The Ramsey Show - App - Finding Your "Why" Will Change Your Dreams into Goals (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 15, 2019

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. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you are here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Melissa starts off this hour in Fort Lauderdale. Hi, Melissa. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm well. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Okay, so I'm on step number two, and I have about $15,000 in debt.

No real student loans. I kind of take classes here and there, and that's about $8,000 that I'm paying out. So I just wanted to know how long should it really take me to pay off this $23,000 at a $65,000 a year salary. Okay. Well, I mean, if you lived on 42 one year. Okay. 63 minus, or 65 minus 23, right? Yes.

Did I do that right? 65 minus 23, yeah. Yeah, that's 42, yeah. Okay. If you could live on 42, you could do it in one year. Can you live on 42? I can. So I don't know how I came across you.

I came across you on YouTube, and I think it's been a blessing because I've been hitting my head against the wall because everything I'm paying, you know, at minimum and always just, like, daily making it paycheck to paycheck. How, I don't know. It's easy. I mean, money just gets away when you don't make it behave. So, you know, what you've described is just kind of normal. The problem is normal sucks, and you don't want to be normal anymore.

Right, right. Good for you. Well done. So what are we going to do? We're going to get on a written budget, jump on and get every dollar app on your phone and on your laptop or whatever, and start doing your budget. That's the budgeting app that will help you do it. It's free.

Lay out your budget where every dollar has an assignment, and you beat the snot out of every one of those dollars and make it behave. Okay. If you do that to the point you can get your lifestyle down and keep it down to 42, well, 65 minus 42, not counting the taxes, is going to get you out of debt. My guess is it's probably going to take you longer than a year, but I think you can do it in 18 months. Okay.

All right, so I'll give myself 18 months to get it all done. I mean, don't give yourself anything. Just go ahead and take six extra jobs and do it in four days. I don't care. But the point being that you're going to start saying, I'm going to lay out a game plan, and it's not about a feeling anymore. Okay. It's about the math. i'm going to do this

and we're not going to just try to pay minimum payments because you'll be in debt the rest of your life if you pay minimum i know i i've been seen i'm like okay minimum payment is this thing not ever going to go down no it takes 40 it takes 42.3 years to pay off the average credit card if you pay minimum payments wow yeah i mean you'll be dead you know i know right exactly we don't want that with that leaving that to the little one there you go so so hey good for you well done you got this okay so wait a minute how did you find me on youtube i don't know i pulled up someone because like i said i've been trying to budget like most okay we have to figure this out save how to save your money how to you, you know, save money in a certain amount of time.

And I came across someone that said, oh, well, Dave Francie ruined my life. I'm like, well, how the heck did somebody ruin your life? I read. I mean, I'm listening to her. And she's like, well, he really didn't ruin my life. He's been the best dick ever. So I was like, okay, well, let me Google this Dave Francie guy. And I found him.

I'm like, okay, this has definitely been a blessing. So you found the YouTube, our YouTube channel with all the different things posted. Yes, yes, yes. Very cool. So I'm going to try to get your book, and I'm going to knock this out because I definitely want to change this. I don't want to be normal anymore, at least out of this. So you said a little one. Are you single?

I am. You're a single mom? I am. I'm going to send you a copy of my book. It's my gift, okay? Oh, I appreciate that. It's called The Total Money Makeover. You do everything that's in it, and you go be rich and be generous.

Hold on. I'll have Kelly pick up. We'll give that to you. Thanks for being a new listener. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Jeff is with us in Dallas, Texas. Hi, Jeff. How are you?

I'm doing well, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure, man. What's up? Hey, I'm doing well, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure, man. What's up? Hey, I'm on Baby Step 2, and so far we've paid off a $3,000 car and cash flowed about $7,000 towards a pregnancy last year for my wife. Woo-hoo! And we still have about $12,000 to go, $9,000 in credit cards, and about $3,000 in medical

bills before we're debt-free. But I have a prepaid Florida college fund for my son valued at about $18,000. And I know that you're an advocate of taking that out and putting it in 529. But my question is, should I cash that out, pay off my debt, and have a head start on my Baby Step 3, and then work on the kids' college fund at a later date, or just roll that into a 529 and really just kind of bear down and get done with this debt and not touch this college fund? What's your household income?

Last year it was about $100, but my wife took three months off after the baby. So this year it should be about maybe $115,000, $120,000. Good. And how old's your son? Four. And where did the $18,000 come from that's in his account? That was at one point several years ago, I cashed out an old military TSP and then some funds from grandma and grandpa and things like that. It's been sitting in the Florida prepaid for about three years. Okay. I would roll it out of the prepaid into a 529, and I would not use it to pay off your debt. You make enough to pay off this debt very, very quickly. Yeah, we're

really trying to knock it out yeah if you had to do it to you know if you were stuck more than you're stuck and it released you more than it releases you i mean you pay this off real fast i mean you make 115 000 you pay off 12 000 in a few months so um yeah that's you know it's not it's not that big a deal it's not like it's going to change. It doesn't change anything. You don't have to turn around and put it right back. Anyway, the reason is most parents would feel like crap using their kid's college fund. That's kind of what I was thinking, too. Yeah, and I just don't want that feeling.

It's your money. You're in charge. I mean, you can do whatever't want that feeling. It's your money. You're in charge. I mean, you can do whatever you want to with it. It's not like you're doing something illegal or immoral, but it just feels bad. And I don't want that to offset and throw your momentum that you've got on your get my life together in the money segment. I don't want to lose that momentum because you feel like crap. Like, well, yeah, I kind of cheated. I stole my kid's money.

It's kind of how it feels, you know. It's not really the truth, but it's how it feels. Right. So I would leave it alone for that reason and because it doesn't move the needle because you can do this so fast anyway. Okay. If it was a more extreme situation, I would just have to make the case to get over yourself and go do it anyway.

Use the money. But it's not. You can do it. So I'm going to roll it into a, not roll it, I'm going to pull it out of the prepaid and put it into a 529. And then I'm going to knock off your $12,000 worth of debt with your $115,000 income. Uber quick, super quick, punch it in the face. You got this, man. You can do it.

You can do it. Call me if I can help you more. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Matthew is on Twitter. Should I refinance my car during Baby Step 2 if offered half the interest? If offered.

Oh, at half the interest rate. Yeah, you can. But your interest rate's not your problem. It's the cash you're throwing out to pay off the car that's the problem. It's like getting a lower interest rate on your credit card. Well, you can get one, but you've still got a stupid credit card. You've still got to get the thing paid off. That's the big problem.

Interest rate's not your big problem. So do it if you want, but don't think you did something. When you pay off the car, you did something. You know what I've learned after talking to so many people who have been victims of ID theft? They feel violated and they have a sense of fear and intrusion. It can be overwhelming. It's scary and infuriating at the same time. People question your character.

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Go to Zander.com. Okay! Somebody say keep on rocking. Yeah! Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. Brand new custom blinds from Blinds.com are the easiest and most affordable way to give your entire home a facelift. With Blinds.com, you get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the magic word, the promo code Ramsey, and you get the best possible deal. Blinds.com slash Ramsey. Today's question is from Keith in Indiana.

He says, what's your opinion on secured credit cards? Is it a good way to maintain a good credit score while not going into debt? Keith, nowhere on my list of things to do is to maintain a good credit score because there's no correlation between a good credit score and wealth there's no matter of fact there may be a negative correlation never been a study done but people who worship credit scores do not have a tendency to build wealth because we do know the people who have a tendency to build wealth get out of that and stay out of that and you just don't want to try to figure out a way to play kissy face there is no need for a credit score if you're not borrowing money oh people look at it when you're

getting a job yeah sometimes they do but you can get a job without a credit score people look at it when you yeah sometimes they do but you can do it without a credit score 99.999 percent of the time the use of a credit score is to borrow money and so my need to tell you how to go into debt or prepare yourself for the ability to go into debt easier by building your credit score is zero because my goal here is not to get you into debt my goal here is to get you into wealth the shortest way to do that is to avoid debt not get into it so no i don't use secured credit cards for building a credit score because i don't ever tell you to build your credit score now i don't purposefully set out to destroy it it's not one of the goals either but it is a great badge of honor that your credit score. Now, I don't purposefully set out to destroy it. It's not one of the goals either.

But it is a great badge of honor that my credit score has been indeterminable or zero for decades. Why? Because I have not borrowed any money. Pretty simple. I have not borrowed any money. And I don't borrow money. Thus, I have money. Because if you don't have payments, you have money if you're, and I don't borrow money. Thus, I have money.

Because if you don't have payments, you have money if you're working and earning income. And when you have money and you invest it and save it, you have more money. When you have money and you give it to the bank in payments, you don't have any money. This is deep, isn't it? Struggle to grasp that maybe? Well, you might. You might. Some of you are a little too smart for your

own good you try to figure something out that doesn't need to be figured out when you don't give your money to the bank to end payments you have more money the borrower is slave to the lender beth is with us in grand rapids michigan hey beth how are you hey doing great thank you so much for your work um my husband and I were able to pay off $27,000 of his college loans the first year and a half of our marriage. So we really appreciate you so much. Yay. Yeah. Well, Dave, we are looking into adopting a child.

Cool. Yeah, and it's going to be $15,000. Okay. And there's an application fee of $2,300. The problem is our emergency fund only has $1,700 in it right now. So you're not quite ready. Oh, I thought you were going to say that. Well, I mean, you're only $500 off.

You paid off $27,000. Why is $500 a problem? Yeah, true. We do have a few other irons in the fire, I guess I could say. We purchased a home to be closer to my family because my father was dying a couple of years ago. And the inspector missed the stacky botrys that was in the house. Missed the what? Toxic black mold.

Oh, great. Yeah, and then it flooded the next next month and then the furnace quit two months later and then the roofs are leaking so this inspector this inspector didn't inspect much did he a roof that was one month away from leaking in a furnace that was a month away from dying and he didn't catch that yeah what do you owe on this money pit yeah 128 000 now i used some of my my father's um retirement money because he actually passed away um we couldn't live in this house for seven months and we moved in and he died six days later so yeah okay so so are you selling the house um i'm not sure we can afford to our basement is completely ripped up it was finished and um it was i mean thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars for storage fees

contractors air scrubbing you don't you don't have a place to raise a child right now. Yeah, just the main floor is good now, but the basement is, yeah, not good. What is your household income? My husband is currently making $65,000. He was making $57,000 last year, but he got a raise. Good. I have a master's in teaching, but when we moved over here, I lost my teaching job and my license because it lapsed.

So I just took two classes, and I do have my teaching license back, but I only make $11,000 right now doing child care and seasonal work. So when are you going to go back to work as a teacher? Yeah. I think I'm ready to this year okay um okay um uh listen there's a lot of stuff has gone on in your lives okay it'll be good emotionally spiritually and financially for you guys to settle in for a short period of time, a year or two, and just pile up a big pile of money and clean up the mess. You will be in a better place to be a mom when that happens. Yeah.

And suddenly adopting a child in the middle of all of this other stuff going on, you trying to get back in the classroom, trying to get this house cleaned up, trying to get your emotional feet back under you and everything else it you know i'm just an old guy i want you to adopt a kid and i think that's awesome i think it's one of the best things people can do people that are called to it i think it's an incredible thing to do having kids is wonderful only thing better than having kids is having grandkids if i'd have known how great they were i've been nicer to their parents i mean it's it's just family is about as good as it gets. I had breakfast this morning with my son, who's a fabulous young man.

And it's just I want you to have all of that. How old are you? I'm 39. Okay. All right. Let's take a little time, you and your husband, and sit down and make a list of what are the things in our life we need to clean up to where we're sitting in a place of peace, that we invite this child into a place of peace. This sounds like a war zone that you're describing.

It really, really, really taught me a lot of lessons, and I am a Christian, and it really did try my faith. I bet. I bet. bet i mean you sound like you've been through hell i don't i don't i'm not saying that you haven't i'm just saying let's just spend a little bit of time cleaning that up and you get the job and then all of a sudden your income's gonna double right and uh you know get into the classroom and let's clean the basement up and sell the money pit and get you a nice little clean house that's newer, that's a little smaller, but a good place to raise a child. And then all of a sudden you're going to have some money and you'll be able to not be worrying about $500 or spending your last dime on the planet to fill out the application. I want you to do this, but I want you to do it in a way that's good for you and good for the child.

And, you know, again, I'm not going to invite a child into a war zone. And I'll tell you a book to pick up that you'll like while you're working on this, and it'll help you with a lot of your steps because it's really good. It's by Julie Gumm, G-U-M-M. It's called Adopt Without Debt. Adopt Without Debt. And so that's what I would do. Now, you're going to do whatever you want to do.

You're a grown-up. But you called me, and that's what I would do if I were in your shoes. Thanks for calling in. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. We appreciate you hanging out with us. These are good times.

These are good times for you. You have the opportunity to make more money than you've ever made in your life. You have the opportunity to straighten out your life, get some of these messes cleaned up. Sit down, do your budget, get your debts paid off. We're here to help you and here to remind you that you could do it, can do it, and should do it. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Your goal this year is to get rid of your debt, but here's the deal. In order to keep your momentum going past January, you have to make small changes that get quick results.

That's why you need to attack your debts smallest to largest. I also recommend you look for ways to find extra money to pay off your debt sooner. It's there, I promise you. Take a look at your mortgage. If you call my friends at Churchill Mortgage and request a five-minute checkup, they can help you find extra money. Churchill Mortgage Checkup has helped thousands of my listeners save big. In just a few minutes, the Churchill team can tell you how much cash they can potentially save you

or they can restructure your mortgage to pay it off early. Become debt-free in 2019. Call Churchill today at 888-LOAN-200 or visit churchillemortgage.com for your Churchill checkup. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Anthony and Janine are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? We're great, Dave. Welcome, welcome. Where do you guys live?

Dayton, Ohio. Dayton, Ohio. Good. And all the way to Nashville to do your debt-free scream yes absolutely fun how much have you paid off we paid off twenty two thousand one hundred and sixty five dollars love it how long did that take it took us 10 months good for you and your range of income during that time we started around 66 000 and when we made our last debt payment, we were at $77,000, and Anthony just got a promotion not too long ago, so we're up to $80,000.

Yay! Noticed your income's going up. Why did your income go up during this time? In just 10 months, I mean. So I'm an Air Force recruiter, and I just put my nose to the grindstone and got promoted through the Air Force, made the next rank. Okay. Yeah. Very cool. Well, thanks for your service to the country, sir. Force, made the next rank. Okay. Yeah.

Very cool. Well, thanks for your service to the country, sir. Thanks, sir. Appreciate that very much. Cool. So what kind of debt was the $22,000? It was a whole lot of stupid. Yeah.

We had a few credit cards and a car loan. Okay. Cool. How long have you two been married? We've been married two years now. Okay. So after a year of marriage, you look up, you got credit cards and a car loan, and something happened, and you said, game on. What happened?

So we had been married for about eight months at that point, and we were living in a small apartment. We kind of had an oh, crap moment. We were like, we've got to pay off this this bill and where's the money coming from? And we didn't use a credit card. So we were living in a small apartment and we found a listing for our rental house. And we thought, well, this would be great. We could get out of this small apartment. It was a couple hundred dollars a month extra over what we were paying. And we thought, like, can we afford this was the first question. And we sat down and we looked at our finances

and we realized, well, we're making a decent amount of money, but we had no idea where it was going. So we sat down and we said, okay, we're going to put the application in for this house. I don't know if we're going to get it because we've got all this debt. We're kind of a hot mess, but we figured that even if we didn't get the house, it was an awesome thing because it made us sit down and realize that we needed to make some changes. So that's exactly what we did. And he, Anthony, was familiar with you and he had kind of learned about you in high school. And so it was his idea to start with the budget. And so that's what we did. And then a few months later, we took the FPU class at a local church. While you were pregnant.

Yeah. So after we found out that we did get the house, about a week later, I found out that I was also pregnant. Found out you did or didn't get the house? We did get the house, yeah. You did get it. Did you move? We did, yeah. Okay.

So you moved up in rent and tore into the budget. Yep. And so, Anthony, you had this in high school with the Foundations in Personal Finance class in your high school class. I went to Powell High School in Tennessee, and they had your course and just really left something with me and ended up picking it back up later down the road. So thank you so much for that. Yeah, well, that's very cool.

Very cool that teacher taught that, and then there it is in your brain still lodged when you needed it. Yeah, perfect that's cool so you go okay we can do this we're gonna get on a budget we're gonna get out of debt and pull up dave ramsey and oh yeah i remember now debt snowball and here we go so what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is if you pay off twenty two thousand and ten months that's pretty impressive i think for us uh it was a couple things, but I think the big thing for us is that we had a really strong why. So aside from finding out that, you know, I was pregnant, we were going to have this amazing little boy coming our way, I was adopted. And I have known for a long time that adoption was something that I really wanted to do. And so that has been a big part of our motivating factor, too.

And I have to say that this is really huge. This has been a huge goal my whole life. And until now, I didn't really see a way to get there because it is such a huge financial thing. So when you put dreams, when you put work clothes on your dreams, we call them goals. And now you can see it happening. Yeah, you've got a way to do it because you put dreams when you put work clothes on your dreams we call them goals and now you can see it happening yeah you've got a way to do it because you put because you took control of your life absolutely that's so cool and some kids gonna get blessed there yeah and you'll get blessed of course in the process sound very neat not to mention the new baby that just

came so what's his name how old is he his is Blaine, and he is eight months old. Awesome. So how many cheerleaders did you have? Looks like you got your posse with you here. Yeah, so we have my mom and Anthony's parents are here with us today, too. Okay, great. Very cool. So we got full-on support. So did you have any detractors, anybody saying you're crazy for doing this? You lost your mind?

I suppose we had a couple here and there, but we were just so motivated. And we have, like I said, we had this goal in mind and nothing's going to stop us. I suspect that's true. Good looking young man. How fun. Good stuff. Good stuff. The grandparents, they don't even care that you're here.

No. They just say hi to him. I got grandbabies. If I don't know how great grandbabies are going to be, I'd have been nicer to their parents. I mean, it's unbelievable. So wonderful. Congratulations, you guys. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's retire inspired book for you. Want that to be the next chapter in your story that you're millionaires and outrageously generous along the way.

And for you guys, that includes adopting. And that is a beautiful, beautiful story. Well done. Well done. Well done. Good stuff. All right. It's Anthony and Janine and Blaine who's pitching in here already. Got the audio going there, Blaine.

Good. And $22,000 paid off in 10 months, making $66,000 now all the way up to $80,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! They scared the baby. I love it.

Well done, you guys. Oh, that's what it's about. You know, what you do need to do, Chris Hogan talks about this all the time. He says you need to dream in HD, in high definition. You ever look at all these high-def TVs, even the new 4K ones? I mean, you can see sweat almost getting ready to come out of a pour in a football game, right? I mean, it's unbelievably clear. You ought to have your dreams that clear.

Because you can run through the briars of life. You can run through the sticker bushes. You can run over the rocks. You can get through the obstacles when you have a reason. Janine was adopted. She wants to adopt. She wants to continue that legacy. That's a big why it's a noble why

you got to have a why, why are you doing this? What's your dream? You want to change your family tree? My first dream when we went broke was not be broke anymore. That's a pretty big dream right there. I remember being broke. I don't ever want to not be broke anymore. That's a pretty big dream right there. I remember being broke. I don't ever want to not be able to pay my light bill again. I don't ever want my wife. My wife, she'll tell you. They said, what was your first big goal? She said, I wanted to go to the grocery store and buy whatever I wanted.

Just fill up the buggy. That was a big dream. When you're so broke you can't pay attention, that's a big dream. It's a big deal. When you're so broke you can't pay attention, that's a big dream. It's a big deal. So think it through, guys. I mean, you can start with filling up the buggy. And your dreams, Mike, should continue to grow. And you reach the point you're thinking,

I'm going to teach my kids how to handle money so they're never in debt. Oh, and then I'm going to leave my kids how to handle money so they're never in debt. Oh, and then I'm going to leave like 40 million bucks. So this is the last Ramsey ever in debt in this branch of the tree. This is the last Ramsey because I'm teaching them and I'm leaving them money. What if you paid for your kids' houses and they never had a house payment in their whole life? Do you know how rich they'd be just on that one thing? If they promised to not borrow money and they never had a car payment they promised to not borrow money, and they never had a car payment, and they never had a student loan, and they never had a house payment,

and they took all of those payments that everybody else pays in America and they put those in a good growth stock mutual fund, you know that's like $30 million, right? So maybe your dream is buy your kids a house paid for in cash to change your family tree. Only if they're living the stuff. I'm not enabling anybody. I'm not giving anybody participation trophies here.

But if they're going to live this stuff, the way I teach, the way I teach, maybe we change our family tree. Maybe we change everything. You could be old man Vanderbilt. You could be old man Rockefeller. Why not? Somebody has to break the chains off of your generational tree. Why not you?

That's a pretty good why, folks. You need a big why. NHD, baby. High def. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America. Sarah is with us in Detroit. Hi, Sarah. How are you? Hi, Dave.

My question is about us in Detroit. Hi, Sarah. How are you? Hi, Dave. Hey. My question is about medical school loans. And I was wondering if you would deal with those any differently. My husband and I are in our mid-30s. We have a baby. And we're in our fifth year post-training with $450,000 debt. Good Lord. What a hot mess. No, I wouldn't deal with it any differently.

Hopefully you've got an income that's different. Well, we have one year left of training, and then we'll be getting our full salary. Right, which is how much? You make how much now? About $100, and we should make $450 when we're done. Okay. Well, so let's kind of do a little math, okay? You're living on $100,000 now, right?

Mm-hmm. If when you're making $450,000 you lived on $100,000, plus or minus taxes, you should have $250,000, $300,000 to work with. Right. Okay. So don't raise your lifestyle and pay off your debts in 18 months. Okay. So don't raise your lifestyle and pay off your debts in 18 months. Okay. So would you avoid buying a house and starting to pay for college?

Yes, you're broke. You're a hot mess. You're broke. We're only talking about 18 months or two years. I mean, you ought to be debt-free in two years. Wouldn't you agree with that? Yeah, I'd hope so. Yeah, I would think.

I mean, living on 100 is not exactly roughing it no so i mean it depends on how much you want to dial it down as to how fast you get out but i can see you debt free in two years or less depending on how you dial how much you dial down the lifestyle here's what you have to avoid sarah i've worked with docs for years, and I am so happy that you're going to be making $450,000 a year. You have earned it already because you have done something that the vast majority of our population cannot do. You have delayed pleasure forever. You have been in school forever. That's what it feels like.

You have. And for you, in order to do a greater good with your life, for your family and the help you can be as a doc, you have delayed pleasure beyond belief. Right? Right. The problem is, I call it doc-itis. Uh-huh.

Doc-itis is you've delayed pleasure so long, when you finally get the big income, you, like, breathe out. And it sounds like two BMWs and a $450,000 house before you clean up your mess. Right. Don't breathe out. You've been holding your breath for 16, 17 years. Hold it for two more years. Hold your breath for 16 17 years hold it for two more years hold your breath for two more years delay pleasure delay pleasure one more time we know you have the emotional

capability of delaying pleasure for greater good because your very life has indicated that now apply that to the finances so you don't look up 10 years from now still paying student loan debts like all the other broke freaking doctors out there. All right, we'll do that. Yeah, broke doctors are about as much of a stereotype as broke athletes. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's because they're really, really smart at one thing,

and they don't use common sense when it comes to money. So don't get Doc-itis. Just keep living like a dadgum resident when you start getting your good income and two years later you're 100% debt-free. Now you're making $450 a year. You've got no chains around your ankles, no chains around your wrists, no chains around your neck, and you can go become wealthy very, very quickly. Pay cash for a dadgum house or pay it off in three years after

you buy it you can get cars you can do whatever you want to do on a 450 000 dadgum income and you've earned it i'm glad you're making that money i'm not one of those people who make too much money i do not want broke i do not want a doctor that is underpaid working on me thank you very much i want him paid very well i want her very well. And so I'm happy you're there. And I hope you make a lot of money. You have earned it. And you guys work a ridiculous hours and you're there for people and you got the right hearts, most of you. And I'm thrilled you're going to make a bunch of money. Please don't keep these student loans around like they're a pet. Knock them out fast. That's my that's my prescription. So it doesn't change. It's just the different

size of hole you're in and you you've got a different size shovel. But the principles are still there. Thanks for calling in. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Brian is with us in Gulfport, Mississippi. Hey, Brian, how are you? I'm doing pretty good. How are you doing, Dave?

Better than I deserve. What's up? So a quick question about timeshares. A little history. I'm in the Navy. I than I deserve. What's up? So a quick question about timeshares. A little history. I'm in the Navy. I'm a chief. We just moved from down in Mississippi. We found out my wife had breast cancer. So we're trying to fix our problem.

She's actually in surgery right now. Sweet talk. We're about $150,000 in debt, not including the house, and we're trying to fix it. The timeshare is about $42,000 in debt, not including the house, and we're trying to fix it. The timeshare is about $42,000 of that. We're working on a timeshare exit, but I finally got a hold of the timeshare, and they're possibly willing to let me just out, but it shows up as a repo on my credit report.

That affects my clearance possibly. What I want your advice is try to just do the exit and pay them and do it that way or possibly take that repo and see what happens there. Well, what I would do is investigate how badly the repo will damage your ability to do your job with your security clearance. I mean, I get the concept it'll hurt your credit, and I get the concept that that hurts your security clearance. I don't doubt that. But talk with your, you know, talk with your upline. And, you know, I don't know who you report to, but ask them and start and talk to people that issue the security clearance. Say, here's what I got. I got $150,000 worth of debt.

I'm trying to get out of it. What should I do here? Ask their advice and say, they go, oh, no, it's going to completely put you out of the Navy, man. You're going to be useless to us. You're going to blow your security currents wide open. Then you've got to think about not doing that, right? But if they go, oh, you know, it's going to ding you, but it's not the end of the world, and, you know, it might slow you down on this or that, but you're going to be fine,

and then you take it, right, in a heartbeat. Okay. The other thing is go back to the timeshare exit team and tell them this problem. Have you? Yeah, I've talked to them, laid and call me back okay because i mean there may be a way to negotiate where this is not reported as a repo okay and uh you know i might even be willing to put a little money on the table if they would report it and not as a repo right if i'm in your shoes not not much but a little and so forth so so uh your wife is in surgery right this second yes sir wow so what's the prognosis what are they telling you dude uh chemo worked uh the tumor went away so we're

we're doing the mastectomy it's kind of a preventative measure, and hopefully we'll clear up, we'll do some reconstruction, we'll be done with it. We'll wait on, you know, see if we have to do radiation or not, but it's looking pretty good. How old are you two? She's 32, I'm 35. Cool. Good. Well, you're in all our prayers,

and she is, and thank you for serving your country. Have you guys gone through Financial Peace University yet? We haven't. We have a challenge here, but the budget's pretty tight. We can't even fit that in right now. I got you covered. We're going to give you a set, and we want you to go through it, okay?

Awesome. Thank you very much. Yeah, you've had enough on your plate this year. Wow. Hold on. Kelly will pick up, and we'll get you taken care of open phones this hour at triple eight eight two five five two two five so you don't have those conversations on other financial shows because you just talk about finances and that's a mistake

because finances are just part of the equation they are the symptom of what's going on in your life when you got stuff going on in your life. When you've got stuff going on in your life, it affects your money. Your money, it affects the stuff going on in your life. Personal finance is more personal than it is finance. To keep this stuff, you know, try worrying about your security clearance while your wife's in surgery. I mean, yeah, at 32 years old i mean just try that for a day you know changes the whole look on things doesn't it that 42 000 out of that 150

going away with that time share that starts to be a big deal in that math did you hear it i heard it i felt it this is called life this is not a show about money Money is just the way we get to talk about life and get the opportunity to help people and love people well and serve some of those like that young man that are serving you because you're free and you're protected because of men like him and women like him. Don't you dare forget that. Don't you ever forget that. I can promise you this.

Around here, we won't forget it. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer. Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener. Blake Thompson is our senior executive producer or something like that. I don't know what he does. Does he do anything?

He's taking out not much. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. 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.