The Ramsey Show - App - If You Work Together Towards the Goal, You'll Win! (Hour 3)
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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, and I've got to tell you, the proverb says,
hope deferred
makes the heart sick.
When people don't have hope, when they are struggling without hope, or when the people
around you lose hope for you, and therefore put you in positions where you really are stuck
it keeps you from winning i'm amazed at what happens when i just simply go through the numbers
with someone and go hey look if you did this this and this you could have this all that all paid
off and in three you know in two years three years they go wow i never saw that before and
you hear the light bulb come on right over the top of their head like it was a cartoon, right?
And they go, yeah, I can do this.
And you see the hope happen.
Or you could have a government official that comes along and says, well, you people like you are never going to get ahead.
And so we have to put in a government program because people see that's someone who's hopeless for you.
And it's going to help you stay in mediocrity.
And I've got to tell you, around the financial world, there's both kinds of people.
There's people who will show you how to go win, and then there's people who don't think you're going to win,
and so they're going to make sure you stay mediocre.
There's scummy people people payday lenders they charge you 800 because poor people need
access to borrowed money so we're going to bar let them borrow their paycheck and charge them 800
scum right that's someone who doesn't believe you can get ahead. So they screw you. That's what it amounts to.
Well, that goes on in the H.R. world as well.
So we have a program called Smart Dollar that goes in to H.R.
goes into the H.R. department of major companies and minor companies and medium sized companies all over America.
Millions of employees have gone through this program now,
and it came through their company.
And the company says, hey, we're going to come alongside you,
and we're going to put this class in place to show you how to get out of debt
because we're hopeful for you.
We want to show you while you work for us how you can get out of debt
and become a millionaire.
The opposite of that are dupes in HR who believe that their employees are cattle,
and so they're going to be slaughtered, and so get them all in the corral.
They treat their employees like cattle.
You ever work for somebody who treats their employees like cattle?
It's bull is what it is.
Because I don't care what you make, you can win in America today.
No pun intended there.
Right?
Okay.
Some of you missed that.
It drove right by you.
Yeah.
So listen to this.
This is from a blog from one of these idiots.
There's this new phrase in hr called financial flexibility
because financial literacy is not enough meaning if we teach people how to handle money that's not
gonna do it the ability to manage expenses and make everyday life affordable it is the financial
stage beyond living paycheck to paycheck.
It means being smart about how to use our monthly income
and find ways to make our money do more so that we can pay our bills on time
because we can't live on a budget because we don't pay you enough.
Financial flexibility is the stage between living paycheck to paycheck and financial
security. A level few employees ever achieve. Financial security. Few employees are ever,
no hope for you cows. Unbelievable. So here's what they're doing. They're doing payday lending as a payroll deduct.
They'll take your check before they give you your check and charge you interest. How awesome is this?
Installment loans, student loan repayment benefit programs. Now, student loan repayment benefit programs are awesome.
That's where an employer pays off your student loans for you.
We want to do that all the time.
We want to get all the employers doing that, right?
But this idea that they're going to do payday lending and these scumburgers inside your HR department
are going to set up a thing where instead of teaching you how to handle money,
we're going to loan you your paycheck before you get it at a high interest rate.
This is your own company screwing you.
And it's all because the little man doesn't make enough to get ahead.
And so, well, it's just the way it is.
Now, let me just tell you what happens, okay?
It's like we need to make them comfortable.
They need to be comfortable.
See, that's what you say at hospice.
Make the patient comfortable.
Give them morphine.
They're dying.
We're going to keep them comfortable.
Don't upset the cattle.
We wouldn't want the cattle to think they could get out of the corral.
We wouldn't want them to think they could stand on their own.
We wouldn't want them to think they could have financial security. We wouldn't want them to think they could stand on their own. We wouldn't want them to think they could have financial security.
We wouldn't want them to become everyday millionaires.
Oh, God forbid, no.
And because it's impossible for the little man to get ahead,
because we just don't pay enough,
we're instead going to rip you off again and do payday lending.
And we're going to call it financial flexibility programs
because in HR we have to give everything a big name that sucks.
You know?
Unbelievable.
Now, there's great HR people all over America that love their people and do a good job.
And there's a few of you I just called you scum straight up because you're stealing the hope from your people because you didn't even have hope for your own people.
And it wasn't because your company didn't pay enough.
It's because you don't believe that by managing money, they can get ahead.
And so your answer is to screw them with a built-in, inside-the-employer, payroll-deduct, payday lending program,
and give it a name like financial flexibility.
Give me a break, people.
The American dream is not dead.
Show people how they can win if they make more money.
You know what they'll do?
They'll work harder so they can get raises.
You know what they'll do?
They'll take the overtime that's available.
You know what they'll do?
They'll live on less than they make.
Show them how to get on a budget.
Show them how to get out of debt.
Show them how working where you work, they can win.
We can help you do that. That's what we do with Smart Dollar.
That's why it aggravates us
when someone works perpendicular
to that, and we're just going to make
the patient comfortable because he's terminal.
The patient,
you know, we're going to keep him comfortable.
Just keep the pain down because
they're going to live in mediocrity their
whole lives.
Give me a break.
Come on, guys.
We've got to do better than this.
The little man can get ahead.
As a matter of fact, nine out of ten millionaires started with nothing.
And some of them started working in jobs that suck as bad as working in some
of your places where you're putting this
garbage out.
Yeah, stop it.
Instead, bring in actual
financial literacy that works.
Financial flexibility is not the new normal.
We're not trying to keep the patient comfortable.
We want the patient uncomfortable so
they can live!
I'm going to keep them comfortable.
This is not hospice.
This is life.
Now we're going to show them how to do it right.
Now quit screwing your own people out there, America.
This is nuts.
This is the news, guys.
You need to stop and listen.
The Fed decided not to raise interest rates.
That means you've got a small window of time before rates rise again.
Here's the deal.
Most people are paying too much interest on their largest expense, their home.
So you're freaking crazy if you don't take 10 minutes to call Churchill Mortgage right now
and see if they can save you money before rates rise again.
A mortgage through Churchill could save you thousands, or better yet, reduce the time until you're debt-free.
Can you imagine how it would feel to no longer have that payment looming over your head every month?
Just go to ChurchillMortgage.com or call 888-LOAN-200.
Their team of experts will give you more clarity about your options and more peace,
knowing you're saving significant money in the long run.
Call 888-LOAN-200.
That's 888-562-6200 or churchillmortgage.com.
Lucy's with us in Salt Lake City.
Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Lucy.
Hi, Dave.
Thank you for taking my call.
Sure.
What's up?
I was calling because I had a medical bill from last year, January of last year,
and it was originally around $1,300. I was, you know, down with my money and irresponsible so I never made a payment on it and now it's up to about $1,700 and as of Friday,
I was made aware that the collections company put a garnishment on, and it is to start on the 21st of this month.
So they sued you?
They sued you?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Wow, okay.
And I'm just checking to see if,
because I've spoken with the collections agency,
I've spoken with supervisors,
and actually today I just spoke with their attorney,
and they're not budging to settle.
But I do have the $1,700 in cash to pay it off.
I was just wondering if it's paid off.
Do it.
Yeah.
You're done.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
I mean, you've got a garnishment getting ready to hit your check,
and once that starts and they start getting regular money,
they're not going to budge.
Yeah, that's what I thought.
Did you make them an offer?
I did.
I made them an offer of the original $1,300.
And they wouldn't budge?
No.
Whoa.
Okay.
Yeah, the attorney.
The good news is this is not a lot of money to learn the lesson
yeah and so when i do something stupid and it costs me money and i have done a lot of stupid
stuff in my life lucy that's cost me money i call it stupid tax not taking care of this in the last
year and a half is cost you an extra 400 bucks and that's stupid tax right yep exactly so the good
news is it's only 400 bucks not bad tuition to the school of life yeah and you'll never do it again
will you no no i i'm i'm working on my budget and we're starting a plan so ding ding that's exactly
what you need to do you hold
on i'm going to send you a copy of the book the total money makeover we're going to be part of
your new life i'm going to show you exactly how to do this sarah is with us in los angeles hi sarah
welcome to the dave ramsey show hi thanks for having me on certainly how can i help uh so my
husband and i are wanting to buy our first house we We've moved a lot over the years, so we have rented.
But now we're ready to settle down.
And we're trying to decide between buying an existing house or building one.
Okay.
Building, I'm sorry?
Oh, go ahead.
Building a house is two things. Number one, you're going to pay the top of the market per square foot.
Used housing is always cheaper per square foot.
You get more bang for your buck with used housing always.
Okay?
And so if you can get a nice home that is in good shape that is used, you will get more
house for the money.
So that's one benefit of going that way.
The other thing is building a house can cause a divorce
yeah that's what we've heard yeah it's a complete pain in the butt um i mean i'm a project manager
mindset and i grew up around the building business and i used to sell new construction so it's pretty
easy for me to build a house because i'm just death on a budget a plan and a timeline and i ride everybody's
butt to get all three of those things to hit but if you're not going to including my wife to get
the fixtures picked out right and on budget on time and that fit the plan and so you know and
i don't care what the decorator says we're doing it this way and so you got to have somebody in
there that's doing that and if otherwise the two of you are just going to fight about everything the other
problem is sometimes people when they're building a house they think they're building a dream house
and by the time you get the stupid thing built your dream changes so it's not really your dream
house there's no such thing it's a house so there's some benefits to moving into a new house it's fun i mean the last two houses we
did were we built them the one we live in now in our lake house we built both of them and you know
it's wonderful you got all new stuff all the new technology all that stuff that's kind of cool um
yeah but you know uh it is a it's a stressful process and it's not, and it's not ever going to be perfect.
None of them are.
They're a house.
Right, right.
So if you want to have fun with it and enjoy the journey and manage a project
and pay a little bit more, what you'll get is all the new stuff
and get everything exactly like you want it right now.
Warning, spoiler alert alert five years from
now you'll redecorate anyway because that color of orange just doesn't work anymore that's i might
have heard that in my house it could have happened so um you're gonna you're gonna repaint you're
gonna do stuff that you know stuff wears out you put a new roof on someday it's a house it deteriorates and it changes and so just uh you know it's only
going to be like really really cool and perfect for maybe a year and a half and it's not even
going to be perfect then still going to be crap that's broke you're going to do a punch list and
out your ears with the builder it's just how the process works so if you'll have your your expectations
set like that and not worship at the altar of the house and think that this house is going to bring
you great joy um then you'll probably actually have fun doing it i actually enjoy building a
house but um but i don't worship the house it's just a stupid house so um it's fun to make sure
stuff you know to control the controllables and
project manage the thing it's just how my brain works so if you want to do all that pay a little
bit more you'll get a cool you'll have a cool thing that's fine there's no downside to either
one you're going to come out okay either way it's not like you're going to pay 30 percent more for
new housing or you shouldn't anyway unless somebody's got some scam running but it is going to be a
good five to ten percent more than used housing per square foot so it's a cool it's a cool
adventure but just have proper perspective as you go into it three things to always do when you're
building a house three pieces of paper and you manage the project with those three pieces of
paper the blueprint which tells you what everybody's doing and everybody's in agreement on what we're doing.
The budget, which tells you what everybody's doing and everybody's in agreement on what we're doing.
We're spending this on the carpet.
We're spending that on the light fixtures, period.
And the schedule, a detailed schedule from your builder as to when they're going to deliver this product.
And then everyone understands that if that sub doesn't show up, we are behind.
And everyone understands that we're not putting $20,000 worth of carpet in that room.
We have $8,000 budgeted for it.
I don't care how pretty it is.
This is the budget.
This is the blueprint.
This is the schedule.
Manage to those
three pieces of paper and don't worship it and you'll have a blast cool fun stuff thanks for
calling in open phones at 888-825-5225 our question today comes from blinds.com they have a 100
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Cy is in Indiana.
Says, I'm 24.
I'm reading Total Money Makeover.
My parents know I eventually want to buy a house, so they decided to apply for a credit card for me to use.
Oh, isn't that sweet?
I don't have it yet, but I have my doubts already.
Good.
Are there alternatives I can use to build my credit score, or is the credit card the
only way to go?
Well, I mean, the only way to build your credit score is to borrow money so that you can pay
it back, and then you have a score that allows you to borrow money so that you can pay it back, and then you have a score that allows you to borrow money
so that you can pay it back,
so then you have a score that allows you to borrow money,
so that then you can pay it back
so that you have a score that allows you to borrow money.
Sounds like something banks invented to me.
I wish I had something that you perpetually had to buy from me
because you had to have it to exist by this false measure of financial success called a credit score.
Credit score is the biggest con to put on Americans in history.
We've got a whole culture worshiping at the altar of the great FICO as if he is your provider.
The great FICO is a false god.
He is not your provider.
He takes your money.
You have to give him offerings of interest.
Don't do it, dude.
Your mom and dad are sweet.
They're well-intentioned.
They're just what's known as wrong.
Pay cash for stuff, and when you get ready to get a house, you can
get manual underwriting if you want to get a mortgage
there. But don't go into debt so that you can go into debt
so that you can go into debt. That's straight up stupid.
This is the Dave Ramsey Solutions, Tyler and Jessica are with us.
Hey guys, how are you? Good, how are you? Good, how and Jessica are with us. Hey, guys.
How are you?
Good, Dave.
How are you?
Welcome.
Where do you guys live?
We are from Collegedale, Tennessee, just right outside of Chattanooga.
Oh, cool.
Welcome to Nashville.
Thank you.
And up here to do your debt-free scream.
Yes.
Love it.
How much have you guys paid off?
We have paid off $39,151.
Amazing.
How long did that take?
Eight months.
Good for you. And your. How long did that take? Eight months. Good for you.
And your range of income during that time?
We started out at $50,000 and went to $90,000.
Whoa.
Somebody got a job or what happened?
Yeah.
Okay.
Cool.
Very cool.
You almost doubled your income.
Yeah.
Wow.
Very good.
What kind of debt was the $39,000?
So $4,000 was my car and then the rest was his student loans.
Okay.
All right.
Cool.
How long have you two been married?
It'll be two years in August.
Okay.
So after a year of marriage, you look up and say, these student loans are not going away
by themselves, and we're going to have to do something, right?
So tell me your story.
How did you get connected to us?
What'd you do?
Well, I mean, I had grown up, and I knew of your name and things like that,
but I had never really done any of the classes or things like that.
So we went to, we met in high school, then we went to college,
and she finished before I did.
And so I was in school just racking up student loan debt.
And after about that point, we got married.
She was finished. I had a year left and we got
married. We went on our honeymoon. We came back and my brother had taken all of our wedding
presents and put them in the living room of our apartment. And so when we got back from the
honeymoon, we sat down, started opening them. And there was a box that had two of your books. It
was the total money makeover and then the Total Money Makeover workbook.
And I opened it up, and it was a note from a family member that said,
I wish I'd had this information when we were first starting out.
I hope you get some wisdom from his ideas.
And so when I read that, I was like, oh, well, now we have to read it.
Yeah.
So we looked at that, and I started reading it.
It was interesting because about that time,
we had people telling us,
oh, you need to get a credit card and stuff like that.
Out of all the things I knew about you,
that was the one thing is you hate a credit card.
I was thinking, I was like,
maybe I should read this book first,
then we'll go from there.
We started the book, and it seemed very doable and then after
that we did the fpu home study oh wow and so we did that once a week we would just go through the
lesson and uh it ended up being something that we actually looked forward to because we got to spend
time together and we were learning how to take control of our lives because i was looking at the
loans that i had and things like that and it it was just like, oh, my goodness.
It takes the freak out down, doesn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So what are your degrees in?
I'm a labor and delivery nurse.
And then I'm a high school Bible teacher.
Awesome.
Very cool.
Great careers.
Yeah.
Good.
Very good.
Very fulfilling, both of them.
Yeah.
Very good.
Good for you guys.
So you go through the home study course.
After you read the Total Money Makeover, you're working together.
You're newlyweds.
We're just getting after this.
Were people on the outside cheering you on or throwing rocks?
We had a little bit of both.
Some of our friends didn't really understand why we were doing it.
And then our families were definitely on board and wanting to help us out.
Especially the uncle or whoever it was that sent the book as a wedding gift.
Yeah.
And we had a lot of friends, too, cheering us on.
And it was, yeah, some people wanted to know more about it.
In fact, even in the classes that I was teaching, they somehow knew that we were doing this. And so I had students ask me questions, and there was just a couple times I just told them what we were doing
and what we had been experiencing through all of it and stuff like that so uh yeah very cool
very cool so what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is you did it definitely
having a budget and knowing where your money's going to it makes it less stressful that way yeah
and then for me it was staying motivated because you know FPU and then reading the book, I'm like, oh, yes, this is incredible.
So we're going through it.
But then when you're finished reading the book and then you're finished, sometimes it's easy to get distracted.
And so I would listen to the podcast because when I would hear other people's stories, then at that point, I was like, OK, we can still do this.
We can still do this.
And the biggest thing that was interesting is right when we started our journey, my wife had a 2015 Honda Accord.
And she was driving it one day.
I was sitting in class, and I got a phone call that she had been in an accident.
And so I jumped in my car, went to go meet her to see where she was at.
And my wife was okay, but the car was not.
And so they totaled the car.
Whoa.
So insurance was sending us a decent check.
And at that point, I mean, that was right when we were starting our debt-free journey.
We were like, oh, my goodness.
We can buy the nicest car.
We can just buy another car.
This will be easy.
And we had some friends and family that were like, listen, you know, with this money, you ought to just buy you a reliable car and then get a jump start on your debt.
And so I was like, oh, goodness, they're right.
And so that's what we did.
We ended up doing that.
What did you buy?
We bought a Honda Accord.
Uh-huh.
Yep.
So we got it.
How old?
It was 2012, I think.
2012, yeah.
It's not that big a move down.
No.
That's okay.
No, it wasn't.
Yeah.
So, yeah, we liked it.
And then after that, we took the rest of the money that we got from the insurance and then just started.
Slammed it.
Yeah.
And after that, we were so motivated because we saw the number going down.
Game on.
And now you can drive whatever you want to drive.
Yes.
I mean, you don't have any debt.
You make $100,000 a year.
I mean, this is great.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Yeah.
How's that feel?
Feels like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders.
It's amazing.
So what are you guys, 25?
24.
Yeah, 24.
Okay.
All right.
So what you may or may not have already realized is that you learned that if you work together on a system to create a goal, you can do anything.
For sure.
Whether it's money or whether it's something else, you set a pattern for your marriage that you can use for all kinds of things the rest of your life.
Yeah.
It's very cool.
Very cool.
Because you succeeded.
You won.
Yes.
And you did it together, and you worked a system to do it.
And a lot of couples are married 10 years before they know how to do that, or 30 years before they know how to do it.
Some of them never learn how to do that.
And you got that benefit of doing that right out of the gate.
So way to go, guys.
I'm proud of you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Very cool.
Who was your biggest cheerleader?
Definitely probably our parents and some of our friends.
Yeah, some of our friends.
Very supportive in the whole thing.
And even some of the people I worked with, they're like, oh, I know the Dave Ramsey guy.
And so they were like, oh, good for you and wanting to know more stuff.
Neat.
So, yeah, it was awesome.
That's fun.
Well, good for you.
We got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you,
number one bestseller, Everyday Millionaire.
And that's what you're going to be.
That's the next chapter in your story,
so that you'll be able to be in a position to change your family tree
and not only that, but be able to be outrageously generous as you go along.
It's amazing when you've got money how many other people you can help, right?
Yeah.
Very true.
You're right on that track. 24 years old. You're rock're rock stars man i'm so proud of y'all well done
very well done thanks for coming up and sharing your story well thank you good stuff tyler and
jessica chattanooga 39 000 paid off in eight months making 50 to 90 count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one we're debt-free
i love it i love it well done you guys very very well done man that's as good as it gets right there.
Just like his uncle said, or whoever it was that gave him the book,
don't you wish you knew that when you were 24?
And everybody who's over 24 just nodded and smiled and said, uh-huh, yeah.
And, you know, it's even worse than that.
Don't you wish they taught this stuff in high schools?
Well, we do do you know and 42 of the high schools in america now teach dave ramsey's personal foundations and personal finance yeah so we're
teaching this stuff man it's everywhere and we ain't got it all done we still got another 60
we got to get in the classroom right but don't you wish you knew this when you were 24 the first
order of business when they got married was to learn to work together,
to learn to work a proven system together,
to learn to watch that proven system when they work it together become successful.
And they accomplished a really big goal.
Getting out of debt is important.
But what you learn while you're getting out of debt about yourself and about each other and about relationships is probably more important than getting out of debt.
Something to think about, guys.
See, this is all about behavior.
Behavior is created by character and attitude.
Sometimes we need to adjust our character and our attitude, don't we?
Not those two.
They're just rock stars.
What a great couple.
This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. our scripture of the day first peter 2 21 to this you were called because christ suffered for you
leaving you an example that you should follow in his
steps.
Barbara Brown Taylor says, the way to make a disciple is to be one.
If your life does not speak, your footnotes will have limited impact.
Yeah, that's good.
Michael is with us in Dallas.
Hey, Michael, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you for your ministry.
Thank you.
I was calling.
We have $505,000 in debt right now.
That's primarily divided over three real estate properties, student loan, and unsecured credit card debt.
Okay, how much is the student loan?
Student loan is $36,000.
How much is the credit cards? The credit is $36,000. How much is the
credit cards? The credit cards are an additional $36,500. Okay. So $72,500 gets us that and
everything else is real estate. Yes, sir. Okay. It's divided over three real estate properties.
One small rental property that is owned free and clear and has a great tenant in
there generating $725 a month. A second real estate property that we're currently using as an Airbnb,
and it is also doing very well. We owe $137,000 on it. And then we have our primary residence,
which we owe $290,000 on it.
What's your household income?
Our household income, not including the income from the Airbnb, is $125,000 gross a year.
My wife, we just found out a couple months ago, she is currently pregnant.
Wonderful.
Thank you.
My question to you, sir, is how much of this should we get rid of to get rid of this debt?
And what should we do?
We're willing to do whatever we need to do.
This is all new territory for us.
We just, you know, this is all of the past year. Should we sell?
We are contemplating selling our primary residence,
taking the equity that we would get out of that,
which would be probably, you know, probably close to $100,
and selling the rental property as well,
which I could probably get about somewhere around $65 for it.
And we're even thinking about putting all that toward the debt, including the Airbnb
and just living there.
I personally don't want to get rid of the primary residence, the 290, but I'm just really
not sure what to do with the debt.
Well, the good news is there's nothing to panic about here.
You've just been heading in the wrong direction.
We've got to stop, get off the exit, and turn around and go back in the right direction.
That changes your progress substantially just by going the right way rather than the wrong way.
And then the only thing we've got to do is just speed up.
How fast do we go once we're going the right way?
That's the only question, right?
So, you know, obviously we're going to cut up the credit cards.
Obviously we're going to get on a budget obviously we're going to be on a scorched earth budget uh especially until baby comes and we want us you know we're not going to not only not borrow
anymore but we're going to um start to build up a really big savings so that after baby comes we can start our i want to attack the debt plan okay so um
let's pretend you had no rental properties for a second and you just had this house
and you make 120 000 a year you could pay off 77 000 in a couple years yes sir okay you mean
you just cash flow it out of your budget right yes? Yes. And then you'd have your house and the $77,000 paid off.
So the only benefit of selling a rental is to accelerate that plan.
So the little rental that's paid for is worth what?
Somewhere around $60,000, $65,000.
Okay.
All right.
And the Airbnb is worth what?
Probably about $140.
So about what you owe on it?
Yes, sir.
We just got it.
And that's where all of this debt came from, obviously, other than the student loan.
And so we just started that.
And we're ready.
The past few months already, I mean, we don't use credit cards.
I've actually liquidated just about anything I can so far.
I've had a few toys that were paid off and bought with cash.
I've gotten rid of those already.
So we do have about $20,000 in cash right now.
Oh, you do?
Oh, good.
That's good.
How old are you?
Yes, sir.
I'm 40, and she's 35.
And this is your first baby?
Yes, sir.
Awesome.
Very good.
Well, that's wonderful times.
Good for you.
Okay.
So nothing to panic about.
You can decide what you want to do.
I don't really want to own real estate that is only worth what I owe on it.
That's not fun to me.
So if I'm you, the Airbnb is gone.
Now you've got a paid-for rental and your home and $20,000 to throw at $77,000
and $120,000 worth of income to throw at $77,000.
That's now $57,000.
I might keep the little paid-for rental and just plow my way through those others
because it sounds like you kind of
have a bug for real estate yes sir it's uh it's what i do kind of by trade and we got into it
completely rehabbed it all cash and yes sir i enjoy it um with see if you got out of debt
everything but your house it'd be pretty quick you could start to beat on your house.
And then someday, four or five years from now, that house is paid off probably.
Maybe six years, I don't know, something like that.
And then you'd be in a real position to save and pay cash for rentals and grow your rental portfolio.
That's what I did, is I just worked my way out of debt.
And that gave me the cash flow to save amazing amounts of money every month
because I didn't have any debt.
And then I bought rental properties with the paid for rental properties.
And, you know, once you get five or six of those things going,
they start buying another property every so often just out of the rent cash flow
because when there's no payments, as you know from your little one, the cash flow is like a bandit.
And that was originally
our goal we do enjoy it with all of this it's just it's a little scary yeah and you know you
know the baby gave you a wake-up call didn't it it really did yeah you suddenly felt a little bit
vulnerable for the first time and i don't like it yeah i don't well it's it's it's been healthy for
you though because it made you re-examine You could have really gone headlong into stupid.
I mean, you could have made a mess.
And so, you know, God sent you a baby at just the right time.
This is awesome.
A baby does that.
It raises the nobility of the daddy and mommy.
It makes you want to think about bigger and better things rather than just like, you know, I'm invincible and I can do whatever the flip I want.
You know, I've got to be responsible now.
With that primary mortgage, there's a good amount of equity we really think.
I wouldn't worry about that.
I wouldn't worry about it.
Let's get that thing paid.
Let's get the debt paid off and sell the BB.
And, you know, I wouldn't worry about paying off the debt, by the way,
until the baby comes.
What's the delivery date?
Not until December.
Okay.
Let's just pile up cash until
december how high can you pile cash between now and december that'll give you a lot of peace
when baby and mama come home and everybody's healthy and there's no hiccups we want to have
cash just to make sure then we write checks all against the debt all the way down to a thousand
dollars you know and you sell the airbnb now and then once you're debt free uh except your home
can you imagine right then how much cash
you're going to have you'll be able to cash flow like crazy build your emergency fund of three to
six months of expenses start your retirement and then let's start working on your paying off your
residence that's the baby steps that we teach you ever heard me talk about those before yes sir okay
cool have you got the total money makeover book no No, sir. All right, I'm going to send you one. That's going to be my gift for you all for your baby shower.
How's that?
Thank you.
And so you would hang on to this $20,000 that we have now until baby gets here?
I would hang on to all your cash.
I just pay minimum payments until baby gets here.
Because a pile of cash is very peaceful in case there's a tiny little hiccup of some kind
and you needed to write a check to
make sure everybody's okay if you're sitting there with 40 or 50 000 bucks by then and you should be
that gives you a lot of peace and then you're not really going to lose the attraction you know as
soon as baby comes home mama comes home everybody's good just write a big honking check and knock out
all those credit cards and then start whooping on the student loan from there you got this man you can do it thank you you're gonna be a good dad i appreciate that all right you hold on we're
gonna give you a copy of the book the total money makeover and um hey if you're not a little bit
nervous when your kid's coming i worry about whether you're gonna be a good dad. It ought to scare the P. Wadden out of you.
I love it.
That's awesomeness.
It did me.
I know that.
Wow.
That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey show
in the books.
We'll be back with you
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.
This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show.
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For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at DaveRamsey.com slash show.