The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Use Debt Relief Companies! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: August 20, 2019

Budgeting, Insurance, Savings, Debt   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   

Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show. Where debt is dumped, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host.

Thank you for joining us, America. It is a free call at 888-825-5225. And Paul is starting us off this hour in Illinois. Hi, Paul. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Love you. Love your show. Thank you. I'm an HVAC contractor, and I recently started offering financing. I'm sorry. You're a what contractor? HVAC. Oh, okay. Okay. and I recently started offering financing on my equipment.

And as you know, the financing cost is built into the equipment. How do I morally offer financing while following the Dave Ramsey plan? Well, I mean, there's two or three levels of this. One is, obviously, I am Dave Ramsey, and so if I offered financing, it would be as hypocritical as anything on the planet. So we don't take credit cards, we'll take your debit card, and we obviously don't offer financing. That would be completely wrong.

If someone is following our stuff, I guess it would depend on how viciously angry you are about debt. If you just go, hey, debt's a bad idea, I like Dave's plan, I got out of debt, and then your company offers it. Let's say you owned a restaurant. Would you take credit cards? Probably. That would be a fairly normal normal thing to do uh if you're not me if there was a dave ramsey restaurant if i took credit cards to be on the front page of the newspaper right so because everybody be trolling for days but in your case you're not you know you're not held to that standard of hypocrisy so to speak. The thing I would tell you is this, that you want to be careful of, just as a matter of business ethics.

A good rule of thumb in business is, and for that matter in life, is just don't do things with other people that you wouldn't want done to you. Treat other people like you want to be treated. And so if this is 38% financing on your your stuff i think you should stop doing it that's immoral uh but if it's a reasonable thing or it's zero interest for a period of time and then if they don't pay it off there's a rate that's reasonable or something and you choose to do that and build it in i'm not going to be mad at you um i would tell people if they ask me not to do it me but i don't think you are doing something wrong my cousin owns a chevy dealership he's not an immoral guy financing cars for people buying a

chevy from him right sure but but and he's a he's a debt averse guy by the way he doesn't he doesn't care for it doesn't have any debt personally but obviously they sell cars and a lot of people put payments on cars again not what i recommend but i'm not mad at every chevy dealer in america you know that's just not the case right so i'm not mad at an hvac dealer that offers this stuff if you were advertising locally on the local radio station i couldn't endorse the financing plan but i could endorse your company for being a good heat and air company. But in your case, what you want to do is you just say, gosh, I'm going to treat other people like I would want to be treated. And if you're real hardcore, you would say no financing. Then if you're medium, you would just say, well, this is a fair price on this financing.

It's not a rip off. But if it's a rip-off thing you should just not engage in it right okay no that definitely makes a lot of sense and you know i don't want to rip anybody off and that's the whole nature of my business and you know you don't want to trade fairly you know and what i would do too i mean you know again if you were sitting there with some young couple and uh you're talking to them and you realize they're up a creek they're so deeply in debt they can't breathe and they're buying you're talking to them and you realize they're up a creek they're so deeply in debt they can't breathe and they're buying they're wanting to add 42 add-ons to your

install you know a filter for this and electron electrical filter or whatever electrostatic filter or all other stuff and you know humidifiers and they're just going bananas with the install all because it's financing if that was your kids you would tell them not to do that and finance all that. And so tell that young couple that. You know, don't do that, guys. Or here's another way you can do this until you get your finances squared around. And then you call me back, and I'll come over, and we'll do the rest of the work. And I'll show you how I'll do the work in such a way we can do the add-ons later

or that kind of a thing. Again, just if it was your kids sitting there, your 28-year-old sitting there, you how i'll do the work in such a way we can do the add-ons later or that kind of a thing again just if it was your kids sitting there your 28 year old sitting there what would you want them to do what you want someone to do them and you know we've all had that where we've had a friend or a relative and somebody came in and fleeced them and they just just well it's their responsibility yeah it is their responsibility it's my responsibility too to be moral about it so that's the plan. All right, good question.

Rick is with us in Kentucky. Hi, Rick, how are you? Hello, Mr. Ramsey. Thanks for taking my call. Sure, what's up? Okay, well, I was just needing some advice. Kind of living paycheck to paycheck right now. At the end of the month, you know, there's just enough to pay

the bills. So I've been looking into possibly a debt relief program to consolidate some of this. So I'm just going to get your thoughts on that. Bad idea. Real bad idea. Okay. Let me walk you through why. Okay. So you have a big pile of credit card debt. Yes, sir. How much? Well, $13,500, and I have some unsecured loans. Our total debt altogether is right around $260,000. Okay, counting your home. Yes, that's including everything. And how much do you owe on your home?

$106,000. Okay, what's the other $100,000? Personal loans, vehicles. I've got four car payments and things of that nature, insurance, car insurance. And what's your household income? My wife and I together, we gross right around $90,000 to $100,000. Okay. All right. Well, let's go back to your question first, and then I'll tell you what to do, okay?

The question is, you know, debt relief companies, the way that they work is you stop paying your payments and you pay them. They also stop paying your payments so that you get behind with the credit card company, go into default, and then they build up that you continue to pay them. They collect their fee up front off the first series of payments that you make them. Then they pile up your money for you and settle your debts after your debts have gone bad. So it basically destroys your credit, your reputation, and if you engage in one of these

things, your credit will be in about the same place as if you filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy. So don't do it. But also, here's the thing. $13,000 is not your problem. Your problem is cars. Yes. You have absolutely been destroyed by automobiles you owe 85 or 90 000 dollars

or more on cars don't you uh no actually it's right around 40 okay so you have four cheap cars what do you have four cars? Two children. My daughter is 21. My son is 23, so I'm paying for their vehicles. Not anymore. They just got a job. Those are what are known as adults under the law. And so you're broke.

You make $100,000 a year, and you call me up because you can't pay your bills because you're supporting a 21-year-old and a 23-year-old that needs a job. They need to pay the car payment, or you need to sell a car. And they can figure out a way to get them a hoopty. Wouldn't hurt them a bit. Yeah, that's your problem right there, man. Let's clean that mess up quickly. No, it's not your $13,000 problem. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you

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CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years, and our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. our question of the day comes from blinds.com they have a 100 satisfaction guarantee means even if you mismeasure you pick the wrong color they'll remake your window blinds for free you get free samples free shipping and with the new promos they run every month you'll save even more use the promo code ramsey to get the best possible deal so i told you guys i got

some shades for this little porch thing we built out from these guys and i got home they're the coolest thing they're uh electric you can let them up or down without having to do it like without having to work at it and they're battery operated we didn't have to wire them we have to go through the hard wire so they rechargeable electric shades pretty neat and uh they did just incredible products this this company is on fire blinds.com check them out for all your window blinds needs they really do a great job today's questions from vicky in illinois says dave myself and a co-worker are wondering what your thoughts are on this subject. If a car dealership is offering 0% financing and you have the money in the bank to make the purchase outright, why not use their money and leave mine in the bank?

Because no one that becomes wealthy does it by not paying cash for their car. I've never met a millionaire that said, Dave, you know, the way I made my millions was I borrowed money at 0% interest on my car. And I invested the difference in the bank at 1%. It means you're making 1% spread on your money. Okay, so what happens is you have just fallen for this entire theory that somehow you are going to outsmart General Motors credit or Lexus credit or Ford Motor credit or whoever. You're not going to outsmart them. Okay. To start with, the 0% car loan offer is way bait and switch. Very few people actually

qualify for the 0%. It draws people in. They want to come in. The reason you go in there, you go, oh, 0%, 0%. Come in, there's a 0% offer right now. That's a promotion right now. Let's go in and check it out. And then you don't qualify. The second thing is you have to pay full price for the car.

When I buy a car, I pay cash. Do you think I pay full price? No. So the difference in what you pay and I pay, would that be called 0%? No. See, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Oh, wait a minute. Also left out that it's only available on new cars,

which unless you have a million-dollar net worth, you shouldn't be buying a new car because they go down in value like a rock. And so when you buy a brand-new car, which I buy new cars now. I'm a multimillionaire. I don't think anything about it. It's a small percentage of my net worth. But if you're broke and you buy a brand-new car, when you leave the car dealership and when you pull out into the street and you go across the curb and you hear this sound, that was $10,000. That's what that sound was.

You just left it in the parking lot back there. The worst car accidents happen on the showroom floor. A car loses the most value it's ever going to lose in the first six months you own it blump blump blump blump it's not zero percent you paid more for the car you bought a new car which is going down faster than anything else. It's not 0%. It just sounds like it is. Besides that, you're not making much of a spread. You said your money's in the bank.

Doesn't work. Blump, blump. John is with us. John's in California. Hey, John, how are you? Hey, Dave, I'm doing good. Thanks for taking my call. Sure, what's up?

I went to the dentist yesterday, which is always a bad idea. And they told me I need two new crowns put in my mouth. Do you have a toothache? Yeah. I need, like, crowns. No, I know what they said. I asked if you had a toothache. Oh, yeah. Okay. So you're, like, your mouth's hurting. Okay. need like crowns no i know i know what they said i asked if you had a toothache oh yeah okay so

you're like your mouth's hurting okay like yeah one of them for sure i definitely know i needed work on it um and my insurance doesn't cover it and so it costs 980 dollars for one crown yeah um and so that like both of them together is beyond my emergency budget. Recently, I've just been grinding out on my student loans. And so I'm, like, wondering how to do it because they offer a credit card and zero APR. And, like, I don't want to go that route. So I was wondering if you have, like, an idea on how I can do it other ways. Okay.

Well, the way, what happened with Sharon and I, John, was we decided we don't borrow money anymore. And so when something like this comes up, we had to figure out a way because borrowing money wasn't an option. And stuff like this does come up. It's a, you know, number one, it is an emergency if hurt if you're hurting okay if you have a legitimate medical problem that is an emergency that's what the one thousand dollars is for so we got one crown covered right sorry like it was you have a thousand dollars saved right you have a thousand dollars saved in your

emergency fund right yeah this is an emergency so you an emergency, so you would do the one crown. Is there one of them that's super bad and the other one just is a good idea to do and you could save up over the next month or so or two months or so and then do it? Would that work? I can't hear you. It's like advising. We have a buzz feedback? Yeah.

We have a buzz feedback into your phone? Yeah. All right, I'm going to put you on hold, and we'll come back and we'll finish this conversation after they can check out and see if we have a problem, okay, on our end. Dave is with us in Wisconsin. Hi, Dave. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hello. Hi, how can I help? Well, my question is, my wife is diagnosed with Parkinson's, and we're considering long-term health care insurance or nursing home insurance. I'm not sure how you quantify that. Not sure if that's a wife's money to spend on her doing that. It would have been before she got Parkinson's. I don't think she can get it now.

Well, I don't know. The next question would be be should we put it on myself in case how old are you uh we're both 60 okay if if depending on how advanced her parkinson's diagnosis is if you can get it on both of you i would get it immediately long-term care insurance does not cover immersing home forever. It covers it in most cases for three to five years, depending on what kind of policy you buy. Okay. And nursing home generally costs about $50,000 a year, depending on where you are. You're in Wisconsin, so that's probably about what it is.

So do you have any money saved? Oh, yeah. You know, we have a net worth that's comfortable. How much? I'd say about $2 million. Okay. Then you can self-insure through this. Here's the numbers, okay?

The average nursing home stay in America is 2.4 years. Okay. And 25% of the people stay longer than three years is 2.4 years. Okay. And 25% of the people stay longer than three years is all. So almost no one stays in a nursing home much longer than three or four years. And if it's $50,000 a year and they stayed in there four years, that's $200,000. You have $2 million. You're okay. I wouldn't worry about it.

Okay. You have the money to cover this the other thing with a two million dollar net worth that i would suggest is you're probably never going to see the inside of a nursing home because you're probably going to hire in-home care much better quality of life in many cases much better care and um and it ends up actually being cheaper in a lot of cases so um in other words you would care for her in the home with a full-time nurse cheaper or almost as cheap as a nursing home and you'd have a much better experience for everyone involved okay then having to run for neither one of us you wouldn't so i just try to make sure just because of your net worth you have the money if you told me you had a half a million dollar net worth, I

probably would tell you to go get it today. Uh-huh. Because I'd be worried about you running through $300,000 of $500,000. But if you run through $300,000, it's not going to even change your life. I mean, it'd be bad, but I don't want to go through it, but it's not, you know, you've got plenty of money. You see what I'm saying? I do. I don't disagree with anything.

The only caveat would be, it seems to me that the Parkinson's station seemed to be in nursing homes for a long time. Yeah, I mean, if she stayed in 10 years, it's a half a million dollars. You got $2 million. You know? Again, you're still worth a million and a half after she was in 10 years. And she's not going to be in there 10 years. That's not even Parkinson's. And again, you're not going to put her in that soon because with your net worth, the way you all live, you're probably doing in-home care. Okay, we were talking with John and had a bad connection.

We've reconnected to him. I think we've got a clean line now. John has gone to the dentist. He has a toothache, and he needs two crowns. One crown is $980. He has his $1,000 emergency fund. He's poured everything else onto his student loan, trying to figure out what to do. Is that a fair summary of what you told me, sir? That is exactly it.

Okay. And during that, I actually checked my account, and I got paid some at $1,600, which makes it a lot less scary. Okay. That's exactly it. Okay. And during that, I actually checked my account, and I got paid. So I'm at $1,600, which makes it a lot less scary. Okay. That's good news. Okay. Good. All right.

And do you have rent and food and things due out of that $1,600? No. My rent is paid, and I have a food budget. How is your rent paid if you don't use your income to do that? I work for a company that supplies a food budget and rent. Wow. In addition to the pay. Wow.

Okay. Very nice. That's good news. Okay. So what did the dentist say it would cost for the two crowns total? It would cost about like 18 to 1900 okay all right cool all right so there's a couple of options um one is uh get a second opinion um you're buying something that's two thousand dollars uh a service it doesn't hurt to get another price

yep no one shops dentistry and that's not a bad thing to do. That's one possibility. You can do that with plus or minus some of these other suggestions. How often are you paid? I get paid. One of my jobs is every two weeks. The other one is on the 20th and the 5th. Okay.

All right. So today that you got one one and you'll get another one right after Labor Day. And so what is your pay on the one that will come on Labor Day? The Labor Day will probably be somewhere between five and six hundred. Okay. Which is what you got today, right? Okay. Yeah. Good. All right. Cool. Well, here's the thing. By the time you schedule the appointment, have the appointment, Labor Day is going to probably be close to here. True.

Okay. And so you easily could give them $1,500 during the appointment and just say, bill me for the rest. I will pay you next month. And 99% of the dentists in America would do that deal. Okay? So you don't need a credit card for sure to do this. The second question is, and it's just I have no way of gauging this at all. It's not an accusation in the question.

I just don't know. Are both of the – I know one of these crowns is necessary today because it's just hurting straight up. You need to get this done. Okay? Did they put a temp on when you were there today uh no wow no they didn't okay yeah they they wanted me to either bite or not and i was like i don't know i need to work things out first okay uh yeah definitely getting another a bid another dentist then to look at this because this dentist is practice managing you what that means is he's maximizing his profits by squeezing every dime out of what's going on because if i went to my dentist and i didn't go away with a temp when my tooth was hurting uh me and him would have a problem but they're worried you're not

going to pay and they're not going to get their money or they're worried you're not going to pay and they're not going to get their money or they're worried they're not going to or they were hard selling and trying to close the sale as you forget that these dentists and doctors are in business and they're trying to close a sale they're trying to maximize the dollar production out of every hour that they work probably has four hundred thousand dollars in student loan debts if he's a dentist. So, yeah, go get a second opinion, number one. Then number two, you know, $1,500 down on an $1,800 deal, pay the other $300 in September is perfectly reasonable, okay?

And if they can't do that, you can find someone that can. I can promise you that. Number three, is one of these, of the two crowns, is one of them worse, like real, real bad, like today we need it done, and the other one could wait a month? Absolutely, yeah. I didn't even think that I needed a second crown. I didn't even know, like, what I would need on the other one. I just knew that it was in pain all the time. I think you're getting practice managed. think you're getting up i think you're getting upsold okay you went in with one tooth hurting and you came out with two teeth being sold

okay okay i don't know but i'm definitely getting a second opinion okay if you can do one now and do one on a month later that and not hurt then that's okay too right even if you use this guy all right now again i'm not against dentistry no tennessee jokes allowed okay right i'm not i have all of my teeth i'm not i even have my wisdom teeth. It's ridiculous. It's crazy. And so, you know, I am not against dentistry. I'm not against teeth. But I know enough about the inside of workings of those businesses to know that, like all businesses, there is a varying degree of sales and upsell and profit margin among the different dentists that are out there. The worst experience I ever had was I was not much older than you.

We were broke, had just gone through a bankruptcy, and I went in with a toothache. And the guy told me if I didn't do, this is in the 1980s, if I didn't do $3,500 worth of work to my teeth within five years, I would have no teeth. And I didn't go back because I didn't have $3,500. I just said, well, we'll just have to deal with that because I don't have $3,500. And by the way, I never did any of that work. And that's 40 years ago. I still have all of my teeth, which makes that guy a liar.

Okay? Yeah. Now, I'm not saying all dentists are jerks like that guy was, but that guy was straight-up scamming me. And I was a broke kid trying to feed my kids after bankruptcy. I mean, that's who he was scamming. So I just realized that, gosh, you know, dentists and doctors and bankers and lawyers, they're people, which means there's good ones and bad ones.

And you can't just because someone has a little thing in front of their name, a DR or whatever, doesn't mean that you always, you know, I always ask why. I'll be that little 10-year-old little boy. Why or how? Is there another way to do this? And that's all I'm teaching you to do is just gather more options think through this and you'll make a wiser decision where you don't feel as panicked and pressured into something usually when i get desperate right after i get desperate when i get stupid and that that's kind of where you were a few minutes ago before that extra pay came in and you're hurting with your mouth hurting so yes get get you need to get the one crown from

someone i'm not sure it's that guy because there's too many different things you told me about your experience with him that makes me question what you're going to find out when you get your next opinion with a different guy or gal so again those of you in the dental world i'm not mad at you but if you don't admit that what I'm saying, that everyone in that world is not on the up and up, is true, then you are in denial because everyone, you know, you can buy a pair of glasses for your face and be able to read at Costco or Sam's or you can spend some serious bucks because they have a designer name on the side.

And so, you know, but either way, you get to read the old dime store readers, right? So, again, I'm not suggesting you do bargain health care or bargain dentistry, but I am suggesting that we don't do unneeded dentistry. Big time, I'm suggesting that. $3,500 bid 40 years ago, I did not one thing he suggested. Never went back in the building. I still have every tooth. Somebody lied. So that's just how life works.

It's okay. I'm not mad. I'm not mad at the whole you know it's not it's not not mad at the whole place just have to stop and think when you get pressured into these corners i'm heating an air guy i try to do the same thing one time you know the heat's out my house it's the middle of winter i got a family and he's like oh this is unsafe if you don't put a whole unit in you, you're going to blow up and your family's all going to die. The next guy came out and fixed it for $40. And that unsafe unit ran for three more years and nobody died.

Just, you know, when you're broke, you have to question these things. And, well, you could finance it. Yeah, I know, but I'm broke and I don't finance things. That's why I'm broke. because I used to finance things. This is just how you live your life, folks. It's just wisdom. Good question, John. Good to talk to you.

Hope that works out for you, man. Hope you feel better. That puts that segment in the books. Thank you. our scripture of the day james 3 13 who is wise and understanding among you let them show it by their good life by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. Charles Spurgeon says, Think not that humility is weakness. It shall supply the marrow of strength to thy bones. Stoop and conquer. Bow thyself and become invincible.

Wow. That'll work. Moody said, Meekness is not weakness. It is power under control. That's one of my faves. Well, Anthony O'Neill's book is going to be a number one. It comes out technically on October the 7th. It is in presale right now.

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Starting all the way back at the seventh grade. So if you have a 10 year old you might want to order this book so you can start thinking about it you don't do big important things impulsively or accidentally and going to college is a big important thing and going to college debt-free is a super big important thing chris is with us in Washington. Hi, Chris. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. How are you today? Better than I deserve. What's up? Excellent. Well, my wife and I were 52 and 50, and we're just really feeling the need to

focus on eventual retirement someday. I've got a little struggle we've got trying to figure out whether or get some advice on whether we should use the money in a fund that she inherited from her mom about 10 years ago, mostly in mutual funds and some bonds in that, to pay off our house. How much is in that fund? We have $126,000.

And what do you owe on your home? About $83,000. Okay. And how much other nest egg do you have? We have $240,000 in a traditional 401K that I have for my job. That's about it. Okay, cool. And what's your household income?

It's $115 a year. Okay, great, great. And you have no other debt? No other debt. Okay. Kids are through college, so that's all good. What I hear are people who live within their means. That's what your numbers tell me.

You're very intentional and very methodical with your money, maybe even a little bit nerdy in a good way. Is that you guys? That's pretty accurate. Okay, good. That's what I saw in your numbers. That's what your story tells me. And so that doesn't scare me then to give this advice. So here's what will happen.

If you will pay off the house and you will start doing a detailed written budget every month, more than you're doing now, get on the EveryDollar app. It's free. And start doing a detailed budget where every single dollar has an assignment every month. I want you to do that. How much is your house payment now? It's about $1480 a month. Okay.

And so I want you to allocate $2,000 a month in addition to what you're already doing to retirement, because now you don't have a house payment, into a mutual fund. If you put $2,000 a month, that month that's 24 000 a year plus growth right how quick do you think you're going to have 83 back less than four years less than four years a little over three yeah exactly with growth depending on what the growth does and so really the discussion we're having is a three-year discussion okay so i'm paying off the house today i'm paying off the house today okay okay should we uh do that via a roth ira for each of us yeah fund a couple of

roth iras and fund anything else you can fund i don't care where you i mean that'd be a great place to put it because it's going to grow tax-free in a growth stock mutual funds like we teach growth growth and income aggressive growth and international. If you don't have an advisor, click smartvestor at DaveRamsey.com. But I think you'll probably get a little extra peace and a little extra efficiency by doing the written detailed budget every month. You're going to actually enjoy it because of who you guys are. I enjoy it because it gives me permission to do things i do things without guilt then because it's allocated to do that

and that helps you then set up your auto draft to put two thousand bucks a month into something you may want to put more into something um but this is going to mean the difference um you guys are going to be probably worth $2 million when you get to retirement. That's what it sounds like to me. Plus or minus, you know, how your growth does and, you know, how aggressively you save and invest. But, you know, your $250 is going to double a couple more times, and you're going to be putting this $2,000 away and some other stuff. So, yeah, you're probably a million and a half plus the house is what your nest egg

is going to be at 65, 67, somewhere in there. I'm just spitballing that, but those numbers are pretty close when you run them out. You're not going to miss that far. So the bottom line is you've done a wonderful job. You're everyday millionaires in the making, and I'm real proud of you. Good question. Thank you for calling in with it. Vicki is on the line in Florida.

Hi, Vicki. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello. Hi. What's up? So I am currently in Baby Step 2, sitting at about $56,000 in both student loans and credit card debt. Okay, you're going to speak directly into your phone.

I can't hear you. Okay, sorry. So I'm in Baby Step 2, credit card debt okay you're gonna speak directly into your phone i can't hear you okay sorry um so i'm in baby steps too and i have about 56 000 both of credit card and student loan debt um and i'm currently living at home but paying my parents rent we currently have their retirements pretty set up they're both retired. And I pretty much, you know, brought up the idea of in order to help me get out of the consumer debt is that I would... What do you make a year?

I make currently about $42,000. How old are you? I just turned 30. And you live with your parents yeah they're retired and they go in between one property that they have and then this property yeah and what do you do for a living i teach okay and the 56 000 in debt is on what is uh about 30 is 36 is student loans, and then 20 is about credit cards. Okay. And you don't have any personal overhead.

How long have you been working on this debt? I just started this June, pretty much. What were you doing before? I was teaching. I just spent the past year teaching, and then I also work at a summer camp. What have you done with your income for the last five years when you were 25 to 30? I was going to school, working part-time, working various jobs. Oh, so you just completed school recently?

Yeah, within the past two years, yes. Okay, all right. I got you. Yeah, and so the idea that I flew by them was that, you know, they're retired and they have their pension set up and they also get railroad retirement and they have a Roth IRA that, you know, they're not touching. How much is in it? I don't know exactly, but in the past they've been giving us, I guess, gifts from that Roth IRA.

If they want to do that and you want to put it towards your debt, fine. But no, I would not advance you anything if I were your parents. You're 30 years old. It's time for you to roll up your sleeves and grow up and pay your bills. If I was your dad, that's what I would tell you. I love you, but I want you to go win and have the dignity of winning instead of me bailing you out. You're 30 years old. You live with your parents.

You just finished your degree. Go pay your bills. Go get your debt paid off. You ain't got anything else to do. And you can do that. You're very capable of doing that. And I'll be proud of you when you do. That puts us out of the day.

Ramsey Show and the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for the Dave Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.