no, I'm never going to be here. Next time that market turns down, baby, I want to be sitting in the driver's seat. I want to be sitting on a pile of cash. I want to be able to buy some real estate if it's on sale. Yes.

And never again. And, you know, I have to have that happen down inside of me. I think there's something emotional about transformation. Oh, I think so, Dave. Because what you're doing is now you're seeing what it prevented you from doing. And so you recall that. And that lesson is necessary. And I'm from Kentucky.

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I had to learn a couple times. But once you get it, you don't forget it. Yeah, that's exactly right. Once it's done. Because there's something i'm if if the if the lesson is emotional and visceral and it goes it cuts through all the the and the intellect and the theoretical discussions and it gets down in your freaking bones yes then you go never borrow money again yeah yeah you do i'm always going to have an emergency fund next time

this crap happens i'm gonna be ready and that's what this is this what that's what these horrible crazy weird times are doing for some people they're permanently getting in your bones yeah and you're saying i you know next time this comes around because you know i mean i would have people call up what four or five months ago and say you know i think i'm just gonna not do my emergency fund, and instead I'm going to just start investing. And I say, no. Well, I got a steady job, and, you know, what could possibly happen? You know, and here I couldn't even spell coronavirus a year ago.

No. Still can't spell it. But there you go. I mean, but I'm trying to. Is it one word or two? It's two. Yeah. Yeah.

Now, that puts us out of the Dave Ramsey show in the books. Our thanks to Chris Hogan for filling in with us. Be sure and check him out tonight on his Chris Hogan 360 on Facebook and on YouTube. Don't miss it. We'll be back 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.

You can now listen to The Dave Ramsey Show on Spotify, Pandora, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at DaveRamsey.com slash show.