The Ramsey Show - App - How Can I Help My Family Be Better With Money? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: July 21, 2021

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Thank you very much. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's The 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. Christy Wright, Ramsey Personality, number one best-selling author, is my co-host today. Her brand new book is on pre-order. We just launched it last week.

It is selling at a brisk pace. Apparently, it's going to be another number one for her. It's called Take Back Your Time, the guilt-free guide to life balance. Take Back Your Time, the guilt-free guide to life balance. You can get it along with the audio book and the e-book, all of it. It comes out in September. But if you buy it now, we throw in all these goodies and more. Lots of goodies, goodies goodies goodies goodies goodies everywhere so your pre-order it helps christy with the marketing because we get a bunch of pre-sales it helps get on the bestseller list and that kind of

stuff and in return we help you because we give you all kinds of stuff we always do that with a pre-launch on a book and uh to try to get to entice a bunch of you to get in. And it's a win-win. So you get a bunch of goodies that, you know, like $150, $200 worth of stuff when you buy the book that you wouldn't get if you wait until the book comes out. And what do we get? We get a pre-order. So it's a fair trade. We like the trade.

And everybody wins here. So check it out, RamseySolutions.com. Exciting times to have a guilt-free guide to life balance because people are back out of balance again. Yeah, and it's amazing to hear how this message is resonating. I've been talking about this for a long time, but gosh, it is such a pain point. It's not just a female issue. Men, women, business owners, work in the workplace, have kids, don't have kids, we all have this sense that things are out of balance.

We struggle to manage all the things. And I think sometimes we ask the wrong questions. So I really wanted to dig into the issue behind the issue in this book, which is why the tagline is about the guilt-free guide. And it's been really cool, Dave, to see how it's resonating, talking about the root problem of our feeling with this topic and then fixing it there. You know, I was thinking about this. Somebody was interviewing me in the last week or so.

It might have been you, about this topic. We've done so much around this topic, especially lately. And you and I have discussed this topic off and on for five years or more. You doing the talk at Entree Leadership on life balance was always a big hit. And my disgust with the general, this idea that everybody's going to be balanced and everybody's going to have everything just right and i like to pick topics that you hate it's a specialty of my vocation of america i mean shut up and go get your work done but you know and on that note our new book on life balance everyone yeah so i mean that's that's the thing

so as i was thinking about though really when you do get your life balanced, when you do take back your time, there is a little bit of that I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I've had it moment where you go, okay, I am so tired of being pulled in 43,000 directions that I'm going to develop a new word when people ask me to do something, and it's called no. Yeah, yeah. And, you you know that happened to me now i've gotten really good you're so good at it i can say no nope not coming you don't even feel a little bit bad about it i used i used i really i did used to feel bad for a minute and i don't feel bad even for a nanosecond now because it's just no i I'm not the Messiah. It's his job. Jesus' job is to be God. I'm not him, and I can't be everywhere and do everything. And just because you get mad at me because I can't come do your thing over there, I'm sorry.

No, no, no, no, no. I need to be at home with Sharon Ramsey and Rufus the Shih Tzu. No, no, no. You know what's interesting about this topic too and this is what i found after you know a decade of speaking on this is we don't define what life balance means or what you know we oh we feel like we need it but we don't even know what it is we don't know what it is but we know we don't have it yeah and so there's this sense this haunting sense that we're always failing so no matter what you do what you say yes to or no to or where you spend your time,

you somehow still end up at the same place feeling bad about how you spend your time. And that's the reason that I think this is not just a calendar issue. I think there's deeper issues that we have to talk about when we look at how we approach our calendar. Saying no is certainly a piece of it. There's also this pressure to do everything for an equal amount of time. And you and I have talked about that. And I remember hearing you say five or six years ago, and it's a great line.

It's the line really almost is one of the thesis lines of the book is you're going to disappoint someone. So just decide to disappoint the right people. Yeah. You know, if I've never met you and you live in X, Y, Z, to do ABC and you're disappointed versus my daughter's disappointed because I missed her prom pictures because I was overdoing your stupid thing. Yeah. I just disappoint the wrong people. Yeah. You're going to disappoint somebody.

So go ahead. Just decide who it is. And that's when I got real good at no. Well, and so often I think we focus on the no and then we feel bad about the no. But what if you shifted that and it's not about the no, it's about what that no allows you to say yes to. I'm going to say yes to the prom,

yes to my kids, yes to whatever's in front of me. I mean, Dave, one of the things I've noticed in my life and so many women I work with struggle with, no matter where we are, we're focused on where we're not. So we're at work, we're worried about our kids, we're at home, we're thinking about work and on email.

If you live your whole life this way, of course you feel guilty because you're always focused on where you're not. So if you're on vacation and you're spending your time in the lounge chair planning the next vacation, does that count? Just vacation to vacation. I have done that. I have done that. This is great.

I need more of this in my life. I need more time to plan more vacations. I'm going to sit here and book the next one while I'm sitting here. This is great. I need more of this in my life. I need more time to plan more vacations. I'm going to sit here and book the next one while I'm sitting here. It's interesting. It's not a productivity book. It's about balance. And so when we address the right issue, you get the right results. Take back your time.

The Guilt-Free Guide to Life Balance by Christy Wright. You can get it at RamseySolutions.com in the store along with all the goodies. Edwin is in Wilkes Bar, Pennsylvania. Hi, Edwin. How are you? Hi, guys. Thank you so much for taking my call today. I appreciate that.

Our pleasure. How can we help? Yeah, so I'm a newer listener. Not really new. I've been listening for a few months now. I'm just on YouTube. Enjoy the show so much. Me personally in my life, I'm not on a bad pace or anything.

I have no debt. I'm 22 years old. Right now, I've just been focusing on saving and getting my income higher. But for me personally, my problem is that, you know, everyone around me in my life struggles with money. I try to, you know, give the most advice that I could to everyone. Just try to get them on a better page, especially with the cars. I tell them all the time to sell their cars because they all have cars that they can't afford. Who are you telling to sell their car when you're 22?

My brothers, my sisters, anyone that I know. How did that go when you did that um they love their cars yeah yeah they thought you were crazy yeah okay i figure yeah i just i just want to know how could i motivate it's really just my family you know because money has always been a struggle um throughout our whole lives for all of us um and i'm on a page where I don't really struggle with money anymore. I live so coolly. Edwin, Edwin, let me tell you, you can't be responsible for other people. You take care of you. Set a good example.

They'll start asking what you're doing different. I appreciate your heart, but you can't change their mind and you can't change their behavior. I want you to continue to want your family to do better, but quit telling them. Quit telling them what to do. They're not going to do it. They're only going to do it after you go make a success of yourself, and then they want to be like you. So go be who you want to be, and that is the best way to get them on board. Hey y'all, it's Christi Wright. Listen, I know you're busy, probably tired,

and let's be honest, maybe even a little overwhelmed. And with the busy fall season coming up, managing your time is only going to get harder. But here's the thing. You don't have to live your life always feeling busy and burnout and unhappy. That's why I'm so excited to tell you about my new book called Take Back Your Time,

The Guilt-Free Guide to Life Balance. This book redefines what life balance is and shows you how to achieve it so you can have more time, more fun, and a whole lot less guilt. You shouldn't be haunted by the idea of balancing it all. There's more for you right now today. And it starts with taking back your time

the guilt-free way. My new book, Take Back Your Time, is now available for pre-order and it includes over $50 of free bonus items. So there's no reason to wait. Pre-order your copy at r is my co-host today. When it comes to making big money or big life moves, like buying a home or getting married or having a baby, it's likely the last thing on your mind to make sure you have the right insurance.

I understand that, but big changes can be overwhelming but i tell you what if you have a problem and you didn't take care of the insurance adjustment to adjusting to the new life situation bad idea you buy a house you don't put fire insurance on it burns two weeks later it's a bad idea don't care if you're overwhelmed moving or not you should have gotten dadgum insurance in place yeah you kick your own butt right you know what i'm saying so if not having the time or energy is what's keeping you from getting the right coverage with your insurance, then work with an endorsed local provider, an ELP insurance agent. They're independent agents.

They will shop all the coverages, get you the best price among a bunch of different companies, and they do it all free of charge, and you save money, and you get the best coverage. Independent agent shops all around and they do it all for free text insurance to 33 789 to get connected with an elp and let a pro help you find the coverage that fits your life at the best price text insurance to 33 789 Christy, if you're 22 or you're 42, and you get really, really enthused about a new thing, it is human nature to want people that you're doing something that's working for you. You're winning because you got this thing, whatever it is.

And then you want other people to win. You want other people to experience the success that you've had. It is natural to want to tell your brother to sell his car, to tell your mom and dad to get their act together. Our whole family's always been bad with money, and I found a guy who's good with money. It doesn't matter if you're 22 or you're 42. The problem is people don't care that you're excited.

And it's like if you lose a bunch of weight and you run around telling everybody they have to do what you did. Or you whatever. I mean, I'm glad you lost a bunch of weight. I lost 37 pounds this year. So I needed to. I got fat during COVID. But I haven't run around and made everybody else do it. Now, some people ask how I did it and what i did and i've shared that with them then but i didn't go up to

them and go i'm looking at you and i'm thinking you need to lose some weight i didn't do that you know that's kind of unappealing it is and it's interesting because i think everybody regardless of your personality style is resistant to someone telling them what to do on an unsolicited advice someone just coming up to them saying hey you need to sell your cart regardless of your personality style is resistant to someone telling them what to do on an unsolicited advice someone just coming up to them saying hey you need to sell your cart regardless of if your family members the difference is like you described if someone shows an interest hey how'd you do that hey how'd you pay off all your debt hey how'd you lose all that weight when they initiate because they're interested because they've seen your example they are so much more receptive to the path the plan the principles then someone just uninvited comes up to them tells hey you're doing

it wrong here's what you need to do different the natural inclination is to dig your heels and go whoa whoa whoa whoa you don't know me it's not your business you know i missed the part where i asked regardless of who you are that's that's a not in the human nature to resist that so how you do it it matters as much as what you do. And so setting that example and letting people come to you and then being open to say, hey, here's what I did. Here's what worked for me. This can work for you, too. Yeah.

And what you can do is just start asking some questions. You can start telling your story. Tell your story. And, you know, we can use the weight loss example. We can use the money example. You can go, hey, man, I just paid off $22 thousand dollars in debt whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop and people are going to go oh wow that's kind of cool man yeah how did you do that yeah and well you asked that's right see don't ask that's right because now you're going to get the whole thing is

to trick them into asking yeah there you go tell your story and then they invite you into their story well then you've earned a right to you've earned a right to be heard and i think that makes a big difference versus just going around pointing a finger cast in blame no one responds well to that but when you set an example through your life when you talk about what what's working for you you've earned the right to give that advice because you've actually lived it hey watch my debt free scream on youtube you know hey look here that's what i did man or you could just go you know i was really scared and i didn't know what to do man i got on this budget and just being on a plan i feel like i got a race and again all you're doing is telling your story and you keep

telling your story until they ask, how'd you do that? That's right. And if they never asked, you can't say. That's right. You should do this too. Because as soon as you cross that line, if they don't invite you to the party, you are an uninvited guest at the party. That's stinky.

That's rude. Nobody likes that. That's rude. Nobody wants to be the uninvited guest. And it's the worst is when you try to do this with your parents. Because you have the powdered butt syndrome. Once someone has powdered your butt, they don't want your opinion on money or sex. And so I have very accomplished and successful children.

I do not need their opinion unless I ask. That's right. But, you know, my son Daniel Ramsey and I were talking about a business thing the other day. He was showing me this thing he's redoing in one area of the company, and it was impressive. And he wasn't telling me what I should do. That wouldn't work. No, right. But he was inviting me, and I did.

I stepped right into it. I said, that's pretty cool. How are you doing that? He was inviting me, and I did. I stepped right into it. I said, that's pretty cool. How are you doing that? And then he gets to tell me, instead of coming in and going, we need to change this around here, and you don't know what you're doing. And I'm like, hey, dude, you weren't even a gleam in your mother's eye when I started this thing, so you need to shut up. But instead, he, oh, my gosh, you know. You've got to be strategic with it. He did. He was taught by a pro he completely

suckered me in but that's that's it you tell your story and that invites people to come in and and you know that's true of your faith you want to talk about your jesus you're you're that's the most rude offensive thing in the world is a bust up in somebody's face talking about Jesus. And you don't even half know them. And they don't care what you think about Jesus. Instead, you start talking about what God did for you. What was your story? That's right.

This is what happened to me. I was here and now I'm here. I was there and here I'm in a different place now. And you can tell your story all day. And very few people are offended by you telling your own story. You know, I answer questions at the end of the Christy Wright Show. And I got a question. I draw questions out of a fishbowl.

So I don't know what's in the bowl. And several weeks ago, I drew a question out. And the question was, why did you choose Jesus over other religions? That's how it was worded. And Dave, I was so caught off guard. Because normally it's like, how do I balance it all, right? It's like these practical questions. I was so caught off guard, but I just, in that moment, just told my testimony. And it was that exact moment of going,

I've been invited to share what this is to me and what, how my life has been transformed by this Jesus I talk about. And because I was asked, I was able to, to, to share that in a different way. But you're right it's it's it's setting the example where people want to ask what's different about you what's different about you yeah that's why when somebody knocks on your door and forces a book in your face that doesn't work you know and uh I mean I saw something the other day on social media it's like if one more person gives me the Dave Ramsey book I'm gonna kill him you know that person must really need it i appreciate people buying my books but i kind of agree yeah you know an unsolicited give me a diet book what are you saying you know what's your point okay unsolicited give me a dave

book what are you saying you say i'm a doofus yeah you probably are but you know you just you just insulted somebody with that now take back your time book might not be quite as bad. It might not be quite as bad. I always give you a hard time because when someone gives someone your book and says, you have a problem, when someone gives you one of my books, like Business Boutique, it's like, I believe in you. See, I need to write a believe in you book. There you go.

That's what I need to do. I don't know. You got your brand very on point with what you're doing here, Dave. What are you saying? The brand's offensive? What are you saying, Christy? We all're doing here, Dave. What are you saying? The brand's offensive? What are you saying, Christy? We all know our strengths, Dave. We all know our strengths.

We all know where we're supposed to be sitting. Oh, my gosh. But that is, if you want to convince someone, particularly people you love, we tend, the closer we are to them, the tackier we tend to be. Yeah. We violate even just basic persuasion technique. We just go, because it's my brother, I can say anything I want.

You always talk about this in motivation similar to the topic of balance, but you get asked this all the time through Entree Leadership, how do I motivate my team? And you say you don't. You hire motivated people. He even asked, how do I motivate my family? You can't motivate other people. You really can't. No, but what you can do is put inspiration in front of them

and they may hook their wagon to it. And you, my son, are the inspiration. That's it. That's the deal. So tell your story. Even if it's... The story doesn't have to be over. You could be just starting the story. But tell your story. Don't wag your finger

at them. That's your only shot, folks. This is The Ramsey personality is my co-hosts today, Errol and Rachelle, are with us from Wilmington, Delaware. And on the phone to do a debt-free scream. What's up, guys? Hey. Hello. Hello. Love it.

How much have you paid off? $32,000. Cool. How long did this take? It took about 15 months. Okay. And your range of income during that time? We started off around $85,000 and then got right up to $99,000 at the end. Cool. Like a hundred grand. Very good.

Yeah. So close. What do you guys do for a living? So I work in tech at Microsoft and side business photography. Cool. And I'm a high school math teacher. Fun, fun. Very good. Very good. What kind of debt was this?

Oh, it was wedding debt, loan debt, credit card debt, you name it. Okay. Wow. Good for you guys. So what happened? What started the journey? So really it was all about like, you know, I came into our marriage with debt. And my wife, she didn't make me feel bad about having that debt.

She said, you know, we're one, we're together in this, this is our debt. I try to make it seem more individualized, but, um, with that we tackled it. It was a hard journey. Um, cause I couldn't see the end of the road, but through, through, uh, perseverance and, and trial and error and just following that path, we did it. Okay, who started this whole thing, Rayshel? Oh, yes. I thought I heard that in there.

Okay. All right, Rayshel, what did you do? What happened? I heard about you back in grad school um i wasn't in debt yet but i was about to be um in order to get through grad school and so i immediately started getting some financial education and i heard about you and so i went through your program in grad school and had paid off my debt by the time i was 25 and then we got married married, and I said, well, I know it works. We can do this.

To which Errol said, yes, ma'am. Not exactly. Not exactly. Not exactly. It was a journey for me to believe that this can be real. It can be done. Yeah. Well, I'm so proud of you guys.

That's awesome. Who were your biggest cheerleaders? I know my wife was just keep pushing me and pushing me and pushing me. All right. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? You guys paid off $32,000 in 15 months. Follow the plan. Follow the plan, yes. She's the the saver i'm like the spender and i'm like all

right this plan works i gotta follow this plan how does it feel now that you get to keep all your money you're not paying it backwards and and paying all these debts you it must feel like you got all this money if it feels good it feels good um it's still a temptation because it's like, oh, there's an offer, and it's like you can save just by going back into debt. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that I don't ever want to be there ever again. Yeah, it's too much trouble to get out. Never go back. Yes, it is.

Way to go, you guys. Very, very proud of you. Great job. So it feels awesome now, huh? Yeah. I said we don't want to be – I tell them we're going to get out of debt before we start a family. And so we got out of debt, and now we're expecting a baby. Congratulations.

That's awesome. Congratulations. That's the most important part of the whole call right there. Excellent. That is so great. Congratulations, you guys. I'm so proud of you. Well, we've got a copy of the Legacy Journey because you've changed the legacy for this baby

by changing the way you've handled money and getting yourself out of debt. So proud of you. We also got a copy of the Total Money Makeover, and we'll send that up to you. You can give that away to someone and pay it forward, and hopefully you can do that in a way that they want to read it. And good stuff. You know what? I'm going to throw in one more, Kelly.

Let's send them Smart Money, Smart Kids, the book that Rachel and I did on how to teach your kids how to handle money. That's awesome. And we'll make that a gift for the new baby that's on the way. So good stuff. Thank you. You guys are incredible. Very, very well done.

So proud of you. Good job. All right. It's Errol and Rachelle in Wilmington, Delaware. $32,000 paid off in 15 months, making $85,000 to $99,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

We're debt-free! Yeah! This is how it is done, baby. Wow. That's awesome. That's so cool. What a great year they've had. I know.

It's so exciting accepting a baby and knowing you're starting that journey debt-free. I mean, that's just awesome. One less thing to worry about. It's not mandatory, but it sure gives you a lot of peace. That's right. It sure does. Excellent. Keith is with us.

Keith's in Orlando. Hi, Keith. How are you? Hi, Dave. Christy. It's an honor to speak with you guys. You too. What's up? So I find myself in a weird position. I've been calling

the baby steps and I've completed one, two, three, and four. Step five doesn't really apply to me right now. I'm single, not married, no kids, no plan for kids in some years. And I have about $20,000 extra in my savings account while I'm working on step six, paying off my mortgage.

This is separate from my emergency funds. And I want to do either one of three things with it. And this is where I'd like your guidance. Would you like to know my options? Sure. Okay. So option one would be to throw it all directly into my mortgage because I closed my house with only 5% down on the 30-year fix. I know that's against your wishes.

I did this before. I was a Ramsey listener. Okay. So doing that and having the house reappraised. Option two? Oh, I'm sorry. Option two is just invest it, put it into good mutual funds, money market account, have it grow that way. Or option three is kind of the careless one, but potentially just enjoy some of it because I've been debt-free for a long

time without the mortgage. What do you make a year? I drive a pretty old. My base value is 85, but with commission, last year it was 183. This year I'm expecting about 150,000. Good for you. And what are you driving? I drive a 2007 FJ Cruiser.

Okay. Toyota. What do you think, Christy? You know, I always go to this, and this is the opposite of what you always say, but I'm always like, I like dividing it up.

I'm like, you can play with a little bit of money, put some on your mortgage, invest some. I'm like, I like just kind of spreading it out. When you've got extra, not obviously like when you've got,

you know, when you're on a specific step, but I don't know. I would do no investing above 15% of your income. Anything that you would have invested, I would put towards your mortgage. I would split it between some enjoyment. I think you need to upgrade your car. And when you make it $150,000 a year, you're driving a freaking hoopty. So I think you need to move up about $10,000 in car.

And if it were me, now, so here's the thing. When you're in baby steps four, five, and six, you are not gazelle intense. You are instead intentional. And so what you're doing is you're saying, I'm going to be very intentional with my dollars. I'm going to enjoy some. I'm going to give some. I'm going to be investing my 15%, and the rest of, I'm going to be very intentional with my dollars. I'm going to enjoy some. I'm going to give some. I'm going to be investing my 15%, and the rest of it I'm going to throw on the mortgage.

And that's my intentionality. And I think you're past due to move up in car. And so if I woke up in your shoes, I'd probably spend about $10,000 on a car and probably throw about $10,000 at the mortgage. But I don't want to tell you ever to do any investing beyond 15% until your mortgage is paid off. So I'm always going to throw it at the mortgage or at some enjoyment. But I think you've got some things in your life that have been put on hold back when you were in Baby Steps 1, 2, and 3, and they should have been on hold then. But now that you're at this stage, you should be intentional, not necessarily as intense.

Does that make sense? Correct. It does. May I ask one simple thing? Also. Very quick. If I were to throw this $20,000 at my mortgage, it would put me at over 20% equity. I could have the house re-appraised, and it would get rid of my PMI.

Yeah, that's very tempting then. But then you don't get a car so i don't know you decide which one you want to do when you want to do it all i carry is you're doing it on purpose that's the intentional part We'll be right back. christy wright ramsey personality is my co-host today open phones at 888-825-5225 zach is with us in houston hi zach how are How are you? I'm doing fine. How are y'all today? Better than we deserve. What's up? Awesome. I got a question for both of y'all. I am looking for advice, so it is solicited. He's been listed.

It was a great segment, by the way. For my living situation, I am in between either buying a home or getting an apartment. With this housing market the way it is, I don't know if I should jump on the bandwagon and try to outbid somebody like others I've seen been doing, or if I should just wait till it cools off and go from there. How much do you have saved? I have $65,000 saved in an account. Then I also have $140,000 in investments. Thanks to the Smart Investor Pro program. So thank you, Dave, and your team.

Cool. The investments are in retirement accounts like Roth and so on? Yes, mutual funds, some retirement stuff I rolled into an IRA. But it's all in some kind of a retirement or is some of it in just miscellaneous mutual funds uh both mostly in mutual funds okay i'm gonna try one more time because i'm still confused it should all be in mutual funds but okay is is it not in r Roth and IRAs of some kind? I'm sorry.

It is Roth. Okay. All of that. It should be. I was thinking it was. Okay. So you don't have anything that you can cash out of investments without retirement penalties, right?

Incorrect. I have about 50 of that that I put cash towards that I could pull out whenever I wanted. Okay. That's not in a Roth IRA or not in an IRA of any kind. Okay. Is that what you're saying? I believe so, yes. Okay.

Then I would use that 50 and I would use this 65 together for your down payment. I want to put as much down on this house that does not cash out retirement to put down. Now, here's the thing. And you're out of debt, and you have your emergency fund, right? The only debt I have is about $17,000 toward the truck. Well, you have to pay that off before we can have this discussion. Okay. So when you get off the phone, go pay that off.

Okay. Then we're going to take what's remaining. You're at about $100,000 roughly to put down the house then, between the $50,000 and the $50,000, $65,000 minus $17,000. And you've got an emergency fund? The $65,000 includes that emergency fund. Oh, my gosh. So we don't have that either.

Okay. All right. So we've got to break that out. So your three to six months of expenses is set aside, and you've got $48,000 of the $65,000 left because we just paid your truck off aside and you've got 48 000 of the 65 left because we just paid your truck off and you finish your emergency because we don't buy we do not recommend buying a house till you're debt free and have the emergency fund so that's where we're trying to get you to okay which you can be there with what you have you just need to think about it differently and

allocate it differently and not use that towards your down payment is what we're saying exactly and so let's just say we put 20 000000 in an emergency fund just for the fun of it. Okay? Okay. So out of $65,000 minus $17,000 minus $20,000, that's going to leave you $28,000 there. $50,000 in investments that's not in retirement funds of any kind would be $78,000 that you've got for a down payment on a house with a fully funded emergency fund and no truck payment. You with me? Yes, sir.

That's where we would take you to. And then if you want to go buy a house, that's fine. But what you want to avoid is the land of stupid and crazy. And most of what's going on out there right now is the land of stupid and crazy. So you just want to go looking at houses. And if you can buy one and not feel like you were a nut job when you bought it, then go ahead and buy it, right? There's nothing to say you can't buy in this market, but what you don't want to do is get caught up in this thing where you're paying $150,000 more for a house than it's worth because a whole bunch of goobs lined up on the sidewalk and at an auction. Right?

Okay. So, you know, you go make an offer on a house, and if you don't get it, that's fine. And you just don't feel the pressure, and you don't get the house fever, and you wander around and kind of take your time. And if you can sneak up on one fine, or if you get frustrated with the whole process and want to just wait, that's okay, too. But what you're saying is, I don't want to participate in crazy and i'm agreeing with you so but that doesn't mean you can't find somebody to sell a house and in houston texas it's possible

and the market has cooled in the last 30 days over what it was in most markets it was just about 30 days ago was probably the apex. And it was the first time since we've kept records in the real estate world that are accessible that over half of the houses that sold sold for more than asking price. And that was 60 days ago. And it's gone down since then. And so it's still crazy, still crazy, but it's not anywhere near as and so it's just it's not it's still crazy still crazy but

it's not anywhere near as crazy as two months ago i had a question day for all the people listening right now that are in that position where they're either buying their i guess mostly probably buying their first home maybe buying you know a different house or moving how do you discern am i being a nut job or not like because i think a lot of people especially someone you know that that like zach that he's buying his first home how much is how what is reasonable what is too much because we've talked before about you know the demand dictates the price and so someone's willing to pay it you know this is the new value this is the new price point if someone's listening right now they want to buy a house how do they discern okay this is this is a normal competitive good

thing to offer and this is now getting into the land of crazy do you have any type of parameters to help people discern that because that's this is so scary for a lot of people right now well i mean okay number one anytime you're doing something new buying a house you never bought before it's gonna feel a little scary sure whatever you do yeah that's not the kind of scary i'm talking about. But I think most of us know when we're out of control in a frenzied buying mode. You know, it's almost like a manic thing, like a manic depressive, like a bipolar thing. And we all have that little thing. I mean, I know when I have bought stuff when there was nothing going to keep me from buying.

I was like an addict. You know what I mean? And I think if you got that, if you're in in that gear you know you need to stop and back away and that's that it may not even be the price it may just be a spiritual thing that you're not supposed to do that right now because if you're getting in that manic gear in that gear where nothing can keep me from from my housing fix like you're a freaking addict or something you got house fever yeah and and that's when these people are going that's when they're going to wake up with regret on the back of their tongue you know they're going to wake up with a financial hangover having bought the house and it's not

necessarily oh you paid 22 more there's not a formula like that okay but you you kind of know that you're out of control you know i mean I can't even remember going in freaking Costco, and there's too much stuff in the buggy. You know, I'm just out of control. Yeah. And your trip to gear there, it's not just, okay, this is a systematic, methodical, reasonable, wise purchase. So you're saying more check-in with yourself it's less about the house and the price than it is like what's going on because i don't think there is a formula on the house or the price yeah i mean obviously if you go way up over the value of the asking price

and any comps in the area and you're going to pay 40 more than it's ever appraised for before you're probably in the stupid land i mean how can you even be excited about that because you're going to pay 40% more than it's ever appraised for before. You're probably in the stupid land. And how can you even be excited about that? Because you're just the one that paid more. It's like, yeah, you got it, but you're also just the highest bidder. People are doing it. I know. It usually has to do with they're moving from a very expensive market to a less expensive market,

so they perceive value there that's not there. Right. Like California people coming to Nashville. We see that a ton yeah yeah you move out of uh you know you move out of silicon valley and you move to abilene texas my god you can buy half the town yeah with when you sold your house you know and so but that doesn't mean you should right that doesn't mean it's a good buy it doesn't mean you're not going to be able to resell it right after you do that because but the

real estate prices are just so different that it emotionally just lets you get out of control yeah and so you've got to use just some methodical okay here's what the house appraises for with comps the market's really hot so it's probably worth a little bit more than that uh really i mean it really might appraise because there's a heat on the thing supply and demand but it's not worth 34% more. Yeah, gotcha. I mean, you know, we're not going to take a $500,000 house and pay $750,000 for it and call that wise. Right.

That appraised a month ago for $500,000. Right, right, right. We're not in hyperinflation here. Yes. So it's a range you're kind of looking at. It's just your brain going into addict mode, and you've got house fever. Yeah. And you've got to just, we all can do it.

I can do it. I can sense myself doing it. And I have to just go, whoa, I'm managing God's money here. I've got to report to him how I'm doing this, and he's not going to like my attitude. I've got to fix this. This is the Ramsey Show. product or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes section or head to theramzshow.com. Thanks for listening.