The Ramsey Show - App - If You Don’t Deal With THIS, You Have a High Probability of Failure (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 17, 2021

Relationships, Home Buying, Home Selling, Debt, Career, Education As heard on this episode: Sign Up for a FREE trial of Ramsey+ TODAY: https://bit.ly/3rZTUAx Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: https://bit.ly/2Q64HME Insurance Coverage Checkup: https://bit.ly/3sXwUn5 Complete Guide to Budgeting: https://bit.ly/3utmVXi Check out more Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3fHhbVE

I'm out. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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. Number one bestselling author is my co-host today. His new book is out and on the bookshelves and at RamseySolutions.com flying out the door. It's called From Paycheck to Purpose, The Clear Path to Doing

Work You Love. So if you want to talk about career and jobs this hour, well, Mr. Ken Coleman is here to help. And of course, I'm here to help you with your life and your money. We started pre-sale on my first book in eight years. Wow. Yesterday. I didn't intend to. How's that feel? It's been a long time since you put a book out. It feels old. But, yeah, I mean, basically I've been putting your all's books out for a year. I know. So now you're on the cover. Now I have ten Ramsey personalities and putting out books on ten Ramsey personalities and

supporting and pushing out those brands and helping those has been my job for eight or ten years. And so the last book I did was actually with Rachel. So she and I did a number one bestseller called Smart Money, Smart Kids. And she was my daughter, Rachel Cruz, is one of the Ramsey personalities. And so this one's not got anybody's name on it but mine. And it's all about the people that have followed the baby steps and have become millionaires. And it's the proof text to that have followed the baby steps and have become millionaires and

it's the proof text to prove to you that you can too not billionaires millionaires have a one million dollar net worth or greater and that there's that that's you would want more than that probably that's not enough maybe i don't know but it's a million and it's a million more than most people got. Yeah. So if you want to be a Baby Steps millionaire, we can show you how. And following the Baby Steps gets you there. And this is a truly motivational book to show you exactly with the math, exactly with statistics, exactly what will happen with the arithmetic.

If you follow this process, you will get there. And it also pretty much tears up anybody's who tears anybody's butt up who says you can't do it and so i spent a few chapters tearing up those butts little whack-a-mole in there a little whack-a-mole little chapter little uh solve the objection to make the sale thing so uh people that tell you you can't win i don't like those kind of people so it's my job to tear their butt up. That's the thing. So it's what we do. So Baby Steps Millionaire is on sale now.

It actually comes out January the 11th. If you preorder it, you get all kinds of goodies, including e-books and audio books and $100 worth of stuff. So check it all out at RamseySolutions.com. Chad is in Minneapolis. Hey, Chad, how are you? Better than I deserve. How are you? Just the same, sir.

What's up? So I've got a question. My fiancée and I have very different views on money. We're going to get married next summer. Congratulations. Yeah, thank you. Grew up on a farm, working, saving, you know, striving for a better life. It wasn't that I was destitute when I was growing up, but, you know, it was not always the easiest thing.

Her mom had her, my fiancé's grandfather passed away, and her mom had inherited millions of dollars, never had to work, and ended up raising nine kids on her own after her dad left and sort of abandoned the family and then ended up using the money that she had inherited to manipulate the kids into doing things, into thinking the way that she did, doing things for her, but ultimately has left sort of a bad taste in her mouth with money. How do I work with her to show her that money isn't intrinsically evil? I'm the breadwinner. I have a very good career. I make about $120.

She makes $38. How do I work with her to show her that money's not bad? How old are you guys? 36 and 38. Okay. Either one of you been married before? Both of us have, actually. So we're combining.

I've got four boys. She has two girls. Okay. Well, let me tell you some statistical things to think about and these are things you can go over with her okay um one of the things you want to do anytime you want to enter into anything in business we would study if you want to enter into marketing we would study marketing and emulate best practices find best practices and find where the landmines are. We want to avoid the landmines, keep from getting your leg blown off, right?

And we want to emulate people who are winning. We want to copy the things that the people that are winning are doing. Agreed? Correct. Okay, so here's what you guys are facing. It's not insurmountable, by by the way but it is an uphill climb you have three major strikes against your marriage before it even starts you don't address these i'll give you a high probability of failure okay number one her family upbringing was toxic.

She comes from a highly dysfunctional family, number one. Hard to have relationships when you have come from a highly dysfunctional family unless you've dealt with it. Did I misstate that? No. Okay, number two, you both have failed at marriage before, and if you have not healed through those failures and learn from those failures you will replicate the exact same stupid crap again high probability of failure if you do not deal with that that's right number three the number

one cause of divorce in north america today money disagreements, money fights, and money problems, and you're already having those. You have to solve all three of those before the summer. And to be honest with you, so in both of our, both of us chose to leave our marriages due to a lot of issues. Unfortunately, we knew each other's exes, so we saw it. There was a lot of people that saw it. Yeah, wonderful. You still both failed at marriage. Listen, dude, what I'm trying to tell you is you guys need a lot of one-on-one counseling, pre-marriage counseling to deal with these three issues before you walk down the aisle.

Otherwise, statistically, you have a very high probability of hitting the wall. Don't miss this. I'm not trying to say you can't make it. I'm just saying, dude, there's landmines everywhere, and I'm trying to guide you through them. And you need a coach, a counselor that can talk to the two of you that is excellent that is world class this is not two little puppies getting married and they need some little pat on the hand pre-marriage counseling you need to deal with divorce healing you need to deal with her toxic upbringing because her mother's crazier than a freaking bean man what you described to me is dangerous stuff and then on top of that you're in total

disagreement and have different value systems about money and you boiled it down to she thinks money's evil that's not the problem here that'll be one of 14 things that come up while y'all unpack this yeah chad i hope you're hearing this you need to pause this wedding date until this stuff gets fixed we didn't say not marry her. We said pause. Well, I don't even need to pause it. You just got to do the work between now and summer. Well, I appreciate that, Dave. That's very optimistic.

I think it's pause until we get healthy and on the same page of this. And I'd say this. She's going to have to see a desired future that you both agree on. That money helps us get there. That's eventually where you're going to have to get her. If you can't agree about money, you're not going to agree about life. And you guys really do have some work to do to get ready for this marriage. I think you can do it, but you're not going to do it if you ignore it. You've got a lot on your plate. A job, your home, your marriage, and your growing family.

While you're enjoying the present, you can't help but think about your future and your finances. As you explore your options, consider Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, for your health care. Their generous maternity program and budget-friendly monthly programs have been a blessing to members welcoming children into their families. Visit chministries.org slash budget to see if it's right for you. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a Ramsey Trusted Provider. Have you guys heard that the real estate market is crazy? What? What are you talking about? Nuts!

Buyers out there, I think they got to buy. There's a line around the block, multiple bids. Every stinking house listing is an auction. I mean, out of freaking control. And mortgage interest rates are lower. I don't know how they could get any lower. They're going to pay you to take a mortgage soon, I think. Hey, don't get me wrong.

A low rate's a good idea it's not a green light to do stupid stupid as in buying before you're debt free or with a zero down payment or just lining up and paying like way too much for something because you're out of control hey get your head out of the craziness for a second look at you in your situation? Are you debt-free? Do you have a good, strong down payment saved? Preferably 20%. That'll avoid PMI, right? Can you really afford home ownership?

Do you really want the responsibility? You know somebody's got to cut the grass. Hello. If and only if your answer is a big, fat yes to all those questions, then buying a home is a really smart move for you. And it's easy to get caught up in all the crazinesses out there, which is why you need the facts.

Go use our free mortgage calculator to figure out what you can actually afford with the mortgage options that are out there. Go to RamseySolutions.com. Click free tools to check it out. Free tools to check it out. Josh is with us in Greenville, South Carolina. Hey, Josh, what's up? Hello, sir.

Gentlemen, thanks for your time in advance. My question is, I am selling my home back up in Indiana. It's set to close on the 30th, and I have not heard this question yet. How do I keep myself from feeling like I've hit a jackpot and keep myself more along the lines of adulting? I am going to admit that I've been, like, Ramsey-ish along the way, but I do have plans to get my debt paid off. That is such a good question. That is very good.

How much is a house selling for, dude? I asked for $135,000, and I originally bought the home nine years ago about $86,000. So I'm looking at roughly $50,000-something. $1,000 in your pocket, and you've never seen $50,000 in your pocket. Not in one lump sum, no sir. How old are you? I am 32. Okay.

Good for you, man. Congratulations. And that is a very mature, good, solid question to answer. How do I be smart, wise adult with $50,000 instead of a child that says, woo-hoo, I hit the lottery? Well, so I got a question. I'm going to add my question onto his question. There's got to be a psychology, and you've experienced it, where there is a rapid change in money, just period.

What does it do to your head and heart? You know, the only way I've been able to work through it, and I have to work through it regularly because sometimes my emotions still operate, you know, making one one jillionth of what I make now. And so, I mean, we spend more on copier paper and Ramsey than I used to make in a year, you know, so it's weird. It's an emotional, emotional swing. So the way I do that is just, you know, Dr. John Delaney says facts are our friends. And so what I would tell you to do, Josh, is just write down a lot of facts. Facts are that emotionally $50,000 feels like a lot of money, but actually the arithmetic on it is it's not much. Right.

You know? And so, like, facts are I can buy this or this or this but then i'd have nothing facts are i i want to do this with it so that i can turn 50 000 into 500 000 over the next 10 years with the house by or whatever it is what are my facts not my feelings feelings will lie to your butt yes sir and so that that's what you're fighting against and that just means you're just like a real person because we all fight against that but the feeling is like oh man like woohoo i've hit the lottery but then the facts are i could fritter this away real quickly and i really would end up with two ugly cars and that's it you know or

something you know it would just be bad. And then you'd be mad at yourself for like a decade for having screwed this up. And that's a fact. Those are facts. And, you know, it won't hurt to sit down at the computer and just write some of those things down, like write yourself a note that says, you know, hey, let's be a grown-up here. You know, I have attendance. I could be a lottery winner and act like I'm in high school, but adults devise a plan and follow it children do what feels good that's what

i want to add josh while you're writing down what dave asked you to write down i want you to write down what your future looks like what are you dreaming about because dave here's what's going on you're absolutely right uh feelings are always present focused. Exactly. Exactly. Plans are future focused. Wisdom is an act of the will. Yeah, I want to think about it. Distance vision is an act of the will. That's it.

And I think the desired future, if you plan it out and then you say, where does this new found money, this $50,000, how does it plug into that future? And what that does is that unplugs it from Friday night. 100%. Now we got discipline. It unplugs it from a visit to target that's right or hey none of those things are none of these things are wise right because he could be tempted to buy a new car he's got the cash but wait a second or you allocate two thousand of it to blow to get out of your system then i'll go i'm gonna be wise with the other 48 i actually like that plan because it gets the celebration factor let's celebrate this is a nice blessing yeah but then let's be big boys and big girls doesn't hurt to allocate some of it to generosity as well yeah but that that also helps but the the the big thing is is to actually do what you're doing with this phone call which is be intentional and be careful and be thoughtful

because where there is no vision, the people perish. Dalton is with us in Carbondale, Illinois. Hey, Dalton, what's up? Hey, Dave, how are you? Better than I deserve, man. What's up in your life? I just turned 20, and I'm going to be honest, all throughout high school, I kind of was a knucklehead. I mean, I didn't save. I didn't. By the way, that comes with the deal, Dalton. Ken was a knucklehead all the way through high school, too.

Oh, man. Tell me. Man, I wasn't even a knucklehead. I was just an idiot. Yeah, welcome to the human race. Yeah, I got really bad grades and all that. Now I'm kind of looking more towards the future now that life has kind of hit me. Yeah.

I'm still living at home. I've got a paper route. I make about $20,000 a year. Mm-hmm. And I'm thinking about going into the military. Mm-hmm. So they'll pay me to go to school as well as um i would like to serve my country it'd be an amazing thing and i'm thinking about going into the police force and it's pretty seamless to

go from that um into a city police uh where i'm at um i don't actually need a college education for it but um if it's paid for you know i I thought that I might as well take it. But my main thing is my family isn't quite on board with me going into the Army. Why? Just because they're very, very scared, mainly because I'm not sure if I want to go active duty yet or not. Oh, they're just worried about your safety. 100%. Oh, okay.

Yeah, that as well as I didn't't tell you i am uh 17 000 in debt i found you just a little too late um i i got into a 400 car payment so galton before i run out of time what's your question honey um i was just wondering uh what i should do as far as the military as well as um working my way out of debt in the meantime. Got it. Ken? Well, I got to tell you, I think I heard your heart here, and I think if you want to serve our country,

I would not chase the military option just as an education fund. It's not a bad move. There's nothing moral about it. But I want you to decide, why do you really want to serve our country? And I think it's in that answer of being a police officer. You want to protect and serve. And so I say go.

Be sensitive to your parents. They're concerned about your safety. But I think you've got to do what your heart's telling you to do. And the good news is you can pay off that car loan. You're 20. You didn't find Dave and Ramsey Solutions too late. You can pay that off in no time. I mean, you're making 20 from a paper route.

What if you went right now in this market where people are looking for anybody with a pulse and they'll pay them $15 an hour minimum wage? How can you go get another job, pay that $17,000 off really quickly, and then step into the military, serve your country, and then find a way to step into a police force and protect and serve your community? I think you've got to do what you want to do. You're heading in the right way, young man. Just move slowly.

And make sure you spend a lot of time beating up the recruiter for the best possible deal on what it is you're signing up for. And that you get into an area of the military that's going to serve your long-term dreams and serve your educational dreams. Make sure you get all of that in the package. You might even have your dad or mom involved with you in negotiating with a recruiter. This is The Ramsey Show. Oh, now this is fun. This is fun right here. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, our good friends Dr. Andrea and Jim are with us all the way from Bowling Green, Ohio. I got that right?

That's correct. Good friends of Ramsey, been friends a long time, and you're here to do a debt-free scream. We are. Yeah, I love it! Woo! You know, here's a weird fact for you. This is the second Bowling Green, Ohio debt-free scream in a week.

Really? What are the chances out of that dinky little town? It's wonderful. The lady was big. The kids were at the university. They were Falcons, right? Yes. Yeah, yeah, cool.

All right, Andrea. How much debt have y'all paid off? We have paid off $158,000. Whoop, whoop, whoop. How long did this take? 24 months. You rock. Wow.

And your range of income during that time? It was, we started off at $130,000 and then we ended at $190,000. Okay. I know the answer, but the listeners don't. What do you guys do for a living? I am a clinical child psychologist. And I'm a capital project manager. Awesome.

Very cool. And what kind of debt was your $158,000? Well, $46,000 was my student loan debt for earning a PhD over 10 years of higher ed. He didn't come into the relationship with any debt. And then the other $112,000 was our house. You paid off your house! Yes! We are looking at weird people!

I love it. Way to go, you guys. What's the house worth uh 300 000 we checked zillow just before we came up here i like that he was ready i had it appraised 10 minutes ago as a project manager well done you guys well done so a phd and a project manager and a house worth 300 grand and you guys are how old? 38. Wow. 36.

On your way to being Baby Steps Millionaires if you're not already. Well done, you guys. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. It's neat. And I'm proud of you as your friend, too. So very, very well done. Good stuff.

All right. So what inspired you 24 months ago to get on this horse and make sure it's done? Well, it's a little bit broken up so we did it in two phases so back in december of 2013 when i earned my phd and we had that 46 000 we decided hey we're just gonna we're not gonna pay a penny to sally may we're just gonna get rid of it in that six month grace period and so we just lived off of one salary and we paid off the 46 000 in that sixth that six-month grace period before we had any interest. So we got rid of that.

And then we took a little bit of a break. We bought some stuff. We bought some stuff. With cash. With cash. But you were on baby steps four through six at that point because you're working on your house. Absolutely. No other debt left but the house at that point.

Yes. And we had some twins via IVF, which is a pretty penny if anyone's done IVF. It costs quite a bit of money. So we had that left but the house at that point. Yes. Correct. Right. And we had some twins via IVF, which is a pretty penny. If anyone's done IVF, it costs quite a bit of money. So we had that. And we also bought three cars in that amount of time with cash and not new. And then probably in December of 2019, that's kind of when we got intense about it with paying off the house. Over the course of the years we had

led financial peace university and we had walked alongside people and one of us would say like hey we're teaching financial peace university we're really supposed to be paying off the house early and then the other one would run the numbers and that person would be like it's not worth it i'd be the one running the numbers saying it's not worth it and i would be like well maybe we should try and he'd be like uh no i wanna i wanna live a little bit and i was like okay and then we'd run some more people through financial peace and i'd be like we really should pay off the house and then in december 2019 he looked at me and he was like he ran the numbers again and uh-oh we should pay off the house oh no there it is jim what changed uh well when i was doing it early you know you just buy a house you get a 15-year mortgage how much sacrifice am i gonna have to make to pay it off you know

two years early oh you know it's a ton of sacrifice there when you're really early to uh to pay it off that much early and then we we just, after seven years or six, seven years, it's like, oh, okay. The number I can hit is much smaller now. And I can actually. Felt attainable. I felt attainable. Yeah. I could do, oh, in 18 months, in 12 months, if we really buckle down, we can actually do this.

And really having that ability to do it was like, all right, let's get after it. And we paid it off. So cool. And then it was funny because then in December of 2020, when we sat down to set up our each of our individual goals, I was like, hey, for a financial goal, let's pay off our house by May 2021. And he ran the numbers again. And he's like, there's no way we can do that.

And I was like, but let's set it as a goal. And he's like, there's no way. And then we paid it off. We love this back and forth. We paid it May 21st of 2021. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Way to go, you guys. How's it feel to not have a payment in the world? Absolutely wonderful. Yeah, it's great. It's just run the numbers on that. Give me a minute, Dave. I've done the numbers of, you know, how much per year, all came up until before he come you know how much per year all that what we're gonna have in 20 years all that's done but uh it's just the the ability to know that you know whatever i'm whatever i have is we own

everything that we have and that any dollar that's coming in if i'm spending a dollar like i don't have to worry about that right it provides us freedom like oh i can help someone out you know i you know we can make independent decisions of like, oh, we don't. Our ability to make financial decisions of just on the spot is so much higher. And being able to feel that when someone needs something or we want to do something, it's just it's done. There's no worry about it because we know we have the money. And I think the other thing with that is that not only financial decisions, but we can also make career changes. So after we paid off the house in May, we actually both changed careers in June of this year. And so we both started new jobs because we had the financial security of we didn't have to have any more debt.

Wow. Good for you. That's very cool. Yeah, because, you know, I can work where I want now. It changes everything, you know. I don't have anything breathing down my neck that says I have to stay in this environment. I can do anything. It's really interesting, the psychology there, because it gives you guys a little bit more confidence to make the move.

Because it's a big deal to switch, to pivot. There's a whole lot of unknowns there. Absolutely. It gives you that extra confidence. It's really interesting. I've got to know. All right, so you're going, maybe, maybe. He's like, I don't think so.

Maybe. You just wore him down. What was the intensity? I'm just curious. What was the most intense thing you guys did to meet that stretch goal? Because it feels like it was a stretch. It wasn't even really a stretch because what we did was I had opened a private practice in 2020, and we just didn't touch that money. We just kind of set it aside. So then at the end of 2020, we just took all the money out of the private practice and just threw it at the debt and then oh i see so jim was spending that money and that's why i didn't think it was possible yeah it was in his spreadsheet dave it was in the spreadsheet yeah and it's really you know when you get that really you took a second job really you have the

second career you just put that all towards it although it didn't feel like that because it was where we wanted to go career-wise anyway right And just kept two jobs at the same time and then made the transition fully for her to private practice after we paid it off. I love it. I'm so proud of you guys. Thank you. Well done. Well done. All right. When you're teaching financial peace, what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? The key is budget. I cannot tell you the number of times just sit down and have a budget meeting with your spouse and sit down and run the numbers and give every single dollar a name. And just the amount of people realizing when they actually sit down and do a budget and be like, I should have $1,000

more this month. Where's it going? And I'm like, I don't know. You tell me. You're the one spending it. And then it's just life changing and marriage changing it changes your marriage when you no longer have to fight about money yeah very cool all right jim have you run the numbers when you're going to be a millionaire uh yes it's soon if not happened so he's sly he knows he's already there he's already there way to go baby steps millionaires i love it this is why i come down here and work still just for this there it is there it is i'm so proud of you guys well well done very well done excellent excellent stuff all right who are your biggest cheerleaders outside the two of you? Probably your parents.

Yeah, probably my parents. And, you know, my family's been, you know, my mom got me the totally money makeover when I was in college. My dad would watch you, I believe, Fox Business on, like, Saturday mornings. You're a financial peace baby. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, they just gave me that. And my grandparents, it was always not having debt and just being able to pay for things. And it blessed me with not having any debt coming out of college. And so that's just kind of my family's grown up in that. And so they were really just living how we live.

Dr. Andrea and Jim, $158,000 paid off, 24 months, house and everything, not even 40 years old. We suspect they're baby step millionaires. I love it. Making 130 to 190 a year. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

Yeah, baby! Yeah! This is how it's done, boys and girls. Thank you. Our scripture today, Psalms 8611. Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name. Dr. Martin Luther King said, you don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step. Boy, there's so much in that.

So much in that. Just take the first step. BJ is with us in Baltimore. that. So much in that. Just take the first step. BJ is with us in Baltimore. Hi, BJ. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. We just love you guys.

We were doing the Dave Ramsey, and we paid off all of our debt except for our house. Way to go. And we had a second mortgage, so we just have the regular mortgage now. Mm-hmm. um when we had a second mortgage so we just have the regular mortgage now so um the question is i have a lot of health issues and i've i've um i've had to go to a natural doctor because the regular doctors weren't working and my husband has a year and a half before he retires um and my aunt has offered to sell us her trailer but we would have to relocate and the question is should we

take early retirement and then take the difference because she's practically given it to us should he take early retirement and then pick up another job because he would need something to do

because we could actually live on his early retirement? Or should he continue working where he's at and then possibly just rent a place? But all the rentals are more than what we would pay. What do you owe on your home? We owe $125,000. And what does he make? He makes $80,000. Do you not like your home?

I have health issues. I can't go up and down steps. The bathroom is up on the second floor and in the basement. So you need to sell the house for health reasons. Yes. To get you into a one-level property. We could live in the basement, which has a bathroom, but he really wants to live in a basement.

Yeah, amen. Okay. And so your house would sell for how much? It would sell for $200,000 to either $180,000 to $200,000. And you owe $125,000? Yes. Okay. Why don't you sell it and buy a one-level house around $150,000?

Well, in this area, that's not... If you can sell yours for $200,000, you can buy something for $150,000 that's not that dissimilar to what you're living in. If yours sells for $200,000, the $150,000 or $175,000 will buy a very nice one-level on your freaking street. Okay. This is a large house. It's got an apartment in the basement.

It's all been redone. Okay. So sell it for $200,000 and buy yourself a nice one-level house for $150,000 to $175,000. Okay. So it wouldn't be a problem to have another mortgage because he retires in a year and a half? Nope, because he's going to keep working after he retires, and he makes enough to live on when he retires. I'm not moving you into a trailer that's going down in value.

There's not a good enough deal in the world to move into a trailer. There's not a good enough deal in the world to live into a trailer that's going down in value there's not a good enough deal in the world to move into a trailer there's not a good enough deal in the world live into a trailer that's going down in value and this be your signature golden years no thank you all right i think i think you're sick of these stairs and you know you're just grasping at straws trying to get out of there but here's the principle bj that you need to hear okay okay if you're gonna sell a house in a market and buy a house in the same market you're gonna sell in the like things are crazy over there right yeah so you're gonna sell in crazy and you're gonna buy in crazy so this is a net net it's not a net loss it's not i i sold low and bought high i sold high and bought high

it's a net net so it doesn't prohibit you from making the move and you you know now if you move from a crazy low market to a crazy high market you know you might have an argument then but if you moved on your same street you you can move down in house down in price and get into one level three bedroom house and and that's smaller than the one you're living in and do it in the 150 to 175 range uh if your current home really is worth 200 now dave you were so certain about the trailer what if it has a redwood deck does it change your opinion what if it has an outdoor above ground pool you were so you were so certain dave i was like wait a second i feel like you oversimplified that i'm just talking about things i'm talking about things that go down in value it's absolutely right i couldn't resist i'm not above any of that

in terms of being a snob that's not the point the point is the stink of things go down in value it's absolutely right i couldn't resist i'm not above any of that in terms of being a snob that's not the point the point is the stinking things go down in value yeah and they're basically a car you sleep in alex is with us in new york city alex how are you redwood dad you didn't see that one coming i didn't see that what's up alex hey dave ken how are you we're doing great man what's up so uh i kind of have like a part i guess student loan and retirement questions so uh i was as they say i was dumb and i went to out-of-state school and um i let my folks handle a lot of the student loan stuff and borrowed more than I needed. So, yeah, long story short, I paid off the loans in my name to the point where my employer will pick up the payments, the minimum payments. And then the big one is the parent plus loans that I'm also paying on. That right now,

I got it down to $150,000. Wow. So your parents took out Parent PLUS loans, but you've agreed morally to pay them? Yes. You're not legally obligated, but that's the deal between you and your mom and dad? Yes. Okay. And your student loans are all gone? All except for $8,000, but my employer, they're paying a certain amount per month on it.

What's your degree in? I did it down in accounting. What do you make? Right now, I make $80,000. How old are you? 24. Master's degree in accounting? No. I decided to go to community college for the $150,000 credit.

I was smart with that. I decided not to go to community college for the $150,000 credit. So I was smart with that. I decided not to go to a master's degree. You went to a community college for $150,000 in student loans debt on a parent plus loan? No, no, no, no. So I went to an out-of-state college for a year. So most of the, what is it, $180, 180 ended up being for the my four years and then i just cash flowed 2000 for community college and that's for accounting you need 30 extra credit so i just did a community college instead of masters oh i see what you're doing okay yeah you're talking

about credit you're talking about getting your cpa okay all right okay okay okay see what you're doing. Okay. Yeah, he's talking about credits. You're talking about getting your CPA. Okay. All right. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So you're 24 and you're making 80 grand. All right.

Yes. Well, you got 150 to go. Okay. My question was, like, I wasn't sure, like, if this is not in my name. It's in your name. You shook your daddy's hand. All right. Yeah. This is your, you took on this name. You shook your daddy's hand. All right. Yeah, you took on this debt.

You claimed this debt. I heard you a minute ago. Yeah. I don't care if the law doesn't say you owe it, but the law of your household says you owed it because you're a man and you gave your word. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, so you're going to pay it back. So you're going to treat it like your debt because it is your debt. The legal technicality don't get you out of it. you're going to pay it down. So you're going to treat it like your debt because it is your debt. The technicality, the legal technicality don't get you out of it.

You're going to pay it anyway, so you're going to pay it like it's your debt because it is your debt now. You took it on. So, yeah, $50,000 a year for three years, you're done. And that means you're on beans and rice, rice and beans, or $40,000 a year for four years, and you're done. By the way, your income is going to increase dramatically from 80 as you move on from 24 years old up through an accounting degree and so all of those increases do not go to partying or having fun in new york they go to paying off daddy's loan that

you promised him you would pay yeah did i read your mail all right yeah he was just running his weekend schedule through his head right there. Just canceled that vacation of that all-inclusive in Jamaica. That's what just happened. Hello. Yeah. You got to clean this mess up, dude. And the deeper you sacrifice, the faster you'll get out.

That's the formula. And the faster you get out, the better life you're going to have. Live like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else. Great job, Ken Coleman. Thanks for having me. Great job, Jim Childs. That's what I'm calling him. Jimmy's in there. We'll be back before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey guys, this is James, senior producer for The Ramsey Show. Did you know over 18 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week?

And a lot of those people listen on one of our 600 plus radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, head to theramseyshow.com.