The Ramsey Show - App - How Many Miles is Too Many Miles on a Used Car? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: October 12, 2018

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, 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. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Casey starts off this hour in Tallahassee, Florida. Hi, Casey. How are you?

I'm doing all right. How about yourself? Better than I deserve. How can I help? My question is, well, we've been doing your program now since last November and gotten rid of a lot of debt. Good. My mother, she babysits our kids, or our kid right now.

We'll be two here in November. And she's planning on moving back south. And right now we live with my mother-in-law, which is my wife's mom. And if my mom leaves, my wife has to quit her job to take care of the kids because the cost of child care here is exponentially high. And we have an option to move down there with them. I'm thinking we should, because both of our jobs are transferable. We could transfer there and still have both of our jobs.

If she quits also, our health insurance goes to my health insurance, which is a lot more expensive than hers. So what does your wife make? About $32, 000 a year and i make around 40 okay yeah she's not gonna net a lot after daycare on that you wouldn't lose money but she basically be working for daycare and health insurance mainly um i mean it's not gonna be it's not 2500 a month but it is probably gonna be uh you know 1500 isn't it yeah it comes out to 18 because one will be a newborn yeah okay oh two babies okay yeah um all right uh and what do you do for a living i'm in sales uh my wife works for the state. What do you sell? Pest control and termite stuff, stuff like that.

And your company has a branch in the other city? Oh, yeah. We're throughout the state. Okay. All right. Okay. Well, here's the thing. I think I would want to decide where I live based on some formula other than where the babysitter lives.

Yes. Okay. I don't like that formula much. I get how you're going there, but I think you need to decide where you live based on the quality of life, based on I want to be near family, based on the job that I want is there. And we figure out a babysitter. It sounds like you're following mom around a little bit. I don't mean that in a negative way.

I mean, it's just the babysitter thing is drawing you in, and it feels like that's the wrong way to make this decision. I'm not sure it's a bad decision, i i think it might be arrived in the wrong way and and so it wouldn't help you next time so um you know i'll start asking myself okay you know 10 years from now when these kids are early teens what um you know what what what where do we want to live what do i want to be doing for a living at that time? And let's start kind of moving our life in a long-term trajectory, a long-term mentality trajectory, rather than just, oh, God, we've got to have a place to, we've got to have a babysitter.

Well, I grew up down there, and my brother lives there, and their family, and my cousin. My wife doesn't have any family here. Okay. Well, you're living with mother-in-law, right? Yeah. Well, she's the only family she has here in the States. Her rest of her family live in Cuba.

Okay. All right. Well, I mean, if, you know, I want to be near family, and I think my career can prosper there as much as here or more, maybe because I know more people and, you know, I have more credibility to sell pest control or to do whatever you're going to do. What city are you talking about moving to? It would be Northport, which is Port Charlotte area, just below Sarasota. Oh, okay. Okay.

It's basically a suburb of Sarasota, yeah? Yeah, pretty much. All right. Well, that's a good, strong economic market. Yeah. And, you know, in terms of your long-term prospects, because if you can sell, you could do a whole lot of things and make a whole lot of money over time. Yeah. Maybe even a different form of sales at some point in your life.

I'm thinking out there 10 years, you know, where do you want to be doing 10 years from now? Where do you want to live 10 years from now? And does this take us there? I don't see a reason not to do it if you want to do it. I just don't want you to let's say that something happened to her ability to keep the kids later and you go, oh, man, we moved down here for that. Now you move down here for other good reasons.

And she happened to be there to keep the kids. That's the kind of the way I'd want to view it because it's more of a permanent decision then we're not just um you know bouncing around because you don't want to bounce around that that'll cost you a lot of money and a lot of emotional pain victoria is with us in hattiesburg mississippi hi victoria how are you i'm good how are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? Okay, so me and my husband are both college students. We got married about four months ago.

We have $40,000 in cash in the bank. Wow, where'd that come from? We both work a lot. I have about three jobs. I own my own business for two of them, and I work at a bank. Look at you. He works as well. Look at you.

Way to go. Thank you. And we're at a point where we decide, do we go ahead and purchase a home, or do we invest all of it? Mm-hmm. And how are you paying for school? We have both full rides, plus we both get paid about fifteen thousand dollars each semester um to cover any expenses we want like housing rent um food oh let's see mine come came from the rotary it came from the school um grants like the Oh, so it's like scholarship stuff.

Right. Cool. I got you. Good. Good for you guys. Way to go. So how long before you graduate? I should be graduating in May.

What about him? He should be next December. And what are your degrees going to be in? Mine is banking and finance, and his is electrical engineering technology. Okay. Are you going to live for the next 10 years in Hattiesburg? We don't mind. We don't really care where we go.

What do you think you're going to do with an electrical engineering degree and a finance degree? Do you think you're going to stay in Hattiesburg? Unless there's a draw, I doubt it. Unless there's a draw, I doubt it. Yeah. We're kind of on the edge of do we want to be here, do we not. We don't mind being here. That's why we were kind of looking at homes.

But we weren't 100% sure. Yeah. We can go anywhere. I mean, you didn't just tell me my family grew up here. I'm fifth generation Hattiesburg. I'm staying in Hattiesburg. You just went to school in Hattiesburg is all you told me, right? That is correct.

That's your only draw. Nothing wrong with Hattiesburg. I just think you're probably leaving. Because I think you're going to find opportunity in larger metro areas with your two degree fields. It's going to be economically calling to you. Leave. I think that's what you's going to be economically calling to you, leave. I think that's what you're going to hear. I really do.

Because I mean, I just think there's going to be more jobs in your field there. In that case, I wouldn't buy. And so I parked that money until I get ready to make my move. I wouldn't park anything super aggressive. If you want to use a growth and income fund for some of it, or you want to just leave it in a money market, because you're probably going to use it in about two years to buy something. Not even two years, really about a year and a half to buy something. I get asked all the time, when in the baby steps is the right time to buy life insurance? My answer is typically now.

Life insurance is not part of the baby steps because it's needed when your family has debt and not enough savings to provide for their financial needs. That's when they're at the highest risk. And no matter where you are in your baby steps, it's a necessity, not a choice. This includes working husbands and wives, as well as stay-at-home parents. It's pretty expensive to replace those stay-at-home parent responsibilities. I only recommend term life insurance since it's the most affordable way to get the right amount of coverage and not break your budget. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. These are the guys I personally use.

Term life insurance is inexpensive and your family needs this no matter where you are in your baby steps. That's Zander.com. Or call 800-356-4282. Zander.com. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Diane is on Facebook. What is a home equity line of credit?

Is it worth having or should I avoid it? Well, a line of credit is an approved loan that you take out only when you would want to. In other words, you could get pre-approved and have a lien against your house for a certain amount of money. And that's a line of credit. A home equity line of credit means you pledged your house for a certain amount of money, and that's a line of credit. A home equity line of credit means you pledged your house for that line of credit. And this is a method of getting a second mortgage on your home, basically. So is it worth having or should I avoid it? Well, Diane, we tell folks to avoid debt.

We try to take it the other way. We want you to get rid of your HELOC, your home equity line of credit, if you have one. We want you to get rid of your first mortgage if you have one. We want you to get out of debt because when you don't have any payments, you know what you have? Money. The borrower is slave to the lender. So no, we don't recommend home equity lines of credit ever. Paul is on Facebook. Is there a mileage limit you use as a rule of thumb when buying a used car? No.

What I'm trying to determine is, is the car worn out to the point it's going to give me trouble? So the more inexpensive and cheaply made the car is the more the miles would affect it in other words a hundred thousand mile dodged neon would be different than a hundred thousand mile mercedes like one is used up and the other one is just getting started at that point you know what i'm saying the gerbil is really tired under the hood of that neon at that point i don't even know if they still make a dodge neon but you get my point the cheap little dinky butt car i mean you got a hundred thousand mile smart car that's called dumb okay it's not called smart anymore so i'll just give you that example so no chance i want that thing but if you got a car that's built that's a higher-end, nicer vehicle.

They're typically well-built. I mean, again, a Honda, a Lexus, a Mercedes, a Beamer, a Cadillac, the larger body Ford products. Ford's building a great product. A truck, you know, a Chevy truck, a Ford truck with 100,000 miles on it. I wouldn't think anything about that. It's got easily another 100 in it, maybe another 300 in it, depending on how you took care of it and what you were driving and that kind of thing. But I wouldn't think anything about that at all. Again, though, it kind of depends on your budget and how nice a car you want.

Obviously, the least miles. The last year's car I bought was a Raptor. It had 19,000 miles on it when I bought it. I drove it until I got about 60 or no, I got, I got about 50 something on it. And so it was a very low mile car when I got rid of it the other day. And so, you know, you just, you're looking at that, your situation too. What is the, what is your situation and what can you do? But generally speaking, the more of an economy car it is, quote, unquote, the more the miles would have a negative effect on it because I just really don't. Because all I'm looking for is dependability and how much life is left in it.

That's a cool question. Very interesting. Dustin is with us in St. Louis. Hi, Dustin. How are you? Hey, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure, man.

What's up? So I'm 17 years old. I'm a high school senior, and I've got about $3,000 in my savings account. I was wondering, should I invest? And if I do, what should I invest in? Are you going to college? Yes, community college with an A-plus program in St. Louis, and so it's on list free. Okay.

So you're only going to do two years? Two years, and then depending on how the program goes, maybe transfer, but the cybersecurity and IT program at the community college is designed to send you right out into the workforce. Yeah, yeah, that would be true. If you get some certifications and stuff in IT, your degree, it might not even be a wise investment. I agree with that. Okay. So that's what you want to do.

You want to be a programmer or you want to be in IT or whatever? Mm-hmm. I like that. Okay. And the community college is paid for as long as you keep an A+. Yeah. You can invest it. Here's the thing I always tell folks at your age.

I'm much more concerned that you complete all of your educational goals with no debt than I am whether you have an investment in a mutual fund. Like on a scale of 1 to 10, a 9.9, finish your college and all your education with zero debt. So if there was a bump in the road in your little plan you might need some money to finish your schooling and that's much a much you dustin is a better investment than a mutual fund is assuming you're studying something like you're talking about studying which is a very usable field of study that you can you know really make some good money in and the. And getting that level of education is really going to cause your income

to go be a lot higher than if you didn't have that education. So you're the best investment we can make. Much better than a mutual fund. I like mutual funds. You know me. I talk about them all the time. So if you want to invest some of it into a mutual fund, that's fine. I would not put it in a retirement account at this stage with this amount of money in your situation.

Because, again, my main goal for you as your friend is for you to get your degree and your field of study, whether it's a two-year, whether it's certifications in the tech field, or whether it's a four-year degree, my main goal for you is to give you the tools in your belt, the educational tools in your belt for you to be able to go live your dream without any debt. And that $3,000 spent on that is more important than putting it in a mutual fund. So if you put it in a mutual fund and you run into a bump, don't be afraid to take it out and use it for college

if you're going to go that route, if you need to. Thanks for calling. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Mike is in Chicago. Hey, Mike, how are you? I'm great, Dave. It's an honor to speak with you. You too, sir.

What's up in your world? So my wife and I are currently on baby step four. We're saving 15% for retirement, and we're using the excess in our budget to pay off our mortgage early. And we're both teachers, and the state-run pension takes 9% of our gross take-home pay. So our dilemma is when we save an extra 15% on top of that 9% that we already contribute, we don't have much left over from mortgage acceleration. So when we save the 6%, we're able to save a lot for the mortgage acceleration. So is it okay to do that, or do you recommend saving the 24%?

Now, the mandatory amount that you're putting in, are you vested in that? Are you choosing an investment for that, or is that a pension? It's a pension. There's no options. Yeah, it's mandatory, it's a pension, and you don't have control of it. Right. And when you leave, you can't take it with you. Correct. I have to wait until I'm 67. Okay. And it's 9%.

9%, yep. Okay, so the equation is, do we put 15 on top of that, or do we only put 6 on top of that? And that's our dilemma, correct? Correct. Okay, I probably would split the difference because i don't like the pension we're stuck with it but i don't like it you'd a don't control the options for investing b you don't get to take it with you when you go and the state of illinois is notoriously poorly run true it's a horribly run. And now we're betting on those guys?

Yeah, no, thank you. But would I count some of it? Yeah, I'd count some of it. I'm not going to count it as a full nine. What if we counted it as a four or a five? If we count it as a four, then that means we need to put in 10%, right? You've got to put in nine. You don't have a choice.

But I'm saying because we don't have a lot of faith in it, I don't like it. But it's there, and we'll probably get some of it. I mean, likelihood is I'm not predicting the failure of the teacher's pension in Illinois. It's just horribly run. And if it was ever going to fail anywhere, it would be there. You know? So that's the truth, and you know that. So given that, let's give it a 50% hit or so and just round numbers. Let's put in 10% instead of putting in 15% on top or something like that.

That'll accelerate your mortgage a little bit. It's not going to be perfect, but it's a little bit more to get that way, and you can go that direction. So, you know, cool. Do it. That's what I would do. I'd back it off a little bit hey thanks for the call appreciate you joining us this is the Dave Ramsey

show I'll see you next time. Can you believe this real estate market? Home shopping has become so competitive. There's a ton of new buyers in the market, and bidding wars are the new normal. Folks are under a lot of pressure to offer more money to get into that house. Don't do that. Get certified instead. The Churchill Mortgage Certified Home Buyer Program is a game changer. You can quickly position yourself as a more reliable buyer and you get an upper hand during the negotiations. You can close two to

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Hey, guys, how are you? Good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. Welcome. Where do you guys live? We're from Puyallup, Washington, which is just south of Seattle. Okay. Very cool. Well, good to have you guys. And the young folks you brought with you, the kiddos, what are their names and ages?

We've got Baron, who's eight, and Harper, who's seven. All right. Good-looking family. Very cool. And all the way across the United States here to Nashville to do your debt-free scream. You bet. I love it. How much have you paid off? Right about $69,000. Good for you. And how long did that take? Close to nine months.

Wow, that's fast. Range of income? Right about $150,000. What do you guys do for a living so i'm in uh treasury management sales for walsh fargo and um i'm a full-time stay-at-home mom but during that process i was a um health and fitness coach okay very good and what kind of debt was the 69 000 A couple cars and a little bit of student loan left. Cool. Did you sell any cars or did you just pay them off? No, we just paid them off. The car got us into the trouble. Okay, very

cool. But nine months ago, some kind of a switch flip, because man, you went all after it. You went game on here. This is pretty serious numbers. Well done. Tell me the story of what got you started. So probably about six months prior to that, we ended up needing a new car. Needing, right?

Other one was going out, and we decided to buy it. You were forced. Exactly. Had to. Yeah, the emergency popped up, right? Yeah. And we ended up with a car. We had some strict guidelines.

We wanted probably more than we really needed to pay for it, but we did. It was brand new. And it was the end. We were just sick of being stuck and kind of paying the bills. Even though we could pay it, no problem. It was just we didn't want to anymore. We were more excited for the future, and that was just going to be in the way for the future. So we just went gazelle intensity in your terms.

So how did you end up, where in this process did you connect with us? So I'm a huge follower on podcasts, a lot of time on the road, and always listen to it. And I was like, dude, we can do this. Vanessa and I, we've got this, no problem. So we started doing that. At the same time, it had always been kind of a vision

of ours to lead FPU at our church, the Celebration Center. And so we got that started. right about the time we started we got everything in line to start fpu in january at our church and we did that and so it was kind of we started it and then as we taught fpu we were learning for the first time with some mentors and now we're on our second session and loving it wow well thanks for leading the class yeah very cool well there's nothing like leading it to make you do it. I mean, you can attend and maybe kind of slough off, right?

But not hardly. It's very difficult to do that. But it's almost impossible to lead it and not be game on. Exactly. And I think that just kind of stems from what drove me to it because I believe in modeling all behaviors. And so if I was going to model what I wanted my children to have in the future, I had to model it myself. Yeah.

My daughter, Rachel Cruz, always says that when you're teaching kids, more is caught than taught. Yes. The modeling thing is a big deal. They're going to do what you do. How many times have I opened my mouth and one of my parents' voice came out? I mean, oh, my goodness. You know, it's happened.

It's happened on this show. Can you imagine? So well done, you know. It's happened on this show. Can you imagine? So, well, well done, you guys. Very well done. So when you have someone in your class and they show up for financial peace and they're not game on because they're scared and they don't think they can do this, the hope hasn't kicked in yet, the belief hasn't kicked in yet. What do you tell them they need to do to be debt free? What are the things you need to do if you want to pay off

$69,000 in nine months? We did it. We paid off $69,000. Here's what we did. And your hands start waving and you start telling them, right? So what do you tell them? Well, there's kind of a couple things. I think, first of all, you got to believe believe. You know, I mean, it's a program to believe, and it works. Follow the program, and you can do it. Second of all, it takes a team. It can't be an individual. You know, we're a family of four, and it can't just be me doing it, which is pretty much what we did in the past.

I was in charge of the money, the budget, all that. It takes the team. And as long as the two of you can come together and really get on board, it can happen. You know, with the steps you lay out, it's not rocket science. What are the main things that someone needs to do to get out of debt? Budget, right there. Budget. I mean, I think it is amazing how much money just flies to the door that you, I don't make

enough. No, it's there. You make plenty. You spend too much. Well, that's generally true. That's generally true. Okay. Go ahead.

I also think that they need to focus on why they're doing it. So to think further out into the future and to recognize that my reason why might not be the exact same reason as his why, but the end goal that's out way in front of us is what we're both gravitating towards. Okay, cool. What was your why? Right here. I like...

Kids. Change your family tree. The legacy. I listen to a lot of your stuff and a lot of other podcasts on legacy and what we're leaving behind. And I think that if we want to see change, we have to start teaching it modeling it and teaching it yeah and change your family tree that's a big reason people will do stuff to change the direction of their family that they would never do for themselves yes and it's a bigger and more noble why than just uh i want to go on vacation someday you know which if you live like no one else later you can live and give like no one else.

But in the process of doing that, you do change the trajectory of your family tree. So, very well done. Good, you guys. Very cool. Very cool. Did you have a lot of cheerleaders along the way, or some people that kind of went, yeah, I think you people are nuts? You know, we had some, and we had some on the flip side, right?

You're going to have some that are going to try to pull you down. But, you know, I think the one thing, we had some good mentors that were local that were definitely coaching us on and keeping us going, not only through our scenario, but also helping us lead FPU. So definitely. Vanessa, when he came home that first time and said, we just bought this car. It's killing me. I'm listening to this podcast. I want to do something different.

Were you resistant or did you just like, well, finally you woke up? No, I had a pit in my stomach when we bought the car. And so, like, intuitionally, I knew that was not the right choice. But we kind of felt this pull that we needed to do it. He played your podcast on a date night. I specifically remember that date night. That is so unromantic. I don't know, for him.

So we listened to that podcast, and I was really getting on board, and about the same time Rachel's book had come out, The Live Your Life, Not Theirs, and I was listening to that on audible.com, just really think pieces were coming together. And I know the Lord leads you in the direction of where you need to go. So we just, um, I got on board after that, but I, I told him the hardest part of this process for me was getting excited about his spreadsheets that he would email me once a month. I was like, thanks for the email.

Oh, how exciting. Yeah. Mr. Podcast on a date night, Mr. Spreadsheet. Yeah, this guy, he's, I love this guy. He's my kind of people. He is. Total nerd, right? I love it.

Very well done, you guys. That's fun. That's very real stuff. Well, congratulations, you guys. Yeah, I just want to share one thing real quick, Dave. So, I mean, I think going into this, you know, yes, that was on our date night, but what it allowed me to do is kind of share some goals with her. And in relation to this, this was one goal, being able to do this debt-free screen here.

The other one is I'm excited to call back in the near future, the two of us, for the millionaire call. I love it. That's where we're going to be. You are. You're on your way. Definitely, you know, even though it was kind of a corny date, it worked millionaire call. I love it. That's where we're going to be. You are. You're on your way. Even though it was kind of a corny date, it worked. Here we are.

Step one, right? Hey, you got it on fire, man. Well, to that end, we've got Chris Hogan's retire-inspired book signed by him because that is the next chapter in your story where you're millionaires and outrageously generous along the way, and you're well on the way to changing your whole family tree. I'm so proud of y'all. Thank you. Well done.

I'm sure your family and friends are, too. Very well done. All right, it's Nathan and Vanessa, Barron and Harper from Seattle, Washington. $69,000 paid off in nine months, making $150,000 a year. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free. Well done, well done, well done. Oh my goodness, isn't that awesome? Man, that is fabulous.

Wow. That's how you do it. That's exactly how you do it. But you have to roll up your sleeves and get with it. You have to decide you're going to live differently. Continuing to do the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result? That's the definition of insanity, isn't it? Maybe it's time for a change, darling. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America. Jason's in Washington, D.C.

Hi, Jason. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm doing great. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up uh thanks for accepting my call sure i'm a university professor and get paid over nine months previously i paid for summer

living expenses using credit cards and then paid them off after getting paychecks again however i'm in fpu now and want to change my ways. Okay. After completing baby step one, saving $1,000, should I stock call money for the three summer months of not getting paid and then proceed to pay off the credit cards, or should I strive to pay off the credit cards first and then save for the summer, which didn't really work before and kind of got me in this conundrum. Okay. Yeah, we've got to break the cycle, so let's go ahead and save for the summer,

and then let's do the credit cards. What I would do is try to do both. I'd try to be by summer, have the savings, and have the credit card debt from last summer gone. That would be ideal, right? That's optimum. So I want to start there. And how are we going to do that?

Well, obviously you're going to cut expenditures, and you might do something to increase your income of course the other option that mixes into this that changes the whole equation is find something to do during those three months that creates income i had thought of that and uh i'm i'm already starting now planning on um trying to get jobs or at least one or two jobs over the summer work 40 to 60 hours really kicking into gear to get jobs, or at least one or two jobs over the summer, work 40 to 60 hours, really kicking into gear to get off this credit card. Yeah, and you said you're a college professor? Yes, sir.

What subject do you teach? I teach kinesiology, and specifically for individuals with disabilities. Wow. And I would guess that would also apply to athletes, would it not? No, it's not athletes. It can be disability sports. But my research specifically is for people who have disabilities, cognitive disabilities, and they have trouble just getting out off the couch and exercising or being physically active, not more toward the competitive side.

Yeah, okay. I would think an independent practice separate from your teaching where you worked hand in glove with some people in the therapy community would be ideal for an ongoing extra income and you jack it up a lot during the summer. In a sense, you're tutoring, if you will, your own students, but you're using your research and your expertise and your information, that ought to be very valuable. And that you could build a, quote, business, a consulting business working with therapists that you come in and, you know, supplement what they're doing and move things along. So, hey, I think you got a real upside there on your income.

That's exciting stuff. Wesley's with us in Pensacola. Hi, Wesley. Welcome think you've got a real upside there on your income. That's exciting stuff. Wesley's with us in Pensacola. Hi, Wesley. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you, Dave. How are you doing today? Better than I deserve. What's up? So, a little background. My wife and I graduated college last year completely debt-free, and I'm looking into trying to get a separate vehicle because right now we've been driving, like you said, a hoopty. You've got a United States Marine driving a 200,000-mile Prius, so thanks for that. But anyway, that thing sucks for driving the base, but whatever.

I'm not having the car payments because I told my buddy I was jealous of this truck, and he told me about a $60,000 car payment. I'm like, we need to talk. Anyway, so my question is I'm trying to figure out what to do next, because I want to get rid of the Prius, and I want to replace it with a truck. And I've got a 1964 Chevy back home, and my uncle is willing to do all the labor for me for free to get it fixed up, put a new engine in it, put a new tranny in it, and all that kind of stuff.

It's a really sweet-looking truck. The only problem I foresee is that it's not going to be quite as reliable. It's probably never going to be quite as reliable as a modern car would be. Which road would you kind of consider going down the road, you know, dumping a couple thousand into this truck to make it, you know, worth, you know, driving around, or do you, you know, save up and wait for a vehicle later on? I think that truck's a keeper, and it's a project truck that you work on after you get your finances straightened out. Okay.

So I think that Prius is going to be – I hate it, too. I'm with you. But I think it's going to be a lot more reliable than a fixed-up 64. I've got a 1960 Vette that's rebuilt from the frame up, and it's got a wonderful 327 dual four barrels on it. It's a beast. But it is a project car. I mean, it runs almost all the time. But I'm not getting in that car and depending on it to be somewhere I have to be.

It's more of a fun thing to have in the garage, and I think that's what your 64 is going to be someday but if you want to sell the prius and move to a different car that's just a cheap car with what you would have spent on the truck motor and that kind of stuff and move into a little different vehicle there as long as you're paying cash for it it's a it's a hoopty move up kind of a thing then i'd be okay with that if you want to do that but um but don't think I'd let that truck get away, and I want to do the project because it's a cool project, but I wouldn't do it right now. Josh is with us. Josh is in Madison, Wisconsin.

Hi, Josh. How are you? I'm good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I've got a question regarding a credit card for business trips, and let me kind of explain the situation here because I'm looking for some advice. My wife and I have never been through

FPU, but we actually just recently paid off all of our debt as of about two and a half weeks ago. Great. Congratulations. Thank you. I work from home with a relatively smaller company, okay, and they send us on business trips every once in a while, and we are required basically to, you know, pay for some of those business expenses during the trip. That money is definitely reimbursed. The company that we're going to go see pays for that, but we have to kind of front that money ahead of time.

We've closed out all of our credit cards except for one for these business trips because we don't have money set aside to be able to pay for these expenses. How much do the expenses run a month? Well, I'm not traveling every single month, but every time I go on a business trip, it's anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 because we're paying for the hotel, the food. And then you get the money back within 30 days?

Yeah, that's correct. So, I mean, we would be paying that off, and obviously we're not going to be using the credit card for our own personal uses. The answer is that you need to seed that one time. You need to prime the pump one time with $2,000 in a separate new checking account that has a debit card on it, and it's used only for one thing reimbursable business travel and you use your money on your debit card and you pray your little company doesn't go broke and not

pay you back it's a little company you're taking a big risk sure you're you're the banker for this small company that's too small to even fund their own employees' travel. That's pretty scary. At some point, they may go belly up, and you're going to be left holding a $2,000 ticket in your hand. That's the risk you're taking. Well, no, so the company that we go and visit, they pay for all the expenses. But they don't pay you. They pay your company, and then your company pays you. Right.

If your company goes broke, they're going to take that money from that other company and pay other bills with it, and you're going to be left out in the cold someday. Sure. I've seen it happen. I've been doing this 30 years. I've seen it happen a lot. Sure. So then where does that fit in with?

That leaves you what's known as up a creek because you're taking a risk for this little bitty company. That's what I'm pointing out for you. Now, what I would tell you, do it all with a debit card. If you want to do that, that's fine. But at least then you're admitting that you're taking this risk. I would tell you I'm going to go back to your little bitty company and say, guys, I'm out of debt. I don't like borrowing money. I don't want to borrow money anymore.

If you want me to take business trips, why don't you give me the money to take business trips and then when they pay you back you'll get your money back it's only two thousand dollars right i don't ask my people to travel here with their money i got a 28 year old young person that's trying to feed their dogs and their kids and keep their lights on and i'm going to send them out and put airline tickets on their on them no this company here pays for their airline tickets and we pay for their rental car and we pay for their hotel and their food when they travel i don't ask somebody here to travel and ask them to pay for it me pay them back we just pay for it we give them a debit card we give them the cash when they leave the place your company should do that for you and you should push them on it because we give them the cash when they leave the place. Your company should do that for you. And you should

push them on it because you're taking the risk otherwise. But if you don't want to change the situation, you need to fund it with cash, build a debit card, do away with the credit card. But that's going to make you ouch. That's going to make your stomach turn because now you're realizing there's

real risk here because there is. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey guys, this is James Childs, producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm excited to announce that we're now carried on 600 radio stations across the country. To find one near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.