The Ramsey Show - App - Escape the Gravitational Pull of Stupid (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 4, 2024

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Ken Coleman, number one best-selling author of the book Paycheck to Purpose, host of The Ken Coleman Show, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us, America. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Clayton is in Little Rock, Arkansas. Hey, Clayton, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, sir. How are you guys? Better than we deserve, brother. What's up? Awesome, man. Well, you know, first of all, I just want to say it really is an honor to speak to you guys. I'm a huge fan of the show.

I've watched countless YouTube clips, et cetera, and I think you guys are out there changing lives. So I want to start off with that. Well, thank you, sir. How can we help you today? Absolutely. Well, you know, I'll kind of start from a broad overview and I'll kind of break it down if that's okay with you. Um, just, you know, my, my broad overview question, Dave, um, is really just how not to get discouraged in the wealth building process. Um, I'll give you some

background information. I'm 27 years old. My wife is 30. We have a combined net worth of around probably $200,000 or so. It's right there on my number. Thank you. I make about $58,000, $60,000 on my primary job. I do a side hustle. In total, I make around $80,000 to $90,000 depending on the year. And my wife makes around 72. The only thing that we owe on is our home. We both have MBA degrees. We have no consumer debt, no car loans, anything like that. My home is currently worth probably around $300,000, and I owe about $195,000. We have two kids. And overall, life is good. You know, we're still in the process of trying to button everything up. We're investing 10% right now. I know I need to get that number to 15. My home's on a 15-year note. We're trying to get our kids college, you know, all that situated. So there's nothing really on fire, per se, but in general, I really do believe what you

guys teach. And I believe, you know, we, we, we give 10% of our income to the church. I mean, I'm a really big believer in living within your means. I'm not saying we're perfect by any means. You've done a great job, Clayton. I mean, your numbers are amazing for your age. Way to go. You make $160,000 a year. You have no debt except your house everything's on track you're killing it right right well man you know i i i i really do believe it and i appreciate it but at the same time um like i i think long term right like i'm yeah but have you done the math like that huh have you done the math right right, right, yeah. I mean, if you save 15% of $160,000, that's going to be a million dollars in 10 years, dude. Right, right. And that's with no match.

Have you got a match? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Do the math. Right, right. Well, you know, man, it just. Did you do the math? No.

Yes, sir, I did, yes. Okay, then did you see 10 years you're going to be a millionaire at 37 years old? Yes, sir, yes, sir. So why was that discouraging? You know, I don't know, man. I look at life, right, and I know comparisons are a piece of joy, and I try not to go there in my head. Comparison to what? If anything you you compare to you should be ahead of right right right well

you know it is i it's okay if i give you some background some more background information is that okay i'm trying to understand it's okay i'm trying to understand why you're discouraged there's no reason to be i'm i'm really confused with that because dude you're in the top two percent of america you're killing it top 2% of America. You're killing it. I just think like long-term, Dave, I think when I just see how everything is so expensive. And even when I pay off my home and I have all my retirement accounts, et cetera, I just, you know, I'm trying to really set my family up. So like in 10 years, my daughter will be 13, right? And I'm trying to almost get ahead of the game where I can make sure we can go on big

vacations, you know, take care of her college. And I realized, okay, I'll be a millionaire, but I just, it feels like everything's so expensive and it's such a long process. And I realize that wealth isn't obtained easy. I'm not trying to say that. It is a long process. Ten years is a lot longer than ten minutes. And most people have the attention span of a gnat. That's why they're not able to build wealth. I've been listening, Clayton, and I've been where you are.

I actually hear me ten years ago on this phone call. So I just want to say this, your issue is not comparison. Your issue is fear and you're afraid you're not going to be able to do the things that you would like to do because you're too stuck in the headlines. And what you're not focusing on is, as Dave has pointed out, you're crushing it. Number one, you're really ahead of the game. This is all going to compound for you, and you're going to be fine. You're going to take some great vacations. But what you're not focused on is what you can actually do. You're focused on all these outside circumstances, the economy, inflation, whatever else is going on in your head.

You do need to quit watching the news. Yeah. You need to start focusing on your income and what you're going to make next year and the year after that and how you're going to be able to make more money and that you can go out and determine your financial future. You're already great, but you're forgetting all this headline stuff and all this fear and comparison. Here's what you're forgetting. Your ability, your wife's ability to put a financial plan that includes increasing income. And you're going to be able to pay for all those things. Yeah, your income's not going to be stagnant for the next 10 years. Absolutely.

I don't know if that helps you, Clayton, but you've got to shake all that stuff off. You're inside your head so deep. And or here's the thing. The secret to happiness is low expectations, and I'm a little bit afraid you thought when you made 160 000 you were going to be rich that's a very good point and you're not rich at 160 000 with two kids there's no it's no it's no cake you thought it was going to be on easy street like everything's gonna like you're going to be flying in a private jet or something and you know it's 160 grand you're not so you got a lot more you got double the household income of the average american you're not so you got a lot more you got double

the household income of the average american you're in the top one or two percent of the average americans your age with where you are with no debt and already having a positive net worth of a couple hundred thousand dollars you are killing it and you actually are paying attention which puts you way above almost everyone who walk around with their heads stuck in the fog and um that was kind i thought that was very yeah i did that i did that for radio did you hear that yeah and um yeah i mean that that's you're incredible you're doing great you're doing great calm down enjoy the ride buddy you really i can't i can't tell you enough to do this over and over and over again enjoy the ride i want to say one other quick encouragement because dave i think you're

absolutely right i just want to echo what dave said we have with all young generations and throughout history but even more so now because we're in the social media era god help us i know unrealistic expectations lead to unmet expectations. I can't say that enough. I wish I could preach that message to every young person in the world because here's the deal. You nailed it. They think when they get to six figures,

I thought you were talking about my golf game and your golf game. Oh, yeah. Unrealistic expectations equal unmet expectations. No, my golf game is in the last category, just unmet, period. It doesn't matter how. That's what it is. Isn't that true? Because here's the thing.

When you make $100,000 a year, you thought it was going to be easy. And when you make a million dollars a year, you thought it was going to be easy. It don't get easy. It just gets better than if you don't pay attention. That's all it does. This is the Ramsey show Ken Coleman Ramsey personality is my co-host today thank you for being with us Chaz is with us in San Antonio Texas hi Chaz how are you I'm doing pretty good my question is about what is the best route I could take to become an airline pilot.

And if you'll allow me, here's some quick details about my situation. So I am in my freshman year of engineering college, and my plan is to get a four-year mechanical engineering degree that my parents are willing to pay for. And with that degree, I'll get a job and then pay for flight school with my own money without going into debt. And then on top of that, I will have a engineering degree to fall back on in the case that I can't fly in the future for whatever reason. However, I'm starting to rethink this plan because I'm sure you've heard there's a massive pilot shortage right now. And I think it might be a good opportunity for me to skip college and go straight into the airlines.

And I would get lots of benefits going in immediately. I would be in a hot job market, and I would also start my aviation career earlier, which would get me something called seniority, which is very, very important in the airlines. It's basically the pilot who's been there the longest has the most job security, the best pay, and they're just in a really good position. Chaz, a couple things. Number one, you can't just go into being a pilot. You're still going to have to fork out a lot of money for the training. But I've got a better solution for you. And this is not my opinion. This is from a guy who is one of the top pilots for FedEx, flies all around the world, flies their jumbo jets, met him over the holidays, had coffee with him.

Here's what he said. I asked him, what would you say to somebody who asked this question? Because I get this question a lot. He said, and this is a guy who was a Navy pilot, he said, I would have a young person go into the military and you're going to get paid for the training and there's no debt and they're going to train you as a pilot. And you're going to have the hours. You're going to have the hours. You get everything paid for. And they pay you. They pay you and you come out of the military and now you're qualified and ready to go. So skipping college, if you wanted to fast forward, then go right into the military. But if my mom and dad are going to pay for a mechanical engineering degree, and that was a fallback plan, that's not a bad plan, and then go into the military out of school.

So I would say those are the two best options. If I were you, based on what I know, that's what I would do. Okay. One thing I can tell you is it may be wrong information, but I'm pretty sure it's correct. I talked to an airline pilot that lives in my neighborhood and he told me not to go to the military route because they can get you all the hours that you need, but they can't actually get you the ratings that you need for the airlines, which is something that you're going to have to get yourself, which will still cost money. And my parents are willing to help me pay for the fast-track school to the airline partially. Okay, well, that's new information. Your friend is correct, your neighbor's correct,

but still you're advancing yourself in the military without having to come out of pocket. But if mom and dad are willing to pay cash, not go into debt for the training, then that's an option. So, Chaz, if you fast-track with them, you go to fast-track school, what's that cost? How long does it take? Since I already have my private pilot's license, it would cost $80,000,

and my parents would pay for that partially. I'm assuming about half, maybe a little bit less than that. And how long does it take? It would take nine months, and I could get into the airlines very soon. And one thing I would like to mention is the reason I would want to do this is to get into the market immediately because the pilot shortage is right now. Sure. But who's paying for the other 40?

If mom and dad are paying about half. Oh, me, I would be going into that $40,000 a day. Okay. But that's not what you said earlier. So this is now, now the story's changing.

It was mom and dad can pay for the flight in fast track. Well, they can't, they can only pay half. I said, um, partially, partially, not okay i

would be going into debt yes sir well we would not recommend that you go into debt for this when you don't have to and here's the thing when you come out with a four-year degree in mechanical engineering we're talking about 90 to 100 000 a year exactly when you come out of 80 000 worth of flight school you're flying american eagle for 35 000 a year yeah um you know you know i don't give a crap about the pilot shortage honey they ain't putting you in a 727 when you're 19 freaking years old and you just come out of school and wet behind the ears they don't do that yeah okay the guys in the big jets are old and they don't put the boys in there. They put the little boys in the American Eagle, little Canadian jets.

I fly with them. I see what they're doing. I got socks older than these guys that are flying these things and they don't pay them anything. So you need to check your facts on actual entry on what you do get paid coming in because you're going to fly a regional at best prop or jet and um and you don't make any money at the start even if there is a pilot shortage yeah uh the pilot shortage is a shortage on the top end stuff not people getting paid no money doing and if you go the military route you can save up the money for your instrumentation and all that not to mention i i wish i knew this i'll know this next time uh but i also wonder if the gi bill does not maybe go towards that certification

and that education as well i would tend to believe it does but i'm not 100 sure i think it probably would i think it would i'm just not 100 sure so therefore no debt chas let me just tell you working with doing what i'm doing for 30 years, pilots are, it's a different thing that activates in people when they decide they want to be a pilot. Flying an aircraft, you've got your private, you know this, is addictive. And you guys, you lose your minds in order to get to fly an airplane. You're willing to jump through and do anything just to get to fly an airplane because it's just so stinking much fun and you know people do ridiculous things so don't trade a hundred thousand dollar job for a thirty five thousand dollar job and forty thousand dollars worth of

debt uh don't don't make that trade yes i please don't just because of this so uh people get there's something about the pilot thing that people they they it's all the only other one is like becoming a chiropractor they spend two hundred thousand dollars to do that you spend the same two hundred thousand dollars you'd have been an md right you know and instead you're making forty five fifty thousand dollars a year as a chiropractor and it makes no sense at all but they get their head gets all foggy with the the process of doing it or whatever i don't know i don't know what it is it's different well they justify it's different than other careers yeah well i just it's a good career it's a good i'm gonna make good money so we justify it

and again i there's not good money on the start there's not it's not good money there's not there's not at all because there's a blind of these guys that are addicted to flying yeah so yeah there is a pilot shortage but it's a certain kind of pilot, and it's not entry level. I wish you could have heard this guy, Dave. He was a Navy pilot straight out of Annapolis, Navy pilot for 20 years, flew combat missions, and now he's flying the biggest jet FedEx has. And he was like, tell people, tell young people they have a great career

if they go the military route and they're not going to go into debt and they're going to be able to pay for it. He was very emphatic about it. Well, yeah. You fly with a pilot and you know they're military, you can tell when they land. That's right. They're not worried about soft. Right, that is true. They put them down.

Yeah, that guy, he was Navy, that guy yeah that was air force yeah yeah oh this guy he didn't fly he didn't fly he didn't fly luxury charters i don't think right right well they land on an aircraft carrier i guess yeah unbelievable talking about that in the middle of the ocean chas go live your dream buddy but don't turn it into a nightmare that's all we're saying great so if you were my son i would tell you to finish your mechanical engineering degree and then work on your pilot stuff, and I would consider the military route. If you're my son, that's what I'd tell you to do. So that's the summation of the call.

We appreciate you calling in. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Started a long time ago when people started saying, live your dream, live your dream, live your dream, Ken, and people will then justify that and turn their dreams into a nightmare if they're not real careful. So true, and it happens all the time.

It's the trap, and the trap is this. I want it now. And I've never seen a dream that was worthy that you got now or that you got fast. Change your mindset on that, and then you'll be able to avoid the temptation. Philosophy 101, Ken Coleman. This is the Ramsey Show.

Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. All right, I got a question for you folks out there. How long does it take you to pay off a credit card that has a $5,000 balance with an APR of 16%, which in the credit card world is a good deal, if you pay $100 a month minimum payment, which is the average requirement on that. $5,000, 16%, $100 minimum payment. Answer. Six years and 11 months and you pay $3,200 in interest on the $5,000 while you do it can anyone spell stupid in math I just did that's stupid in math spell i just spelled stupid for you in math

it's pretty good seriously and yet we all walk around well i get airline miles oh my god you're so stupid discover gives me a dollar back for every hundred dollars i spend oh my god you're stupid i've never met a millionaire that said dave you know i made all my money with my airline miles it doesn't come up man it just doesn't come up the problem is you get stuck in the cycle of this stuff and it's so freaking hopeless like the student loans they're hopeless it's like a pile of mount everest of debt and i don't know how i'm going to climb it. I'm stuck in a cycle of debt. I'm stuck in a cycle of stupid financial stuff that's out there.

And did you know that stupid has a gravitational pull and you can't break loose from it? It'll hold you into the orbit. You just keep orbiting around and around and around stupid. You know how you break an orbit? Massive energy. You have to expend massive energy to break an orbit so if you're stuck in the cycle you can kick the year off we're hosting a free live stream one week from today on thursday january the 11th at at seven central it's our officially our largest

live stream over ever over 250 000 people have already signed up to watch it it's completely free it's called break the cycle break the cycle break the orbit off of stupid you are not stuck your family curse is not your problem the neighborhood you grew up in is not your problem you need some more information and some more inspiration, and we can show you how to break the cycle. We've done it for millions of people. So me, Rachel Cruz, George Camel, Jade Warshaw, Dr. John Deloney, we're going to be doing break the cycle, talking about navigating the money anxiety, bad money habits that keep you stuck, practical money tips that actually work how to break the

cycle because you're stuck and we're going to give away a thousand dollars ten times ten thousand dollars to people that are viewing there is no purchase necessary but you must be a viewer not having just signed up to watch and so we want want you to watch. We want to help you. We want to change your life. We want to give you the information and the inspiration. It's called Hope. Break the cycle. So what do we do?

We go to ramseysolutions.com slash break the cycle, and you sign up for the free live stream. It's going to be 7 o'clock Central Time thursday january the 11th and i'm guessing at this stage of the game we're probably going to have close to 400 000 people maybe even 500 viewing so thank you thank you for your response already and thank you for those of you that are going to respond after i just did this because you are not stuck but i will promise you i've been there stupid as a gravitational pull and if you continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result that's the definition

of insanity you have if you don't like the cake change the recipe i don't like chocolate cake quit using that recipe and then scratching your head while you're getting chocolate cake that's how it works you got to change something if you want something to change, and we're going to show you how, baby. We love you enough to coach you. We love you enough to encourage you. We even love you enough to get up in your face because we want you to win, and we've proven it 30 years of doing this.

So come join us, ramsaysolutions.com slash break the cycle. Matt is in Knoxville. Hey, Matt, how are you? Hey, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. I just had a quick baby step question with my own variables thrown in, if you don't mind. Sure.

So I have these two credit cards. One is at $2,200. One is at $6,800. I make $56,000 a year. It usually comes out in my check about $3,500. When bills are all said and done, I've got about girlfriend in medical school, and I'm looking to buy her a ring. And one thing I did last year was I maxed the match with my retirement at 7%, I think. So my retirement got up to like nine grand. And obviously with this credit card debt, I'm thinking I couldn't have afforded to do that. So I took that down to 3% into my retirement to have the extra money to go to the ring and whatnot in my credit card debt. And so I'm just kind of curious in my situation. I'm also looking to gain income.

I got some side hustles in the works to gain income and get a new job too. You're 25? Yeah, I turned 26, so that's the other thing. I'm diabetic, so I i'm gonna have to pay for my own insurance and uh not cheap wouldn't you're diabetic juvenile diabetes or adult uh type yeah juvenile okay all right man okay um so what do you do for a living? Fundraising. Okay. All right. So you're doing what most people do, and we discovered a long time ago doesn't work, and that's trying to do six things at once and none of them get done.

Right. You're getting no traction nowhere. Everything's half-assed. Follow me? Yes, sir. Yeah. So what I'm going to change is just tell you to get totally focused on one thing first. Do you have any money saved?

500 bucks. When are you going to pop the question? Six months. You're going to wait six months to pop the question? You said don't wait? I said are you going to wait six months to pop the question did i understand you right that's a long time that's the longest that's the longest i'll wait okay all right so well we need a game plan here to lay out to save for this all right so here's what i would tell

you to do i would stop all saving okay stop everything all right did you get a tax refund last year uh my taxes were screwed up. I have to redo it this year. Okay. So you don't know. Cause I don't think you're taking home enough. I don't know if the 3,500 was after $9,000 coming out. If it was after $9,000 coming out, then that's about right. But if it's not, then there's something else wrong. But anyway, so I want to take all we can home without creating a tax problem, and I want to stop all 401K temporarily and focus on the first goal is get $1,000 saved. Okay. The second goal is pay off the $2,200 credit card and cut them both up tonight, by the way.

Okay. Plastic surgery. No screwing around with those things anymore. They bit you in the butt, and you need to throw them out the front door. Right. All right. Now, the $2,200 is gone. Then I want you to save for a ring.

How much are you going to spend on the ring? About $2,000. Okay. So if I'm understanding right, I need $500 to finish my $1,000. I need $2,200 plus $2,000. So I need $5,000 to get the credit card paid off the ring and have my first $1,000 saved, right? Right. Okay. You right now have $800 in your sort of budget, but your sort of budget sucks. So you're going to do a real budget where

you make every dollar behave. Every dollar is going to scream. I'm going to give you an app called EveryDollar. It's the world's best budgeting app. And I'm going to put you into Financial Peace University, our nine-week class on how to budgeting app, and I'm going to put you into Financial Peace University, our nine-week class on how to handle money, and I'm going to pay for it. You're a hero. No, you're going to be the hero. You're going to go do this crap, because what you're going to do is hard. You're not going out to eat. You're not

going on vacation. You're going to take the side hustle, and you're going to have five grand done in two months. Two months, man. Yes, sir. One credit card down, ring bought, and $1,000 in the bank. And then once the ring's bought, we go back to the debt snowball and knock that other credit card out, and we're game on, and I'll show you how to do the rest of it in Financial

Peace University. It's called the Baby Steps. You're going to win. You're just the guy we work. You're the guy why I'm here. I love where you are. You're a great guy. You just need somebody to show you. You're the guy why I'm here. I love where you are. You're a great guy. You just need somebody to show you how to do it, and I'm the guy.

Hold on. Austin's going to pick up. We'll put you in the financial piece and get you in the EveryDollar app. My gift. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. The Ramsey Show Question of the Day is brought to you by Neighborly, your hub for home services. From repairs and maintenance to home improvement projects, winter brings some challenges for homeowners. You need to check out Neighborly's helpful winter checklist, which you can download for free.

Check it out at Neighborly.com slash Ramsey. It's an incredible company, Neighborly.com slash Ramsey. It's an incredible company, neighborly.com slash Ramsey. Today's question comes from Kelly in Ohio. I'm 23 and about a year out of ministry school with no school debt since I work four jobs and cash flowed everything, so I'm totally debt-free. Way to go, Kelly. I work at a professional screen printing and embroidery shop, and volunteer for ministry, making $20 an hour. I work 45 hours a week at the shop, and after taxes, I'm at about $36,000

a year. This is the most I've ever made, but when I listen to the show, I'm often confused at what y'all say is a good income. To me, this is good income since I'm able to save $1,100 a month towards a down payment on a house. What are your thoughts? Do I need to be worried about getting another job, or is it about how I'm budgeting? All right, a lot of questions here. First thing that comes to mind is why do we go to ministry school? You know, if we go to ministry school and we've changed our mind, fine with that, but if we went to ministry school to be in the ministry, I'd want to know what the path is to ministry, and then once you get into ministry, it depends on what you're doing, because people

don't go into ministry to make money, at least the people that are actually about ministry. So the question about good income, I think it's a tad bit relative. But if you look at the income scale in the United States, $36,000 is obviously on the low side. But I love your discipline, that you actually have a budget, and that on that income, because you have no debt and you're living on less than you make, you know, look, you're saving some pretty good money there. So I don't think you need to be worried about getting another job, no. But the answer to that is, what job do I go to next? Because I doubt that you want to be in the screen printing and embroidery business for the rest of your life. So if I was sitting with you,

I'd say, what's our long-term plan? Or what are a couple options that we are considering for the long term? And what I'm talking about there are destinations. And once we have an idea on some destinations, we can start to choose direction. Direction is always more important than destination because the destination tends to change, but direction will get us going and making progress. So you're doing a great job on budgeting. And as you increase your income with the way you budget, the more you save, the more you can invest. Yeah, that's the proper answer to your question. Also hidden in your question was, you didn't like it that we said $36,000 wasn't a good income. Good income is not a moral statement. Right. Good income is relative to the average household income in America, which is $78,000 right now. And so if you make $36,000 as a single person just out of school,

you are considerably less than the average which would also make up the average and that's okay it's not the end of the world it's not a you're not a bad person you're not a horrible income earner you're not lazy none of those are judgments that are when we say good income all we're saying is relative to the average, yours is low. But somebody's got to make up the average. So the question is, do you want it to be you? And so, you know, you start thinking about where you want to be in 10 years. If you're just out of school, let's call you 23. What do you want the 33-year-old version of you to look like?

Detail it out. Ken just told you to determine the direction direction the destination and then let's move towards that rather than landing and being satisfied and say well i got margins so i call this a good income even if you all don't well our portion is not that you can't live on it i think you're doing a great job you're amazing you're doing a great job with your budgeting but your income is below average that's another way of saying it it's exactly rather than saying a good income but so when someone calls us and says they make you know 160 000 that's double the national average and so that by definition is a good income it's above average way above average

and so these days when you make six figures you're above average the old days when you made six figures you were called rich but nowadays you just can buy alpo but you know it's there you go but that that's the thing i mean so you know because alpo have you seen the prices no i'm kidding but so the thing is kelly that you are doing a good job, and you're not spiritually or psychologically wrong to be satisfied right now with where you are. However, as a person that tells you, you know, we want to be anything that's not growing is dying. So let's be something that's growing. Let's be aiming at something and have a destination. Dustin's in Kansas City.

Hi, Dustin. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How's it going? Better than I deserve, man. Dustin's in Kansas City. Hi, Dustin. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How's it going? Better than I deserve, man. What's up? Hey, I talked to you and Ken back in 2021. My income was considerably low to where I'm making now,

and I'm just trying to get some guidance on what house price is reasonable for my income and then also what my five-year plan should be. Real quick, tell us what you were making when you called us and what you're making now. So when I called you guys, I was making $46,000 and that was just my main job. Now I'm making $100,000, 60 of that being salary, 40 of it being in bonuses within the last two years. Well done, sir. And then also my side business that I've been running this year was a major, major jump, and I made $125,000 just on that alone.

That Ken Coleman guy, when you call him, he's amazing. Yeah, right. You had everything. That's amazing. Way to go, stud. Wow. Proud of you, man. A side hustle.

That's excellent. Yeah, that's great income. You have a good income. Yeah, there we said it again. By the way, not our opinion, just the stats. Yeah, and you guys are my only guidance. I'm 24 years old, so not all of you can play. Here's good advice.

So you're making a couple hundred. Yeah, this year. You know, it might not happen next year. Dang, dang. Dadgum, man. How in the world can we help you? So currently, right now, if I sold my inventory that I have, I would have $125,000. I paid cash for a car this year, which was $30,000, and then I paid cash for land that was $65,000.

Wow. So I got that all paid off. The only debt I have right now is $119,500 on my house. The house back when I called, it was a flip house. I didn't intend on living in it, but I got comfortable, and I'm still comfortable, just because my mortgage is $750,000, and that's my only debt. But me and my wife are going to look at a house tonight. It's $335,000, and, you know, going from a $750 mortgage to potentially 1500 i just it scares me so i just want to make

sure that's okay before i just jump into anything it's okay you got it dude yeah yeah you're good put it on 15 year fixed and then pay it off as fast as you can keep working the plan you've been working it's amazing when you aim at something how you hit it and you're you're a great example when you start aiming at something everything started changing and you just had a very clear vision of where you wanted to go and you've gotten there even faster than you dreamed you were going to and very impressive so um yeah put it on 15 year fixed and here's the thing you marry the house and you date the rate the rates. The rates are up over where they were three years ago. Everyone that's breathing knows that. But they're down over where they were 10 years ago.

So I don't know what the rates are going to do, but let's pretend they came down after you bought this house. You refinance. You date the rate. But you buy the house. You marry the house. So we're not buying a house that's temporary because of this real estate market and these interest rates. We're buying a house that's a good house that we're going to live in a while.

Great house. You marry the house and date the rate, and then you go ahead and get the interest rate. Make sure it's less than a fourth of your take-home pay still on a 15-year fixed, and it will be with what you're describing you've done a great job you're doing good and here's a beautiful thing too as long as you'll stay a little nervous a little nervous not anxious but a little nervous that kind of nerves is called caution and some people call it wisdom way beyond your 24 years that you're not just out spending like you're in congress trying to keep up with some moron on tiktok so yeah that that that makes you a super impressive 24 year old yeah and i dave i want you to comment on this but i tried to take myself back

to when stacy and i bought our first house and i think it was 195 000 and i thought how'd you get the dinosaurs out but but i remember like but it was based on the,000, and I thought— How'd you get the dinosaur sale? But I remember, like, but it was based on the ratios. And what we did is we went back to the ratios that you've been teaching 30 years, and we were able to afford it. You can't focus on how much the mortgage payment's going up. Focus on the fact that it's well within the ratio of what you can afford. Exactly.

And then your mind adjusts to the increase. Exactly. I think that's what helped us. Well, and the house is going to go up and your income is going to go up and you're going to be fine. Yeah. Yeah. You're going to be all right. It's all going to work out.

Way to go, man. Good job. What a stud. Man, I love it. This is The Ramsey Show. So