The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Set Myself Up for a Better Future? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: July 9, 2021

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Ramsey Show. Where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host, Christy Wright. Ramsey Personality is my co-host today. We're here answering your questions about your life and your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Dave is with us in Huntington, West Virginia.

Hi, Dave. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Yeah, I appreciate you having me. Sure. I love listening to you guys, and I appreciate your brutal honesty. Thanks. That's his specialty. We are here for you.

It would be brutal to be dishonest. No, I appreciate you guys. Hey, I'm a W-2 employee at the VA Medical Center in Huntington. Love that job. I work in the medical field and also staff surgery centers with anesthesia under a 1099. Maybe a quick crazy question, but I put off the taxes to the end of the year on my 1099, and whatever my accountant says I owe, I put into my SEP instead. Crazy, not crazy.

Won't do it. Your SEP is only a deduction. It's not a tax credit. Okay. That's all righty. So if you put $10,000 in your SEP, it doesn't save you $10,000 on taxes. If you put $10,000 in your SEP and you're in a 30% tax bracket, it saves you $3,000 on taxes. So you're still going to owe $7,000 in taxes.

I appreciate that. Yeah. Okay. So you're still going to owe $7,000 in taxes. I appreciate that. Yeah. Okay. So you advocate, obviously, paying the quarter lease. Yes. Yeah. You're going to be penalized and fined if you do not pay your quarter lease anyway. Now, what you can do, if you want to just calculate it, is the 1099 steady, is it predictable?

Yes. Yes. You could just up your withholding on your W-2 job for enough to cover it. Oh, okay. Fair enough. And so, you know, let's say, what do you make at your 1099 job a year? Well, there's four business partners. We've probably got an AR of $750,000 to a million.

I'm sorry. You make $750,000 1099 income? No, no, no. No, no. I misunderstood the question. No, mine is probably $80,000. My cut would be $80,000 a year on that. On the $1099 alone? On the $1099, yes. Yeah, so you have $80,000 that you have not paid taxes on if you don't file your quarterly. Okay, and what do you make at your W-2 job? Right at $200 your quarterly. Okay. And what do you make at your W-2 job? Right at $200,000.

Okay. All right. So let's just say the taxes, I'll just make up a number. When you sit with your tax person and they say the taxes on the $80,000 is $24,000. Okay? Okay. Then you would just increase your W-2 by $2,000 a month, which is $24,000 a year. And then you would have already paid your taxes on your 80, and you would not be susceptible.

I don't think, ask your tax person, but I don't think you'd be susceptible to a penalty at that point. But if you've made 80 more than two years in a row, and you don't pay quarterlies, or you don't somehow have proper withholding done, you're going to be penalized for not doing your quarterlies. And just saving it up and paying it at the end of the year is not an option. It is an option, but it's an expensive option to use. So you need to get a good tax pro in your corner and either do quarter lease or do what I'm talking about

if you don't get penalized the way I'm talking about. I'm not positive about that part of it, but that's another way to handle the math. Phillip is with us in Spokane. Hi, Phillip. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thanks for having me. Great. How can I help?

Yeah, so I'm looking at a new job opportunity that's starting here soon, and the new job, they are exempt from Social Security, so I don't contribute. They don't either, which I'm kind of happy about. And they take the portion that I would contribute to Social Security and they put it into a state pension. And then I would continue to do my 15%, which I've been doing at my previous job, into my Roth as well as 401k. Do I need to worry about not getting Social Security at all and then adjusting a little bit extra into retirement? Or am I good just doing 15 and then letting them dump the money into the pension? You're good with that part.

Because here's the thing. You've already paid into Social Security. You're going to get some, but Social Security has a negative rate of return. You never get out as much as you put in, much less any interest. Okay, that makes sense. But if you've already been paying in for several years, you're going to get something upon retirement. Yeah, that makes sense. And so, but if you've already been paying in for several years, you're going to get something upon retirement. Yeah, that's what they told me, too.

Yeah, they said you'll get, based off what you paid the last 15 years in the workforce, you'll just stop paying into it. You'll probably get the full amount or close, I mean, by the time you get to 65. So if you stay in this job until 65, you know, and you put in 15%, that's going to end up being your biggest, by far, your biggest return, not the pension and not Social Security. Okay, that makes sense. Do it.

Thanks, man. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Christy Wright Ramsey, personality, is my co-host. Robert is in Nashville. Hey, Robert, how can we help? Hey, Dave, how are you doing?ashville hey robert how can we help hey dave how you doing better than i deserve how can we help so i'm teaching a financial literacy class to a youth group at church middle school and the curriculum has been given to us of what we are to teach and part of the curriculum is teaching uh the individuals how to go into debt, basically how to borrow money

and use credit wisely. And I'm kind of morally torn about teaching that portion of the curriculum, but it's kind of mandatory. So how do I go about doing that and still feeling morally right about it? Have you talked to anybody about it? No. You're the first ones. Well, I mean, okay, let me ask you this, because I don't want to assume something.

Is this a church, a Bible-believing church? Yes. Okay, so they don't think that the Bible is allegory, they are a Bible-believing church? No, not at all, not at all. But yes, they are a Bible-believing church, yes. Okay, so, you know, if you were to sit down with the people at the church and go, it says nowhere in Scripture, not a single place does it say a positive thing about debt. It is wrong for us to use in a church that believes the Bible to be teaching teenagers to go into debt

and the proper way to do that when the Bible doesn't teach that. Right. What kind of a reaction would you get? I would probably get a positive reaction, but, you know, they chose the curriculum, and, you know, it was a book written by whomever that we're working out of, so I'm thinking about just actually leaving that whole portion out of the curriculum. Well, how about we just, we'll give you some curriculum for free. Okay. Yeah, don't sidestep it, Robert.

I mean, not from a communication standpoint, not from a curriculum standpoint. Like, this is a great opportunity for you to communicate exactly like Dave said, what the Bible says about this and lead up in your organization about this topic of finances and you don't come in like a bulldozer pointing fingers placing blamers saying hey here are my convictions here's what i've studied here's what i believe here's a curriculum that is proven that is biblically based here's what it says in the bible and you have all these different angles that you're able to communicate and have a conversation you could lead to actual change in your church versus just leaving that lesson out. Yeah, I agree.

I don't know if you're going to do it or not, but I'll offer you curriculum for free to teach them out of our high school curriculum. I'll have Kelly pick up and get your contact information. And if you want it, and we'll teach that instead, we'll give it to you. And that'll solve the problem. But I think you need to sit down with leadership because leadership's not making a good call here. It's not a matter of being mean about it. It's just being kind and open.

Conflict in a healthy organization is a good thing. This is The Ramsey Show. Registration is now open to attend our largest leadership event of the year, Entree Leadership Summit. We will be at the Hyatt Regency Orlando, in beautiful Orlando, Florida, May 22nd through the 25th, 2022. We always bring together the best leaders for this event, and next year is no exception. I'll be there speaking, as well as our very own Ken Coleman,

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We're glad you're here. What's going on? Yeah, we never lost a patient. You'll be okay. No, it's racing because I'm happy. I'm excited. I want to thank you to start off. Just you guys have changed my wife and I's life so much. We went from massively in debt

to completely debt-free, deep into step six now. And because of that, she's able to stay home with our baby. So it's amazing. Yay! Way to go! Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing. I really appreciate it. Now, my question arises from something that I was doing, which is part of what you suggest. And I've never heard of this happening before until it happened to us. And now I Googled the problem and I found a couple here and there that happened, but it's rare. So I wanted to get your take on it. She worked for a large regional bank that had a Roth 401k option, which we took full advantage of as soon as you explained what that was. And we were really pounding it at that full 15% plus their match, which went into a separate standard 401k that she had there.

And as of her leaving, we called up Fidelity and went to open a rollover account, right, through Fidelity's instructions and that. She was handling it because it's her account. And she followed Fidelity's instructions to a T. But, I mean, the Holy Ghost is kind of punching me in the gut the whole time, telling me, pay attention, pay more attention, because I'm kind of the nerd in the family. What I found out happened after they did it was that they rolled both of the checks that was sent to them by the regional bank she worked for into one rollover IRA. So now our Roth money is trapped. Yes, our Roth money is trapped. And yes.

What year did that happen? It happened two weeks ago. And I realized that as I was funding the funds, in accordance to your suggestions, you know, growth, growth and income, it was 11 p.m. at night, and I said, honey, there's only one account number here, and we've got Roth money mixed with regular. Yeah. So the problem is, is what I call fidelity. Well, the good news is there's no tax implication if you undo it in the same calendar year. So get with a SmartVestor Pro instead of Fidelity Online, for God's sakes. Right. Yeah, sit down with a SmartVestor Pro.

They can fix this for you now we're in we're in talks with them and according to here's my question well according to them they can choose whether or not they can just undo it for us yeah so they're saying that if they don't choose to do it that they would try to uh it would bill us the penalties and taxes and whatnot of an early withdrawal yeah they they need to know it's not an early withdrawal no because you i don't think so uh but to start with i'm gonna get on start with i'm gonna get online with fidelity and just have them reverse the thing they made they made it that's what we've gotten the works yeah they made a clerical error and

that solves everything if they don't do it i still think you've got a case here to make but that's what i'm wondering if they don't do it do i need to contact a lawyer or something or just no i think i think your tax advisor because i think this can be undone but make sure you handle it in this calendar year oh absolutely it's scaring the heck out of me because we got it's like thirty thousand dollars of rough money that they dumped into this account yeah and all of a sudden she's a young woman so that tax-free growth was going to be huge by the time it's 30 years from now yeah it's all taxable now yeah so yeah that's not that's not good so yeah fidelity will fix it fidelity is not um they're not uncaring they're just huge

yes and i made sure because it was recorded phone call i was like just take this down please my wife is not an investment professional when you guys saw two checks come in from one account you should have had a red flag go up that said hey wait a minute some of this is probably ross you know yeah well it's just again they're not you're it matters to you they're so, it doesn't matter to them. And that's why you use something like a SmartVestor Pro to do these things instead of just an online thing like a Fidelity. Fidelity's not a bad company.

They're fine. They're just – this was just inept is what it amounted to. Probably, yeah. Yeah, anyway, but I think your Smart smart investor pro it can guide you through this if fidelity doesn't but i think i think they're going to be able to reverse it i it's just a it's a clerical thing the the problem will really be compounded if you let it go over a calendar year but you're not going to do that you're obviously game on so good stuff good stuff yeah this is um you know what he he said there is very interesting.

He said, I had a sense. I had the Holy Spirit. I had a sense that, and man, when that bell rings, you need to answer the bell every time in your life, whatever it is. How many times have we all done something? We go, you know, I had a feeling. Oh, God. Every time I haven't listened to it, I've regretted it.

Every single time. Act on the feeling. Act on the feeling. Act on the feeling. Denise is with us in Atlanta. Hi, Denise. How are you? Hey, Dave. How are you?

Better than I deserve. How can we help? Good. Good. We have been following you for 10 years, so I just want to thank you so much. I love listening to you. Just great advice every day. Thank you.

I've got a question. My husband and I, I'm 57. He is 61 turning 62 this year. So we're starting to think about retirement. We are wanting to, we are considering a move and I just wanted to run numbers by you because the last thing that we want to do is make a mistake and add stress into our lives. We have roughly 2.65 million in 401ks and Roths. Way to go. Thank you, thank you. We've got about $335,000 sitting in cash. A hundred of that is in e-fund and not touchable.

About $50,000 in stock options that are coming due over the next couple of years. No debt. And we're currently saving about $40,000 to $50,000 in cash a year, plus contributing to the 401ks and the Roths as well. Awesome. We have a home that's paid for worth about $650,000 is what our real estate agent is telling us. And we are looking at a home, not a larger home, but a home on a little more land for it's around 1.2. He will probably retire in the next four years.

I will be a little bit after that. I love what I do. Probably five to six more years. And we just don't know if we should wait until we get to retirement, kind of look at the numbers and see how much cash we've got to make that move, or if it's wise to do that now. So you can't quite pay cash for it because your money's tied up in a retirement account, right? Correct. Yeah. Well, I mean, as long as you're ready to cash out some of the retirement when you get to 59 and a half and finish paying it off, obviously you can afford it. You're multimillionaires. Well done.

Very good. If you don't mind carrying that little bit of debt for a little while to keep from cashing out retirement, then it fits with our guidelines. If you hate debt, then that means you're going to have to wait. This is the Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Tyler and Haley are with us. Christy Wright, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. If they're on the debt-free stage, Christy, that means one thing and one thing only. Love it.

How much have you guys paid off? $63,000. Good for you. And how long did that take? About three years. Good for you. And your range of income during that three years? About $50,000.

Okay, cool. What do you. And your range of income during that three years? About $50,000. Okay, cool. What do y'all do for a living? I am an advisor for transport enterprise leasing. And I'm a teller, but I wasn't working when we paid off the debt. Okay, wow. Good for you. Well, congratulations, you guys. Where do y'all live? We live in Ringle, Georgia. It's about 15-20 minutes from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Yep. Just over the line. Know it well. Good for you. So $63,000.

That's a lot. What was it? What kind of debt was it? We had student loans, medical debt, credit cards, appliances, cars, an HVAC, a little bit of everything. You're kind of normal. Yeah. Pretty much. But normal sucks. Yes. Too normal.. Yeah, pretty much. But normal sucks.

Yes. Too normal. So you don't want to be normal anymore. What happened and woke you up three years ago? What put you on this journey? Well, we kind of started before three years ago, but it was a little on the wagon, off the wagon. But three years ago, we just kind of said, we don't want to have debt. We've seen, you know, friends and family have debt, and we don't want to have debt we've seen you know friends and family have debt

and we don't want to get older and still have that debt so we want to get rid of it while we can okay so that what do you remember what happened exactly that said okay that's it we're doing this game on no falling off the wagon no running along beside the wagon we're riding the thing we had started discussing the fact that we were going to have children soon, and we said we definitely don't want to have debt before we have children. Part of your punk. Yeah. Okay. That's it.

Gives you a different perspective when you're thinking about a family. Yeah. Yeah. You've got to go, well, I'm going to have to get my act together to be able to do this. Yeah. Okay. Good for you. Cool.

So what were the first steps? What did you do once you said, all right, in order to have babies, we've got to start acting like grown-ups, and we've got to get this mess cleaned up. What did you do once you said, all right, in order to have babies, we've got to start acting like grown-ups and we've got to get this mess cleaned up. What did you do? We did the envelope system. We started with the envelope system and sat down and wrote an actual budget rather than saying, well, we'll do this much on this and this much. We actually sat down, said this is what we bring in,

this is what we're going to do for our groceries, our gas, everything. So definitely making a budget and doing the envelope system. And sold our car. And you sold our car. We paid $1,000 to sell that car. Yeah, we actually still owed money on it. And we said we don't want a car payment. And so we took it to CarMax and got rid of the debt.

We actually paid a little bit to get out of debt. What did you sell it for how much um they paid what like nine it was like nine thousand and something and we owed like about ten yeah okay good so that got rid of nine thousand of the 63 uh give it or ten thousand of 63 actually but uh so very cool and then that kind of broke things loose, and here we go. So you've been a one-car family during this time then? No, we actually, so we had a car that was already paid for, and then we had a little bit saved up, and so we paid cash for him a car to just drive back and forth to work.

So then we had two cars again, but we just had one that we paid cash for. So you got a little hoopty then. Mm-hmm. Yeah, cool. It's a good deal. So we made that $1,000 back. Yeah, I love it. That saved you a bunch.

Good run. Good run. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Making a budget and working together. I mean, if we weren't on the same page, then it definitely wasn't going to work. If he wasn't in on it, then it wasn't going to work, which he wasn't so in on it at first. Confession.

Definitely working together in a budget. Sacrifice, 100%. Okay. So how did you guys get connected to us? I had heard of you through church, but really I kind of started getting interested in finance when I first started my first job. My nanny had always told me, you save your money and you tithe. Those were my first two things she told me as soon as I started my job. And so I kind of started researching

like finance. And so I learned about you that way, but then also the Financial Peace University through our church, which we actually never took financial peace university um but i had heard of it um and then we listened to your podcasts a lot okay all right so tyler what got you on board tired of being broke 100 percent i know but that's what got you started when she started she kind of started then you came along a little later right right there was a point where for me i mean just embarrassingly enough i couldn't afford cheese for a party one day so i was like something's got to change i didn't know what it was and then i heard about you through her and then whenever uh it was the interest part where i was like well why should i not pay off the higher interest first she's like well because you're not gaining momentum

and that made sense what i'm doing wasn't working so i you know it didn't take much to get me on board because I just didn't want to be broke. But once we started going, it started to make a lot more sense. Very cool. And loved it. That's awesome. What was the part that now that you've actually gotten to experience keeping your money, how does that feel? To get paid and you get to keep your money, it's not going out the window to all these debts. How does that feel?

Freeing. I don't have as much anxiety and stress. Yeah. And just knowing that, I mean, not that we can just do whatever we want, but we have a lot more freedom than we had before. Yeah. Absolutely. Well done, you guys. I'm proud of you.

Thank you. Excellent. Excellent job. Well, we've got a copy of Rachel Cruz's book for you. Know Yourself, Know Your Money, her latest New York Times bestseller as a gift. Thank you for coming all the way to Nashville to do your debt-free scream. We're proud of you.

And I would like to throw in one thing in there. During that time, we probably would have paid off a little bit faster, but during that time, we did switch to I quit my job, so we had two incomes and went down to one income, which it did stay the same because he made more. But I did get to stay at home with our son during that, and I finished my bachelor's degree during all of that. Congratulations. Good for you.

What's your degree in? Organizational leadership. Oh, very good. Good for you. Well, well done, you guys. Again, proud of you. That's quite an accomplishment. Thank you.

All of that done in three years. All right. It's Tyler and Haley from the Chattanooga-Ringle, Georgia area. $63,000 paid off in three years, making $50,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

We're debt-free! That's how it's done! Wow. Very well done, you guys. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. It means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, they'll remake

your blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping, new promos all the time. Always use the promo code Ramsey. today's question comes from john in texas should i sacrifice time with my kids in order to get a second job as bad as i want to be out of debt i do not want to miss my kids activities to do so i want to answer this as you are you ready okay wow wow is that what you would say would you say boohoo get a second job i mean here's the thing it's temporary right like it's Okay. Wah. Wah. Is that what you would say? Would you say boo-hoo? Get a second job?

I mean, here's the thing. It's temporary, right? Like, it's temporary sacrifice for a long-term reward. Take the second job. You're not missing everything. You just might miss more than you want to in this season to get out of debt. Was I right or wrong? You're right. The vast majority of the folks that get gazelle intense and they cut everything out of their budget

and they're not going out to eat and they're not going on vacation and they're on beans and rice and rice and beans, most of them are out of debt in 18 to 24 months. If you miss kids' activities for 18 to 24 months, you are not going to change your life or the kids' lives. You're really not. Yeah. I mean, all you have to do is think about a military family where one of the spouses is deployed for six months to a year. And they're overseas somewhere keeping America free. Their children do not die from that. They make it through.

It is an emotional thing. And I miss some games. But I miss some games when I was starting this business so that I never had to miss a game again. And you can pick and choose what you want to do. But a lot of the kids' activities and stuff, I mean, the kids don't even remember them. Much less remember, you know, Dad missed all my games. When you were four, your four-year-old soccer league, really? I mean, they don't even remember. They don't even remember to kick the ball at the goal. Dad missed all my games. When you were four, your four-year-old soccer league, really? Yeah.

I mean, they don't even remember. Yeah. They don't even remember to kick the ball at the goal. They're picking flowers. Yeah, they're out there wandering around singing nursery rhymes. I mean, it's just, I mean, it's, I go, hey, Papa Dave goes to the games. I see this stuff. I see what's going on. I know.

It's sweet that we can go there and be there. And you can pick and choose an important item. Right. But, yeah, it's worth the sacrifice for a short period of time. Would I do that as a way of life for a decade? Not if I could help it. I would make some other changes. But I think for a short period of time, you knock it out.

This is the Ramsey Show. Thank you. Our scripture of the day, Isaiah 41, 13. For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear, I will help you. Julie Andrews, the original Mary Poppins, said, Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th. So I grew up on her being Mary Poppins, but I really, really like the new one, too. I haven't seen it. You haven't seen it?

Well, it's not brand new. I mean, it was just a couple years ago, right? Yeah. Who was it, Kelly? Emily Blunt? Yeah, she did a great job. Yeah. I'm not cool enough to keep up with who's who in Hollywood, but she did.

And the guy that played Dick Van Dyke's role as well was, yeah, okay. He was fabulous. And I'm not even going to try to do that. But anyway, yeah, he did a good job, too. So, yeah, it was fun. It was fun. That's a great great old story open phones here at 888-825-5225 stafford is with us in charleston south carolina hi stafford

how are you hey doing great dave i appreciate you taking my call sure how can we help um yeah so me and my fiance are getting married um which we're very excited about. Yay! Congratulations. I've been following you since, thank you, since I was a kid. My parents followed your plan and passed on those values to me, and so I appreciate that because I've been debt-free since, you know, out of school and been really just trying to stay on that. One of my life goals is to be consumer debt-free.

Great. And so we're getting married, but she's got some credit card debt and some student loans. And so it's not a matter of if to pay off the credit cards and the student loans, but how to go about doing it. And so we've got some cash saved up that we have to pay for the wedding, as well as we want to do some home renovations. But the question was, is it worth trying to settle on some of this credit card debt by calling and settling directly with the credit cards before? Is she behind? She's not behind.

No. She pays her minimum payment, but she doesn't make enough, Doug. No, they're not going to settle. If you're not behind, they're not going to settle. The only reason they settle is if you're in default, and you're going to have to screw up her credit to do that. So wait a minute. I'm sorry. I drove right by something. You're going to have to screw up her credit to do that. So wait a minute. I'm sorry.

I drove right by something. You're going to pay for the wedding. How much money do you have? I've got about $50,000 in savings right now. And how much are you spending on the wedding? We're paying a portion of it, so we're probably putting $15,000 towards the wedding. Which leaves $35,000, and she has $37,000. Right. So when you come home from the honeymoon honeymoon you write a check and pay off the debt 10-4 no hunt no home renovations i heard you sneak that through there

he did didn't he just and then just to drive by she's starting to push the wedding back unless we get some stuff knocked out so i'm a single guy living at a house from about myself for a while so yeah well i mean we're not talking about putting it off for very long you're going to have zero debt and you're going to be on a budget together and you have your emergency fund in place you'll be able to save up for home renovations as your next goal gotcha so you're saying don't try to negotiate just try to just pay it off and move on well you're they're not gonna negotiate does she want to pay off this debt yes okay because this is a this is a we need to be on the same page with values and how we handle money in addition to paying off the debt because if you

pay off the debt and she's still excited about using credit cards there's you got run into this problem again no absolutely she's ready to get rid of it she just she works for a ministry and isn't making enough deb okay to get above those so what do you make payments so i make 100 a year what does she make 500 a week and a title so she's doing about 28 a year okay all right and what's the how much and whose home is renovating who are we moving who's your house her house what it's my house. And what does it need? How much do you need to spend on it?

Probably about $30,000. Okay. All right. And so with a hundred and something thousand dollar household income and no debt in the world and you knowing how to be on a budget and her learning how to be on a budget, and we both have one goal, and that's to do some of these renovations, you probably can do them in a few stages. You could start almost immediately on the first stage.

Right. And debt-free. Then you're making those renovations debt-free. Yeah, I don't think the credit card company is going to settle with you when you're not behind. I got you. And I don't think anybody else is either. And I wouldn't recommend you put her behind merely for the purposes of settling.

But I think it's real important that the two of you lay out a detailed. See, all I'm doing is I'm not saying don't do something. I'm saying doing it in a very specific order that gives you the least, that gives you the most money and the least risk. Right. That's why why that's the thing yeah because i think we're on the same page in terms of wanting to get rid of it it's not in i it's a good thing i don't know about credit card settlement i guess it's a good thing i don't know that but yeah i just was doing information and reading well you're trying to get everything done at once by paying less for the debt

so that you can go ahead and start the home renovations, which is not a bad question to ask. It's a reasonable question to ask. But here's the thing. The reason anyone, like think about if someone owed you money, the only reason you would take less than what was owed is because you don't think you're going to get your money. And you don't think you're going to get your money

because they haven't been paying. And so when you, you know, a lot of these companies that that for instance they call themselves debt consolidation companies they're not all they do is put you on a payment plan where you start paying them instead of the credit card companies the credit cards get behind and then they settle on after they've destroyed your credit and put you into default and so i wouldn't set out to destroy i don't set out to bill credit so I wouldn't set out to destroy. I don't set out to bill credit, but I wouldn't set out to destroy it either. Not when you have the ability to pay a bill that is legitimate. I would just pay the bill.

And then I'd do my home repairs as my second order of business, which, by the way, your home repairs are probably all going to be done within 12 months. And a whole bunch of them are going to be done by Christmas. Yeah. It's not never. It's just not right now. It's in this specific order yeah and that that's a there's a reason for that so christy i've done that exercise a bazillion times with people that i'm coaching on the air

here or otherwise but sharon and i had to do it you know i mean she's driving one of these ugly blue, a thousand years ago, two-tone blue Astro van. You remember those? Yes. Nasty, nasty butt little van. It was completely worn out. I mean, there was stuff growing in the thing. We had raised children in this. Animals were making homes in it.

Yeah, we had raised children in this van. And she's like, you know, the business was starting to grow, and we had a little bit of money. And she's like, we need to get a Suburban. And I'm like, no, I've got this thing at the office. We need to do this thing at the business, you know, and we got in this big argument. Are we going to do this thing at the business first? Are we going to invest in the business, or are we going to buy a stupid Suburban? And, you know, because I'm like, no, I mean, we're going to grow the business.

There's no question. No, we're getting're gonna grow the business there's no question no we're getting a suburban there's no question and finally between the two of us were stupid but we finally figured it out we could do both yeah it was only a matter of which one went first and guess what went first we started with a suburban and then the next batch of money you know that came through we used to grow the stuff at the office here yeah and uh but you know it's not no it's just which is first yeah it's not like no you can't do this stuff the business no you're never going to get a suburban you just have to decide the proper or it's not like no we're not going to do renovations or no we're not going to pay off the debt right It's just a matter of laying out that order, and that order indicates what you value. And that's why you asked that question about what our values are.

Yeah, and I think also whenever you're seeing two people come together, they're getting married, they're so excited. One has brought debt into the marriage. One has been financially responsible, has no debt. You've got to have some of these conversations because habits have to change. It's fine if you didn't have it all together before you got married but you need to get on the same page so that as a married couple you're making those decisions together about debt about savings about where and how you spend and sometimes you have to wrestle

it out like that example matt and i've had plenty of those conversations of which comes first and which is more important and everybody speaks into it but the only that's why i wanted to ask that because i thought okay if this is the past that's totally fine we'll make sure it's not going to be the future spending habits whenever you're talking about credit cards that time we get into we have to get in lockstep especially a newlywed couple because you're gonna it's the number one thing couples fight about and it's one of the data points we find with the millionaires is that they, not always, but the vast majority of them, I forget the number, their spouses were on board with them. They were working together. They weren't one of them pulling the other one along.

Yep. Yep. And they were, you know, two adults making decisions about their future. And he's going to have a lot better time, and she is as well, making those home renovations, being debt-free. It's going to be a lot more fun to pick stuff out and make decisions when you don't have Not with credit card debt hovering over your shoulder. Yeah. Yeah.

That's a good point. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and 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. This is James Child, producer of The Ramsey Show. Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world? Subscribe or follow today wherever you listen to podcasts