The Ramsey Show - App - How Can I Afford To Buy a Home Right Now? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: April 14, 2023

Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruze, & Dr. John Delony take questions in front of a live studio audience in our new Ramsey Event Center! "How can I afford to buy a home right now?" "When should you share your budget with your kids?"  Moving from intensity to intentionality later in the Baby Steps, Dave talks about why he decided to start teaching people how to have financial peace. Support Our Sponsor: Neighborly Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3cEP4n6 Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live from the brand new Ramsey Events Center, broadcasting from the pods, moving and storage studios, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. We're hanging out today, doing the show live with 1,500 of our closest friends, a live studio audience, possibly the largest live studio audience we've ever had on the show. The phone number, if you want to participate from afar, is 888-825-5225. We'll be taking calls from across America.

We'll also be taking questions from here in the auditorium. Rachel Cruz, number one best-selling author, co-host of the ever-popular Smart Money Happy Hour. My daughter is with me this hour. Thank you, thank you. So fun to be here. We should do this all the time. We should. There's a lot of energy doing this.

So great. Y'all are awesome. The show is more fun when we're not in a glass booth by ourselves. That's it. And Dr. John Deloney, number one best-selling author, Ramsey Personality, also my co-host this hour. Again, the number is 888-825-5225. Evan is going to start us off from the floor this hour. Hi, Evan, how are you?

Hi, how are you? Better than I deserve. Where do you live? From Kansas City. Cool. Welcome to Nashville. Thank you. How can we help today? It's a huge honor to be here today. So I grew up in a Ramsey household. I've been saving for retirement since I was 18 and I have no debt. So I just finished my first year of my career job, uh, and I'm wanting to buy a house and I'm not really sure how to do that when my income is currently as low as it is. Cause you know, I've just kind of started. Um, so basically I'm just wanting to know like,

what's the best way to save for a house while I'm I'm starting a career cause you know, it's not like, um, what do you do? So I'm a production artist. Uh, so I, uh, modify artwork to be printed on glass and apparel. Um, so what do you make? Uh, 19 an hour. Okay. All right. Cool. Very good. Good for you. Yeah. So I would say Evan, if I were in your shoes, I would just be okay renting. I mean, you're just starting out. So I'm assuming, I mean, how old are you? I'm 25. 25, that's great. So yeah, I mean, at this point,

when we look at large purchases, specifically even a home, I mean, math plays a huge role in that, right? And so what can you do to create less stress and more margin in your life? Well, going and buying a home right now that's out of your budget and out of your reach will cause less margin and probably a lot of stress.

And so I think it's fine to slow step your way as your income starts to build, to put more and more away. And it's okay to rent for a few years. I just feel like people renting is such a negative feeling around, I feel like our culture, right? I mean, I just feel like if people are like, oh, you're renting, you're just throwing money away. Oh my gosh, you're just terrible. You're a sinner. You're like the worst. And renting is okay for a bit.

And so honestly, I would be okay with it. Have patience and have a goal that you look out and say, hey, in four years, I want to have this much money saved. I want to be making this much in a job. And so have things that you're reaching for. But right at this moment, I would be okay just being patient. Good plan. Yeah, you said it. I'm just getting started. I make $19 an hour. Can't afford a house right now. And that's the reality that you're in. So what you do need to do, since home ownership and wealth building are part of your, one of your goals, or some of the things you're asking about, then you need to start seeing away with your career how you are going to increase your income. And then that gets, because that's when you're going to be able to do some of those other things.

So you don't want to have a projection say, okay, when I'm 45, I'm making $19.50 an hour. That's not a plan, okay? So we've got to have, how are we going to double this? How are we going to triple this? How are we going to start our own business in this area? What other ways can I use this skill that pays a whole lot more? Whatever it is. And it's not to say be dissatisfied where you are today, but I'm saying for your future,

we've got to say, my friend Henry Cloud says, when you identify your desired future, yours is build some wealth and own a house. Okay. What has to be true, Henry says, that's not true now. And in your case, we've got to get your income up. And that may be the maturation of your career track. As you mature and walk through your career, that may be the natural way your income comes up. It may be that you go, I'm going to use these same skills and go over here and make three times more. But for now, you're fine and just rent as patients today. But the culture we live, or the price ranges of homes and the interest rate environment we're in, $19 an hour is not a house buyer usually as a single income household. And Evan, the other encouraging thing is too that for you,

you said, I've been saving for retirement since I was 18. And I was like, that's awesome. So honestly, when you get a little bit more traction under your feet career-wise and you see your income come up, you can pause investing, save up a down payment because you're not, you're going to be okay. Do you know what I mean? So even when that time comes to throw even more money to save up for a down payment, pause your investing when that time comes. Hey, Evan, can I use you since you're standing here in front of, I don't know, 1500 of your closest friends. Can I use you as a, as a, as a global issue in our culture? Is that cool? So what's he going to say? you well I mean it depends on what issue we're gonna cover John I remember being terrible at math as a kid and I loved it when we had to do standardized

testing in math because they put the answer like in I knew it had to be one of a b c or d and I always hated it when it said e like none of the above because then it took away like I couldn't just reverse engineer the answers all the way. We live in a culture that says, I want a house. I deserve a house, I should get a house. I want a car. I want a great marriage.

I want kids that are respectful and that love me. But then we look back at the variables that are making up that equation. It's like, I don't make this much money, but I want to be in this community. I want to live in New York and I want to make $14 an hour, but I want to buy in this community. I want to live in New York, and I want to make $14 an hour, but I want to buy a nice house. I want a great marriage. I just don't want

to talk to my husband, and I want my wife to read my mind. I want to have great kids. I just don't want to tell them no and just give them screens all the time, and then they're going to be respectful. We have to address the variables on the front end of this thing and not the back end. We don't make enough money. We got to start talking to our kids. We got to get more engaged with our spouses. Whatever that looks like in the back end, the answer to this math problem will always solve itself if we take care of the variables up front. We stop trying to focus on the answer and get on the front end of that. Good question, sir. Thank you for joining us. Teachers, if you want to know how important your job is, just ask anyone who their favorite teacher was.

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Dr. John Deloney, Rachel Cruz, Ramsey Personalities, my co-host this hour here on The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys, health insurance costs are only moving one way and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy. So if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically-based alternative to health insurance, Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours take care of over $11 billion in medical bills since 1981. And CHM has also helped them stay true to their values and avoid miles of red tape.

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We're live from the Ramsey Event Center with Dr. John Deloney and Rachel Cruz, Ramsey Personalities. Welcome to our 1500 closest friends. Thank you for hanging out with us today, guys. Today's question of the day is brought to you by Neighborly, your hub for home services. Here at Ramsey, we believe in making home ownership a blessing, not a burden. So we recommend Neighborly's network of service professionals to repair, maintain, improve your home. Find the help you need at neighborly.com. In all seriousness, people, this is a great company and they have a great group of folks that they work with all across America. Check them out, neighborly.com. Today's question of the day is actually coming from here inside the auditorium. Dini is with us. Hi, Dini.

I'm excited to be here. Well, we're honored to have you. Where do you live? Miami, Florida. Oh, fun. That's where Miss Jade is from, that area down there, Fort Lauderdale area. Yeah, cool. Our Fort Myers area, I'm sorry. How can we help? My question is about budget. I have a 13-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old daughter, and they hear me talk about budget a lot. A lot of times when I do, it's because I'm about to say no. And, you know, they think budget this, budget that, and I don't want it to be negative. I want it to be positive. But I think a lot about it being positive is to give them the knowledge of what I'm talking about, kind of the intricacies. And so what age do I show them the budget? Because when they see the budget, they see the income.

And do I want to tell them how much money I make? How much money do you make? As they watch the show, they're like, oh. Well, combined, we make $3.30-ish. You make a lot. Good. I'm glad for you. You want to jump in on this?

You just made her excited. Okay, so I would say our household growing up. Dini, the secret's out, so you can have a seat. I know. Sorry, Dini. I'm just kidding. So we grew up never knowing specific numbers. But our numbers are ridiculous and and we're in the spotlight with as celebrities

in the community and we didn't want some teenager running around you know with that information that wouldn't have been healthy we're in an unusual situation in that regard sure but i would also say if you make even the amount of money you i mean you that you, that's a lot of money. So I'm like, so, so I can see the more caution. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, um, uh, we have some friends and then they do well and they have teenagers and they, they show them everything. And they actually have done this, uh, routine a few months in a row because the mom was just so frustrated with like, how just kind of like casual they were with about money. And she took their whole paycheck, cashed it out. And she had utilities here, cable. I mean, she went through their cell phone,

insurance for their car. I mean, she divided everything up on the kitchen table, like three months in a row. Cause she was like, I wanted them to visually see what was going on. And I thought how powerful that was. So depending on how comfortable you feel sharing numbers, there is a part of me that kind of likes it and does kind of open up that. And just to say, I need you to really understand and see this. And then on the flip side, when you said budget ends up being kind of a negative, when you guys do get to do great things, I'm sure you do with your income. I'm like, you guys are probably able to take some great vacations or whatever it is. Say, it's in the budget. Yay, we get to go shopping. It's in the budget. You know, like make

it an exciting thing. So when you do say no, no, it's not in the budget. They still know that a budget isn't, doesn't mean no. Budget does not equal no. Budget means it equals we are in control, which means also we can spend on this side and enjoy, but also we have to have a boundary and a limit at some point and say no. so introducing both someone's something exciting happens with them and they go and buy something or you guys take a great vacation just celebrate the budget with that too we did uh disclose when they were 12 13 14 15 the household operational budget it did not disclose our entire income but so that they could see okay this is what the light bill costs this is is what the phone bill is. This is what the, you know, the, whatever the taxes, insurance, whatever it is. So they could see the basic stuff because what we're trying to do here is not control their

current behavior with this lesson. We're trying to show them how this is done properly because as our friend Andy Andrews says, he said, we're not trying to raise great kids. We're trying to raise kids who become great adults. So we're trying to give you adult skills. And so when I'm talking to a 14 or 15 year old, I'm speaking to the 30 year old version of them. I want them to say, okay, the reason I'm showing you this is so that when you're 30, you're this, you understand. And the reason we're saying no is this. And we never used the budget one time as a weapon. It's not the budget. We can't do it. Instead, we were saying, we've got these goals, this much money. We're choosing to do these other things with it. And so it means we're not doing

this. Because that is how a budget works, is we're actually choosing that. But what we're teaching them there is a critical thinking skill path that says, okay, choices have to be made because you're not in Congress. You have a limit on your money. And so you have to make choices. And so in order to say yes, you've got to say no. Now, so in extreme income situations, maybe you would use a, uh, an operational budget like we did. Uh, and, And if you've got smaller kids, we don't even get into that. But I mean- No, with smaller kids, it's about principals.

Well, principals, and there is something to say about a dollar amount. Our eight-year-old, because they're doing chores and earning a dollar or two here and there. And we went out to dinner after church on Saturday night, because we did Easter on Saturday night, anyways. And it was $70 to go out to dinner. And Winston said that to me in the car. He's like, yeah, it was 70 Easter on Saturday night. Anyways, and it was $70 to go

out to dinner. And Winston said that to me in the car. He's like, yeah, it was 70 bucks. And we were like, okay. And my eight-year-old goes, it was $70. Because to her, it felt like 700. How many chores would that take me to save $70? So I thought, I'm so glad that she heard that because it is a lot. I mean, like life is expensive. And so when they can grasp almost these dollar amounts, there is a tactical lesson where they kind of start to see and uncover. And Rachel looked at, she just looked back and said, don't worry, I'm re-wearing this shirt. So it's good. Hey, here's one thing I've done differently with my daughter than my son. My son is 13 and my daughter is seven. I over-disclosed to my son and tried to be super hip, transparent dad. With my seven-year-old,

it's much more about she's got the toy, the bank that they sell in the Ramsey store. That's the one she uses and she's got save and give and spend and one thing I was real bad about was in her spend money I tried to also control that and so I've taken my hands a little bit off so if she wants to buy something dumb that I think's dumb that's the money she's earned and it's not going to be there if she decides to spend it and I wanted to learn this when she's seven not have me curating what she's going to spend later. But she gets, when I say this isn't in the budget or we're not going to spend this much money on this thing, she doesn't need to know the dollar amount because she gets the principle, right? And that's been super helpful. And Dini, this doesn't come up in your

situation, but it does come up. If your family is in a financial bad situation, we don't talk to seven-year-olds about foreclosures. We don't, you know, we're to protect them from that. And so what's the phrase you have? Scare, but what is this? Share, but don't scare. Share, but don't scare. And so you can share and say, you know, mom and dad are having a hard time right now, or, you know, we're having to move.

But you don't have to go, oh, no, it's coming. You know, because parent, you dump your drama on your kid, it becomes trauma. Yes. But to your point, it's really important to be honest with your kids because your kids are going to feel your tension. They're going to feel you weeping. They're going to feel all that. And they're going to think it's their fault. They're going to be seven and think, I'm doing this to mom and dad. Let them know things are really, really tough right now. And mom and dad are scared. And this is what we're going to do. And they get to see an adult be scared, just like all of us, and then act like

an adult on the back end and not just scream and kick. So the moral of the story is in your situation, I would open it up at least operationally, whether it's income or not, as long as you can put around it the idea that we're not going to uh share our family's income outside this home okay we're uh although i'm just made you but yeah but the uh but the uh but i mean i didn't want our kids tromping through the neighborhood saying my dad makes this versus what your dad made you know that kind of crap right would we do that, though? A hundred percent you would. I was a really nice teenager. You were a really nice teenager.

But, you know. Just think about what that phrase means. A really nice teenager. Yeah, there you go. So, hey, thank you. Thank you. This is The Ramsey Show. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, number one, bestselling author, Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one, bestselling author multiple times. And you don't know, we do this show every day,

Monday through Friday, from one to four. It's usually two of us at a time. We've done a little differently this week because of, or this day, because we're celebrating the opening of this event center. But you can join us anytime outside. Our studios are on the glass down in the Ramsey headquarters in the lobby. And there's always free cookies and free coffee there, as you guys have had when you came in today. We had cookies and coffee waiting on you when you came in today. And so you can enjoy that same experience. And we love getting to meet the folks from all over America.

They stop by on their way to a vacation or their way to whatever. They're in Nashville for something else, and they come down here to Franklin just south of Nashville and hang out with us. We appreciate all of you hanging out. We love getting to see you and talk to you and hear your stories, and it keeps us going. It keeps us moving. It gives us the energy,

and so everything we do at ramsey is for the people that are not at ramsey it's all for the people outside our walls and you're it you're why we built this building so as an example so thank you thank you thank you all right scott is on the line our scott is here on the floor i'm sorry hey scott how are you uh doing fine thank you so much for having us in here it's a beautiful beautiful space thank you. Where do you live? Spokane, Washington. I love Spokane. Awesome. Very cool. How can we help today? Well, I've got a two-part question on transition and patience. Wife and I are in baby step seven, and we are finding it a little challenging to transition from intense to intentional. So just looking for a little bit of sage advice from y'all, how we can downshift.

Yeah. Okay. Go ahead. I think it's, number one, it's a normal thing to face that. Because once you've been frugal, you've been very dialed in, to let your foot off the gas and actually enjoy the ride a little bit is not a natural thing. Your body is wired, you've set yourself in motion, you've got this thing dialed in, and now you're saying, oh, we're going to do something different. And so Dr. John always says on other things, practice,

practice a new behavior, practice a new feeling. And so some of the things that Sharon and I did was we were very careful to make sure that we budgeted money to spend because we hadn't been spending anything. And so we said, okay, we're going to put money in this category and we're going to put money in this vacation fund. And then we're going to spend it on a vacation. And if there's a bunch of money in that vacation fund, we're going on someplace nice, you know? And when you've been, you know, head down on the grindstone pushing to stop and do that is an unnatural act. You have to force yourself to do it the first time or two, and then you get better. The second thing we did, and I still do this to make sure I'm not overdoing it or underdoing it, is we look at ratios. And ratios meaning when I was broke,

spending X on a car was ridiculous. Spending 10X that on a car now is not ridiculous because as a percentage of my world, it doesn't matter. So if you got a million dollars and you spend $10,000 on a car, it's nothing. But if you have $5 and you spend $10,000 on a car, it's a lot. So that's a ratio. And we often look and go, okay, if we do this and it's $10,000 on a car, it's a lot. So that's a ratio. And we often look and go, okay, if we do this and it's completely wrong, or we forgot to put insurance on it and we lit it on fire, is it going to change our life? No. Then that's a small ratio. It's a small percentage of our net worth, a small percentage of our income. Then we can enjoy that. And it gives me permission to enjoy it knowing that I'm not being irresponsible. If you grew up like me, I didn't grow up with very much.

My wife didn't grow up with very much. Money was a topic of war in our homes. And then we got older and we ran up six figures. So we did the whole thing, right? Dave said, practice. I'm just going to give you a straight, vulnerable, cheesy answer from our very house. I travel a lot and I made the decision for me, I'm going to start parking right up next to the airport and it's a billion dollars. And every time I did it, I remember not having that money in my checking account for years. And it was a matter of ratios. You can afford this, John.

It's okay. And the first time me and my wife were traveling, I pulled in and she said, what are you doing? And I said, this is where I park when I come to the airport. And she said, this is ridiculous. Once. And then she was like, oh, this is awesome, right?

And so, but literally literally as Dave said, it's $35 a night to park there or something like that. For me that my body still feels like I'm 12 and $35 was our light bill and we don't have it. Right. So I have to say this, this sentence to myself, I wasn't okay. Then I'm okay now. I wasn't okay then, I'm okay now. And then I've got to go do the thing. And it's something a little like that, but man, that's been a game changer for us. And you know what's interesting, Scott? I feel like we talk to a lot of people that are just like you. They have this question and they say, oh my, even when they get into baby steps four, five, and six, like we've just been so intense. And I do wonder, I'd be curious what you guys think about this too. There is something to be said

when you go through the baby steps, there is those seasons of sacrifice. And when you're so used to, you know, when before the baby steps, you accumulate it, accumulate it. And for some people, you don't go into debt for stuff. And then it's like, oh my gosh, we gotta get out of debt. So now we're gonna sell stuff.

We're gonna work extra. We're not gonna buy stuff. And you start to live life with quote unquote less stuff. I do think that there is a level of contentment that starts to play into your soul where you realize, wow, we really don't need all that crap that we had. And you get to this point and you're like, some stuff I just don't care to have. Like, yeah, maybe I can afford a nice car, but I just don't really care to have it. Like I'm good with my, you know, 12 year old truck and that's good too. So there's a contentment piece.

So I would ask the question, why do I not want to spend? Is it completely out of fear? Because that plays, I think, into y'all. But I also think that there's something to be said of like, we just don't want to buy a bunch of crap we don't need. And that's okay too. That's an okay answer. So I do want to give you permission.

As long as your motivation is, we're kind of just content where we're at. We don't feel like we need more. That's okay too. And the last thing I would tell folks when you get to this point too, is to out of that contentment and out of the new season that you're in, you're living like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else, is Sharon and I have experienced that it has given us permission to enjoy the money if, A, we're responsible with ratios. It's a small amount of our life. It's not a big thing. It may be a big thing to somebody else, but as a percentage, you know, it's a small amount.

And, B, we've increased our generosity. There's something about increasing the building your generosity muscle bigger, more and more giving and more and more different kinds of giving random stuff, just buy everybody's gas at the gas pump, sit, you're standing there for a minute or, you know, finding some single mom putting tires on her car or whatever. I mean, all kinds of random stuff, plus systematic large giving as well. But you just work that giving muscle, then all of a sudden there's something that, I don't know how that's connected in our brains,

but it gives us permission to be okay enjoying some stuff too. And so it plays out that way, and that's how I would get at it. So really good question, sir. I appreciate you bringing that up. Thank you for being here. God bless you. There is a thing of, if you're, I said this on Megan Kelly's show the other day. I said, yeah, Megan, it's like if you're going 100 miles an hour down the interstate, and then you slow down to 55.

It feels weird. She goes, well, I've never had that feeling. I said, well, you ought to drive faster, Megan. It feels like you're walking, right? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's a weird, it's a, you're, you're, everything slows down and changes. And that's that contentment thing too. You know, one of the things I experienced on that Rachel that was, uh, personally was, uh, I, I love cars always have. And I was buying cars in my, when I was a young, arrogant kid for other people to look at. And when I buying cars when I was a young, arrogant kid for other people to look at. And when I went broke, I no longer care what you think. So now I buy cars because I want

them. If I buy a car now, it's because it's the car I wanted. I don't really care whether you like it or not. It doesn't matter to me. Because some of them aren't great. I want to drive that. I like that car. That kind of thing. It changes. But that changes the whole equation then when you practice through that. Yeah. This is The Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, Matthew 5, 14, and 16. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket,

but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all those who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Desmond Tutu said, hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. This is The Ramsey Show. Dr. John Deloney and Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personalities, are my co-host this hour. It's been a very special day as we have for this particular three hours been broadcasting for the very first time with our very first live event in the Ramsey Event Center, which is owned by a Ramsey trust, a family trust that is entitled Matthew 5, a city set on a hill. And this is on a hill, for those of you here. If you walk out front and at

night you see this thing, there's plenty of lights. There's chandelier you can see for six miles away. This is a city set on a hill. This is put up here for the purpose of hope. And so you guys being here today is the culmination of that 10-year vision, that 10-year dream for that to happen, and we're honored to have had you guys today. Thank you so much for being here. In our studio audience here, Mark is with us. Hey, Mark, how are you? Fantastic, Dave, and congratulations on the event center. This is fantastic. Thank you so much.

We're so honored to be here. Where do you live, sir? Fate, Texas. Dallas area? Yes, sir. All right, cool. Good to have you, sir. John's a good Texas guy as well.

So thank you. How can we help today? So my question is, in your 20s, Dave, you became a millionaire and then you eventually lost it and rebuilt your wealth. Take me and the audience back to the time that you had a conversation with Sharon and you decided your path forward was to share your plan with the millions of lives that you've changed and why you do what you do today. Wow. Thank you. Well, that's neat. Well, Rachel and John are certainly involved in that and they can chime in. But the history lesson is, you're right, 26 years old and some change. I had banks start calling notes on us. We were doing nothing down real estate before there was Chip and Joanna to tell you how. And we deeply in debt, lost

everything over the next two and a half years. So when I was 28 in September of that year, I'm turned 28 September 3rd. And shortly thereafter, we filed bankruptcy, filed chapter seven. Rachel was a brand new baby. She was born in April. We filed in September. And Denise was a toddler. And so with a toddler and a brand new baby and a marriage hanging on by a thread, we've often said we got the opportunity to start over. The thing that the overlay on that was when we first started making money in real estate before all that happened was when I met God, when we started going to church and I met the Lord. And so I was studying scripture because I didn't know anything. I was dumber than a rock. And so I was studying like crazy about any part of life, marriage, kids, money, anything, just trying to learn how to live and learn what the truth of the word of God says as a baby

Christian, brand new. And again, I didn't know beans. Some of y'all grew up, you know, going to whatever, going to Sunday school when you were two or whatever. I didn't know any of that stuff. So, and then, so I'm starting all of that and then I go broke in the middle of that. So, you know, we've got on the wall down there, if you visit the headquarters down there, I met God on the way up. I got to know him on the way down. And so walking through that process and then learning God's ways of handling money, I didn't set out to do that for other people. I set out to do that because I was sick and tired of being broke. And apparently the information I had from my broke finance professor that told me to go deeply in debt was

wrong. So I needed some new guidance. And so I shifted and then we started living, Sharon and I started living on those biblical principles. And very, very, very gradually, we started to turn and we started to have some hope again. We started to recover from the trauma and recover from the destroyed self-esteem, destroyed reputation, destroyed relationship and relationships and start to just start to put our lives back together a little bit at a time after this hurricane had hit us and that I signed up for. And so then this weirdest thing happened. A pastor called one day and said, hey, there's a couple in my office in foreclosure. Can you show them how to not get foreclosed on?

I went, yeah, I used to buy foreclosures, and then I was one. I know exactly what to do. So I went over and met with them, and pastors usually don't know a lot about technical stuff like that. If they know something about money, they don't know anything about technical legal stuff. So I got in there, fixed their foreclosure, got them in a, you know, got them in a plan with their mortgage company and saved their house. And of course, the problem with doing something like that is you do it right, you get to do it again. And so he started calling me pretty regular. So I ended up helping a whole bunch of people. And I started figuring out these principles apply to other

people, not just me. But I didn't set out to do that. And we were, I was back doing real estate deals to eat. And I think the last year I did real estate, I made 120,000. And we figured out if we quit doing real estate completely, I'd just gotten on the radio and they weren't paying me. They were letting me do it for free, which is about what I was worth. And we were starting Financial Peace University and I was doing some speaking and I had the little blue financial peace book and we figured out the first year we could probably make 60,000 if I quit doing real estate and only did financial peace. And we made 61,000 the next year. And so we took a pay cut in half and, uh, but we started realizing, okay,

God's going to take our story and use it to help other people. God's going to take the knowledge that we gain from all that pain and use it to help other people. And it went into a career and then into a calling and then into a mission. And if I wasn't doing, if I took a pay cut from 120 to 60 to do it, I sure wasn't doing it for money. And I'm still not doing it for money. So I don't know. You guys have been on this walk with us in the last, obviously, you have your whole life. And then, you know, in this last little while, comments on that? Yeah, well, from just his perspective, you know, we always laugh because we're like,

Dave is probably, Dad, he's probably never really going to retire from what we're doing. So we always kind of joke, we're like, he's going to be 92 and he's going to be doing the radio show. And we're going to be like, yeah, great job, Dave. That was a great show today. And he's going to go home

because we're like, he's going to think that he's doing it forever and ever again. There's going to be a small little closet over there and then just Baker Street just plays on loop and he's going to be like, all right. I'm doing it forever, ever. Amen. There's going to be a small little closet over there and then just Baker Street just plays on loop and he's going to be like, all right. I'm doing it. So I'm saying- Four people listening.

How dedicated he is though. Like, I mean, really, like he really, that is so true. So, so true. So, but I know for our positions, you know, it's as Ramsey personalities, it's a different, kind of a different door we entered in to this message,

all of us in different places in our stories. But yeah, being able to walk in this message and walk out truly how it's affected each individual, us individually. And then what's so cool too now is that, you know, as Deloney's talking about mental health stuff, Ken's talking about career, it's these other parts and these other messages being able to give hope. And so as we stand on stages or sit in front of microphones

that we're able to tell our stories and how this message has really helped us. And for me, I'm that second generation. I am, you know, for so many people, they're working the plan and they have little kids at home. And I'm like, yeah, I was that little kid, you know, I will be your kids in the next 20,

30 years. And so being able to be that voice of hope for people too, has been a fun perspective that I've been able to hopefully bring. I've never said this publicly. I'm going to, I'll, I'll tell the story now. This is a personal, like in like just for me story, but it's important. I think in this time in our, in our history, history. I had resolved to not be on the internet. I didn't want to exist on the internet. I just wanted to show up behind closed doors and help people and go home. And I like being on stage and all that, but I didn't want any of this stuff. And I was finishing my counseling program, and I remember telling a woman who was one of my professors, a brilliant woman named Aretha Marbley, Dr. Marbley. And she says, what are you doing? Because I was the dean of students at the

law school. I was getting another degree. And I said, I'm out. I want to go be a counselor in a small community and just disappear. And she looked at me and put her finger up close. And she said, you don't get to do that. You got to make this world better. to listen to you. You don't get to hide. Go show people another way. And I just put that in my back pocket. And then one day this guy called and then everything's been different. Thank you guys so much for being here. That puts us out 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.

And want to know more about getting started on the Ramsey Baby Steps? Go to RamseySolutions.com and click the Get Started button. We'll help you figure out the best next step for you based on your specific situation. That's RamseySolutions.com and click Get Started.