The Ramsey Show - App - I’m Drowning in Over $300K in Student Loan Debt (Hour 3)

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Jay Boshaw. Ramsey Personality is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Helen is in Atlanta.

Hi, Helen. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Hi, everyone else. I'm calling. I forgot your name. I'm sorry. That's all right but i have i have a question

that i'm sure y'all hear a lot it's a student loan question i know y'all like oh i'm so sick of student law not me we know you're sick of them so we're here to help you what's up so i i'm kind of like in a very deep hole i'm at the point where I'm very hopeless at this point. I'm trying to figure out how can I handle my student loan debt, which is now at $311,000, which keeps growing as each day goes by. My interest rate on that student loan, which is 311,000 is some of them are 7%,

some are 6.80 and some are 7.60. Are they private? Are they private or public? They're not private. They're public, all of them with the Department of Education. Okay. What's your degree in? I am.

So I have three degrees. I have one in information technology, one in conflict management, which that was a waste of money. And I have a law degree. Okay. And so what do you make? Um, so right now I'm only making 85 K doing what, um, right now I'm doing compliant. Okay. Why? Um, uh, because, well, I was, um, a staff a staff attorney, but I wasn't making a lot of money as a staff attorney because I worked for a nonprofit. I wanted to switch over to do more corporate type of legal work. And that's when I switched over last year to this to try to try something else,

which I did get a pay bump in making this transfer. I am married. I have a child. What does your husband make? He only makes $50. Okay. How old is your information technology degree? Oh, it's years old.

So you're not up to snuff on what's going on right now then? Not at all. Not at all. So your best path to an income is through your law degree? Exactly. Can I ask about your spouse? He makes $50,000. You're not combining

your income? No, we are not. Well, we're not really combining our income because he says my student loan is my student loan so he's not contributing to that does he have debt um he he owes about he has a there was a garnishment or whatever. It's not garnishing, but he has a debt about 30, well, more than that. He has a $30,000 debt, plus he has a car loan. I do not have a car loan.

The only debt I have is the house. So the house is in your name? Mm-hmm. We got troubles, girlfriend. We have a lot of troubles. And the house, basically, if you add the house we got troubles, girlfriend. We have a lot of troubles. Basically, if you add the house and you add the student loan debt, I'm at half a million dollars in debt at this point.

So number one chance, the only chance you've got to cleaning up his mess and cleaning up your mess is for you guys to join forces and quit acting like your roommates fighting over whose mayonnaise it is in the dadgum refrigerator besides that boy child is no money genius we've proven that already so it's not like he's sitting over here on some high horse he's already behind he's further in debt ratio to his income than you are and his income potential so anyway number one uh we need an attitude adjustment in our marriage and learn to get on the same page and work towards things together um and then number two we're gonna have to do something with your law degree that makes

you as much money as possible and it's not what you're doing now i mean a law degree you ought to be north of six figures. Coming out of the gate. What was the intent when you got that degree? What was the intent? Just collecting degrees like a thermometer. My intent was I always wanted to be an attorney. But end up working at one of the lives that I didn't like. Except for the part when you did conflict management

and the part when you did information systems. I mean mean what's the next step taking the bar you got the bar i've already taken the bar yeah so staff attorney so then what i i need to understand what's stopping you from making double what you're making because the industry is not paying well i'm not gonna i don't want to litigate um that's one thing i do not want to litigate why um's one thing. I do not want to litigate. Why? Because I've done it for three years, and I hated it. Okay.

I'm sorry. You did it for 30 years. I did it for three years. Oh, three years. Three years as a staff attorney. Okay. And I hated it, and I was in depression. The only option that I saw out of this situation is to work for a nonprofit,

which you know that's not going to make that much money at all. It doesn't work. You need to make some money. And then you can give in 10 years. Yeah, you guys both need to make as much money as you can possibly make because you have a deep, deep hole and a medium size to small shovel.

And we need to get the size of your shovel up, your income up. And some of the jobs that you do here hear me out you can make a hundred thousand dollars more a year you could be out of this debt in three years yeah even if you didn't like what you were doing like litigation for three whole years if you made if you made 185 we'll go do it for three years and shut up exactly it's less depressing dealing with litigation than it is dealing with 311 000 student loan debt and that's the mic drop that's that's all yeah i'm still here yeah i'm still here i'm not sure it's litigation i don't care but you're hiding in these stupid but half paying

corporate jobs while you need to go at the tip of the spear and go make some dadgum money for the good of your life. Cause you're looking at a mountain, don't know how I'm on climate. And you're standing there with a law degree in your hand. So you, it's an income issue. You can make it out at 85, but it's going to take you three or four times longer. You can make it out without your husband's participation, but it's going to take you three or four times longer. And Oh it out without your husband's participation but it's going to take you three or four times longer and oh by the way when you do finally get out dumb butt's going to still be in debt over there yeah what we're telling you the the you part of it is just such a small part of this equation because if you're getting up your income think about think about this if you double your income he doubles his income you guys attack this thing together you're moving quickly and you're on the same page and

you're going to be wealthy you'd be wealthy you'll end up wealthy at the end of the story he can't double his income because he doesn't have any of the education behind him as well as he's not motivated well that's the second part, not the first part. The problem is he's not motivated because I don't care if he doubles his income in his field. I just want him to go out working and bringing in more income. I don't care if he's delivering pizzas. I want him to get after this

because you guys together decide that this is what you need to do. It's emotionally debilitating to be doing it by yourself when you're married. So it's very hard. But you guys, it is an income to debt ratio problem mathematically. Get your income up so that you can attack this faster and faster and faster and faster. And look at it as a temporary thing.

It doesn't have to be a career choice. It's a temporary thing. You need to do something to go make an extra $100K a year. This is The Ramsey Show. Jade Walsh, our Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. She shall forever be known as everyone else. Dave and everyone else. And everyone a band it's like my co-host everyone else that's good we got a lot of input that way

that's right lots of input lots of people it's in orlando hey joshua welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Well, a lot of big life changes have happened to me recently. Last December, I graduated with my aerospace engineering degree. Wow. And I recently got an entry-level engineering position at NAFTA, making $70,000 a year. He is a rocket scientist. Okay. I also just got married last week. making $70,000 a year. He is a rocket scientist. Okay. I also just got married last week,

and my wife makes $40,000 a year. And we are about to finish Baby Step 2. We've been doing it for about four months. And crazy enough, we have paid off $40,000 in debt by selling my fancy truck and everything else. Way to go. My question is, my wife and I have always had this dream of owning like 15, 20 acres of land, having cattle, goats, chickens, having a bunch of kids. And if you were in my shoes, how would you go about doing this? We would love to build a house, but we know in the past you said that's not really optimal for first-time homebuyers.

We were even thinking about just buying the land, you know, putting an RV on the land for a year or two, and then slowly building a house. Just what are your thoughts on all this, and how would you go about doing this? Okay. So you got married when last week so we always have wanted you out for a week um please tell me you're not on your honeymoon right now okay no we're not congratulations by the way A lot of wonderful things. So you're what, 23, 24? 27. I was in school for eight years, changed major once, and then had to drop out. And how old is she?

She is 26. Okay. All right. We have done a lot of sacrificial things in our lives. Been married 41 years to hit our goals. Never once was one of them my wife considered that she would live in an RV for one of my goals. That was never one of the possibilities. Like, not a freaking chance. Okay, I'm just saying.

So rent an apartment first or something. I don't know. So I could be wrong, but you guys really want a piece of land, and I think that's wonderful. I like dirt, too. I've got some dirt myself. But yeah, the living in the RV thing, unless she's an unusual lady, that's probably not her dream. might be your well it's actually

her idea believe it or not and i'm all for it but uh an unusual well i just you know i don't believe but okay i mean i didn't believe it till you said it so i believe i believe what you say but all right um it's uh what would i do i don't know what you'll do because you're willing to do things I'm not willing to do. And my wife is not willing to do namely living in an RV. Okay. And so, uh,

at any stage of our life, no matter how sacrificial we've been or how broke we've been, that never was on the list. So, uh, uh, I mean, we've lived in some dumpy one bedroom apartments to get there,

but never did do that. Not saying one's better than the other. I'm just saying something that sharon's gonna do so anyway all that to say we would buy a nice starter home that is very generic because generic homes is not unusual in other words uh they go up in value more uh likely than weird homes and then we would get that thing and we'd pay it down as fast as we could pay it down somewhere along in there we'd save up some money and pay cash for the land we'd sell the house and we'd rent while we built on the land and that would be the two-step procedure that we would do and it's we did that but we did it over a number of years I wouldn't think it's

going to take you guys that long but i mean your first place it just feels uh like bad relational advice for me to tell you as dave ramsey that your first home after you've been married a week should be an rv well there's there's a fairy tale element this. It's like, we just got married. This is our dream to have this land and this house with lots of kids. And I love all of that. I would live under a bridge for you until I'm under the bridge. Well, I want them to have all that, but I agree with you, Dave, because at least if you go somewhere, you get a small starter house first or whatever that is,

at least it has the ability to appreciate some value over time while you're saving. We know that RV is not going to do that. That's a good point. So there's that piece of it. And then either way, there's going to be some time

that you're going to wait here because you've got to buy the land. So you may as well wait. In a house. In a home. Yeah. So I would just buy something very boring kind of yeah and make that your first home and concentrate on uh your first year of marriage so there's a scripture in the old testament that talks about in first samuel that the warriors in the in israel in the time of samuel Samuel were not allowed to go to war their first year of marriage.

They were required to invest in their marriage for the first year. And at times, I built several homes with my wife over the years, and at times it's similar to war. I see where you're going with this now i get it no i mean the last the last couple have been pretty good yeah uh the first one we about killed each other but the uh um yeah and the decorator almost had the decorator assassinated but i found out that was illegal so you can't do that dave but Yeah, so it's really getting to know each other and spending your energy on the project of relationship building instead of the project of home building.

That's so true. And that's just good first year of marriage. Try to take on as few complicated and large projects as possible. I agree. In the first year um there's enough to deal with just your mother-in-law i mean there's just that and so you are correct or her mother-in-law or i don't know your mother i don't i mean whatever you know i don't know it's something it could be a mother could be a father you could have an overbearing

controlling father like my kids and so you know that that could happen but yeah i mean you got to learn to deal with it and i you can do all of that joshua but you're a you're a very precise minded individual and um i suspect uh the project of building a home will be very precise for you oh yeah and uh so i really want you to precisely and i if're a muslin, I would tell you to not do anything for a year. Yeah. Just like you heard me say before. And if you did do something, it would be a boring little starter house. And then let's make the building on the land the step two, second home, second home.

And it's still going to be fun. Yeah. The whole process is going to be fun. You've got time. You guys are, yeah, it's going to be fun. And, you know, word of the wise goats aren't as fun as they sound like they are open phones at 888-825-5225 you jump in we'll talk about your life and your running now i will get hate mail from the goat people but um there we go i hadn't

offended as many people today so i thought i'd just add to the list and all right that's the process so it's a good thing like i talked to a couple uh i remember gosh many years ago on the show and it's first time i ran into this they were worth about two million dollars and they did what he's talking about i was kind of in all of them and They bought a $5,000 single-wide, extremely used trailer and stuck it on a piece of land and lived there until they saved up $300,000 cash, and then they built a cash house. That's pretty cool. And fast forward, we're sitting with them. They're not even 30, and they're worth over a million dollars. That's pretty cool.

With a paid-for $300,000 house on a nice track of land. They were down in the Alabama area at the time. And that was the first time I heard somebody going that extreme. And they're like, you're going to love this. And I'm like, yeah, I love that you did it. Yeah. But no, Sharon was not going to do that. That was not on her list.

And I don't, it's not wrong. There is a level of sacrifice that you're going to endure the depth of it will the deeper the faster you're propelled but the depth of it is your choice yeah yeah that's good and the fact that they did a five thousand dollar rv that was a single wide yeah worse this is The Ramsey Show. So, if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically-based alternative to health insurance, Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours take care of over $11 billion in medical bills since 1981.

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So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Jade Walsh, our Ramsey personality, is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage. George and Carol are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Fine, and you, Dave? We're doing great.

Better than we deserve. Same here. Same here. Welcome. Where do you live? San Antonio, Texas. All right. Fun.

How much debt have you paid off? Paid off $620,000. Woo-hoo! How long did that take? It took us 39 months. Wow. This is a lot. That's a lot. And your range of income during that three years and three months?

We started out at $313,000 and ended at $348,000. Goodness gracious. What do you all do for a living? I'm a retired soldier 30 years army retired medically retired and uh 25 years retired air force wow and that's the this is all retirement income no and also well i retired in 2010 and they picked me up as doing the same thing i really

i get individuals deployed ah that is my job civil service oh okay all right so all of that combined wow yes sir well thank you for your service both of your career then wow in san antonio definitely that makes sense okay very cool whoa so 620 000 uh that's your house yes sir oh look at it weird people you are debt-free baby yeah i love it what's this house worth a million dollars now wow come on somebody i love it and you got this fabulous military retirement thank you thank you thank you for your service over and over and over again. And you got other nest egg built? Yes, sir.

How much? So we have over $700,000 in retirement. So you're worth around $2 million there. Yes, sir. Wow, wow, wow, wow. Because of you. Because of you. I didn't do any of it. I didn't do any of it.

You helped us tighten the shot group. Man. That's something. Yeah. Put those rounds down range in the right direction. I like it. I have to be transparent with you, Dave, because at first I did not want to do it. I was totally against it.

Yeah, but she might tighten the shot group, so you need to be careful. This is not a lady you want to mess with i can tell so how did she get you to do it other than threatening you with a shot group well believe it or not uh i have to give it to uh two couples uh a jazz and chris brown and leonard and pam turner uh-huh jazz and chris brown they came to our house and taught us FPU for nine weeks. Wow. One-on-one because I was totally against it. Whoa. Force-fed you.

Dedication. Yes. And once we got aboard, I was hook, line, and sinker. Okay. So how many weeks into you being force-fed did it turn into you were the you were gang on gonna game on i say on the third week okay when i had to cut those credit cards okay all right i mean what kind of friend does that that's a friend that sure is we were in the same life group we had a iris debt we were married eight years ago today Today's our anniversary. Happy anniversary.

When we were married, we didn't join our income. So we were just living paycheck to paycheck. When the bills came in, we paid them. He paid his bills. I paid my bills. But 39 months ago, we had, well, it was four years ago, we had an IRS debt over $11,000. And so I said, hey, baby, slow down on the spending because we owed irs eleven thousand dollars and about a week after that i was at home and a pallet of mulch was dropped off at the house and i called him up

and asked him how much it was he paid over seven hundred dollars for this mulch and we still owe the IRS and I lost my mind that and that was my I've had it yes it was and here comes the force feeding yes that was my I had a moment at the time I was volunteering at the homeless shelter and every story was the same with the women um husband died or husband used up the entire nest egg and you look up and now she's homeless. And that wasn't going to be me. I say to my family, I said to my grandmother, she died with that. I say to my mother, who's a widow, who's in dire need of money without a nest egg. I did not want that to be me.

You've got to love it that it's a. Saw all of that in the mulch. A pile of mulch, so to speak. Whoa, that pile of manure will get your attention. It sure will. Oh, that's fun. Now, I remember you guys. I met you guys on a coordinator rally, right?

Yes. So how did that transformation happen to where someone's force-feeding you FPU? Now you're doing it. And now you're doing it. We had, again, Chris and Jasmine Brown. They were teaching the course in our church so my wife was like hey we want to do that as well so we joined them um did a co host guest with them and after that we're like hey we need to do one of our own i love it what

church you go to now we're covenant church in san antonio texas well thanks for teaching it we appreciate it very very much our church is also debt Well, thanks for teaching it. We appreciate it very, very much. Our church is also debt-free in this. I love it. I love it. You guys are a force to be reckoned with. What do you tell people now that you're coordinating? You pay off $620,000 in three years and some change.

Oh, my gosh. House and everything worth $2 million. Retired military. You're living the american dream tell them how to become debt free what'd you do for that three years we joined forces we got on a budget and we tightened up our shock everything else was secondary to that we stayed gazelle intensity through the whole thing we did not give. And so what we do now is if I see someone, like, say, a plumber or electrician come to the house, I'll say, hey, how's your finances? And they'll talk to us a little bit.

And then I'll go and I'll grab one of your books, and I'll pass it to them and say, hey, you might want to read this. Wow. So we're trying to give it back. That's something. The Lord didn't give us we're trying to give it back. Yeah. Something. The Lord didn't give us all these resources to expend it all. That's right. Because we give that glory to God,

because if it wasn't for him, we would not be standing here at this time. No, that's true. That's true for sure. Well done, you guys. You're amazing. You're heroes in so many ways. Beautifully, beautifully done.

How's it feel to have no payments in the world outstanding free peace no we're not we're not in flight or fight mode anymore yes no homeless shelter because of a pallet of the bs we're in a position to help others the widows the orphans the single parents the homeless clothe feed we're allowed to focus on our ministries amen amen you guys are beautiful you're fabulous i love it i love it i love it well we've got the uh live and give box for you it sounds like you've got good use for it the baby steps millionaires book which you're living proof that that happens you are are Baby Steps Millionaires. And the Total Money Makeover book as well.

And then another financial piece, university membership. You'll find a good use for that. I'm sure for someone coming into one of your classes, maybe that helps them get started. So very well done. You guys are amazing. George and Carol, San Antonio, Texas. Wow. $620,000 paid off.

House and everything. Landing them in a $2 million net worth. Did that in 39 months. Making $313,000 to $348,000. Military retirement plus continuing to work. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

We're debt-free! Yeah! Yeah! three two one we're dead free yeah oh love it wow I love it goals yeah hashtag goals all the years of doing this I have never heard tighten the shot group in reference

to that I've heard it when I'm on the shooting range but I've never heard it in reference to that Carol is not messing around tighten the shot group in reference to that i've heard it when i'm on the shooting range but i've never heard it in reference to that look carol is not messing around she does not miss wouldn't want to be downrange no you don't what a great target what a great job heroes man very cool hey you know you're out there right now you're 19 or you're 20 years old, you're starting your military career. Did you listen to that, young man or young woman? Did you listen to that? Unbelievable. That's where those people are.

And they did that serving their country. So beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Very well done. Wow. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. This is The Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, Ecclesiastes 10.10. If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.

Henry Ford said, most people spend more time and energy going around the problems than trying to solve them. Dr. Stephen Covey in his book, Seven Habits, used to talk about the tree beater. That if you sit, you know, one lumberjack goes in with an axe and he's knocking down, I don't know, make it up 20 trees a day. And the next day, 20 trees a day. The next day, 20 trees a day. The other guy comes in. He's doing 20, 25 trees a day. Then he's doing 15 trees a day. Then 10 trees a day.

Finally, he goes over to the guy who's consistently doing it. He said, what are you doing? He said, well, every morning I have to sharpen my axe. You keep a sharp axe, the trees go down. You keep sharp. if the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened more strength is needed but skill will bring success ecclesiastes says there you go good word must have been where he got that open phones at 888-825-5225 annie is with us in san francisco hi annie how are, I'm great. It's so nice to talk to you. You too.

What's up? All of a sudden I got very nervous. That's okay. We've never lost a patient. How can we help? Good to hear. Well, I'm trying to figure out if we should keep our earthquake insurance and I would love your advice. Yes. I live in San Francisco. Okay. Well, we are, so we are not in San Francisco. We are in a suburb of San Francisco. It doesn't matter. Specifically. Okay.

I mean, you're in an earthquake zone. We are, but it's, what I cannot figure out is why we are, we seem to be the only chumps in our $1.8 million house because all the houses here are insanely priced. We seem to be the only ones who have kept our earthquake insurance. I have talked to so many of my neighbors and our friends in this town. Nobody else seems to have purchased it or kept it once our premiums went way up.

Well, if they went high enough, I don't know what they are. I guess I should have asked that. i don't know what they are i guess i should have asked that um i don't know what the how high they are but i mean there are people that buy earthquake insurance in tennessee that's humorous yeah because there's not been an earthquake in tennessee because it's probably but it's probably super cheap ours for the longest time ours was about two thousand a year and in the last couple of years, our premium has gone up to $6,000 a year. So it's more expensive than our home, I mean, by far. So what would, I mean, again, all insurance is probabilities.

It's all statistics that establishes price, okay? Right. that establishes price okay right and so what they're trying to determine like for instance it's it's very difficult to get homeowners insurance of any kind in florida now because of hurricanes right because the insurance companies have abandoned the state because of that um one of the problems you guys are facing in california is a lot of the insurance companies have abandoned the state because your state government are idiots. And the regulations are crazy. And so they've driven businesses out that they don't want to write in California because it's just too difficult with the regulations.

So that may be what's driving this up. It could be but it could be just statistics that okay if we're a more if we're an insurance company we're going to cover a thousand million dollar houses million eight hundred thousand dollar houses what'd you say yours was then um and on average out of a thousand of them how much you're going to have earthquake damage in a 10-year period of time you know then okay that's 60,000 bucks and so that you know they're running the statistics down uh or 600,000 bucks they run the stats down on actually that they actually make money on all insurance if they do their statistics right all insurance makes money but some of it's not worth some of it's not worth the risk on our part so we take it right

but so what's your household income our household income it depends on the year but it's between 350 and 450 000 okay and so if if if the house uh i mean what you got to think about is just the probability uh what is the chances of a total destruction of this house while you live there. I mean, there have been severe earthquakes in the last, what, 100 years in San Francisco, right? 200 years for sure. Absolutely. Right. And it'll happen again for sure.

And for that reason, actually, all of the insurers don't actually insure for earthquake in California. Right. insurers don't actually insure for earthquake in California right we all have to get it if we want it through the California Earthquake Authority which is like a public you know it's like a private and that's the six thousand dollar yeah exactly so like our state farm home insurance they carve out earthquake they don't yeah exactly exactly yeah because they couldn't figure out they couldn't figure out the probabilities on it. I have a question. In my mind, and I could be totally wrong,

in my mind I'm thinking, okay, $1.8 million, this is going to cost me $500 a month. I feel like I would just do it for the probability of living where there's some sort of damage even if it's not catastrophic right with your income and i know the ratios are different in san francisco but i'm thinking with your income how big of a piece how big a piece of 500 of your world is 500 a month it's not because it makes you make it it's not it's not you just didn't want to feel like a chump i appreciate that no one wants to be a ch. You just didn't want to feel like a chump. I appreciate that.

No one wants to be a chump. I do. I feel like a chump because all of these other people who have incomes, you know, either around ours or north of ours, you know, they don't seem to have it. But if there's an earthquake, they're going to be the chump. Yeah. I mean, it's just a matter of probabilities. What do you – I mean, how long are you going to live in this house?

You know, I'm going to live there 10 years. What's the chances of a total loss in that 10-year period of time? No one knows, obviously, but that's how you would decide if you're a chump. And so it doesn't make you a chump. It's to buy it or, for that matter, not to buy it. They have chosen the other people to become self-insured. They're taking the risk themselves. Obviously, you're already aware of that.

And so, like I've got a friend that has a house on the beach in Mexico. Okay. The area that he's in has small tropical storms and occasional small hurricanes. The house is almost totally concrete because it's built for that area and so if a hurricane comes through there it's going to like blast his furniture blast the windows out but the rest of the house will be just fine and um he priced for hurricane insurance down there and it was ridiculous i mean it was like 25 000 a year and he's like nah i'll just self-insure it and he's

got plenty of money he can rent if the whole stinking thing blows down he can build it back right but he's just like i'm i'm just gonna you know i'm gonna put hurricane shutters on it i'm gonna take care of the house and you know he was describing it all to me it made sense it made sense that he's taking the risk but he can take take the risk. So if the house fell down, do you have a mortgage on it? We have about $375,000 left on it. What's your net worth? I was just about to ask. Depending on which way the wind blows, we're between 5.3 and 5.7.

So this doesn't ruin your life if the house falls down? This is just a peace argument. Is it giving you peace or is it not giving you peace? Will having it make you sleep better at night? Will not having it make you sleep better at night? Oh, that's a good question, Jade. It gives me peace. Okay.

Then you're not a chump. It also makes me feel like I'm a chump. You're not a chump. Because I'm the only one who thinks I'm a chump. I will mathematically tell you you're not a chump. You freaking live in San Francisco. Earthquakes occur. Okay. You I'm a chump because I'm the only one who thinks I'm a chump. I will mathematically tell you you're not a chump. You freaking live in San Francisco. Earthquakes occur, okay? You're not a chump.

You're not getting messed over. If you told me $60,000 a year, I'd be going there getting messed over. But $6,000, no, you're not. It did go way up, but the reason it went way up is the insurance companies got hammered by California claims on earthquake. That's why they quit writing it. And then the only way to get it is get it through a socialized thing with the state, a public-private socialism.

And so, yeah, that's the only way you can get it. And that's part of it. That's the only way you can get dadgum insurance in Florida right now. Just about. There's just a few companies writing it. Very difficult. And so it's the exact same thing. It's the probability the event becomes hard to predict,

so the insurance companies aren't going to cover it. So I don't, I mean, I know a lot about actuarial tables, and I don't think you're a chump. But I don't think you'd be a chump if you self-insured it either. You're not measurably dumb either way. It's just no fun writing a $500 check every month to something that is very fluid. That puts us out of the Ramsey Show and 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. Hey, what's up, guys? It's Jade. Look, if you like what you heard in this episode and want to know more about getting started on the Ramsey Baby Steps, go to ramseysolutions.com

and click the Get Started button. We'll help you figure out the best next step for you based on your specific situation. That's ramseysolutions.com and click Get Started.