The Ramsey Show - App - How Can I Hold Myself Accountable to a Budget? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: December 2, 2021

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I'm 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. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, is my co-host today.

Our newest book is a number one bestseller as well, Know Yourself, Know Your Money. It's now on sale at RamseySolutions.com for $10 as part of our big black friday black friday week black friday week um sale for christmas it's a big deal check it out at ramsey solutions.com the phone number here triple eight eight two five five two two five hunter is in birmingham hey hunter what's up hey dave hey rachel first of all a huge honor to be talking with you guys. I've been listening for about a year now. I'm 19. I'm about to finish my first semester in undergraduate,

and I didn't go to a big state school like y'all recommend. I went to my local four-year college, and I want to go to med school, and I want to know how to do it right and stay out of debt, and I know it's like $30,000 a semester for med school, and I'm just working part-time. I'm not sure how I can manage, you know, staying out of debt and, you know, becoming a doctor. Very difficult, a very difficult challenge. There's a couple of tracks that you can try, but they're fairly narrow doors that you'll have to squeeze through.

The best one and the most efficient one is to start studying fellowships. Start studying the MD-PhD programs. And in essence, the core of that is you go to work for the university where the medical school is, and you are an employee, so you go to work for the university where the medical school is and you are an employee so you go to med school free okay but they the number of uh slots for those is very low they're very prized for obvious reasons okay there's not a lot of them but you you would you might be uh teaching biology as a as a professor's assistant uh while you're going through mid-school you know if for undergrads and uh you may be teaching

undergrads and that kind of stuff you're probably going to have some time tied up doing stuff like that that's generally how these fellowships work but they're called md phd programs probably the most famous one is duke and you can check into them. But I'm not sure if Vanderbilt has one. I don't know locally, but most universities have some form of that, and you can do that. The second thing you can do, and this one's even harder, but I've actually met people that pulled it off, is start soliciting the drug companies because they all want docs as customers in the future. And start talking to Pfizer and start talking to whoever's out there that whatever brand of whatever drug,

it doesn't even matter if it's an area of medicine you're going into, the large drug companies, and they have scholarship programs they have them but they're again they're they're they're kind of a almost secretive about them and so uh but you're kind of if when you're in med school you're gonna be like a nascar driver you're gonna be like wearing patches and stuff but i didn't know that was a thing yeah i'm kidding but no you're not wearing a patch but the uh but i mean you know it's you going to be sponsored by you know that's the way it's going to work in other words and so it doesn't mean you're obligated to them or something else the third area and again these are all and it may be some combination of these that you find the large hospital companies are

really struggling with doctors in rural areas now and a lot of them are willing to pay for med school in return for you promising contractually to work in one of their uh underserved areas to fund i mean to staff their hospital for a number of years you don't have to do the rest of your life but uh it's almost uh akin to an indentured servant program so to speak but i mean you get paid as a doctor but you'd be living in um nothingville somewhere right go at their hospital because they can't get a doc out there uh or maybe even an inner city where they have trouble getting a doc or something like that but uh and then lastly and this is obvious as the military and they'll pay for your med school but you're going to serve as, you know, in the medical corps of whatever branch of the military you're in.

But they all have that program. And so there are ways to go through, but it's very, very difficult. And I've met people that have gone through law school debt-free. I've met people that go through all kinds of stuff. And so, you know, you ought to pick up Christina Ellis's book and read through it. Confessions of a Scholarship Winner, is that what it's called? Is that right, Rachel? Yes, I'm pretty sure.

Something like that, yeah. But Christina Ellis, just look it up. And she just came on staff here as one of our Ramsey personalities. She's in the B future video in the borrowed future uh documentary and um but she got five hundred thousand dollars worth of scholarships and went through did her grad school work at vanderbilt now she's not an md but um she she's you know five hundred thousand dollars worth and you can use those anywhere you want to use them grad school undergrad whatever yeah so she went through freaking vanderbilt which is unbelievably expensive yeah and paid cash for every bit of it with scholarships that she earned and it wasn't academic and it wasn't athletic uh and so it's worth you

know being inspired by her story to keep scratching around this subject and not just roll over and accept the normal thing i'm going to to be $250,000 in debt before I'm an MD. Yeah, that's right. And it always is encouraging because we do get these calls on or on the show and meet people out that have gone through, like you said, law school, medical school, and they've found these programs, they've found these avenues. And I think a big part of it too, is they look and they ask the questions and they take time and they dig into that where i think a lot of people just it's an assumption there's no way and that that's where it stops yeah there's not as many scholarships for graduate work of any kind as there is undergraduate yeah

yeah probably 10 as many but they're there and not a lot of people go after them because they just assume they're not there and so you just work on that cipriana is with us in albany new york hi cipriana how are you hi dave hi rachel thanks so much for taking my call it's crazy to be talking to you you too what's up so i have um a revelation that i guess came upon me this uh this morning a little background um I am 27 years old. I have a bachelor's. I have a small business that I run. And I am disabled. I'm legally blind. But I am in a really unhealthy borderline unsafe living situation right now. It's deteriorated. It's the home with family, with my mother and brother and his

girlfriend. And, you know, so it's a really complicated, really unhealthy living situation that I've been trying to get out of pretty desperately for the past six months. And as you know, the rental market is insane, especially in upstate New York, where I am. It has the highest jump of like anywhere in the country and because of COVID basically. And so I've been looking for six months for a place to live. I've got dogs that are problematic breeds. No one wants to rent to anyone with a pity or a German Shepherd. And so I've been really struggling to find a place to live.

And I need to get out because it's really honestly dangerous. So I'm getting this money. I have a check in three installments of $14,000 that's coming to me from back Social Security. Okay, I'll tell you what, I want to hear the rest of the story and give you a good solid answer, but I'm up on a commercial break. So you hang with me through the break and we'll come back and help you out, kiddo. This is The Ramsey Show. Most people know me as the guy who did stupid with a lot of zeros on the end. I made my first million dollars in my 20s the wrong way and then went bankrupt. That's when I set out to learn God's ways of handling money and I developed the Ramsey Baby Steps.

By following these steps, I became a millionaire again and this time the right way. After three decades of guiding millions of others through the plan, the evidence is undeniable. If you follow the Baby Steps, you will become a millionaire and get to live and give like no one else. And now I'm excited to share with you that I've written a new book called Baby Steps Millionaires, and it's available for pre-order right now. You'll learn how ordinary people built extraordinary wealth and how you can too. I'll walk you through how to invest, build wealth, and bust through the barriers preventing you from becoming a millionaire. For those who are ready, it's game on.

You can baby step your way to becoming a millionaire. Pre-order your copy today at Ramsey Personality No. 1 bestselling author, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Cipriana is who we're speaking with. She's in Albany, New York, legally blind, and is in an unsafe environment with her current living situation. Needs to move out, having trouble finding a rental, and is getting some disability payments. We got started on that part of it, didn't get the rest of that story. Has a German Shepherd, and I think you said a cat, so it's having trouble finding, getting a place to live, and so on.

So, that's what you told me so far. How much does the disability pay out? So it's back payment of about $14,000. Total that you're going to get. When will you get that? Total. That first payment has already come through, and I think it's going to be over the next couple months,

they made it sound. So I'll get the next one next month and the next one after that. Okay, so you're getting $4,000 or five thousand dollars a pop and in three checks okay right are you working yes so i've got my own pet care business that i run and then i'm doing some freelance uh admin assistant work for a local company on the side okay what do you make what's your income so it varies because i do you make? What's your income? So it varies because I do pet sitting, so it's, you know, month by month it's a little weird, but on average income is between $2,500 and $3,500 a month. Okay, and where do you do pet sitting? At your parents' house? So I house sit, so I go to other people's houses. Oh, you go to their

houses, people's houses, you house sit pets. Yep, other you go to their houses people's houses your house okay some of that sometimes i board i've got some people that will come to my you know where i live and leave their dogs so are you uh from a practical tactical standpoint i'm not trying to be invasive or unkind i'm just trying to understand are you you have some, but you are legally blind. You're able to get around. You're not completely black, right? Right. So I have enough sight to do what I need to do, but I can't drive, and that's a big issue where I live.

How do you get to those houses when you're house-sitting? It's been family. My father was also laid off for the entirety of the pandemic, so he was helping me just get me from place to place, you know, because he didn't have anywhere he could be. So he's been helping me. Okay, and your German Shepherd is a pet or a seeing-eye dog? The German Shepherd is a pet, and I also have a pit bull mix,

so neither of which are great for renting. That is a pet. And a cat. I do have a cat as well, but they aren't the issue. Okay. All right. How old are you? 27.

Okay. And so you're thinking of using this money coming in to get out of this situation, and you said unsafe, starting to sound like you mean physically unsafe. It is. unsafe starting to sound like you mean physically unsafe it it is my uh someone i live with is uh an alcoholic and um we do not get along and there's been altercations so violence it's not safe violence yeah yeah sometimes we will say not safe they mean emotionally but you mean physically well that either definitely it's emotionally i'm needing clarity here i'm going to understand what i'm dealing with yes yes okay yes okay so that's that's where that's

where i'm at i've been looking for six months for a place to live to move out with my how old are you he would give me 27 okay you told us that i'm sorry I don't remember it now. Okay. Okay. So you have an unbelievable list of obstacles and difficulties. Right. And sometimes when I get in situations like that, I stack them at the same level of importance, and they're not. In your story, I hear you getting out of there is top of all the lists. Right.

If you were my daughter, Rachel's little sister, Rachel would have already gone over there and kicked the guy's butt, and then we'd have another problem, but we would have gotten you out of there right rachel well that's what i was going to say so that is that i feel i feel like for your safety that as as you're talking and explain the situation it almost becomes like that that is that's the number one thing um yeah and i don't want to be the one to say get rid of your dogs get rid of the situation you know i am i love dogs i mean that's they're my favorite thing on the planet uh cats not not so much but dogs i'd do anything to keep a dog but you can't afford

them because they're keeping you from getting out and being safe unless you can find a landlord that will allow you to have one or both of these animals but the chances are fairly low the pit bull's bad the cat's bad you might get the german shepherd in somewhere if you can find a a landlord that's sympathetic towards you and i wonder soprano with all the all the stuff you've been doing with animals over the course of a few years i guess if there's anyone that would take take the dogs for a period of time, even six to eight months, a year, just so that you can get them back eventually would be the goal.

But if I've got to trade your safety for you owning a dog, these are not on the same level on my list. Right, and I hear you, and I understand understand and you're you're not you're not wrong but the two the two of them are hard to place long story short one of the diabetic a lot of medical stuff i can i can afford her medical stuff obviously and the other one i'm not gonna allow you to be in danger for the life of a dog right period so my question i've been i've been trying to figure this out is is it crazy that I've been thinking of buying, saving up enough and using this money? Is it crazy?

Because you're not buying a house for you. You're buying a house for two dogs. Well, it's partially for me, too. I see what you're saying. No, right now, if you were smart, you'd be a renter. You'd get your business stabilized you'd get something uh close to the houses that you uh house sit for and you'd use uber to bring you to those houses when you're going over there to house sit but uh but you know you got your two dogs back at home then and and so um i i don't

like any of this i'm sorry for you i mean it's a horrible squeeze that you're in by this untenable thing that your father is allowing under his roof uh so that's a whole nother bag of tricks to open up but that's his problem it's not my dad it's my mom is the is the problem your dad is on site and he's allowing someone to threaten physically his daughter that would happen about half a second our place and then bozo be balanced my no, my stepdad is in the area. He lives in the same building. He's not my actual dad. Okay, well, Bozo would be bounced.

I'm just telling you. Yeah, no, I agree. Instead of my sight-impaired daughter having been run off for fear of her life. This is nuts. Right, right. But you've got to get out of there, kiddo. And so, you know, get out of there kiddo and so you know number one goal is leave number two goal is find something that allows you to run your business

and keep your income up so that you can stay gone and i'd like for you to bank this 14 000 and not touch it you're going to need the emergency cushion and then number three goal is try to figure out a way that some of your animals make the move with you if any but they're as much as i love puppies they're way down the list here i'm more worried about you than i am your german shepherd sure i mean you call me up scared of the guy you live with you got to hear yourself right no and that's the only reason the german shepherd is involved is because i'm looking for a place with my stepfather because

he helped me get from point a to point b he's his dog so i could leave with just the pit bull but i still can't find a place with her so it doesn't seem well maybe he'll keep the pit bull maybe he'll keep the pit bull since he's keeping the german shepherd maybe he'll keep the pit bull. Maybe he'll keep the pit bull since he's keeping the German Shepherd. Maybe he can keep the pit bull and you get your own place. I wish that was a possibility, but they don't get along yet. They're separated. It's a work in progress. Okay.

It's still complicated. No, it's not complicated. You're making it complicated because you're prioritizing your safety, the safety of a freaking pit bull that won't get along with another dog over yourself. It's a dog, okay? Don't get yourself killed over trying to take care of a puppy. This is silly. You're going to have to break your cycle here. You've got these things too equal in your head.

They're not equal. And that's not to say we don't love puppies, but we love cipriana a whole lot more than we love puppies and we're afraid for your safety right now because you told us to be and so we'll be praying for you but don't you know yeah yeah you can you'll find a place but you're gonna have to put not put so many limitations on the place sorrydo. Sorry you're facing all this. It's horrible. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Michael and Kimberly are with us. Hey, guys.

How are you? Good. How are you doing? Doing wonderful. Welcome. So good to have you guys. Where do you live? Shelby, North Carolina. Yeah, just outside Charlotte. That's a Doing wonderful. Welcome. So good to have you guys. Where do you live? Shelby, North Carolina.

Yeah, just outside Charlotte. That's a beautiful area. Yeah. Very, very cool. Well, welcome. It's so good to have you all the way over here. And doing your debt-free scream, how much have you paid off? $230,000.

Whoa! How long did that take? Four years and ten months, and it was our mortgage. Oh, look at it, weird people! I love it! Payable house. Very cool. and 10 months and it was our mortgage oh look at it weird people very cool no debt anywhere of any kind no sir you are so weird yep i love you guys you're awesome how much uh what was your range of income during that four years and 10 months so 80 000 up to 130 good yeah wonderful what do you guys do for a living? So I am a Senior Director for Sales and Marketing for Brookdale. And I'm a Project Manager.

I just recently started a new job for a contract cleaning company out of Charlotte. Awesome. Very cool. Good to have you guys. So what's this house worth? Well, at the current market, I think it's a range of about 250 now. I like that. Well, we count the current market.

We do. That's what we count. Absolutely. We'll take every penny we can get, right? Every penny. Oh, yeah. That's so fun. Yes. So well done, you guys.

Thank you. I'm so proud of you. That is just awesomeness. This is neat. So what happened four years and ten months ago that makes you go, oh, we're going to be weird. We're going to pay off our house. Because you probably never thought of it before. no absolutely we did not um well it actually

started about six years ago so um we started a new church anthony grove baptist church in little town called kraus north carolina and um there was a discipleship class so we decided to get really um into the program the discipleship class. And our Sunday school teacher was teaching FPU. And so we decided to join. We were the joiners. We saw what success they were having. And so we just, we jumped on board as a couple. Oh, yeah.

It was balls handed down all the way after that. All the way in. All the way in. So you just kind of, oh, let's check this out. And then you got sucked into the vortex. We did. We definitely drank the Kool-Aid. Oh this out. And then you got sucked into the vortex. We did. We definitely drank the Kool-Aid. Oh, yeah.

It was a good Kool-Aid, though. Yeah, it was a very good Kool-Aid. We very much enjoyed it. So about six months in, we had finished baby step number two. And we just kept on going. And we set a goal for ourself. We had 20%. We paid down on our house.

And then we saw, even though we knew, our mortgage, kind of the statements at the end when you're signing all those papers and thought, oh, no, we're going to pay this off earlier. So we set ourself a goal for five years. We purchased our house in January 5th, 2017. Four years and ten months. You beat it by two months? Yep. That's amazing. We beat it by ten months, absolutely.

And so it's just we put everything towards it, honestly. We kept going. We cash flowed school. We both went back to school during that time. And it was just amazing. I mean, definitely a God thing every time we thought we weren't going to make it or something came up. You know, we had our emergency fund. We had everything right there.

You know, the envelopes were very religious. He got paid every week, and so we were very religious about putting the money in the envelopes and every time God showed up, any time that we needed anything. Wow. So it was just absolutely amazing, and we're very blessed. This is our fourth, getting ready to be our fourth FPU. We're coordinators. Oh, thank you. Yeah.

Oh, no, it's amazing. So once a year while you're paying off your house, you coordinate a class. It keeps you on the straight and narrow. It does, absolutely. And we had an amazing this class the last time. So shout out to Mary Grace, Christian, and Justin. They were seniors and freshmen in college.

So it was just amazing. It's just such an inspiration just to see them. And we have a new couple that saw that we paid off our house and just decided, hey, we want to see what this is all about. And so shout out to Jessica and Jeffrey. We're meeting with them and kind of mentoring them. And it's just it's so amazing. God is so good.

You guys are so good. I love it. Wow. Got to spread the joy. I love it. Absolutely. So how did it feel when you sent in and it was just like, okay, the last mortgage payment is done.

Oh, we went and did it in person. You did? Oh, we had to. Yes. Oh, yeah. We went together. Tell me about that. Did they think y'all were crazy?

Were they like, wait, what? Yeah. The guy was like, I can't remember the last time I had to do one of these. So it was kind of a shock to him. Yeah. He's like, I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to do this. I don't think I've done this ever. I have to get off the manual he does he did he had to get off the manual

that's so perfect that's amazing so um did your parents did you guys grow up like this or are you the first bunch to ever get out of debt first bunch on my side okay yeah not my side i would definitely say my dad has been very yeah so there's four girls and so he was a penny pincher and so I learned very young um to save so he's been cheering you on hard absolutely so my yes my family's definitely been cheering us on um not necessarily our kids they're I mean my yeah our daughter's not necessarily on board but my son was real on board how are they? So she is 18 and my son is 14. And she will do the envelope system very regularly if she wants something.

And then she succeeds at it and then she backs up just a little bit. So Cheyenne, yes. She said, I don't know if I love Dave Ramsey. Sounds like another 18-year-old I knew back in the day. That's okay. As much hate as I have out there, I'll take I don't love it. I'll just take that. That's good.

I'll take some middle ground. I'm good with that. There you go. Oh, you guys, that's awesome. Did you feel like you sacrificed? Because we talk about the gazelle intensity, and you guys paid off all your consumer debt in six months, which is incredible. And you pay off your mortgage in four years.

I mean, you guys were still pretty intense, would you say? Oh, absolutely. I don't think we, we never stopped. We just saw the goal ahead of us. So the gazelle intensity continued through for you guys. Yeah, we never stopped. We were hitting every baby step, saving up for Cheyenne's College and Gage's as well along the way. And so we just never stopped.

We had a goal in mind and we made it happen. When you guys are coaching all these people, mentoring all these people, what do you tell them the the core thing what's the key thing things you need to do if you want to get out of debt discipline uh and if you're a married couple work together do the budget together um get on board i wasn't on board at first with the budget it took me maybe a couple months but once i yeah after we did a couple months of and i seen the difference it could make i was you know on board i would definitely say just having an accountability partner being there and i'm showing each other a little bit of grace because you don't you mess up sometimes i mean i can say our first budget meeting that we sat down together i mean i didn't

realize that my kids needed lunch money apparently apparently. So that was one of the areas that we needed to work on. That's exactly what happens. There's so much life. That's so perfect. There's so much. There is. Yeah, everybody, the first month of budget, you go, oh, wait a minute, you need to eat? Yeah, I forgot about that.

I mean, it happens. But, yeah, so I think just having that accountability partner and setting goals together. I think just constantly sitting down and doing that budget and holding each other accountable and delayed gratification, honestly. So how much you guys got in retirement? So we have probably now $500,000. Okay. So you're at $750,000.

You're almost Baby Steps Millionaires. Yes, almost. I'm so proud of you guys. We're excited. Thank you. So well done. Yes, almost. I'm so proud of you guys. We're excited. Thank you. So well done. I love it. We've got a copy of the new book in your honor.

It comes out early release. We're going to give you an early release copy. The actual book comes out January the 11th. It's on pre-sale now, but because you're here on the stage and you're almost there, that's the next chapter for you guys. We're going to give you a copy of that, and then we'll also give you a copy of the total money makeover to give away because you're

obviously uh spreading the joy as you said spreading the love this is awesome i'm so proud of you guys you're heroes thank you thank you great oh yeah it's amazing honestly the the we were just talking the 30th this month was our first paycheck um without a mortgage and so it's just it's the most amazing feeling all this that's exactly with all this? What do I do with all this? That's exactly how I feel. It's like, what do we do now? What do we do? So good. All right, I love it.

You guys are amazing. Michael and Kimberly, Shelby, North Carolina, $230,000 paid off, four years and 10 months, house and everything. Looking at weird people. They did it making $80,000 to $130,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

All right. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop. This is how it's done, boys and girls. You got to love it. You got to love it.

Very well done. Man, that's amazing. Completely changed their lives. Oh, and in four years. Like, the average is usually around seven to pay off the house. Yep. And they just did it. They didn't stop.

I mean, it's remarkable. On the average, Baby Steps Millionaire is 17 years. They're going to be there in 10. Yeah. They're going to be there half the time on that, too. So, wow. It's amazing. Pretty stinking cool.

So, so great. Slam dunk, baby. Hey, what are you waiting on? Yeah, I'm talking to you. This is The Ramsey Show. Okay, that couple paid off their home in four years and ten months. They're mentoring young people. They're leading Financial Peace University classes. They're on their way to being Baby Steps millionaires.

If you're tired of living paycheck to paycheck, you don't have to be that anymore. And you don't have to. You shouldn't have to. You work too hard to be broke. So no matter how bad you've been in the past, we've all got stuff in the past we wish we hadn't done. I got stuff 20 minutes ago I wish I hadn't done. But that's the way life is. Move on. You need the right plan and need somebody to show you how to do it. And that's why so many millions and millions and millions of people have been through Financial Peace University. We're going to show you the plan, the baby steps, in detail, exactly what to do. It's the class that teaches you not only how to get out of debt, not only how to spend wisely, not only how to invest,

but to become wealthy and to become, most importantly, outrageously generous. In fact, the average family pays off $5,300 in debt and saves $2,700 in the first 90 days of the class. We'll give you the plan, but it's up to you to get started. And you can decide today that you're done feeling outstressed, feeling stressed. You're done worrying. This should be the last Christmas that you worry about money. You need to stop it. I can show you how.

We've done it. Rachel can show you how. She's stop it. I can show you how. We've done it. Rachel can show you how. She's done it. You know, it's the people, I mean, the Financial Peace University class, it's dialed in. I mean, it's not our first trip on the cabbage truck. We've done this before. And it's only available in a Ramsey Plus membership. And you can gift it to someone or you can get started today.

Just go to RamseyS solutions.com slash fpu for financial peace university that's ramsey solutions.com slash f p u open phones at 888-825-5225 steve is with us in green bay wisconsin hi steve welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hello, sir. Hey, what's up? Got a question. Curious. We have like $82,000 left on our house to pay. Good. And that's all we have for debt.

Wonderful. I make about $50,000 a year before tax. I'm putting away 21% into my retirement. I know you only recommend 15%. Correct. Should I be lowering that down to 15% or less to get my house paid off quicker? Okay. I never heard anything talked about this. I'm just kind of curious what's the best route to go. Yeah, well, I wouldn't go less than 15, Steve, but I would. Yes, I would

put it down to that 15% because any of that extra is where you can throw at your house. Or do you guys have kids? Everybody's gone. I'm getting to be 60 just about. We got in our retirement probably almost 800.

Way to go. That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, I would definitely ratchet down to that 15%. And then that means that extra 6% can be just thrown at the house and hopefully get that 82. Yeah, here's the thing, okay? Let's just talk about this for a second because sometimes people get all caught up in the details. But basically, you know, you only owe $80,000 on your house. about this for a second because sometimes people get all caught up in the details but um basically

um you know you only owe eighty thousand dollars on your house if you stop doing retirement as you're doing it right now all together it's not but eight or nine thousand dollars that does not pay off eighty thousand very quick okay so you've got to have some other things you're doing to lean in on the house not just cutting retirement so yeah i would cut it down to 15 but that's only three thousand dollars less and three thousand dollars towards 80 is not going to move the needle much so does your wife work outside the home yeah but it's kind of part-time um maybe ten thousand a year or something like that not a lot yeah so yeah i would keep doing 15 and I would roll up my sleeves and just say, all right, we're going to be doing a written budget every month,

and money we can find we're going to throw at this house. And if you throw $10,000 at it, it's going to take eight years. If you throw $15,000 at it, it's going to take five years. And if you throw $20,000 at it, it's going to take four years. And so that, you know, $20,000 you do your 20,000 it's going to take four years and so that you know 20,000 is almost 24,000 you know you're gonna be done in three years and that's two thousand dollars a month you don't have that you don't have that kind of room with your current income so um uh you know but we do know that when you do get to retirement if you haven't got the house paid off yet then you'll reach over and pay it off out of your retirement because you got $800,000 in your retirement.

Well done. So you're a millionaire, man. Way to go. Congratulations. And making $50,000. Look at you. I'm proud of you. Ian is with us in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Hi, Ian. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hello, hello. It's a pleasure to speak to you. You too. What's up um so i got um i shouldn't say it's a dilemma but um basically i'm 19 years old i'm uh working full-time job as an electrical apprentice going to school during the night and on the line as in like for my electrical systems degree to get my associates in that and basically

I have cash flowing my way through that so that's not a problem I have a $16,000 like car payment that me and my mom were splitting kind of 50-50 we're tackling it pretty good. Why are you splitting? Whose car is it? I mean, it's under where it's technically my mom's, but we're co-signed under it. Are you driving it or is she driving it? No, I'm mainly driving it. I drive it pretty much every day to work.

Okay, and how much do you make? Right now, I make hourly is $14 14 i'm not exactly sure what that is are you working 40 hours a week yeah 40 hours a week and taking night classes okay you have an awfully expensive car yeah um yeah that's a that's a whole dilemma but um my my main question was, how do I, like I'm kind of a spender, not one why. I have a problem of, like if I see something, you know, like I'll try to weigh it out in my head. And, you know, I mean, it's just sometimes it would be the best for me and

I'll buy it. And then, you know, I wake up the next morning, like, why did I buy that? Um, and yeah, it's not like I don't have the money. I mean, I want to put all of this to the debt and it's just, you know, it's kind of like, kind of like an addiction almost where I, you know, I'll see something and I, and I buy it. And then, you know, you don't even know what happened the next morning until you see it on your bank account.

It's like, oh, man. I guess it's like accountability. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I would say, is there anyone that you have in your life that you feel comfortable that when those moments happen, you can just call? I mean, no one like that. I mean, my family's been pretty much this whole um like that's okay you know they've had credit cards i mean my parents my mom still has student

loans from i mean you know she's in her mid-40s and she still has student loans yeah um okay let me ask you this when you say it's almost like an addiction like is that is that for real or is or it's just um you kind of get that adrenaline rush, the dopamine hit, all of it? Because, I mean, I'm a spender too. Dave is a spender naturally as well. So spending money and enjoying that, I think people have those feelings for sure where it's like,

oh, that just felt good. But do you think it's a step further and it's more serious than just you're kind of having fun and being a little sloppy with the budget yeah i i'd say sloppy with the budget i mean i yeah i wouldn't go as far as are you are you in a good church uh no i'm no i don't really i don't really do any church like that okay because sometimes you can find somebody in a setting like that like a good mentor yeah step in and walk along beside you uh to do that stuff and that's what you need is that here's the thing um we know you have self-discipline we know you have self-control because you did not rob a bank this morning because if you if you if you couldn't

control your actions you would just go do completely crazy things right i mean you you didn't drive your you didn't drive your car through the last guy that flipped you off you know we know so we know you can control yourself you're just choosing not to we all have that and uh you know so we all have you know impulses that we work against and the more we work against them the thing so i i think what you need to do is maybe do a lot of stuff in writing like write out your goals of exactly when this debt's going to be paid off if you stick to your plan and then you need to have your detailed budget in every dollar and and then you've got to have a reason it goes oh man if i don't do that you know it's like if i eat that food i'm going to gain

four pounds i can't eat that food and so i have to know that about myself otherwise i eat every donut in a 50 mile radius and so um i have to be able to set this stuff up and that's that's what's going on and uh um i think you need to have a big goal and you need to have the stuff in writing and detailed out in every dollar, and that will give you some help. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit theramseyshow.com and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.