The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Save Money With a Low Income? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: September 1, 2020

Home Buying, Home Selling, Debt, Savings, Career, Investing Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out with us to have a conversation about your life and your money. My name is Anthony O'Neill. My co-host with me today is the number one podcast in the world, the one and only Dr. John Deloney. If you want to have a conversation with an author, a guy who's passionate about helping you out with your money, with your life, and with the guy who is sitting in the number one podcast position right now,

he's helping America. In my segment, to be fair. Hey, man, listen. You're number one. I'm a number one best-selling author in my segment, too. And nobody can, to be fair. Hey, man, listen. You're number one. I'm a number one bestselling author in my segment, too. And nobody can ever take that away from you, man. There you go, brother. So sit there and calm down.

I got this. We want to have a conversation with you. This guy is helping people with their relationships, with their mental health. And America is loving him right now. Give us a call. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. is loving him right now. Give us a call. Triple eight, eight, two, five, five, two, two,

five, triple eight, eight, two, five, five, two, two,

five. And Dr. John and myself would love to just, you know, give you our opinion on some things that's happening in the world today. Help you out with your life and go from there. But John, how does it feel earlier today? Tell America what you told me and our producer,ames chow's that you would rather uh fail than succeed that's not exactly how i phrased

it how did you phrase um it was this i was blown away i was blown away by the need um uh i was blown away by everybody's support and you know we know, we work with Dave Ramsey. I thought things would go successfully. Yesterday we launched the Dr. John Deloney show on podcast. I thought it would be neat and be fun to get to talk to some folks. When they sent me the snapshot last night where it was number one in, I think it was in health and wellness, whatever category, and top 100 in the world. That was a humbling moment. And I'm a guy who has worked the last, like I said, decade to get off the grid, to get off the internets, and it freaked me out a little bit. So I'm used to failing more in my life than succeeding,

and my life's been about dusting myself off and getting back on the horse again and again and again. So it was just a neat moment. And I'll fall and fail again, but today was a neat day. Today was a neat day. I mean, I'm loving it. Well, let's keep them on the list today, you guys. I'm going to try to go to anywhere you can get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify.

Check it out. It's the Dr. John Deloney Show to where he's going to get real and talk about your life, relationships, and mental health challenges. You'll get the tools you need to cut through the chaos of anxiety, depression, and disconnection. I want you to download the anxiety relief checklist on johndeloney.com. Go to johndeloney.com. Check him out on social media. The guy does, you know, I'm a Ramsey and y'all know I'm a pretty wild guy. I love doing stuff on the edge.

Dr. John beats me in that area. I don't think so. You are sophisticated at the social medias. I'm more stumbling and doing somersaults through social medias. That's what I'm saying. Check him out, you guys. 888-825-5225. Give us a call and we would definitely love

to help you out with your life and with your money. Let's go ahead and help out someone right now. Let's go out to Indiana and have a conversation here with Griffin. Griffin, good afternoon. How can Dr. John and I help? Hey, guys, how's it going? Doing good.

How about yourself, man? Thanks for calling in. Good. So I just had a question regarding buying a house. Yeah. So I'm a senior in college and I just accepted a job offer so I'll be moving there in the springtime.

I was wondering if I was in a good position to buy a house and I was thinking about buying a house and renting out the rooms to other people and to save money and pay for the mortgage on itself. So are you about to graduate college? The screen says you're about to graduate high school. I just want to make sure I have a correct understanding.

I'm about to graduate college this spring. Okay, that makes sense. That makes sense. Now, you're about to graduate college. That means you're about 21, 22 years old? Yeah, I'm 22. Okay, cool. And what kind of job are you going to get right now?

I got an offer, and it's about $75 a year. Okay, cool. And what kind of job are you going to get right now? I got an offer, and it's about $75 a year. Okay, cool. How much debt are you in right now? Zero. Zero. How much do you have in your savings account? $35,000 to $40,000. $35,000 to $40,000.

Griffin, killing it, man. So you're looking at about six months of your income, six months of your expenses right there. Okay. All right. Yeah, just like right now, I don't have much expenses at all being in college. I'm on a scholarship, so it's like paying for basically all my stuff. So I'll be able to save up some money. I love it.

I love it. I love it. You know, with that being said, man, you know, buying a house at your age right now with 60 grand in the account, you know, that's not a bad move. Here's the thing, though. I want you to put down 10% to 20% on a conventional loan. If you can do that and not touch your savings account, not touch your emergency funds, I'm all for it. I think the earlier you can start investing, because you've already laid down a solid foundation here, Griffin.

Let's be real. You went to college debt-free. You graduated with about $30,000, $40,000 in your savings account. You're going into a job profession to where you're going to be making about $70,000 a year. After taxes, you'll see about maybe $50,000, $52,000 of that. And then from there, man, I mean, get your mortgage payment. That's within less than 25% of your take-home pay. Brother, at the age of 22, you know, you're a solid young man.

I mean, I want to see more young people doing what you're doing, Griffin. So you got my blessings. You got, man, I salute you. I mean, that's amazing, brother. That's amazing. What did you graduate with your degree in? Sales management. Okay.

Yeah, so you're going to be making some sales, man. That's awesome, Griffin. That's awesome, man. Congratulations on really laying down a solid foundation for yourself. John, that's something that I'm really passionate

about. What's that? Helping young people do what this young man just did. going to college graduating debt-free getting a nice job graduating college with some money in their account to where this way they can be homeowners in their young 20s without struggling without stressing pay that sucker off you know by the time he turns 30 come on man yeah if you are a homeowner and if you are already investing in your early 20s you win man you're winning now check this out for those of you are listen well i'm in my 20s and i got 200 000 with the debt okay cool you can still win but for those for those parents who are listening to me right now and you have a high schooler

that's about to graduate here within the next few years. This is exactly why I fight the fight that I fight. This is why I'm always talking to young people, helping them get out of debt, helping them avoid debt, helping them invest earlier on, helping them, connecting them with you. So that way they can have clear head thoughts and have a clear mental vision of things. So that way the earlier they start with a solid foundation then the sooner they can really start enjoying their life and having financial peace i love it hey let me ask you a question a follow-up question i'm trying to put myself into 22 year old griffin's

head yeah and i want to buy a house i'm clear i've got my money where it needs to be i've saved up for that 10 20 percent um down payment yeah my. My temptation is to think I'm going to buy a three or four bedroom house. It's going to have, I'm going to have roommates. And so I might buy a bigger house. No. With their income in mind. No. I'm going to buy a regular house that I can afford and their income is just going to pay my thing off faster.

Is that right? And to be honest, I'm buying a house that I can afford, that I can do. And I'm not even thinking about renting it out because i want to live below my means getting getting less than 25 for him i'm getting right around 15 to 20 and then from there if someone needs a place to stay i don't have a problem doing it because i don't need them it's all gravy then it's all gravy it's all income right man this is the dave ramsey show give a call at 888-825-5225. Families all over the country are discovering a faith-based and budget-friendly way of meeting health care costs, whether they're anticipated or completely unexpected.

For example, take the Olcheski family from LaGrange, Texas. Jeff and Carice had just celebrated the birth of a new baby boy. Shortly after, they had another expensive medical issue come up. They could have faced a huge financial setback. But thanks to Christian Health Care Ministries, the Olcheskis were spared from a ton of medical bills. As members of CHM, they're part of a group of believers who financially and spiritually Thank you. nearly $97,000 to help the Olcheskis. To be a part of Christian Healthcare Ministries, visit chministries.org.

That's chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. going out to los angeles california to have a conversation with jeff jeff good afternoon how can dr d and myself help hey good afternoon i'm doing the baby steps and i'm at the point where i'm working on paying off my home mortgage and my question is should i sell my rental property in order to pay off my primary home? The rents are about 900 above what my rental payment is. Okay. All right. How much is your rental property worth? Just over 600.

And how much do you own it? 262. So you got about 400 and some thousand equity in it. And how much would it take it? $262,000. So you got about $400,000 and some thousand equity in it. And how much would it take to pay off your primary residence? It would take $215,000. So by the time I fix up the rental pay commission from taxes, I should have enough to clear it. Cool. What's your other debt right now?

My only other debt is my home mortgage. Okay, cool. So you have no other consumer debt, just your home mortgage? And are you already investing into your 401K, Roth IRA, or any type of retirement funds? Yes, fully. Cool, great. So the answer for me is yeah.

I'm selling a rental house. I'll sell it today? Yeah. You'll be mortgage-free, baby, by the end of the week? Yeah. That's what I was thinking thinking I just wasn't sure you can roller skate you can roller skate down Ventura Boulevard

debt free brother this weekend man that sounds great so talk to me what's your hesitation let's walk through that process why are you doubting that my hesitation is I can imagine when I'm about 20 years from retirement. When I retire, if I hung on to that property, that one would also be paid off,

and it would just provide an income for the rest of my life in addition to my 401K. What's your income right now? $130,000. $130,000 in California. So, okay. That's a little above minimum wage in California, right? So here's what I'm going to recommend. I'm still going to recommend.

I'm still going to recommend that, Jeff. Because what you're saying, you're 20 years away from retirement. I will go ahead and just pay off your home mortgage. Do you plan on retiring in that home, Jeff? No. In a couple years, my wife and I want to move out of California and head to Tennessee or Idaho or Oklahoma somewhere in a few years.

Come on to Tennessee, man. We would love to have you as a neighbor here in Tennessee. It'll be a lot cheaper than Los Angeles, California. I'm going to tell you that much. That's the plan. Yeah, so I would definitely pay off your home mortgage right now. Go ahead and make yourself 100% debt-free

and then start building your wealth. What would be a good idea is you and your wife sit down, have a conversation. Okay, but in the next 20 years, here's when I want to retire. Here's when I want you to retire as well. So let's go ahead and take these next three, four months, fix up the rental property,

sell it, pay off our home mortgage, pocket this money, and maybe we save that to go build a cash rental property in Tennessee in the next 10 years. And you definitely can do that out here in Tennessee. And so now that puts you back in a position to where you were looking for some type of extra stream of income. So that's what I recommend, Jeff. And it puts you in that position, Jeff, without the risk.

Yeah. Because you don't risk the Los Angeles real estate market imploding on you again like it did a few years ago. And you don't risk a renter. Exactly. That's what's really good right now, and I also had that in the back of my mind. That rental property was $300,000 less than it was today not too long ago. Yeah, and, man, the renter just doesn't pay. And now you're not allowed to evict them until, I don't know what the latest update is april of 2027 or whatever the thing is but um yeah if you invert it like anthony was saying man

you own all the risk yeah and uh a a future real estate investment in yourself for retirement is an investment if you don't have a if your house is worth nothing and you're still paying debt on a renter that's not paying so man get it yeah debt-free in a couple of days, a couple of weeks, a couple of months. And, man, blessings to you, brother. That's awesome. Man, congratulations, Jeff. I mean, I'm excited for you. Man, these calls today are amazing, you all.

Give us a call, 888-825-5225. We'd love to talk to you about your life and your money. Going out to Detroit, Michigan, we're going to have a conversation with Victoria. Victoria, good afternoon. How can Dr. D and I help? Hi. It's great talking to you all. I got a question.

I made a stupid money decision. I mean, we all have, so talk to us. Welcome to the family. Yeah. Well, me and my husband, we bought a trailer two years ago, kind of as a starter home. I'm on step two of the baby steps, and I'm wondering, just because they depreciate in value so much, should I just take the loss and sell it and go to a rental property, or should I include this in my debt snowball? How much do you owe on it?

So I owe about $48,000. How much is it worth right now? It's worth $ So I owe about $48,000. How much is it worth right now? It's worth $25,000 to $30,000. Okay. All right, $25,000 to $30,000. So let's say if you get top dollar for it, you're $18,000 in the hole. What's your income right now, your family household income? About $45,000.

Yeah, you're going to have a real hard time with a bridge loan, unsecured bridge loan for $45,000. Yeah, you're going to have a real hard time with a bridge loan, unsecured bridge loan for $45,000. I mean, for the difference between what you owe and what that thing's worth if you were to sell it. Yeah, I don't know what I'm saying. Yeah, and we pay rent on the land, and we pay a mortgage on the house, and that's not even including our other debt. Wow. Yeah, you're in over your head, huh? I'm just confused to the bank.

How did they even approve you all with that? That's confusing. I'm not sure. Yeah, you're in a problem. We need to sell this. We need to sell it. When you were looking at the value, was that a private sale? Yes, was that a private sale?

Yes, that was a private sale. The owner of the park here, the manufacturer's called Montreux Park, I believe they have deals with several mortgage companies. And so we just applied through them. Okay. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to try and sell this privately as far as in sale by owner. You might get a little bit more money from it. I don't think you'll get eighteen thousand dollars more from it. But you may be lucky to get about thirty thirty five thousand dollars in between you and your husband.

You all need to figure out how you can get that other maybe, you know, ten, fifteen thousand dollars just to suck that up. Right. That's going to be cash. I don't have a problem with you taking out a loan, but it's going to be hard dollars just to suck that up right that's going to be cash i don't have a problem with you taking out a loan but it's going to be hard for you to do that with your income and if you're taking out a loan for that then it's going to hurt you down the road because i want to see your debt ratio go down so right now the best bet is how can we come up maybe how do we work hard over the next six months? Get up some cash, save that, put towards selling this property, and then going to, yes, get you a rental property, like an apartment or a home that is less than 25% of your income.

Where do you guys live right now? I'm sorry, say that again? Where do you live right now? Well, we live in Oakland County, so it's near Rochester Hills. It's in a park. It's in a trailer park. Yeah. And so why are you selling your trailer?

I do that, and where are we selling it? Right. Well, I'm curious whether we should sell it or not because we've depreciated so much. Right now we're working on our debt. We just paid off three credit cards. We still have the car payment and the student loan. So you still live in this trailer? Yes. We've been living here for two

years. We just had our second kid. He's only a couple months old. Gotcha. Okay. So if you sell this, where would you move? To a rental property. We would find an apartment. I wouldn't have that backup plan right now, but I'm just wondering financially what's the best plan just because we're losing so much money.

The best plan is to sell it. Gotcha. Okay. Now I got what you're saying. The best plan is to sell it because this is not an appreciating asset. This is costing you money and honestly trailer homes and those trailer trucks, it's just

an unwise decision unless you have the money that you can just go without. I'm saying over the next three to six months, you're trying to figure out to come up with the cash to cover the difference and then you just got to sell it by the owner.

Here's the good thing. You don't have to rush it. Go ahead. So just save up that cash rather than putting it towards our car loan our student debt right now i mean that's really gonna be up to you you know right now i really want you to get out of that get out of that situation because you're losing a lot of money there you can work your debt snowball if you want but if i'm in your shoes i'm trying to get out of this situation right now asap that's what i'm trying to do thanks for calling in this is exactly

why we teach the baby steps you guys you know um we really really really want to help people make the right decision and it was a bad decision on her and her husband's part but we've all been there i've made bad mistakes you've made bad mistakes chris hogan's in the studio over there uh talking to our producers he's made some bad mistakes. But you know what? We're here to walk you through the process. one of the things i love about the dave ramsey show when i'm on with dave with the personalities or by myself is our youtube family um if you're ever just at home or at your office or anywhere near a computer near your tv once you pull up, you'll be able to see all my facial expressions. I, um, I can't hide them.

Um, our associate producer, Kelly Daniels, always laughing at me, my face with my facial expressions. And sometimes John looks a little weird too, and you can see all of it. You can experience all of it,

but the greatest part about joining the YouTube, uh, family is our amazing people, uh, that are on a YouTube. And I want to give a shout out today to Raina, R-A-I-N-A. Today is her birthday. No, I do not feel like singing, but I would definitely give Raina a birthday shout out

live on the Dave Ramsey show in front of 17 million people. And so when I'm on here, I love to connect with our YouTube family. They've been amazing to you and I, John. And so check us out. Go to the Dave Ramsey. I love to connect with our YouTube family. They've been amazing to you and I, John. And so check us out. Go to the Dave Ramsey. Go to YouTube.com forward slash Dave Ramsey, the Dave Ramsey Show Live, and you'll be able to watch us live.

About 2,000 people are on here right now watching us. So let's keep this conversation going and going out to Atlanta, Georgia, and talk to Abe. Abe? Abe in Atlanta. Abe. Abe. Yeah. Hey, what's up, man?

I had to read it right. My fault, brother. How are you, man? Good. I was wondering, I work for Amazon. I make about $15 an hour. How do I save money doing that when everything I make gets spent? So let's backtrack here.

So you're making $15 an hour. What would you say your bring home pay is, your take home pay is a month? Every two weeks, around $1,000. So you're making about $2,000 a month. All right, cool. And how much debt are you in right now? I don't have no debt. You don't have any debt?

No. So you don't have any credit cards no car loans none of that i have a credit card but i pay it off every month i don't have no uh okay so you have some form of debt you just pay off your debt every month this is let's call that call that that great uh what what's your where are you living at right now home family apartment i'm renting a room okay you're renting a room so help me understand this Uh, what, what's your, where are you living at right now? Home, family, apartment? I'm renting a room. Okay. You're renting a room. So help me understand this then.

If you don't have a car note, you're saying that you're paying off your credit card every month, which I believe you need to go ahead and just cut it up, especially in making $2,000 a month. Um, you're renting a room. How much is your rent for the room a month? About 500 a month. So what, where's the other $1,500 going towards Abe? I don't know.

Probably food, bus. I don't know what else to be honest. Okay. So, so many things come and go. I don't even know. So right now I see two issues.

All right, let me help you out here. Because you remind me of me. Making a little bit of money, but I couldn't see where it was going. $2,000 a month, that means you're making $24,000 a year. So number one, your issue is you need more income. Okay, that's number one. But before you get more income, let me tell you what the bigger issue is. You don't know what you're doing

with the little bit of income that you have right now. To me, what that's showing me, Abe, is that you're not being a good steward of the small resources that you have. And so before we can get more financial resources, we need to be good stewards

with the little that we do have. And so what I want to recommend to you, have you ever taken a Financial Peace University before? No. Okay cool. Have you ever heard of EveryDollar? Our budgeting app?

Yes. Okay. Have you ever used it? No. Okay. That's a problem. You see where there is no vision Abe. That's where people perish.

And I believe it's the same thing for our money. Where there is no vision for our, that's where people perish. And I believe it's the same thing for our money. Where there is no vision for our money written down on paper, where there is no budget, that's where our money perishes. You don't know what you're spending it on. So before you spend your money physically, you need to spend it on paper with a purpose. And so that's going to be my number one thing to you. We'll worry about the money down the road but right now you need to know where every dollar of your money is going if you ask me right now i can tell you where 50 cents went and trust me i'm single because ladies don't they don't like the

fact that i'm a budgeter you know i know where every dollar goes you need to know that as well what else are you thinking john i was thinking number one you're not single just because of that I know where every dollar goes. You need to know that as well. What else are you thinking, John? I was thinking, number one, you're not single just because of that. But that was number one. But number two, I want to circle back to a question that – or a point that you made just a second ago, Anthony. Abe, how come you're just making $15 an hour? That's what – I don an hour? That's what

I don't know. That's what they pay. I don't know how much they make. That's how they offer. Where do you see yourself doing in 2 to 3, 5, 6, 7 years? Hopefully move up and get a higher paid job with them. And so

to circle back on what anthony was talking about if you lack this crystal clear intentionality this like rabid attention um the the words they use here ramsay is this gazelle intensity i am running for my life from a lion, and the lion is unintentional, leaky, just come whatever may. I hope in a couple years I got a different job, and I'm making a little bit more money, and I hope they just take care of me. That's not how that works. It is a clear plan, a rigid vision, people in your life that hold you accountable, and most importantly, Abe, you living into Abe's vision. You sitting down with a friend, with a pastor, with some buddies, with a significant other

and saying, what do I want to be? What do I want to contribute? And then you reverse engineer that and make that happen that way, right? Yeah. And so Anthony is so right. The budget is I'm going to tell my money how to work for me, not just I just got some money. It's here. Some of it goes.

And I get that, man. I struggle with that every month. I wish I was as disciplined as Anthony. I struggle with that. It's a weekly, monthly decision to be a steward. And then that same idea about a budget goes about your professional life, right? Absolutely. And so here's what I want to do. Anthony, let's give him financial peace and let's give him Ken Coleman's book, Proximity Principle. And these two things, the Proximity Principle is going to give you a plan on a step-by-step plan on how to

build career advancement into your life, how to create a vision for where you want to go professionally and then go get it. And then this budget thing is going to help you take control of your money. And more importantly, if you do it right and you stick to it, Abe, it's going to give you a roadmap for how to become intentional and disciplined

with every part of your life, man. And it will change your relationships, your financial future, your work future, all of it. Thanks for the question, man. Anthony, how many people that you talk to dealing with money are like our friend Abe, who's just kind of rolling, the check comes in, I got a job. I'm so happy to get a job, right?

And I understand being in the world right now, just having a job is a gift and a blessing. But it just kind of is what it is. That what you pay i'm cool with that and then i hope four or five years things are going to be different and i don't know where my money went yeah there's a lot of them but uh real quick hold on abe i want you to stand by we're gonna get kelly on the phone with you she's going to give you ramsey plus uh which is financial peace university plus our every dollar app and your debt tracking, plus a copy of King Coleman's book, Proximity Principle. So Kelly, we take care of you there. Thanks for calling in, brother. You know, man, you know, John, that was me, man.

You know, I mean, it's a lot of people that are getting their paycheck. And when they hear the word budget, they hear death sentence. They hear jail cell. They hear I can't enjoy life when they hear the word budget uh they hear uh death sentence they hear jail sale they hear i can't enjoy life when they hear the word budget and so a lot of people they believe when i work hard i'll get my money and i just do it but i think a lot of people are sick and tired of getting their paycheck on friday and then by tuesday of the following week it's gone you know and then the key thing here that i heard him say which took me back was how do i how do i save money if it's already spent well he didn't have any debt he's only paying five hundred dollars

for for rent so i'm like well wait wait the problem is not uh you having no money the problem is you're not being wise with the money you have and that's the problem with America today. They're getting this money and they're not being good stewards with the little that they do have. They're not budgeting in it. They're not

giving it a vision and they're not going after something. And that has to change today. That changed with me and it will change with you all if you're listening here on the Dave Ramsey Show. before we went to break we were talking to a young man that was making you, not a lot of money, but not horrible money. And we identified that a lot of people, I was looking at the YouTube chat, and like, yeah, I know a lot of people who make $15 or less an hour, and they have the same question.

And I suggested, and John and I gave them Ramsey Plus for free, a copy of the ken coleman book for free because we want to be a blessing uh but you know what we need more people to help us be a blessing because the crisis this year has left a lot of people feeling scared about their money and all they know is that they never want to be in this situation again, but they have no idea. And I mean this, you guys, no idea where to start to get better with their money. And that's where you can help and partner with us as a financial peace university coordinator. Coordinators are everyday folks like you listening, like you watching us on YouTube, like you listening to us in the car who walk people through our proven plan to dump debt save for emergencies and build wealth so they can never have to worry about money again like Abe

you don't have to be a money expert to be a coordinator we take care of all the teaching and you can lead a virtual class from home That means you can deliver hope from your house, from your living room. And just for leading, we'll give you a free Ramsey Plus membership for a whole year. That means you get all of our best tools and all of our best content. So you can stay focused on your own goals while you're helping and serving others. You guys, as a coordinator, you can change someone's life. You can show them the way to take control of their money for good.

No more fear, no more sleepless nights, no more divorces, no more fear. I'm gonna say that again. And no more sleepless nights. To learn more, I want you to text LEADFPU, L-E-A-D-F-P-U, to 33789. Again, that's LEADFPU, all one word, to 33789. Think about it, you guys.

How many people are out there that need your help? Who can you help today? One of the greatest things you can do if you're feeling anxious, if you're feeling down in the dumps, if you're worried about your job prospects, you're worried about just what to do next. One of the greatest things you can do, Anthony,

and this is neuroscience, is to reach out and serve somebody else. Yes. Reach out and serve somebody else. And the cool thing about being an FPU coordinator, and I know it sounds self-serving, like we're trying to sell something. We are, right? That's our business. But it and serve somebody else. And the cool thing about being an FPU coordinator, and I know it sounds self-serving like we're trying to sell something. We are, right? That's our business. But it's bigger than that because when you become an FPU coordinator,

you are committing to nine weeks of service. There's a group of people that are going to be counting on you. You've got to show up. And there's something about accountability that gets us to show up even when we don't want to we don't want to do this man i'm gonna go yeah and you're gonna hear the little victories and the little wins and you're gonna get the wind in your sails and you're gonna respond to those emails a little bit more and you're gonna show up again the next week and next week and then what you're gonna find is that these rising tides lift the boats yes and by pouring into somebody else's life stop

looking in the mirror going woe is me what was me by pouring into other people you're going to start finding yourself breathing a little deeper sleeping a little harder and you're going to have to to look in the mirror and challenge your own spending habits and your own behavior habits your own relationship issues and you're going to go home and say hey honey let's let's i heard this at fpu tonight let's talk about this do as a couple it'll bring your relationship closer together but there's something about serving other people that does wonders for our heart body mind and soul and so i want to just encourage folks to get out there and give it a shot and definitely give it a shot it's something that i want to do when my time frees up i actually want to lead um a financial peace university class one

of our team members here George who used to lead the show here um will host the show um he uh led a couple as well virtually impacted so many lives I've been a part of classes even after I became debt free um I would go like once a year just to be a part of the class and to see people in there crying and seeing us watched a older, wiser woman just get a thousand dollars in a savings account. And she cried because she was able to have a thousand dollars in a savings account. And she said in a 72 years of me living and 72 years, that's a long time ago. She was like $1,000 50 years ago was almost like $10,000, $15,000. And she cried. Think of the tears of joy you can have by helping us serve people

and watching their lives change before your eyes. Again, I want you to text LEADFPU to 33789. LEADFPU33789. If you do it, I want you to DM me. I'm going to show all of our Financial Peace Coordinators on Instagram, love. If you have ever led a Financial Peace University class or you're about to lead a Financial Peace University class for the next 24 hours,

I'm just going to repost all the people in the world who are helping us change lives. So follow me on Instagram at Anthony O'Neill. Tag me in there and I'm going to post. We're going to show the world

that we together are providing hope and that we're getting rid of fear and we're changing people's lives. Now, going out to Columbia, Maryland, we're going to have a conversation here with Samuel. Samuel, how can Dr. D and I help? Samuel? Hello.

Hey, man, we got a bad phone connection. Are you on speakerphone or anything? Can you clear that up for us? Is that any better? Yeah, that's much better, man. All right, all right all right how can we help man all right so me and my wife 22 and 21 years old we're about to graduate college debt-free and with savings yeah and we are about ready to start investing so i met with the dave

ramsey elp and then some of my family got my my ear about fees and using Vanguard and stuff like that. I know some of them are doing pretty well financially, so I got a little nervous. And I just wanted to get a better understanding of why Dave Ramsey recommends using an ELP and an investment professional. Because I want to do it right. I'm a perfectionist, and I don't want to lose a lot of money. So I just wanted to clear that up. Well, if you don't want to lose a lot of money, so I just wanted to clear that up. Well, if you don't want to lose a lot of money, Samuel, then you want to go with an actual human being. You want to actually sit down with someone that's actually studying this place

every single day. Vanguard, you will deal with a human being, but a lot of their stuff is computerized, so that's why their fees are a little bit lower. Actually, it could be a good amount lower. With you being young, and I'm going to be real with you, I'm young, Samuel. I have an ELP, a smart investor, I would say, that handles all of my investment. Dave Ramsey is a multimillionaire. He has a couple of smart investors that handle his investment.

And so what I'm going to recommend for you right now, at this age, you and your wife's age, graduating 100% debt-free, do you have a fully funded emergency fund, Samuel? Yes, we do. We have about $47,000 in savings. About 12 of that is our emergency fund. That's what I'm talking about. Is there a house in the future, or do you all already own a home? Yes, a house is in the future.

We're not sure exactly when. Just based on we might be moving in the next few years. So a house is definitely in the future uh we're not sure exactly when um just based on we might be moving in the next few years so house is definitely in the future but investing is kind of just on our minds right now that's good that's good yeah i want you to sit with a smart investor pro because you can call them ask some questions and here's the thing that i tell people about smart investor pros and sitting down with a human being don't just give them the money okay one thing i love about my and uh smart investor he actually teaches me like teach me what you're doing with my money okay why are we doing this okay why did you say go here okay wait what is this well with vanguard you can't ask that question

they're not they're not going to try and give you the education behind uh that process they just want to get your money go go ahead and invest it, and then let the computers do everything else. No, what I love about the smart investor pros are they will invest, they will educate, and then they will also answer questions. And so I actually sit down and have coffee with my guy at least once a quarter because I want to update my portfolio. And when he makes suggestions, he educates me on the reason why. If I come to him with a question or I say, hey, I don't like this, I want to look into this.

And if his answer is no, it's not like, hey, no, don't do this. It's, hey, let me get an education behind why I'm about to say no. So that way, Anthony, you can make an educated decision. So that's what I'm saying. Stick with a smart, vested pro brother, and you are going to be all right.

Well, Dr. D, that's the first hour, man. Thanks for a fun show, man. Hey, man, it's always fun with you. One thing, our producer, James, social producer, Kelly, this is a great day, y'all. Just getting started. This is The Dave Ramsey Show.

Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. 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.