The Ramsey Show - App - I Have a Family With 4 Kids on a $35,000 Income...Should I File Bankruptcy? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 16, 2019

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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. That's 888-825-5225. Starting off this hour is going to be Alyssa in Oklahoma. Hi, Alyssa.
Starting point is 00:00:54 Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Happy Monday. Happy Monday to you. How can I help? So we just started. My husband's in active duty military we were actually just at fort campbell a few months ago in tennessee and now we're in oklahoma but we just started the debt snowball i
Starting point is 00:01:13 started it with the next paycheck november 1st cool yeah um i stay home with my two kids they're sleeping right now so i got a minute but um I just ordered the book, The Total Money Makeover, so I don't know if this question will be answered in there. But we live on post. We move often. We haven't done anything about a house, and that's in the future, but I'm thinking ahead. And I just want to know kind of what your input would be with saving for a house
Starting point is 00:01:41 or how to go about that when active duty. Yeah. Thank you for your service. Appreciate you a bunch. We work with military all over the world and have for decades. What we find is this. Most of the time, it is not good for you to buy a home if you're still in the point of your career where you're being moved a lot.
Starting point is 00:02:02 Yes. And the reason is, here's what happens. If you buy a home in some areas where there is a base, the base is the primary driver of the economy in a smaller town, which means there's always a bunch of homes on the market. Right. Because they're always moving the guys and gals out right yep and so it consequently it is hard to get good appreciation in value on those houses because
Starting point is 00:02:33 there's always a bunch of houses selling people need to sell houses right so what ends up happening is the house doesn't sell and you end up with a rental property stuck everywhere you bought a house every before you got transferred and so you end up with rental properties dotted all over the united states not a good plan because you became a landlord by default i wouldn't do that the only time i would buy is if you know you're going to be you're at the point in your career or the type of job in the military where they're not going to move you uh for a while five years or more than I would probably buy. Okay. If you're going to move every two years, most of the time, you're not going to want to. The exception would be if you're in a major market and the major market is, you know, the
Starting point is 00:03:21 value of the homes are going up so fast and selling so easy that even if you did move every two years, you can make money and get the house sold. Right. But that's the only time. I'm sorry? I think my question is, I don't want to buy a house until he retires, which will be about 10 years. Okay, I misunderstood. We're only halfway through. No, it's okay.
Starting point is 00:03:45 I'm sorry. I might have worded it funny. But I think my question really is kind of how to save or what to do, because I know I don't want to buy until about 10 years, honestly, until he retires. And we'd love to stay in Tennessee, actually. I loved it there. Okay.
Starting point is 00:04:01 But that's kind of my – I'm like, what's my game plan? I would just throw it in a mutual fund. I would have a mutual fund that was nicknamed my house fund. And I would just like you were saving up to pay cash for a house because you are. Perfect. And that's kind of what I was thinking, but I was thinking, and so just set it up in a, okay, a separate fund. That would be perfect. Yeah, get with your smart Mr. Pro that's helping you with your other investments for your kids' college and that kind of thing.
Starting point is 00:04:30 Then, you know, go that way but uh that makes a lot of sense and you'll be ready to go at the end of that 10 years you probably in 10 years you can save up enough to pay for it unless you move into a super expensive area or something hey thanks for the call and again thank you for your service adam is in ohio. Hey, Adam, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, how are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'll try to be quick for you, of course. My wife and I have four children.
Starting point is 00:04:55 She is a stay-at-home mom. I make about $32,000 to $35,000 a year. Together we have about $100,000 in debt. We are kind of new to the Dave Ramsey thing, so we got the money, the app and all that, and we're going through. Most of the debt is mine. I have about $80,000 of the debt with $30,000 of it being student loans. $30,000 of your $80,000 is student loans? Yes. Okay. What's the other 50?
Starting point is 00:05:32 I co-signed for a car when I was 18, and that's $20,000, and the car got repoed. And I have some stuff for school that wasn't covered by student loans, some medical things, and just kind of like all small things add up. I have no credit cards whatsoever. Those other small things add up to $30,000? Well, with the car is $ is twenty thousand of it yeah i owe another i owe a college fourteen thousand and then and i owe um some like two different medical bills that come up to ten thousand and then um another uh five thousand is another school. Okay. And what's your degree in? I did not get to finish due to having kids. So I want to go back, but now I want to be able to like pay for it instead of taking out more student loans. Okay. What were you studying?
Starting point is 00:06:23 I was biology and I am about a year away. Like if I, if I went back now, I may have to do longer just because of the timeframe, but I had about a year left to get my biology degree. I got you. How old are you? I'm 27. Okay. And what's the other 20,000 that your wife had? She has about, oh, she has 20,000 in student loans, also then get to finish her degree, and 2,000 is medical. Okay, all right. Okay, and your question's what? We know that it's a big no-no in you, so I kind of feel like I know the answer, but I was debating if i should file bankruptcy due to the massive amount of my loan and then the fact i only make 32 to 35 000
Starting point is 00:07:12 because one of the debts that i owe are attempting garnishment and it'll take 25 percent of my take home pay which would be a lot for my family. Who's attempting garnishment? One of the universities that I owe. The $14,000. The $14,000, okay. Yeah. All right. I'll tell you what.
Starting point is 00:07:39 Well, it's not a big no-no in the sense of, like, I'm mad at you or something. It's just a matter of does it do any good, number one. And then, number two, I always put bankruptcy and divorce in the same bucket. You try everything you can try to keep from doing it. Anything you can do to avoid it, we avoid it. And then sometimes good people face that. I went through a bankruptcy. And I'm not proud of that, and I wouldn't recommend it.
Starting point is 00:08:01 I've got a friend who went through a divorce. He's not proud of that, but he wouldn't recommend it. But he survived it, and there's life the other side of it, but it's a life-altering occurrence, you know? And so we want to look at it and analyze it and say, what is anything we can do to avoid it? You've got a pretty big mess here, for sure. No question about that. Can you hold with me through the break and let's break it down a little bit on the other side of the commercials? Absolutely. Thank you. All right. I'll be right back with you. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Support a small business this holiday season that does business right.
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Starting point is 00:09:42 I'm really proud of these guys, and i'm thrilled to recommend them to you go to grip6.com and search for the dave ramsey page to get 35 or more off grip6 products grip6.com We're talking with Adam in Ohio, $32,000 income, four kids, $122,000 in debt, $30,000 in student loans on him, $20,000 on his wife. That's $50,000 of the 120. 20 in a repo, 14 at a college that's coming after them with a garnishment, 10 in some medical, 5 in another school loan, and so on, 2 in another medical. A lot of stuff piling up and not much income. And it's been a while, and he's been getting beat up, wondering if he needs to file bankruptcy.
Starting point is 00:10:42 Is that a fair summary of what you told me so far, sir? Yeah, it's 100K,000 total, though, not $120,000. I'm not happy with the $100,000. I don't want to add $120,000 to it. Oh, I must have added it wrong. Okay. All right. Well, the – oh, yeah, you said $80,000 was yours.
Starting point is 00:10:58 That's right. I did screw up. Okay. Either way, it's overwhelming. It's a lot. Yeah. Okay. Either way, it's overwhelming. Yes, it's a lot. And the garnishment coming at you is what's prompting this. So here's the thing. If you file bankruptcy, you're still going to have the $50,000 in student loan debt.
Starting point is 00:11:17 Yes. It survives the bankruptcy. So we're filing bankruptcy on about $60,000, and it gets rid of the garnishment. And you probably, there's what's called a means test when you go in to file bankruptcy. And if you make too much money, your income indicates you can pay your debts. Then they put you into a Chapter 13, which is a payment plan, not a Chapter 7. I think you'll pass that means test looking at this, and you probably will qualify for a Chapter 7, which would wipe everything else off except those two student loans. So that's what bankruptcy would do for you, and obviously that would be a relief.
Starting point is 00:11:59 The thing I always want to look at, and I want to make sure you're looking at and help you with, is two things. When I filed bankruptcy, the attorney was a character, but he did say a couple of things that were wise. One of them, he said, make sure you protect your marriage because financial stress will destroy your marriage. And no kidding, we were about to kill each other at that moment. I guess he saw the black eye Sharon had given me. I don't know. But the second thing he said was bankruptcy does not create an income.
Starting point is 00:12:32 And what you've had is, um, a long, uh, career, a long period of time where you've been stuck on your career, your career sucks and it's not getting better you've been stuck on your career. Your career sucks and it's not getting better is what I'm trying to say. Yeah. And bankruptcy is not going to solve that. You're still going to be sitting there with $50,000 in debt, four kids at $32,000 a year. You're still slightly above the poverty level at that point.
Starting point is 00:13:03 Right. So it's still still gonna be a mess so bankruptcy is not really it's gonna help but it's not gonna solve everything so uh versus like as an example uh this stupid college may force you into it because you may have to do it to protect your income to feed your kids you can can't lose 25% of $32,000 to a garnishment. Yeah, I'd be bringing home like $650 every two weeks. I know. You can't feed your family and keep your lights on doing that.
Starting point is 00:13:34 So they may force you into it if they do that. You may mathematically not be left with any options. I hope that is not the case. But what solves your overall problem when we solve your overall problem is when we solve your career problem you have an income problem agreed yeah the sad thing is is for my area i'm actually doing pretty well no you're not the only other jobs no you're not it sucks you're not doing good at all i mean you're starving to death, man.
Starting point is 00:14:05 It's not that you're a bad person or you don't work hard. That's not what I'm saying. You're not making money. I mean, if you live in an area where $32,000 is a high income, it's time to move. Yeah. Yeah. Where do you live? Toledo, Ohio. The only other place that's going to get me more money than that right now is factories are going and finishing out my degree.
Starting point is 00:14:30 Or starting a business. Toledo, Ohio has a lot of successful business people. Toledo, Ohio has contractors that make money. Toledo, Ohio has IT people that make money. Toledo, Ohio has people who design websites. Toledo, Ohio is not a depressed market where the average income is $32,000. That's just not true, man. You're stuck right now, and you've had the crap beat out of you. So I'm being your coach at halftime when you're behind, and I'm saying you've got more in you than you realize, and I'm trying to say let's go play the second half better. I think we've got – I know we've got to work on your income, regardless of if you file bankruptcy or not.
Starting point is 00:15:11 You've got to double your income in the next three or four years. And it's not necessarily going back to school. It's just a better choice of where you're working and what you're doing. But you've been doing this for like five years, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not getting any better. So that's what I would tell you.
Starting point is 00:15:30 I hope you can avoid the bankruptcy. Because here's the thing. Let's just pretend for a second. Let's just dream for a second that you can start making $60,000. And you can pick up a side hustle. And your wife picked up a side hustle and made another $10,000. That adds $20,000 to this. up a side hustle and made another 10. That adds 20 to this.
Starting point is 00:15:47 Now we're at 80. People do this kind of thing all the time. You heard them doing the debt-free screams. Okay, I don't know if you're cutting grass or blowing leaves. I don't know if you're making websites. I don't know if she's cutting hair. I don't know what we're doing. Let's just pretend, though.
Starting point is 00:16:01 Let's just pretend that was possible because it is. If you did all of that, you guys are so used to living on nothing for five years you've been living on nothing if i had fifty thousand dollars a year coming in extra above what you got coming in now i can solve this entire thing in under two years and you're not bankrupt you see right so I mean, you could pay 100% of these bills, and you could, by the way, you could settle these old medical bills. You could settle the other old school debt. You'd probably sell this $14,000 for 50 cents on the dollar or 25 cents on the dollar if you had a little cash to throw at them. If you offered them $3,000 or $4,000 today, they'd probably take it, but you don't have $3,000 or $4,000. Getting that, yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:46 That's the problem. And you probably don't have anything you can sell because you guys have been living hand-to-mouth. And, again, I'm not shaming you, and I'm not saying you're a bad guy at all. Don't hear that, okay? All I'm saying is you've got more potential than you've been getting out of this. And the math is not going to get easier until we get the income side of this equation up. So that's where we want to help you if we can. And if you can get some more income coming in, you can probably settle that repo for easily 20 cents on the dollar.
Starting point is 00:17:16 So four grand will settle that. You can settle those medicals for probably 20 cents on the dollar. They're five years old. Probably settle these couple school loans. You're not going to sell the student loans themselves out like that but all of a sudden this hundred thousand starts turning into about 50 or 60 or 80 thousand bucks on settlements with lump sums and now you got some cash to throw at it because we've changed your income but changing your income is the part of the math equation we have to have to do to make that a possibility so that's what i'm hopeful for for you and uh ken coleman is our career guy here at ramsey i'm going to send you a copy of his book the proximity principle and i want you and
Starting point is 00:17:51 your wife to put the kids to bed to bed early tonight turn off everything in the house get a little cup of hot chocolate and sit and dream again like you used to when you were 17 or 18 of what you want to be when you grow up that pays $70,000 a year or $170,000 a year and what are the steps to get there and don't tell me you got to go back and get a $100,000 loan to get a student loan to go to school to get there. You don't. So what are the steps to go be what you want to be three years from now two years from now making much much more money for you and your family that's what's going to be necessary here for you because if you live this way for the next 20 years you're going to struggle you're going to struggle and i don't want that for you man so hold on kelly's going to pick up we're going to give
Starting point is 00:18:41 you a copy of ken coleman's, The Proximity Principle. Kelly also threw in a book called Start for him out of our library, one that we published a while back. Start. Because he needs to start fresh. This is a fresh start thing. Reboot this thing. Reboot this computer.
Starting point is 00:19:00 Cold restart. When my computer's not working, I don't know how to fix it because I'm horrible with computers. But I know cold restart. Turn it completely off, turn it back on. Solves a whole lot of the problems. Takes a few minutes. But it always solves a lot of the problems.
Starting point is 00:19:13 And that's true of a lot of things in life. Hey, man, you call me back if I can help more. I hope you're not forced into this bankruptcy. Let's see if we can fight our way through it by dreaming again. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs?
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Starting point is 00:20:34 To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the Debtfree stage. Richard and Trish are with us. Hey, guys, welcome. Hey, Dave, how are you? Better than I deserve.
Starting point is 00:21:10 Welcome, welcome. Where do you all live? Rochester, New York. Cool. And all the way to Nashville to do a debt-free scream. Yes, sir. Love it. How much have you paid off?
Starting point is 00:21:18 $120,586.44. Excellent. How long did this take you? 46 months. All right, man. Good job. Good job. And your range of income during that time?
Starting point is 00:21:30 We started at around $55,000 up to about $100,000, and we're right around $90,000 right now. All right. What do you all do for a living? I work in manufacturing in a machine shop. And I'm an HR consultant. Very good. What kind of debt was the $121,000? Car debt, credit cards, and a whole lot of student loans. All right. You were kind of like normal
Starting point is 00:21:55 people. Super normal, yes. So what happened 46 months ago, four years ago, that lit you up? Well, 46 months ago, we had a child on the way. I currently lost my job. Oh, we had a pre-planned vacation. We were getting ready to go on. And Trish comes home and says, hey, there's this Dave Ramsey guy. Yes. So I've been going to the same dental office for about 20 something years. And my dental hygienist mentioned that she was in Financial Peace University, and she actually was a coordinator. She said it just changed her entire family.
Starting point is 00:22:32 And to be honest, I didn't know if there was anything we could do. I didn't think we would be able to, you know, come out of the debt. But I said, hey, if she's able to do it, you know, I'm pretty sure we could do it too. Yeah. So that gave you a little spark. Absolutely. So you checked into it when you got home. Correct.
Starting point is 00:22:45 Yes, we did. Did you cancel the vacation? No, we did not. We did go on a vacation. It was the last one before our daughter was here, so we decided to continue to go on it. Knocked that out. Got home and decided to get after it. Yes, sir.
Starting point is 00:22:59 So what did you do when you got home? Well, when we got home, we ended up in Financial Peace University. We attended the nine-week class, and that's where it began. Okay. when you got home? Well, when we got home, we ended up in Financial Peace University. We attended the nine-week class, and that's where it began. Okay, so it started making you believe it'd work. Yes, it took about three months working on the budget, getting things together, getting on the same page. We had never done anything like that before, and we were just treading water the whole time. Didn't really realize it. I think the first two months is the hardest of the whole 46. Yes. Getting on the plan, understanding the plan, and beginning to work the plan,
Starting point is 00:23:33 and then to see that it works. Well, it amounts to it. I mean, yeah, but you've been doing this another way, and you have to stop and change your whole life. Yes. And that's hard. Absolutely. It is hard. It's emotionally Yes. And that's hard. Absolutely. It is hard.
Starting point is 00:23:45 It's emotionally painful. It's practically painful. It's relationally painful. You have to tell people, no, I'm not going out to eat. Yep. You know? Right? A whole lot of that.
Starting point is 00:23:55 Yeah. But, I mean, once you kind of get used to it, like a year in, it's like part of the deal, right? But that first two months is kind of hell, isn't it? Absolutely. Yeah. It's like part of the deal, right? But that first two months is kind of hell, isn't it? Absolutely. It's hell. And the one thing that going through, we noticed when we started doing it, Murphy decided to come along quite often. And this allowed us to not only stand our ground battling Murphy in many situations and give us a fighting chance.
Starting point is 00:24:22 And so, yeah, about a month in, we got into a car accident. Of course. Number one. This is a test. This is a test. It's like, okay, we got in this. Our daughter was just born in March of 2016. A month later, car accident.
Starting point is 00:24:37 Oh, man. Total car. Total car. So there's number one. And then January 2017, another one. Oh, really? Yep. Yep.
Starting point is 00:24:47 30 days later. All new cars. Yeah, we were driving used cars, but here we go. You got a whole new set. A whole new set. Insurance money comes in, you just replace it, right? That's right. 30 days later, she gets totaled.
Starting point is 00:24:59 Oh, my God. Yep. And then we take on to October of 2017. I get totaled again. So in a span of a year and a half, we had four car accidents, which all rear-enders and a weather condition. So here we are going into major frantic mode to get a new car, get a new ride. How do we get to work and do all this stuff? And thankfully, we were doing the plan, which allowed us to use the insurance money,
Starting point is 00:25:30 put a little more with it, get another used car. Yeah. And it kept us going. Yeah, every time. Every time. And it didn't knock you completely off, but it knocked you sideways for a minute. It knocked us sideways. No pun intended.
Starting point is 00:25:42 Absolutely. It was like the further we went, Murphy decided to throw another jab and well you know that's amazing you guys bounce back uh yeah so what's the story on the t-shirts dare to be debt free well we realized that uh going forward this was quite countercultural to everybody we know all our our coworkers, and that most people are kind of like, what is that? Why are you doing that? You'll always have debt. This is America.
Starting point is 00:26:10 It's the American way. And so we decided to take a stand and say, no, it can be different. And if we can do it, so can you. There you go. Dare to do it, baby. Dare to do it. Game on. Game on.
Starting point is 00:26:24 That's it. I like it. Well done. So what's your advice to do it, baby. Dare to do it. Game on. Game on. That's it. I like it. Well done. So what's your advice to someone that wants to dare to be debt-free? What do they need to do, Trish? Absolutely. Stick with it. Be persistent. Stick to the budget. Know you'll have your challenges because that's life. But believe you can do it and make those behavioral changes. Yeah, I agree. And to be diligent, to follow the plan, stay consistent. You have to believe it. You have to have the vision and change your behavior.
Starting point is 00:26:55 Know that it's temporary working through the debt and that you will get through the end. But you have to push on. You just have to do it. Just do it. Yeah. Well, well done, you guys. Very well done. We're proud of you.
Starting point is 00:27:08 Who are your biggest cheerleaders outside the two of you? Other people that have gone through the Financial Peace Program. People that have been going through the journey with us. They've been great support. Financial Peace Groups are good groups to have around. It's positive peer pressure for a change. Yes, we actually got reconnected again not too long ago to get back involved as we move forward and maybe steps to reconnect with people.
Starting point is 00:27:34 And we met our first everyday millionaires that way as well. Wow. Yeah, our new financial peace coordinators, Harold and Kia Bain, everyday millionaires. Well, that's a good inspiration for you. It was. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for Yeah. Everyday Millionaires. Well, that's a good inspiration for you. It was. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires, because that's the next chapter in your story. And you brought your young daughter with you.
Starting point is 00:27:53 What's her name and age? Yes. Her name is Audrea, and she's three years old. And she's got Dare to Be Debt Free on. Absolutely. And she's three. She's three and debt free. I love it.
Starting point is 00:28:04 We're changing things around here. That's a family tree change right there, baby. Absolutely. I she's three. She's three and debt-free. I love it. We're changing things around here. That's a family tree change right there, baby. Absolutely. I like it. You guys are incredible. I'm so proud of you. Well done. Richard and Trish and Audrea from Rochester, New York,
Starting point is 00:28:17 $121,000 paid off in 46 months, making $55,000 to $100,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Ready? Let's show them how it's done. Glory to God. What time is it? Time to be free.
Starting point is 00:28:33 What time is it? Time to be free. What time is it? Time to be free. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Love it! Woo! love it this is how it's done right here man oh man that's fabulous absolutely incredible very very
Starting point is 00:28:56 well done you guys some very important things they were with that 46 months. Four years. Most people in our culture can't stay with a television program four minutes. Most people can't stay on a job four months. They did this for four years. This is how champions are made. Champions do things over time. People who win, who are successful, are the ones that can look out, have a vision.
Starting point is 00:29:42 Where there is no vision, the people perish perish when you can look out four years go through four cars being totaled go through a baby being born you can do all of this and go through job ups and downs go through people saying you're crazy when you can stick with it when you can stick with it when you can stick with it that's when you'll win. And it's sweet. Oh, the taste of that success. It's rich, baby. It's rich.
Starting point is 00:30:15 Good congratulations, you guys. So proud of you. Hey, if that doesn't inspire you guys out there, I don't know what does. Get after it, baby. Game on! Our scripture of the day, Galatians 6, 9, And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Charles Dickens said, No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.
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Starting point is 00:32:07 they're trying to get you the best deal for the best rate and that's that's the thing right go to DaveRamsey.com slash ELP click on insurance and get started DaveRamsey.com slash ELP for insurance Connor is with us in Ohio hey Connor welcome Connor, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for having me. Sure. What's up? So I'm 18 years old, and I work a full-time job.
Starting point is 00:32:37 And it's around that time of the year I have to decide between insurance plans. The company I work for, the insurance isn't great, but between the two, because their PPO is just garbage, to be completely honest, but the HSA, it's between the HSA and an HMO plan that I found on the marketplace. And all it was is that I just wondered if it's worth it because the HSA would cost me $290 per month, and that's before any contribution,
Starting point is 00:33:09 whereas the HMO plan would cost me $295 per month, and that includes vision and dental. It has a $1,250 deductible, and they cover 80-20 co-insurance until I reach a max out-of-pocket of $5,900. The HMO plan also includes low co-pays for doctors, visits, specialists, urgent care. What is the guidelines of the deductible and so forth on your HSA? The HSA, it's a $4,000 deductible, and then it's 100% covered by the insurance.
Starting point is 00:33:46 So it's, yeah. So what are you making? What kind of income are you making? I make about $45,000. And how much money do you have in savings? In savings, a total of about $6,000. Okay. And how healthy are you?
Starting point is 00:34:03 I have some health issues. I go to the doctor fairly often. I'm not incredibly unhealthy, but based on my health needs, I mean, I tried short-term insurance and other things like that, PPO's, and I just ran into nothing but headaches with them. Yeah, the doctor's visits that you would normally make would be covered under this HMO? Yeah, it would be $15 each time I went versus paying out-of-pocket with an HSA each time. Exactly. I go to the doctor's usually at least once a month.
Starting point is 00:34:35 Exactly. The HMO is going to be better, don't you think? I think so overall because the HSA, it's more per month without the contribution, and then I just wondered if it was worth it to get that pre-tax money. No, no, I'm not worried about that. I'm trying to get your health covered the most efficiently, and you found a really good deal on an HMO. Dude, you have done an amazing job analyzing this, 18 years old.
Starting point is 00:35:04 Yeah, I just graduated this past year. You laid this out. I mean, you laid this out like somebody 10 years older than you. I mean, you really, you got your crap together. How'd you learn how to do this? Actually, shout out to my barber. He does the Financial Peace University in Columbia. Jake from Columbia at his barber shophop and then my math teacher in school taught us a lot of your principles. Oh, okay. Cool. Yeah, I went to trade school and got a
Starting point is 00:35:34 pretty good paying job for my age to start out and I'm pretty ambitious. I have investing plans, working on maxing out a Roth IRA. Pretty impressive, man. Well done. Very well done. What's your trade school degree in? It was in high school, but I'm a machinist. Oh, okay. Good.
Starting point is 00:35:56 Good. Yeah, and you're making $45 already at 18 years old. Yeah, you'll be making some bank if you keep that up. Probably own your own shop one of these days, huh? That's the plan, man. I like it. I like it. Well, very well done.
Starting point is 00:36:09 Hold on. I'm going to send you a copy of the book, The Total Money Makeover, just to help you out and keep you going because you are doing amazing. You're a very rock star 18-year-old man. Very cool. Very impressive young man. Hold on. Kelly will pick up and she'll get you a copy of that. Mike's with us in Pennsylvania.
Starting point is 00:36:25 Hey, Mike, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. It's a pleasure to speak with you. You too, sir. What's up? So let me just give you a quick overview. My wife and I are in the middle of Financial Peace University,
Starting point is 00:36:37 and at the beginning of this month we just got into steps four, five, and six of the baby steps. We have a 14-year-old daughter, and we have zero money saved for her, so we're a little behind the eight ball. I just wanted to know, we are going to start out with putting the money in the ESA. I'm also going to backfill that with a 529. I just wanted to know your opinion on the investment strategy. Does the same principle apply with the four categories that you uh recommend with the mutual funds like aggressive aggressive growth you know i'd probably know the four types growth aggressive growth growth and income aggressive growth and international uh you got five years to actually five to ten years before you're gonna need this money
Starting point is 00:37:20 uh because some of it will be there through her whole uh career probably depending on how much you're able to put in there so you'll be fine with that uh plus i mean obviously you can uh plan on her doing parts of this too like working while she's in school selecting a school that is affordable um you know and and applying for scholarships as she gets a little bit older and so forth and you know uh i think you're going to be just fine. You got a little bit of a late start, but the good news is you really got it dialed in now and you're game on, right? Yes, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:37:53 I mean, that's what we're going to encourage her to try to go to community college to start out to save money and then stay in state so that she can get, you know, just as good of an education in state as she could outside of state and save herself some money. Exactly, exactly. Save all of you some money so we can make the money that you put, the money that she earns, the scholarships that she gets go a long, long way that way. Maybe she can make it out.
Starting point is 00:38:15 I'll send you a copy of Anthony's book, which is helping people all over America do that. It's called Debt-Free Degree, number one bestseller, Debt-Free Degree, and it shows people exactly how to do all of that. Hey, thanks for calling. Sounds like you got an angle on this. Very well done. Hey, I had some sharp callers this hour, some people with their stuff together, man. It's happening out there.
Starting point is 00:38:36 You guys are dialing it in. I'm proud of you. Very, very well done. And, you know, the interesting thing about this college thing is it's very Anthony's book, number one bestseller in the, you know, borrowed future of the podcast, the eight episode podcast that millions of people have now downloaded became a top 10 podcast on Apple. It's stirring people up. And I'm amazed at how many people are angry victims. They're like mad if you suggest that they can win. It's kind of a weird thing, you know, like you can do it.
Starting point is 00:39:16 No, I can't. You can't make it in America today. People like me, you don't understand. You're an old white guy. You don't understand. People are angry about being victims it's very interesting anthony's not an old white guy he's not old he's not white so guys that ain't getting into a skin color it's got to do with math you doobs seriously it's not a privilege issue it's an issue of your mindset you know they charge the same amount for you to go to a certain college regardless of your skin color unless they've
Starting point is 00:39:51 got some kind of affirmative action thing going on i mean so there's no you know it's anti-white as far as that goes so seriously come on folks if you're gonna be a victim don't be an angry one okay be a pitiful one it's a lot more appealing oh people are so mad when you tell them they can go to college debt free hey by the way you can go to college debt free that puts us out of the day ramsey show in the books we'll be back with you before you know it in the meantime remember there is ultimately only one way to financial peace and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything that is mentioned during this episode in the podcast show notes section. Thanks for listening.

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