The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Budget for a Move? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 14, 2021

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king. A paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, best-selling author four times over. Her new book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money, just hit the Wall Street Journal bestseller list at number two. Thank you, America. Appreciate your backing.

She's here with me to answer your questions about life and money as well. Phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Jeff is in Boston. Hi, Jeff. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How's it going? Good, man. How can I help?

So I just had some questions. My wife and I, we've been doing a debt relief program through you for about a year and a half now. We're still on the early baby steps. We have no car payments. We have no credit card debt anymore and we are right now we own two homes

thank you right now we own two homes one is a single family home that we don't live in we rent it out it's on a small pond the next town over it used to be my great grandfather's house and I bought it from my mother. I owe about a hundred thousand dollars on it. And right now it's worth about 290. Um, it does need some work. And my wife and I were talking about possibly selling it and using some of the money to pay off. She owes about 50, about $50,000 of her school loans and possibly using some of the proceeds to pay that off. And the house that we live in is a multifamily home that we've been renovating the upstairs apartment to get it rented. And we are talking about turning our 30 by 40 garage upstairs into a rental property income, too, and possibly using some of the money to do that to get it going. What's your household income?

We together make around $200,000 a year. And how much debt have you got left that's not real estate? We owe $50,000 on her school loans that's our okay 230 on the on the home that we live in the multi-family yeah there is nothing wrong with your plan at all the only thing that gives me a little bit of scratch, makes me want to scratch behind my ear a little bit and go, eh, is it was Grandpa's place. And I don't want you to look up five years from now and go, I shouldn't have let that get away.

Well, that's why I'm calling you. Are you going to have that feeling? My wife wants to sell it. I have that feeling now. My wife wants to sell it, but I like if it's going to need a septic system and it doesn't need it right now it's grandfathered in but i see about 30 to 40 thousand dollars right there and what's the renovation take on the to take your garage up to an apartment the upstairs of the garage would probably be about it doesn't have any running

water and plumbing so talking like 10 grand for that, and then another 30 to 40, maybe 40 to 50 grand altogether. Let's call it 50 grand in student loans, 50 grand over the garage, and 50 grand on Grandpa's house. Why don't we call it that, and we say we make 200. Yep. I think in three years, you've done all three of these and your your order of attack is student loans are first grandpa's house is next because it's uh the septic's on this last leg and then they build out over the garage is in the third year

okay i think you keep them all and work it out of cash flow because you make a stinking boatload of money. Yeah, we do do pretty good. This year has been tough. We were really, really hitting all the steps hard until COVID hit. And my wife and I both have not stopped working since it happened. So we've been taking a real big hit on child care and stuff. We have three kids. Yeah, but your income's up, too. Yes. Yeah. No, yes your income's up, too. Yes.

No, yes. I totally agree with that. You're going to have some ebb and flow and all of that, but the bottom line is, you're in and you're out. You guys have the ability to make a couple bills, right? Yeah. My wife's thing is that I devoted a lot of time

into doing a lot of work at the property that we own. The lake house. My great-grandfather's house. I built a big retaining wall to redo the driveway. You need to stop. You need to stop. Yeah. And you need to

work on work and make money because your wife's right and get student loan cleared and then go get grandpa's house done in one fell swoop with a bunch of money and get it over with. And then it's no longer – it can't be a hobby house the rest of your life. If that's what it is, you've got another problem. Well, that's what I don't want it to be, but to rent it out and get top dollar for it.

No, no, no, no, no. I'm just trying to rent it out right now because we're going to get to it next year and we're going to get it to top dollar. Yeah, it is rented out right now okay then just shut up about it and rent it don't fix anything else until you get student loans paid and then fix everything as fast as you can and then build out the garage you see how i'm doing this yes and that's that's where i'm kind of at but then i i felt like selling it would make it happen a lot faster if it was going to take you 10 years, I'd tell you to sell it.

Yeah. So my idea was if I sold that place and then did the upstairs of the garage, then we would have two incomes coming in from our house, which we have, I mean we still have, but we would lose that in the long run, losing a third. Yep. And you would lose a property that's been in the family that you have a heart for. Yes.

I didn't know what you were going to say about it. I thought you might have said sell it, so I just wanted to talk to you. I would step on your heart a little bit with my muddy boots if it was a 10- or a 12-year timeline, but I think you can do this in three years. I think $50,000 a year out of a $200,000 is reachable yeah oh no absolutely well and the thing is you i understand the instant results right you want to and your wife is probably thinking that well she doesn't have any emotional tie to that house well no and her husband's been up there fixing it while she's been home with three kids so she's probably just get rid of it so we can actually like make major progress with our

money like i understand where she's coming from, from even just your call. But for you guys to slow down, take a breath, put things in priority, and know, yeah, it may not all happen overnight, but in the next three years we can get exactly what we want in cash flow and not have to lose the house. You need to quit going over there and working on stuff. Even after you did this, you make $200,000 a year. You don't need to do the repairs. You need to send somebody over there and do the repairs.

You've got three little kids. Your wife's giving you a real clear signal here rachel's right that's a good catch that's a good catch on this so yeah that's that's how i would push it out and um what you need to do yeah so the again the thing is i personal finance it's okay to take into consideration that some things are nostalgic some things are personal um you know i've had over the years i've had people actually call up and they were so gazelle intense the lady's ready to sell her two carat diamond uh wedding ring to get out of that and i'm like no no That's not what I meant by gazelle intense. Gazelle intense is you quit doing stupid stuff, like going out to eat every night and going

on vacation. You don't sell your wedding ring. Now, if it's worth $10 million or something, and you're the queen of England, we'll talk about it. But, I mean, no, that's not, because you can't get that back. Right, totally. There's one of those. You can't get that back.

And so you protect that kind of thing. That puts that segment of The Dave Ramsey Show in the books. you've got a lot on your plate a job your home your marriage and your growing family while you're enjoying the present you can't help but think about your future and your finances. As you explore your options, consider Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, for your health care. Their generous maternity program and budget-friendly monthly programs have been a blessing to members welcoming children into their families. Visit chministries.org slash budget to see if it's right for you. That's chministries.org slash budget. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. Caitlin is with us in San Francisco. Hi, Caitlin. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Hi, Rachel. How are you guys doing? Great.

How can we help? So my brother sent me the Total Money Makeover for Christmas,mas and i read it two days so that was fantastic wow thank you yeah um i've been on cn kind of already been working on some of those um baby steps but now i've kind of hit a couple questions that I might, I need a little help with. Okay. So the first one's kind of minor, and you could probably just spit it out real fast for me. When it comes to the envelope system, when I, if I have anything left over at the end of the month, what should I do with that?

Should I roll it over into the next month? Should I throw it towards bet? Should I throw it towards debt? Should I throw it towards savings? Yeah, Caitlin, if you have that extra cash, I would definitely throw it back towards your debt if you still have debt. If you've not saved your $1,000 emergency fund, you can use that to help build it up. But if you're still in debt and you have extra money in those envelopes, yes,

take that extra and throw it at the debt. Now, the only time there would be an exception to that would be if it is a category that you don't spend monthly on. And then you can use your envelope system as a little miniature savings account. So, like, as an example, I buy clothes once every three years. But some people, but very few people buy clothing once a month. Shopaholics do. But most people don't buy clothing monthly. So your clothing envelope could bleed over from one month to the next, unless you're Rachel.

Okay. But the, so if you don't spend all your clothing money, go ahead and still spend it on clothing in a different month by keeping it in there. Car repairs would be another one of those. But the ones that Rachel's talking about are like groceries. Well, yeah, and most of your envelopes are going to be those things. Your envelope system really is for the categories you tend to overspend on, meaning you're spending it consistently. So if you're not spending it on clothes, I may not even have a clothing envelope.

You could just have that in your budget and know. But when you actually go to the bank and cash out money, that's going to be for things like groceries groceries is the big one yeah or you or yeah we have a horrible habit on spending money on eating out and that's where i'm like okay this is that budget needs to shrink drastically yeah so and so if that envelope had money left in it i'm with retro i throw that at the debt. Because you're going to refund that the next month, and that rewards you for not eating out so much. Same with going to the grocery store. If that's got money left in it.

But if it's an envelope and stuff that is not a monthly occurrence necessarily, you can let it bleed over to a different month. And obviously, and we said this in Total Money Makeover. She had more questions. Can you get her back i'm sorry caitlin your other question was what you have another one yes i do this is the more major one um so my husband and i are both in school he's a full-time student i'm a part-time student and we have two boys and because of the pandemic i'm kind of homeschooling them and so our paycheck has kind of taken a hit, and we're actually really on the rice and beans kind of diet. So we don't have any car payments. Both of our cars are paid off, and we don't have any student debt. So yay for us.

However, we are living with my in-laws and they plan on moving in the next two years and about a year and a half. They're planning on retiring and they're moving and we don't want to move with them. We actually have a plan to move out of state to a complete cross-country. And so my big question is, where

do I, in my step two process, where do I kind of put that on hold and move towards building up my emergency fund for the move, planning for the move? It's a moving fund. It's not an emergency fund. And so what I would do is budget for the move, figure out what it's going to cost you, and then stop everything in time to save that money.

Okay. So my question is, right now I'm not paying rent because I'm moving with my in-laws, but when we move, we will be paying rent. So that's why I'm... But you'll be paying rent out of an income. You're not going to rent something

for more than your income will cover. You don't need savings for rent. Okay. That's going to be coming out of your income. It'd be part of the budget, the new budget. Okay, so where are you going to move, and would you go back out in the marketplace if you move? So we'll be moving to Wisconsin. And I didn't quite catch the second part.

And will you be going back to work? Oh, yeah. We don't actually have, like, jobs lined up on the other end and that's why i said it would wouldn't be more of an emergency fund because you need jobs lined up before you make the move you got 18 months yes don't move without the jobs my husband well my husband is getting his degree um he's working on his bachelor's degree right now and he will actually finish the summer before we move. Like, we plan on moving right after he completes his degree.

Okay. Well, that makes sense. All right. So, yeah, make sure you're paying cash for that. But don't go, we're going to move and have six months of savings set aside because he doesn't have the job. Get a job. And then make the move. Because if there's not a job in Wisconsin, then there was a job somewhere else.

You might not even be going to Wisconsin. But my Touch 22 dilemma is that my in-laws are moving. I know. You've got to move out of that house, but you're not moving to Wisconsin without a job. You might be moving to a rental down the street, or you might be moving to Austin, Texas. I don't know where you're going. Where's he going to get a job you might be moving to a rental down the street or you might be moving to austin texas i don't know where you're going where's he going to get a job and and that's a big deal i mean he's

got to really start talking about that now let's go ahead and start planning that out and start start courting with some of those companies and figuring out where you're going to land the idea of just moving over there and hoping it all works out, that's a bad idea. You need that lined out. And the good thing is, Caitlin, you guys have time. You have time to repair. Which is a blessing. So use that time, and that way you don't just fall off the cliff.

Jay's in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jay, you got a job for Caitlin's husband? No, I'm sorry. Thanks for taking my call. Oh, he's from wisconsin that was funny yeah rachel just caught up it's okay three two one rachel okay so how can we help you jay yeah uh so i uh i want to buy a building to expand my business uh and my business is paid off i have have no bad debt, just home debt. I would have to take a loan, but I could borrow at a commercial rate,

or should I borrow against a home that I have paid off at a lower rate? What kind of business have you got? Healthcare. Okay. How long have you got? Healthcare. Okay. How long have you had it? Five years. How fast are you growing? I'm netting.

I'm growing pretty fast. How many people are you adding a year? It's not that type of business, really. But as far as treating patients, this is a whole completely underserved area. Okay. So are your building needs growing as fast as your business is growing? Well, I'm renting right where I'm at. No, no, no, no, no.

I said your building needs. If your business doubles, do you need double a building? No, I don't need much space. I don't need much space. So you can double your revenues and your profits without doubling your space. True. That's what I'm asking, because I can't. Well, I mean, I kind of feel like in my portfolio I'd like to have a building.

That wasn't what I asked. Okay. I'm going somewhere with this, okay? Because I have made this mistake personally, and I've witnessed a lot of small businesses that we coach make the same mistake. So here's the mistake. We love real estate. We want a piece of real estate in our portfolio.

Dude, I love real estate. I own several hundred million dollars worth. I love it. I mean, it's my second favorite business, right, aside from Ramsey Solutions. And so, first thing I did was I leased a building, and then I filled it up, and I had the opportunity to buy it, and then I filled it up with people. And pretty soon, the mistake I made was I was trying to make my business fit my building and that's damaging to your business because you have well i got this building i can't just yeah you can and so we moved out of a building i owned and became a renter to not constrict and choke the business and that's what i don't want you to do here so this i i would wait and pay cash for the building,

and I would give it a little bit more time for your business to have a little slower growth curve, because you're going to move in and double your need, and then you're going to have a problem. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. It is a free call. And, of course, what we all... What? Say it again?

Taylor and Kaylee are on the debt-free stage right here in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions. Welcome, guys. Where do you all live? Hi. We're from Texas. We're from the Dallas area. Awesome. Welcome to Nashville. And all the way up here to do a debt-free scream. Woo-hoo! How much have you paid off? We paid off $43,000 in two years.

Good for you. Well done. And your range of income during that time? We made about $65,000 beginning the debt-free scream, and now we're at $85,000. Good. Good for you. We both work in ministry and nonprofit. Really?

Cool. What ministry are you in? So she works at our church. I'm the connection minister there. And I work as a radio broadcaster, actually, at a nonprofit radio station. Oh, great. Which station? We are in Dallas.

So I work at a Christian radio station there. That's about all I can say since you're in the Dallas market. Oh, you're not allowed to say it. Okay. Yeah, just out of competition reasons. Oh, that's fine. I don't mind. But anyway, yeah, we're on CBS over there. Yeah.

The KRLD. And I've worked with the Salem folks down there a bunch. So I know a bunch of them if you're in that building. I used to work there as well. Yeah, okay. Very cool. Yeah. The KRLD. And I've worked with the Salem folks down there a bunch. So I know a bunch of them if you're in that building. I used to work there as well. Yeah. Okay. Very cool. Cool.

And which church are you in? I work at my church for SACSI in SACSI, Texas. Okay. Great. Very cool. What kind of debt was your 43? Oh. Everything.

It was a little bit of everything. We had a Best Buy credit card that I used to buy a fridge with a TV because that's what you need with a new home. A fridge with a TV! I told him no, but I let him do it to learn his lesson. Go big or go home! She let the door hit me on the way out. I didn't even see that. I've never seen one of those. I need one. It has a screen. You touch it. It's useless.

Yeah, you just use it. We need Pinterest in the kitchen, apparently. Wow! We had two cars that totaled about $21,000. We had a bathroom remodel for about $11,000. And then I had an $8,000 student loan. So that's what made up that $43,000. So you all have been married about five years?

About five years. This coming March. Yeah, you kind of had all the symptoms. We totally did. That's awesome. So what happened two years ago that you were like, okay, we're going to clean this up, get moving? Well, I saw Dave on YouTube, and it really sparked an interest of what is this guy teaching?

I see all these stories. And so my wife bought me the total money makeover about for Christmas about three years ago. Let it sit on the bookshelf. You didn't read it for a while. I didn't read it for a while. But this was a book that I could not put down. And I read it in like front to cover in a few days. And I'm not a reader.

So like this, this was odd behavior for me. And I read it in front of cover in a few days, and I'm not a reader. So this was odd behavior for me. And pretty soon after that... It really is a non-reader's book. It's the best book for a non-reader. That's about the best compliment I can give. Because I'm a non-writer wrote it, so that's perfect. Well, that's perfect. And so pretty much, I just got sick of it.

I had that I've had it moment. I had to have side gigs just to pay basic bills for a house we couldn't afford. We just got into our house and we shouldn't have gotten to the house. No. But now we're actually in the range that we should have for a mortgage payment. So, you know, the debt was preventing us from being able to live the life that we could have. It's amazing. Amazing, you guys.

So, Kaylee, you're more the natural saver, I can tell. Yes. And probably, are you also the detail person? I'm not actually. You're not the detail person. No, Taylor's, I guess, the nerd, it would be. He likes to do all the numbers. You guys are like me and Sharon.

He's the spending nerd. Yes. I'm the spending nerd. But actually, since we've been out of debt, it's given me a little bit more freedom to feel like I can actually spend money on stuff. Yeah, well, that's Sharon. That's been a good thing. You can tell there's room, and it doesn't feel like we're doing something wrong. Yep on stuff. Yeah, well, that's sharing. That's been a good thing. You can tell there's room and it doesn't feel like we're doing something wrong.

Yep. Exactly. Absolutely. Yeah, that's good. Way to go, you guys. Thank you. So the total money makeover did it. Well, that and what did you guys do?

Was it, okay, we're going to budget. We're going to, because I mean, you're newlyweds, right? I mean, you guys had been married three years at that point. So did you just say, okay, we're going to buckle down on our lifestyle? Did you work extra? What did you do to actually pay it off? Yeah, I had a lot of side gigs. I do podcasting on this side.

So I produce stuff. Sometimes I co-host some stuff. And so that really helped spark that because I think originally it was going to take three and a half years. And all that sparked it to knock a year off of it. Anytime we had any kind of extra, we would put it towards debt.

A lot of not getting it to go out and do fun stuff, which was really hard for a while for me and for both of us, depending on the day. We really had to be strong for each other and remind each other why we were doing this and also remembering that it was us who got us in the situation, nobody else. We had to fix it. Who were your biggest cheerleaders? I would have to say our best friends. They're actually coming to Nashville here in a few hours. We're had to fix it. Who were your biggest cheerleaders? I would have to say our best friends. They're actually coming to Nashville here in a few hours.

We're going to celebrate together. Yeah. Kyler and Alex Hood were our biggest cheerleaders. We're going to be there for their debt-free scream in probably about four years. That's when they're set to get out of there. Biggest cheerleaders for us, for sure. That's fun. So you just connected up with them and all of you were doing it from the book. Yeah. Well, we've been friends

with them for a while and we've kind of been both going through the journey at different areas and levels. And so we've just been encouraging each other in it. So that's really helpful and great because you don't find a lot of people who are trying to do this or, you know, not being or they want to be normal. Yeah. Yeah. There's more people want to drag you down than lift you up on this. Absolutely. That's for sure.

Because they just don't understand. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. Well, congratulations, for sure. Because they just don't understand. Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. Well, congratulations, you guys. Thank you. Got no payments. How's it feel? Oh, it's amazing. I tell you, we just reviewed our finances in 2020

and even for one, we paid it off on July the 4th, so we celebrated two independences. Independence for debt. And so, yeah, honestly, we reviewed our payments and our giving and we gave more

than we ever have in our lives. Wow. And 2021's looking way north of that. And we're both in school again as well. He's getting his master's

and I'm going to finish my bachelor's for counseling and go on to master's. So that was delaying us our debt from going to school and kind of doing

what God had called us both to. And so that's a really cool thing as well. What are you getting your master's in? I would love to get my master's in apologetics, but I really want to do an independent study on wealth and generosity, what that says in the Bible.

Because I think the biggest thing for me is Deuteronomy 8 reminds us that God even gives us the power and the ability to build wealth. So when I know from the start that my very ability to make money is God's, it gives me a whole new perspective. Yeah, it's exactly right. And it's actually a spirit of the discipline almost. It's something we're called to do. You're supposed to go do it.

Absolutely. It's not just like an option. No. But, yeah, it's very interesting. And a good friend of mine there in Dallas is probably one of the best voices on generosity in the world. You need to connect up with him. It's Robert Morris. Yes, Gateway Church. Gateway Church is possibly the most generous church in the world. Their budget is absolutely outrageous because Pastor Robert has taught on generosity

so well for so many years. And the people's giving is just he's become a really good friend over the years. I love the guy. And so we love Gateway. They've done a bunch of stuff for us and we've done a bunch of stuff for them. But yeah, you're right in the backyard of that if you're going to do that.

That's awesome. Good for you guys. Thank you. So proud of you. So proud of you. Very well done. So what would you say to a couple listening in, because there's a lot of young people

specifically on YouTube and podcasts right now and they're thinking, okay, we have $50,000 of debt. I don't know. I don't know if it's possible. What would you say to them? I would say be there for each other to be strong whenever the other one's having a hard time, because there were several

times where it'd be like, I want to go eat out, but we have food at home, or I want to go do this thing that everybody else is doing. So be strong for each other, and remember that being that strict with your budget doesn't have to last forever. So just remembering that there is an end to it.

Yes. I would say that the biggest lesson for me is God's design is for generosity. So if debt is preventing you from giving, we are not living the full lives that God has called us to. So just remembering that,

that you're doing something noble here. And we both work in ministry. This can be done by anybody. It's awesome. Well done, you guys. Very well done. Well stated, too. Got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you,

Everyday Millionaires. And that needs to be the next chapter in your story as you continue to prosper and continue to be outrageously generous. And we want both for you. Well done. All right, guys.

It is Taylor and Kaylee from Dallas, Texas. $43,000 paid off in two years, making $65,000 to $85,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! a sharp couple it's awesome man so articulate so game on well done but i love that they're caught i mean to get out of debt you have to have a big why and whether that's changing your family

tree for your kids whatever it is and a big why of, I want to do what God's called me to do. I'm put on a planet to do a purpose, and I want money to be the tool to do that. Yep. So have that why. Bob Guest says the definition of prosperity is having the money to do God's will in your life. Whether it's a little bit of money and you're a missionary in Africa, or whether it's a lot of money and you're running a huge ministry. That's awesome.

What is the definition of prosperity? Having the money to do God's will in your life. This is The Dave Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. The Wall Street Journal listed her new book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money, as number two on the bestseller list this week. So congratulations for that. Thank you. It's a great new book.

Discover why you handle money the way you do and what to do about it. All the money tendencies, the money fears, and the money classroom, the way you grew up, affect your behavior. And she discusses every bit of it. And if you can get a handle on that, not because you're good or bad, but because you can then dial in and say, wow, here's my tendency. Here's the direction I'm going. No parent ever wants their child to experience the panic of being unprepared for an emergency, but teaching your teens how to be smart with money can be a big job.

Teaching your teens anything is a big job. We got your back. With our digital self-study courses, you can be confident your teen will know the right way to handle money no matter what curveballs life throws them down the road. Best part, no instructor is needed. If your teen has a tablet or a computer, they're all set. Parents, your kids can go through our materials. There you go.

Ramsey Education. DaveRamsey.com slash self-study to learn more about all the different courses that we have available for middle school or high school. DaveRamsey.com slash selfstudy. And with these kids popping in and out of school, it's good to have something to plug them into because some of them don't plug into their school lessons when they're at home like they should, I hear. It's hard. We have a kindergartner, and they had to be home for a little bit, and they had to sit in front of the computer at 5.

But everyone knows it's, I mean, yeah, it's just hard. It's hard. But you're talking about teenagers. I have a child at home. You can make a 5-year-old do stuff. Making a 15-year-old do something is a different thing all right selvin is with us selvin's in tampa florida hi selvin how are you hey dave how you doing better than i deserve how can we help hey dave um me and my wife we got a situation we started doing about two months and um

we started two months ago um we bring in about $140,000 a year together, but she's getting ready to stop working. She brings home about $30,000 to $40,000 a year. She's going to stop working. We bought a house about 11, 10, 11 months ago, and we can sell it now for a profit of about $65,000. What we were thinking of doing is, because we're on baby step two, now that she's not going to be working, I have a company vehicle. We owe $23,000 on a truck. We want to sell that for about $25,000 is what it's worth. We only owe $3,500 on credit cards. So we want to take that $62,000 and get into a smaller house payment because right now we're paying about $2,000 a month for a 30-year mortgage.

How much of the $140,000 were you making? $100,000, anywhere from $100,000 to $110,000. Well, you can pay a $2,000 payment on that. Yeah, yeah, I get it. It's just I'm trying to put ourselves in a little bit better situation. I'm really trying to, I want to pay off the house in five five years like like my best friend did he did it with you and he paid it off in five years what's your wife saying about all this she's okay with it she actually got real on board with dave lansing i mean we love the house i mean but it's it's

3 000 square feet and it's only me my wife wife, two dogs, and our seven-month-old baby. It's just too much work. Okay. I mean, you don't have to keep it. If both of you want to sell it and it accomplishes all your goals, that's fine. But, you know, the thing that's always proposed here on the show is, do I need to sell it to be in the smart column? And I don't think that's the case here. I think you to sell it to be in the smart column and i don't think that's the case

here um i think you i think you could keep it and be in the smart column you're not dumb for keeping it if you love it but apparently it's not that big a deal to you you don't care that much about it either one of you and you'd rather both of you would rather have the quick financial progress it sounds like yeah we'd rather we want to build traction because right now with everything going on, it's hard to build that traction. Because if we sell it, and I ran the numbers right now, I spend about $4,500 a month on expenses. If we sell it, I've dropped my expenses to about $2,700. And with my income, I know I can pay that house off quick then in two years she comes back to work and she's going to almost double her income to about 80 000 then in two years we can decide what we want to do moving forward okay there's nothing wrong with the idea i just wanted to make sure you didn't feel like you had to do that had to make that sacrifice in order for this to work no i just I just, like I said, now with the baby, me and her, we're all about building that wealth

for the baby. It's not about what we want anymore. It's about what's best for her and moving forward as a family together. Yeah. Well, yeah, and I mean, you've said this, Dave, already,

but just to reiterate, you don't have to sell it. We never say to people, yeah, you have to sell your house in order to get out of debt. It's more about your lifestyle and all that, but if you both together say, hey, we don't have to sell it. We never say to people, yeah, you have to sell your house in order to get out of debt. It's more about your lifestyle and all that. But if you both together say, hey, we don't want this. We're good living in a smaller home.

We're good kind of minimizing our life. And this gets us really far financially. Then do it. I mean, we talked to a couple. There's a couple on my show. And they sold their house and moved into an apartment just because they were so sick of the debt. They were like, I just want to get rid of everything, start over, kind of breathe. So if that's what you guys want to do, yeah.

It's a little bit of a minimalist move. Yeah. And if that's what y'all want, it's great. It's fine. We're not going to criticize you for moving down to get traction. Yeah, no. But I also don't want people to feel like that's the answer to every question. Right.

Every time. You guys are enthused about it, and so you need to be enthused about it, because you're going to sacrifice, and that's what's going on. That's awesome. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Phyllis is with us in Phoenix, Arizona. Hi, Phyllis. How are you?

I'm doing fine, Dave. This is a pleasure for me to be able to talk to you. I've admired listening to you for years. Thank you. And good morning, Rachel. Hi, Phyllis. Thanks for calling. Yes, I'm an 80-year-old woman, and I was in an accident back in 2019, and it took over a year for the settlement to come in

and I'm just living on Social Security right now and I have these funds. It's a very big worry for me. It's been a savings right now that doesn't grow any interest and I have talked to one of the banks and I'm going to go down tomorrow, and my gut feeling, I still am so apprehensive on getting into something. And they have recommended that I go into a mutual fund that's going to give me more income a month, and it sounds good to me, so I'm not tapping into this money, which I've had to do.

How much of a settlement did you get? I got $350,000. Okay. And I bought a car because my car was demolished in the accident. Wow, it must have been a bad accident. It was, and I've recovered. I had damage to my left hand and broken ribs and that type of thing, but I'm doing fine right now. Well, Phyllis, here's what I want you to do, okay?

I'm going to put you on hold And Zach's going to pick up And he's going to walk you through how to get online And make sure that you can connect with one of our smart investor pros What I'm concerned about Is that you use the phrase I'm feeling apprehensive And you should never invest in something If you feel apprehensive

Doing anything new Has a little bit of stress to it, but you need to learn enough about the investment, whether it's a mutual fund, which I'm fine with you investing in mutual funds. That's fine. I don't have a problem with that at all. But I want you to learn more about it so that you're not apprehensive. Because if you do something because Rachel Cruz or Dave Ramsey said to do it,

or you do something because the guy at the bank said to do it, and then the stock market gets a little crazy, you're going to be climbing the walls because a little bit of apprehension is going to become a really big pile of stress, and I don't want that for you. You need peace, and peace comes from going slow enough that you learn enough that you're comfortable with the investment, not apprehensive. Very important. So Zach will pick up, and he'll help you get dialed in with one of the SmartVestor pros or help walk you through how to do that so that we can have you sit down with one of them.

It's okay to sit down with your banker, too, but then sit down with one of them, and then you just choose who has the best feeling. And do go with your feelings. That's important. Have two, yeah. Have different people give you advice. Don't just stick with one person. And get a sense about it.

Yes. Where you're not trying to be impressed by them. You're trying to understand what you're doing. That's the big deal here. I'm so sorry you went through that horrible wreck, and I'm glad you got a great settlement out of it. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Have a friend or family member that needs a daily dose of Ramsey advice in their life?

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