The Ramsey Show - App - How to Prevent a Hillbilly Drama Crisis (Hour 1)

Episode Date: September 17, 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. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Our thanks to the fine people of Orlando. I got to spend a couple of days or a day and a half or whatever you call it there this weekend speaking at First Baptist Orlando at several of their services.

A lot of fun hanging out with you guys. It was a blast. And so thank you. Thanks for having us, and we'll let you know when I'm going to be different places, speaking in churches or wherever I am. We'll always let you know. I burn a lot of jet fuel, so that's how it works. We'll let you know when we show up.

Also, I think it's always wise to just stop a second and say um i know you watch the news i know you flip through the channels and looked at whatever internet pages you look at or whatever but there's some real people in north carolina and south carolina they're hurting right now they're not a news story they're not a news story. They're real people. So if there's anything that you and the way you do things in your life are able to do to help any of them, that'd be awesome.

And certainly at the top of that list is something all of us can do, and that's just pray for them. Pray for them. And I tell you, man, there's nothing much more devastating than a house being flooded or burning down because that's your home. It's where your kids' dolls are and your pictures of your wedding. And some of those people's stuff's floating away right now. So keep that in mind. Mike sent us in this email.

He said, Dave, we live in Wilmington, North Carolina, which is right in the dadgum crosshairs. We evacuated a few days ago. We're in baby step two, which means they're getting out of debt, and they have their $1,000 emergency fund. Felt amazing to get all $1,000 in cash and take it with us out of town. We used it for hotel, food, and gas, saving the rest for when we return. Thanks to all the team at Ramsey Does for your message.

We are facing a true emergency, and we were a little bit prepared due to your all's help. All of our premiums are paid on the insurance policy, so now it's just a matter of rebuilding. Well, that's good perspective. Nobody's hurt. You got the insurance, and that's what it's for. Now you just have to fight with the insurance company, and that's always part of the equation, but you'll get there, dude. Well done, Mike.

Well, I'm glad you had that. You know what's amazing? How much in a situation, doesn't life just have storms? I mean, the storm's not just real. They're metaphorical, too. I mean, it's a metaphor. We all got storms, don't we, one time or another. Sometimes you can predict them.

Sometimes you can't. You can't see it coming always. You don't know what's happening. But isn't it amazing how just $1,000, that's not that much. But how many options and how much peace that can give you? Just $1,000. There's a reason to do the stuff we teach here. It's not just a Dave Ramsey thing. It's not just a Dave Ramsey thing.

It's not just a biblical way of handling finance thing. It's not just good for you to be a grown-up. It's not all that. It's a better way to live your life. I mean, what if you had a fully funded emergency fund and you were facing all these things and you had $20,000 set aside and no payments at all? It's a different thing to face life when it comes at you, the storms of life. But, I mean, really, it is a good metaphor.

When they come at you, it's a different thing to face that with a little bit of a pile of money. Or you could even be the guy that stopped in the lobby. He was here Thursday, He and his wife. They were in Nashville. I said, what are you doing in Nashville? He said, well, we live in North Carolina. We thought it was a good time to come to Nashville and throw a party. I said, well, what do you mean?

He goes, well, we're millionaires. We've been doing the stuff you teach for years. And we're completely out of debt. We've got a net worth over a million dollars. And we thought this is a good time to go to nashville doesn't it change your perspective when every decision you make doesn't create yet another crisis i remember just something as simple as a car breaking down every time the car would break down at our house we had a hillbilly drama crisis i mean we would throw i would throw stuff at the car

get mad have a fit stupid car i hate this car i hate every car that's got this color on it this stupid car on the side of the road again i wish someday i could get a position you ever whine i think whining is a little known form of prayer. I'd go into like super whine mode. You ever done that? Yeah, you have. You know you have. What's interesting was once I got an emergency fund in place, I remember the first time we had about $10,000 in the bank,

and the transmission went out on the car. Actually, it went out on the van because I pulled the boat with the van with the shifter in the overdrive position, so I fried the transmission because I was stupid. But that's how it went out. Smoke filled the car, and my children were yelling that they were all going to die, and this is what happens if you put the drive shifter in the wrong place and pull the boat. Anyway, so, yeah, I got to put a transmission in the van.

But it was the weirdest feeling. We're driving away from the place after we put the transmission in. We paid, I don't know, $1,700 or whatever it was for the transmission. It was 100 years ago. And we were driving away because we just went in and picked up the van and wrote a check. And there was no hillbilly drama. It was like weird. It's like this is just an emergency becomes an inconvenience when you have some money.

So the purpose of this show is not to say rich people don't have any troubles. The purpose of this show is to say get some money. Get you some money. It's called an emergency fund. It's one of your first steps. Get you some money. Get yourself out of debt. Quit buying crap that you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you don't really like. Stop it. Get you some money

because the storms are coming. You're going to do something stupid and fry your transmission. There's going to be a hurricane. Something's going to happen. But a crisis is not a hillbilly drama. It's an inconvenience. When you're a millionaire, you come to Nashville and have a party. It's kind of inconvenient to be over here right now. There's a hurricane, so I'm going to go over there. And I'm just going to get on a plane and fly over there and rent me a car and get me a really nice hotel and go to some nice restaurants.

And when we get back home, we'll see what's left work it out it changes everything it changes everything when someone in your family is ill and you can go be with them or you can even help them through that process it changes everything when the storms of life hit. I don't want you to be rich because you're greedy, and I'm not teaching you to be greedy. I'm not greedy. That's not the point. But money is an interesting thing. My friend, Pastor Craig Groeschel, says, why is it wealth is the only blessing from God that we apologize for? Well, I don't apologize for it. I want you to work hard,

come by it honest, save some of it, be a grown-up, and then when a crisis comes, it'll be an inconvenience. Mike Brother over in Wilmington will be praying for you as well. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Let me tell you a story about two families that are very much alike in a lot of ways. Both families have two working parents and a couple of young kids. Each has debt and has struggled to make ends meet, but they're starting to make headway with their budgets and smarter decisions with money. They have dreams and plans, and the only real difference is that one family has the right amount of term life insurance and the other doesn't. Big difference.

If one of the parents die, and that does happen. Their well-being would be destroyed. Paying for the mortgage, utilities, food, and other bills would be impossible, let alone saving for education or retirement. That's why every day I talk relentlessly about getting term life insurance. Just go to ZanderInsurance.com or call 800-356-4282 and see how inexpensive it really is. Be the family that takes those deliberate steps to be different and responsible. It really does make you the hero of your story, and it puts you on course for better things ahead. Thanks for joining us, America.

Gail is with us in Portland, Oregon. Hi, Gail. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Great to talk with you. You too. What's up? I was retired in December of last year, and then I started to listen to you on the radio and decided, well, I can't retire. So this is my scenario. I just turned 66. I haven't started taking my social.

And I seem to be focused on wanting to pay off the balance in my mortgage, but I don't want to return to work full-time. So I return to work part-time, and since June, I've been putting an extra $2,000 a month towards my mortgage balance, which right now is $133,000. And the idea that I have in my head is I have my retirement value. It fluctuates, but it's worth about $778 right now. But not to muddy up the conversation, a lot of it's in annuities.

So I'm thinking of backing out of them because I learned how expensive it is for me to be carrying them. So my idea is this. I figured, you know, by the end of the year, if I keep on my two grand a month, and basically I'm just putting most of that, I mean, what I'm making into the mortgage, if at the end of the year I have an annuity that I could, the surrender fees are over, and I would pay, I'm thinking of using that to pay off my mortgage. But then that would decrease my retirement nest egg by whatever that value would be, like $130,000.

But I guess I could always continue to work part-time and build that back up. So I'm just overwhelmed with figuring out what to do. I got you. So you have Social Security. If you retire again and your house is paid off, you would have Social Security coming in. You could have the income off of just under $700,000. And do you have any other income sources?

Well, the home is actually an occupied duplex. So I live in one side, and the other side is currently rented and in Portland. There's no reason why it won't continue to stay. What does it rent for? Right now it's $1,150. So another $1,000 a month. Okay. Do you have a pension of any kind from any former jobs?

Well, I was an S-Corp, so the money that I have acquired is my... No, I'm talking about not the $600,000 or $700,000, but any other pensions. No, I don't. All right. And so you've got $1,000 coming in on rent. You're going to have $1,500 or so coming in on Social Security. Well, actually, it's $2,200. It 22 okay so that's 3200 how much more than 3200 do you need to live per month well um i'd like at least four so another 800 Okay. That's only $10,000 a year.

So if you'll make sure that the $700,000 you have remaining after you pay off your house, if it were invested well in good mutual funds, and you do have some things you need to move around probably, but let's just use some simple math, okay? Let's say it was invested poorly and didn't even make 10% a year. That would be like $60,000 a year would be less than 10%. 10% would be $70,000, okay? So $60,000, that's $5,000 a month without touching your principal.

That puts you at $8,000 a month income. Oh, I wouldn't know what to do with that. I've never lived that flush. Yeah, go see a SmartVestor Pro. Get your $700,000 reorganized to where it is creating that kind of income by moving it from these annuities or have a plan to systematically move it over the next period of years to where it's creating that kind of income for you, pay off your house and quit your job.

You do not need to be working. Okay. So what do you mean not to? Okay. So go see the smart investor. And I guess my question now is, are you saying that I should not – I'm saying I probably would move out of all of those annuities, at least some of them, and I'm going to put it in good growth stock mutual funds. You can be in a variable annuity.

That's an okay product for some of the money that has mutual funds inside of it. But I want you earning without a bunch of surrender charges, I want you earning good money on this money to where it's a no-brainer for you to pay off your house and still have plenty to live on. Would you recommend that I go see the investor first before I pay off the mortgage. Before you do anything, because I want you to have peace about how this is all going to work. You're very bright. I'm talking to you.

You've got all this figured out. You are not confused about your stuff. You have a very good insight. You have a very good instinct, both a good intellect on what you're seeing. I'm proud of you. You've done a really good job. You're a millionaire. I'm proud of you. You've done a really good job. You're a millionaire. I'm close, aren't I?

You are. You are. That duplex is worth over $200,000 in Portland, Oregon. Oh, absolutely. There we go. I mean, you're going to be there or right there. So you've done a wonderful job. Very well done.

Thank you. So let's just get with somebody to help you polish and fine-tune, and then you will be able to see how you are okay, not because Dave said you're okay. That's when you pay off your house. So click SmartVestor at DaveRamsey.com. Put in your information. It'll drop down a list of SmartVestor pros in your area. Sit down with them.

Take all your annuity junk over there. They can tell you what, well, we don't need to move this one. Let's wait six months because there are too many charges. Okay, then let's move this one, and then we'll move this one. But by the time we get them all moved into good mutual funds and we leave one or two of them in a variable annuity, then if you want to do that, that's fine. Then I'll have this kind of an income without touching the principal.

That $600,000 or $700,000 that's left over after you pay off your house is still going to be creating an income that is more, it's double what you need, what you're saying you need to live on. So you're doing great. You just got to get it polished up, kiddo. You're in really, really good shape. Very, very well done. Dominique is with us in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Hi, Dominique. How are you? Really good, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So my parents did the Financial Peace University years ago. They were debt-free for probably around three or four years.

And the last two or three years, they started going back into debt again, and they just keep adding it up, and they really haven't been working towards paying it off. And I've been trying to help them, like, make a plan and everything, and they're just not really... Sounds like they have a plan. It's just a bad one. Yes, and it just not really... Sounds like they have a plan. It's just a bad one. Yes, and it's not really... It's scaring me because I have a feeling that they're not going to have a retirement when it comes time.

Yeah. Okay. It's really one of the most painful things of being an adult is watching people you love do stupid, self-destructive things. Because the problem is it's not illegal to be stupid. You can't have them arrested right and um and and they're obviously not listening to you right you've talked to them yeah they're just going to go ahead and do stupid right pretty much yeah i i don't know i mean i i think the only thing you can do is to – do you know anybody that –

what was it that got them into Financial Peace University in the first place? Who got them in? I think it's because at our church they had an announcement that they were having classes. Yeah. And they went through it. Was your pastor involved in all that? I believe so. Okay, I'm just wondering if your pastor could talk to them,

because they're not going to listen to you. We've already figured that out, right? Mm-hmm. That's not abnormal, by the way. Most parents don't listen to their kids. So it's hard to take advice from your kids. But what I'm thinking is I wonder if there's somebody else that can speak into their life and give them a little cattle prod. Shock them, right?

Somebody needs to shock them. And they're not listening to you. So, like, maybe a pastor would smack them upside the head in a loving pastoral kind of way. But, you know, something needs to happen. And otherwise, you've just got to stand back and mind your own business. I mean, you could drop some hints here and there. If you all ever want to get out, I'll pay for Financial Peace University if you go back, or I'll help you or whatever. But you're worried more about it than they are. It's time to take another look at your budget.

That means scouring every expense and making sure you're not leaving any money on the table. One of the biggest expenses is your mortgage payment. I recommend a quick Churchill checkup. In just five minutes, our friends at Churchill Mortgage can tell you if you could save some cash each month. They've helped thousands upon thousands of my listeners keep more cash in their pockets through a smarter mortgage. I want you to call Churchill for your checkup and see if you can lower your monthly payment, or better yet, see how you can pay off your house early. Think about it. What could you do with your money if you didn't have a mortgage?

Call Churchill at 888-LOAN-200, 888-LOAN-200, or visit churchillmortgage.com for your Churchill checkup. That's 888-LOAN-200 or churchillmortgage.com. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLS consumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brent Solutions, Molly is with us. Hey, Molly, how are you? Hey, Dave, focused and not finished oh look at you

got her a phrase a motto going where do you live molly russell springs kentucky which is near that's what kelly asked lake cumberland um south central kentucky right on the tennessee line lexington ish ish a little south of lexington yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. Beautiful area up there. Thank you. Mountain country. Good, pretty stuff. No, but close. No mountains? In the middle.

Think more hills. Lake Cumberland's got mountains. Think more hills. Okay, hills, not mountains. All right, good. Well, welcome. Good to have you. How much debt have you paid off?

$88,764 in nine months. You go, kiddo. And how, nine months, and your range of income during that time. My base salary is $82,500 and I ended up at $157,000 for the year. What do you do for a living? I'm a university professor and a nurse practitioner. So you just worked your tail end off nursing stuff. Yep.

Yeah, and doubled your income almost. Yep. Wow. So now time to calm down a little bit. Yes. Very cool. Now, so did you cash flow all this or did you sell something huge? Nope. I cash flowed every dime of it. You are on beans and rice and worked all the time. I did. I taught extra classes for another university and I worked a ton of hours seeing patients wow wow which university you work for eastern kentucky university okay very cool good for you this is fun what kind of debt was the 89 000 it was a car fleece which was not my idea but i got stuck with it in a divorce

and sally may wow two things yeah just kick the old woman out and get rid of the car fleece left over from the deal gone bad yep oh my goodness how long ago was the divorce it's been about a year now okay so that's kind of what activated this you said game on i'm cleaning up this mess yeah i would say that i've had wonderful grandparents in my life dave but um i got mad at my grandmother's funeral which was about a year ago. And everyone loved my grandmother. Her funeral was such a celebration. It really was.

She loved Jesus. It was a good time, if that makes any sense. But everything was going wrong, I felt. Long story, I haven't been able to have kids. I have a great career, but my dog died. Like all these things things i was turning 40 and i just got mad and i just like a country song it was kind of like a country song but no more i'm sick of it um and i my mother um teaches your high school curriculum or did teach your high

school curriculum and that's how i kind of discovered you and got on to you and um and i followed the plan and it works and you know even if you're 40 if you're going through a divorce and your dog dies your mama's still wise she is she is and uh it's not a bad place to turn to no but it you know uh and i've my family is always right. And I think the bad decisions. That makes you a hillbilly. It is, it is. But the decisions I've made in life that haven't gone well have really been made without my family's input and without prayerful decisions.

And I really wasn't raised that way so good decisions come from family input and a lot of prayer and bad ones come from just doing whatever the world suggests so grandma's funeral was just kind of when it all hit all hit it all hit hard and you just said okay she lived her life well i'm going to yeah yeah yeah a life well lived so i'm i've got to do this too. Good for you. Thank you. Well done. I mean, you came through some tough stuff. Some people would have gone to the corner and sucked their thumb. But instead, you just used it as fuel. Well, it is, when money is under control, it makes other decisions peaceful. Good line.

You know, it was very peaceful. You know, not easy decision making. But when you're not worried about money, it's easier to make good decisions. And when you see a lot at the end of the tunnel, because you did this in nine months. I mean, you were game on. I gave my car a name.

It's called the Red Dragon. And the Red Dragon, I'm driving her no car payment i won't ever have a car payment again ever so did you sell the fleece or you paid it out i paid it out okay i paid it out and she's red oh well no um got the dragon she's paid for oh okay i got it okay i'm catching on i'm a little slow. Okay. Good. Very cool. Very cool. I love it. I love it.

Very well done. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt was? Stop using debit cards. Debit cards? Debit cards. The cash envelopes were my, I mean, the budget, yes. Everybody says the budget. But the envelopes and actually touching the money is what made a big difference for me.

Because otherwise, you just eat it. You eat your money. Or I couldn't even tell you what money goes to. But the envelopes really made a difference for me. Being on a budget. And still make a difference. Feeling the money. Feeling the.

Yes. When you let real dollar bills leave your hand at the grocery store, you know you bought groceries. Yep. Yeah, that's very real. Yeah. I love that. Yeah.

Very cool. Good for you. Thank you. Well, and I'll add to that, a great amount of focused intensity and a huge amount of work. You worked your tail off. Yes, I did. Nursing's good like that.

You can work. I love people that get a nursing degree because you can just decide to raise your income. And if you want to lower it back down, you can. You can just work all you want to work. I mean, there's always something to do. Good for you. Well done. Well done. How does it feel?

Exciting. And getting to do things. You know, we took my mom to the Biltmore for Christmas. Nice. She had some health troubles. Tom is not on mom to the Biltmore for Christmas. Nice. She had some health troubles. Tom is not on our side, but paid cash for everything. So I was in Chicago last week for work, and I want to go to a restaurant. I want to go see Hamilton.

Just pay for that ticket. There you go. Not a big deal. It's no thing. It's no big thing. No thing when you got the money. Yep. It changes everything. And when you know that you got the money because you have a budget.

Yes. Rachel says it gives you permission to spend. And I agree the money. Yep. It changes everything. And when you know that you got the money because you have a budget. Yes. Rachel says it gives you permission to spend. And I agree with that. Yeah. That's very good stuff. Yep. Very good stuff. Have you ever stopped and thought that your grandma is probably smiling at you?

I hope she is. And I still have two of my grandparents, so I hope they all smile at me. That's my sister's moral measuring stick. She tells my nephew, now you don't you can't say that if you wouldn't say that in front of a hub you know so or you can't do this if you wouldn't do that in front of a hub so grandparents are good like that that's a good that's a good good plumb line right there very cool yeah great grandkids are great if i'd have known how great they were going to be i'd have been nicer to their parents way to to go, kiddo. I'm so proud of you.

I know your family is. And you have just opened a whole new chapter. Yeah, this is just the beginning of the story. It's not the end of the story. There's a lot of stuff coming for you. You're going to be a millionaire. You're going to be outrageously generous. And you're going to have some unbelievable blessings coming in your future very soon.

Thank you, Andrew. Very well done. I'm proud of you. I know everybody around you is. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired. That is the next chapter, Millionaire Status and Generosity.

Thank you. Well done. Molly from Kentucky, $89,000 paid off, get this, in nine months. $82,000. Oh, no, no. She went to work. $157,000.

This is how you do it. Wow. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Woo!

This is how it's done! Love it, love it, love it, love it, love it. Well done. Man, that is absolutely awesomeness very well played very well played you know if you're listening to this right now and you are in the middle of the nastiness and the heartbreak and the betrayal of a divorce. God put Molly on here today just for you to hear her story. It's going to be okay.

It's going to be okay. You got this. You got this. But it doesn't hurt to be mad at your grandma's funeral. That's the moral of the story. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm not going to live under the thumb of being broke anymore. I'm going to do something about it.

That was her moral. That was her motto, wasn't it? I love that story. What a great young lady. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Amanda is with us in Washington, D.C. Hi, Amanda. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up?

So my question basically was, so a little bit of backstory. My husband worked for the software developer here in D.C. He was supposed to be getting a promotion this past year, but he was just notified that that won't be happening. Why? The company is cutting corners. Okay. They love everything about him. They want him to stay.

They want to promote him to manager with the same rate of pay. But they're struggling financially. Yeah. Okay. same way to pay but they're struggling financially yeah okay so he's wondering if he should just take this opportunity to transfer back to florida to be near family that way we have grandparents for our kids i could possibly go back to school and finish my education and both of you have family in Florida? Just he does. Just he does. Where's your family?

All over Canada. Okay. All right. And what does he make now? He makes $80,000. Can he get a job making that in the city in Florida we're talking about? He's looking at Tampa area, and so far his research has shown him that he could be making 90K for his experience and his level. Well, Tampa, Florida is cheaper than D.C. to live in.

Yeah, his parents live there, and they keep begging us to come down. Yeah, well, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the money. That would be wonderful to be near them, assuming they're nice folk. But, yeah, so is there any reason not to do this? I think that, assuming they're nice folk, but yeah. So is there any reason not to do this? No, I mean, part of me was like, well, why can't we just keep looking around here? You could probably maybe get a better deal here because this is D.C. and he's a software developer.

Software developers make great money everywhere. Yeah, we just have no family. We have nothing here. Yeah, I know. I got that part. So that's not a reason to stay. That's a reason to leave. But my point is that D.C. is not exactly the mecca for software developers.

Right. I don't think I agree with that as a reason to stay um i think you can make really really good money as a software developer in most any major metro area some more than others some have more of a tech corridor than others but it's a it's a sought after um you know it's a sought after skill set are you working now no i'm a stay-at-home mom to two boys two and under and i'm expecting our third you go to florida you get grandma you get grandma in your backyard he makes more money everybody's happier go to florida yeah so another question like i just had so if we move to florida would it be a good idea to go back to school

what's your goal or why are you going back to school i want to finish my midwifery journey you want to finish your what i want to go be a midwife oh okay all right so that's the goal you're going to do that while you're a mom. Yeah, I mean, it's challenging, and I still haven't figured out how I'm going to do that. But if Grandma can watch the kids sometimes, then I can see it's going to be cool. Well, you pay cash for it, and you do it at a reasonable speed. Nothing's on fire. Your husband's going to be making $90. You've got babies and Grandmama around.

Life is going to be really good on your planet. Don't screw it up. But as you want to and as you want to work on that, that's fine. But there's nothing pushing you or driving you to do that except just your desire to serve in that way. So, yeah, go work on it. But that's a sidebar issue. You can do that again in D.C. You could do that in Florida.

But I don't hear anything in the box says, you know, if you do a line down the middle of the page, reasons to stay in D.C., there's nothing on that side of the page. On the other side, reasons to leave is a bunch of them. Go to Florida. That's what I would do. Ann is in San Francisco. Hi, Ann. How are you? Hi.

Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Okay. I just want to start off by saying I want to be like Molly. Really? I have been stupid for many, many years regarding my finances, and I found myself trying to build my credit score up by getting myself into debt.

And I am about $50,000 in debt. My goal is to pay this off as soon as I possibly can so I can move to Idaho. Cool. Can I do it? Sure. Sure. Of course you can do it. It's all about shovel and hole, right?

How big a shovel have you got? What's your income? We know your hole size is $50,000. And you want to do that how fast? I want to do it in seven months if I possibly can. So my yearly income is about $80,000. Okay. Well, you can't do it on that.

Should I get another job i'll just divide 50 by 7 what do you get seventy three hundred dollars right right a month on the debt right you don't make that right so that's not going that's not realistic unless something is based is a big chunk of this something you can sell? You got a car? Well, I have a car. I've been paying on it for years. I owe about $8,000. That's not the problem.

Okay. What's the car worth? Probably about $12,000. Do you own a house? No. Okay. Do you own anything else big? Not really.

Okay. Because, I mean, if you could sell something for 20 grand or you cleaned out a twenty thousand dollar savings account or something like that right then we can you know we can change the eight month formula but if it's simply your income and you divide seven months into fifty thousand well it's seven thousand three hundred dollars or seven thousand two hundred dollars right right i mean i'm willing to get another job at night if I have to. Making $7,000 a month? No.

Okay. You see what I mean? Yeah. If you can do your budget and find $7,000 a month, you can do seven times seven is 49. You remember that? Right. So this is how you do it. It's not – but so I think you can do it.

I don't know if you can do it in seven months unless you get like the dream job from heaven as a part-time job or you get a sizable raise at your regular job or something like that. You make good money, so if you cut your budget down to nothing, I think you could pay it off in 12 months. Okay. I mean, that's reasonable. I just was hoping not to bring that. This is my second marriage, and I don't want to bring debt and this into it with a new life out of state. Oh, that's when you're getting married?

Well, no. I got married about a year ago. Oh. Yeah. Well, too late. You already brought it into the marriage. You're right. I did. Okay. So your husband makes what? He makes about $70,000 a year. And you live in different states?

No, we're moving to Idaho. Oh, together. Okay, good. I feel better. All right. All right. So, yeah, I mean, so the way we do this is we don't do, he's not your roommate. He's your husband.

Right. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, unto thee all my worldly goods I pledge, which includes his freaking income. And so the two of you sit down with your $150,000 income and say we have a $50,000 mess that we made. Well, I made and I brought to we. But now we're French. It's we, we. It's not you and me. Okay?

Okay. It's a we. It's a you and me. Okay? Okay. It's a we. It's a we thing. And so the two of you work your budget together and squeeze as much out of this as you can and very, very quickly pay off the debt. Now, where did the seven months come from? You're moving to where? You're moving to Idaho? Yes.

Is that set that you're doing that at a set time? Yes. The house is being built as we speak. Oh, wonderful. It'll be done in April. Wonderful. Okay. Well, I think with $150,000. It'll be done in April. Wonderful. Okay. Well, I think with $150,000, you might be able to pull this off.

Well, my fear is that I'm going to move to Idaho and not be able to make this type of money that I'm making here in California. Yeah, but my point is if the two of you work on, with a $150,000 income, work on $50,000, you might do that in seven months. Okay, I can see what you're saying. I was trying to do it with just your income because i was uninformed of the marriage early in this conversation okay now i got you married off and you got more money okay so for me to say that i

want to do this all on my own is wrong okay that's bad marriage chemistry he married you he knew the money was there he knew the debt was there and he knew the debt was there, and he married you. He loves you. You are one, and now you are one. Now you are a joint venture. You have your problems. I have my problems. Okay. If I get sick, Sharon makes me soup.

That's how this works. Okay. Okay? We work together on stuff. So you're going to do this right. You're going to do it together. I'm going to give you a wedding gift. I want you to join Financial Peace University's one-year membership.

You go to nine lessons in a local group, and you have one-year access to all the lessons online, as well as every dollar plus online. Happy wedding. Hold on. Kelly's going to pick up and give that to you as my gift. That's $129 for the year. It's worth about $500.

You actually do the stuff in it, it's worth $10,000. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey guys, it's Blake Thompson, Chief Production Officer for The Dave Ramsey Show. This hour's up, but you'll find more on our YouTube channel, where we have over 6 million YouTube views each month. You can find debt-free screams, millionaire hour clips, Dave rants, and so much more. Go check it out.