The Ramsey Show - App - I Just Made the Worst Financial Decision of My Life (Hour 2)

Episode Date: March 8, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Ken Coleman discuss: Why timeshares are horrible, How to decide about a job offer, Paying off your mortgage Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6  

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Ken Coleman. Ramsey Personality is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your career, about your jobs, about your relationships, about your mental health, about your life, about your money. It's what we do right here on The Ramsey Show. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Michael's in Boston to start this hour off. Hey, Michael, how are you? Hey, Mr. Ramsey, I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve, sir. How can I help? So I have a quick question. So I'm a 19-year-old college student at the University of New Hampshire. I have no college debt, no debt at all, and I work a job during school and in the summer.

So I currently invest quite a bit of my money. And my question to you is, should I invest more now that I have no debt or expenses, or should I kind of hold money and wait until I do incur expenses later in life? What are you studying? Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Good for you. Nice.

It's a fun degree. And how much money do you have in investments? I have about $42,000 in investments. Cool. And how are you paying for college? I'm in the ROTC program, so I have a full ride for college. Good for you. Fantastic. Thank you for your service. Yes. All right. And the full ride is tuition and books and board? Yeah, full ride for tuition, full ride for room, and I get $1,200 a year for books. Okay.

All right. Very good. Very good. Okay. What is the money invested in? So currently I have a vehicle, so I have a Roth. I max that out every year when I can, and it's in a lot of ETFs right now.

I know you preach in mutual funds, so I want to try to... ETFs are. And it's in a lot of ETFs right now. I know you preach mutual funds. ETFs are fine. There's nothing wrong with an ETF. Nothing wrong with it. That's just a way of getting diversification. As long as you just keep it simple and you're not trying to day trade. Sometimes people use ETFs for day trading, and I'd tell you not to do that. But if you're just dropping it into an index fund like an S&P ETF, that's fine.

It's just like buying an index fund, just about. Not a lot of difference. And so that's probably okay. So here's the rule of thumb I use, okay? My goal for you is four years from today to graduate, four years from today to graduate with zero debt. That's job one now we have a plan to do that called rotc right sometimes plans go awry i don't think yours is going to but it could okay so

before i start funding roth iras that you can't touch until you're 59 and a half, I want to make sure that this sharp young dude I'm talking to graduates because you are a better investment than mutual funds are. So in a pinch, I want you to be able to access this money to finish school if something blows up with ROTC. And I don't think it's going to, but I just want an insurance policy to ensure that that happens, because you've got plenty of life after you graduate to start doing long-term investing.

So if you want to dump it in ETFs or you want to dump it into a money market, fine. As long as you keep enough in there, your main goal is this is a big old pile of money to ensure that Michael graduates and graduates debt-free no matter what happens out there in the weird world that we live in. Now, if you do graduate, like we think, ROTC, you go into the service, right? Yes, sir. I'll put you on the National Guard.

Right. Okay. And then you would take a day job as well, if that's the case, I guess, right? Yes, I'm looking at a couple police jobs. Okay, all right, cool. And so you get the day job, and you've got, let's call it, $80,000 in your mutual funds or in your money market accounts because you just kept plowing money into there, and you never needed any of it.

Best case scenario happened. Oh, darn. You got 80 grand. You can go, you know, move that towards buying a house. You can move that towards making sure you have your emergency fund. If you change cities, you can pay your moving costs. You're not having to run around and take some job you hate because you're broke. Right.

Because when I came out of college i had a dollar 17 i had to take a job and so i took the best paying job that i could get the paycheck the fastest because i needed money and i needed it right then and i'd like for you to have this as a pad so this is not about you investing for 60 years old you got plenty got plenty of times to do that. This is about you making sure that the next five years of your life are amazing. And that includes graduation, taking the new job, and settling in the new city. And that's what I want him to do. Yeah, it's great advice, Dave. What you just laid out is a way for him to have options as he launches.

He can launch so many different ways because he has that financial pad. I think it's a brilliant suggestion for somebody that age. They just aren't going to have the stress. They're going to have a lot of different ways they can go. They can be patient if they have to be patient, to wait for the right thing. So many opportunities by him socking as much money away as possible. You can change directions. You can do a lot of stuff.

When you've got $60,000, $80, bucks laying around, you can do a lot of stuff, and he's going to have that much at the rate he's going. Way to go. Wesley's in Chicago. Hi, Wesley. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm doing well.

How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I wanted to call because my cousin just started a job at Northwestern Mutual. Oh, God. started a job at northwestern mutual and oh god trying to get me trying to get me to buy a whole life oh no for four hundred dollars a month and you know i've been listening to you for a while and i run the numbers on the policy and i could do much better investing that yes you could do better leaving it in a fruit jar buried in the backyard than a Northwestern policy. Gross.

And your cousin will be out of the business in two years. So what they do, they hire him to get to all of his connections, his natural market, and then once he milks his list, he's done. He'll run out of things to do and he'll be out of the business. Now, listen, whole life life insurance is the payday lender of the middle class you stay away from whole life life insurance and oh by the way northwestern mutual is one of the worst policies of all the bad policies this is like below the suck bar yeah i was thinking i was kind of curious you know how do i go about you know telling

him that i don't don't want to do that? It's not going to go well. It's not going to go well. Because he's been trained to come after your throat with arrogance, like you're an idiot. That's how you're going to be treated. It's how they train their salespeople. And so it's not going to go well.

You're just going to have to smile and be kind and remember this is your money. You don't owe him anything. Less is more here. Dave's right. Don't get into – Just say, you know, I don't think you're going to convince him of anything except that you're not going to buy. That's good. Don't try to talk him out of anything. I would just say, you know, I appreciate this and I hope you do well at your new job, but I'm not interested in this product.

I've done a lot of reading about it, and I'm not going to debate with you. You're my cousin. I love you. I do not agree, and I'm not going to buy Whole Life, and I'm sure not going to buy it from Northwestern Mutual. And, you know, for you, because you're my cousin, I love you. I hope you do well, but not a chance I'm doing it. And that ends the conversation. He ain't going to shut up there, but that should end the conversation.

Yeah, dude, please stay completely away from this. You're not going to convince him to quit his job. All you can convince him of is that you're not going to buy it. That's all you can do. This is The Ramsey Show. Did you know, statistically, when it comes to life insurance and protecting your family, that women are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured than men. This doesn't make any sense. Women make up half the workforce, contribute mightily to family incomes, and in many cases are the breadwinners and take care of their families 24 hours a day.

This is one of the most overlooked areas when it comes to financial planning. Maybe it's a relic of the past, but a loss of income or the need to replace family care is equally important for women as it is for men. Single moms, working moms, and stay-at-home moms all need term life insurance. Rates are actually lower for women, which is why I send you to Zander Insurance. They shop the top term life companies to find the lowest rates available. You can compare rates online at Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. This is something every family has to deal with. That's zander.com or 800-356-4282. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host.

Thank you for joining us, America. It's common sense for your dollars and cents. In a world where common sense is so rare that having some is like having a superpower. All right. Allison's with us in Tampa, Florida. Hey, Allison, what's up? Hi. Pleasure to be speaking with you today um i'm calling because i think i made the

worst financial decision of my life oh what'd you do i am trying to get out of my timeshare oh you did oh you made a horrible decision i know it's legalized it's legalized fraud. Where did you buy a timeshare? Like what state? Yeah. Or what company? Where? I bought it in California. In California. What company?

It's Wealth Financial. Oh, my gosh. Okay. How long ago did you buy it? 21. Wow. Just had a weak moment, huh? Yeah. um 21 wow just had a weak moment huh yeah and you know my fiance and i are just now trying to save our first home so it's really just like you still owe money on this thing

oh yeah are you kidding me oh yeah no i'm not kidding you and i've really tried i tried everything contacting them they have reiterated to me many times they have no deed buyback program and i cannot sell or transfer the loan to anyone until the loan is fully paid off that's true yeah yeah oh what it's a horrible horrible industry it's just the worst like i got the two calls back to back i got a whole whole life call. And the next call has to be about payday lenders. I mean, this is like the whole life to timeshare to payday lenders. We're going to have to get his blood pressure machine in there. Oh, man, I'm so sorry. Yeah, you're just, how much do you owe on the stinking thing?

Yeah, about $14,000. Oh, my gosh. So what'd you do? Go out there and stay like for free and they put you in a room and wouldn't let you out till you bought or how'd that work um no we were at an amusement park and they you know offered us a free vacation which we got whether or not we wanted to buy and i told him like my boyfriend at the time let's you know we're not going to do anything um the guy obviously like was very good at his job

um he had made a lot of promises that i'm realizing aren't even true like for example if you book with one of their part excuse me partners then you get a free week every time you book with them so we went ahead and booked um december the end of september come to realize now we don't get that three weeks because they're not with that company anymore you know things like that so this is called a fraudulent inducement yeah he he told you a lie to get you to buy so uh here's what you do and i i don't know if this will work but it's the only shot you got okay okay getting out of these things is very difficult you stepped into a bear trap and it got, okay? Okay. Getting out of these things is very difficult.

You stepped into a bear trap, and it got you on the leg. And getting out of it by yourself, it's hard. It's very hard. And even with help getting out of it, it's very hard. Man, it's a nasty, filthy business, as you've already discovered. Yeah, and I have heard of the Timeshare exit team. They're gone. They're gone.

They got run out of business they got run out of business by the by the washington attorney general and by the go up that avenue yeah they're horrible i mean it was a horrible mess they got they did a good job they got 20 000 people out but they got run out of business by the timeshare business they uh the legal bills they got sued 60 000 different ways and then they got the timeshare business got the washington attorney general after them and it was just a disaster but for a while that was a good avenue there is a couple of groups that are still open doing exits that are legitimate groups they're legitimate companies that do exits but the exit even using one of these people is very

difficult okay so no guarantees. And it's not an endorsement. They don't work for me. They don't pay me or anything like that. There's a company called the Newton Group. And they've actually been helping some of the timeshare exit customers that didn't get help because timeshare went out of business. They're trying to help some of them, too. But the Newton Group at timeshare went out of business uh they're trying to help some of them too but the newton group at timeshare truth.com and uh they've been here to our offices we've met with

them i met with mr newton and with the several of the lawyers that are on his staff they're good people but uh they will look at you in the face and say getting out of these things is very difficult but sometimes they're able to pull it off. But no promises. But that's what I'll tell you. TimeshareTruth.com, the Newton Group. And that's the best thing I can give you. And other than that, just yell at the entire world. Don't ever go to a timeshare presentation under any circumstances.

There's no reason. There's no free vacation that's worth putting up with this crap. These are low-class human beings. It's a low-class business. It's nasty. It's filthy. They lie. It's legalized fraud.

Have I been unclear, Ken? Well, Dave, I was going to ask you to expound on that thought a little bit. I don't think you've covered it from enough angles, quite frankly. But I don't want to criticize. I hate the timeshare business because they screw people. And I just can't stand when the consumer's getting messed over it makes me mad so what if she can't get out of this she's gonna write a check she has to pay fourteen thousand dollars and then she's the proud owner and then the stupid maintenance

fees are going to go up every year right and then can she sell it it's like it's like it's like a disease you can't get rid of oh that's unfortunate you can't you they're for sale on ebay for a dollar nobody wants them. Because you get the maintenance fees, and the maintenance fees go up every year. Because these companies are just straight-up scum. It's just awful. I mean, all of them are engaged in it. It's just, oh, please, please, people.

You know, never, never go into the tiger cage that's what i call when you go in for the sales presentation yeah oh it's like oh the tiger has not been fed in four days yeah but if you can sit in the tiger cage and not get eaten for two hours we'll give you a free disney vacation yeah you know we'll let you go to the water park for free if you can sit with the tiger and not get eaten and he's very hungry though we will tell you that and you sit in there with the tiger don't go in the tiger they're going to win don't go in they beat you down what do you think you are tiger king stay out of there man it's just don't do it stay away from the tiger stinking i'll eat you man it's unbelievable we should do a hidden camera thing where we put hidden camera on me and let me be

the most obnoxious question asker every time they they put some, I throw a question back, and we just keep messing. You could do that. I could do it. It would be hysterical. Yeah, you're... Be a big head, Dave. I go in, totally mic'd up, hidden camera, and I just... You would actually be the best Ramsey personality at being obnoxious.

I drive... Thank you, Dave. That means a lot. That's like the line from Christmas Vacation, where he says... Do you send George Camel in there? No, me. It's me. Do you George Camel in there? No, me. It's me. Do you send Deloney in there?

No. He would already be psychoanalyzing them before you could get out. He would have fallen for it and be hugging everybody. And Rachel would make everybody their friend. I mean, you or me, we're the only two that are left. We have the spiritual gift of confrontation. That's it. Well, no, we just stir up crap.

That's what I mean. Oh, that's what I mean. Same thing. And so just bugging them and driving them nuts to watch the guy need an antacid by the time i'm done with him yeah you know just like totally because here's what they do what they do is it's high pressure and they make you feel guilty don't you love your family freebie don't you love your family yeah right you don't love your family well not apparently as much as you do don't you love your family i would thrive in that environment i would love that it would be so good to expose the high as the investigative

reporter yeah right oh i may do that oh i don't know there's a couple of these guys that i owe them one or two right now i owe them a couple of licks back there's a i bloodied their noses a bunch of times but i'm not done yet you're not off the top ropes i hate those little jimmy superfly snooker from the old days. Well, they just, man. Dave with the body slam. Because you know who it is they take advantage of? You know who it is they take advantage of? It's old people most of the time.

A lot, yes. The vast majority of people get screwed with timeshares are the elderly. They load them up from nursing homes, put them on buses, and take them to presentations. Oh, yeah. But they also prey on people who actually are broke. And what they do is they put a twinkle in their eye, and they make them feel like they can experience what the better half is living with. The other half.

I'm telling you. It is an absolute manipulation, too, for folks like that. I wonder what the poor people are doing. Yeah, it's like, hey, for a really good price, you can live like everyone else. Yeah, you see what's going on there, right? Yeah, it's FOMO. Yeah, for sure.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, and if you loved your family, you'd spend time with them on vacation. We don't guilt trip here, but I just want you to know, I just want to know, are you a good father? I just want to know, do you love your kids? Do you really think that works? Do you love your kids? How simple-minded do you think I am?

That's awful. Wait a minute. You don't love your children? No. You look like a man that loves his children. I mean, you have to buy a timeshare to prove it prove your love prove your love it's not unconditional love it's timeshare love this is the ramsey show We'll see you next time. Well, yesterday I shared a huge announcement with you guys.

If you didn't hear, we're taking our Building Wealth Live event on the road. Building wealth is a really hot topic right now. A lot of people making a lot of mistakes around it. Everybody's got an opinion about crypto, single stocks, zero down real estate, gold, anything, you name it. People are doing all kinds of crazy stuff to get rich out there. And we talk about these topics and even more. And we did it in a big event back in January. This sold out in about 20 minutes here in Nashville.

So we're going to have about 2,000 seats in about six cities. The first one we're announcing is Orlando. We're going to go on tour with this. And Ken Coleman and Dr. John Deloney are going to come with us as well. We're going to add them into the discussion and into your event ticket and everything. So you want to get signed up for this. These will sell out very very very quickly these are small venues we're not doing arenas we're just going to do a couple thousand

seats and so they're going to be ding ding gone just like that so it is rachel cruz george camel me ken coleman dr john deloney building wealth live the first one we're announcing we announced yesterday is orlando on may 19th if you're not in orlando stay one we're announcing, we announced yesterday, is Orlando on May 19th. If you're not in Orlando, stay tuned. We're going to be announcing the other five cities soon. Trying to get them all tied up and get them out here on the air for you. Tickets start at just $25. You can get a four-pack.

So bring, if it's you and your wife, you and your husband, bring your friends. Bring another couple with you. Only $60 for a four-pack. You can't buy pizza for four people for that. It's too good of a deal, Dave. Okay. It's too cheap. We should be trying to.

Yeah, I wouldn't have approved that. Yeah. I may not have approved it, but we're doing it. So there you go. There it is. This is a great deal for you guys. I just want to get back out on the road and see people again. Amen to that.

We love doing events at Ramsey. We love being out there with you guys all over America. we love visiting the great american cities and seeing the great american people and i can't wait to get back what are the chances that we get some mickey ears on you at this orlando event if they come what are the fairly low that's what i thought okay well you're telling me there's a chance no i'm not thank you dumb and dumber, it's the best line ever. Tickets are $25, four-pack for $60. Orlando, May 19th. RamseySolutions.com slash events to learn more. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com.

They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you mismeasure, you pick the wrong color, they'll remake your blinds for free. Free samples, free shipping. And with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code RAMSY for the best deal. Today's question comes from Travis in Wisconsin. I'm having a moral dilemma regarding a job change. I work as a truck driver. My current employer treats me very well.

Until recently, the company covered 10 states with four drivers and 10 people in support positions. The driving staff is now down to two people, me and one other driver. A company that shares our building complex has been recruiting drivers, and they approached me and offered me a position that is 25% more than I currently make. I'd be home every night, and it offers a better 401K. It would obviously be a good move for me, but it would cripple my current employer to the point where they may go out of business. I have to think about what is best for myself, but my decision will most likely directly impact 11 other families at the same time. What is the right decision to make?

Well, Travis, the right decision is to do what is best for you. This is a very tough, emotional situation. I get this call a lot, Dave, on the Ken Coleman Show where people go, I love the people that I'm with. They've been good to me, but I know it's time for me to move on. I'm moving on to something that I know is on purpose, yada, yada, yada. But if I leave, I feel like it's going to hurt the company. And what I have said, not to be glib and not to be insensitive, but if this man, Travis, leaving this company will cause this company to go out of business, then they were going to go out of business with him anyway. One person, while it may do some harm, the company's got bigger issues than whether Travis is there.

They've already been whittled down to the point where it's just Travis and somebody else. So going down with the ship here, that's the old school metaphor, is not honorable. It doesn't make sense. You have to do what is right for you and your family. This is an absolute no-brainer. Do your best to transition out the classy way, but yeah, you've got to do what's right for you. It's not your problem that the company has been crippled. But he's a good dude, and I understand the heart behind it.

He's got a great heart of loyalty. But if you leaving causes them to go out of business, they're going to go out of business if you stay. Without question. If they're down to one driver being there or not being there causes them to go out of business, it's too late. It's over. So you can't carry that responsibility or that guilt because it's not accurate okay it's um yeah does it put them in a hurt and are you kicking them when they're down yeah a little bit and i appreciate the the that that bothers you that

means you're a good person so here's what i would do um to to, you know, to try to, I guess, offset that a little bit. I would go to your future employer and say, I'm not going to be able to come for a little while. What's the latest start date you can give me? Because I really don't want to mess these guys over over here. I want to try to help them make the transition, and I need to give them a a super long notice can you wait one month for me to come instead of just two weeks and by the way you you want me to come because i'm the kind of guy that acts this way so i'll act this way towards you when i'm here i'm not going to mess you over so you know you don't want to hire people that are going to cut your throat and i don't like cutting my old guy's throat over here.

I appreciate the offer. What's the latest start date you can give me? And if he gives you four weeks out instead of two weeks out, then you go back into your current employer and you say, hey, listen, here's what I've negotiated. I can leave tomorrow or I can leave in four weeks. If you'll increase my pay while I'm here, I'll stay four weeks so you can get time to get some drivers on. And you get in a hardcore recruiting mode and get you some drivers in here.

Because I love you guys and I don't want to leave you in a lurch. And so I've negotiated it this way. I am leaving now or two weeks or four weeks. It's your choice. You need to give me a raise to stay during that four weeks while you go get drivers. And that's not unfair. That's very reasonable. And, you know, if you did that with me, I'm probably going to go ahead and set you free even if it hurts.

Not because I'm mad at you, but just because I've got a saying around Ramsey, have since I started this place, when your spirit leaves you should take your butt with it and because people stay sticking around at a place where they no longer care no longer plugged in they're they're they have their eyes on the future they've already moved on uh it's it's very difficult to not say negative things it's very difficult to uh not roll your eyes it's very difficult to you know bring it you mail it in instead and all of that so people working on two-week notice around here we do it a little bit we'll do three days or four days to get stuff transition

but uh we accept the two-week notice and that's a classy thing to offer it but seldom do we work them out at ramsey we just when your butt leaves y I'll take your spirit with it. But you go in and talk to those two guys and treat them like men and women and grown-ups, and you be a grown-up, and I think you'll find a way to do this with great honor because you're a man of honor. See, the flip side of this, though, Dave, is when you begin to feel a sense of guilt that's coming from a place of a completely false narrative. Guilt is usually a legal term. It says you've done something wrong or you're accused of doing something wrong. Didn't do anything wrong. You didn't do anything wrong here.

And so that's the first step. The second thing is, what if you felt so guilty that you turned down a great opportunity for your family? 25% pay raise. Better 401K. Home with the kids. I mean, that's the trifecta. And you turn that down all because you think you're going to be a jerk and you're really worried about what somebody's going to say about you if you leave them. Then you're going to be what's known as an unhappy employee. You're going to be resentful. You're going to be

miserable. And you're going to have your eye over on the other opportunity all the time. And this thing is already going downhill. It just doesn't serve well. And here's the point I'm making. People feel like doing something good for themselves is selfish. Now, when it is at the plight of someone else, of course it's selfish, but there's nothing selfish in this. So we've got to get over this idea that bettering our lives is something we should feel bad for. I really, other than the pit of hell, Dave, I don't know where that comes from. It's straight from the pit of hell. I mean, it really is this idea that you

better yourself uh well you should feel guilty well it's it's ridiculous it's a bit freudian for sure yeah yeah that's just this idea that there's a cloud hanging over your head it's like oh i finally have had something good happen you know no but that's not this guy he's just this guy's just trying to be a man of integrity he's trying to be a man of honor and i appreciate that so there's a way you could do it with a little bit of gentleness a little bit of stretch in there get that four week notice get a little raise while you're doing that and then let your current employer your former employer make the decisions on how quickly this all goes down and you will have you will have been, and you co-host.

Thank you for joining us. Jenny is on the line in Orlando, Florida. Hi, Jenny. How are you? Hey. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. I am a little late to the day's party. For context, I got divorced in 2020, and I was really worried about budgeting, and one of my friends turned me on to have a money makeover. I'm about to possibly make a big decision.

I bought a new house. Well, I bought a house when I moved to Orlando and I did a 30-year mortgage, but I've been paying extra towards my principal every single month. So I've got 12, I just made my 12th payment. I'm thinking about taking a healthy chunk out of savings. And I've read a lot of conflicting information. But then I look at how much interest I would pay versus how much interest I'm earning in my high-yield savings account. High-yield savings account's kind of a joke that's like haha not really high and not really yield it's like it's higher than a bank i know but it's like you know what is it a quarter of a percent or something no it's like 0.7 oh 0.7 didn't even get all the way to one huh where? Where are the streamers? Yeah, please, I want the fireworks to go off now.

Yeah, so, okay, and your mortgage is what, three or four? So my mortgage is 2.625. Yeah, okay. And it was a 30-year. I've already paid down 27.5. Everything extra that I get. How much is in your savings at $0.7? Savings is $95,933.

$95,000? Yes. Okay. And what do you make a year? I'm stocking everything away. And what do you make a year? $88,000. Do you have any other debt?

I don't want to say it out loud because you might have an aneurysm um i have mostly maintenance on a timeshare oh here we go okay we're still going with timeshares okay the timeshare is paid off good do you have any other debt do you have any other debt no okay good no all, and do you have an emergency fund in addition to the $95,000 or does that include your emergency fund? So that includes my three to six month emergency fund. Okay, what do you think your three to six month

emergency fund should be? I'm thinking around $50,000. That might be a little steep but I'll go with that, okay? So let's put $50,000. That might be a little steep, but I'll go with that. Okay. So let's put $50,000 on your mortgage. How much is your mortgage balance?

So my mortgage balance right now is $89,471. Great. Okay. I'm going to put $50,000 on it, and then I'm going to pay it off in the next two years. Okay. Now, here's the thing. You just got a 4% rate of return, and you thought high yield at 0.7 was good. So we just got you a 3.6% rate of return. Paying down on that $50,000.

The other money is going to sit there as your emergency fund, and then you're going to pay the rest of this off. Here's why I'm telling you to do this, because here's what's important. It's not the getting out of debt thing that's important. It's what getting out of debt does for you. When you have no house payment in the world, no payment in the world, all you have, and you have an $88,000, $90,000 income, you are going to become very wealthy.

It's that simple. Because now if you pay yourself a house payment into a mutual fund in a few years that's a million dollars it doesn't take that long and you're not that old how old are you i'm 55 yeah i didn't think you were very i just okay i just i sound like i'm 12 no it's okay no i really i really thought that's what i was thinking you're probably in your 50s but not by the sound of your voice but by what's going on in your life. So I think that, you know, so 20 years from today, when you're 75, you're going to have a net worth of $2 million. $700,000, $800,000 of that will be this paid for house, and 1.3 will be what's in your mutual funds.

That's my prediction for you. I think you're going to be a baby steps millionaire. You're on your way. And that's why I'm telling you to do this. Because as we've studied millionaires, we find they primarily become millionaires with two main elements, a paid-for house and a loaded-up retirement account and good mutual funds. And the first $1 to $5 million of net worth that people do as they become wealthy doing Dave Ramsey. I know some of you idiots out there think people don't get wealthy doing Dave Ramsey,

but they get wealthy every day doing Dave Ramsey. And so if you don't believe that, you're an idiot because I've led more people into millionaire status than just about anybody else on this planet. And so you walk this stuff out, you play these baby steps, you get your house paid off, you build up your retirement accounts, you're going to end up with millions of dollars. Now, you're not going to end up with $200 million. You're not going to be Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. That's not what I'm teaching you to do.

But I'm teaching you to become a millionaire. So you retire with dignity, and you change your family tree, and you get control of your freaking life. And you're going to do all of that. You're amazing. You've done a great job. Hold on. We're going to have the team pick up and send you a copy of Baby steps millionaire that's what i would do if i woke up in your shoes i think

she's cool she's amazing remember she's got an eighty eight thousand dollar income on top of this and she just went through a divorce two years ago yeah so you're right she's going to be able to pay that house off quickly she's going to be able to replenish that emergency fund you're thirty nine thousand dollars left on the house is 89 oh today we today. We put $50,000. That's $39,000 left. That's $20,000 a year. You should crush it. $20,000 a year over two years coming out of $88,000. You can pay $20,000 a year. Yes.

Okay? You could probably pay $40,000 a year and be done with it in one year if you wanted to beans and rice it a little bit. But I'm not even saying do that. Have a great life and still pay it off in two years. She'll be 57 years old with a paid-for house. Come on. Touchdown!

Yeah. I like that. I mean, this is very exciting, and you love the intensity. Mike's in Boston. Hey, Mike, what's up? Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure.

Go straight to your point so we don't run out of time. I want Ken to answer your question. Okay. Straight to my point is I have a job. I make about $52,000 a year, and I was offered a job for a little bit more, maybe $3 or $4 an hour. But with the present job, I could get like 10 or 15 hours overtime, and I make quite a bit more.

I mean, where do you draw the line between, you know, how much you can make and quality of life. So the new job is going to give you better quality of life but not make as much money. Is that what I'm hearing? Yeah, it would be more per hour, but, you know, overall, there's going to be less money over the year. You know, maybe I should just read Paycheck the Purpose.

Well, it's a good idea, but let's just break this down. What is the overtime? Let's take the money out of the equation. What is the overtime doing to you physically, emotionally, relationally? Well, physically, I mean, it's tiring, but, you know, I'm a pretty strong guy. Yeah, you can handle that. I can handle it, although, you know, I mean, it's very difficult. Like a year ago, I tried to take piano lessons, but I couldn't because I couldn't find somebody that had an erratic schedule like I did.

All right, so there's a hobby that you can't do. Is it affecting your family life in a very negative way? No, no. So it's a toss-up. So here's the deal. How old are you? 55. When you're 65, 10 years from now, which of these are you going to be glad you did?

Well, I'd have a lot more money, right, when I'm 65 than right now. Yeah, but let me tell you this. You're limiting yourself. I won't live to 65 if I keep doing this overtime, right? I think there's your answer. So, number one, I think you're limiting yourself that this new opportunity that's been offered to you is the only opportunity for you to do something where life balance, if you will, is a little bit better, but you're limited financially. I just think that's the wrong way to look at this. I think this opportunity is one for you to not just take it just yet, but look into what are some other opportunities that might be out there if I'm

patient. But here's the ultimate decision. I think you've got to sit down with your family and you've got to decide good old-fashioned grandmas, pros and cons, and follow your heart. What is your heart telling you to do? This isn't a big financial difference here. This is not something that I would be stewing over and making it this big, huge decision. I don't think it's that financially. I do think it's a big decision for you in your quality of life. And Dave, I thought that question is, that really leads to the hard answer. Ten years from now, what decision do you want to make? I kind of like C, none of the above. Go find something making $75,000 a year on 40 hours. Well, that's what I suggested. I want

him to look at that before he goes after this. We had that caller in the other hour that went from $50,000 to $100,000 in 15 months. Because she went after it. Because she went after it. She said, I want more money. Shake the apple tree, Mike. I think that might be the strategy. See what happens.

And hang on. We'll send you a copy of From Paycheck to Purpose, bestseller by Ken Coleman. Show you how to do it. And it's our gift to you, brother. Thanks for listening. Hey, folks, Ken Coleman here. Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world? Get your daily dose of advice on life and money.

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