The Ramsey Show - App - How Are You Going to Change in 2020? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: December 26, 2019

Debt, Retirement, Budgeting, Home Buying 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. Open phones this hour as we talk about your life and your money. The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Well, a new year is upon us. I love a new year.

Feels like I'm walking up to a whiteboard with nothing on it. I can write whatever I want on this whiteboard, and then I can go about the business of making it so. It's a time to dream again, a time to reset again, a time to put the hurts and failures of the past where they belong in the past. A new year just means opportunity and upside for me. Yeah, I'm a glass half full guy, and I want you to be too. So you can do this. What are you going to do this year? How are you going to change this year?

How are you going to use this wonderful day, this wonderful month, this wonderful year that is given to you with a clean slate to start again? Time to change some things, isn't it? We always kind of do that at the new year. Everybody sets New Year's resolutions and everybody has this idea. We all kind of like a fresh start. And, you know, this year I'm going to lose weight. This year I'm going to quit smoking. This year I'm going to be a better dad, a better husband.

This year I'm going to actually go to church every Sunday. This year I'm going to lose weight. This year I'm going to quit smoking. This year I'm going to be a better dad, a better husband. This year I'm going to actually go to church every Sunday. This year I'm going to get out of debt. This year I'm going to really stick to my budget. This year maybe we're going to go to Financial Peace University finally. Or maybe this year we're going to quit doing Dave-ish. Instead, we're actually going to change our lives and our family tree. What are you going to do this year? Let me just tell you, there's only one way that your dreams become a reality. Your dreams become a reality when you blow the smoke

and the mist off of them and you turn them into a vision. The Bible says where there is no vision, the people perish. And you know what a vision is with work clothes on? It's called a goal, where you actually start to write down what has to be true for your family tree to be changed. You actually write down what has to be true that is not true now for me to lose weight. How do you really build out goals here at the New Year? Well, goal setting has been taught to me since I was 10 or 12 years old. Mom and daddy were in the real estate business. They used to take us to motivational seminars. I know it's geeky. I know it's nerdy, but that happened and it's real. And it's been a part of

my life, my whole life. And so goal setting is second nature to me, but I have found that people who know how to set goals properly actually win. And there's seven areas of your life you need to set goals in. You ready to write? Write it down. You need to have of your life you need to set goals in you're ready to write write it down you need to have financial goals you need to have intellectual goals so you need to have some money goals are we going to get out of debt are we going to become an everyday millionaire and you can set the goals for this year for this decade i don't care intellectual goals are you going to read some books this year that are non-fiction are you going to do something other than memorize everything on reality TV? There's nothing intellectual about that, I'll just

tell you. Family goals. Maybe there's some things we need to, I'm going to spend more time fishing with my grandpa. I don't know what your family goal is. What's your family goal this year? Spiritual goals. Going to read through the Bible this year. Going to take a Bible class this year? Spiritual goals. You're going to read through the Bible this year? You're going to take a Bible class this year? You're going to go to church on Sunday? Not kidding about that, other than just online. You know, are you really going to engage something and change something? What about physical goals? You're going to run a half marathon, a marathon? Are you going to lose some weight? Are you going to do a Spartan race? What are you going to do? What's your physical goals? Career goals. I mean ken coleman to help you change your job and some of you need to this is your year to do that for some of you for sure you're in a toxic work

environment or you're in a good work environment and you're just too lazy to leave or too scared to leave because you hate it every day but it pays the bills social goals some of you my wife always told our kids growing up if if you want to have friends be a friend then maybe you need to be a friend to some people this year maybe you need to set some time aside with just a guy trip just a girl trip engage some people and then when you're setting goals there's's a couple of things. Goals have to be five things. And if you do these five things in each of those areas that I outlined, it will change everything. Your goals need to be specific and they need to be measurable. That's number one and number one, too. I want to lose some weight this year. You won't. That's measurable, but it's not specific. I want to make more money. You won't. How much more money? I want to pay off some debt.

How much debt? It's measurable, but you need to get very specific. I want to lose 30 pounds. I'm going to pay off $30,000 this year. I'm going to increase our income $30,000 this year. And as soon as you start putting some actual specific things to it, to the deal, then you can start to achieve these goals specific and measurable the first two the third one is it needs to be have a time limit i want

to lose 30 pounds when over the next 30 years the next 30 days that's not realistic 30 years is nobody will notice not even you so you know what are we going to do we're going to lose 30 pounds in 90 days oh okay now we got a goal you're starting you're starting it's specific it's measurable it has a time limit 30 30 pounds over 30 days oh that's 10 pounds a month that's two and a half pounds a week increase your water intake decrease your sugar in your bread and increase your sweat time on the treadmill about 30 minutes a day and voila you, you will lose weight. You don't even need Oprah. It works every time.

You don't pay off $30,000 this year? Oh, that's $2,500 a month. Oh, that's $1,250 every two weeks. Oh, got to sell something. Oh. Immediately it makes it real. It comes alive. And these need to be your goals.

You know why people don't achieve goals? Sometimes it's, my wife wants me to do this. My mama always wanted me to do this. You're, you know, you're just pitiful. Why don't you have your own goals? You have your own goals. You need to own it. And when you own it, it'll happen. And the last thing is, your goals need to own it. And when you own it, it'll happen. And the last thing is your goals need to be in writing.

An old lawyer friend of mine says when it comes to doing contracts, that a contract is worth the paper it's written on. And he always said, if you didn't write it down, it didn't happen. It's as if a tree fell in the woods and no one heard it. If you don't write your goals down, it didn't happen. It's as if a tree fell in the woods and no one heard it. If you don't write your goals down, it didn't happen. Habakkuk 2.2 in the Bible says, write the vision and make it plain. When you write out your goals, you suddenly start to go, okay, here's what I got to do. I got to do something. I got to change this. Something's got to change. What has to be true that's not true now? And you start changing your life, your family tree, your physical

presence. Everything starts to move. It's going to be a great year for you. I'm so proud of you. If your financial goal is to get out of debt for good and take control of your money, you should do what nearly 6 million people have done. Take our world-class money class. It's called, if you haven't heard, you've been in a cave. Financial Peace University. The average family that goes through this saves $2,700 and pays off $5,300 in debt in the first 90 days. That's an $8,000 turnaround in just three months. This is a big deal. And you can find a class starting near you online right now, or you can do it online. Learn more at DaveRamsey.com slash FPU.

Financial Peace University now maybe you're new to us you're not quite ready to go into something that heavy hey just jump over and take a quick free three-minute assessment and we'll show you where to start it's free and it's a customized plan for you text the word start to 33 789 or go to DaveRamsey.com slash START. That's text START to 33789 or go to DaveRamsey.com slash START. And we'll show you how to live your dreams, baby. We're going to show you and walk with you while you hit these goals. It's time to change your life.

You got a whiteboard in front of you. Draw a beautiful picture on it. It's going to be a great year. I love New Year's. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. In a season of giving, what better gift can you give someone in the coming year than a new job? Business leaders, if you're looking to add to your team in 2020, get started now with LinkedIn Jobs. At Ramsey Solutions, we post on LinkedIn Jobs because we know the right person will have

an impact on our company for years to come. And LinkedIn Jobs matches the right person with the right job. It's no wonder a hire is made every eight seconds on LinkedIn, and over 600 million members visit LinkedIn to make connections, learn and grow as professionals, and discover new job opportunities. So find the right person for your team and give the gift of a rewarding new career. Get started today and get $50 off your first job post. Visit linkedin.com slash Ramsey. That's linkedin.com. Allie is with us in Los Angeles. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. Allie is with us in Los Angeles. Hey, Allie, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, thanks, Dave, for taking my call. Sure, what's up? So my wife and I are doctors. We're both in Baby Step 2. We have a ton of student loans, and she's finishing her fellowship, so we were looking around at other job opportunities and came across one that looks like a golden handcuffs type of situation, but they're giving a lot in student loan assistance and repayment. So we're thinking

strongly about taking it for a lot of reasons and just wanted to know what Baby Step 2 would look like if we did get into a golden handcuffs type of situation. Cool. Tell me the deal. So they're giving us $275,000 in student loan repayment over five years. Five years sounds kind of a lot, but I mean, it could be a potential long-term situation for us. Both of our salaries would go up also. We have $330,000 in student loan together, and we paid off $150,000 in the last 10 months. And what will your incomes be? So over here, our incomes right now are $380,000, and over there combined, it's going to be $600,000.

Okay. All right. Okay. Yeah, if you want to do the deal, I would take the deal. There's nothing wrong with it. I mean, if you want to work there. The way I would handle it as far as your baby step two debt snowball goes is whatever you – the $275,000, obviously we're going to let them pay that. And they're going to pay one-fifth per year for five years, correct?

Yeah, they pay directly to the student loan. Yeah, $55,000 a year for five years. Yeah, which is $275,000, okay? I think that's right, yeah. Right. And so what I would do is I would put, number one, I'd pay down to that or approximately to that, a little above that, and then let the $55, number one, I'd pay down to that or approximately to that, a little above that, and then let the 55 hit, and then let the 55 hit, and then let the 55 hit, okay? But as far as a

sidebar, I would go ahead and pay myself into a savings account the amount that is outstanding. And so, like, after the first year, you would owe $220,000, right? And so I want $220,000 in a savings account. Okay. And that way, if at any moment this situation becomes untenable, say, for instance, an ethics situation or a whatever situation is there, patient care you can't abide or whatever right uh and you want out of there then what i would do is you just write a check because you got the money right and if it go if you play it all the way through and they pay it all off well you got 220 000 to do something with god or each year you could reduce the amount in that savings account by the amount they reduce it but i want whatever your outstanding student loan is at the moment,

I want that in a savings account as quick as you can get it there. And then I move on to baby step three after I get that 220. Okay. You see how I'm working that? I'm just pretending like you're paying off the debt, but you're not. We're going to let them pay it off. And so as they reduce it, then you can reduce that account, and you use it for other things.

Awesome. Perfect. And you're making great money. Congratulations. What kind of medicine are you practicing? I'm primary care. My wife is a pediatrician. Oh, cool.

Wow. You guys are doing great. Thanks. Great incomes. And where will you be moving if you do this? To the state of Washington. So we get the state of Washington. So we get the state income tax bonus also.

So 10% more in that regard. Yeah. Amen. The income tax bonus in that I don't have California tax. Boom. Just like that. Well, very cool. Very cool. Congratulations, man.

Get after it. That's how I would handle it. Well done. Amy is in Detroit. Hi, Amy. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. My husband and I are on Baby Step 2.

We'll be done with that in about 11 months. And we've stopped his 401K investment, but I am about to start a new job that has a match of 6% in a 401K. I've never had a 401k before. I've always worked part-time. So I'm wondering, do I go ahead and at least do the match for the next 11 months? No. No. Okay.

We completely focus on getting out of debt until we're out of debt. What you focus on in life is what you went at. Okay. And that's how you got married. You focused on him or he focused on you. So true. Yeah. And what's how you got married. You focused on him or he focused on you. So true. Yeah, and what we focus on. And it's only for 11 months.

Like this time next year, you're going to be in your 401K and you'll be getting the match. It's not really going to substantially change where you end up wealth-wise, you know, 20, 30, 40 years from now. It's not. It's tempting. And I'm such a math nerd. I really, you know, it always makes me cringe just a now. It's not. It's tempting. And I'm such a math nerd. I really, you know, it always makes me cringe just a little bit to say, don't do the match even. But what I have figured out is that this whole thing of winning with wealth,

this whole thing of winning with getting out of debt, is so much more about behavior than it is about the math. And so the power of focus is a behavior element and let's just do that just completely dialed in laser focus and don't don't think about anything else don't do anything else with money this is what we're doing we're getting out of debt we're getting out of debt we're getting out of debt as soon as you do that you know you finish your baby step three and you knock your emergency fund out and then boom we're right on to baby step four now we're going to get that match and you're going to be there in, really, 11, 12 months or something like that.

So you're perfect. And congrats on the new job. Casey's with us in Fort Worth, Texas. Hey, Casey, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, thanks so much for taking my call, Dave. It's an honor to speak to you today. You too. What's up?

Hey, I've got a situation I need your advice on. I'm a long-time listener, and I'm having some problems with my father. He filed bankruptcy in 2013 and is on this path. He was on this great path. You know, he went through SPU and everything, but now he's back into credit cards. He's back into making these terrible situations making these terrible choices and now i'm in college and he's asking me for money and trying to fund his bad habits and how old are you i'm 18 and like that's so sad how dysfunctional and screwed up is this? Yeah, and even worse is he went and cashed out his whole life policy at his age,

and now he can't get any more insurance, and he has about $15,000 in debt. And so when he passes on, I'm going to have to take care of that. I needed your advice as to what to do because i'm kind of stuck i'm so sorry your dad's a guy like that that was being nice i can't i mean that's just awful that's hard for you it's really hard for you um here's the thing dude you're 18 freaking years old your old man should not ask you for anything. That's completely out of line. It's completely out of line.

That's so pitiful. It's unbelievable. And as crazy as it sounds in your mind, it sounds triple crazy to me that he would do that. That he would get that he would be that that twisted up and screwed up now your job is not to fix him that's his job he's supposed to be a grown man and we're gonna let him fix himself you can't you can't tell people what to do you already know what he's supposed to be doing you've already at 18 years old identified several things that he should be doing that he's not and he hadn't figured that out at his age.

So you've got to just be kind and very firm. It's your dad. So we'll honor his position of fatherhood, but we will not honor his behaviors. I mean, you can honor your father and mother. You know, the Bible says honor your father and mother. You can honor your father and mother without honoring their misbehavior. Yeah. And so I honor the position, but I'm not honoring not honoring the behavior no you're not giving him any money and the problem is you're tempted i can hear it you really want to give him advice he's not going to take your advice

you just you know what i would just say dad go back to fpu i can't i can't help you dad i'm an 18 year old college student you shouldn't even be asking me. That's just wrong. Go back to FPU. That ought to be your answer. Dad, really, dads don't do this. They don't ask 18-year-old sons for their help who are in college. You shouldn't be doing this. You should be in FPU straightening your life out.

I can't help you. I'm so sorry, Dad. And the answer is no. No, no. And the problem is anybody that would even ask this is not going to hear the no. So you're going to have to tell him more than once. You can do it kindly and calmly and very firmly. And you have to, Casey.

You have to. This is toxic and dysfunctional as crap. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. How often can you get the best of both worlds? Not very often, right? Well, with the Rate Secured program at Churchill Mortgage, it's possible. You can secure a low rate now to nail down your budget, and if rates drop while you're shopping for a home, they'll give you the lower rate. That's right. They take on the risk of fluctuating interest rates, not you. Who does that? Well, you should fall in love with the numbers before you fall

in love with the house. This program lets you do just that. So if you're buying a home this year, you'd be crazy not to call Churchill and get your rate secured now. Call Churchill Mortgage today and have the best of both worlds. Go to ChurchillMortgage.com or call 888-LOAN-200. That's ChurchillMortgage.com. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLS ConsumerAccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. Question of the day comes from Blinds.com. Find out for yourself why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window covering. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month you'll save even more use the promo code ramsey to get the best possible deal rules and restrictions apply nicole uh in idaho says dave my husband and i are completely new to the idea of budgeting

my question is does the every dollar app replace the system? We're paying on debts that are based online and require a card in order to pay them. Would it be effective to use and stick with the EveryDollar app? Sure. EveryDollar app is just your budget plan. Instead of using paper and pencil and writing down your income at the top of the page and then spending every dollar, giving every dollar a name down the page until every dollar is gone, income minus outgo equals exactly zero. That's a zero-based budget.

And that's how a budget is supposed to work. You need to every single month give every single dollar an assignment and then make sure it goes and does its assignment and nothing else. And that's what your game plan is. That tightens it up. And then the methodology by which you pay it, whether it's with a debit card, that's fine. Whether it's with e-checks, that's fine.

And whether some categories, a few categories, you can use the envelope system. All the envelope system is is where you say, okay, we're going to spend, I'll make up a number, $600, $800 on food this month. We're going to spend $800 on food this month. We get paid two times, so we're going to put $400 out of each check into the grocery budget. But instead of just writing a check or using the debit card at the grocery store, what I'm going to do is I'm going to use the power of cash to do two things. One, remind me that I'm spending money.

And two, when the envelope's empty, it tells me to quit spending money. And so I'm going to put $400 cash in an envelope. Instead of writing a check at the grocery store, I'm going to write a check to myself, cash it out, put $400 cash in an envelope, write food on that envelope, and then don't buy anything out of that envelope except food. And then when you go to the grocery store, you use actual money, and if your total is more than $400, you're going to have to put something back. It keeps you from going over the budget, the allocated amount for that category.

If you had a clothing envelope and you went clothing shopping, you could go clothing shopping without any guilt because whatever you spend on clothing out of the clothing envelope is okay as long as you don't spend more on clothing than is in the envelope because there's not enough money there to pay the register to pay the bill when you go up and try to check out right so that's what the envelope system is when you are actually handling cash it activates the pain centers of the brain you realize you are spending money there's emotional friction involved and it causes you to spend less and spend more carefully. But most of all, the purpose of the envelope system is to keep you from going over in a couple of categories.

The only thing you would use the envelope system for are things you don't do at home. You pay a bill from your computer sitting at home. You pay your light bill. You don't use the envelope system for that. But if you're buying clothing out walking around the mall, you're doing Christmas out walking around the mall, you've got a Christmas envelope, right, with cash in it. And when the Christmas envelope is empty, go home.

Get out of the mall. You're about to be over-served here. Get financially hung over. Time to move a different direction if you're out of your home spending money you can use the envelope system and it will keep you on track we're multi-millionaires we still use the envelope system for a few categories not as many as we used to we used to have it really dialed in and back in the day we first started this stuff 30 years ago every little thing had its own envelope and we were just like fanatics about it but that's how we got out of the mess that's how we got it turned around that's how

we ended up with some money because we didn't give it all away the stupid stores and we weren't constantly busting the budget so the every dollar app is the game plan you can have that on your phone that says this is how much i'm supposed to the game plan. You can have that on your phone that says this is how much I'm supposed to spend for a given category. You have that on your desktop. That's what I'm supposed to spend for a given category. I decided that this month. You decide what you want to do. But then the envelope system is just cash for out walking around money, and it keeps you in line for those things. So, hey, good question. Victoria is with us in Boston. Hi, Victoria. How are you? I'm great, sir. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Awesome. So I took your financial peace class about six years ago. I got really excited about it up until it got to the hard part, the debt cancellation part or the debt payment part. And I work for the local government. So I told myself, oh, apply for public service loan forgiveness in 10 years. I don't have to worry about it. And so that was, again, six years ago. About a year ago, I started working with a Primerica financial advisor. And we got on a plan where I would max out my loss and then put about $400 in mutual funds. I also, in the last purchased a car and so that is about $200 a month in car loans. So my question is, at this point, I'm really praying and considering stopping all of my investments, paying off my car loan, which I have cash in the bank, and then putting

all of that money towards my student loans. That's about $45,000. My advisor is really recommending that I don't do that and that I could really lose out if I paused for the two or three years it would take me to pay off that debt. I could really be losing out 30 years from now on a lot more if I just kept that money in the market. So I'm wondering what your advice would be. Well, you know what my advice would be. You don't wonder. It's true.

You already knew. You took a class. You know exactly what I think. I didn't change my advice. You just didn't follow it. Now you're thinking about following it. And your advisor doesn't think my advice is good. Right? Right.

So you're going to have to decide which horse are you going to ride. Do you think even like for Ross that there isn't any level of continuing to contribute and really thinking about that compound interest that I could potentially lose? Victoria, you went to the class. You know what I tell people. You know what I tell people, don't you? It's true. Temporarily stop all investing and work your baby steps.

Get out of debt because your most powerful wealth-building tool is not compound interest. Your most powerful wealth-building tool is your dadgum income. But that doesn't pay your Primerica rep any commission. You're getting bad advice, I think. But he thinks you're getting bad advice from me, so you're going to have to decide, aren't you? That's true. You can't half but do this stuff anymore you're gonna have to decide which horse you're gonna ride and ride it

then okay but you know what i'm gonna say yes temporarily stop all retirement yes pay off your stupid car but i didn't tell you to buy the stupid car on payments to start with. You know that. And yes, I'm going to tell you to not wait around on the government forgiveness because only 96 people have received that so far. I don't think that's a very good bet. I'm going to pay off my student loans. The shortest path is not compound interest to wealth. The shortest path to wealth is to get out of debt because you've got control of your income.

So you need to decide which advisor you're going to follow because your advisors are in conflict. And by the way, you ought to fire one of them or the other. So don't call me for advice anymore if you're going to follow his because you know what I'm going to say. And by the way, if you're going to follow mine because you know what i'm going to say and by the way if you're going to follow mine you need to get a different advisor because the prime erica guy is not telling you to do what i'm telling you to do it's pretty simple and so you it's okay either way i'm not mad about it i'll be okay either way but you need to. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Decide. And then stick with it. Ride the horse. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time. Thanks for being with us, America.

We're glad you're here. Larry is in New York City. Hi, Larry, how are you? I'm doing well, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I wanted to give you a little bit about myself. My wife and I were 33 years old. We're debt-free. Good. We both have a household income of $180,000. We're currently maxing out our 401k, our Roth IRA, and our health savings account as well. Wow. We have about $155,000 in cash, $17,000 in checking, and $273,000 in retirement.

Way to go. We feel like we're in a great spot. We live in Westchester County County outside of New York City. So it's a very expensive area. And our next thing we want to do is look to buy a home. Yeah, beautiful area. Yeah, no, it is great. And right now we are living, we're renting an apartment that's $850 a month.

It's a small one bedroom. And we're actually able to get a discount because my employer owns the apartment and is offering it to us at a subsidized rate. So, you know, I look where we're at now and I'm very excited about our future. But at the same time, looking at the mortgages here and also looking at the taxes here for property, which seem to range from $12,000 to $15,000 a year for the price point we're looking at for a home, I'm just kind of anxious about laying that kind of money down and looking at that kind of taxes over the long run. So part of me is debating moving closer to home, which would be closer to family, which would be either in upstate New York or part of Pennsylvania, where the 20% down payment here for home could be well north of 60%

of the total cost. So I just wanted to hear your opinion on that and think, you know, is it worth moving in a way at this point and taking what we got or to kind of keep it here? House prices would not be the only reason I did that, given that you have the income to live in the area you're in. If you told me you made $50,000 a year and you said, I want to own a house, well, you're not going to in your area, so you're fifty thousand dollars a year and you said i want to own a house well you're not going to in your area so you're gonna have to move you know but you make you make

a couple hundred and you're 33 years old you're doing great you're killing it well done so um i think that i think the bigger question is not house prices and taxes it's um where does the 43-year-old you want to live? Yeah. And your wife and raise kids or not or whatever your plans are. Where do you want to be? Where do you want your life to be? And your life should not only be around your career, but it is one of the elements.

It is one of the things, you know, you decide. I'll give you an example, okay? Obviously, I do a radio show. And there was a tipping point with the Dave Ramsey show 15 or 20 years ago where we had 100 and 200 stations. Now we have 600 now. And we were getting a lot of advice from a lot of people saying the Dave Ramsey show is never going to be a major national force unless you broadcast it from LA or New York so you need to move and um I said you know I'm making really good money I I love Tennessee I'm a Tennessean I grew up here it's how I want it's how I see myself for

the next 15 or 20 or 30 or 40 years and I don't really see myself in New York and nothing wrong with New York I just didn't see myself there. And so we made the decision to stay here. And it probably, you know, it's shocking to some of those people that gave advice that we made it anyway. But, you know, the point being, though, that sometimes, you know, you do need to live in a place to do your career. But if that's the only thing motivating you, then your life is all about your career singularly. And that's bad. So, again, where do you guys want to have a life? Your career is part of that.

Your home ownership is part of that. The quality of life, the type of people around you is part of that. Your church, if you're a spiritual person, is part of that uh your your church if you're a spiritual person is part of that and so on yeah and you know where do you see yourself living and you might have you might be sitting where you're sitting right now and it was like 98 career driven and you're kind of looking up going that's not doing it for me or you might be going you know i really just like this area if you love what what you do, you love the area, you love everything else, and the only motivator is house price, I would just buy a house there and stay. Right.

I think the biggest thing is, again, is we are thinking about starting a family, and we don't have any family in this area. And I also know that, you know, I'm thinking about once we have a child, would one of us not want to work? Yeah. And I think that if we would move, that could be an option because, again, I think we'd have enough of a cushion to make that work for a while. Agreed.

I don't think we could cut our household income in half and now make that work here. I agree. I agree. See, now you're talking, okay? That combined with house price, combined with everything else, says move. That's what all of that. But it's all part of the gumbo. It's not just, we're not just looking at one ingredient.

Right. And then I have one other thing that, there's one other kind of option I kind of see with this, and it's fortunate of where I work. If our family would grow, there's the potential that we could continue to be in an apartment that we would rent that would be subsidized by my employer. And then I've thought in my mind, would I then possibly buy a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment and potentially offer, you know, that's a place for in-laws to stay to try to bring family a little bit closer um where they wouldn't have to i think you got i think i think that that is a long-term financial plan that has golden handcuffs if your employer if your employer blows up or uh there's an ethics breach or you just decide you don't want to work for the guy who's a new guy there that's a jerk 10 years from now you're stuck with that plan that's golden handcuffs.

So, no, I wouldn't build it around someone else providing me housing. You've done a really good job of setting yourself up for independence here. So don't retreat from that. I think you're moving. I don't know what it does to your careers, and that's what you've got to think through. And there's no panic. You don't have to move today. You can do it over the next three years.

I don't care. You sit there and make some money, pile up some more, you know, before you move. I don't care. But it sounds to me like there's enough ingredients drawing you. Family, house price, the ability to cut your income in half and still prosper. All of that kind of stuff is drawing you away from, you know, the more expensive New York City area. That's what it sounds like to me.

It's up to you. But, I mean, I'm just listening to you talk. Hey, man, thank you for the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Cody is with us in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hi, Cody. How are you? Good, Dave. How are you? Good, Dave.

How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I was curious. My company was recently acquired this year, and so at the end of December, the 401K that I have with the company that I was working for freezes, and then next year I start contributing to the new company's 401K.

Exactly. I know that I would do a rollover yes and i wasn't sure because part of my 401k is traditional 401k contributions but the other section is roth 401k contributions and then company match and what used to be their pension plan yep roll it all it's going to end up in different sections you're going to move some of it to roth you're going to move some of it to traditional depending on how it's structured, or you don't have any taxes, but do a direct transfer rollover because you're going to have so much more control over it,

and you're going to have so many more options that you can invest it in than an old, frozen, previous company 401K that the company's no longer in business. So, yeah, you definitely want to roll that. And just get with your broker. If you don't have one, click SmartVestor at DaveRamsey.com. Put in your info. It'll drop down a list of SmartVestor pros in your area. They'll sit down with you, help you put that together.

And it's a pretty easy thing to do a direct transfer rollover. And if you haven't heard, Cody, I personally invest and I personally recommend spreading your rollover across four types of mutual funds evenly 25 in each growth growth and income aggressive growth and international and uh that should work for you growth growth and income aggressive growth and international and if you'll do a direct transfer rollover, which means you sit down with the broker, you figure out the mutual funds, you fill out the paperwork, that paperwork is directly submitted to the old 401K. They will send the money directly into the IRA.

You do not want them to give you a question. You do not want them to give you the money directly because they're required to withhold 20% on it, and not want them to give you the money directly because they're required to withhold 20% on it, and you're going to create a tax problem for yourself. There's no taxes on a direct transfer rollover. So do a direct transfer, direct transfer rollover with this. It's the proper way to do it, and you won't have any taxes. Hey, thanks for calling in. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free screen live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com

and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.