The Ramsey Show - App - Finding Help When Your Family is in Financial Crisis (Hour 1)

Episode Date: August 2, 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. Hi, I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show, America, because it's all about you. The phone number is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Mark is going to start off this hour in Kansas City. Hey, Mark, how are you? How are you doing, Mr. Ramsey?

Better than I deserve, sir. What's up in your world? Well, about on July 7th, I've lost my wife. Oh my gosh. And, uh, I have two children, one, uh, 13 and one nine. And, um, she has left us a great gift. Thanks to you for, um, we've read your material and, uh, she had a term life insurance policy and she has left us an awesome

gift. My question to you today is, I do have friends that have followed your plan and they are very well off and willing to help me with my money that we are receiving, but I would like to ask you what's the best way for me to invest for my children and for myself with this gift that my wife has provided us? I'm so sorry. How old was she? 44 years old. What happened? She had cancer of the stomach.

I'm sorry. That's a long battle. Only 13 weeks. Really? Well, they found it late then, huh? Yes, sir. Oh, my gosh. Wow.

And so you've got life insurance proceeds of how much? A total will be $985,000. Wow. And what is your income? About $65,000. Okay. And I assume you're still going to be earning that? Yes, sir.

Okay. Was she working outside the home before the illness? Yes. What was she earning? About $55,000. Okay. All right. home before the illness yes what was she earning about 55 okay all right and um so what is the situation with taking care of the kids now um i mean i guess they were in like after school care already and stuff right yes sir and one of them is in after school care yeah and they're after and then they're teenagers so they're fine until you get home?

Because they were fine until she got home, I guess, if she was working too, right? Yes, sir. So it's kind of the same situation for them. All right. Can you live on your income? Oh, yes. Without touching the money? Yes.

Okay. All right. Well, how long were you all married? Almost, well, we were married 16 years. Okay. Well, the advice I usually give people is this. I know if something happened to Sharon, I wouldn't be able to breathe. Well, the advice I usually give people is this. I know if something happened to Sharon, I wouldn't be able to breathe.

And you got two teens at home, too, which doubles the breath that is taken away, right? So you're a pretty cool customer on the radio right now. But, I mean, you guys have to be just reeling. Otherwise, you wouldn't be human. And, I mean, the normal thing is you have a few hours of normal and then a wave of grief hits. And then you have a few more hours of normal. And those waves get further and further apart as time goes along. Your head starts to clear. And so what I usually tell people to do is in the middle of this, I mean, this is still very, very fresh.

Try not to make big decisions. You don't need to be a financial expert 30 days after you lost your wife of 16 years with 13 weeks notice. Oh, my goodness. You know, give yourself some room to just grieve. You don't need the money today. You don't need to be an expert today. So what I tell people to do is park the money in something like a simple CD or a money market where you don't make any decisions, a basic savings account.

That is not a good long-term plan, but it'll keep you from having to make big decisions in the middle of this. And so park it for six months and cry you know and then then when you're you know because i know i couldn't think straight and i'm the money guy you know so um you know i i'm not gonna make any big decisions in the middle of a in the middle of that kind of thing and and so just let your head clear for six months. So I would do nothing for six months to a year. Okay. Okay.

And then once you've done that, I'll go ahead and lay out a game plan for you, okay, after that. But do you have any debt? We're at the end of Chapter 13 that we have, and that's just got our house on it, and then we have a car. Okay. How much do you owe on the Chapter 13 and we have, and that's just got our house on it, and then we have a car. Okay. How much do you owe on the Chapter 13 and on the car? I owe roughly about $8,000 left on the Chapter 13. I owe about $12,900 on the car.

Okay. So $20,000. And then how much do you owe on your home? Since it's been in the Chapter 13, I'm not fully aware, but I, I imagine it's gotta be under a hundred thousand. I'd say anywhere from 80 to 90. Okay. If you do want to make some moves right quick, I might write those three checks. Okay. And, uh, those are, those are moves that you're not going to regret. You're not going to go, Oh, I really screwed up. I wasn't thinking clearly by paying off my car. I mean, no.

I mean, you're not going to have that experience, right, or paying off your house. And so I would go ahead and pay off all the debts and be debt-free, and then I'd park the rest of it in a money market or a CD. And that lightens the load on the household, too. It gives you a little more wiggle room in your monthly budget, and you don't have to live so tight but just commit then to studying as you feel like it and meeting with a smart investor pro as you feel like it for the remaining whatever that is 800 grand or so and i only buy two things mark with investing rule number one of investing is don't put money in something you don't understand.

Don't do it because I said it. Don't do it because your rich friend said to do it. Don't do it because a broker said to do it. Do it because you understand. Rule number two is when you're meeting with anyone in the money world, insurance, real estate, mutual fund investing, if they have the heart of a salesman instead of the heart of a teacher, get away from them.

You need to be learning from them. And if you feel slimy after meeting with them, like you need to take a shower, move on. Okay? But sit down with a SmartVestor Pro in a few months from now and start learning about investing. You can sit down with them now, but don't do any investing now. They can help you park it in a money market if you want.

And then just start learning about mutual funds and getting comfortable with that. Again, I only buy two things. I buy real estate that I pay cash for because I've loved real estate my whole life, and I'm a landlord. I don't mind managing rental properties. I don't mind keeping my finger on the pulse of that kind of stuff. I actually kind of enjoy it. And then I buy mutual funds that you've heard me talk about.

And so that's the only two things I buy. But I wouldn't do that right now. I wouldn't feel the pressure. Next spring, if you want to start rolling some of the money out of the money market into one of those two directions or both of those directions, you can. And if you want to just kind of get the ball rolling a little bit and meet with a smart investor pro now, you can. But please don't do any investing for at least six months.

Just park the money and give yourself some emotional room to walk through this. I'm so sorry you all are facing it. What a sad deal. This is the Daveid ramsay show guys let's talk about that timeshare pitch that you fell for they promised you exclusive access to travel anywhere you want tropical beachesical beaches, mountain getaways, or whatever. Oh, my gosh. They claimed it was the affordable way to travel, and then they convinced you it was a good investment.

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It's free to talk. 844-999-EXIT. TimeshareExitTeam.com. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you are here. Rachel follows me on Twitter, at Dave Ramsey. You can do that with 800,000 others if you want. Would you think it's wise to deplete most of your emergency fund to pay off your mortgage?

Not much. I mean, if you take it from six months of emergency money down to three months of expenses, and that paid off your mortgage fine. If you got below three months, I wouldn't do it. It means you're almost there anyway. You could pay all of it but that, and then just knock the rest a little bit out. But am I going to take it down to $1,000 or $2,000? No, just wait a month or two, and you'll have the house paid off. And you don't have to do that.

Roland is with us in Joplin, Missouri. Hi, Roland. How are you? I'm doing all right, Dave. Thank you so much for talking, and thank you for sharing Common Sense. Sure. How can I help? Well, I've heard you speaking to people's lives about loved ones and if the loved ones are making bad decisions.

But I'm married to that person right now. Okay. And some of the bad decisions have kind of led us and hurt our family, led us into a bad place. We're homeless and very much behind on bills and stuff. I like to get all the bills caught up. We're about $4,200 behind on just regular bills of rent and electric and utilities. Yeah. How is that her fault? It's partly mine, too, because I let it happen.

Yeah. She, well, first off, I'm an over-the-road truck driver, and while I've been on the road, some of her friends that she had had problems in their lives and become homeless, and she wanted to try and help them, so she let them move into the house. At the time, I didn't think it was a good idea because we were kind of struggling ourselves. But she went ahead and did it anyway, and a lot of our resources have went into the last eight months of trying to help those people try and get jobs and get back on their feet.

Where are they now? I've gotten all of them out of the house. I thought you said you were homeless. Well, we became homeless two weeks ago. What happened? You were foreclosed on? No, behind on the rent and evicted. Oh, okay.

All right. So where are you living? Currently hotels, campgrounds, whatever we can get into. So obviously all of those people you were helping are now gone. Yes. And so what is your income? Right now about $40,000. Mm-hmm.

Okay. And how much do you owe in back rent? About $1,000. And you said $4,200 in what else? About $1,700 in electric, $500 in gas. I think we got the water caught up. And the rest is mostly recent medical bills. And that's another $3,000 or $2,000 or what? About $2,000, yeah.

Okay. What kind of medical bills? What kind of medical event did you have? I have Crohn's disease, sleep apnea, and it's been trying to get the sleep apnea taken care of and doctor's visits. How old are you? I'm 34. How long have you all been married?

We'll be 10 years this September. So if I were to sit down and talk to her, would she tell me she's learned her lesson? Yes. And I've also tried to sit down and talk with her and have kind of a dream meeting to see what we can, where we go from here. So she has learned her lesson. And what she tells me is that she doesn't want to dream. She doesn't want to think about it because if we dream and it doesn't come true, she doesn't want to dream. She doesn't want to think about it because if we dream and it doesn't come true, she doesn't want to be disappointed. Well, let's dream about not being homeless.

How's that? That would be awesome. That would be pretty cool to not be disappointed, you know, and let's dream about getting this little handful of dirt. You know, $5,000 changes your whole life. What does she do for a living? She's disabled and stays home with the kids. She takes care of the kids.

And how much disability is coming in? Well, she's going through a disability process right now at the courts. What is the nature of her disability? It's physical pain. What is the nature of her disability? But she could do white-collar work. Mm-hmm. Okay. But she could do white-collar work. I think so. Yeah, because you guys need some extra income right now. Yeah.

So I think she needs to find a job so that you're not homeless and so that $5,000 comes in and you clean this mess up. So let me tell you what i'm hearing roland okay i'm hearing a a couple who's every individual part of their life and their marriage is completely spiraling out of control there's so many different variables that are crazy and what you gave me in about a three minute thing here that um it's no wonder y'all ended up where you are and i'm not not saying that to put you down. I'm saying that there's a lot more going on here than your wife couldn't control her spending. There's a marriage breakdown.

There's her absolute lack of judgment that's beyond belief. And yet she's supposed to be watching over children? And she's disabled and yet not getting disability, so she needs to be working. And you've got to somehow interface with all of this and take over these bills and put the family back on. I don't know that a dream meeting is in order. A crisis intervention might be in order, but I don't think a dream meeting is in order. We might have a nightmare meeting, like how do we get out of this nightmare? But that's start. So what I would tell you to do, if you were my 34-year-old little brother, and you are,

is to grab a local pastor and sit down with them, and let's start the process there with marriage and spiritual walk, and you guys start trying to just push some of the crazy out of your life, and let's try to get back to some solid ground in the middle, in the center of your life. And then rebuild your relationships based on that. And start making positive, responsible decisions, both of you, that involve work ethic, involve frugality, involve laying out a plan. And you can do every bit of that. It's very, very possible.

But I think that's where I would start if I were you. I'd pick up the phone, call a local pastor, say, hey, we're homeless. It's very, very possible. But I think that's where I would start if I were you. I'd pick up the phone, call a local pastor, say, hey, we're homeless. It's our fault. We're not coming in for money. We're coming in for some leadership. And I, as a young dad, a young husband, I need some guidance, pastor. And let that pastor counsel you as a man and counsel you guys in your marriage, and let's lead you back into putting together a solid plan.

And I'll put you in Financial Peace University in the area there, but if that's all you do, it's not going to work because there's a lot more going on here than just a financial issue or two. Your financial problems are the symptom of all the crazy going on in your life. And man, you got to sweep the crazy out of the corners over there. That's what's overdue. So if you do that, you'll see this turnaround. But hold on, Kelly will pick up. We'll get you signed up for Financial Peace University, and we'll try to figure out what we can do from there. So hey, thank you for the call. We appreciate you calling in. Hope we can help you. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

You jump in. We'll talk about your life, your money. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. Their 100% satisfaction guarantee means even if you mismeasure or pick the wrong color, they'll remake your blinds for free. With Blinds.com, you get free samples, free shipping. With the new promos they run every month, you get even more. Use the promo code RAMSY.

Ingrid is in Florida. I currently owe about $14,000 on a car that's worth $7,000. I have the opportunity to purchase a reliable car from a family member for $1,000. Should I sell the financed car, pay off the remaining loan amount, and buy the cheaper car, or should I pay off the financed car

instead? It depends on what your income is, Ingrid. If your income is north of $45,000, I'd work my way through it and keep this car. If your income is south of that, household income, then I'm probably going to sell the car, take the cheaper car, and work my way through the debt. Thanks for following us and emailing us your questions. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down?

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To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Live in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Patrick and Billy are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hi. Good.

Welcome, welcome. Where are you guys from? We're from Lone Jack, just outside of Kansas City. Okay, cool. Welcome to Nashville. Thank you. And you're here to do a debt-free scream. We are.

I love it. How much have you paid off? We've paid off $42,000 in 15 months. Way to go. And your range of income during that time? Between $52,000 and $82,000. Wow. What do you guys do for a living?

I am an operations manager at a Goodyear service center. And I am home with the kids during the day. At night, I'm a photographer for an auction house. The weekends, I do my own photography work, and then I also picked up some kids to watch during the day. Okay, cool. Very good. What kind of debt was the $42,000? Some student loans, a loan on our cars, and then we had some credit card debt and medical bills.

Just about everything. You were kind of normal. Very. How long have you guys been married? We're going on 10 years in December. Very cool. And so what happened 15 months ago? Tell me the story that flipped the switch and put you on this journey.

Well, about 18 months ago, I had kind of hit rock bottom emotionally and mentally. I was dealing with depression and anxiety, migraines., I had just said, I don't know what else to do, and I gave it to God. And our entire life changed. About 11 years ago, actually this month, my two-year-old nephew passed away. And I didn't realize it, but not dealing with that made my life just slowly go downhill. I had my son and seeing him do things that my two-year-old nephew had done and then him being three and four and surpassing those things really hit me. And then we had my daughter in postpartum depression and it ended up being me seeing the doctors constantly and them trying to figure out what was going wrong. And like I said, there came a point where

I had to learn how to deal with depression and anxiety myself and doing some research and really digging in and figured out that I was living a life of fear and I didn't want to lose my kids. And I came to that moment of saying, you know, God, I really don't want to lose my kids. But if I do, I know where they're going. So help me get through this. And it's been all uphill since. Yeah.

Cool. How are you doing now? I'm wonderful, actually. Thank you. Very good. Yeah. That's awesome. So all of that was 18 months ago, and somewhere in the turn on that, at the 15-month mark, you start doing money stuff, too? How does that work into this equation?

Yeah. One of those things where when you line your heart with God's heart, and he just places the things that you need in your life, and I didn't realize how much our finances were actually burdening me. So it was part of the depression. Yeah. And one of my friends had said, hey, we're debt-free, and she posted her information on Facebook. And I'm like, debt-free, what? So I did some research, and we found you.

I started listening to your show every day. I would cry every time I heard a debt-free screen thinking me too thinking this is what we need to do for our kids to be able to live a life of being debt-free and not have to have the burden the size of a house on them and then finally in March of this year because I was doing it on my own, I tried

getting him to listen to the show and he was just like, yeah, okay. And in March our church hosted an FPU class and one of your first, I think it was the first class. Yeah, the very first one where you had said said you know uh you need to take control and it was basically like stop being a man child don't let her uh just give you the allowance and listen to whatever she says and you actually got to uh help out take some responsibility yeah it was it was a real hard truth i had to face right then and there and and then uh yeah that that grabbed me and we started working towards it together. And that's really what got it going there. Very cool.

That's neat. So there's a lot of healing going on here. Yes, tons. Not just $42,000 worth of debt, but there's a lot of other stuff going on here. Oh, yeah. So much. Yeah, very cool. I'm proud of you guys.

Thank you. Very cool. That's the proactive way. It's so we work with a lot of folks, as you might guess, that have faced depression, that either while we're working with them or before or even after sometimes, but mostly before or during. And to find the, to grab a hold of something deep down inside and find the ability to get proactive while you are facing that to fix it

is very unusual, very difficult. You did something special there. Thank you. You really did. God's spirit lit you up on that. That's pretty neat. That's very cool to see. And that gives a lot of people listening that are facing the same kinds of things hope.

I mean, 18 months ago versus today, you guys are a completely different couple. Yes. You have different people. And, by the way, you guys are a completely different couple. Yes. Different people. And, by the way, you don't owe $42,000 to Beth. That's almost like an aside. Yeah. That's almost like a side issue, really. Yeah.

So, very cool, you guys. So, I know the answer, but how does it feel? Fantastic. It's surreal. Yeah. Yeah. Do you feel, from an anxiety perspective ability you really feel the release oh big time so much i was able to sleep at night and just the whole journey of going to work because

i want to not because i have to being able to stay home with my kids during the day and i'll bet you're getting more business it's's amazing, yes. I'll bet you are. Well, you're having more fun. People want you around. I mean, it's that simple. It's weird how all these different areas snowball while you're doing a debt snowball. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? For me, it was mindset and actually believing that I could do it.

We could do it. Patrick? Yeah, for me, it. We could do it. Patrick? Yeah, for me it was definitely the teamwork part. You know, feeling that responsibility that you called out and then doing something about it together. Good. Yeah. Very cool.

And just for clarification for those of you that might be new listeners, I didn't tell him to take over. I told him to help and walk with her. That's a different call out, you know, when I'm saying man up. You know, I mean, it's like, hey, step in there, walk beside your wife, walk with her. You two together get this done. It wasn't like you got to go in there and take over because she's too dumb to do it. That wasn't what I said.

Yeah, I'm still not to where I could even kind of take over. Well, you know what's going on, though, and you're helping her carry the weight. That's what matters. So very cool stuff and you're helping her carry the weight. That's what matters. So very cool stuff. And the kiddos are with you. What are their names and ages? Ryan is six, and Ansley is three.

All right. Very cool. And so Ryan kind of dressed up for the occasion. He did. He's a fancy kid. He is a fancy kid. Turn around and face the camera, Ryan, so they can see your bow tie. Is that a full-on tux or just a suit and bow tie? Just a suit.

Just a suit and a bow tie. Sharp-looking dude. Well done. I don't know that we've ever had one of those before. That may be a first time on a Dead Free Screen. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book, Retire Inspired, for you. We want that to be your next chapter where you continue the process, continue your story. The next chapter in your story is millionaire status and outrageously generous along the way.

You're already on the way to changing your family tree, though. Congratulations. I'm very proud of you all. Thank you. Thank you. It's an honor to get to talk to you. Patrick, Billy, Ansley, and Ryan from Kansas City, $42,000 paid off in 15 months, making 52 to 82. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Glory be to God. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Oh, you gotta love it. Man, oh man, oh man. That is awesomeness right there. I say it all the time.

Personal finance is 80% behavior. It's only 20% head knowledge. So does depression fix your finances? Yeah. Does finances fix your depression? Yeah. In other words, these things are woven together. Our relationships, our emotional status, our spiritual status,

they're all woven together because it has to do with behavior. And it's pretty amazing when you see hope light up in somebody's face like Billy's. That's pretty neat. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I get asked all the time about what people need to do to improve their family's money situation. Two of the most overlooked things are term life insurance and disability insurance. Both plans make sure that you have income to pay bills and take care of yourself and your family if something were to happen. For term life, you need to carry 10 to 12 times your income, and I recommend 15 or 20-year plans for most families. Stay away from cash value or return of premium plans.

They're just a ripoff. Disability insurance is just as critical. How are you going to pay your bills if you're unable to work? Disability is the leading cause of bankruptcies and foreclosures, and that's why I send you to Zander Insurance. They've been helping my listeners find the right plans at the lowest cost for almost 20 years. Call 800-356-1780 or visit zander.com and compare online.

That's 800-356-1780 or zander.com. Thank you for joining us, America. This is the Dave Ramsey Show, where we teach you to live on less than you make, a concept Congress can't grasp. This is a show where one minute we're talking to someone who's completely broke and bankrupt, and the next minute we're talking to a millionaire. That's how. And it happens at the break too you know when i go out of commercial break and i meet people sign their books and different things i'll meet somebody

who's struggling and someone who's just become a millionaire happens to me all the time because guess what the stuff we teach here it's called common sense god's and grandma's ways of handling money and i have to warn you if you do it it works dave ramsey doesn't know anything about investing if you don't follow the investment advice we give it's a ultra conservative and it completely works you'll be a millionaire yeah yeah that's a good idea. Think about it. Michelle's with us in Durham, North Carolina. Hi, Michelle.

How are you? Hi, Dave. I am so glad you took my call. I've been waiting to get to talk to you one day. Well, I'm honored. How can I help? Yes, sir. I'm a 34-year-old single mom. I've been through a foreclosure, a divorce, job loss, and now I'm having to file bankruptcy.

My question is, when I come through bankruptcy, how can I start my life over and also prepare my 13-year-old son to achieve and not be brought in everything I've already been through. Yeah, I hear you. Plus also having, of course, a student loan debt, which I'm talking to him and pushing in him now. Do not go down that road. Like you say, it will haunt you until you die. How much student loan debt do you have? I have $16,000.

Okay. And why are you filing bankruptcy? The student loan company was threatened to sue me. Yeah, so what? They didn't sue you? Not yet. Is it a Sally Mae loan? It is.

It's not bankruptable, kiddo. Yeah, and it's a private one. Okay. So it's not Sallie Mae, then? It's Navient. They took over Sallie Mae. Are you sure this isn't a government-insured loan? No, sir.

I've called federal so many times, and they've confirmed it's not a federal student loan okay all right well we don't file bankruptcy on someone making a threat okay if they follow through on the threat and they garnish your wages or cause problems in your life you might be forced into bankruptcy but because somebody says boo you don't run off the road into the ditch. Okay. And also, Mr. Ramsey, it was also because I have... Have you already filed? I have. Oh. I thought you said you were going to.

Okay. Well, it's a water under the bridge then. All right. So to answer your question, how do you start fresh? Have you gotten a new job? I have. I was actually hired for a company in May. Right now, I'm only working about 30 hours a week at $9 an hour.

Okay. So your biggest challenge is your income then. Mm-hmm. And so solving that and creating a career path to get on to make more money and continually grow your income continually grow your career don't stop at nine dollars an hour that's just that just gets the wolf away from or puts full of food on the table but that's not where we're stopping we've got to do something to move up that ladder either in that company and or somewhere else and if that means taking some classes at

night that you pay cash for but they don't need to be random classes. They need to be something very, very specific that causes you to get a very, very specific job, something that causes you to make money. You follow me? Mm-hmm. Yeah, you don't go take English at the local university, you know, two classes of English. That's not going to change anything.

You've got to say, all right, what do I want to be five years from now doing that makes me five times more money, and what are my steps to get there? And then execute on those steps, because your biggest issue today is your income, because you don't have any debt. If this is a private student loan, it is bankruptable, and so it's going to go away. Did you file a Chapter 7? I filed Chapter 13. Why? Because the time crunch, that's what my bankruptcy attorney advised me. Well, I'd probably convert that to a 7 then, because you hardly have any income to do a 13 with yeah because the only thing i'm included in my chapter 13 is my current

car you didn't put the bank or you didn't put the law i thought you filed because the student loan was chasing you i did and you didn't put them in the bankruptcy not in north carolina no sir why because they were saying that it was it's not dischargeable um because it's federally insured okay all right it's not backed by the government well darling if it's a private student loan it is completely dischargeable if it's a federally insured sally loan, it is completely dischargeable. If it's a federally insured Sallie Mae loan, it is not dischargeable. So I don't know who's giving you this information, but they're just screwed up. So either it is, if it's bankruptable, it should have been in the bankruptcy.

If you're going to go in there, how am I going to put you in a bankruptcy? But if you're already there, you should have used the tool to clean up the mess. All right, so we've got to get your income up, and then we've got to get you on a plan. And so the deal is we're going to live on a written plan, live on a lesson you make, you're going to avoid debt, you're going to build an emergency fund, and you're going to start investing. And that's the basic principles. And you've got to step-by-step intentionally do all of those things.

And you're concerned about your 13-year-old. 13-year-old's going to do what mama does, what daddy did. You're going to mimic your parents if you don't know anything else because it's the only people teaching you. So, you know, he's watching to see what you do, and you get to be a hero here, a hero single mom, where you bust out, go get you a career, go make more money than you ever dreamed you were going to make, and build some wealth and stay away from debt and get the other side of this bankruptcy, get it behind you.

You just got to push, push, push through all of that. The book on how to teach kids how to handle money so that you break the chains and change your family tree is called Smart Money, Smart Kids by Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruz. My daughter and I did it together. It's the number one New York Times bestseller. I will give you a copy. Hold on, and I'll have Kelly pick up. Clifton is with us in Houston, Texas. Hi, Clifton.

How are you? I'm doing pretty good. How about you? Better than I deserve. What's up? First off, God bless you. I know that you're a faith-driven man, and you help out a lot. I found out about you from my former church.

I am a first-time listener. I've actually put you off for quite some time. Now we're trying to buy a house, this is what's uh trying to drive me into getting that debt free good my question was or is uh is it wise to use a student loan to put a down payment on the house when you say that out loud does it sound wise it does not okay but i figure it might be the uh the quickest and easiest way to get us out of renting. Yeah. Well, it might be that, but quickest and easiest seldom is smart.

Right. And so one of the things I've learned about the money stuff, Clifton, when I talk to rich people is they make decisions that are usually painful today but really pay off in the long run. Poor people tend to make decisions that feel good today but pay off in the long run. Poor people tend to make decisions that feel good today but are painful in the long run. Okay, that makes sense. And so that's where this heading falls.

I'd like for you to have a plan and get you a house. I'm with you on your goal. I love the idea of you guys getting a house, but borrowing money on a student loan for your down payment says you're too broke to buy a house, doesn't it? Yes, it does. Yeah, so we've got to get you on a game plan for your down payment says you're too broke to buy a house, doesn't it? Yes, it does. Yeah. So we've got to get you on a game plan, get you out of debt, get your emergency fund built, get you on a budget,

you and your spouse working together, and say, hey, you know, we've got to work really hard, and it's going to take us 14 1⁄2 months, and then we're going to be able to buy a house. Or it's going to take us 18 months or 24 months. I don't know what it's going to take. You have to run the math out. But I'll show you how to do it. It's called the Total Money Makeover, and it's a baby step game plan.

You're brand new to all of this. It is the roadmap to do what we teach on this show, and I'll give you a copy of the book. I've sold over 6 million copies of them, so somebody's doing this stuff. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey guys, this is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm excited to announce that we're now carried on 600 radio stations across the country.

To find one near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show. Can you believe this real estate market? Home shopping has become so competitive. There's a ton of new buyers in the market, and bidding wars are the new normal. Folks are under a lot of pressure to offer more money to get into that house. Don't do that. Get certified instead. The Churchill Mortgage Certified Home Buyer Program is a game changer. You can quickly position yourself as a more reliable buyer, and you get an upper hand during the negotiations. You can close two to three weeks faster than your competition.

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