The Ramsey Show - App - If You Dream Together, You'll See Results Together (Hour 2)

Episode Date: December 6, 2019

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🎵 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, America. This is your show. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Jason starts off this hour in Pennsylvania.

Jason, Merry Christmas. Welcome to the show. How can we help? Thank you, Dave. My wife and I are trying to help her parents with their financial situation. And so we have been following your plan for over 10 years, and it's been really good for us. However, we're now trying to step it in for her parents. Her dad has dementia, so he hasn't really been involved for a long time. And her mom has now gotten sick and can no longer manage the finances. So my wife has stepped in along with her brother and has just unearthed a humongous

mess. And I'm trying to get some help on just what's our first steps here to help them. So we need to get them an assisted living, but we have to kind of fix their financial mess first. So the house they've been living in has $250,000 of debt and probably needs about $75,000 in work before we can sell it. And then they have a second home in Florida that we've already listed, but we're just hoping to break even on. Four cars they have we need to sell because they can't drive anymore, but two have debt and one is underwater, and then $50,000 in credit card debt and two timeshares. So that's all the bad news. The good news is they have about $600,000 in a 401k

and an income of about $90,000 a year. They've already pulled a lot from that 401k this year, so their guy doesn't want us to pull any more this year because of the tax implications. Yeah, I don't really care what their guy wants. Okay, yeah, you wouldn't like the guy if you heard any of his advice i know that yeah he's he's thinking about one thing i can already tell the balance on the account he's managing um absolutely i totally agree yeah all right well the good news is they've saved some money the bad news is they've managed their daily lives for the past decade poorly.

Pretty much their whole careers. They've always spent everything they can. No, they got $600,000. They did that part right. Well, that was a lump sum retirement that they've just been eating into. Yeah. That was invested real poorly. So, yeah, they just happen to have a lot of income.

So the house that's $250,000 that needs $70,000 worth of work, if you don't do the work, what would it sell for? We would probably lose $100,000 because it's in really bad shape. So if you do $70,000 worth of work to it, what would it be worth? Hopefully about $500,000. So it will sell for $150,000 now? Yeah, I mean, it's just an absolute wreck. They had your favorite thing.

And $70,000 would increase it from $150,000 to $500,000? Are you sure? Yeah, because the only way we could sell it right now would be an investor. I haven't had a realtor look at it, but that was our best guess. The houses in the area go for $500 to $700. Okay. Yeah, then I think one of these numbers is wrong, what it will sell for. I mean, the repairs plus, even if you just doubled the repairs, $150 off of $500, $350 would make sense.

But $150 does not make sense. I don't believe that number well he's a so more of the story her dad was a hoarder and so the current condition it's in we've got to clean everything out yeah but that's not 70 000 bucks i mean that's ten thousand dollars and a bunch of dumpsters and some day labor yeah yeah yeah okay and so that that's different than 70 and repairs and doing a renovation project while you that you didn't really sign up for i'm trying to keep you from seven or eight months of screwing with this is what i'm thinking and i'll take a hit to keep that from happening that you know and yeah we would love to sell immediately because to me i

look at their situation i think we need to sell everything we can. Unfortunately, they don't have much we can sell quick. Yeah, okay. Well, get in touch with Timeshare Exit Team, and they'll help you get them out of those timeshares. That'll cost a few dollars, but it's worth it rather than getting screwed over any more on those. Get the house in Florida on the market. You've already done that. And let's get a realtor over there, and let's get two contractors or three to give you bids on two different things. Okay, and let's ask the realtor for three different prices.

Price number one is two different prices. Price number one is after we clean out the hoarding for five5,000 or $10,000 worth of labor and dumpsters, where you can actually walk through it and you sell it as is to an investor, what will it bring? Okay? That's price number one. Price number two is if we renovate it completely, fresh paint carpet and all that, what's that? Then we have to get a bid on that, and is it going to be worth messing with? I think cleaning it out is going to be worth it.

But I think the other stuff is probably going to, you know, it might make you an extra $50,000 or $100,000. But I don't think that's the dealmaker or breaker in this. I wouldn't mess with it. I'd probably shovel it out and sell it. Okay. But you gather the information, solid numbers on the cost to renovate and the lift in price due to the renovation. Because the number you're giving me is not right. It's just, I've done that.

I bought and sold 1,500 pieces of property, okay? So it just, it doesn't, the ratio doesn't work. So anyway, let's do that because the house is a hassle factor, but it's probably not much of an asset. And what we want to do more than anything is keep it from eating into the 600. So it sounds like if we sell off everything, we could clear the 600 if we're careful. Yeah. Roughly. Right, right.

Give or take 50 or something, right? I mean, you've got to clear these cars and that kind of junk, clear these timeshares, clear the property in Florida, clear this, and you're down to just these investment dollars, and it sounds like you need a new broker advisor to help you guys with that. They need to be moved to where you can manage them, and they can be invested for their care, and they're both going into assisted living. Yes, and we've already priced that out. And what's the price? Probably somewhere between $5,000 to $6,000 a month.

And if we can get all their debt out of the way, they can afford that easily. Yeah, the $600, if it generated 10%, would be $60 a year, which is $5 a month. Yeah, and they have retirement income. He's got Social Security. He has a full military retirement. So they have a good income monthly. Yeah. So let's get the 600 net of whatever renovation costs you've got, whatever upside-down cars you've got, net, net, net, net, net,

invested in good mutual funds where it's creating a 10% pull, give or take, and get it away from that guy, and then let's set up the budget. And it sounds like you've just got to clean up everything. It's just a barrel of fishhooks, but they're going to be okay. Yeah. So is there not a big tax implication of pulling lots of money out of the 401k? I wouldn't pull it. I would roll it to an IRA. Oh, okay.

And just put it in good mutual funds in an IRA and then start pulling the income off of it. They're going to have required minimum distributions of $70.50 anyway. And so you start pulling some income off of it. You're only going to pay taxes on whatever you pull, income or otherwise. But I'd roll it to a traditional IRA. I'm going to put it in mutual funds that are performing well. Click SmartVestor and get with a SmartVestor Pro in your area and see if you can't find somebody you like better than you've got now that's got the heart of a teacher and is not trying to just protect their own back pocket. This is the Dave Ramsey Show.

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So DaveRamsey.com or go to the Ramsey Concierge team at 888-22-PIECE, 888-227-3223. They'll help you do that. Our question of the day comes from the fine people at Blinds.com, the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. Free samples, free shipping, and lots of bargains if you use the magic word, the promo code RAMSEY. Dave, my husband recently got a promotion. We'll be relocating to Charlotte, North Carolina. It's a fine city.

Because of the move, we have to sell our townhome. Good. We have our car and my school loan left to pay off. Should we use the money we received from selling our townhome to pay off our debt or put it on to buying the next home? Pay off the debt. Even if you rent for a year when you move to charlotte you will be debt free and you'll be piling up money for your down payment oh by the way while

you're renting for a year you'll get to know the town and you will make a better decision about where you purchase because you will know the invisible lines every town has invisible lines when you cross over that road the prices go down or up and they're invisible because you can't tell it's just a stinking road but when you cross over that road and we all know that you know it's across the tracks so to speak in every town and sometimes those lines move well they generally do move like in downtown nashville the uh re-gentrification movement, which is where the hood is becoming a cool place to live, all that stuff, right? The lines, those streets that you used to wouldn't go on that side of the street for no matter what when I was a kid, now it's a cool place, and the hipsters live there. So you've got to know where these lines are when you're buying, and it's a good idea to live in a town for a little while and breathe the air and drive back and forth and learn the people and hear the rhythm of the community instead of just going on your best feel,

being there for 45 minutes before you bought a house. It's working perfect for you. Yes, pay off your debts first. Scott is in California. Hey, Scott, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Hey, I just had a question for you about my

traditional IRA as well as my Roth IRA. My wife and I are following your plan and we just started. We're going to be gazelle intense and what we're looking at is as we're following your plan, we have a traditional that we wanted to convert over to a Roth IRA.

There's not a whole lot in there. There's about $60,000. And I wasn't sure, should I do that based on our income almost at the limits of what the Roth allows us to do? Depending on my overtime, we'll determine if we hit that $203,000 limit or not. You can flip a traditional to a Roth regardless of income. Really? Okay. So, you know, that's not an issue. You just have to pay the taxes.

And there was a limit when it first came out. It was like $100,000 or something. If you made more than $100,000, you couldn't do it or something like that. But that's gone now i flip my stuff to ross and i've got an income above all the limits so uh like for instance our match in our 401k you're not allowed to do the match in ross so once a year this time of the year i have to take all the match and flip it to roth and pay the taxes on it now i wouldn't do that because i wouldn't come up with the 15 000 in taxes that this is going to cost you out of my pocket unless you were debt-free house and

everything, are you? I am not. My wife and I are on baby step two. We're going to be consumer debt-free in April. Good. I would leave it alone to get your house paid off. Oh, awesome. Can I ask you about the house real quick sure uh we live in san diego it's very expensive here um my wife and i were looking at okay once we're done and we go gazelle intense on our house payment it's so expensive our we're going to be eating rice and beans for about 15 years no no we don, we don't do gazelle intents in 456. Gazelle intents is two and three, one through three. Gotcha. So all 456s is intentional.

You still do a budget. You still do everything on purpose. You still don't buy anything on debt. You still have a clear plan, and you're both in agreement, and we're not being crazy spenders again ever. You're never going to act like you're in Congress again, right? But we're just going to be very intentional. And so you put 15% of your income into retirement.

You fund the kids' college. Now you go on vacation. Now you buy a new couch. Now you upgrade the car, and you do each of these by systematically saving to do them out of your monthly income. And every other dollar we can find above those types of activities we throw at the house. And the typical person is paying off their home in about seven years. The National Millionaire Study that we did said 10.2 years is when they did it.

Now, if you want to add to the fact that you're in San Diego and you live in one of the more expensive real estate markets, maybe yours is 12 years, I don't know, instead of 7 or 10.2. But you'll still be there if you'll just be intentional. As you get raises and bonuses and small inheritances and so on, you just throw it at the house. Everything goes at the house. Just throw it at the house. Perfect. My wife's going to love you you she's been asking for a vacation yeah well once you get once you get out of baby step

three now you've got your emergency fund in place and you're debt free but the house right that's where we let our foot off the gas a little bit and we're not gazelle intense no we do not ask you to be or nor do we suggest you be, gazelle intense for 10 years. It's not going to happen. I mean, some people have to do it, but very, very, very seldom. Andrea is with us. Hey, Andrea, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Merry Christmas.

Hi, Dave. I'm so excited. Merry Christmas to you, too, sir. I'm so excited to get to talk to you. I just have a quick question, and it kind of goes with the last guy about paying off the house. So my husband and I, we just officially finished Baby Step 2. We paid off our last debt before the house. And I was just, we were kind of wanting to just go ahead and tackle the house because we only have about $31,000 left on it.

And we want to go there and eventually be able to do our debt free screening and whatnot in the studio but we wouldn't feel like we're really debt free until we pay off the house okay so i was wondering um if you could what is your household income on that it's between 55 and 60 okay uh well if you do baby step 4% of your income going into retirement, that's $7,000. $7,500 on 50 grand. That's not going to slow down you paying off a $30,000 mortgage but by about one year. Okay. So do the baby steps in order and you'll be glad you did. Get your retirement savings started and let's go ahead and get the house paid off.

You're still going to have this house paid off in under four or five years, and that's still fabulous. So you're not hurting. You're doing great. Don't sweat it. It's what I would do if I woke up in your shoes, and it's what we've taught for almost 30 years. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. How often can you get the best of both worlds?

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How are you? Doing great, Dave. Doing good. Welcome, welcome. Where do you live? Floresville, Texas. Which is near? San Antonio.

San Antonio area. Cool. And all the way to Nashville to do a debt-free scream. Yes, sir. Congratulations. How much have you paid off? $205,000. Very good.

And how long did this take? Five years. Five years. And how long did this take? Five years. Five years. And your range of income during those years? We started around $80,000 and we finished up at $120,000. Good. What do you all do for a living? We build barn dominiums.

You build a what? A barn dominium. A condominium is a barn? Correct. So we take these metal building homes and turn them into homes. So we build them from the ground up. So technically I'm a home builder. Okay. I got you.

Fun. Good for you. Good. So what kind of debt was the $205,000? That was her home. Your house? Yes, sir. Look at her weird people. Very weird. Way to go, guys. A house and everything's paid for.

What's the house worth? About $700,000. Wow. Look at you. How fun is your life? Very. to go guys a house and everything's paid for what's the house worth uh about 700 wow look at you how fun is your life very very fun that is awesome man and you own it we own it it's ours very cool very cool so what put you on this journey five years ago so we're paying off the house we uh we hadn't built it yet i i got out of debt originally from my stupidity because I was normal, right? And then I married this wonderful woman, and I told her the journey that I was on. And on our first date, all I did was talk about you. Oh, no.

Yes. Romantic, aren't you? Exactly. So she told me she'd only go out with me again if I didn't talk about Dave Ramsey. Well, she said, I don't want you to talk about money. I said, I wasn't talking about money. I said, fine, fine. So she finally understood, and we finally talked about it, and she was on board, and on we went.

We lived in a very small house while we saved money to build our dream home and times were tough i mean uh we really lived like no one else you know i gave up the big truck the fancy everything looking like i had money when in reality i didn't and i started looking like we didn't have money to have money yeah that's what we ended up doing And we did that for a few years and everybody thought we were crazy. And here we are. So you built a house and out of the little house. No, that was just a rental while we saved money to build a big house. And so we went from this small, very small rental. One was our bedroom. And then we had an office that we ran a business out of. And once we saved up enough money, we built a big house.

So we went from a 1,000-square-foot house to a 10,000-square-foot barn dominium that we built for ourselves. All right. And that was the $200,000? Yeah. That was what we borrowed because we saved quite a bit of money to build it. Okay. How much did you put down? We saved up about $250,000. Okay's five hundred thousand dollars well now it's a seven

hundred thousand dollars a property piece of property so you when you moved out of that little uh dumpy rental and you moved up into the palace things changed oh yeah yes change play that old old song from the 70s moving on up Up. Well, first thing we realized, we had no furniture. We had no furniture. A very large, empty house. Yes. That is awesome. So that was the next thing.

So how long did you live in the rental to save the $250,000? Almost three years. Three years. Is that included in this five? No. Okay. And then after you moved in five years later you knocked this off. Correct. Yes. Very good. Very good. Okay I can get the picture of the story now. Yeah. Well done y'all. You've been very intentional for a long time. Yes so we

started our business building Barnum Mediums and I realized that up until that point everything you've been pretty much telling me was right. So in 2015, I came and I took your Entree Leadership Master Series to learn how to run the new business. And that really set us on the right path. Oh, good. And we knew what to do, and here we are. Good. So how many employees do you have?

We have 16 members at the moment. Okay. Very cool. Very cool. Good. good well i'm glad the entree materials helped you yeah that's good tremendously and um it gives you some peace running the business as well yes because a business can be a um a crazy world when you get a bunch of crazy people exactly so uh and it's crazy fun yeah it's a problem and it can be great when it's not yeah that's exactly right very cool. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is?

Well, everybody talks about working together, but we started dreaming together. That's when it really clicked, you know, because working together, it's easy for a while, but when you dream together, then it's really easy to do it long term. So that's what we started to do. We started dreaming together. It's like, you know, oh, in five years we're going to have the house paid off, and then we're going to do this, and we're going to do that. And you know what I mean?

Yeah. I'm a numbers guy, so I would run all these spreadsheets. I would run all these spreadsheets and say, look, in five years we're going to be able to do this, and we're going to be able to do that. And it was a lot of fun. So, Melissa, when romeo the super nerd here gets going on all this stuff he talks about me on the first date i'm gonna wear you out about that brother i'm just saying but um but at what point do you join into these this process uh early on and tell me how your part in this played out well when we met we met, we met in 2010, and we got married in 2013.

So he tackled his debt by himself, and I tackled mine, which was nearly nothing. So I got on board in 2013, started working together to tackle our debt. I saw you shaking your head when you were saying you need to dream together. That really is a good line. Yes, because that's a good way of looking at it. If we dream together, then the natural result is we work together. Correct. And you see the end result.

It reminds you. I'm saying no so I can say yes. Right. That's what we did. This year we went to Rome. We were here. We're having fun. It's kind of the same thing. This year we went to Rome. We're here. We're having fun. It's kind of the same thing.

Nashville, Rome. Almost identical. The weather's about the same. That's fairly true. Food might be better here. Very cool, you guys. Yeah, you're getting to live. With a paid for $700,000 property, you're probably everyday millionaires already uh pretty closer pretty close well that's

that's where it happens it's on paper yeah yeah very cool not cash but just right yeah that's your your net worth with that and other investments i'm sure has probably bumped you up over that so proud of you guys well done thank you dave well done it's an honor to meet you thank you you've done some unusually wonderful things. And you're weird, officially. Yeah, we are. Yeah, we are. Paid for house, yeah.

Yeah. You probably don't know anybody else that has one. There's not many. There's a few of us out here, but we're unusual animals. So very well done. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires, number one bestseller. Thank you. And it outlines what people like you do.

And this is how it works exactly and uh shows how that works but that's the next chapter in your story to continue this journey and to continue to set new dreams so we continue to work together so beautifully done beautifully done eric and melissa san antonio texas 205 000 paid off in five years. House and everything, baby. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

Yay! Yay! Woo-hoo! Love it! That's how it's done. That's how it's done. That's how it's done. Well, you know, I don't know if this subject needs to come up on the first date or not, but it sure needs to come up long before the engagement ring goes on the finger

because you want to know what you're getting into. The number one cause of divorce in North America today, money fights and money problems. And so if you're in a America today, money fights and money problems. And so if you're, you know, if you're in a serious relationship, you need to know what's going on with the money. You need to know what the people, the person you're talking about, marrying potentially in a serious relationship, what they're thinking, how they think about money. Are they thinking about staying in debt the rest of their lives?

Are they hopeless? Are they demanding and high maintenance? One guy said if you marry someone that loves spending money, you need to make sure you love making it. That's kind of a pitiful way of living, though. Why don't instead we do like that couple, which is a beautiful thing, they said. You need to dream together. When you dream together, then the natural byproduct is that you work together, man. That's good stuff.

This is the Dave Ramsey show. Thank you. Tim is in Illinois. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Tim. in Illinois. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Tim. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. How are you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve. How can I help? I have a quick question for you.

I'm on baby step four right now, and I have a 401k with my company. I'm putting in 6%. My employer is putting in one and a half. So I'm looking to get up to the 15% or maybe even 16 or 17%. I have a Roth IRA as well. And I was wondering what I should put the rest of the money into if I should max out the Roth IRA or if I should try to put it into stocks. Also, if I do max out the Roth, then I'll have a little bit of money left over then to invest in something else, and I was just wondering where I should put that money. Okay, we stay in retirement, so stocks are not a play.

We're going to stay in retirement. You've got room in retirement plans to get to 15% for sure, and we're not going to 16% or 17%. We're going to 15%, maybe step four. And the rule is match beats roth beats traditional so you've taken the match then you max out your roth it does the 401k that you're in have the ability to be a roth 401k um i think it can be let Let's make it a Roth.

And so the first thing you do is put the match on that, obviously. Then you would max out your individual Roth because you've got more options and more control there. And then I would just go back to your 401K. But you can get to 15% unless you're in a very unusual situation within your 401k and an individual roth ira can't you okay uh yeah yeah that's not a problem i was just trying to be i guess a little bit more aggressive and just trying to bump it up to 16 or 17 and have that but yeah no i would just go and get your house paid off and then you got plenty of time to be aggressive You are being a you are being aggressive. I don't have a mortgage or anything now. Oh, okay Well, then I would be saving towards that

And I would just be doing that in a if you want to do that other 2% Then the other you know 16 17 all that other kind of stuff now We're saving for a down payment or a purchase, one of the two. And I would just use a simple no-load like an index fund because they're no-load, and it'll just sit there and grow. If you leave the money in there longer than a year, you'll be only taxed at capital gains rate when you pull it out to buy your house. And so that's what I do.

Like I'm up in baby step seven, but with extra money that I'm going to use for investing on other things later, I just throw it in an S and P until it gets up big enough to buy another piece of real estate. And then I write a check out of it and buy a piece of real estate with it. That's what I do. So that's kind of what you're doing here in a sense, only this piece of real estate would be your first home, your residence. So, Hey, good question. Very cool. Thanks for joining us. So it's kind of a folks, when residence. So, hey, good question. Very cool. Thanks for joining us.

So it's kind of a, folks, when you're thinking about that, how to get to your 15%, it's kind of a rock, paper, scissors thing, except it only goes one way. And it's match beats Roth beats traditional. So if your 401k at your company allows it to be a Roth, certainly you're going to start there if you have a match. And so let's say that you're a single person, so the math is easy, and you put 6% in to get your match. And your company does not offer a Roth 401k. They have a traditional. Well, you would put 6% in to get the match, which leaves us 9%. And then you'd put your $6,000 into your personal Roth,

and depending on what your income is, does that get you the other 9%? If it doesn't, then you would go to the third step. Remember, match beats Roth beats traditional. You'd go back to that traditional 401k and put enough in there that you are up to 15%. And that's the direction. Hayden's with us. Hayden is in Ohio. Merry Christmas, Hayden. How can I help? Merry Christmas, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So unfortunately today I lost my job, but was graciously given a severance package that will pay me till the end of January.

My wife and I are on baby step two, and right now we are in a holding pattern until I get another job. However, I'm confident that I will land a new job soon, knowing that anything can happen. I've already had multiple interviews. And I was wondering... You lost your job today and you've had multiple interviews? Yes, sir. You didn't hesitate, did you?

Nope. I don't mess around. Do you see this coming? Yes, unfortunately. We had been negotiating for the past week or so. Negotiating about what? The severance package. Oh oh i got a jump start yeah i got a jump start on job searching and today was the official effective date of the severance i got you

okay i'm catching on now that makes a little more sense than surprise oh i got three interviews okay all right so what happened to the job um, I'm not allowed to divulge any specifics. Okay. I was working at it. It just didn't work out. Okay. That's fine. No big deal. I was just curious. All right. So you got two interviews. What field are you in? Church, ministry. I'm a pastor. Okay. All right. And so you're looking for another congregation?

Not, you know, I'm considering a career change. I'm really open to anything right now because my wife and I were on Baby Step 2. Our goal is to get rid of our debt. But I was mainly wondering, if I get a new position around the same pay, what should we do with that severance that will keep coming until the end of January? Should we hold on to that, or should we apply that to Baby Step 2 and pay off as much debt as possible? Really good question.

Wow. Well, what we teach folks is to land the new job as soon as possible, and effectively the severance becomes the equivalent of a signing bonus. Right. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. It's found money, and you would just throw it at your – right now you're pushing pause on all Baby baby steps until we land the new position. We're not throwing any extra on debt until you have your new position landed.

Right. That's what we were planning to do, and that's what we are doing. Good. And then as soon as you land the new position, whatever severance has not been burned through, hopefully all of it, because it sounds like you're already on it, then whatever hasn't been burned through becomes just a bonus, and you would throw it at your debt snowball as you push play again. Right. Yeah, that's what we were thinking. I just wanted confirmation on your end that that was the right decision to throw all that at our debt and give us a little bit.

It is, as long as you know the new gig's stable. Yep, that's for sure. I'll be sure to make sure it's stable before we do that amen what other field are you thinking about well i'm pursuing my my degree in criminal justice just because i i want to be able to branch out and and not pigeonhole myself into one uh one career for the rest of my life just in case a change is needed. So right now I'm interviewing at a sports and sales marketing firm. Okay. All right. Cool.

Well, good for you, man. Thank you. Yeah, and if all goes well, that position will end up being a pay raise from what I was making before at the church. So that's what we're hoping for. Well, this all ends in a blessing then, it sounds like. Good for you. Very cool. Well, thanks for the call, and I hope you land something really quick so that this money's freed up for the good of your family. I appreciate you calling in. Open phones at 888-825-5225. David on Twitter says,

what book do you suggest to get for a college graduation gift? Oh, so many books in so little time. So many great books everyone should read. I don't have a really good strong list on that. Among the books that we wrote, the one that most people start with is the Total Money Makeover, which walks you through the baby steps that we talk about here on the air every day. And, you know, the proven process to not only get out of debt, but get out of debt so that you can build wealth, so that you can be outrageously generous

and change your family tree. And that's what the Total Money Makeover does. And so a lot of people give that Total Money Makeover book as the primer, the starter for a new college graduate. That's not unusual at all. And there's a bunch of specials on in the store right now with our Cyber Monday week. And you've got about 24 hours probably left on those specials, so you'll want to jump in and take advantage of them. Good question.

Thanks for following us on Twitter, David. That puts this hour in the books. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. We'll be back with you before you know it. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know you can now listen to The Dave Ramsey Show on Pandora and Spotify?

For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at daveramsey.com slash show.