The Ramsey Show - App - Goals Are Just Wishes Unless You Write Them Down (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 9, 2019

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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. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Thanks for jumping in. Well, it's the first of the year. A lot of people do this silly thing called resolutions. New Year's resolutions.

The problem with New Year's resolutions for most people is they fall more in the category of wish. I wish I could. I wish for 2019. I don't want you to wish. I want you to do it. So I'm going to suggest that you substitute the word resolutions for goals. What are you going to do? Not what are you going to talk about and wish about? What are you going to do differently in 2019 so that you have a more abundant, better life?

Because it is up to you. You're not going to win the lottery. You're not going to wake up one morning suddenly 50 pounds lighter. You're not going to dot, dot, dot, become wealthy. In one day, in one week, in one month, it's not going to happen. So you're going to have to begin to take the steps of intentionality, and that's called setting goals and then asking yourself about those goals, what has to be true that is not true now in my life to hit those goals.

Now, around here, we teach goal setting this time of year for our team and for our business units. We ask them, what do you want your desired future to be? What would you like your future to look like? And then what do you have to do differently to hit that future, to cause that future to be real? Because you are the one that's going to make it a reality. You should set goals really in about six or seven areas.

You should have financial goals, obviously. Intellectual goals. Are you going to read, take a class? Family goals. Spiritual goals. Are you going to read through Scripture this year? Read through the Bible in a year? There's an app with my friends over at YouVersion to help you do that. They've got a read through the Bible in a year plan's an app with my friends over at you version to help you do that they've got to read through the bible in a year plan there's a lot of

those plans out there maybe you're going to start attending church for the first time or again physical goals you're going to lose weight get in better shape run a marathon career goals going to change jobs get a better job make more money find a job you love instead of working with people you hate. Social goals, you're going to be a friend this year like never before. So you set goals in these seven areas, and it changes everything. Now, goals are just wishes unless you put some details to them. I want to write a book someday. You won't. I want to lose weight. You won't. It's not enough detail.

For a goal to work, it must have five components. The first two are it must be specific and it must be measurable. I want to lose weight is not specific. It is measurable. I want to write a book is specific, and it is measurable. So you've got the first two done with that. I want to make more money. That's not specific, but it is measurable. And so you have to make it specific. How much more money do you want to earn? How much weight do you want to lose?

I want to pay off my debt. Good. How much is your debt? That's specific and measurable. I want to pay off $36,000 in debt. Good. Very specific, very measurable. The third one makes all of the math come together instantaneously,

and your sixth grade math class kicks in. You can't keep long division from occurring, and that's when you put a time limit on it i want to lose 30 pounds great how many times and over how many years i want to make a hundred thousand dollars when over the next 15 years of the next 15 months or the next eight months i don't know so when you give it a time limit, though, it's instantaneous. I want to make $100,000 in the coming 12 months. Oh, that's $8,333 a month. That's $2,100 a week.

And if you're on commission, you're going to get about that business. If you're working overtime, you're going to get about that business because you're not going to hit that goal if you don't average $2,100 a week. That's what gets you to $100,000. You want to lose 30 pounds? Great. When? The next 90 days.

Can you do that math with me? That's 10 pounds a month, 2 1⁄2 pounds a week. Increase your water intake. Decrease your carb and sugar intake. Sweat 30 minutes a day doing something, and you will drop that weight. That will occur. You don't even need Oprah. See, I just did it for you.

That's how you do it. You put a time limit on it. It's specific and it's measurable. The last two are very, very important. And these are the two that people mess up. Number four is your goals for them to work must be in writing. You need to write it down. You can type it out.

You can handwrite it. I don't care what it is. But until it's it down. You can type it out. You can handwrite it. I don't care what it is, but until it's written down, it's not a goal. The Bible says, write the vision and make it plain, Habakkuk 2.2. Write the vision and make it plain. Write it down. If you've got a goal for your team, with your team, a desired future for one of our business units here, we put it on the wall where everyone can see it, and then we all know if we won the Super Bowl or not.

Did we hit the goal? Did we ring the bell? Did we hit the mark? We know what the mark is, and that way you know if you hit it or not, and it's in writing. And it's on display, by the way. Put it on display. Tell people in your life that you will be embarrassed that way if you don't do it now you don't necessarily have to buy a billboard on the side of the interstate but tell your spouse

tell some of your co-workers this is what i'm doing tell some of your best friends this is what i'm going to do this year this is what i'm going to do this year and then if you don't do it they can they can jazz you about it and razz you about it. That's a good thing, too. A little bit of that accountability that's called in the offing is good for you. In writing and broadcast it a little bit. Specific, measurable, have a time limit, and in writing. Number five, your goals that are going to work must be your goals. My wife wants me to lose weight.

You won't. My husband wants me to lose weight. You won't. My husband wants me to make more money. You won't. My mother always wanted me to be a dentist. I don't want to go to you. You hurt people. Because you're not there because you are there as a healer. You're there to please your mommy.

Other people's goals, when you're living other people's life for them, that is a miserable life for you. It's a miserable life for those around you, and you generally are ineffective, unproductive, and it doesn't happen. By the way, leaders, when you set goals for other people, those aren't goals. Those are called quotas. So you sit with your salesperson, and you help them develop their goals that fit into the company goals, the department goals. That's fine.

But to come on from on high out of the ivory tower and make an announcement, the corporate says we're going to sell X. That's not a goal. That's a quota. And that's demotivating instead of motivating. Goals that work must be specific. They must be measurable. They must have a time limit. And they must be your goals, not your mama's.

Financial, intellectual, family, spiritual, physical, career, and social goals. All right, boys and girls, it's time to have a great 2019. I'm ready. Are you? 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 churchillmortgage.com for your Churchill checkup. This is a paid advertisement.

NMLS ID 1591. NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. Nathan is with us in St. Louis. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Nathan. Hey, Dave. Thanks so much for taking my call.

Sure. What's up? Hey, I wanted to ask a question. I'm 22 years old, debt-free, and I was looking into my wife and I have some money saved up, and we can either go through the process of purchasing a business, which will raise our income dramatically over the next couple of years and hopefully the rest of our lives, or go through the process of buying a house and keep making the income that we're making with decent raises and then work on buying into the business later on. I wanted to get your thoughts. Can you pay cash for the business?

Well, my father-in-law owns the business. It's commercial carpet, carpet tile and flooring surfaces and we would basically buy another branch of it he would own the majority of it i would own the minority of it i would pay cash in the beginning and then over the next five or so years pay it off with cash and buy majority statements from him. I don't recommend that people buy minority positions in business even with

family. Because you have let me tell you what you did. You just put money in something you have absolutely no legal control over whatsoever. He can walk in technically speaking and just close it one day you don't want yourself in that position and i don't think that will happen you're 22 you've just been married a little while we know that because you're 22

and um so i uh i don't think your father-in-law is a bad guy. Obviously, you wouldn't be entertaining this if you thought he was a bad guy. But I don't buy into minority positions in business, period, even in the best of situations like that where you put money up to do that. If he wants to have you open a branch and run it for him for a percentage of profits with the option of buying the branch for cash 100% and owning it someday, that might be a way to play at the same game. But you don't need to put money in it.

Okay, so you're basically saying go through, hold on to my money, because I would basically, my wife and I would move, I would run it as the operations person for the business. Yeah. Like the funding would run through him, and then just stockpile cash to the point when I can purchase it 100% outright. Yeah, meanwhile go buy a house. Okay.

But you go, this is your job is to run the... In other words, I would propose a different structure with your father-in-law. I would propose that you go run the new operation for him. He funded. It's his. In return, you get a salary and some percentage kicker of the profits that you generate. That's a good way to... That's a good comp structure, that's a good comp structure

for a branch manager, right? That you get a salary of some kind plus a percentage of profits. So the more money you make him, the more money you make. That's a great comp plan. I've got those comp plans all over my building right now

and none of them are akin to me. Well, a couple of them are, but the rest of them aren't. And then the other piece of it is you have the option to buy the branch at some kind of set formula in the future. And the formula could be one times gross, two times gross, four times net. I don't care.

Have some kind of a set formula or a set price. I don't care. But then you go buy you a house you start saving money like a crazy man and you go buy that branch out and now you own your own business when you're 27 or 28 years old and uh you've been operating it a while you'll be you'll make a lot much more intelligent decision wise decision uh because you'll have experience on the decision on whether to move forward with that and so forth but in the meantime you have the option to purchase and you are his ops manager

that pays paid a salary and a percentage of profits with an option to buy the thing out in the future that's what how i would structure it and then and then you go ahead and live your life which is buying a house and that that's what i would do hey thanks for the call open phones at 888-825-5225 emma is in los angeles hey emma welcome to the dave ramsey show hi dave thank you so much for taking my call sure what's up yes dave um i have a question is regarding should i buy back years of service or should I just invest in other things like Horizons, which is my 457 plan, or the Roth IRA, which I started last year? Yeah, your Roth IRA and good mutual funds or the Horizons plan will be better. Buying back years of service usually has somewhere around a 6% rate of return on it.

And, oh, by the way, if you die, you lose that. You're just buying pension time is all you're doing. Yeah, it's about eight years of service, and they told me it's about $43,000. No, thank you. I'd rather put the $43,000 in something that when I die, it survives me. I think it goes to my husband, but it's a... But after that, it's gone. Correct.

Yeah, you're buying into a pension that you lose upon death or upon death of the survivor, either one, and it's going to have a poor rate of return compared to what you can get in the marketplace. I never buy years. I see. You can make more money on the you can make more money on the 43 000 while you're alive and and while you're dead gotcha what about between um the roth ira and the 457

plan i'll do the roth ira first but you don't have the ability to put the $43,000 into Roth IRA at one time. You can do $7,000 a year or $6,000 a year, depending on how old you are this year. And if you're married, you can do that much more for your spouse. But I'm going to always do those before I'm going to do a non-matching 457, which is where you are. So, hey, good question. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

By the way, if you didn't hear, we do have new limits this year on your Roth IRAs. It used to be $5,500. It's now $6,000 unless you are over 50, and it's now $7,000 for me. I'm over 50. So, woo-hoo, that's my AARP benefit. Not really, it's my IRS benefit, as if those two words should ever be in the same sentence. But, and maxing out on your 401K used to be 18, 18.5.

Now it's 19,000. Unless you're over 50 years old and you can do 25,000 in your 401K. So there you go. Do that max out and trump up and all that stuff. So make it happen. Yeah, $7,000 a year over $56,000 a year. And if you are married, your spouse the same amount, even if they are not making an income.

You can do a spousal IRA as long as the earned income of the household is equal to the two IRAs put together. So do your Roths that way, and you can put all kinds of things together. Beautiful stuff. Beautiful stuff. Ashley is with us in Oahu, Hawaii. Hey, Ashley, how are you? Hi, Mr. Hempsey.

How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I appreciate everything that you teach. You're truly a blessing. Thank you. How can I help? My question is, so regarding the seven goals that you were just talking about,

I just want to hear your advice because I've been having trouble balancing those goals and working 60-plus hours a week going gazelle intense for the baby steps. Well, the idea that you balance goals in a given period of time is mythology. You don't. If you're training for a half marathon, you spend an unusual amount of time on the road running and less time with your bible probably if you spend the same exact amount of time on all seven of those things you would need two sets of 24 hours every day you know you just can't do it and so what happens is we ebb and flow i'll give you an example years ago when we were opening this business i was working six seven days a week

16 hours a day i was gone all the time 25 years ago when i started this uh you know when i work now when i want to you know but i paid a price there was a two-year period of time there that was gazelle intensity it wasn't regarding getting out of debt but it was regarding getting this business up and running and i had to pour the gasoline on the fire i had to bust it i had to kick it you know and so there's a time you hustle and grind in those different areas and so you know my wife and kids and i sat down and said you know for a couple of years, we're going to turn this thing on. We're going to live like no one else. And then later, we'll be able to live and give like no one else.

But it's ebb and flow in these areas, and that gives you your balance over time. Let me tell you a story about two families that are very much alike in a lot of ways. Both families have two working parents and a couple of young kids. Each has debt and a struggle to make ends meet. But they're starting to make headway with their budgets and smarter decisions with money. They have dreams and plans, and the only real difference is that one family has the right amount of term life insurance and the other doesn't. Big difference.

If one of the parents die, and that does happen, their well-being would be destroyed. Paying for the mortgage, utilities, food, and other bills would be impossible, let alone saving for education or retirement. That's why every day I talk relentlessly about getting term life insurance. Just go to ZanderInsurance.com or call 800-356-4282 and see how inexpensive it really is. Be the family that takes those deliberate steps to be different and responsible. It really does make you the hero of your story, and it puts you on course for better things ahead. Greg is with us in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Happy New Year, Greg. I see on my screen you're debt-free. Way to go, man. Thanks, Dave. It's an honor to be talking to you. Thanks for having me on. How are you today? Better than I deserve. How much have you paid off?

So I paid off $210,000, $210,202 in 21 months. Whoa! And your range of income during that time? About $88,000 to $176,000. Little jump in income. How do you explain that? Yeah, so basically my first two years out of residency, I'm a dentist, and I worked as an associate at multiple private practices in Texas. I was not very busy, and I was not making that much money.

And then there was a period about four months where I just couldn't even make my loan payments. Additionally, during that time, I had an engagement that ended and I just kind of got really down on myself after all that happened. I was like, how could this happen? I worked hard and did well in school all my life and now I'm two years out and this isn't kind of what I expected my life to be like. So I kind of felt like I hit rock bottom at that point. And then an opportunity came up. I decided to move to New Mexico. I took a temporary job with the Indian Health Service on the Navajo Reservation. Cool.

I didn't have Internet for a couple of months because it's kind of in a remote location. So all I could do was read. And it was there that I read your book, The Total Money Makeover, which I had taken from my parents' bookshelf about a couple years ago, but I never read. And kind of, you know, I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired, like you say. And after reading the book, I wrote down my first budget and debt snowball on a piece of paper.

And then I cut up my credit card and I began to make headway on my debt. Six months later, I took a full-time job at an awesome community health center. And then I continued to go to the Indian Health Clinic on Fridays as an extra job, just to make as much money as I could. And then I've continued to do this to this day. And after 21 months, after moving to Mexico, I paid off my student loans and I can't thank you enough for showing me the path to get out of debt I feel like I've totally rebuilt my life um I'm out of debt and I'm engaged to the the woman of my dreams and scheduled to get married uh this upcoming September um I also wanted yeah I also wanted to I thank uh my lord and savior Jesus, for giving me strength to do this,

and my parents, Bernie and Christina, and brother and sister Alec and Alexis, for all their support. So out of the 21 months, it had to be the majority of that 21 months you were making 176. Yeah, about it. It was a pretty pretty pretty pretty big jump yeah that had to be like because otherwise otherwise i was making before yeah otherwise i can't get to 210 in two years yeah yeah okay so it was it was pretty much like 176 like it was about 88 when i like in texas and then once i moved it it jumped up yeah i got you okay cool cool and so you really have been living on beans and rice? Basically, yeah.

I just, you know, I still live like I was when I was in school, you know, just have a one-bedroom, you know, apartment. And luckily my one-bedroom apartment's like right next to the office, so I can just walk there, you know. And I do have to travel an hour on Fridays. But, yeah, basically just beans and rice, like you said. So you're an MD making $176,000 a year. You're engaged, and you're how old?

I'm 32. I'm a DDS, actually. I'm a dentist. Oh, okay. Yep, yep. And you're 100% debt-free? 100% debt-free. My next goal is actually, you know, we got money saved up for the wedding, you know,

that we're going to totally cashflow that. And my next goal is actually to save up for a house. Very cool. So how's it feel, man? You're a weird, you're a weird dentist. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. And, and, you know, I just envisioned this day, like ever since I, you know, set on the path, so to get out of debt so it's it's awesome i can't i can't can't describe how awesome it is well you're used to setting big goals over a long period of time and hitting them and this is yet another one of those for you going through dental school was one doing this was another and so you've you've proven that you

can delay pleasure to win on a whole bunch of areas of your life. Congratulations. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? So I remember cutting up my credit card. That was a big one. When I was on the Navajo Reservation, I didn't really carry a balance on it, but it was kind of like what I had for my emergency fund. And, you know, I saved up $1,000 like in the baby steps. And then I cut it off and I was like, cut it up. And I was like, you know,

you know, if something happens, I surely hope I'll be able to cash flow this. And I did, you know, there's things that came up, but I was able to cash flow emergencies, you know. So cutting up a credit card is a big one. And then absolutely the written budget every month. I still do that. I use every dollar right now, but I used to just use a piece of paper to do it and kept the paper in my wallet. And then the debt snowball was big. You know, I feel like you get more motivation once you pay off that first loan with the smallest balance, and then that helps you tackle the bigger ones later in life,

and then just working an extra job, you know, to get your income up as high as you can. Very cool. Well done, sir. We're proud of you. Thank you so much. Got a copy of Chris Hogan's new book, Everyday Millionaires, because you were on your way to being one without a doubt. Wow, man.

That's your next step, isn't it? Yes. Thank you so much. I can't thank you and your team enough just for showing me the path to get out of debt. It's like I listen to you every day pretty much through podcasts or YouTube. So it's just an honor to talk to you. Honor to talk to you. We're proud of you, Greg. Well done.

All right, Dr. Greg in Albuquerque, New Mexico. $210,000 paid off in 21 months, making $88,000 to $176,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free. Yeah. This is how it's done.

Talk to these docs all the time, man. A whole bunch of them keep their student loans around for decades. There's no reason to keep your student loan around for decades. You need to just roll a ball up your fist and bust it in the nose. Just bust it in the nose like it's a bully. Old Sally Mae is an ugly old bully. You need to give her her eviction papers and put her on the street, man. There's some stuff to do here.

Well done. Very, very well done. I love it. Chris is with us in Baltimore. Hey, Chris, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, thanks, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure.

What's up? Hey, so you've probably answered this question before, and I apologize ahead of time, but my wife and I plan on buying a house in about 10 years. I'm in the Air Force, so I move every two and a half to three years. So right now we've got our savings in a money market account that's getting about 2.3% or so every year, and I've got roughly 20 20 000 in there um but i you know 10 years out i'm trying to determine if whether i should dump the money in a in a roth or just keep it in the money market i would if you're going to leave it alone five

years or longer i would not put it into a roth but i would put it into some mutual funds and let it grow. Okay. Because you're not earning anything now. Right. I mean, the money market is for five years and less goals, including the emergency fund should be in a money market type account. But the rest of it needs to go to long-term investing, needs to go into good growth stock mutual funds. And that's what I do with mine.

Anything I'm leaving alone at least five years, I'm going to try to get a better rate of return on it. So open phones at 888-825-5225. The stock market jumps up and the stock market jumps down, and it is a good, solid investment. There's nothing wrong with being in good mutual funds. But it is really, really, really, really risky if your horizon is five years or less, meaning you're going to use that money.

I'm saving up to buy a car in three years. Don't put that in a mutual fund. I'm saving up to buy a house in three years. Don't put that in a mutual fund. No, what you do is you only put stuff in mutual funds that you're going to leave alone five years or longer, and you stand a really good chance of making money that way. But you've got to be able to ride the waves up and down a little bit, and that way you don't get burned. That simple.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Lisa's on Facebook. Dave, I'm 53. Do I just need term life insurance to cover for working years? I plan to work 10 more years. Or should I cover it through age 73 to 78? You only need life insurance to the extent that someone is counting on your income and you're replacing your income. And Lisa, from your question on Facebook, I can't tell that. If you are a single

lady who is 53 and you have a tiny bit of money saved, over $10,000, so that your parents or your friends or your kids would not have to pay to bury you, then you really don't need any life insurance. Especially if you have a little bit of money. You're self-insured as a single person who does not have dependents. Now, if you have people who are counting on your income to live their life well, like for instance, let's say you're 53 and you're married and you have a college student. Well, then you would need some life insurance until you had enough money that you didn't need life insurance.

So let me kind of give you an example. A good way of looking at it is this. Let's take a 32-year-old that has, well, let's make them 33 since you're 53. And they have a 2-year-old, and they're 33 years old, and they have a 2-year-old and they're 33 years old. They have a two-year-old and a five-year-old. Okay. And that's a husband and wife and the wife makes $50,000 and the husband makes $40,000. Okay.

Each of them would need about 10 to 12 times their income in term life insurance over 15 or 20-year level term. So let's say that the wife bought, she makes $50,000, that she bought $600,000, that'd be $12,000, and the husband is making $40,000, and so he buys $500,000, that's about 12 times on him, and they buy 20-year level term insurance policies from Zander Insurance. Get the best prices anywhere, zanderinsurance.com, right? They put that in place.

If anything happens to them, let's say that husband walks out the door that morning and something bad happens, the wife gets $500,000 invested, would create $40,000 worth of income. If you invest $500,000, made 8% on it, that'd be $40,000 worth of income, to replace the husband's $40,000 salary that died when he did. And that gives her the ability to raise those children with the same income level that the household was before the husband passed. But let's say that that doesn't happen, which, by the way, it usually doesn't, statistically.

And they live to 53. Well, now let's visit that family 20 years later. Their term life insurance was 20 years. It's done after 20 years. They've got to buy new life insurance or they've got to be without life insurance. Well, if they're on the Dave Ramsey plan, 20 years later, they will have paid off their 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, usually in about 10 years.

And so it's been paid off for a good decade. The kids who were 3 and 5 are now 23 and 25. They are grown and through college, or should be, statistically. You would graduate from college in four years, i'd be 22 years old for those of you that know how that works okay so you're 53 your kids are grown through college and out of the house your house is paid for oh you've been investing like i teach over all these years 15 of your income until your house was paid off, and then you've invested even more into good growth stock mutual funds in your 401ks and Roth IRAs,

and so you've got $700,000 or $800,000 in mutual funds. All right, now there's no kids at home, there's no mortgage, and there's $700,000 in your 401ks. If he dies, you're okay with no life insurance. If she dies, he's okay with no life insurance. They have become self-insured by getting out of debt and building wealth and raising their kids to leave. Come back only with grandkids for visits.

That's the plan. We want the inmates to escape the asylum that's the goal fly and be free little eaglets and so that's the plan the kids are grown and gone no mortgage there's a pile of money in our retirement then your need for life insurance at 53 in that scenario is gone now we, we don't know where Lisa is. We know she's 53. We don't know if she did all of that to this point or if she's a single lady at 53. But the point is, is there someone that is counting on you?

If you're 33 years old, you've got two little kids, you need life insurance in almost every case, unless you're a multimillionaire and you're in really good shape today at 58 i still have life insurance but it is not because i need it it is very simply because my wife wants it it's called swi sharon wants it and she'd rather have another three million dollars worth of term life insurance on me for some strange reason because she's just real sure she's going to outlive me that's how her whole estate plan is set up and so well she's probably right 75 of you ladies do outlive your husbands so there you go but um and she's in a lot better shape than i am too which is simultaneously shaming and sickening and wonderful. But anyway, yeah, so she just wants some life insurance. But there's no financial planning need that the Ramseys have for life insurance. Believe me, Sharon's more than okay with the income off of the rental property alone

if she didn't have anything else, and she's got a lot more than that. So you become self-insured by building wealth if there are dependents. If there are no dependents, you may be 26 years old, single, and have $10,000, which that way your parents don't have to pay to bury you. If you've got your emergency fund saved or you have a little tiny life insurance policy, don't go buy a big-term policy. You don't need a bunch of insurance right now. And you sure don't use life insurance as an investment vehicle either so get your term insurance in place all of you need term life insurance unless you're

rich or you have no dependents so go get rich and get rid of the dependents this is an everyday millionaire goal. Children moving out is part of my financial plan. So you 34-year-olds must leave your mother's basement. This is how it works. Oh, my gosh. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. Brad is in Memphis.

Hey, Brad, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How's it going? Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? Well, my wife introduced you to me, actually, years ago, and I just have not gotten on board as well as I should have. So we are, years later, worse off than we started eight years ago. My question is, we have $186,000 in debt from credit cards and loans good lord yeah it's a lot

and about a year and a half almost two years ago we bought a fifth wheel and we owe 44,000 on it and i know i've heard you say to other people, you know, get a personal loan just to pay down what you're upside down on and get rid of it. I'm kind of struggling with that. What are you struggling with? You're having trouble finding the loan? Is that what you mean, or you don't want to do it? No, struggling with getting rid of it, because if we stay as gazelle-intent as we can be and have been,

because we have been debt-free once before. This was before we left the Air Force. How old are you guys? I am 37. My wife is actually listening right now. What's your household income? Our household income is about $116,120, and I also have a second start-up of my own business as well, a landscape company.

So we both work at the VA down in Memphis. I'm an IT tech, and she's a... Brad, you're going to have to get more sick and tired of being sick and tired than you are now. Oh, I am definitely sick and tired of it. No, you just told me you wanted to keep a $44,000 fifth wheel when you make $116,000 and you're in debt're in debt 186 000 you're not going to be out of debt for five years keeping that stupid thing you're absolutely right things insanity schedule that i show puts me at about 3.8 about four years to pay it all off and it's because you're keeping a bunch of crap you need to cut loose it's a stupid camper seriously you're right

you're right your life is in the balance here. It's a stupid camper. Hey, I like that kind of stuff. I got some nice boats, but man, it's a boat, you know? Get rid of it. If it is not blessing your family, if it's not causing your future to be where you want, it's a boat anchor in this case. So, no, you can do this, but you're going to have to cut some crap loose, man.

Hey, thanks for calling in. Hope that helps you. Open phones at 888-825-5225. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. 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.