The Ramsey Show - App - Get Off Your Assumptions and Go Do Something (Hour 3)

Episode Date: April 22, 2019

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🎵 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 am Dave Ramsey, your host, and I appreciate you listening. We're glad you're here. Open phones as we talk about your life and your money. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Now, the stuff we teach here and have for almost 30 years is proven.

It's no longer an opinion. It's not a theory. I don't agree with Dave Ramsey's advice, which would make you wrong. And I know you're writing a blog from your mother's basement, and you're looking for clickbait using my name. I understand that, but you're wrong. And it's always humorous to me to see people who are broke on Twitter ragging on the advice that I give.

Or a broke 26-year-old journalism student, deeply in student loan debt, writing an article about me. That's humorous. Because it's stupid. Here's the thing thing here's the advice that we give you if you do these five things from the bible and from your grandmother they're called common sense you will win with money 100 of the time now i don't know exactly how long it will take you, and I don't know what win with money will mean, because I cannot predict your income,

and I cannot predict the tragedy that you will have to overcome. But subject to your income to tragedy ratio, to the extent you do these five things, you will win with money. You will become wealthy in North America if you will do these five things over and over again. Number one, you need to have a written plan, a budget. Jesus said, don't build a tower without first counting the cost, lest you get halfway up and you're unable to finish, and all who see you begin to mock you and say, this man began to build.

No one began to build and're unable to finish, and all who see you begin to mock you and say this man began to build. No one began to build and was unable to finish. No one accidentally wins at anything. And you're not the exception. I don't like Dave Ramsey's advice. I don't give a crap. You're wrong. You have to do a written game plan with money or you're going to lose. Second thing is you've got to get out of debt.

Your most powerful wealth-building tool is your income. And when you spend your whole freaking life giving your money to banks who fill up the skyline and have furniture nicer than yours, that makes you stupid. Get out of debt. When you don't have any payments, you know what you've got? Money. That makes you stupid. Get out of debt. When you don't have any payments, you know what you've got? Money.

Do I care if you get out of debt? Yes, I want you to win. I want you to have a great life. But do I care if you agree with me? No. I don't care if you agree with me. If you don't agree with me about this money stuff you're what's known as wrong i've been doing this longer than most of my critics they were peeing in their diaper while i was doing this stuff they're wrong live on less than you make number three in the house of the wiser stars stores of choice food and oil but a foolish

man delivers all devours all that he has if you spend everything you make you're a fool well dave you don't know about my situation in america today wages are stagnant so why are they stagnant at your house you know where wages are stagnant on people who are stagnant you're only stagnant at your house? You know where wages are stagnant? On people who are stagnant. You're only stagnant wages if you decide to stay there and keep getting those wages. This is not Russia. You can quit. I don't like how much Walmart pays. I don't like how much McDonald's pays.

So don't work there, stupid. Go to work for somebody else. I don't like how my company treats me. So leave. Go be somebody. There's no reason that you have to be stuck somewhere because some liberal journalist said you were stuck. You're not stuck.

You're stagnant. Don't be stagnant. You know what stagnant pond water does it grows scum on top you don't want to be stagnant you get scummy you need to go be somebody you need to leave the cave kill something and drag it home you need to decide that my life is not good enough the way it is and so i am going to control the controllables i I am going to change some things. Because guess what? Nobody in Washington is going to fix your life. Santa Claus doesn't live there, baby. Have you noticed that the Democrats and the Republicans, neither one could

freaking add? Have you ever had any of them send you money? No, they are not going to fix your freaking life. You are going to fix your life. You're going to fix your freaking life. You are going to fix your life. You're going to get on a plan. You're going to get out of debt. You're going to live on less than you make. And then you're going to save some money. You know how rich people get rich? They save money. Wow. I don't know if I agree with Dave Ramsey's investment assumptions. I don't give a crap if you agree with my investment assumptions. You know what my investment assumption is? My assumption is you're going to be broke until you save money. That's my assumption. You need to get up off your assumption and go do something. You need to get up off your

assumption and start investing some money. 100% of the people that don't save money don't have any. Wow. How's that for insight? doesn't take a freaking rocket scientist to figure this out you know what the problem on your investments are the problem with your investments is not your rate of return it's not your expense ratio it's not no load versus load it's not your nerdy twisted up toxic butt opinion about some investment your problem with your investments is you don't have any that's the problem with your investments is you don't have any. That's the problem with your investments. 100% of the people that build wealth save money on purpose a lot. Some people do it poorly in a stupid money market account and make no money on their money.

Others do it wisely in mutual funds that outperform the S&P or real estate that they pay cash for that outperforms the S&P. Others are just passive and do the S&P or real estate that they pay cash for that outperforms the S&P. Others are just passive and do the S&P. And they all write books about it and all have a freaking opinion and make money off of you while you're stagnant. That's stupid. Don't be stagnant. Invest money.

Save money. You know how you're going to do that? You're going to be on a plan. You're going to get up out of debt. You're going to live on less than you make. And voila, there is money in the budget. It's called margin, baby. And now you got the money to be on a plan. You're going to get up out of debt. You're going to live on less than you make. And voila, there is money in the budget. It's called margin, baby. And now you've got the money to be rich.

You've got to act like rich people. And that's not go spend a bunch of money, moron, because rich people don't go spend a bunch of money. I'm going to go buy a Ferrari. I'm acting like rich people. No, you're acting like a moron. Ferraris aren't rich people. That's the ultra rich. You don't buy a Ferrari if you're a millionaire.

That's crazy, you people. I'm going to act rich. I'm going to rip people off. That's just a liberal nonsense. Rich people don't rip people off. They didn't get rich by ripping people off. That's just stupid. Don't be stupid.

It makes you look bad. Don't be stupid. It makes you look bad. Don't do that. And if you'll get out of debt and you'll invest and you live on less than you make and you have a plan, then you can do the last one. It's the most fun you'll ever have with money. You can be outrageously generous, randomly generous, lavishly generous, but broke people can't do that because they sit around and discuss their investment philosophies while they invest nothing.

It's like people smoking weed discussing the meaning of life. They ain't getting nothing done. You need to get up off your assumptions and go do something. It's your turn. This is the Dave Ramsey shot. There's nothing smart about smartphones if your wireless plan is blowing your budget each month. Pure Talk USA offers smarter wireless with unlimited plans starting as low as $20 per month. You never pay data overage fees and we never turn off your data.

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Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Brianna. Hi, Dave. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I have a question for you regarding purchasing a car while on baby step two. So I've been paying pretty aggressively on my student loans. I've paid off $40,000 in the last year and want to keep paying pretty aggressively. I've had a car lease for the last

three years and that's up in August. I have the option to purchase my car, which only has 13,000 miles for $14,000, which I can pay in cash. And the car is on the market for between mid $16,000 to $18,000. Or do I return my car lease and buy a car for $5,000 or $6,000 and throw that money towards my student loan debt. What's your income? $100,000. Okay. I would buy the car.

You're buying it under market, you're paying cash for it, and it's under half your annual income. Okay, great. And you like the car? I like the car, and I know that it will last me probably 10-plus years. Yeah, probably not. But aside from that, it's a reasonable car on your thing. The only caveat is you're not doing the baby steps right.

You know that. Yeah, so I am per diem. Yeah, I don't care. You know how to do the baby steps, and it's $1,000 in the bank, and all other money in your budget goes on your smallest debt while working the debt snowball. You knew that, didn't you? Yeah, I have the three- to six-month emergency fund because I'm an as-needed worker. You make $100,000 a year.

I did, but there were a couple months where I made nothing. Zero. Zero, but much less. Okay. About $2,000. Okay. Well, let's redefine some of these terms. The money in the $14,000, is that in this three to six months?

Yes. So I would still be able to have my $1,000 emergency funds, but that would be pretty much. Yeah, so what are you going to do if you're out of work the next month? Well, the hospital is pretty short-staffed because of summer vacations and things. I'm a nurse. You're a nurse. Why would you ever go an entire month with no income if you're a nurse? Well, because I'm as needed. No, you would pick up another job the moment you weren't needed.

Yeah. Because you can do that in about 30 seconds as a nurse. Yeah, that's true. Okay. I could. Okay. But, yeah. Okay, so let me stop a second because i want our listeners that are following stuff very diligently and precisely to let's make a designation okay had i i would have named that money not an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. I would have named that an income loss fund because you've had actual months with zero income.

If that's the case, you do need to set that aside. But it's technically not an emergency fund. It is only there for income loss. But I also would limit the size of that because I would pick up some other gigs or have some other gigs lined up in case you weren't needed on as needed. Yeah. I think I would be okay to just have the $1,000 emergency fund from this point. I kind of had that from before. Okay.

I learned about you and all the baby steps. And you need to have that second job lined up or be in it to pick up if they don't need you because you can't be going zero income with $1,000 in the bank. Right. And if you have some months that are literally zero income, you do need to prepare for those. But that's a different account That's not an emergency fund. That's a predictable event in this case. That's like saying Christmas is coming, and I have to save up for Christmas. You can do that in addition to your $1,000.

Or I've got property taxes due in October. I'm going to save up for those. You can do that in addition to your $1,000, but that's not your emergency fund. So that's fine-tuning your verbiage just a little bit, and there's a difference because if you dial this stuff in and you don't do ish, you'll be fine. But I'm with you. I would pay cash for this car. It's a reasonable car.

You're in a wonderful career field to make money, and you're going to be in great shape. You're going to do very, very well. Keep it up, kiddo. Thanks for calling in. Devin is with us in Monroe, Louisiana. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Devin. How are you doing today? Better than I deserve.

How can I help? I really don't know if I have a question to tell you the truth. What I'm struggling with right now, my wife and I have our $1,000. We started this about the beginning of last summer and started with about $90,000 in debt. We've got it down to about $75,000, $77,000. But we've kind of hit a lull, and I'm kind of looking for motivation, honestly, to try and continue on with this. Because, I mean, we have three little girls, and it's just kind of like a struggle. Gotcha.

And what's your household income? Right now it's $46,000 a year. I'm the only one working right now. My wife finishes school in June. She's going to be an LPN, and then she'll get a job after that, so that will help tremendously, obviously. Yeah, that's going to double your income or more. Yeah, but like I said, that's still a couple months away, and I guess we're just kind of

trying to fight our way until that point. Yeah, okay. How many hours a week are you working? I'm full-time. I work for the United States Postal Service. So you're working 40 hours? Yeah. No more?

You don't have a second job? Not right now because she's in school. You know, she does 12-hour clinicals and then has to come in and do homework and stuff, and we just don't have anyone else to watch the girls. Gotcha. That's a good investment of your time because, obviously, she's going to double your income, more than double your income come June. And, hey, that's just a few months away.

Your life's going to be great. You're going to really, you know. So all you've got to do right now for about 60 days is tread water, right? Yeah, pretty much. And you've been more than treading water. You've already paid off $15,000, so very impressive. Thank you. So you're doing good. You're doing fine.

You have hit a lull a little bit because it's like, you know, you're waiting on June kind of, and you can kind of see that, and it makes it hard to push on through and fight on through, but you're doing all the stuff you need to do. You're on a budget, right? Yeah. Okay, here's what I would do. I would put some – are you a visual person? I'm a visual person.

Yes, I am. Yeah, make yourself up a construction board, you know, one of those boards from the, like we used when we were kids in school or something with a thermometer on it, and put the girls' pictures all over it and put we're doing it for them, we're changing our family tree, and build a thermometer for the debt reduction and put it on your refrigerator. Okay. Something like that where you just, you need to be reminded of your why. The reason you started this was not just to be out of debt. You were getting out of debt so that.

Oh, definitely. Yeah, what's your so that? It's them. We want to make sure that they have the life that we want to give them and better than the ones we've had when we were younger. Yeah, we want to show them how to handle money, and we want to become wealthy so that we change to give them better than the ones we've had when we were younger. Yeah, we want to show them how to handle money, and we want to become wealthy so that we change our family tree. We retire with dignity, and we're outrageously generous.

And these are the things we're doing, right? Right. So write all that stuff down. Make some notes and remind you. Because, you know, you've got to have something that bumps up in your face to remind you of your why. If you've got your why real clear and your why is big enough, you're looking past the poop you're having to walk through

to get over there into the good stuff, right? Exactly, exactly. And you guys, even with her doubling your income, you guys got another 18 months of poop to walk through. And you'll be debt-free. Then you're going to be debt-free. And, man, you're going to be making like $100,000 a year household income or more, and you're going to have no payments.

You're not going to even know how to act. I mean, we really aren't, and we talk about that quite a bit, honestly. I mean, we're just outside Monroe, Louisiana. We're in southeast Arkansas, just right on the state line. So the cost of living here is really low. Yeah. And with that kind of income, it just excites us to try and push forward. But it's just such a struggle to even, you know, see the finish line, I think.

Yeah. Yeah. The good news is that maybe for the first time in your lives, you have a finish line. Most people don't even know where the finish line is. I'm really proud of you. I think you're doing good stuff, man. Keep scratching. Keep clawing. If you need some help, you can call me back anytime.

This is the Dave Ramsey Solutions, Adam is with us. Hey, Adam, how are you? Great, Dave. How are you? I am better than I deserve. Where do you live? I live in Albany, New York. Welcome to Nashville. Bit of a trip to do a debt-free scream. Absolutely. It took us 18 hours to get here. Wow. Serious road trip.

And how much did you pay off? I paid off $46,000 in 40 months. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? $50K to $62K. Good for you. Wow. What kind of debt was the $46K? So many things.

Student loans. There were two credit cards. There was a debt to my mother. There was a personal loan. A car fleece. That's about it, though. How old are you? 28.

28, and you're debt-free? Debt-free. A hundred percent. You collected all the normal debts, and you decided 40 months ago to knock it out, and you averaged over $1,000 a month for over three years, making $50 to $62. What do you do for a living? I'm a software developer. I work for New York State. Good for you. years, making $50 to $62. What do you do for a living? I'm a software developer. I work for New York State. Good for you. Okay, cool.

What lit your fuse 40 months ago? Well, so I went to Atlanta, Georgia for a convention, and I just charged $700 hotel bill on the credit card. And when I got home, I just hit my knees. I had no idea what to do. I just could not pay for it. So it was not a work reimbursement. You just had to pay for it.

No, it wasn't for work. It was just an out-of-work convention. Oh, my gosh. You just get home, and so the $700 hotel bill woke you up and said, this is enough, and then what did you do? So my friend Andy, who I was living with at the time, he introduced me to your radio show and had me download the EveryDollar mobile app. And then also at the same time, I wrote up an email to a lady named Julie Wentz, who is a financial coach through your team out in New York.

And I met with her. How did you find her? So I found her through your website. Oh, okay. Yes. All right. So I met with her, uh we came up with my very first budget wow yeah how strenuous was that oh my god it was so uncomfortable it's very awkward

it was it was so uncomfortable i i literally had no clue what i was doing at the time yeah it's like the first time you sit down in a car seat and you turn the ignition and put it in drive you don't even know what it's going to do oh yeah you watched other people do it but you're like oh whoa this thing's moving yeah yeah i mean well i think for me the thing is that um you know it i was just bankrupt not just money but you know in my spirit i just dead inside absolutely 100 yeah why you know um i had some issues with substance abuse in my past um and uh i've been in recovery for about three years now for that um and uh you know it just i don't know why i have no idea it's not it's not unusual folks in recovery why. I have no idea. It's not unusual.

Folks in recovery, once you beat that animal and you get that behind you and you're sober for a while, then it feels, you know, it's like, okay, now where's the next dragon to slay? And if you don't have something else that you're working on, you can kind of get caught in a rut. Yes, I agree 100%. get caught in a rut yes i i agree a hundred percent i mean it's one thing to not be doing that stuff but to turn my life around is a whole nother beast yeah not doing something is a big step but then doing something positive is another big step oh yes absolutely absolutely good for you well i'm proud of you man yeah good job well Good job. Well done, sir. How's it feel? 40 months, baby. 40 months.

It feels absolutely fantastic. Actually, you know, it's wonderful because now I actually bought a house. Wow. I bought a house on a 15-year fixed rate conventional mortgage through Churchill. A debt-free 28-year-old just did that. Yes. And his name's Adam. Way to go, dude 28-year-old just did that. Yes. And his name's Adam. Way to go, dude. That's you.

You did that. I did. That's so cool. That is very cool. Well done, sir. Very well done. Good for you. So you were 24, I guess, 25, when you started this. Tell that 25-year-old out there who feels stuck and a little bit dead inside what the

secret is to being you when they're four years later. The secret, so there's two secrets to all of this, and the number one secret is God, 100%. It all comes down to God. And everything else just comes down to I have to live on a budget. I have to live on every dollar that I make. It has to come down to it all has a name at the end of the month. It just would not be possible without

that. Okay. Well, you know, I'm a person of faith and I completely agree with you when you say God, but what do you mean by what did God do? What part did God play in this part, in this process for you? So God wasn't necessarily the one who is doing the budgets, you know, but God was the one who provided me the power, you know, the strength to carry it out. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Oh my God, absolutely. I mean, the thing is, there's so many ways to be Davish, you know, I could have just decided I'm going to create a budget and then, you know, I'll just ignore it for a month until I, you know, but that just adds an hour of waste to my life. But with God, I have the strength, the energy, the ability to go out into this world and do something different.

Well said. Well said. That's what I was thinking you meant. But I want to make sure people listening knew what you meant. Because really what happens is faith and hope are best friends. And you had kind of lost a little bit of hope. You were dead, you said. Yes.

And your hope came back alive. And so your faith played a part in giving your worldview, played a part in your behavior changing. Oh, yes, absolutely. This is not a math problem. Yeah. You know, because if you think about it, I mean, I'm a software guy. I'm a nerd, right? So mathematically speaking, debt is always more expensive. Always more expensive. Even a 90-day

same as cash. But the problem is if I don't behave in a way that leads to wealth and that leads to internal freedom, freedom on the inside, I'm going to continue to be dead. Well done. Well done. Well said. Okay, so now I've got to know. You said I'm a software developer, I'm a nerd and all that stuff. So what's the convention you went to in Atlanta that you spent the money on?

The convention, it's for spirituality. Oh, it's for spirituality. Okay. Yes. Okay. Okay. All right. Good.

Good for you, man. Well done. Very, it was for spirituality. Okay. Yes. Okay. Okay. All right. Good. Good for you, man. Well done. Very, very well done. Man. So who was your biggest cheerleader? So I have two cheerleaders. Three, actually. So one of them was my financial coach, Julie Wentz.

And then also my great friend, one of my best friends, Andy Barnes. And then also one of my best friends, Kat Gabriel. um and then also one of my best friends kat gabriel okay very cool good well you gotta have that man you gotta have people in your corner cheering you on saying you can do it because you get tired oh yeah i mean you did do that you did this for 36 plus four months three years and four months absolutely very well done and you stuck with it you hustled and grind you stuck with it. You hustled and grind. You stuck with it. You know, the number one character quality of people who succeeds is perseverance. It's not IQ. It's perseverance.

And you got that. Well done. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you. That is the next chapter in your story, Everyday Millionaires. And you're on your way. You've learned how to handle money, and you've figured out the source and the secrets in the process. And there's not any secret, really. It's common sense.

But well done, sir. All right, Adam from Albany, New York, $46,000 paid off in 40 months, making $50,000 to $62,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! I love it! Oh, that is so well done.

Ah, fabulous. Man, great job. Very well done. So, millennials, love you. I'm proud of you. Adam, there's another one right there. He did it. He's not a victim.

He's not waiting on Donald Trump or Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders to fix his life. Adam decided Adam was going to fix Adam's life, and he and God went about the business of doing it. Love that. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, Psalm 90 and 12, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Winston Churchill said, Character may be manifested in the great moments,

but it is made in the small ones. Absolutely. You know, as we study wealthy people, we find, and if you want to be wealthy people, you have to do what they do because it is a doing thing. It's not an inheritance thing. You're going to have the habits with money that cause you to become wealthy like what caused them to become wealthy. They do both offense and defense, meaning they invest and they invest well, but they also defend themselves with things like insurance, things like having a will, you know, the basic defense moves. You've got to have offense and defense to win a game.

And wealth is no different. We have a five-minute, it takes five minutes is all, free, didn't I mention it's free, coverage checkup, a five-minute coverage checkup. And we will text it to you or we'll hook you up with it, either one, and let you see how you're doing on your defense. Text the word CHECKUP to 33789. Text for the free hookup. Text the word CHECKUP to 33789.

Or if you're not a text monster, I'm not a text monster. Most of my friends are. My wife sure is. But I'm not much of a text monster. My thumbs don't do as well as my fingers do on a keyboard, so I'm more of an email guy. Check the website at DaveRamsey.com slash checkup. Mason is with us in Baton Rouge. Hi, Mason.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? All right. I'm calling for a live question, basically. I'm 18 years old, and I'm 15 to graduate high school,

and I'm also in a technical school right now for electrical and i'll finish that within a year but i just got a job at fedex and i'll be making 16 72 an hour uh part-time 30 hours a week and um monday through friday but i'll start working at 5 a.m and then i get off at 9 a.m uh well yeah 9 a.m um now i have a question should i either get another job from like 11 to 4 or start my own business where i want to like a lawn care business which i'll save all my money from right now until like december and then start my lawn care business in january and just run it to there it's only 30 hours a week job uh tell me about the electrical. What are you doing? Are you talking about you're going to become an electrician or you're studying electrical engineering or what does electrical mean? I'll be an electrician. I'll have my certification

in a year's time. Okay, and you're doing that in a trade school? Yes, sir. Is there an apprenticeship involved? No, sir. I'm sponsored to go there by a contractor here in Baton Rouge. I go there free, but when I'm done, I have to work with them. Okay. Can he not work you between 9 a.m. and 4? No, sir, because when you get on, like, a job site, they require you 40. Like, you work 410s or 510s or 712s or whatever,

so I can't work just part-time with a contractor. That's all. Okay. And how far away from your certification on that? About a year, a year. Would you be doing anything morally wrong to work for a residential electrician using the knowledge that you already have and do that part-time in addition to FedEx.

Here's where I'm going, Mason. I'm trying to lead you to do something that has to do with your long-term career. Because right now you're working at FedEx, and then you start a long-term care business and you're an electrician. You've got three different things going on. And I want you to just be focusing on where you want to be 10 years from now. At 28 years old, it sounds to me like you want to be an electrician. Yes, sir.

Okay. So I would spend my off time somehow being an electrician. Now, obviously, you're not certified. You're not licensed. You can't go do this by yourself, but you could work with a team of people pulling wire, labor, whatever, and at least be learning the trade hands-on. Then when you hit the ground with your other employer, by the way, he's already paying for your school, you said? Yes, sir, I'm a sponsor to go there.

Basically, I took a field trip during my school. I'm thinking of graduating, like I said, but I took a field trip, and they were impressed by the work I did when we were there for four or five hours, and they asked if I could go. Hey, talk to them and say, talk to them. I know you can't work full tens. They know you can't work full tens. But say, rather than me start a side business with my off time, can you not put me to work five hours a day doing something yes sir

i'd rather you work with the team you're going to be working with doing the stuff you're going to be doing in the future than i was starting a side business that you're going to turn right around and shut back down later um because you know when you're 28 you don't want to be mowing yards and being an electrician that's not your plan and you're not afraid of work. That's a good thing. And that's the beauty of this call for an 18-year-old. But I would always try to do work that's taking me towards my goal, that's not something that sidetracks me. Kate is with us in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Hi, Kate. How are you? Good. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I am debt-free. Through my work, I contribute to a Roth 401k. And my question for you is, I'm wondering how much should I be contributing to the Roth 401k or to retirement versus how much should I contribute to savings or an investment that I can pull

out of in the next, you know, five to 20 years if I want to buy a house or... You're 100% debt-free. You have your emergency fund in place. Yes. Okay. So to start with, I would be doing baby step four, which is I'd be putting 15% away in retirement plans. And now the order of retirement plans, the rock, paper, scissors on that is

the best thing you can do with a retirement plan is match. The next best thing you can do past getting the match is getting Roth. The next best thing past Roth or match, if you can get neither one of those up to your 15%, is to do traditional, which is before tax but taxable on withdrawal. Okay? Okay. That's the worst one of the three, but it's still not bad. But the best thing is your 401K have a match?

Yes, it matches. So if I contribute 6%, it matches 4%. Okay. So that takes care of 6%. We know we're doing that. Now we've still got nine to go. Your 401K has a Roth option, correct? So that takes care of 6%. We know we're doing that. Now we've still got nine to go. Your 401K has a Roth option, correct?

That's what I contribute to is the Roth IRA. I don't have a traditional. Okay. Not IRA, I'm sorry. Roth 401K. Okay, good. Yep. And so do you have good options, good mutual fund options in your 401k that have good track records over the long haul um i believe so yes okay then i probably just put it all in that the 15 in that you get

the six plus the nine and you can put it all there then above that i would start saving aggressively for my down payment on a house how old are you uh 27 okay good. 27. Okay, good. And you're single? I'm single, no kids. Okay, good. Yeah, I'd start saving aggressively for the down payment on my home, above saving 15%. What's your income? After tax is about 42. Okay, so you're making about 55 or 50 or so. Around there, yeah.

Yeah, okay, good. All right. And, yeah, what do you do for a living? I'm a registered nurse. Yeah, okay, good. All right. And, yeah, what do you do for a living? I'm a registered nurse. Excellent, excellent, good. Okay, so you can crank up hours if you want to jump over to an ER or something and hit some additional savings goals if you wanted to to save up your down payment that much faster,

and that moves you right along up the baby steps. And so you're right on track. You're doing a great job. Listen, folks, when we studied 10,000 millionaires in the largest study of millionaires that's ever been done in North America, our team in conjunction with a research firm, our research team in conjunction with a research firm and Chris Hogan did the study. We printed 140 of the statistics in the Everyday Millionaire's book.

It's not a white paper on the study, but we pulled 140 of the findings out of that and put them into Chris Hogan's book along with stories and motivation, and that's why the book is the number one bestseller. In that, we found that 79% of the millionaires used their 401ks and 80% of them millionaires use their 401ks, and 80% of them use paying off a home. Eight out of ten millionaires pay off their home and use their 401ks to build their first million dollars in net worth. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books.

We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know you can now listen to The Dave Ramsey Show on Pandora and Spotify? For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at DaveRamsey.com slash show.