The Ramsey Show - App - How to Stop Worrying About Money For Good (Hour 1)

Episode Date: September 27, 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. This is your show. Thank you for joining us, America. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Chris is going to start off this hour in Flint, Michigan. Hey, Chris, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Yeah, how are you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve.

What's up? Not too much. I wanted to get your opinion on something. I'm in about $65,000 worth of debt, and I just kind of started your budget yesterday, everydollar.com, and we have about $97 worth of extra money per month, and honestly, I just don't know where to start as far as paying off the debt. Okay. All right. Well, we have a system that we call the Baby Steps.

Baby Step 1 is the first thing I want you to do is save up $1,000. Okay. And you need to do that faster than you're talking about. I want you to do that like in a month. Have a garage sale. Let's scratch some dollars together. Have you got any money in savings? No, we don't. Okay. get a thousand bucks then get a little bit of distance between you and problems not a lot but a beginner starter emergency fund then the second step maybe step

two is to pay off your debts which is what you're calling about you list those smallest to largest pay minimum payments on everything but the little one, and attack the little one with a vengeance. When that one's gone, you attack the next one down. When that one's gone, you attack the next one down. Every time you pay off one, you don't have those payments anymore, and you get to attack the next one down. And what you're going to find is the more passionate you get about getting out of debt,

the more you're going to adjust your monthly budget and the deeper you're going to sacrifice. The deeper you sacrifice, of course, the more money comes to the program. Right now we're at $97, and we've got to increase that. Right, yeah, and my wife has also got a second job, and I'm working on getting a second job as well. Okay, and that's going to increase it. Yeah, that's good. Very good. And how much debt have you got, not counting your house?

About $65,000. And what's your household income? Around $75,000. Okay. Yeah, we're going to find more than $97 to go towards this then. Of the $65,000, how much of that is cars? About $35,000. Oh, you're awfully deep in cars.

Yes. What's the most expensive car? The most expensive car is around $25,000. Yeah. You're probably selling that one. Okay. Yeah, you're probably going to get rid of that one. That's where you bid off more than you can chew.

A good rule of thumb is to not have things with wheels and motors all added together because things with wheels and motors all go down in value. Okay. And you want to be buying more things that go up in value than go down in value. So all the things that have wheels and motors added together should not be more than half your annual income and you're you're over that so yeah you're probably going to sell the $25,000 car you don't have to decide that today but that's probably what's coming in order to get this thing moving and that that cuts down the time that your get out of debt plan, and it gets you back in control again.

But that car is over the top, sounds to me like. So you have to work on it. You look at it, but that's how you're going to get started exactly. And welcome to the journey, brother. You can do it. Nick is with us. Nick is in Omaha, Nebraska. Hi, Nick.

How are you? I'm good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can I help? So I'm starting a new job here that I just got in probably the next week or so, and I'm going to be making about $1,600 a month, and I was wondering what your thoughts are at 18 years old on whether or not I should be contributing to my 401K. Okay. What are your plans for the next few years, college or just working the job?

So I'm a freshman in college. I plan to get a four-year bachelor's degree in management information systems. And how are you paying for that? So this job, actually, the income will allow me to pay for it in full, and then also it has a 50% reimbursement of tuition over the next four years. Wonderful. Very well done. Good for you.

What are you doing? What's your job? So I'm going to be working at my local Apple store as a technical specialist. Awesome. I didn't know Apple paid. They'll pay half your tuition, huh? Yeah. So it's an in-state school. It's roughly $10,000 a year.

So they do a $5,000 reimbursement every year. Yeah. Very cool. Good for you. That's awesome, man. So I'm going to do that for sure. And no, I'm not worrying about 401k right now. Nick, the best investment that you can make mathematically, this is not philosophically. It is true philosophically also. But mathematically, the best return on investment you can get is getting this degree and getting it without debt. You will make more from the money.

Let's say this degree costs you $30,000 out of pocket or whatever it's going to cost you, your return on that $30,000 investment is much higher than it will ever be in a 401k or in a mutual fund because you're going to be making so stinking much money after you get this degree compared to what you're making now. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. That return on investment is better than the return on investment of a 401K. So it appears you have the cash flow worked out to cash flow the degree with the reimbursement and not have any debt. And that's great. But any money you would have put in the 401K is extra money just in a savings account,

and that savings account is called Nick Insurance. We want insurance that Nick gets through his degree, and he does it without any debt. And when you graduate and you have a pile of money that you didn't use in this account, you'll be okay. You can start investing then, and you'll move on up, and, you know, you'll have no debt. But in case there's a bump in the road, there's nothing better than a pile of money to cover a bump in the road. Makes sense. That makes sense? Yeah.

Thank you for the call, man. Proud of you. That's a good track you're doing. I like that. You're going to make good money, and you've obviously found something you like doing. I can tell by the way you're talking about it and the way you've pursued it. You're way ahead of the curve at 18, my brother. Proud of you. Well done. talking about it and the way you pursued it. You're way ahead of the curve at 18, my brother.

Proud of you. Well done. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Pablo is on Twitter. Dave, I just qualified for a car loan with 3.88% interest up to 72 months. Is this a good rate? Pablo, is that a joke? joke i mean you just tweeted dave ramsey and asked if the car loan had a good rate on it the only car loan that i'll ever have again is none no car loan car payments are the mantra of the middle class if you want to get stuck in the middle class and never build any substantial wealth just keep a car loan your whole life that's straight up stupid man no if you don't have

the money to pay cash for the car you don't get to buy the car that's how that works pablo this is the dave ramsey show Thank you. Hey, Spencer here from Smile Love. At Smile Love, we'll straighten your teeth and help you love your smile. That's what we do, and we do it for less than you'll find anywhere else. I guarantee it. I'm serious. We're talking about paying thousands of dollars less without sacrificing any dental expertise. We're hands down the most affordable way to straighten your teeth. It's easy to get started. You just go online to smilelove.com and use the promo code Dave to get an additional $100

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and we think everyone deserves to have it. So if you ever find yourself holding back your smile, get started today at smilelove.com and remember to use promo code Dave to take an additional $100 off. smilelove.com, promo code Dave. Well, this is the week that we have the sign-ups, the open enrollment for Business Boutique Academy. Christy Wright's online training group where she teaches you exactly what you should be focused on for your business so that you can earn money, make an impact, and have the freedom and flexibility for what matters to you most. It's an opportunity to invest in your dream, ladies, or some of you gentlemen that have ladies in your life,

mom, sister, wife, girlfriend, and you think she needs to take that dream and open that business and start running it business boutique academy enrollment is open it closes tomorrow this week is open enrollment closes tomorrow join at businessboutique.com and uh christy will walk you exactly through what you need to do to win with your business. Business Boutique, equipping women to make money doing what they love. Alex is in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Hi, Alex. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I'm 20. I'm young. I just moved out on my own for the very first time, and what I decided to do was go straight into a home. So I purchased my first home, and I know you have a background in real estate.

I was looking for your opinion on how I did on everything. What does it matter? Yeah, that's about it. You've already bought it. What does it matter? Yeah, that's about it. You've already bought it. What's it matter what I think? The thing I, I feel like I've hedged my bets pretty well. I feel like my wealth is, is fairly diversified. I think I'm doing pretty good,

but I've always got a looming feeling of a blind spot or something that I missed. And so I don't know if this is just fear or, you know, maybe I was too young, et cetera. Okay. Are you out of debt except the home? Yes. Do you have an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses i have ten thousand in the bank i have a few ounces of gold i have some stocks is your house is your house on a 15 year fixed uh 30 year fixed okay i would have put it on 15. Is the payment more than a fourth of your take-home pay?

My mortgage is about nine. It's $950 a month. Okay. And I make $3,800 a month. Okay. You bought too much house. You have a 30-year mortgage, and your payment's 30% of your take-home pay. And you bid off a bunch. So I wouldn't have told you to do that, but you've done it. I'm not going to tell you to undo it. You're just going to fight your way through it now, get your income up, and I don't own any gold, and I don't own any single stocks. So that's the stuff that we teach, Alex. But after you've already done things, man, I can't, you know, there's not something I'm not going to beat you up for that unless it's something you can undo easily.

And this house is not an emergency. It's not 50 percent of your take home pay, which would force you to sell it. But you bit more house off than you should have. Yeah, I think. But you know, but I think you can make it too it's just going to be a strain for you and it's going to be tough for you to invest the way you should be investing while you're doing this candace is with us in kansas city hi candace how are you hi i'm good how are you better than i deserve what's up um i was diagnosed with breast cancer back in late 2016, and I had a cleaning business.

And they told me I had an aggressive type of cancer and, you know, I might not make it through it. So, you know, I got depressed and I gave up on everything. Well, they came back to me and said I can go to a trial. And I went, I beat it and everything, but I have side effects, and I work at JCPenney Warehouse. I've been there 15 years, but I went to part-time because of my feet, kind of got in the way of my feet. But now I open my cleaning business, and I open my cleaning business,

and I got a few clients, but I don't have enough to you know pay off my debt um I could go full back full-time JCPenney but I can't but JCPenney is paying me more than a cleaning business because I don't have a few clients but I want to follow my dreams before it comes back because I was told it might come back. So should I just go back full-time, pay off my debt, or should I... So what are you making in the cleaning business? I'd say I've heard about $400 a month. And what are you making at JCPenney? If I go there full-time, I make maybe about $2,500 take-home.

And you're making what? What do you make now? I make half of that. Okay. And so how many clients have you got in your cleaning business? Four. Okay. So you make $ hundred a hundred a client so you would need 25 clients to make the same money right right can you get that can you do that physically

yes i can i can i can i can do that i love cleaning but my it's my, and it's better than JCPenney because I'm clean. It's easier. I work at a hard warehouse. It's hard. It's harder now. It was easier, but it's harder now. The first thing we need to do is get your $400 up to $1,250 to offset the half, right? Right.

Then you're breaking even, and then once you do that, then you can start talking about cutting back on JCPenney every time you pick up a client. Right, right, right. So how much debt have you got? I bought a house right before I got diagnosed. I went through that program, Habitat for Humanity, and the mortgage is $323 a month. Water is maybe like $80 a month. how much debt do you have honey i got a car payment uh how much do you own a car yeah uh yeah this house in the car how much do you own a car

um i'm almost finished i'm gonna owe like probably a thousand dollars left okay so then you're gonna be debt free everything but your house What bills are you behind on? I'm behind on everything. What, like your utilities? Yes, I'm behind on that. Okay. So how many months would you have to work full-time to get caught up on your utilities? What else are you behind on?

About two months. Two months. What else are you behind on? Yeah, two months. Kind of my car payment, too. Okay. You've only got $1,000 left on it, right? Yeah.

Okay. And what else are you behind on? That's about all. Okay. So if you worked like three months for JCPenney full-time and kept these clients, you'd be debt-free. So we're not saying give up on your dream. We're saying work three months. And then you're current, right?

Yeah. And you're debt-free with your house. And then you can start adding clients and dropping off on JCPenney and live your dream. Right. But this isn't, you know, when you say go back to work for JCPenney, you may sound like you're going to be there five years or something. You're going to be there three months. If you can physically do it for three months, it's the fastest way to get this stress out of your life,

and then you can start working towards building up your cleaning business and living the dream, okay? Right, right. I mean, it's Christmas. It's between now and Christmas. Yes, thank you. Work to the end of January and have your little money in the bank and then go back down to part-time. And during that time, be scouting up some more clients. So when you quit, you got like six or eight clients instead of four.

Right. If you can physically do all of that, that's what I would do. I don't know about the limitations with what you've been through. You've been through a hard time. But if you can physically pull that off, that's going I would do. I don't know about the limitations with what you've been through. You've been through a hard time. But if you can physically pull that off, that's going to help your math considerably. The good news is it doesn't take you long to straighten this mess up.

Not that big a mess. And then you can turn around and go that other direction. Hey, I'm going to give you a copy of Christy's book. We were just talking about business boutique. Women running their own businesses is what you're doing, kiddo. And we're going to help you with that. I'm going to send you a copy of the book, Business Boutique.

Hold on. And Kelly will pick up and get that to you. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Identity theft has become an epidemic. Data breaches are being reported every day, and hundreds of millions of people have had their identities stolen, sometimes multiple times. That's crazy. Now, I've seen firsthand when people are stressed and freaked out when they become an identity theft victim.

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It really is the best value out there. Zander.com or 800-356-4282. It really is the best value out there. Zander.com or 800-356-4282. Most of the time when someone comes on to do a debt-free scream, I really have no idea what they're going to say. But this story is one that's been going around this building for a while. So this is a debt-free scream we all have been anticipating. James and Kaylee are with us in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions. Hey, guys, how are you? Better than we deserve.

I love it. So where do you guys live now? Well, we're from Temecula, California, but we are currently living in John Day, Oregon, for free with my parents while we save money because we just got back to the States. So you'll hear about that. Got it. Very cool. How much debt have you paid off twenty

thousand dollars one hundred and twenty thousand one hundred and seventy five dollars and eighty eight cents and how long did that take you a year okay and your range of income during that time thirty six thousand dollars okay what kind of debt was the twenty thousand well um the first thing we went into debt for is a little embarrassing. $2,000 for a Kirby vacuum cleaner. Then we had $5,000 on a credit card and $13,000 on a car. Gotcha. Okay. So, tell us the story.

Okay. So, in June of 2015, we took Financial Peace University for the first time and we just jumped in. We were just kind of immediately obsessed with this idea of becoming debt free and learning how to win at life. So we just started with our $1,000 emergency fund and then we just started the debt snowball, started with the Kirby. Step by step. We then paid off the credit card. That was very exciting. When you pay off these things, you own them.

And I mean, it's an incredible feeling that you don't even know until it's happening to you. So our reward for paying off our credit card was we got tattoos that say,

live like no one else. And underneath, there's a reflection that says, give like no one else. Love it. And anytime we wanted to make a purchase

or reach our arm out, it was right there. Like, no, you want to live like no one else, right? So, yeah. And then during that time, we also taught FPU through our church. That was so fun. We also went to the Smart Conference in 2016.

And if anyone, if you have not been to the Smart Conference, you got to get your tickets now. We actually, since we were becoming debt-free, we saved up our change, our coins, and we went to the bank and we bought our tickets using coins. Fun. Yeah.

So then we paid off our car. We really hit that one hard the past- $13,000 in five months. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So the debt is gone. The debt is gone.

And then the story really begins. Right. So, yeah. So what happened was the same month we became debt free, we saw our daughter's picture for the first time. And we actually had the opportunity to pay the last $500 on our car or the first $500 to start the, to like enter the adoption program.

And we said, you know what? God's got us this far. We got to just follow through. We got to pay off the car. And miraculously that same month, there was an extra $500 that came in. So we did both. So we were able to do both. And, um, so then all of the money that we had been piling on from debt, you know, just went straight over to the adoption. And we said,

God, I don't know how we're going to do this because all we had was our thousand dollars. And this is going to be a 26 plus thousand dollar thing. And we said, okay, you're going to, you know, you've opened this door. It's obvious you want us to step through it so you're gonna have to provide for us and he did uh every step of the way so in november we of 2016 we got on a plane and at this point we still owe ten thousand dollars to the adoption agency and people were calling us a little crazy like what are you doing you're going over to a third world country? Better open a credit card. Yeah, you better have a plan B lined up. And we said, no, no, not for us, no way.

Like, the God is going to have to come through for us so much more. Like, we don't want something to fall back on. Like, we, you know, it was just an absolute no. So we jumped on the plane and we went. We expected to be in Ghana for six weeks. And that turned into 590 days. Whoa! During that time, we landed there together and James spent two weeks there.

But then he actually had to fly back to California to work, to support us. And so I lived in this rural village with Wella for six months. We lived apart. Why did it take so long? Well, because they changed all the adoption laws while we were over there. Oh, that's handy. They got a new president. We just kind of got stuck, you know.

And it was so hard, but it taught us so much. I mean, we had to wake up every day and choose joy choose to surrender um and we had actually right before we had left we had launched our little tiny coffee company and so that was also kind of helping us with um covering the cost of our living expenses food on the table yeah so then after six months went by the Tim Tebow foundation contacted us and said they wanted to give us a grant for $8,000. Wow. And that was just an amazing miracle. And so James was able to come back to Ghana because at that point we had enough in our savings account. Um, and, but we could only afford for him to stay for four months. Um, so he came back and the four months go by and we're like, what do we sell? That's what Dave says. OK, well, we don't have all the car. Yeah, we didn't have anything except our car.

And it was like really like kind of emotional to like, OK, you know, but we got to do it. So we did it and we made seventy two,200 and that supported us for like the, the last like six months that we were there and then also paid for our plane tickets home. And if we would not have been debt free, we would never have been able to live over there. If we would have had car payments, like it would have literally been impossible. So because we followed this plan, we were able to live in Ghana together as a family for 590 days and then come home with our daughter. And we just got home three months ago. Wow.

And while we were over there, it's hard because you're just waiting. You're waiting for the phone call. You're waiting for the email. And it's hard to go through every day like that. And so we just decided to just learn as much as we can. We've read books. We've, yeah, we've read Entree Leadership four times. And I just want to tell anyone who's listening, if you have taken FPU and you're on that path,

that is so awesome. But I got to tell you, you are scraping the surface. There is so much more to offer. If you go to Dave Ramseysey's website i think y'all know how to get there enough with the ad all right you guys you guys are incredible that's so fun what a crazy story yeah yeah and what a wonderful story so the the fact that you were completely debt free and then actually sold the car which was paid for yes uh got you through the whole process and you were able to stay long enough and outweigh the bureaucrats that's right and now now that we're home we're

able to start giving back and we're just doing that through our little tiny business that we have followed through dave's um plan and we just have grown and we became nationwide just a little over five months ago and um we are able to help other adoptive families now bring their kids home. And right now we're actually supporting a family right here in Nashville, and we're helping them bring their kids home from Madagascar. Wow. How fun. You guys are fun.

How old are you two? I'm 28. I'm 26. So what is your household income nowadays? Well, that's a great question. It varies because we do a little bit of graphic design work on the side. The coffee varies a little bit. And right now we're managing a little coffee shop while we practice for our dream of opening up our own coffee shop in Temecula, California.

Let's get Wella into the camera shot. She's got to be there when you do the dead free scream for sure in this. She's a cutie. I got to meet her at the commercial break a while ago. What an right, come here. She's got to be there when you do the debt-free scream for sure in this. She's a cutie. I got to meet her at the commercial break a while ago. What an incredible, incredible story. All right, it's James and Kaylee and Wella. We're going to do our tip. The San Diego area, Oregon area, Africa area.

I mean, wherever we want to find these people, we can find them. $20,000 paid off in one one year but that's just the tip of the story did that and i'm making 36 000 a year and opened up their whole world i'm so proud of y'all well done i'm honored to know you count it down let's hear a great debt-free scream okay well are you ready to do a debt-free scream okay go ahead one two three We're debt free! Woo! I love it! Love it, love it, love it! Well done, you guys.

Very, very well done. Hey, what would you do, what dream would you live if you didn't have payments? Maybe that one's not your dream. Maybe that is your dream. Maybe you're crying right now at that story. Well, then let's get moving, kiddo. I'll walk with you. You can do this. We'll be right back. Katie's with us in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Katie. Hi. How are you? Good, how are you? Better than I deserve. How can I help? I am a single mom to one two-year-old, and I am looking for extra income um i am getting out of school

in december and i was wondering do i get a part-time entry-level job now or do i wait till i'm out of school and use my certificate that i'm going to school for what is your what's your what are you going to school for? EMT basic and firefighting. Okay, cool. And so what would be wrong with getting a part-time job now and then changing to one with your certificates after you get them? I mean, I could. I mean, I just want to be able to keep up on my schoolwork as well,

working a part-time job and doing all that. Primary goals, get the certificate, finish school, right? That's the primary goal. Yeah. But you call me saying, should I get an extra job? And the answer is, yeah, if you can pull it off because you're trying to get out of debt. You're trying to work your way through this. And every dollar we add to this equation is a dollar we don't have to screw with later,

right? Yep. So, I mean, it's up to you. You can look at your schedule and you you know you got a baby to deal with and you got a lot of a lot of things pulling at you but uh but if you look at all of that and you figure out um that you can still squeeze in a few hours and get some extra income until you get the certificate fine and then when you get the certificate i would guess that you could make a lot more yeah yeah and then that's going to change everything for you so

yeah do all you can do that's it live like no one else work like no one else so that later you can work like no one else meaning have some choices julia is in dallas texas hi julia how are you fine how are you better than i deserve what's up um i was calling because I recently got married about a couple years ago. I get child support money for my kids. We're starting to work on your baby steps, and I wanted to know if I should include the child support money in with our money. Yes. Yes.

The reason is very simple. in with our money yes yes and the reason the reason what i've been doing is just kind of putting it aside it's putting some for the kids for savings no you don't need to do that because you're already taking care of your children okay you spend more on your children you and your new husband spend more on your children than you get in child support. Okay. By the time you figure out food, lights, water, shelter, you know, clothing, you spend more on them than you receive. And so for you to include what you receive as income would be normal and accurate. And part of your long-term goal is not only support the children but obviously to get up through the baby steps to start saving for their college and doing other things for your kids

like you would normally do so okay you've not done anything morally wrong by not setting that money aside because you already spent more than that on them each month yeah is that logical to you okay yes that sounds good that's what i've been debating about because what i've been doing is keeping it aside if they wanted something clothes whatever i use that money you know their clothing their clothing should be in your regular budget you should be clothing your children anyway okay yeah just you've got clothing for the household i mean clothing for all the people that live there you've got clothing for the household. I mean, clothing for all the people that live there. You've got electricity and food for all the people that live there.

And I wouldn't try to keep it separate. It also helps relationally to integrate them, you know, in terms of with their stepdad, if you want to call him that, your new husband. And, you know, for everybody to be unified that, hey, we together are taking care of these kids. And part of our income is that we have some child support that causes us to be more able to do that. But we don't have to break it apart. Good question. Thanks for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. We've got a bunch of events coming online right now.

And you need to be aware those of you in houston texas tonight at the woodlands church the marriage and money event with rachel cruz and les parrot and there are just a couple tickets left it's about 2 000 folks going to be there and um rachel has been speaking over at fincon down in orlando is flying over right now as we speak to houston to be able to do that event tonight. Les is flying in, of course, to do the event tonight there. It is going to be an incredible fun event. This coming Tuesday, we will be in San Francisco doing our Smart Money event.

I looked this morning or just a few minutes ago on the ticket sale report. I think there's 57 tickets left, meaning that by the time I come back on the air Monday or Friday or Monday, this thing is going to be sold out. October the 2nd, San Francisco, Chris Hogan and I, smart money event. Minneapolis, October 29th, already sold out. And we have a overflow satellite venue that you can still get tickets to. But the main event itself already sold out. San Antonio, November 15th, not yet sold out. That will be the last fall event of the Smart Money Tour. And then we'll go off into January with Colorado Springs and Irvine, California.

So all those are on sale, but that's what's going on. The other one that is almost sold out is October the 13th Smart Conference in Kansas City, the day-long event with all the speakers, the full lineup. And that one is down to about 100 tickets. And so getting ready to announce sellouts on all three of those. Tonight is the marriage and money event in houston tuesday october the 2nd san francisco and kansas city october the 13th with the smart conference so those three right there almost done almost done so you need to know

that if you're in those areas and we're thinking about going, you're about to miss it. They're almost gone. Typically our events sell out, but if we size the venue to what we think it's going to sell in the market, they typically sell out right up near the last day or two before the event, which, for instance, San Francisco is going to be Tuesday. It's going to be announced to sell out on Friday or Monday or something like that. It didn't announce it.

We're no Garth Brooks. It doesn't sell out in 20 minutes, you know, something like that. But we try to size it, and we're going to have, I think, 3,000 folks there in San Francisco. So good size event. Thank you very, very much. We're very excited to come out there. Very first event there in San Francisco that we've ever done, so really good times. Michael's with us in Lexington, Kentucky.

Hi, Michael. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you for having me, Dave. Sure. What's up? Pleasure and an honor to talk to you finally. You too, sir. How can I help?

Well, I'm 95% debt free. The house is already paid for. I don't like the way we got the house. My mother-in-law passed away to get the house. That's not the best way. But the only thing we have left is my wife saying that we've got to pay off. That's it. I'm 41, and I have zero retirement as of right now. would be the best way to actually and actually the best way and the most productive way to

get something saved up needless to say well you got plenty of time but we need to you know we need to work the plan and let's get the van paid off how much do you own this van uh we owe right at 11 000 now what's your household income uh About $84,000. Oh, well, that's getting knocked out. Good gracious. We've been trying. I just paid the, let's see, three weeks ago, we paid the last student loan payment off. Okay. So, what are you putting?

Are you putting $3,000 a month on this thing? That's what we have then. Good. However, we've got five beautiful children, and they take up a lot. Yeah. Well, that $3,000 a month out of 80 is doable. And you'll be done in like three or four months, and then finish your emergency fund, and then you start saving 15% of your income into retirement.

And if you save 15% of $80,000 from age 43 to age 65, you'll be fine. Okay. But you're going to end up saving more than that because your income is going to increase during that 20 years, and you're going to get your house paid off during that 20 years. Well, how far I paid off? Well, so there we go. I mean, what you're going to do is catapult all the way to baby step seven.

That's right. I missed that. Oh, okay. Yeah, you're right. You told me that, but I goofed. So, yeah, get the van paid off, get the emergency fund in place, and then start saving aggressively. You can put more than 15% in here at Baby Step 7. And, of course, start saving for kids' college.

So 15% plus of your income for the next 20 years, and everything's already paid for. You're going to be great. You're fine. But let's play on through here, dude. You just got to run through the tape. You can see the finish line. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, Dave's phone screener.

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