The Ramsey Show - App - I'm Scared My Fiancé Won't Follow Through With Our Financial Goals (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 8, 2021

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I am John Deloney, joined here by best-selling author, YouTube sensation, and Instagram hero, Ramsey Personality, Mr. Anthony O'Neill. We are taking your calls about your life, your relationships,

anything and everything. Give us a shout at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Or send your question in at RamseyShow. Anthony, how we doing? Hey, man.

I'm doing great, man. It's a beautiful day out here. We got some beautiful people out here in the audience and just enjoying this amazing day. That's fantastic. All right, let's go to Max in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Max, how are we doing this afternoon? Hey, fellas, how are you?

Thanks for taking the time. You betcha. How can we help, brother? Yeah, so I've never really done anything like this before, so I want to make sure I ask this in the best way possible. I made a huge mistake in going to Boston University for school. Between Bentley and BU, I took in about $250,000 of student loans for an education degree that I'm not using.

I'm not teaching. I'm working at a bank. I'm lucky to. Um, I'm working, you know, I'm working at a bank. I'm lucky to be employed, but, uh, the 207,000 of that is in default. Um, my payment was supposed to be $2,200 a month. Uh, I make 58 a year. I just simply don't make enough to make that kind of payment. Um, so I guess I'm wondering, especially during these circumstances where, you know, I, I hear Dave talk about being as as ill and trying to take this and take care of this as quickly as possible. Uh, I was driving Uber. I was, you know, I play piano part time and, you know, for the better part of a year, I guess it'll be a year next month.

Like all of that has been completely decimated and who knows when it might come back. Um, I guess I will say on top of that, like the Uber thing, I got into a car accident a few months ago and got a concussion. So car's gone for now too. So I guess one, what are these, I mean, in your experience, have you heard any stories about what these creditors actually do? I mean, I'm paying them $400 a month, but obviously that's a drop in the bucket. And it's kind of a

nightmare scenario. You're not making a dent in it at all, Max. Yeah. And right now, you need a bigger shovel. Right. Okay. We need to get your income up. Because you're not going to be able to pay it off making $55,000, $58,000 a year.

We need to get your income up, especially with $400 a month payment. So what's your career right now? I work at a bank in finance. What did you go to school for? Elementary education. Okay. All right. Why they approved that $250,000 is beyond me.

Hey, hold on. Hold on, though, Max. Hold on. Let's don't do that. Yeah. Okay? Yeah, yeah. Let's take full ownership of where we're at, okay?

Yeah. You signed it, bro. I mean, and it's... Yeah, yeah. You're normal. You know what I'm saying? You're normal. I signed for student loans. I did, too. John signed for student loans. I mean, we're not... It was normal. You know what I'm saying? You're normal. I signed for student loans.

I did too. John signed for student loans. I mean, we're not. It was the stupidest thing I've ever done. Well, I mean, we've all done stupid things. We've all been there. So let's put that down and let's move on to solving the problem now, right? Yeah.

Sounds good. All right. So you're making $58,000 a year in a banking institution. All right. You're saying you cannot drive for Uber. What else can you do? So you have an education. Can you go home and tutor online right now, especially within your age bracket, Max?

You can you can jump online and do some creative things to generate some income. All right. Right now, you need to step back and have a game plan. How are you going to generate another $25,000 a year? Because check this out. If you could generate another $25,000 a year, you can attack this debt and be debt-free within the next three to four years because I'm going to show you how to pretty much negotiate. I'm going to give you access to my book, The Sure Your Student Loan Debt. So when we hang up, why don't you stay on the line. Kelly's going to send you that book for free on John and I.

It's really on me because it's my book, but I love John. I'm happy to take credit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm going to show you how to refi it, how to get it out of collections, how to refi it, and how to come up with creative ways to negotiate some type of settlement offers within this thing. Now, you may not be able to settle it. I'm not saying you will be, but you might be able to. But the key thing for you right now is making your shovel larger as far as in getting your income. So this is what we're going to do. We're going to give you two books. Ashton, I'm going to give you two books. I'm going to give you one book and then I'm going

to tell you, you need to go listen to our good friend, Ken Coleman. We call him the shovel guy, okay? Because he's going to show you how to turn his fifty eight thousand dollars and maybe turn it into a hundred thousand dollars because he's a pro at teaching people how to make more money how to get into their sweet spot so you have a shovel problem and then from there you need to go ahead and get gazelle intense and i'm gonna show you how to take that shovel and get out of debt you feel me yeah yeah so we really can't lay out too much for you right now. But the key thing is you got to get on a clear budget. For the next three to five years, Max, you are broke. Okay?

You don't have time. Are you single or are you married? I'm actually getting married in December. You're getting married in December? Mm-hmm. Okay. How much debt does she have? As far as I know, zero.

As far as you know, you ain't talked to her about it yet. As far as you know, you're getting married. Have that conversation today, Max. You propose without knowing? She certainly doesn't have the student loan issue that I do. Oh, yeah, but she may have car loans. She may have some, I mean, yeah. No, no car loan.

Okay, cool. Well, just ask her. Ask her. Do you have any debt outside of a mortgage? Just ask her. And then say, now that just brings up another thing right there. Right. You have two incomes attacking this debt.

You can go out there and generate some more. What does she do for a living? She works for the state of Jersey right now. Oh, so she's making pretty decent money then with some good benefits. Yeah, they're doing all right. I mean, she's only working one day a week. I

don't know something about them not being able to distribute laptops for last year, which is a little ridiculous. Well, she's going into the office one day a week, but is she working from home? No. I mean, I don't know what their team came up with, but yeah, basically they're going into the office one day a week and that's it for now until this kind of calms down. It's beyond me. I haven't... All right. So, hey, Max, it's something that I'm picking up in your soul a little bit just to cut through it, okay? In your original question, you asked us,

what are the creditors really going to do? And behind that is this sense of you feel guilty that you signed a piece of paper, and that waffles back and forth between blaming the folks who let you sign it, which is fair, and feeling stupid and ashamed that you did what you did. I want you to think of that guilt and that shame as a big cinder block. You are not going to get anywhere in a new marriage.

You're not going to get anywhere towards paying down this debt, which, brother, you owe, until you put that cinder block down, pick up a shovel, two of them, three of them. Yes, you got wiped out in 2020. It sucks. Now you've got a choice to make brother are you gonna sit there and go what are they really gonna do they're gonna come get me

or you're gonna get back up be the be the the the husband that your new wife is gonna deserve and need and that she is marrying into and then brother go pay off your debt stay on the line anthony's gonna give you his book and you're going to call us back in a year and you're going to tell us how far you've wiped this sucker down because you're on it. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. 2021 is finally here, which means 2020 is over. And now you get to decide how this year goes.

Rachel Cruz's new book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money, is also finally here, and this book will help guide you to faster progress with your money, no matter which baby step you're on. For years, we've taught you that personal finance is 20% head knowledge and 80% behavior. This is the book for helping you grow and control your behavior. Know Yourself, Know Your Money goes beyond the baby steps and gets to the root of your money choices and mistakes. 2020 probably gave you a pretty clear view at what your personal money fears are. This book will help you channel those into a healthy

money mindset so you can make 2021 a year worth celebrating. Get your copy of Know Yourself, Know Your Money today at the online store at DaveRamsey.com or call our Ramsey concierge team at 888-227-3223. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Dr. John Deloney with my friend and Ramsey personality, Anthony O'Neill. And we are taking your calls about life and money. 888-825-5225. It's 888-825-5225. 2020 is over and we are into 2021. Now the first five days were looking pretty sharp, Anthony,

and then we got off the rails pretty quick. We all need a reset. So I want you to join us next Tuesday night, January 12th at 7 p.m. for our free reset live stream event to kickstart your money goals for 2021. This is free. Over 100,000 people have already signed up. It's going to include Chris Hogan, Rachel Cruz, Dave Ramsey, and Craig Rochelle.

They're going to give you the motivation and guidance you need to hit the reset button and say goodbye to money stress for good. Millions of you got hit unawares. You didn't see it coming. We've been telling you for years. We don't say I told you so on the show, but we told you so. And then 2020 showed up. Hit reset for good. Text reset to 33789. Now to sign up and take the first step towards lasting financial peace, or you can sign up at DaveRamsey.com slash reset. If you're in the Oklahoma City area, you can join us live and in person. Very limited, limited seating, obviously, with the right social distancing and spacing. But you can be a part of the church audience. The tickets there are $20 and are available at DaveRamsey.com slash events,

if there is even any left. I have no idea. Number two, here's a second thing you can do. Ramsey Plus, you hear us talk about all the time. It's our step-by-step money plan that will give you the accountability and practical tips you need to pay off your debt faster than you can on your own. As we start 2021, we got a challenge for you. Decide on a total money reset this year. Then start Ramsey Plus and commit to working like mad hard hard in the first 90 days.

And watch as those small daily wins turn into lifelong habits so you never feel out of control with money again. To start Ramsey Plus for free, go to DaveRamsey.com slash reset. All right, let's go to Sunday in Philadelphia. Sunday, how are we doing? I'm amazing. How are you we doing? I'm amazing. How are you guys doing? Amazing as well.

What can we do to help? Well, I'm really calling because I've been with my fiance for a long while now. We've been together for about 10 years. It's finally taken me 10 years to open up and say, okay, I'm ready.

I'm ready to put our money together. I'm ready to go in hard on this. And, I mean, finally I'm a fiancé, so now I feel pretty safe. But with that being said, I'm scared that he's not going to follow through. I listen to Dave Ramsey all the time. He listens to it, but he doesn't always go in what should i do man sunday there's a lot here i was about to say something then i thought i'm not going to say anything and let anthony and he just turned to look directly at me. So you should be scared. Okay. Yes. 10 years. That's a decade, right?

Yes. And suddenly you, you feel like you're going to feel safe because you got a ring on your finger after a decade, right? Yes. And three presidents ago. How about that? Thank you. A long time ago. And it felt good for a few days. You got that ring finally. And then your consciousness kicked back in. Your frontal lobe came back online. And you thought, oh, man, this is the same guy that either I or he or we have not felt in sync with for a decade enough to get married,

right? So you should. Your body's alarm systems are going off and they should be, right? Is that fair? Yes. Am I telling you anything that you don't already know? Yes. No.

I don't know. You don't know? Sonny, I'm just telling you the truth. I'm going to turn it over to Anthony here. You're not in a position to be joining money up together right now. You're not safe until you are married. You're not safe until you've sat down and had full conversations. And if you have some priorities, and your priorities right now, according to your language, is being safe.

That's baseline for a marriage. And after a decade with somebody, if you don't feel safe, you guys need to have different conversations. You need to be having deeper conversations, probably at this point with a therapist, with a pastor in your community, that you can be open and honest with because you're going in, hedging your bets on a marriage, and it's not going to work. And you should not, not, not be joining money with a 10-year boyfriend who you know is not all into. How long y'all been engaged? Sunday?

Just about a year. When y'all getting married? Well, can't I just blame it on the pandemic? No! No. You go get married at the courthouse no sunday now you know you can't call me here and talk with ao and jd like that you know what i'm saying maybe dave but not with us so when are y'all getting married what's the date we know it's this year what's the date oh my

i don't have a date i'll tell you when it is 2032 right. 2032. What's another 10 years? Why not? No. Sunday. We're going to do better. Sunday. Listen. Yes. Yes. You already know you don't need to be combining your finances with a potential husband.

Okay? Mm-hmm. You're not in a safe place, but I do know, ladies, that emotional security is very important, and I understand that. But a ring on your finger as a fiancé is not the emotional security, all right? So what I'm telling you is set the date. Go to the courthouse this weekend. Go to the courthouse tomorrow. Go ahead and become a husband and wife, together y'all work a game plan but until then

until you all are legally married and i don't know about pennsylvania but y'all maybe already uh pretty much married because of common law yeah common law um but i mean i'm talking about within the eyesight of god i mean that's just my faith and the Christian faith. I want y'all to go ahead and get legally married and have a plan together. Stop. Do y'all live together? Yes. Yeah. So you're already giving him wife benefits and he can leave you tomorrow.

Okay. And so for me right now, what you need to do is say, you know what, bae? Let's go get married. Let's do this. We've been together for 10 years. So y'all have kids together? Yes, we have a daughter. Yeah.

So I don't know what we're playing on. Okay. What's going on here, Sunday? You have kids together. Okay. So you're already doing husband and wife things. You're about to combine your money. You live in the same place.

You're paying all the bills together. Just go ahead and get married. Don't blame it on COVID. Don't blame it on no one else. And then covid gets over then yeah you can have a huge celebration but i firmly do believe that if you do it in a healthy and the right way blessings follow that the security that you desire the emotional security that you desire the blessings that you desire will come once you just get married. You're already doing everything. Right.

Go get married. But I want to add this. I want to add this. If you only want to get married when you feel safe, you have your answer and you know that, right? Right. Who's the reason we're being held up here? you have your answer and you know that, right? Right. Who's the reason we're being held up here?

It's both of us. Okay. I was about to say 10 years. It's still bad. Yeah, I was about to say she ain't going to hold me up. I'll tell you that right now. But look at here, girl. It's been 10 years, baby. What are we going to do?

So we can tell it's on both of them. Right. But if you go get married, what I'm saying here is if Sunday, if you go get married tomorrow and you're unable to have hard conversations with someone you've been with for a decade that you have a child with, that's not just going to solve itself on Monday. Right? Right. I'm confused to why. It sounds like they're both scared of commitment because they're already doing everything else. So it sounds like I am scared to legally say

this is the rest of my life because I'm already doing everything. And what I want to get to is why are you still scared after 10 years? That's what I... Yes, that's... Yes, yes. So Sunday,

you've got to address those hard, hard questions. Yeah. And if you come to a place where you say, he's my guy guy like hanky said you're already doing it you're already there then you come come back we're going to give you ramsey plus you and him your new husband you're going to go through it together you're going to learn these lessons together you're going to dream and create a vision together it's never too late to start then after 10 years of running in place then you're going to be and create a vision together. It's never too late to start. Then after 10 years of running in place, then you're going to be ready to rock and roll. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Dr. John Deloney, joined here by my good friend, Anthony O'Neill. We're taking your calls on life and money at 888-825-5225.

888-825-5225. Let's go to Kara in Lubbock, Texas. Kara, how are we doing? Good. How are you, Dr. D? Good, good, good. How can we help? Hey, quick question. So I am currently a full-time student finishing my clinical social work degree, my master's degree. And so I haven't been employed in a year.

So I also, we're in baby step two, so we're not contributing to our um to our retirement right now anyway but when i left my full-time job i also left my 401k and i haven't gotten a new job so i don't have like another 401k to to transfer that to so i was wondering do i just let it sit where it's at since we're not contributing anyway? And then when I get a new job, transfer that? Or should I just open one by myself right now? Such a great question, Kara. We never, never, never advise you to switch it to a 401k, I mean to another 401k. What I want you to do is switch that over.

Get on the phone with a financial advisor and switch it over to a Roth IRA. Okay? You can get on the phone. If you go to anthonyoneal.com forward slash experts or davramsey.com, you can find a financial advisor or smart investor pro that will help you move your 401k over to an IRA. I would suggest moving over to a Roth IRA so we can grow and, you know, to pay taxes on it moving forward. But do that ASAP.

So when you get off the phone with me go over to my website anthonyneal.com forward slash experts look for smart vestor pro and just tell them hey i have a 401k and i would love to switch it over from there um and i know you don't have a job right now but i would recommend kara how much debt do you have right now um it's actually all student loans and it's mine. We've paid off about 65,000 since last September. Way to go. Um, and you said we, so you're married. Um, yes, me and my husband.

All right. Okay. Um, and he's this old provider of our household. So, and he makes, um, without like bonuses and stuff. Um, he probably brings in about $85 to $90 a year. Cool. Great. Especially in Texas. That's good money out there. Y'all living good. We're in the Permian Basin. I'm sure John knows

where that is. You betcha. And what industry that is. Yep. So that's good. I would definitely recommend that. How much debt are y'all combined total income? All we have left is my student loans and I was one of those people, I've got AO, I wish I

would have met you so long ago. We all do, Carol. I'm one of those people that took out student loans. I'm the one that took out those student loans to support my lifestyle and go to school and get the things that I wanted. So I think

the last time I checked, I like 126 000 in debt okay cool and you're in school right now i think you said that right yes i actually just made my first cash payment to tuition in my life okay cool and so you're not borrowing any money right no i paid for i paid for this semester that starts in a couple of days all cash and it was my first time to ever do that in my life and it hurts it hurts doesn't it hey can i ask you this can i ask you this question would you have gotten a master's degree after feeling how much that hurts to make that cash payment if you had had to pay in cash would you have gone to school when you did or would you have held off? Oh, absolutely.

I have a desire to help people. I'm getting my master's in clinical social work right now. Good deal. I would have saved it up and maybe put it off a few more years so I could have paid cash. We all live and learn

the hard way. Man, you're telling me. Here's the only thing too I recommend, Cara, and we can go to the next call, is I get it that your husband's a breadwinner. And I also get it that you're back in school full time. But figure out a way of how you can generate maybe an extra two grand, a grand, two grand a month, you know, from working from home. How can you do something online? How can you maybe deliver some groceries on your off time? Something that doesn't require, you know, a full workload, but something that you can do from online. And so I would recommend you looking

into maybe Christy Wright's book, Business Boutique. She teaches people how to turn their hobbies into passion. And it's a great book where you can generate, you know, an extra grand that can go towards your student loans. That's $12,000 extra that can help you out. So I would definitely look into how can you contribute a little bit so that way your husband's not carrying too much of the load. All right, let's go to Christina in Orlando, Florida. Christina, what's going on? Hi, guys.

Thank you for taking my call. Hope all is well. I just have a quick question about, I want to try to invest. I'm 30, 42. I'm an RN, and I make about a little under 90 grand a year. I have three children. I'm a single mother, and my car's paid off. I have no student loans, no credit card debt.

I just bought a house in February, and I wondered if I should, but I have no savings. That's my only downfall. I spend a lot on bills and student tuition for the kids, things like that. So I wondered if I should really start putting more money into savings or paying off my house at this point. And I know you said,

did you say you were 42 or 32? I can't remember. I'm going to be 42. Oh, you're a young lady. You're a young lady. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Yes, I want you to stack up that emergency fund, especially with children.

All right. And so I want you to get on a very detailed budget. And we call that an every dollar budget. And I want you to list out every single thing. Okay? And then what I want you to do is look at that budget and see what can you cut? What can go in half? Because I want you

to get that three to six months. And to be honest, I tell single mothers to aim for that six months. Because if you're by yourself and single, three months is great. But what you have in kids, you need a little bit more cushion, especially as a single mother. And so I'm going to say take that car payment that you had,

put it over there into the savings. Don't worry about your house right now. Make the minimum payment on your house. But then you need to get on a very detailed budget, every dollar. If you go to DaveRamsey detailed budget every dollar okay if you go to daveramsey.com forward slash hope right now you can get every dollar for free for like 14 days i think i can't remember the exact terms uh kelly james if y'all could tell me if i'm right on that but i know it's free for either 7 or 14 days if you go over there right now and just list out that

well every dollar is free but the premium version is what you can get for 14 days for free. The bottom line is I want you to budget. Let's say for an example you got Apple Music, Spotify. You can cut Spotify. Let's say we have Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus for your kids. You can cut two

of those. You can generate an extra $50 just from looking at your budget sometimes if you just really sit down and just list it out. So you're in a good place. You're in a healthy place. You are debt free. Now let's go ahead and make sure that we generate some income to where we can get a fully funded emergency fund to prevent you from going back into debt. But yes, go to DaveRamsey.com and check that out. I want you to get every dollar it is our free tool um but i do want you to connect that to your checking account so that way you can see what's

going in what's going out and you can stay on top of your money okay hey christina can we geek out for a second i'm sorry can i can we geek out for a second yes please uh you're an rn you said a registered nurse yeah okay so what's your what's your typical patient load well actually i don't i don't do patient direct care i am a nurse case manager so everything i do is uh telephonic and i actually work from home now with the pandemic but before that i was working three days a week from home and then two days from the office. Very cool. So I don't do patient care.

Yeah. That's an awesome job. That's a great setup. Okay. So you know this in other forms, and I'm confident that you know this if you sat down and thought about it, but there is a physiological consequence to feeling unsafe, right? Absolutely. There is a cortisol and an adrenaline consequence

to waking up with your heart racing a little bit faster, right? Correct. When you wake up with no emergency fund and three kids and no net, every day you are choosing to put another cigarette in your mouth, take an extra drink. Think of it that way and get intense about an emergency fund. You will find yourself sleeping, laughing harder, and you'll find this magic, magic place called peace. You got it, Christina.

Congratulations. We'll be right back. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm John Deloney, joined here by Ramsey personality and bestselling author, Mr. Anthony O'Neill. We are taking your calls on life and money, 888-825-5225. Let's go to Janelle in Miami, Florida. Janelle, what's going on? Hey, how you guys doing? Good deal. How are you?

Pretty good, pretty good. I have a quick question for you regarding buying a home. Okay, go for it. My husband and I, we've been renting for about seven years now, and we just had our first child last June. And we're in a one-bedroom apartment, but we need more space. Yes. And so I've been speaking to different people,

and some people are telling me that buying a home is an investment. Some are saying that buying a home is debt. And so I just wanted to kind of get your take on being a first-time homebuyer. Yeah. You know, Janelle, both of the people who are telling you that information, buying a home is investment, true. Buying a home is debt. True. OK, so those are two true statements that they have given you.

But let's apply this to your life. Where are you all at as a couple as far as in income? What's your all's combined income, household income? It's about fifty56,000, $60,000. Okay. So you're at $60,000 of combined income. What's your total amount of debt right now? About $80,000. $80,000 in debt. And what kind of debt is that? For me, it's student loans, car, personal loan, hospital bills. And then for him, it's student loans and hospital bills.

Okay. All right. Cool. And so should you buy a house now? The respectful answer is no. Should you look into moving and maybe get you a bigger apartment or maybe a town home that you can rent? Yes. How old are you, Janelle, if you don't mind me asking? 26. Cool. Great. Here's what I want to tell you. I'm a 36-year-old guy and I just purchased my first home when I was

31, 32. Yeah, so 32. When I was 32 years old, I purchased my very first home when I was 31, 32. Yeah, so 32. When I was 32 years old, I purchased my very first home. All right. And I was making good money at by the time I was like 27, 28. Never let someone tell you that your mortgage payment is going to be cheaper than your rent payment because your house will not be cheaper than your apartment. OK, so, yes, a mortgage payment will be cheaper than your rent payment because your house will not be cheaper than your apartment. Okay. So yes, a mortgage payment will be cheaper than your rent payment. Some,

a lot of times, but your house will not be cheaper than your apartment. I don't want you to rush. You have enough time to know you have enough time to pay off your debt, secure a fully funded emergency fund. And then when you move into your house, you can move into maybe your dream home. If you follow what I teach, especially to us millennials. All right. And so I'm going to say respectfully, no, now is not a good time for you to purchase a home, do I believe that you should look into possibly getting a two bedroom apartment or

maybe even consider getting a nice little two bedroom townhome with a garage in it and just start working your way up in that process? Absolutely. But Janelle, if you rock with me and if you listen to what I teach you, I guarantee you by the time you turn 27, you will be in a much better place and you'll be able to purchase and build you turn 27, you will be in a much better place and you'll be able to purchase and build you a home, not just buy any kind of house. All right? So can I ask you a question?

Well, go ahead. Sure. I was going to say, I want you to change your pronoun problem. Okay? When Anthony asked you how much debt you had, you listed your debt and then you listed his debt.

It's y'all's debt. Yeah. Okay? You and your husband are in this together. You are parents of a beautiful little baby. Y'all are working together to get out of debt, together to be great parents, together to buy a home. So I want you guys to sit down and do this together.

Okay? You had another question to follow up? Go for it. Yes. Well, question and comment. Comment, I'm 27. I keep forgetting my age. But I'm just going to say just add one more year for us for our use of the vision.

But when you say that the house will cost more than the apartment, what do you mean by that? I hear what you're saying with the mortgage. Are you saying that the repairs and stuff that come with the house? The expense of the apartment. What do you mean by that? I hear what you're saying with the mortgage. Are you saying like the repairs and stuff that come with the house? The expense of the house. So for an example, your water bill is going to go up from a one-bedroom to a three-bedroom house. You're not going to buy a two-bedroom house.

I remember, Janelle, when I left my one-bedroom apartment and I built my house, my electricity bill was maybe about like $58 a month for my light bill. Right. Then when I built this 3000 big, beautiful square foot home, um, my electricity bill went from $58 to guess how much? $413.

Because I went from doing power to a five, 600 square foot apartment, uh, to now 3000 two level000 two level place. And so it's not just electricity. You're talking about electricity. When you get a house, you got to maintain the grass.

I mean, you got to water the grass. You got to sod the grass or do whatever you want to do. There's so many different things. And if something goes wrong with the house and if you don't have an emergency fund, and then how are you going to fix it? And so I get it. Yes. Buying a home is a great investment.

But here's what I'm trying to prevent you from doing is going into something that you consider to be a dream. And then you wake up a year from now. It turned into a nightmare. All right. So, Janelle, I want you to text me. I want you to be a part of my family. I'm going to help you out. I want you to text this number 615-930-3431. Again, that's 615-930-3431. I'm helping young people in that age bracket every single day get out of debt, build wealth, go start a business, go build homes or buy homes, buy their dream cars. So text that number today. You'll be a part of family. My team and I are going to keep you up to date and we're going to help you accomplish your cars. So text that number today. You'll be a part of the family. My team and I are going to keep you up to date,

and we're going to help you accomplish your dreams. I promise you that much. And along those lines, I'm living it. I bought a house recently. We had it inspected. It's a beautiful home. Top to bottom. Inspectored.

Did a fine job. So far, I've had to repair the driveway. Yeah. Got to get a new roof. I got to, right? I got to, got to, got to. Had to get a new mower. Those things add up.

And when I was renting before, man, I didn't think of any of that stuff, right? Yeah. Because I just made a phone call and somebody else came out and fixed it. Yeah. And so, yeah, the rent versus the ownership, man, never plays out mathematically like that, right? It really doesn't. And what I try to tell, especially young people, this generation wants to own. I get it.

And I love that they're thinking about ownership, but no one's honestly taking the time and teaching them, hey, okay, I want you to own, but here's how you do it. What's the cost of ownership, right? Yeah. I am so grateful that before I purchased a home, I came here. Because listening to Dave, listening to Chris Hogan, and watching how they move things and seeing how they think about things, it's like, yo, I'm not ready yet. Because, you see, when you get into the home, you're going to want new furniture. Right.

And then nine times out of ten, you're going to go finance the furniture. So I'm like, no. When I get into the home i want to pay cash for all of my furniture and it felt so good to walk into the store i have a budget and i want that i want this yeah i want that and i'm sleeping on a paid for bed i'm sitting on a paid for couch you know i'm pushing a paid for lawnmower you know i paid cash for the landscaping of my house and here's the thing i'm gonna be real'm going to be real with y'all today. We got about two more minutes.

I'm going to be real with y'all. I had a beautiful home. I sold it because I moved downtown to Nashville, Tennessee. But I said, you know what? I want something beautiful. So what I did is I waited two extra years because I wanted something I really, really liked. And I'm telling you, it felt good. good you have people saying anthony you're wasting money you know what no i don't know because i'm going to skip over all the drama that you're going to go through and i'm gonna do it right and it was the best feeling for those four years

living in that house pulling into this big old house with beautiful lights all over it and and beautiful grass because i did it right i did did exactly what we teach, and it felt good to wake up on every single month, and all I had to worry about was my mortgage payment. But when something did go wrong with my house, it just became an inconvenience. It was annoying. It wasn't a shapeshifter, right? No, because I had the money in my account. Right.

So I'm like, that's what I'm teaching this generation. You want to get this car? Great. Let me show you how to get it. You want to start this car? Great. Let me show you how to get it. You want to start this business? Great. Let me show you how to get it. You want to build this house?

You want to go into this house? Great. Let me show you how to do it. But there's a process. Right. And that process, you know. And we call it financial freedom for a reason. Yeah.

Because you get to sleep at night. Man, I love it. I'm trying to tell y'all. All right, that's another hour in the books. This has been The Dave Ramsey Show. I want to thank producer James Childs and associate producer Kelly Daniel. Be well, be kind, pay your bills. This has been The Dave Ramsey Show.

You can listen to Dave, Rachel Cruz, Chris Hogan, or the rest of the Ramsey Network anywhere with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. Catch all of our full shows, browse by topic or send clips to your friends, head to the app store and download the Ramsey network app today.