The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Buy a House for the First Time? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: October 18, 2019

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Music Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.
Starting point is 00:00:55 Zavian is with us in Tennessee. Hi, Zavian. How are you? Hey, how are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. How can I help? Hey, so me and my wife, we've been married for about four years. We just became debt-free, paying off $80,000 within like 14 months. Look at you, man. Way to go.
Starting point is 00:01:14 Yeah, our household income currently is about $105,000. We don't own our house, so what do we do now? I mean, do we save to buy house cash or do we get a mortgage? Okay. And so you have your emergency fund in place of three to six months of expenses. Yes. Okay. That puts you to baby step four then.
Starting point is 00:01:40 And some people pause before moving on and start saving for retirement and save up their down payment for their homes. And we laughingly around here call that baby step 3B, right, where you're saving your down payment before you start your retirement savings. So you make $105,000. You paid off $80,000 how fast? 14 months. Okay. Did you sell anything big to do that well um well i was uh me and my wife at the time
Starting point is 00:02:08 we were both active duty air force and uh i got deployed so you know we were um bringing in a lot of uh untaxed dollars and now you're getting combat pay yeah right yeah so all right cool that that uh that kind of helped us uh you know, live on beans and rice. And at that time, I wasn't having to pay. So how expensive a home would you buy if you were to buy a home now? I'm thinking $200,000 maybe. And so all I do is I just do the math and I say, how quick could I save up $200,000? And around here, it's the only advice I give on the david ramsay show that i
Starting point is 00:02:47 don't follow i don't borrow money for any reason for anything ever okay and so if i were on you in your shoes sharon and i we would be saving the money to pay cash for a house. And people would think we've lost our minds and da-da-da-da-da-da. Okay? Now, I don't yell at people for taking out a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage where the payment is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay, and you have in the back of your mind that you're going to pay that off in 10 years or less. Okay? So that would get you into the $200,000 house
Starting point is 00:03:26 pretty quick in your situation if you put down a reasonably good down payment on a 15-year fixed on a uh you know just a fanny may a standard conventional mortgage and uh you're making 105 you're going to qualify for that and you know you'll be fine and you could pay that house off but if you want to go to the other extreme and say i'm going to pay cash then we just do some long division how much can we save a year and divide that into 200 000 50 a year you could be there in four years how old are you 29 okay so i mean if you want to own a paid forfor house by the time you're 35, you could do that, right? Right.
Starting point is 00:04:11 Totally up to you. But you're not in the Air Force anymore, neither one of you? No. She's still active duty. I am not. Okay. So you've moved into your civilian career, and your current household income is $105,000. Correct.
Starting point is 00:04:24 Very good. Thank you both for your service, by is 105 correct very good thank you both for your service by the way very cool for your support so i um you know it's up to you guys just sit down talk about it and you know you just do some division say well 200 000 divided by 70 000 we'd be there in three years yeah wow but that's living on beans and rice for three years but you'd be 32 years old with a paid four two hundred thousand dollar house which would make you a freaking unicorn right i mean you'd be weird as crud right and you'd be set up to become very very wealthy the reason i would do it is because it sets you up to be very wealthy but you are you're putting a portion of your life on hold
Starting point is 00:05:03 for a period of time here and you've got to measure that out. And so I'm not going to be mad at you either way, but it's the reason that I personally don't borrow money is the borrower truly is slave to the lender. And you know how you felt when you paid off that $80,000? I felt that way for 30 years. I don't have a stinking dime owed to anyone, and I've done detailed research. 100% of the foreclosures occur on a home with a mortgage. I like being free.
Starting point is 00:05:31 All right. And, you know, we broke ground on this building that I'm sitting in two and a half years ago, and the newspaper came out and did a story, and they're like, are you paying cash? And I'm like, yep. Hadn't got it all yet, but if we don't get it, we'll stop building. We're going to build this building at the speed of cash, and it'll just be sitting here with some dust in it until we get the cash to finish it up. Well, God provided the cash, and we were able to stay on schedule
Starting point is 00:05:53 because we'd done good planning and projections, and, you know, we were fairly smart about it. But we paid cash for the stinking thing. And, you know, it's $70 million. That's a lot of money for a kid from Antioch, Tennessee. I've never done anything like that. But I'm just not going to do it anymore. I'm not going to be in debt anymore. And so it's fairly easy to operate a business this size.
Starting point is 00:06:11 You don't have any stinking payments, even on the building you're in. You know? This gives you what's known as margin. So that changes everything. And I like to have that in your life. You could be very – think about how wealthy you'd be if you had a paid-for at 32 years old and from then on you made 100 150 200 over the years and you start chunking that what would have been a house payment away that's another several million dollars and you'd have a great life and so on so i'm going to encourage you to talk about the three-year plan
Starting point is 00:06:41 i like that one there i mean you paid off 80,000 in 14 months now it was with combat pay i understand and tax breaks and everything else but instead of 14 months let's put 36 months on it and let's not make it 80 let's make it 200 and basically it's 70 grand a year for three years and there you are ding ding it's a different way of looking at it and it's completely doable hey thanks for the call man open phones at 888-825-5225 if you haven't checked out the new borrowed future podcast it is one of the top 10 podcasts in the world right now over a hundred thousand people downloaded it the first week we're in our third week of dropping episodes a new one will drop this coming monday there's eight episodes
Starting point is 00:07:30 to borrowed future uncovering the student loan crisis and i gotta tell you the more i've listened to it i think we may have titled it wrong or subtitled it wrong it's not uncovering the student loan crisis it's uncovering how you folks in america have been screwed by your own congress by the cost of college by unfettered lending by predatory lending by a culture that lost its way it's unbelievable the more i listen to the details and the background on this student loan epic plague that is in America, the more angry I get. Students across the country are learning that they don't have to get trapped,
Starting point is 00:08:14 and they can get free if they've gotten trapped. And we've already gotten 4,000 reviews on Apple Podcasts. One reviewer said, this podcast is revolutionary. Lives will be changed and a new generation will rise up and say no more. I highly recommend this podcast to America. By far the best podcast on the market. There you go.
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Starting point is 00:09:53 Terms and conditions apply. Eric is with us in Florida. Hi, Eric. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? All right.
Starting point is 00:10:20 So the wife and I are on this new journey, and we got Baby Step 1 down, and we're working on baby step two. I have a car payment. Yay. And I don't need the car anymore due to getting a company vehicle from work. We owe $18,800 on it, give or take, and I have the opportunity to pay down to what I can sell it for. Because right now the value is pushing maybe like $13,500. So I would have to pay it down to sell it.
Starting point is 00:10:58 But that kind of gets out of order of the baby steps. I still would do it. That gets out of the debt snowball. Yeah, it's just a matter of how you get order of the baby steps. I still would do it. That gets out of the debt snowball. Yeah, it's just a matter of how you get rid of the car. So where's the $5,000 coming from? Just out of your check, you're going to take that as a budget item? Yes. Okay.
Starting point is 00:11:16 So what's your household income? About $60,000. Okay. So how quick are you going to pay it down to where you can sell it? It would probably be about a year and a half at that point if we follow the lowest to highest. No, no, no, no, no. I mean, if you just made the $5,000 the priority, which is what you were talking about. Right.
Starting point is 00:11:35 All right. If I could, that's the thing is like, can you sell it? Like I could sell it, but is somebody going to buy it? You know, so I don't want to like, the worry I'm at is if I pay that, then I don't pay off my other debts. can you sell it? I could sell it, but is somebody going to buy it? The worry I'm at is if I pay that, then I don't pay off my other debts before that, and then the car doesn't sell. That's where I'm
Starting point is 00:11:54 kind of conflicted at. There's no guarantee a car is going to sell, but you can usually get a car sold. Is there any reason it wouldn't sell? No. Who's the loan on the car with kia kia finance yeah okay another thing you could do is you could swing by your local credit union or your small town bank and borrow the 5 000 right and then just put that 5 000 in your debt
Starting point is 00:12:21 snowball and pay your pay get rid of your car now. Okay. That's probably what I would do, actually. Because we're trading an $18,000 debt for a $5,000 debt, and then you just throw that $5,000 in your debt snowball and knock it out as quick as you can. How much total debt do you have not counting your home? 82. And that includes the 18 on the car?
Starting point is 00:12:43 Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So that $5,000 would fit. That's what you need to do. Yeah. Let's get rid of that car payment now and trade it for a $5,000 loan. Is your credit decent?
Starting point is 00:12:54 Not too bad. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I would check your local credit union, check your small town bank. The big stupid banks aren't going to do that loan, but you can probably get a small town bank that'll look at it and go, hey, this guy can handle a $5, thousand dollar loan and then you work your way through the rest of it so hey good question man we appreciate you joining us open phones at 888-825-5225 you jump in we'll talk about your life and your money frank is next in massachusetts hi frank how
Starting point is 00:13:22 are you i'm'm good, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Congratulations on your new arrival and your family as well. Thank you, sir. How can I help? I'm 49. I paid off a 15-year mortgage. It's only 50 years.
Starting point is 00:13:39 I'm sorry. I can't hear you. You're breaking up. Try again. We'll put you back on hold when we get your phone straightened out. We'll bring you back up. Folks, if you're buying a home or you're refinancing your mortgage, and either one's been in the back of your mind,
Starting point is 00:13:52 but you're waiting for a sign to pull the trigger, this could be it. Interest rates are dropping again. And they're the lowest they've been in about a year and a half, two years. It's a great time to take advantage of lower rates if you're going to buy your first home, if you're in the place to do it. You're debt-free. You've got your emergency fund in place and so on. If you need an agent and a lender you can trust,
Starting point is 00:14:14 the good news is we can make it easy for you to find both. Go to DaveRamsey.com slash agents, and you can find a real estate agent that has been vetted by us our endorsed local provider and then you go to churchillmortgage.com and you start the pre-approval process and you get this locked in that will work for you all right let's try uh jason in kentucky hi jason welcome to the dave ramsey show hey sir how's it going better than i deserve what's up well i'm i'm from kentucky but i'm actually sitting in panama city beach on my honeymoon with my beautiful wife right now okay and you called me so yes sir it's pouring the rain here got a nice storm coming in okay
Starting point is 00:14:58 how can i help but we we have about 55 000 combined debt combined debt, and between $18,000 to $20,000 of it, we haven't checked her student loans. They're in deferment. We're pretty sure they're roughly equal, and there's two separate ones of those. So I just want to know how to, like, we have vehicles as well and just want to know how to get that rolling. Okay. What's your new household income um she's at 35 i'm at 35 and then i have a side job that brings in about 20 so before taxes right at 90 95 if i get lucky okay all right well and the student loans are in deferment because
Starting point is 00:15:42 she's within six months of graduation or what? She is not currently enrolled in school and hadn't been paying on them. Why are they in deferment? Hardship deferral? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Well, I would leave them in deferment, but I'm not going to change the order based on that.
Starting point is 00:16:11 Let's just pay minimum payments, which you're not paying a payment on that so that'd be zero on those minimum payments on everything list your debts smallest to largest pay minimum payments on everything but the little one and attack the little one with a vengeance all the money you can get gathered in from any source in your budget. You live on beans and rice, rice and beans, and you tear into this. So making $90,000, you should be debt-free in two years because that would be about $27,500 a year for two years. And, you know, if we just round it up, we say $2,500 a month. That's $30,000, and that will get you out of debt in about a little under two years. And you can do that with the kind of money you all are making, but you're not going to have much else going on you're going to get this mess cleaned up
Starting point is 00:16:48 yeah and we uh we definitely won't have to come back to credit card debt either because we we cash flowed the honeymoon well that's a good start considering the other mess you're in so um yeah just list your debts smallest to largest and go in that order, brother. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. Latch is with us in Kansas City. Hey, Latch, how are you? Good. How are you doing, Dave?
Starting point is 00:17:13 Better than I deserve. How can I help? We have a couple hundred thousand dollars coming in from an inheritance. We have just our house, which we owe owe about 245 on and um have three kids just wanted to see what your uh your opinion is on what we how we should best use that how old are your kids uh we got a seven uh three and then one uh actually next month oh good okay and 245 on the house but 200 $200,000 coming from inheritance. And I assume you have an emergency fund?
Starting point is 00:17:50 We have a small one. That's currently what we're building. So some of that, about $15,000, $20,000 of that will go towards the emergency fund. And you don't have any non-retirement investments laying around? I have a little bit, about $25,000. Oh, sorry, non-retirement. No, no, no little bit about 25 in non-retirement no no no no we don't have any okay that's that's in retirement okay all right and so um you'll finish your emergency fund and then you'll start putting 15 of your income what's your household income uh about 95 okay all right you'll start putting 15% of your income away.
Starting point is 00:18:31 You know, if I were you, I probably would just set up a monthly budget item for the kids' college when you set up your retirement stuff with your SmartVestor Pro and get everything ready that way. And then I would use all this money beyond what you need for the emergency fund, throw it at that mortgage. And then let's reach over and pay off that house. I mean, let's have a plan to pay that house off in about a year. Okay. That's what I was initially thinking, and then I actually reached out to a few of the Smart Buster pros,
Starting point is 00:18:54 and they thought put some of it in there, but then put a big chunk. It'd be okay. It'd be okay to do some $10,000 529s if you want to do that. It's just a matter of what you want to do. If you put $10,000 in a 529 per kid, that's going to, as young as your kids are, that's going to knock out the vast majority of your need for college saving.
Starting point is 00:19:14 Right. You can kind of check that baby step five box and move on. Then that just delays how, you know, when the mortgage is going to get paid off because we just drained $30,000 out of this discussion. Either one of those is fine. The advice they're giving you is not inconsistent. It's just a matter of where you want to put the emphasis.
Starting point is 00:19:32 I love having a paid-for house, I'll tell you that. And then I can usually find money to get the kid to college, you know. Hey, thanks for the call. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Folks, let's cut through the bull. Interest rates are exceptionally low, so you're missing out if you have not called Churchill Mortgage to see if you can save money on your home loan. Lots of other companies are out there claiming great deals, but don't get lured by slick advertisements. No-cost refinance offers do not mean they're free.
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Starting point is 00:20:40 NMLS ID 1591. NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Jalisa is with us. Hi, Jalisa. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm so excited to be here. I can't believe I'm finally here in Nashville. I'm so excited. Well, I'm honored to have you. Welcome, welcome. And where do you live? I live in Los Angeles, but I think it's important to make clear I am a New Yorker. But I came all the way from the West Coast.
Starting point is 00:21:27 Wow. Well, thank you for being here. To do your debt-free scream, how much you paid off? I paid off $40,000 in 18 months. Good for you. Way to go. And your range of income during that 18 months? About $62,000 to this year it'll be a little over $110,000. Wow. Very good. What do you do for a living? I used to be an entertainment journalist and now I am in public relations crisis management
Starting point is 00:21:53 within entertainment. Ah, very good. Switch to the other side. Switch to the side with the money. I hear you. Well done, very well done. What kind of debt was the $40,000? A little bit of everything. So credit cards, car loan, and student loans. Ah, there we go. There it is again. So what happened to you 18 months ago that made you decide to get out of debt? Well, honestly, I always wanted to be financially free.
Starting point is 00:22:20 I knew I come from the South Bronx, and I knew that I wanted to kind of change my legacy, but I was a first generation college student and I didn't know how to do so. I mean, I graduated college. I was making $30,000 a year. My dad thought it was a good idea to purchase. He put a down payment on a lease Mercedes Benz, brand new. So I was making $30,000 with a $35,000 car with premium gas, really expensive. So I just racked up a lot of credit card debt and I didn't know what to do. So once I switched jobs and was making $62,000, I worked really hard. And then that income went up to $75,000. And I said, okay, now that my income is higher, I need to get in control of my money and I need to do research to figure out how to do so. And someone recommended you. And I said, I'm a black woman, a young black woman from the South Bronx. And here's this old white man from Tennessee.
Starting point is 00:23:17 And you want me to listen to him about financial advice. I love it. What is happening? What are you, a racist? Not at all. I was just like, look, I don't know if I'm going to be able to connect in full transparency. And I started listening to the
Starting point is 00:23:34 podcast. I read the Total Money Makeover. I was hooked. I called you. I said, Dave, I'm out of my lease. I turned into Mercedes. Then I purchased a used Honda Accord. I said, Dave, do I need to get rid of this car? Because I get rid of this car too and you were like you can keep it it fits within the plan um and i just i went full force worked three jobs and went full force i have your fun this is great way to go thank you i love your honesty your transparency that's fun
Starting point is 00:24:01 wasn't sure i could connect to that guy i wasn't but it worked out but it worked out and i'm really appreciative for the fact that you do share information and resources with everyone when i listen to your show it's not one person that looks the same it's not the same income everyone has a different story and i really appreciate you for sharing that information with us well thank you we're so honored you're here. You're a rock star. You knocked it out. Knocked it out. So now you are making $110,000 a year, and now you're debt-free, and now you don't have a Mercedes. Is your dad okay with all that? Listen, I'm not really the person where, you know, you can say too much to,
Starting point is 00:24:40 so I think my family didn't have a choice but to get on board. They've heard enough of, well, says this and dave says that so they're on board with the plan okay don't argue with her she's listening to that old white man from tennessee this is fun i'm so proud of you very very very well done who was your biggest cheerleader honestly i mean at first everyone was skeptical right i was 26 27 at the time living in los angeles you want to be debt free why you know student loans everyone thinks they'll stay with you forever especially as a millennial um and i think eventually once i did the debt snowball and i started i I showed all along the
Starting point is 00:25:27 journey, right? So once I paid off my student loans, I posted that so people could see, like you can get rid of your student loans. And I know mine weren't, some people have a hundred thousand, but if I did 40,000 in 18 months, I could have did 80,000 in 36. So to me, once I started showing that journey, people began to support it. And they showed kind of how intentional I was. I was working a nine to five job. And then from six to midnight, I would go to the mall and I was working at a local retail shop. And then in addition to that, I was doing entertainment events and writing articles about these events.
Starting point is 00:26:01 So I went to the Oscars, the Grammys, and all these events, never paid for a dress, wasn't getting my hair done, wasn't getting my nails done. I was borrowing clothes from people. I mean, I was so committed to the journey that people had no choice but to be supporters. I guess so. I love it. Well done.
Starting point is 00:26:19 Very well done. Now that you're there, after all this work, how does it feel? It is, I'm still frugal, but it is a freedom that can't be explained. You know, when I think about, it really is surreal to be here because I remember listening and I know what it feels like to be listening and to be struggling and to just think that you're not going to get there. But when you get there, it's so stress-free. I'm just stress-free, and I feel like the opportunities are limitless.
Starting point is 00:26:52 I have the opportunity to change my family tree, to change my legacy, to build generational wealth, to become an everyday millionaire. And I'm never looking back. I'm never going back into debt. So it is powerful. It's a powerful feeling. Well done. You're very bright, very articulate.
Starting point is 00:27:11 So proud of you. Very, very well done. Good job. Good job. Thank you, Dave. What do you tell people the key is to getting out of debt? It's funny. I think people think there's some magic secret, right?
Starting point is 00:27:20 There's no secret way to do it. It's pretty simple. The way you get rid of debt is you have to pay it off. There's no secret, consolidate all of it into this magic loan and move all these different accounts around. I think the reason why I love your plan so much, it was very simple, the simple baby steps. So I think the key though, I'm thinking as a millennial for people in my generation is having the discipline, really having the discipline to say I'm not going to brunch every weekend. I'm not going to every happy hour. I'm not going to get my nails done and my hair done, and I'm not going to care about impressing people.
Starting point is 00:27:57 You really have to have the discipline. And I think what stuck with me, what you always say, if you want to be broke, you study broke people. And if you want to be broke, you study broke people. And if you want to be rich, you study rich people. And to me, the habits that I see in everyday people are not habits of ways of building wealth. So I think once you have the discipline and you really stay focused on the goal and you communicate to people, then you can do it. Very cool. Absolutely. You can do it.
Starting point is 00:28:24 And you did it. I can't believe it. How old are you? I'm 28 now. I'm 28 living in Los Angeles. I'm debt free. I'm single. So life is, you know, life is good. Life is really good. Life is great. You're going to be, you're going to be an amazing place in one decade. Thank you, Dave. Thank you. The 38-year-old version of you is going to really love the 28-year-old you. I'm so proud of myself.
Starting point is 00:28:52 My family's tuned in. They're in New York right now. They're watching. They're proud of me. And I just can't believe I'm here. It's surreal. Well, all of us here at Ramsey are proud of you, too. That's for sure.
Starting point is 00:29:03 Well done. Got a copy of Chris Hogan's for sure well done got a copy of chris hogan's book for you and um maybe he'll be easier to listen to dave you know i love you you've been now you're definitely part of the family i'm in now you know i'm in all right all right good i feel better everyday millionaires because you're going to be one that's the next chapter in your story. You're awesome. You're a lot of fun, Jalisa.
Starting point is 00:29:27 Thank you. And I'm so proud of you. This is amazing. $40,000 paid off in 18 months, making 62 to 110. The person in her mirror has been changed. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.
Starting point is 00:29:44 I'm debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! I love it. Yeah! That's how it's done. Absolutely fabulous. Wow. So, did you hear her story? When are you going to be here doing that?
Starting point is 00:30:09 Yeah, I'm talking to you. Today's maybe the day you start. Ready? I'm ready. Ready? Set? Go. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. our scripture of the day galatians 2 20 i've been crucified with christ and i
Starting point is 00:30:59 no longer live but christ lives in me the life i now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Will Rogers said, if you want to be successful, it's just this simple. Know what you are doing, love what you are doing, and believe in what you are doing. Lynn is with us in Florida. Hi, Lynn. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking my call.
Starting point is 00:31:31 I actually called you back in February, and you helped me settle a $12,000 American Express bill. So I'm excited to get back in touch with you today. Sure. How can I help? Okay. I have a home that I owe about $67,000 on, but it can probably sell for $150,000. And I'm wondering, should I sell my home to pay off my
Starting point is 00:31:55 debt? That's your personal residence? Yes, it is. And how much debt do you have? $82,000. On what? About $59,000 on student loans. It's graduate student loans, so it's a 6.8% APR. And then $6,000 to my sister, and then the rest on collection debt. Okay, so you've got $15,000, $20,000 in collections? Yes. Okay, what were those debts? Credit cards and then AT&T passed due bill, and yeah. Okay, what's your income?
Starting point is 00:32:47 My shovel's kind of small. I bring home an average of about... What's your master's degree in? Criminology. Okay. And so you're making what now? $39,000 that includes child support, and I rent out a room in my house. Okay. I'm sorry. Did I say $39,000 that includes child support, and I rent out a room in my house. Okay.
Starting point is 00:33:06 I'm sorry, did I say $39,000? $3,900 per month. Okay, so about $50,000 a year. Yeah. Okay. And so your criminology master's has not turned into income? That should have made you more than that. Why?
Starting point is 00:33:23 It absolutely. I'm not even working in that field why um it's i i didn't really have a target for what i mean i just got the master's just to get it? Yeah. I had initially someone, I mean, I was planning to go to law school and could not really afford law school, so the alternative was to get a criminology degree. And I was hoping just having a master's degree that I would be able to get out and just get a job that would pay more than my bachelor's was getting me, and just haven't really found something in that field.
Starting point is 00:34:11 Yeah. You discovered that's not really how it works, right? Yeah. You don't just generally get paid for a master's. You get paid for the master's in a particular field because it shows you have expertise in that field. Okay. I think you have a career problem. Right.
Starting point is 00:34:32 Your career keeps spinning out. Right. And so I'm going to send you a copy of Ken Coleman's book. I don't think your house is the problem. It's not that far out of line. I think you've got potential to make almost double what you're making. Okay. And it'll probably take two or three years to implement that and to get you into that track.
Starting point is 00:34:55 But you have a master's degree in criminology, and not counting your side hustles and your child support, you're not even making what a high school graduate would make. Should I be okay that I'm only putting about $500 towards debt, particularly my student loan right now? I'm just kind of chugging away smallest to largest. Yeah, I would pay minimum payments on everything but the little one, and I would attack the little one.
Starting point is 00:35:23 But here's the thing. I think our discussion here is all about your shovel. Okay. It's all about your career. Because if I can add $20,000 to your income, it changes this equation dramatically. Absolutely, yeah. And what that's going to require is a level of intentionality applied to your career choices and developing a career track that you have never done in your life to date.
Starting point is 00:35:51 You're going to have to get game on. Okay. And say, this is what I want to be, and it pays $80,000 a year, and here's my six steps to get that, and I've got to get with those people, I've got to get in that world, and I've got to figure out a way to go make $80,000 a year instead of $35,000 with my master's degree. And, I mean, I don't know the job title to tell you to reach for. But just doing this a long time, this just feels like you're dramatically underemployed. And I think it's got a lot to do with lack of direction and lack of consistent direction.
Starting point is 00:36:25 You keep changing horses halfway through and looking for some silver bullet to fix this. And you is your secret sauce, kiddo. There is no master's degree that's going to make it all worthwhile. There's no little movement here that's going to make it worthwhile. You're the secret sauce to your success. So hold on. I'm going to give you a copy of Ken coleman's book proximity principle read through that go read everything ken off of ken's website start talking to him on his radio show and he will walk
Starting point is 00:36:54 you into this next phase of your career and get you to where you want to go but um i think rather than sell your house i know rather than sell your house, I know rather than sell your house, I'm going to work on your income if I'm in your shoes. Sal is with us. Sal is in Arizona. Hi, Sal. How are you? Hello, Dave. How are you doing?
Starting point is 00:37:14 Better than I deserve. What's up? I have a timeshare question for you. My wife and I fell into the timeshare trap about 25 years ago. We've had this thing, like I said, 25 years. And for the first 10 years, this thing was fabulous. We used it. We traveled.
Starting point is 00:37:31 We loved it. For the past 10 years, for some reason, nothing is ever available to us anymore. Even if we book a year, two years ahead of time, it's always a no. Nothing's available. So we're paying thirteen hundred dollars a year on maintenance fees on this thing that we haven't used probably in the last eight years and not only that if we do get something we pay another 300 for the accommodations fees or whatever so it's costing us about fifteen hundred dollars a year and we haven't used it in probably
Starting point is 00:38:01 eight years i'd say and we're thinking of getting rid of it, but nobody wants them. We can't give them away. We can't give them to our kids. Don't want them. We try to put it on the internet. There's no resale value. We try calling the people, see if they'll buy it back. They won't even talk to you. Excuse me. And, um, we even, uh, called a place that wants $4,000 and take it away from us. And there's no guarantee that they will be successful. So my solution, this might sound a little dumb, is just to not pay the fees and have them come after us with a collection agency. That's a little dumb. Well, that's what we're on right now. So you talked to Timeshare Exit Team, and Timeshare Exit Team gave you a $4,000 quote on this case?
Starting point is 00:38:41 That is correct, yeah. And we did talk to, because of of you we talked to timeshare exit team and the guy says you know we probably can do it it's going to cost you uh about four grand it's going to take about two years so that's going to be another two thousand dollars or no twenty six hundred dollars in fees that he said we have to keep up and he says and we probably can do away with it but we don't guarantee 100 anything they do guarantee your money back if you don't get rid of it they don't sell it well they don't sell it i mean you talk to timeshare they don't sell timeshares they break the contract exactly yeah that's kind of what it usually
Starting point is 00:39:16 doesn't take two years two years is highly unusual oh is that right well maybe he was on that he told us on the high end of it maybe oh he told you on the high end on both things. Because $4,000 sounds high on this, too. Okay. It was definitely about $4,000, $3,800 approximately, I think he said. All right. That's what I would do. Okay.
Starting point is 00:39:38 I would use them and get rid of it. Because you're going to spend more than that when you get sued for not paying this bill. Because they're not going to just not let you pay the bill and just go oh he's such a nice guy that sal we're not going to bother him let him do whatever he wants to do he doesn't have to pay what he owes us they're going to sue your butt sal and they're going to sue your butt for everything plus legal fees and it's going to be three four five years of this building up and you're going to end up paying a whole lot more than $3,800. You do what you want to do, man, but that's the reason I advertise for Timeshare Exit Team.
Starting point is 00:40:10 And they don't keep your $3,800 if they don't get you back, if they don't get you out. It's a money-back guarantee. So go call them again, check on it, whittle that down, work that system. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for the Dave Ramsey Show.
Starting point is 00:40:38 If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.

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