The Ramsey Show - App - Enrich Your Marriage by Submitting to the Plan (Hour 3)

Episode Date: August 22, 2018

The show about you

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, 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. This is your show. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. John starts off this hour in Philadelphia.

Hey, John, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, how are you? Better than I deserve, sir. How are you? Thanks. I'm pretty good. I'm 29 years old, and I'm married. I have a one-year-old baby. I'm currently $150,000 in debt. That includes student loans, car note, and credit cards. I make about $43,000 a year, and I can barely afford just paying my bills.

Any help, any tips? Is your wife working outside the home? Unfortunately, she's not working. She's looking for employment, but so far she hasn't gotten one yet. What do you do for a living? Right now I'm an Uber driver. I went to school for health science. You went to school for what?

Health science. Health science, okay. Yes. And what would be the career field that would go with that? Well, pretty much, you know, I was just working in office administration, clerk, and human resources, but not working as, you know, in human resources per se, most likely helping. Also behavioral health as well. But all these career paths offer for an entry position about $32,000,

between $30,000 and $35,000 a year, which would not help me afford my, you know, just help me pay my bills. And that's why I have to drive. So how much of the $150,000 in student loan debt? $92,000 is for... So you spent $100,000 getting a degree that you can't make $30,000 from? Yes. Wow.

Okay, $92,000 in student loans. What's the other $40,000? $92,733. And what's the other $92,000 in student loans. What's the other $40,000? Yes, $92,733. And what's the other $60,000? The other $60,000, I have a car note that's $16,000, almost $17,000 left. That's my remaining balance. My credit cards are about about 14 000 but i have um 17 000 that my father actually took out um he took out 17 000 to me when i um first entered college which i had to repay

that was the deal so you owe your dad 17 000 yeah but i mean he got a parent's loan, so I had to, you know, so right now they're, well, we have two-year forbearance from the federal government, and I have salary made as well, which, you know, right now they're calling, but I can't afford paying $600, $700 a month. Okay. All right. Well, it sounds like more than anything you have an income issue. And this you already knew. You didn't need me to tell you that. But what's your wife's degree in? Well, she's from another country, but she's a lawyer. This can't transfer over like that, and she has to go back to school. But it's going to take some time. So is she going to do some paralegal work or something in the meantime?

Right. That's what she wants, but so far she can't go back to school. We can't afford it. No, you can't afford any more debt. You don't have any money. But can she not go in with her current legal background from another country and do some paralegal work here? Can she not get a job as a paralegal? I don't know.

We haven't looked into it yet. Yeah. We've had this conversation, but we haven't looked into it yet. Well, I don't know much about your degree field enough to make any intelligent statements about it other than what you told me, okay, in terms of what you should do with your career. But what I would tell you is this. What have we got to do to be making $90,000 instead of $43,000 five years from now, three years from now? Okay? What career field are you going to go into?

Where are you going to do? What track are you going to go into that causes your income to go up substantially? And the same thing for her. Because here's the thing. You guys are making it on 43 barely, but you're swimming and losing your breath. You're treading water, right? So you've got a car you can't afford at 43, but really 43 has got to change. We've got to do something to get your income up.

Uber is not going to be your answer. It may be part of your answer, but a full-time job plus Uber, plus she gets a full-time job. Let's just say we went from 43 with part-time jobs, her working, and you doing a full-time job plus Uber, right? Then we got you up to a hundred well all of a sudden if you can make it on 40 all of that extra can go on this debt and you're looking at three four three and a half years to get out of debt a hundred percent out of debt and you start paying off the credit cards you start paying off the car you start paying off the you know your father and the student loans are going to be the last things that get paid off because you're going to list your debts smallest to largest and attack

them in that order we're going to get on a detailed written budget which you're not doing yet when you start doing that you'll feel like you got a raise but still you're going to find that 43 000 with a family of three in philadelphia with the bills you've got you're treading water you're not going to make big jumping leaps ahead so the only way to fix that that i can see is an income and that's that's her working i'm sorry she's going to be working and you working uh you know let's just pretend you took your 32 or 35 000 day job in your career and that's leading you to a 60 or an 80 000 job over the next three to five years and you drive uber at nights and weekends or deliver pizzas or whatever you're going to do and you just put you know you put all of that together and you then are making more than 43

total and she goes and makes 40 see we get you up to 100 there it starts changing this whole equation i'm not saying you have to have 100 it's's not the magic number. You can do it on 70. You can do it on 80. But I agree with you. I don't think you're doing anything irresponsible or crazy or you're not spending like you're just some kind of spoiled princess or something. That's not going on here. You don't have wiggle room in your budget. Much. So, write it all out. get on every dollar.com hold on i'm going to send you a copy of the book the total money makeover it will show you exactly what to do

as you get your income up but just listening to you i think you're doing a pretty decent job with what you got but what we need is you know more wood to throw on the fire here. That's what it amounts to. And again, you start looking out there long term, three, five, ten years. What steps have I got to take to increase my income substantially over that period of time? And part-time jobs in the meantime. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know, statistically, when it comes to life insurance and protecting your family,

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lower for women, which is why I send you to Zander Insurance. They shop the top term life companies to find the lowest rates available. You can compare rates online at zander.com or call 800-356-4282. This is something every family has to deal with. That's Zander.com or 800-356-4282. Thanks for hanging out with us, America. Kristen is in Tampa, Florida. Hi, Kristen. How are you? Hi, good.

How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, me and my husband have been doing Dave-ish for probably about six years. We've made some progress, but I still feel like we're kind of not on the same page. I've done financial peace, the home study. We do every dollar, but we make very good money and we're still 155K in the hole. I think we're going to go ahead and do financial peace, a live course together. He agreed to do that. But I just don't, I'm to the point where I've started to reinvest into my retirement because I'm scared that we won't have enough debt.

Okay. How can I help? Is it okay for me to be putting into my retirement at this point? Well, you're an adult.'s certainly legal um yeah you know if you're asking me is that what i teach you know what i teach right and you know that's not it how do i get my husband's on board but he's very passive about it he's not active about it um i've tried doing the cash flow system where i take out money for groceries but then for example like last week you need to you need to sit down with him with candles lit and the kids in bed and the tv off and tell him he needs to man up that you're tired of living with

a dead fish how's that sound that sounds sounds brutal, doesn't it? You just told me your husband was passive. That's like the worst possible thing you can say about a guy. A passive man. Ew, gross. Oh. Ew. No, I mean.

Yeah, I mean. Yeah, I mean. All right, kiddo. You guys have got to sit down and decide. Here's the thing. He is passionate about some things. He's passionate about you. That's how you got married, or at least at one time he was. How long have you been married?

Ten years. Okay. What does he love to do more than anything what's his favorite sport he he had a back injury and um that kind of also kind of put us in a hole so what does he love to do what's his passion his kids okay our kids okay so he's not a dispassionate person. No. He just is not passionate about this subject. Yes. Okay. He kind of just says, okay, I agree with whatever.

Yeah. And so what you've got to do is tell him, guys are thick. We don't do subtlety. You have to come right straight at us. It's the only way we hear you. And so you need to take his two hands in your hands and say, it's not okay that you're not involved in this i need you to be my man i need you to walk with me and the two of us carry this together with some enthusiasm you standing on the sidelines

like a wet dish rag and saying whatever you want to do honey be the only adult in the house is not okay with me anymore. I'm done with this. It's time that we go to this class together. It's time that we both get on this horse and we both kick this horse until it runs. And when you say that to a guy straight in his face, he will hear you because he loves you, he loves those kids. And he's not a dispassionate person.

He just isn't real enthused about this particular subject. But when you tell him how important it is to you and it's important to the family that he carry his part of this family, he will do it. He just needs some instruction and some real direct requests from you. My wife passively saying, I wish the garbage would carry itself out, doesn't work. She looks at me and says, if you carry out the garbage, that would be really sexy. The garbage is on the curb. Well, I mean, he works two jobs, and he's doing that to put up a head. That's not what you said, though.

It's not about his work ethic. It's about whether or not he's committed to make this family's finances go ahead and get out of debt and build some wealth and get some stability. And he's just passive about that. He wants you to do all the work. And you don't want to do all the work by yourself anymore. You're tired of that, and you need to say so. Okay.

He's not a bad guy. I was picking on him earlier, just making fun of you, okay? Okay. He's not a bad guy. He's a good guy. But guys are thick. You have to just tell us stuff we don't do subtlety you just have to say it like it is i this is what i need you to do these three things when you do these three things you're sexy when you don't do these three things you are not

sexy guys get that guys get that we're not we're not we're pretty simple machines. Okay. So you're going to go to this class, you're going to smile, and you're going to help me with this. And you're going to stick to the budget that we work together. As a matter of fact, you could actually lead in this whole equation. And wow, I would be so impressed with you were you to actually lead in this equation instead of having me be the only adult in the neighborhood. I don't want to be that anymore. And it's not because he's not an adult. It's just because you've got to let him know he's not carrying his half of this,

and you are now demanding that he does, not as a witch. I hope he's listening. Not as a witch, because you're not a witch, and not as a nag, because you're not a nag. You're just communicating clearly what your feelings are. And I think I'm reading your mail, am I? Yes. Okay.

All right. So you guys go to Financial Peace University Live, no more ish. Yeah. And there's no shortcuts. You can't drive around the barn three times. You've got to go through the barn. Submit to the plan. This is how you get out of debt.

Why? So that we can build wealth and send our kids to college why so we can have a good life and be generous why because this is how it works the other crap doesn't work it's frustrating it's stressful you worry you you think about retirement you think about kids you think about student loan debt 20 20 years from now that they're going to be paying you think about all these things i Yeah, because I think about money too much. Yeah, when you don't have a plan, it's called worry. Yes.

And you need a plan and be executing towards the plan, and then the worry goes away. And you can get there. You can do it. You can do this. So, yeah, go to the Financial Peace University class. You got it already scheduled, it sounds like. Do that.

But have some real clear communication with him that you need him to carry his part of this equation as part of this marriage. I want you to be passionate about this for the good of our family. Budgeting is sexy. That's the message. That's what you say.

It works. It works. It works. It's not manipulative. It's just clear communication. And both of you then have to stick to it. Because once you get him going, he's going to call you out when you start screwing around, too. I mean, when you start messing around on this, you start, I'm going to go out to eat. He's going, no, no, we're on a plan now. You put me on a plan, we're on a plan, we're not going out to eat.

He's going to be calling you out. So be careful what you wish for. But no more ish. Ish doesn't work. And it's not Dave-ish. It's submit yourself to a proven system. And when you do that, you'll get the results. Good question.

It was fun talking to you. Thanks for calling in. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Stephen's with us in Seattle. Hi, Stephen. How are you? I'm doing pretty good, Dave. How are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up? So my question is about how should I break up my income with regard to saving for a house and saving for retirement? And so over the past several years, when I left school, I wasn't really saving for my retirement. I had a little bit of debt, but about a year or so after I started listening to you, I got rid of all my debt. Good. How old are you?

And I've been hammering. I'm 28. Okay. And you got your emergency fund in place of three to six months of expenses? Yes. Okay. So you're at baby step three. Now then we move to four, which is 15% of your income going into retirement, or sometimes people postpone that a little bit and save very aggressively for a house before they start saving for retirement, in your case, restarting retirement, and we call that baby step 3B, or sometimes they don't put a whole 15% in because they want to

aggressively save for the house. So you're right at the position to do that. So just sit down and say, okay, we're going to completely focus this money or we're going to partially focus this money on building our down payment. And then that will show you exactly what to do. And you can run some quick math on that.

I can save $2,000 a month a year. It's $24,000 income. Or $24,000 down payment, rather. If I can save $3,000, I'm going to have $36,000 a year. What are you going to have in a year? Two years. You don't want to go out five years. But if it takes you a year or two to save up your down payment, you're 28, and then you start your retirement, you'll be fine. Are high health care costs getting you down?

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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. C-H Ministries dot org. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Jared and Antonia are with us. Hey guys, how are you? Hi Dave, how are you doing?

Great Dave, living the dream. Love it man, welcome. Good to have you guys. Where do you live? We live in Boston. In Boston? Boston, Massachusetts. Wow, bit of a haul to Nashville. We actually drove down from Alpena, Michigan. Okay, visiting family there and then made the trip, huh?

Yep, visiting family. Good. Hello to all the Kaisers out in Alpena, Michigan. Love it. So here to do a debt-free scream. Yep. And how much did you pay off? We paid off $26,333 in five months and 14 days.

Got it. Very quick. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? $98,000 to about $105,000. That's what we netted. That's what we've seen in our wallet. Cool. What do you guys do for a living? I am a teacher assistant. And I'm also a special education teacher.

Okay. Great. What kind of debt was the $26,000? That was my student loan. Uh-oh. Okay. There we go. Not Antonio of debt was the $26,000? That was my student loan. Uh-oh. Okay, there we go. Not Antonio, it was you. Yep. I love it. Okay.

That's it. Good, good. So how long have you guys been married? Nine years. Nine years. So what happened five months ago that lit you guys on fire? I mean, this is a journey you did here. Well, last year we went, I think it was driving back to Michigan, we went.

My wife's always like, she's kind of passive, you know, because I was like, I'm the big Dave Ramsey fan. So she's like, well, when are we going to start saving for a house? I'm like, well, when we're out of debt. She's like, well, that's what you said two years ago. So I'm like, well. She's like, let's sit down and because like you know when my first my oldest son was born uh not about he's nine now so you know we had about 128 000 in debt so we so i did the day of light plan for about eight years and then um so last year we had 26 grand left she's like man this is not happening right

is that what you thought and so and so so we sat down and uh you know we got on uh this that this great uh app maybe you've heard of every dollar um yeah you heard of that so we went on there and that is amazing. Truly amazing. Okay, so you weren't making progress. And during this trip, we had a quote, end quotes, finger quotes, air quotes discussion. And then we said, okay, we're going to get fired up about this and get this knocked out because I want a house. Yep, and I want to move to Michigan this way. Oh, you're going to move from Boston to Michigan.

Is that where your family is? His family. His family. I'm from Guatemala. Okay, cool. Very good. Good deal. Okay, so what's the key to getting out of debt?

You paid off $26,000 in five months. I can tell you the key. All right, I'm going to tell everyone who isn't doing this right, because I did it wrong for a long time. So if you want to get out of debt, you've got to go on every dollar. We get paid every two weeks, so you make your budget.

We just did, you know, we put both our incomes on the top, and that just, that literally shows you every penny where it's going to go. So at the end of the, so we did that, and then you got all your categories so like all right so we're going to do the envelope system so we circle everything that you got to take out every

two weeks so that is let me see my notes so we took out our rent took out our gas money took out her subway pass to get to work we took out our groceries for two weeks and we took out her subway pass to get to work. We took out our groceries for two weeks. And we took out our blow money. And that's important. You've got to give yourself blow money or else you're not going to stay very motivated every two weeks. You don't have a little money. So that was motivating. Like, oh, man, I want to get to the blow money.

You know, get my money every two weeks. So I took these two kids that are over there to the bank after work. Okay, guys, let's go to the bank. They like doing that because there's lollipops at the bank. So we went to the bank, and I circled all the things for two weeks. I took all that money I just said out of the bank. Rent, gas, so you're coming out of the bank, you've got a big wad of money. If you don't feel nervous coming out of the bank,

you're not doing the debt snowball right, in my opinion. So you've got the handful of money to do your envelopes. So what's the key to getting out of debt? Yep. So then. The budget? Yep, the budget. You go home and you make.

We made the payment that day every two weeks because I didn't have like a payment penalty. Because when I waited until the end of the month, you know, I just kind of swiped it away. You'd spend it. Spent it away. Okay. You know. So the key is do it quick. Yep. Okay.

Do it quick. So go put all the money in the envelopes. You can't spend any money that ain't there. Made the payment 13 times in a row. Done. Done. Five months later, you're done. Absolutely.

Wow. How's it feel now that you're debt-free, Antonia? It feels great. We are able to do other things that we couldn't do before. Like save for a house and move to Michigan. Yeah. Hey! Right.

And he actually has lost like 35 pounds. Wow! Yep. Lost a little weight. There you go. You can focus on something else after you're debt-free, you know. Good for you. Congratulations.

Well done, you guys. Well, I'm very proud of you. How does it feel now that you're done? It's amazing, you know. Good. I'd really like to thank you, Dave. You're amazing. Well, you guys, I'm proud of you.

You did great. Everyone here that does that EveryDollar app, man, hats off to you guys. You're just, you know. That's really an amazing app. hats off to you guys you're just love it you know i love it that's really an amazing app and well thank you should all really pat yourselves on the back well thank you very much i'll let the guys know well done y'all great job well we got a copy of chris hogan's book for you retire inspired that's the next chapter in your story after you move to michigan by a house we're going to move you towards millionaire status next. That's the thing to do. And you brought the boys with you.

What are the boys' names? This is John. Come on over, John. How old's John? John is six. Mm-hmm. And this is Joelle. And Joelle is how old?

Joelle is nine. All right. Very good. All right. John, Joelle, Antonia, and Jared from Boston, but soon to be Michigan. $26,000 paid off in five months, making $98,000 to $105,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! We're debt-free! Wow. Very well done. And lost 35 pounds in the midst of it. You ever heard the saying, discipline begets discipline? That when you learn to control yourself, self-control, it's a powerful thing.

It's part of being a grown-up. In one area of your life, it bleeds over into other areas of your life discipline begets discipline once i really have experienced controlling myself once i've experienced my self-control then it applies to other areas of my life that That's good, man. 35 pounds. Way to go, guys. $26,000 in debt reduced. Excellent, excellent job. Folks, Entree Leadership is the summit. The big deal is our largest leadership event of the year.

It is almost sold out. We've got just a handful of tickets. It's going to be at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, April 28th through May 1st of next year. These usually sell out way in advance. Now, this is a must-tend event if you are a leader in business or you run a business, you lead a team. With over 2,500 other leaders attending, the energy in the room is incredible. Joining me this year as speakers at this event, this is the top leadership

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So you need to get in there before they're done. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Our scripture of the day, Jeremiah 29, 11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. Henry Kissinger said, The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. Ooh, that was pretty good.

Russ is with us in Dayton, Ohio. Hi, Russ. How are you? Hey, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm an avid Insight XM channel listener, and they've kind of reformatted and redid the schedule.

So I've been listening to you for about maybe four or five days now. Cool. Welcome. And I'm intrigued, to you for about maybe four or five days now. Cool. Welcome. And I'm intrigued, to say the least. Welcome. Good to have you. Thanks for hanging out. My basic question is, I'm going to give you where I'm at right now.

The next question is, if you were me, what do I do? Cool. Okay. How old are you? How old are you? I'm 41. My wife is 36. Cool. What. How old are you? How old are you? I'm 41. My wife is 36. Cool.

What do you do for a living? I'm a college professor. Awesome. What's your household income? Together, $140,000-ish, and we put all at GMAX's outer 401k, and I have the, you know, state teacher's retirement. Cool. Good for you. Okay.

Do you have any debt other than your home? Yeah. So I've got about 20-ish somewhere around there in school loans that I am on year five of ten of, you know, when I reach ten years of teaching, then I will have them forgiven, you know, whatever's the remaining balance. We've got $7,000 to $8,000 on a car, and then our mortgage, we're down to about $70,000. Good for you. Well, you're doing really well. So what happened was about 30 years ago, I went completely broke.

I started buying and selling real estate in my 20s when I first got married, and I got deeply into debt, and I had a great net worth and a great income, but a lot of debt. Bank got sold to another bank, called our notes. We spent the next two and a half years of our life losing everything we owned. So by the time I was 28, I had been a millionaire, and I was bankrupt. And I'm 58 now, by the way, okay? And so that's kind of the back story on this of how we got at this stuff

because I have a finance degree and all these other letters and licenses after my name, but our advice is not the standard fair advice, and part of it comes from our story. That's why I bring that up, because I don't ever want to go back there again. You understand that, I'm sure. Oh, absolutely. I have an engineering degree, and then I went back for my master's. I spent a good 12 years between 21 and whatever that, you know, add 12 years of that, being a complete screw-up.

Okay. Well, we're brothers then. Okay. So, anyway, we started coaching people on the best way to build wealth. And we developed that over the years in great detail and with great history and large numbers of data. Okay. So, it's not a theory. This is not textbook.

This is like 5 million people have been through our financial peace classes, as an example. Okay, and, you know, I've been doing this show almost 30 years now. I've been doing it 27 years. So a long time before we got to XM, right? But anyway, all of that to say that this is a proven system, and we teach a thing called the baby steps, and it's the order in which to attack your finances,

and it gives me the basis to answer your question. The baby steps is the first baby step is before you do anything, save $1,000 as a beginner starter emergency fund. Now, you probably have a savings account in what you've described here. How much is in your savings account, not retirement? $60,000. Okay, so you've got a good emergency fund. Okay, your $1,000.

During the first three baby steps, we temporarily stop all investing until we accomplish these foundational steps in which upon which we're going to build the rest of the house okay baby step two is to become debt-free everything but the house the reason to do that is that when you have no payments it's very it's much easier to build wealth and increase your generosity and those are are two. So you would, let me just real quick. So to short circuit, let me keep going just a second. No, no, you're fine. Baby step three is once you're out of debt, everything but your home,

we would have you build then upon your emergency fund of $1,000 up to three to six months of expenses. Those you do specifically in order, then baby steps four, five, and six we do simultaneously. Four is 15% of your income into retirement. While we start saving for college for kids, that's five. And then any other money we can squeeze out, we throw at the house and pay off the house early, baby step six. With your income, you're going to be to baby step seven, which is 100% debt free and maxing

out all retirement very quickly in your situation. So applying that to your numbers very quickly, what I would do is just pay off your car and your student loan today. Okay. You'd be debt-free with your house. It's kind of weird, but you've still got $32,000 in your emergency fund, which in your house is enough for your emergency fund. If you want to save for other purchases, you save them in a different account. Your rainy day fund is not to be touched unless it's raining. It's only for emergencies.

And you probably need about $30,000 in there, and you've got that left over after you put that free. Then you're already putting money into your retirement accounts, aren't you? Absolutely, yeah. So we wouldn't stop. I could put more. I have a different, you know, I aren't you? Absolutely, yeah. So we wouldn't stop. I could put more. I have a different, you know, I don't remember the number, but I can put another 20% into a different thing that is offered in Ohio for teachers.

Well, I might do that, or I might do just Roth IRAs and good growth stock mutual funds. But I want you to put 15% of your household income total into all your retirement programs, no more until you get your house paid off and your kid's college going. I don't want to put 30% in. Sure. We don't have kids. We joke and say that we have vacations. Gotcha.

That's good. Okay. So we can skip baby step five. So I want you to put no more than 15% of your income, 15%,.15 times 140, okay? Sure. And so, you know, we're talking about $22,000, okay, into retirement. No more than that, and throw everything else at this little dinky mortgage you got. You got a small mortgage.

And, you know, what's going to happen is in about four years, your house is going to be paid for. Three years, your house is going to be paid for three years your house is going to be paid for and then you got no payments in the world now you got nothing to do but build wealth live and be generous and lots of vacations oh absolutely now i do have a very specific question okay i i'm driving a car that is affectionately, we call it the moonshot, because it just now went to 250,000 miles, which is about the approximate distance to the moon. Gotcha. And I drive 1,500 miles a week for work. I'm looking at trying to upgrade to get better gas mileage.

Yeah. And would it be better to pay off the car,, I'm sorry, buy a car outright versus maybe paying off the mortgage or versus if I can get a... Once we're out of debt, we're never going to borrow again. Okay. So you're going to save up and pay cash for this car. Okay. Even if I could get like a 0% for 60 or something like that. We're never borrowing money again.

Okay. It's a real clean way of living. It's very simple. It's no stress. There's no risk. No matter what happens in the economy, you've got all of your income to build wealth and live and give. You can enjoy it.

You can build wealth. You can live and give. There's only three things you can do with money. Spend it, give it, and save it. And you ought to be doing all three. But you can do more of all ofend it, give it, and save it. And you ought to be doing all three. But you can do more of all of that when you don't owe a dime. Quit playing all of these corporations' games where they make money on you.

The only 0% interest are on new cars. New cars lose 60% of their value to 70% of their value in the first four years. You shouldn't buy a brand-new car until you're debt-free. You do need to move up in car. I agree with you. But you pay cash for a one- or until you're debt free. You do need to move up in car. I agree with you. But you pay cash for a one or a two-year-old car. Whatever you're driving, you're destroying its value with that miles anyway. Oh, absolutely.

You're running miles like crazy. So you don't want to destroy a good car's value. You want to destroy a medium, reliable car's value. Hey, hold on. I'm going to have Kelly send you a copy of the book, The Total Money Makeover, that describes all this to celebrate you being a new listener. I'm going to have Kelly send you a copy of the book, The Total Money Makeover, that describes all this to celebrate you being a new listener. We're honored to have you, sir. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books.

We will be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there is ultimately one way to financial peace. That's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's Blake, Chief Production Officer for the show, and here's a little tip for 2018. Go download our revamped Dave Ramsey Show app from the App Store. We're always listening to your feedback and adding new features to make it even better. Check it out.