The Ramsey Show - App - How To Deal With Shady Debt Consolidators (Hour 2)

Episode Date: February 16, 2022

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Dr. John Deloney. Ramsey Personality, best-selling author, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225 as we talk about your mental health, your relationships, your job, your career, and your money. Your life, all right here on The Ramsey Show. Phone number again, 888-825-5225. Russ is with us. Russ is in South Bend, Indiana. Hi, Russ.-825-5225. Russ is with us.

Russ is in South Bend, Indiana. Hi, Russ. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hello, Dave. Appreciate what you're doing. God bless you, sir. You too, sir. What's up?

Well, I'm in my FPU. Last night we did steps four through seven. My situation is this. Recently came into some money through the sale of my house. Uh, recently got married about nine days ago. And, uh, a couple of years ago, I was not in this good of financial position. And I took out a debt, uh, reduction or debt negotiation contract with this organization. Now I'm, I'm paying off everything. In fact, we wrote a check today to pay off my wife's house. Wow.

So that's out of the way. We have the emergency fund. Does she have a separate house than you? No, no. I sold my house, and now I'm moving in with her. Y'all just got married. Okay. Yeah, nine days ago.

Okay. So my question is this how do i handle this debt reduction thing that's hanging over my head i'd like to get out of it completely but i'm in this contract that involves monthly payments i uh call them today and ask them is it better for me to just go to the creditors myself directly and write them checks, or do I hang in with you? They indicated, you know, should hang in with them. Well, yeah, of course. Well, yeah, I know. It's like asking a dog if it's hungry. Right.

Yeah. Let's see. Should we continue to collect fees from you or not? Let me think about this. Yeah. No, you need to. And you don't have to cancel the contract. You just stop giving them money.

It'll all end. Just stop giving them money? Yeah. Yeah. No, you need to. And you don't have to cancel the contract. You just stop giving them money. It'll all end. Just stop giving them money? Yeah. Yeah. Stop giving that company money that's doing this debt repayment plan. How many creditors are involved? Well, now it's down to three. Originally, it started out with about a dozen.

Okay. Well, just call those three and negotiate a deal with each one of them. Were you behind with them in this process? Probably. Yeah, and, of course, since I got in this debt reduction thing a couple years ago, there's been no phone calls, no harassment, nothing. Just call them up and ask for, say, okay, I'm in a position to pay this off if you give me a deal. Now, what kind of deal can we make?

Okay. Now, one of the things that was told me today when I called this debt reduction company is, well, you're taking a big risk if you do that. They might get aggressive with you. We've got you covered by this litigation firm that will stand up for you if they do get that kind of aggressive. So it kind of scared me. But you're saying just don't pay them and talk to the creditors. No worry, I guess. You have the money to pay them.

I do. Why would you worry about them being aggressive? Well, it's been a long time since they've received a payment from me. I don't know. It's okay. You're the customer on the account. They love money. And if you call them up and go how much can i pay you i don't think they're don't you have to worry about them being aggressive you also have this awesome feature on your phone called uh do not answer you can hit that too yeah they're not going to get aggressive

that's that's this company god man these guys are evil not only not only Not only do they use a scare tactic to keep you on the hook. Russ, you're talking about these guys like they're your friends. Yeah. And like they don't have a conflict of interest in this stupid butt advice they're giving you. They want to keep you on the line. They want to keep you paying them fees. And you're saying just stop paying them? How do you get away with that?

You stop paying the company that you're talking to on the phone that's giving you this bad advice. Instead, you call the creditors and you ask each of the three creditors a simple question. I'm going to write a check and pay this off today if you will make me a deal. Get what's the deal. And send that to me in email in written form. You keep that in writing, and you send them that money. Okay. And it goes away.

Just that simple. They're only going to get aggressive, the creditors, the three creditors, if they don't get money. Do you have enough to pay all three of them off? Yeah. Yeah, I do. Yeah. Congratulations.

You're going to be a free man today. It'll take you two weeks to get through the crap here, but you're going to have to have a back-and-forth conversation with them and force them to give it to you in writing. Do not give them money until you get it in writing, and do not give them electronic access to your checking account. But this company is not your friend. They're debt con consolidation companies

that's what we call them and do i negotiate with these creditors or just give them what they're asking for i i would i would say uh what is the balance and what kind of deal can you make me okay because these are all bad debts that you've been paying payments on bad debts they would love to get your butt off their books okay and they probably will give you an offer of 50 to 70 cents on the dollar when one phone call well that sounds pretty good yeah of whatever the balance is do you have any idea what the actual balance is today yes okay so you can you can kind of you've got some basis point to know if the company this creditor when you call them is lying to you then so you can go okay wait a minute the number i've got is this what are you showing is the balance and if i wrote a check today and paid this off

what kind of deal would you give me? Because I'm thinking about doing that. Okay. If you give me a good enough deal. They've probably turned this over to collection companies, and that's probably who I'll be talking to. It doesn't matter. They're the same thing. They want money.

Okay. Everyone here wants your money. If they sold the debt, they sold it for a nickel on the dollar and so they sold a thousand dollar debt for 50 bucks and if that's who you're talking to that bought your thousand dollar debt for 50 bucks you're gonna get a really good deal when you do what i did when you do what i just told you to do so dude you are uh you act like that these guys uh have magic powers over this other company they don't have magic powers they're just doofuses or if it sounds like you feel like you fell into a river and these guys showed up on a on night on like horses with

i don't know swords and things and pulled you out of the river and saved you and they didn't they didn't they didn't you were in the river and they threw you a concrete block so here hold this okay that's and oh by the way there's a fee for the block there's a fee for the block yeah so no these are not your friends this is the slimy i've never heard somebody with that level of like his, his heart beats for this company. No, he's just worried. They'll scare you, huh? They took care of him when he was scared. Yeah.

They got the creditors off of him. That's right. And they got a plan, and he's just been working that plan. He didn't want to upset that apple cart. Yeah. And then they pushed on that button because they knew that was the button to use. And that's keeping him in the saddle here, which is a bad plan. Yeah. Call the three creditors. Get you a deal, write them a check,

get it in writing, no electronic access to your checking account. Get it in writing, no electronic access to your checking account, and you've got a deal, and you'll be out of this within two weeks. This is The Ramsey Show. for a lot of you last year was another year of just trying to survive but you don't have to live like that you can have confidence in your money and your future. So if you're tired of being stressed out all the time, you can decide to make a change. You can follow a plan that works. For almost 30 years, Financial Peace University has helped millions of people

take control of their money. You'll learn our proven plan to save money, pay off debt, build wealth, and give generously. Watch FPU on demand or get plugged into a class for encouragement and support from other people. You don't have to face another year of stress and worry. You can have confidence in your money. FPU is only available with a Ramsey Plus membership. Start for free by visiting ramseysolutions.com slash FPU. That's ramseysolutions.com slash FPU. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. Steven is with us in Indianapolis. Hi, Steven. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How are you? Great, man.

What's up? Hey, well, I just want to say, big fan. You guys got me and my wife out of debt over the last couple years, so I'm following your method. So I just want to say I'm a huge fan of yours, and thanks for taking my call. Well done. Yes, sir. On this one, to say I'm a huge fan of yours, and thanks for taking my call. Well done. Yes, sir. On this one, though, I'm calling for my sister.

She is historically bad with money, and she needs a little help. She had a car, had it paid off in cash at one point. It needed like $3,000 worth of work, so she did something I don't agree with. She traded in, got a loan at a buy here, pay here for a car that's not even worth its own weight now. And now this car needs about $2,500 worth of work. The car is only worth about $3,000, and she owes $10,000 on this loan. So my question is, how can she get out of this car into something more reliable without taking out another loan and rolling negative equity and going into debt?

She's screwed. I know. Yeah. I mean, there's not a move here. She's going to be in debt. She's $10,000 in debt, and she has an asset that's not worth $2,000, right? Did I understand that right? Yes. Yeah. And so she has an $8,000 in debt, and she has an asset that's not worth $2,000, right? Did I understand that right? Yes.

Yeah. And so she has an $8,000 hole, and the only way to cover that is $8,000, and that's going to come from somewhere. So, yeah, obviously we're not going to do a deal with these people again. But let me tell you what they will do. It's a buy here pay here their uh repo rate back onto that lot is very very high because of this situation because people get that people instead of asking a question like you're asking they get in these situations and they just drive up and toss the keys in the window and keep walking and um and that's standard in that business so you know

like let's just say among a regular car like you go to a ford dealer and get a ford motor company ford motor credit loan let's just say that the repo rate there is three percent the repo rate in a tote the note lot is probably 40 you see what i'm saying and the reason is is they're selling the car for twice as much as it's worth and they've got payments on it and then it's a piece of crap car and they end up breaking anyway and they get in the same mess and so they're used to dealing with her my point is they probably will negotiate that eight down if she goes somewhere else and gets a loan gives them real money like they will for sure okay so i would send her like to the credit union and uh off you know offer them once she gets a

loan arranged with the credit union maybe she gets a five thousand dollar loan and uh offer them the car back and the uh and two thousand dollars they'll probably take it take the other take the other three thousand and buy a car anywhere else but a place like that okay they got a five thousand dollar loan to do that yeah go get a five thousand dollar loan at the credit union we're getting rid of a ten thousand dollar loan with this transaction you following me yep i'm following you so i'm i'm not borrowing i mean i'm borrowing money but we've already got borrowed money we're just making it better so you take you go then you go over there are you in town the same town No. Again, this goes back to her being down with money.

She ended up moving down to Texas, where the cost of living is a lot more than it is here in Indianapolis. Has she got any family in that town where she is? No. Unfortunately, both our parents passed away, and that's another reason she wanted to move, just to kind of get away and restart. Because just having dealt with these folk all the time for the last 30 years uh here's here's a best case scenario i'm not sure we can pull it off but if she can go get a five thousand dollar loan with the credit union uh buy an airline ticket and go down there get in get her car and her and drive over to that lot and you sit down in front of that manager, it creates a different vibe in that world than her doing it.

Okay. And you can go ahead and get up in his grill if you want for being a crook as a part of this transaction and go, Look, dude, if you think you're getting $10,000 out of this broke woman, you is what's known as confused. And so here's what we're going to do we're going to give you this car back that's a piece of crap that you ripped her off with in the first place and two thousand dollars and you're going to smile and you're going to like it aren't you and that's you can do that a whole lot better than she can do it in that

world you following me i'm following you and uh i'm serious that that's about the verbiage and the attitude i would use i'm not being bombastic because that you're in a rough and tumble world there so go go in there uh with that kind of you know swagger and just go look we're not doing this you screwed her and so now you're gonna make it right and you're gonna make you're still gonna make a profit you got your stupid car back and you're going to make it right, and you're still going to make a profit. You got your stupid car back, and you got some money. You go on, you live another day, and you let her go. Otherwise, we're going to have a real problem here, and we're going to have to get lawyers involved,

and we're going to have to get, oh, man, it's just going to be messy, and none of us want to do that, so let's just get us a deal done right here. Okay. If you can pull that off in your schedule and buy a $200 plane ticket, fly down and help her handle it. It sounds like I'm being sexist. I'm not, but that world is. Right.

You're going to get a different thing when you walk in there than she will. Because they saw her coming the first time, and she's going to have to reset in their brain for them to not see her coming again. And that's what we're dealing with. Well, their entire business practice is built on desperation. Well, and intimidation. Right. Yeah.

So we just flip that on them a little. Let's have a little discussion about this. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, that's the thing. So, yeah. Yeah.'s that's the thing so yeah yeah so here's the thing when you're guys when you're looking at stuff like this in uh lower income real estate and lower income which is what tote the note is always associated with uh what what the the deal is not the interest rate that they're charging you it's that they're giving you terms when no one else will give you terms they'll put you on payments when no one else will put you on payments and so they're making a bazillion dollars by

changing the price of the item not by charging a 30 interest rate they may only charge a 20 interest rate subprime interest rate but then double the price of the car you buy a house i used to have friends that would sell houses in these uh low income neighborhoods and they'd sell the house on weekly payments pay payments weekly and with nothing down or five hundred dollars down you could buy a house with weekly payments and all the people heard was five hundred dollars down and weekly that's all they heard they didn't hear that the you know this house that's worth in those days forty thousand forty thousand bucks is being sold to them for sixty and the interest rate sounded pretty good so until you factor in the fact that they're overcharging for the actual item so much when

you put that back in as an interest rate now you got a 400 interest rate i heard there was a crack down on those tote the notes interest rates and i guess that's the way you fix it the way you fix it that's it's not usurious if you if it's just the price is ridiculous yeah and people aren't they don't even look at the price right oh they just desperate to get it. Can I get that today? Desperate, intimidated, scared. And it's almost like that caller earlier where the guy thinks that they're doing him a favor. That's right. And it's a disastrous scenario. So same thing with like rent to own.

Yeah. If you need to rent your washer and dryer, you don't need to buy a washer and dryer. Period. And someone's taking you. So here's the thing. You can kind of look, too, at the groupings of these offerings. If you drive down the main drag of a lower income end of town, all the things that you see there are just about ripoffs the predatory yeah

title pawn pawn uh rent to own uh tote the note um you know it's all right there and it's every one of them are screwing you yeah and so and same thing if you're watching TV and your investment is in the same place as a Snuggie and a walk-in bathtub, then you probably don't have a good investment. Hello. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage. Sean and Camille are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hey, doing good. How are you? Better than I deserve. Welcome. Where do you guys live? Clarksville, Tennessee. All right. Right up the road. Yeah.

Well, welcome to Nashville. It's good to have you guys. So how much debt have you paid off? $297,000. Wow. How long did that take? About four and a half years. Wow. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? $130,000 up to $260,000. Nice jump. What do you guys do for a living? I work in healthcare as an HR director. I have an in-home business, and then I also do real estate on the side.

Oh, good. So what caused all this income increase me that was a great i went to work that was me yeah it was me yeah no you went to work you took a job and the real estate thing's going well yeah oh yeah good for you good job so what kind of debt was your 297 000 d, we paid off our house. Yeah! Look at it, weird people! Yes! There it is. How old are you two?

I'm 33. Debt free by 33. That was our goal. My goal. She looks no older than 23. That's right. I agree. I'm 35.

Way to go, you guys. That's so cool. What's this house worth? Probably about $460,000. I love it! Way to go it way to go that's a beautiful house y'all that looks nice that's a good now we see a picture of it popping up here on youtube good looking property yeah nicely done nicely done so how much in your investments in your retirement accounts uh we were just talking about that about uh 150 in our retirement already so after a good start there so you're gonna be baby step millionaires in about three years that's the

plan yeah so before you're 40 you'll be millionaires wow that's crazy to think about that is so stinking cool way to go thank you oh that is amazing well tell us the story what how did all this start four and a half years ago so i actually knew about you from college um i'm a i'm a saver hoarder he's a spender we got married we had some financial struggles the first couple years just not being on the same page and we finally found you know started listening to you a little bit more and um just needed a plan i think we needed to be on the same page. That was the biggest thing for us is, you know, I had one idea and he had another idea and we're like, we need to, we need something that works that we can both go back to. So we paid off our consumer debt.

The first couple of years of marriage was like $25,000. And then we kind of followed the baby steps. And then we got pregnant with our first little one and we were like all right we're gonna do this we're gonna go for it and so that was about four and a half years ago and we just started buckling down getting really serious making some sacrifices and so what made you two come and say all right Ramsey is the plan we're gonna do and we're both gonna commit to that yeah I think we uh we knew of Dave's plans for a while, but again, four and a half years ago, we got pregnant. So we decided we better kick it into gear.

So we got connected. We went to FPU. We've actually started coordinating the class. We have our coordinator over here as well. All right. So shout out. Got connected with the church as well, but family and friends definitely had the support system around us.

Okay. All right. So the Financial Peace University class convinced you that that's the way, and that gave you both the same sheet of music to sing from. Absolutely. The biggest thing for me, I think, that pulled me in, and probably for you too, was the changing your family tree. I'm the oldest of six kids, and there was never a lot of money. And so it's kind of emotional. There was just always fights involving it. And I just was like, I don't want to live that way.

I don't want to fight about money. And I wanted something better for our kids. So that was the thing that just over and over again, I was like, we got to change our family tree. We can do this. And I'm very, I understand about making decisions and I'm very um I understand about making decisions and I'm very motivated and so I you know I it just made sense it was simple it was easy to do I'm a checklist person I could get him on board he's an HR so which could be challenging at times I know I'm

a spender at heart so but um yeah just stay connected and get with the plan and yeah it's amazing so i'm looking at this timeline here and you grew another human in between this how in the world do you stay on this plan and have yet another new person in your home that was it was hard it was that i mean people make it sound like it's easy it is not easy um they're 15 months apart. I basically had two under two for a while. And 2020 for everybody, I think, was kind of a disaster. And it was really hard. We had some family stuff that kind of went down. And I think part of me just was like, I've got to focus on something. I've got to get my mind on something that's positive, something that makes me feel like we're winning.

So many people focused on Tiger King, and you didn't. I've got to get my mind on something that's positive, something that makes me feel like we're winning. So many people focused on Tiger King, and you didn't. I did watch Tiger King, though. Of course you did. That's fine. But you focused on something that, right, you took that time when everything was in smoke and rubble, and you said, I'm going to build something great out of this. That's incredible, you two. And it's funny because once you actually get really serious, and I mean, we didn't need to do beans and rice per se.

We just worked our butts off. And it was so good. Like, just to have something that was positive when the world felt like it was falling apart. And I was like, at least I just want to sleep good at night. Like, I just want this weight off of me. Well, when you can't control anything anything if you find something you can finally control it's worth doing absolutely you're spinning out otherwise yeah exactly the sense of i at least i can control this part exactly so let's do that and that that somewhat keeps you sane when everything

just going flying off the handle yes you know so wow very. What was your best disagreement? Best disagreement? You know, we didn't have a ton. I just looked at the HR director's face. He's got one. I saw it. What do you have? I think it's the budgets in general just to stay on track. So, of course, every month just looking at that and, yeah, you got to change something, right?

So, I'm always annoyed by just sitting down and reviewing it. But I think it's a good thing to do. do but yeah no well let me say this so he had some things he wanted when we paid the house off because i'm the penny pencher and so we we he got a hot tub yeah and it's tight and season tickets oh all right ding ding when we were struggling i was like we're not doing that we're not doing i was like okay we can do that when you live like no one else. Later, you get the season tickets and the hot tub. Exactly.

That's how it works. Wow. Perfect. Pretty cool, man. Pretty cool, man. Seems like a fair trade to me. Dead free by 33. That's a slogan right there.

That's a slogan. It was. I told everybody. They probably all thought I was crazy. I don't know. We got support. They for sure did. 100% they did.

Yeah. We got support, but people were just kind of like, okay, you go do that. That's good for you. And I'm good at doing stuff that people look at me like you're weird, but I'm fine being weird. Yeah. You're the best kind of weird. When it comes to money, normal sucks. You don't want to be normal.

When it comes to most things, normal sucks. You don't want to be normal. So you guys are powerful. Well done. Very well done. We got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you. That's the next chapter in your story. We've already run the math. It's only going to be a couple years for you. You're. Very well done. We've got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you. That's the next chapter in your story. We've already run the math.

It's only going to be a couple years for you. You're going to be there. Very cool. And a copy of Total Money Makeover for you to give away and get someone else stirred up. One of those people that thought you were weird. Maybe now they'll listen to you. How you like me now? Yeah, I like it.

I like it. And you've got the kiddos. You want to put them in the shot? Yeah. Absolutely. All right. What are their names and ages? Dallas is four and Dakota just turned three. All right. I like it. And you got the kiddos. You want to put them in the shot? Yeah. All right. What are their names and ages? Dallas is four, and Dakota just turned three.

All right. Here we go. All right. Kiddos. I love it. I love it. Changed your family tree. You did it.

Well done. All right. It's Sean and Camille, Dallas and Dakota from Clarksville, Tennessee. $297,000 paid off. House and everything. They're weird. Four and a half years, making $130,000 to $260,000. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. You ready, Dallas? Three, two, one. We're debt-free. We're debt-free. We're debt-free. We're debt-free. Woo!

Woo! At 10 years old, they can watch that video. Mom and Dad doing that debt-free scream back when I was four. And that's when the family tree changed. That's how that branch of the family became some of the first millionaires in that family. That's how that branch of the family never thought about money again. That's how that branch of the family ended up in that church. That's how that branch of the family never thought about money again. That's how that branch of the family ended up in that church. That's how that, thank you, Financial Peace University coordinators,

for teaching that at your local church. Look what happens when you do. I'm so proud of you. Wow. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. Well, how are your resolutions going out there, folks? If you're like most people, you hit January hard, but by Valentine's Day, you are done. You tapped out. Don't tap out.

We can actually show you how to turn your resolutions into actual goals that are achievable in bite size, and you will stay on the plan. You'll keep moving. We do that, like you just heard a minute ago, in Financial Peace University. You go through this class, and you will not only learn the steps, you'll have people around you encouraging you to do the steps, holding you accountable to do the steps. It's a proven plan that almost 10 million people have been through now right now there's hundreds of financial peace

universities classes getting started both in person and online good time for you to jump in right now no lame resolutions actual adult-like goals Make 2022 the year you get control. Go to RamseySolutions.com slash FPU. That's RamseySolutions.com slash FPU. Yesterday, John, we put the Smart Conference on sale in Dallas. We're going to go out there October the 22nd. You and me and the Ramsey personalities, Ken Coleman, George Campbell, Greg Groeschel, and Amy Groeschel, our friends from Life Church over in Oklahoma City are going to be teaching on marriage.

You'll be teaching from the new book, Own Your Past, Change Your Future. We might have a little Baby Steps Millionaires action in there. It could happen too. And, you know, Ken Coleman, of course, about careers. Rachel will be there. Pedro will be there. Christina will be there. Rachel will be there. Pedro will be there. Christina will be there. Courtney will be there.

Eddie will be there. All the Ramsey personalities are going to be there. The whole gang, man. The whole dad-blame bunch. The whole fam-damley. That is going to be a loud plane ride. You know what? It will be.

I may drive myself. It will be because – I'm going to take an Uber to Dallas. You know, there's a couple of these people never shut up so yeah you're probably right that could be interesting but i'll tell you what they all got something to say yes they do and the smart conference especially with amy and greg being craig being there on the marriage subject's just gonna be incredible so if you don't have your tickets yet they went on sale early bird specials are still out there you

can get a deal if you go ahead and purchase them now we're so excited to be back in the arenas back in the marketplace back out here doing events again it is our favorite thing to do we've all missed it around here we've missed you guys so we're kicking it off with this smart conference in dallas october 22nd stay tuned we're going to do some building wealth events in a bunch of other cities starting this spring over into the fall. We'll be announcing those really, really soon. So just count on it.

Ramsey's rolling back out, baby. We're going to let the big wheel roll. Time to get after it again. Time to get things moving. You can get all of that information at RamseySolutions.com. And just click on events. You can find everything that we're doing there. We've got the Entree Leadership Summit in May in Orlando.

We're going to be adding some stuff to that Orlando date. We're going to be down around that area doing a bunch of stuff. So you people in Orlando, get ready. Just get ready. Go ahead and tell you there's going to be some announcements coming your way in addition to the Entree Leadership Summit. So we've just made a decision around here to get moving again. Can't wait.

I've been on the road all fall and doing smaller events, and I can't wait to get back out and do some big stuff, man. Yeah, I'm going over to Elevation Church and speak for Stephen Furtick in a couple weeks in March. He texted me the other day. And wonderful church. Stephen's been a friend for a lot of years. I'm going over in Life Church and and speak for craig yeah uh as well uh little bitty old church yeah it's a tiny little thing tiny little operation over there largest church in america 80 000 people or something yeah it's it's it's a lot it's a lot

so um hey it's a lot of stuff happening and here we go baby game on game on so uh if you uh you know if you got a friend that you've been trying to get to do this stuff, you need to get tickets to Smart Conference. Go ahead and buy them tickets too and get them there. Some of these other events you hear us doing them, you need to bring somebody. You need to tell people about it. By the way, I don't say that very often on this

show, but I've been remiss to not ask you guys that are listeners to help us by telling your friends to listen. If you're listening on podcast or YouTube or on your local radio station or Sirius XM, spread the word. This is where you get the Ramsey Show, and it's life-changing information here. It's not because it's mine. It's God's and Grandma's ways of handling money and life and none of us invented these things we just uh put a package them and teach them in such a way

that they're ingestible and that you can really use them to change your life oh and by the way you could have crap on instead of something that's helpful right and so you got to decide what you're going to put in your brain you keep putting crap in your brain your brain's going to be crap it's time for you to get with some people and get out of your house, you know, go do stuff together. Yeah. These kind of things can spark entire communities to change, friend groups to change, family groups to change.

Get a couple of folks and come out. I don't think people realized consciously until the last few months, how much this idea that man is not good for man to be alone, this isolation from other people, how psychologically damaging it is. And it's also revealing simultaneously to me the weak spots in uh this social media where people don't have real friends they have facebook friends and by the way your facebook friends are not real friends they're fake friends okay and so unless they also happen to be your friend who you actually see in the flesh and look at them in their real eyes and that kind of thing and so your followers on

instagram are not real that's not real that's right i've got i got what have i got two million on instagram yeah and you know how many of them i know personally three yeah you and james and kelly you and james and kelly that's three my wife yeah rachel yeah i know all of y'all oh my wife doesn't follow me so i don't and so and uh you know and and you know you get these it's funny so many people that think they know something about social media go oh ramsey you're doing this all wrong man you only follow 33 people and you have two million people following you you're supposed to follow a bazillion people man you're doing it all wrong i'm like no you you're doing it wrong. Because you forgot the idea that human connection is a big deal. It's everything.

That's why we're relishing going to football games. Yeah. That's why we're relishing going to an Eagles concert. It's why we're relishing going to a Ramsey Smart Conference, because we're in the presence of other human beings that have like-minded goals and values, and we're aiming at something together we're not sitting somewhere looking at a screen and calling it a conversation somebody i was on an interview the other day and they asked me was the trial was about trauma and the interviewer asked me dude i think this trauma

that we just experienced we're experiencing coming out of was on par with 9-11 as a country and i said no i think this one's actually worse oh definitely because 9-11 we had at least we had the whether it's an illusion we had a common enemy yeah and it was them and this time it was well maybe that woman walking her dog might kill me or maybe my kid coming home from school mike what's happening and we weaponized each other right i went to get you know i went to buy a loaf of bread. Milk and eggs. And all of a sudden, I'm a villain. Yeah, or someone's going to kill you, or you're going to kill all these other people.

We weaponized the most core human function, which is human connection. It just turned into a weapon. And then it got politicized, and then we all went crazy. It went crazy. And we went from flattening the curve to masking to vaccine to beating each other up with the curve and to everything else and just panicking yeah and the uh the the it was yeah it was much more devastating than 9-11 yeah to the the fracture the psyche to the culture yeah to the culture it's gonna be a long time digging out of this one

but there's the antidote it's other people is relationships in person all day every day real relationships in person this is the antidote to not only what happened there but what has happened with the this fake social media revolution is being exposed now as fake yep uh facebook's tanking consequently it's tanking uh because people are starting to go it's not real well that's why we called it virtual well it's back in the day when they used to give my granddad i think it was one of his teachers or a coach gave him cigarettes because it calmed him down when he was 10 and it worked it did and then we realized oh that'll kill you too right so yeah this was all fun and

games for a couple of 10 years or 15 years till we realized oh man it's gonna kill us all yeah we gotta get back in the same room with each other talk to each other again and you know attend some things i'm making myself go do i am in the presence and i'm making our organization start to do these events yeah and even if it's uncomfortable and even if some of you out there are pissed off just go ahead and get ready to be pissed off because we're doing it. Okay? Because I know you're scared, and I understand you're scared, and I'm sorry you're scared, but we're doing it.

We're going to get back out here and help people again and move the dadgum needle. And if you don't like that, well, you don't have to come. It's that easy. Come anyway. But we'd like to have you anyway. Come anyway. Well, don't come if you're miserable. Don't make everybody miserable.

That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit theramseyshow.com and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.