The Ramsey Show - App - Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (Hour 2)

Episode Date: November 18, 2019

Nikki Haley, Education, Investing, Debt Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Well, Ambassador Nikki Haley just dropped in. We're going to have her on the air here in a few minutes for a little bit of this hour as we talk about her new book that's coming out called With

All Due Respect, Defending America with Grit and Grace. It'll be a great conversation, and we don't do that kind of thing very often, but Ambassador Haley is definitely a very interesting lady, and I thought it'd be fun to talk to her and fun for you to listen in. So she's going to join us here for a little while this hour. Phone number in the meantime for you and I to talk, 888-825-5225. Jill starts off this hour in Missouri. Hey, Jill, how are you? Hi, Dave.

I am fine. Thanks for taking my call, and thanks for all you do. Sure. My situation, here it is, I'm 48. I've never married, and I don't have kids. I am a full-time music director for a church. I make $46,000. So when I started FPU, I realized there's no way I'm going to be able to take care of all my bills and get ahead with that.

So I actually started teaching high school band and choir, and so that added another 10 000 um a year now the problem is is that they're requiring me to get certified um to go back to school and that's going to cost the program that i am going to be taking is going to be like 12 000 for a ten thousand dollar job yeah but it's over over a number of years they're allowing me five years to do it. Okay. But I don't know what else. I mean, is it feasible? Right now, my house is $98,000.

I have a $10,000 car payment, or car, $46,000 on student loan and $14,000 on a credit card that I'm paying on. You said you're 48. I am 48, yes. Okay. So I think there's a bigger question. Okay. The bigger question is, what do you want to be doing for the next 10 years? And let's invest in that.

Okay. I would not go to all this angst and trouble over a part-time job. Okay. Now, if you want to be a full-time music teacher and make that your career, and you're going to go in and become a member of that county, and they're going to pay you $50,000, $60,000 overtime, $70,000 to work for them, and that's the return, and you get to live your dream, and you get to smile while you're doing it, and you get to make money, and it's a full-time gig, then a $12,000 investment makes sense.

A $12,000 investment for a $10,000 part-time job does not make any sense at all, because you'll be the first thing on the chopping block if there's a budget problem. Sure. It's a pretty new school that started up, so right now it's part-time, but the attendance is tripling, doubling every year. A private school? It is a private school, and they are anticipating that it will be full-time. You're a church music director.

Is this a Christian school? It is, yes. Okay. Well, there's two things I'd want to do then. One is I would want to discuss with them the idea that they pay for this, which they can afford it, and B, where it's going to take me after i go to this trouble okay and based on the growth of students we think we're going to make you full time in two years if you finish your certification then let's get her done you know but if uh if they

think well you know i don't know and it might be 20 years and we don't know and well, you know, I don't know, and it might be 20 years, and we don't know. Well, then you don't invest in. Well, no, I'm not going to put my life on the line for that. But is this certification transferable then to public? Yes, it is, absolutely. Yeah, ask them to pay for it. It's only $12,000. Okay.

And in return, you'll promise to work there, you know. Okay. And you go ahead and settle on your future salary and stuff. Okay. And in return, you'll promise to work there, you know? Okay. And you go ahead and settle on your future salary and stuff. Okay. So, in other words, let's make this a part of a 10-year game plan, not a way to keep my part-time job. Sure. Okay. Got it. Then it makes sense.

Mm-hmm. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you for the call. We appreciate you joining us quinn is next quinn is in new york hi quinn how are you hi david thanks for taking my call sure what's up okay so my husband and i are 23 and just got married in september congratulations

i've been working thank you so much so um i've been working full-time for a little over a year and he has six more months before he graduates from undergrad. And I grew up listening to you, thanks to my mom, and I followed your principles. We followed your principles to a T. So before I got married, I was on Baby Step 4. My question comes in. So my husband has $14,921 in student loans.

Should we just, and we've obviously combined bank accounts and everything, so should we just empty our emergency fund down to $1,000 to kind of pay off about half of the loans? Yep. You were on Baby Step 4. When you got married, he took you back to Baby Step 2. Right. Because now we are one.

The preacher says, and now you are one. Totally. And you combined your bank accounts, but you, you know, it's just hard for you, and I don't blame you, because you were riding along pretty good, and I'm sure he's worth it, but you married into some debt. Right, yeah. No, I totally understand. I think the main thing is just, like, since we're only on one paycheck right now, like, for the next six months, still same thing. Yeah, so what is he, I mean, he's working on his undergrad, right? Yeah, he's working on his undergrad.

What's he studying? He's getting his degree in cybersecurity. Is he studying cybersecurity? Oh, that's wonderful. What a great career field. And so what precludes him from working while he's getting his degree? So he's actually in ROTC right now. He's going to be going to the Army Reserve

So that takes a lot of time And they do pay him like a stipend every two weeks And he has some scholarships coming in So he's not taking out any more loans It's just from before Yeah, okay So he is creating some income And he is working

He's not just going to school So that's good All right, good Yeah, let's just roll up our sleeves Put our budget together With our current situation You know, the great news is In 12 months from today That's good. All right, good. Yeah, let's roll up our sleeves, put our budget together with our current situation. You know, the great news is in 12 months from today, your world is going to be completely different with both of you kicked into gear.

And he's got a great career field. Y'all are going to be making bank. Awesome. Okay. Thank you so much. You are heading in the right direction. Very, very well done. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Pablo is on YouTube. Says, Dave, what's your opinion on using the Acorns app after Baby Step 3, not as a primary, but literal spare change investing? Well, the only downside of Acorns, there's no downside. Anytime you save money, it's a good thing. The only downside is you feel like you did something. Because let me tell you how the math works. If you save a very small amount of money, you know what you're going to end up with?

A very small amount of money. That's Acres. It's a novelty, but it's not a plan to become a millionaire or a multimillionaire. So that's okay to save your spare change, but no one has that coffee cup full of change and it made them a millionaire. That's not how you get wealthy. So if you save a small amount, you'll have a small amount. If you invest a large amount, you're going to have a large amount. This is how it works.

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Visit Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. You need to get this taken care of. I can give you the advice, and I can tell you where to go. But it's really up to you to take that important step to get your family protected. That's Zander.com or 800-356-4282. Stopping by the studio to hang out for a couple of seconds. Ambassador Nikki Haley, bucket list checked. I get to meet you.

Oh, it's nice to meet you. My bucket list is checked. Now, that's not true, but thanks for hanging out with us. We appreciate it. The new book is out. It's called, with all due respect, Defending America with Grit and Grace. If you haven't followed Ambassador Haley's career from accountant to governor of the state of South Carolina, through some really tough times and some great healing, we won't talk about that, all the way to obviously being the ambassador of the United Nations, which is somewhat like herding cats.

That's an understatement. I want to get to that as well, but welcome. So your own book tour, how's the book doing? It's doing great. I mean, people have really been very supportive. It's been a lot of fun seeing the crowds and going out on tour and taking pictures and signing books. And, you know, it's always nice to be appreciated.

And I think that's the one thing is you throw your heart and soul out into a book and you hope people can, you know, just appreciate it. And we've felt the love, definitely. Are you finding when you're doing this tour, I find this when we're doing some of our stuff, that I call them the normal people, the regular people are all okay. Yes. And even if they don't necessarily agree with your politics or your president or whatever,

they still like your smile. They still want to sit down and hear your idea. They're okay to talk. It's these characters that have lost their minds. I love being out with normal people. I really do because they're not so easily offended, and they're living for the day. They know exactly what matters

and what doesn't and a lot of the stuff just rolls off their back so and you can have a discussion absolutely without somebody getting all torqued up a civil discussion that's right you've spent a lot of time with people torqued up in the last few years i russia and china was definitely would qualify there would definitely qualify there. Would definitely qualify. Let's roll back for a second. You're the governor when the horrible shooting occurred in Charleston, and we're connected to a ton of churches there. As a matter of fact, I'll be there Wednesday night doing an event at Seacoast Church there.

Oh, it's a great church. Yeah, they're good friends of ours. And so we were really connected to that, i don't want to call it a tragedy horrific act right uh that is the results in a tragedy uh just evil on parade and uh in the form of racism but also just in the form of mental illness apparently um how do you lead through something like that as the governor because you created an ambiance of healing you create a salve spiritually over that over that uh over people that could have gotten riled up and out of hand even further oh it was i mean it was a scary time not just for what had happened

but where we were going to go from there and you know this was 12 people doing what so many South Carolinians do every Wednesday night. They were going to Bible study. But on this night, someone else showed up. He didn't look like them. He didn't act like them. He didn't sound like them. They didn't throw him out. They didn't call the cops.

Instead, they pulled up a chair and they prayed with him for an hour. And when they bowed their heads in that last prayer, he began to shoot. These were people like Ethel Lance, who had lost her daughter two years prior to breast cancer. And she had a broken heart, but she would go around Mother Emanuel Church cleaning, singing, one day at a time, sweet Jesus, that's all I ask of you. Give me the strength to do every day what I have to do. Our youngest victim, Tywanza Sanders, had just finished college. And on that night, he stood in front of his 87-year-old great Aunt Susie and looked at the killer and said, you don't have to do this.

We mean no harm to you. Or it was people like Cynthia Hurd, whose life motto was simply to be kinder than necessary. That's who these people were. It was the first time there had been a shooting in a place of worship. The national media came in in droves, and they just wanted to define the moment. They wanted it to be about racism. They wanted it to be about gun issues. They wanted it to be about whether we were for or against the death penalty. And I just wrapped my arms around the state because I so wanted to protect them. And told the media there will be a time and place where we can have these discussions, but not now.

We had the funerals. We had to respect the families. And I attended every single family's funeral, open caskets, all of them, families falling over the bodies. It was just a terrible scene. And then within, I think, a day or two, the shooter came out with his manifesto, and there he was holding the Confederate flag, spewing all kinds of hate. You fast forward a couple more days, and it was the first time the killer appeared before the judge. And the families showed up, and the judge allowed them to speak. And one by one, unplanned, unprompted, they looked at the killer, and they forgave him. And that kind of forgiveness was so overwhelming that we didn't have riots.

We had vigils. We didn't have protests. We had hugs. And we went through a few really rough weeks but we held tight we held strong the confederate flag came down and south carolina and the people of south carolina showed what true strength and grace looks like in the eyes of the world um with just a horrific tragedy it was was a defining moment. It was. Yeah, of your time.

Were you in two terms in South Carolina or one? Yes, two. I served six years, so I was in my second term when that happened. Okay. All right. And in the middle of, is that when you took the U.N. ambassador, in the middle of it? No. It happened in 2015.

Okay, after. Yeah, and I accepted December of 2016. Okay, but you stepped out of a term to accept? I did. Okay. All right. I didn't remember that part. I thought you'd completed it. Okay. So how long were you the UN ambassador? I was there for two years. Okay. What did you think you were getting into and what did you really get into? It's so funny because I loved serving the state that raised me. I mean, it was just the best job. And right after the president, Reince Priebus, the president's chief of staff, called and said,

you know, the president wants to see you. And I said, for what? He said, well, he wants to talk to you about possibly being secretary of state. And I said, Reince, I can't be secretary of state. I'm a governor. And he said, well, he wants to talk to you. You need to show up. So I show up the next morning, and I see the president. I had known him for a few years prior.

And I said, look, I'm just not your person. I said, there's too much going on in the world. You need someone that doesn't have to have a learning curve. But I'll help you. I'll support you in any way that I can. Fast forward that Friday, Reitz calls again and says, don't say anything. Just listen. U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. I said, Reitz, I don't even know what the United Nations does. I just know everybody

hates it. And he said, well, the president's going to call you on Monday. You need to have an answer. And, you know, it wasn't the easiest time. Our son was 15. Our daughter had just started college. Michael and I, my husband, take care of my parents. They're in their 80s, and my mom has Parkinson's, so they live with us. So it wasn't necessarily the best time to move to New York. But the president called on Monday, and he said,

All right, Nick, are you going to do this? And I said, Well, there would need to be some conditions in place. And he said, okay, what are they? And I said, well, I've been a governor. I don't want to work for anyone else. I would want to work directly with you, so it has to be a cabinet position. He said, done. I said, well, I'm a policy girl, so I'd want to be in the room when decisions are made.

So it would need to be, you know, I'd want to be on the National Security Council. He said, done. And I said, well, I'm not going to be a wallflower or a talking head. I need to be able to say what I think. He knew that. And he said, that's exactly why I want you to do this. And he was true to his word from the first day to the last day. So the U.N. ambassador is not always a cabinet position.

It's not always. It's dependent on the president. Typically, Ronald Reagan had it as a cabinet position. position it's not always it's it's um dependent on the president typically um ronald reagan had it as a cabinet position he was the last republican president to have it as a cabinet position and then um and president obama did have it as a cabinet position very cool all of this is covered and many many other things in the book with With all due respect, where all bestsellers are sold, you can find it. Ambassador Nikki Haley is our guest this segment and next. And Defending America with Grit and Grace.

Great subtitle. Love it. We'll be right back with more from Ambassador Haley. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Our guest this half hour, bucket list check, Ambassador Nikki Haley is with us, Her new book bestseller immediately. With all due respect, Defending America with Grit and Grace. We were talking through the time in South Carolina when the shooting occurred and the healing process that she led her state through. And then President Trump calls and she ends up being the, chooses to be a cabinet position form of UN ambassador.

So I'm looking in from the outside, and I'm not in your world at all. And so I'm one of those people that just kind of looks at the UN and shakes my head in disgust. And it's not a political statement. It's just highly ineffective and a pile of money going down the tubes and all this kind of stuff. So I'm pretty cynical about it. So I'm curious, when you got there, what surprised you in a good way that you went, wow, this is so much better than I thought? The people, the ambassadors. Typically, for other countries, that is a very senior position. So usually people at the end of their career, former national security advisors,

former finance ministers would be or secretary of states would be a U.N. ambassador. It's the most trusted person by their president. And so it was good for me because I realized you could get a lot done because they could talk to their president immediately if so it was good for me because I realized you could get a lot done because they could talk to their president immediately if we wanted to negotiate something or get something done. But just the caliber of people and the quality of people was really impressive. There was a lot not to like about the UN, but the people were really impressive. Not what not to like, but what was frustrating? The waste.

I mean, the waste of money and the waste of time and the bureaucracy of all of it. I mean, that was the first thing that I went in. Being an accountant myself, I always go in and look at the numbers first because I think numbers tell a story. And you can get a lot of solutions out of that. And so, you know, we immediately looked at that. And the first year we cut $1.3 billion off the budget. I mean, just with low hanging fruit. And there's so much more there. I mean, they still use elevator operators. And they, you know, everybody looks at the UN building,

and they think, oh, the ambassadors are in that big, tall, skinny building. No, that's all staff. There are thousands of people that work in the New York UN building, and it's just staff. And so it's a big waste. It's very bureaucratic. Every country wants to have their own people working in the UN staff, and so it can be a bit of a mess. But we went in, and we really cleaned up the peacekeeping missions. We fought for just streamlining a lot of reforms that we wanted to see at the UN, and we were able to make a dent.

What changed in you because you did that? I think the main thing that changed in me are the things that I saw. You know, right now, especially we were talking about how toxic the political environment is, and you hear both parties referring to the other side as evil. And I've seen evil. I've been to the Democratic Republic of Congo where they use rape as a weapon of war. I've been to South Sudan where I've talked to crying mothers where one told me that her baby was taken from her and thrown into a fire, and she had to eat his flesh. I've been on the Simon Boulevard Bridge watching thousands of Venezuelans holding their babies in the hot sun for hours to go get the one meal they might get that day. The average Venezuelan adult has lost 24 pounds. I've had to look at pictures of children who died from chemical weapons from

Assad. That's evil. What we have in our politics right now are different ideas, and they should be debated, and people should be passionate. But we need to remember to be grateful, because on our worst day, we are blessed to be in America. Yeah. If you don't love this country, that's the definition of someone that hasn't traveled. I mean, go to any country, and what I found was all of the ambassadors, they might have resented us. I mean, every day I felt like I had to

put on body armor, and there was going to be a fight just to know which country we were going to fight that day. But while they resented us, they all wanted to be us. They all loved that we had the freedom of speech and freedom to worship and freedom of expression in any way that we wanted and they would tell me that they all loved the idea that we had opportunities in america like no other place and so we have to remember that while we live in the best most generous country in the world

it's not going to protect itself. We have to be responsible with it. We have to be responsible with how we spend with it. We have to be responsible with how we allow for those freedoms and opportunities. We have to be responsible with how we treat each other. How do you think we lost our ability to have any touch of a civil conversation in the political landscape. And if we lost it that way, how do we get it back? I think people were frustrated, and I think they were frustrated with their government.

You know, I came in through the Tea Party time, and people at that point were frustrated with governments not understanding the value of a dollar and the spending. That has since morphed into more of a frustration that government's not listening. And, you know, I think that that gave the rise to the passion, and then social media gave the rise to allow people to say hateful things without having to look the person in the eye. And so you add all that together, and you've just and you've just created what's a really toxic environment. And every one of us has to be responsible.

I know people talk about the president. It's not just the president. It's the Republican Party. It's the Democrat Party. It's athletes. It's entertainers. Everybody needs to be more conscious of what they say. And our younger generation is watching us,

and they are learning from every single thing we're doing. And at some point we have to understand that when we fight and when we don't get along, and I talk about it a lot in the book, the only ones that win are Russia and China because they love how divided we are. This is exactly what they want is for us to be distracted. Anything they can do to take our hand off the wheel. That is exactly right.

So what have you been up to since you left the U.N.? Well, I have been talking to normal people and not Russia and China anymore, which I've loved. I spent a lot of time on the book. The reason why I wanted to write the book now was I knew the facts would be there. I wanted the emotion to be there. I wanted the emotion to be there. I wanted people to know what the behind the scenes was like at the UN and the decisions that were made. And being governor and being a woman and family and how you tackle all of that. I also started a policy group called Stand for America.

And that's because my son and our daughter, they don't get their news from television or the newspaper. It's from social media. And so this is a platform where we try and engage the younger people, and it talks about capitalism versus socialism and why there's an anti-Israel bias at the UN and what Medicare for All will mean. And so it just gives some things there. So I've been talking with some college groups as well

and just been enjoying taking a breath. It's been nice. I was raised by a powerful lady, and I'm married to one, and I raised two more. And Rachel Cruz is one of our daughters, is one of our best-selling authors that speaks regularly. And we talk about this kind of thing all the time. And you talk about it in the book, and this is a fabulous phrase,

as a woman, what does it mean to know the power of your voice? You know, it's not use it all the time, but it's knowing when to use it. And when you use it, make it mean something. And I think a lot of times it's not how much you say, it's what you say. And so I've always tried to tell everyone to use the power of their voice. You can move mountains with your voice if you use it for good. Sometimes when people find their voice, they have so much anger that they can't stop talking or saying the wrong thing at the wrong times.

They're spewing. That's different than finding your voice. That's different than finding your voice. That's exactly right. Look, I heard a lot of spewing at the United Nations, so I can tell you that that happens. But our words matter. We see it in the 24-hour news cycle. They ain't got anything to say, and so they have to say something, and it doesn't come out well.

That's exactly right. It's not well thought out. And when you've got an avatar, instead of someone signing their name to their hate online, digital courage, which is actually cowardice, it goes there. So, Ambassador, thank you for taking time to come by. We're honored to have you in our home. Oh, this has been a lot of fun. Thank you so much. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the book is With All Due Respect, Defending America with Grit and Grace.

And having met her and spent a little time with her, I'm sure that's exactly what you'll find between the covers. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. in the lobby of ramsey solutions on the debt free stage jim and sandy are here hey guys how are you great doing great good to have you guys welcome where do you guys live uh lana georgia or north just northwest ackworth yeah absolutely welcome good to have you thank you how much debt did you pay off 199 815 dollars and how long did it take to pay off 200 grand 46 months all right and what was your range of income during that time we were in between 140 170 is,000, $170,000-ish, give or take.

Cool. What did you all do for a living? Sales. Okay. Traveling warriors. Both of you? Yes. Road warriors, yeah.

Okay. In the same industry? Same industry, different companies. Oh, wow. Yeah. Are you competitors? No. No, no, no, no.

No. She said yes, he said no. No, I said no. I'm kidding. What kind of debt was the 200 grand it was our mortgage i'm looking at weird people you paid off your house and everything baby off the house well done well done yeah it's the only debt we had i love it well congratulations so how long have you two been married? Well, it's going to be 10 years this Thursday. Oh, happy anniversary.

Thank you. Very fun. So four years ago, you said we're going to get serious about this. Why? What made you decide to do that? Well, we built a brand new house. Okay. And we decided we had a five-year plan.

We did the 15-year finance. We had a five-year plan, and the beauty of it is a lot of my job, a lot of it was commissioned. So the more commissioned, the more got thrown at it. So we were able to knock it out in three years and ten months. Wow. Wow. So once you set down that goal in front of you, it gave you reason to work again even harder oh yeah absolutely oh yeah and there's nothing like being in sales and having a real clear thing like that you go i'll just yeah i'll make one more call

yeah yeah you just go one more thing yeah i've been i've been doing that my whole life i love it that's just i have to have a goal i'm useless without without a goal. Well done, you guys. Well done. You don't have a house payment. Uh-uh. No. Have you ever been completely debt-free in your adult life? No. Nope.

Never. And not in the 10-year marriage, for sure. No. No. No, definitely. What's the house worth? Now, probably, well, close to around $400, and it was $279, I think, when we bought it. Yeah, yeah.

Very good. How does it feel to be completely free? What was funny is since we're road warriors, when we paid the house off, we literally left to go do our jobs. And then we both got home, and we looked around, and we're like, oh, this is so exciting. This is ours. We don't owe anybody anything. This is our home. So it was really exciting that first day that we came back home.

That's the same emotion I tell people. Take your shoes off. Walk through the backyard. The grass feels different. Oh, yes, sir. It's yours. Yes, yes. Wow. So very cool so um you make good money

and uh i'm guessing you were empty nesters yes we are both on the road you said 10 years and um you said okay we're just gonna we're just gonna do this we're just gonna be game on singular focus other than that what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Well, the way I've tried to tell friends and colleagues is we run our house like it's a business. It's like Jim and Sandy LLC. It has to turn a profit, period. And that's our focus. And we've been that way from day one from our first date

we're sitting across the table from each other telling each other what we didn't want yeah and when you when you might have been in the rearview mirror yeah because because what you want changes what you don't want never changes right and and so it's like we we were debt free except for mortgages or whatever back then and so we both went into it we've been a team from day one so it's been fantastic wow way to go you guys very very cool very cool what was the hardest part i don't think we really had a hard part it was oh oh i was the hardest part? I don't think we really had a hard part. It was.

Oh, I guess the hardest part would be this. I got to tell on her. Well, number one, two things. You didn't get a receipt? Well, it was $1.19. Doesn't matter. Need a receipt. To make sure I got receipts. She's running a business.

She wants your expense report documented. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And then every two weeks, the budget is set, the household budget, every two weeks. So when they say it's around the 13th and there's maybe just a very little bit left in this discretionary fund, she'll just turn to me and go, honey, we're broke. And I go, okay. In other words, she's putting that on the debt.

Yeah. We were broke. That's putting that on the debt. Yeah. We were broke. That's it. We're broke. Got to wait until the 15th or 16th before we spend any more money. Exactly. That's so good. You know, there's something about that, though, that is tremendously satisfying when you take control of money instead of it controlling you.

And that's what you're talking about. You're joking around. But the two of you really together, she was functioning as the accountant and controller but you were making the decision together on principle that we're going to live like no one else yep so later we can live and give like no one else amen well done you guys so proud of you thank you who were your biggest cheerleaders outside the two of you uh what probably josh or i would say our son joshua was probably our biggest cheerleader. He's also going through, he went through FPU.

Oh, okay. And we put him through FPU, actually. And so he's probably our biggest cheerleader. He's still in Baby Step 2, working on a little bit of that. But he's only got a little bit left to go. But so yeah, we shared our stories, and i think it really inspired him and so it's worked well and he kind of patted us on the back well so she got him she got him using the every dollar app i did oh okay all right there we go i did it's a family affair now yes yes

very very cool well done we've got a copy of chris hogan's book for you every day millionaires because you'll be one in 20 minutes if you're not already. With that house value and then the 401K, you might be there now. You are? You're there now? All right. EDMs, Everyday Millionaires. I love it. See, that's what happens. And you fit the profile. You fit it exactly in terms of a paid-for house in under 10 years

and the balance being in 401Ks and Roth IRAs. That's the normal millionaire in America. There's a lot of other ways to get there, but that's the primary methodology we've found is exactly what you guys did. So very proud of you. We've got a copy of the book to confirm that for you, though. Very good stuff. All right, it's Jim and Sandy from Atlanta, Georgia.

$200,000 paid off in 46 months, making $140,000 to $170,000. That's their house and everything. They're weird. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Love it!

Yeah! That's how it's done right there. Absolutely impressive. So proud of you guys. Very cool. And they're free. I know you guys listen to this, and I know you guys watch it on YouTube, and I know there's millions of you looking at this,

but just listen to me carefully for a second. It's not a joke that when she walked back in her house, she felt different. You hear her say that? The house, we went on the road after we paid it off and we came home. I looked around, I felt grateful, and I felt different. Let me tell you what that is. That's a slave that has been set free. The borrower is slave to the lender. And when you're free, you don't have any debt, completely house and everything, you almost can literally feel a light switch in your soul flip.

You can almost feel the switch flip. You didn't even know that you felt that way until you don't feel like a slave anymore. And it's this light, feathery feeling. It's this sense of liberty. This sense of freedom. It's different, you guys. And it's very real. And it's different you guys and it's very real and it's worth scratching and clawing for it's worth sacrificing for it's worth fighting for that puts this hour of the dave ramsey show in the books Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show,

make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to National and tell Dave your story.