The Ramsey Show - App - Investing in Single Stocks Is Like Going to Vegas (Hour 2)

Episode Date: April 24, 2020

Chris Hogan, Anthony ONeal, Debt, Insurance, Retirement Tools to get you started: Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR

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'm Chris Hogan, filling in for Dave, and I'm joined in studio this hour by Anthony O'Neill, financial expert, and we are excited to be here with you, and we want to talk with you. So if you're out there and you've got a question, here's what I want you to do. Pick up the phone and dial us. The number to call is 888-825-5225.

Again, that's 888-825-5225. Call us. Zach is ready to talk to you. Or if you prefer, you can find us on social media at Ramsey Show. Or you can find us individually. You can find Anthony on all the social media platforms. You can find me out there as well. So we'd love to be able to hear from you and talk with you.

Okay, we're going to the phone lines. And we have Kwasi on the line. Kwasi, how can I help you? Hey, thank you guys for taking my call. Yeah,asi, how can I help you? Hey, thank you guys for taking my call. Yeah, man, how can we help you? The question will be kind of directed to the both of you guys. So we, my husband and I, have been following Dave and you guys for about the past year. We paid off about

$147K since then. We've decided to stockpile right now just because of all the uncertainties. But we've been getting a lot of pressure to just kind of take like a minimum of like $1,000 to invest and take advantage of the stock market and investment. So my question is, I know we still have about $65K to pay off in debt, do we invest at this time, or do we just kind of take that minimal that we feel that we can kind of do without and just kind of put towards the lowest debt that

we have? Let me ask you this. Who's pressuring you to invest? So, you know, we just kind of get a lot of things. We kind of had a phone call, talked with an investor, and she was just kind of explaining about the four wheels. You know, if all four wheels are not turning, you know, with the life insurance, the investment, and the paying off debt, and, you know, and the job thing.

So they kind of say you're at a pause. But you can take, like, a little bit and invest, and then, you know, by the time you pay off your debt you know you'll be there and you're still investing okay so how old are you how old are you how old are you uh we're 30 we're 37 okay now you've got 65 000 in debt correct yeah we have that left all right what is that break that down for me what is that debt debt? Okay, so we have, I have $20,000 in student loans. And we have, I think it's about $43,000. It was in a disaster loan that we had picked up when we had Hurricane Irma about two, three years ago.

Okay. So those are the two that we have left. Okay. So here, are you that we have left. Okay. So here, are you familiar with the baby steps? Yes, I'm very familiar with the baby steps. Okay. Now, you know what I'm about to tell you, don't you? I know. I know.

I know. We just kind of got a scare. Well, listen here, because that investment person, who invited that person? Did they call you out of the blue or did you call them? No, it was through life insurance and they had, it was a nice friend and he's like, you know, I really got this really nice friend and she can tell you about how this all works because I was just trying to prepare myself. Uh-huh. Kwasi, listen, are you watching on YouTube or are you watching or are you just listening? I do all of it. All right, listen.

I want you to go watch this one because I'm looking at you right now. Okay? Because first of all, listen to me. You know these drills. Listen. These places will start calling family and friends first. And they've got a good little sound and pitch. And it sounds good in theory.

Here's what we have. We have a plan. It's not a theory. We've helped over 6 million people. 6 million families, excuse me. Many more millions of people following this plan. So what I want you to do is the next time that person calls you, I want you to just let it ring. Or pick up the phone and be direct.

Because I'm from the South. I'm not passive aggressive. I'm aggressive aggressive. I just want you to tell them we're trying to clean up a mess right now and we're not interested. And then I want you to get intentional on attacking this debt. That snowball got the $28,000 in student loans. Then after you attack it, you're going to move down and deal with this $43,000 in disaster loan. After you get out of debt, then you're going to build up a fully funded emergency fund, three to six months of expenses.

Then you'll start to invest. But at no point in time are we going to use life insurance as an investment. You're going to get term life insurance 10 to 12 times your annual income. That's the process. Okay, so don't overthink it. Don't mess with this recipe because it works. And I promise you it'll work for you if you allow it to okay thank you for your call and see anthony this is what happens when people start to think too much okay and so you got to be careful and some of these

places will call they'll start with family and friends yeah uh because they they want you to start with people that are close to you and And people, unfortunately, think they're helping, but they're not. You know, Hogan, this is my thing. And I agree with you. And it kind of frustrates me a little bit. So I'm sitting back here like, man, do we really want to build our future on a rocky present? No. No, let's go ahead and get this present taken care of.

Let's go ahead and get all of our debt paid off. So that way, as I'm building my future, that's the only thing I'm focused on. I can put all my money towards it. I can put my mind towards it. I'm focused on preparing for retirement, for legacy. I don't want to worry about retirement, legacy and present and past. No, I want to go ahead and get my past and my present taken care of, get my fully funded emergency fund.

Then from there there if i have kids i'm worried about their future then i'm worried about my wife and i's future stop listening to these people y'all because they want to make money off of you if they get you to invest a thousand dollars or or to do this they don't they don't care about your debt no they're worrying about making money themselves take care of your home follow the baby steps it works and it worked for me. And my future, man, I'm excited. Yeah.

No, you're right. I'm excited. But here's the other. I saw some commercials. And I've been paying attention to what's on because it kind of tells you what's going on in our society today. And I saw there was a car commercial. And it told people, you don't even have to worry about payments until the first of the year. And I went, oh, here we go.

And listen, they said they're going to deliver you a sanitized new car to your driveway. I'm going. Yeah, I'm going. And I said, oh my. You see, the last thing you want to do right now, right? Because what they're doing is playing on people's emotions. Exactly.

And they want people to get another car to feel good to right now we can't drive nowhere. You can't go nowhere. And so don't fall for that that kind of mindset because what will happen is is you'll blink if you're not paying attention and then you'll end up with another seven eight hundred dollar car payment yes and nowadays they're doing seven and nine year car loans yeah okay so we have to keep our wits about us we got to be intentional and keep our guard up right now and be very, very careful, right?

Because right now, life has changed as we know it for now. We're at home. We're not able to get out and do the things we want to do. And so we're looking for things to try to medicate, looking for things to try to just take our minds off of it. And I want us to be very intentional here because more ads are coming. And I assure you, there are going to be more things that are popping up in your mailbox as these companies try to get more creative online. They're going to be doing things. You got to keep your awareness up and say, Hey, I'm not going backwards. And for those of you

that are trying to climb out of debt, keep climbing. And those of you that got out of debt, listen to me. The last thing you want to do is go backwards. We got to stay focused, my friends, because we're not finished. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. You know we're living in unprecedented times, and everyone is being challenged just with daily life issues. But one thing that hasn't changed is Zander Insurance's commitment to serving their clients in times of need, just like they have for the last 95 years. By investing in top-notch technology, the entire team at Zander is capable of working remotely

and is fully equipped to deliver the high levels of service you've come to expect while protecting their team and the community. This is just one of the reasons they've been my agent for all my insurance for over 20 years. Whether you have questions about an existing policy, want to add protection, or are looking to cut costs in these trying times, this is when your relationship with your insurance agency counts. Zander is here to be a guide and to serve through these challenging times. Call 800-356-4282 or visit zander.com. It's just the Zander way. Hello everyone, you are listening to the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, filling in for Dave this hour, and I'm joined in studio by Anthony O'Neill, financial expert as well.

And we are having a blast taking your calls. We are excited to be with you and want we've got a lot of great resources for you that are free. Some are nearly free, but go to DaveRamsey.com slash hope. And you've got an opportunity to be able to pick up a lot of great information as well as get information on our messages of hope that all of us Ramsey personalities have done. And you can go back and listen to those. And really giving people guidance in this time. You're able to hear from Dave and Rachel and Ken, as well as myself, Anthony O'Neill, John Deloney as well, and Christy Wright, and really just kind of guiding people as we look and try to navigate and figure out this new normal.

And we are in control. What we have to do is stay in control of the controllables. And that's one of the things we've been reminding people throughout this time frame is really looking and understanding that, yes, there's a lot of things that have changed and maybe more changes to come, but there's some rock-solid things that we can focus on. And so if you've not had a chance to watch those Messages of Hope, I want to encourage you to. You can find those on YouTube as well as our websites.

But we'd love you to be able to see that information and also share it with people. People need hope right now. People need to dig in and understand that, hey, we're going to get through this thing, and the best way to do it is by staying connected and together. Also, I want to let you know that there are all kinds of online communities right through Ramsey Solutions. There's the Baby Steps Facebook group that you can get connected to. I've got my Everyday Millionaire group that you can connect to by going to facebook.com slash ChrisHogan360 and click on the group section and go join Hogan's Everyday Millionaires.

People are in there from age 18 up to 80 that are encouraging each other and guiding each other through this period. It's a great opportunity to get plugged in. And so although you may be at home, you can still be connected through community. All right, Anthony, we had launched and talked about taking social media questions. Again, you can do that at Ramsey Show or at Chris Hogan 360 or at Anthony O'Neill. And we got one in from Alicia on YouTube. She says, I'm 36 years old and have lots of debt. I know I'm not getting any younger. I've just had a hard time not putting anything into my retirement. I don't want to have to rely on my family to take care of me later.

I trust you and know your methods work, but could you please explain to me why I can't continue to save for my retirement as well as get out of debt? I'm just scared I won't have anything. That's a good question. You know, and here's the thing, Hogan, we just we just talked about this on the last segment here. We're not saying that you cannot save towards your retirement. What we want to do is set you up to actually invest more into your retirement. OK? So when you're paying off debt, do not look at it from this perspective of like, hey, I'm not saving. No, you're actually setting yourself up to win more.

You're the expert, Hogan. I think they say, what is it? Two to 3% is what people averagely invest if they're paying off debt or something low. They're not giving a lot towards their retirement. So what we want you to do is get out of debt so you can invest 15% like Chris and Dave teach, like all of us teach as a matter of fact. But I've never looked at it when I was getting out of debt. I've never said I'm not investing

into my future. No, what I'm saying is I'm giving myself a stronger platform to build on for my future. No, you're absolutely right. You're clearing the path to be able to allow yourself to do it. And so listen to me, Alicia. First of all, let's talk about her feeling like she's old. Alicia, you're 36 years young. Come on here. Listen to me. You got to get fired up and get focused. You've got time. Trust me. And remember what I said, retirement's not an age. It's a financial number. I talked about it in my first book, Retire Inspired. So get intentional about getting yourself out of debt. You say tons of debt. I don't know what that number is, but I just want you to break it down. We teach the debt snowball approach. And so I want you to sit down and just face it. Get out a piece of paper and write it down, smallest to biggest, and that's how you're going to attack it. You're going to have time,

but what you don't want to do is be casual with it. Dave talked about being gazelle intense. And a lot of people are like, what does that mean? What are you talking about? Well, if you've ever watched Animal Planet, okay, and you've seen the cheetahs out there or the lions or the tigers hunting, when the animals are trying to run away from them, you see gazelle intensity. That's where you are running with a purpose. And we want people to focus on running toward getting out of debt with that same kind of intensity and that same kind of heart and passion. So Deborah, Alicia, excuse me, you're

going to be okay. Just get intentional with where you are and don't try to do multiple things all at once. That's how people end up being ineffective. So if you focus on just getting out of debt, the average person is able to do this within 18 to 24 months. Hear me, 18 to 24. And so you being intentional, you're going to be able to get yourself out of this situation and allow yourself to run forward. So thank you very, very much for your question. We appreciate you. All right, we're going to the phones. We're going to take your calls. If you've got a question out there, we want to hear from you. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. We want to hear from you. Next up, we got Corey. Corey is calling from Pennsylvania. Corey, how are you? I'm doing good. Good afternoon there, Chris and Anthony. So I've been listening to the show quite a bit,

and I hear a lot about mutual funds and that you recommend investing in mutual funds. So I was on my app that I use to invest in the stock market, and it has nothing about mutual funds. It has this ETF that it's recommending. I was wondering if you could explain, like, the difference between an ETF and a mutual funds. It has this ETF that it's recommending. I was wondering if you could explain the difference between an ETF and a mutual fund. Is there a better one or what? Okay. And right now, are you working with an investment professional or are you doing it on

your own, Corey? I'm just sort of doing it on my own. Okay. And right now, what is your mix? How are you investing right now? Currently, I have just a couple different investments into single stock commodities. Most of it has been since the stock market crashed just recently, and I'm hoping that in a year or two, it'll come back and I'll get some returns off of it. Okay. All right. So are you kind of day trading? Are you controlling it yourself? Mostly, yes.

Okay. All right. And so looking at it, you mentioned single stocks. How much of your portfolio is in single stocks? I'd say at least 90. It's not a little bit more than 90%. Okay. Wow.

How old are you, young man? I am 26. 26 okay 26 years old and so here's the deal with that and we'll get to your question but i'm asking about single stocks and i'm asking about your risk tolerance because single stocks are a little bit like going to vegas um because people plan on winning every time i'm on a flight out there uh but you can see people's faces on the way back. And a lot of most, no one has won nearly as much as they thought they were going to. And so with single stocks, you're taking a whole lot of risk in right now.

The talk of, with the growth stock mutual funds, in looking at this, what you're talking about is being diversified and having a mix. And so we talk about growth, growth in income, aggressive growth as well as international, and having that 25-25-25% allocation all the way around just so you are diversified. And so looking at it, you're going to have a better mix overall. ETFs operate a little bit like mutual funds, but the fees can be higher. And so you've got an opportunity. You've got to make a decision based on risk tolerance as well as your long-term plan. And so I would encourage you, you are young right now, but I would encourage you to really begin to look and sit down with a smart investor pro to look at your asset allocation because what you want to do is to be able to build and not have all the volatility. Right now, the market is going up and down, Corey, because it's a living, breathing thing. Which means when people are optimistic, guess what? Optimism is up and people are excited and everyone gets happy.

But as soon as there's an issue or something starts to happen, people start to get a little bit more nervous and a little bit more reserved. And guess what? The market starts to go down. You can imagine inside of that. And the mutual funds are feeling that growth as well as that contraction. But I'm going to tell you something. The single stocks, those things are absolutely just whirlwind right now and extremely volatile. I mean, just a couple of days ago, oil was trading at zero. Okay. I mean, it was just mind boggling to be able to see something like this. So I would encourage you to get with the smart Vesta pro. There's nothing wrong. I love that you, you can at least sit down with them and have a conversation

and get some guidance, especially as you're young in your wealth building career. I want you to have that foundation where you've got your money growing, feeling confident, but at the same time, chasing down your dreams. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. folks i love telling you about well-made well-thought-out products today i'm talking about grip six belts i don't know about you but i'm not a fan of traditional belts they never fit right and they're uncomfortable grip six belts are unique. Owner BJ designed a truly modern minimalist belt made of high quality materials with no holes, no flap, and no bulk. And the buckles come in really cool designs and are interchangeable. I personally own these belts in different styles and talk about

affordability, Grip 6 belts come with a lifetime guarantee, and that means if you no longer like or fit the style of your belt, you can replace them for free. Plus, I like the way these guys do business. Grip6 is determined to help build and modernize American manufacturing. To learn more and get this month's Dave Ramsey special, visit Grip6.com. That's GripIX.com. That's GRIPSIX.com. Hello, everyone. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan filling in for Dave this hour. I'm joined in studio by Anthony O'Neill. Now, we had Corey on the line prior to the break, and Corey was asking about the ETFs versus mutual funds. And one of the things that I failed to really point out is that ETFs are traded a lot like stocks, meaning they can be traded all throughout the day.

Mutual funds are more actively managed and done at the close of trading. And so the ETFs obviously are going to offer a lot of volatility, just like a single stock would. But hear me, mutual funds, the reason we talk about growth stock mutual funds as the better option, there's a wider variety out there for you to be able to pick based on your risk tolerance. You've got growth, growth in income, aggressive growth, as well as international. Whereas with ETFs, you're going to have a limited amount of what you can do, but you're going to have an extreme amount of volatility. And so you're going to have, obviously, since it trades like a single stock, you're going to have the broker commission thin fees every time you make a trade.

Therefore, it can make them more expensive. So in looking at this, as you begin to invest, the most important thing you can do is to find a product that really helps you and fits in with your guidelines and your risk tolerance. And people ask me all the time, when I say risk tolerance, what am I talking about? Well, let's use for driving, for example. Anthony, when you drive, I've ridden with you once. Okay, I'm not doing it anymore. How fast do you drive over the speed limit on average? On average, five to ten miles.

Okay, so five to ten miles, five miles an hour over, your risk tolerance is small for getting a ticket, right? Right. But ten miles an hour over, it increases, right? The likelihood. The likelihood. And you can imagine if someone drives 15 or 20 miles over, you're extremely high. See, his risk tolerance in driving is moderate. And so we have that same kind of approach with investing.

The main thing is to understand what yours is and to make sure you're investing based on that risk tolerance. And so there's more information about this. You can go to my website, ChrisHogan360.com. I've got a free investing guide that you can find over there. And just start to learn more about this investing process just so you can figure out, hey, what fits you. And never forget, you're never in this alone. We have SmartVestor Pros all around the country that will sit with you, that will talk with you to be able to guide you in investing.

And a lot of you have questions right now. And I say this is a great learning opportunity to be able to reach out. Now, what do you do? Go to DaveRamsey.com and find a SmartVestor Pro near you, or go to ChrisHogan360.com and click on the Dream Team button and find a SmartVestor Pro near you. The main thing is, is don't sit back with a question. I want you to be proactive and reach out to get the answers you need for you and your future. All right, we're going back to the phones. If you've got a question, call us. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Next up, we've got John on the line in California. John, how are you? Doing well, Chris. My wife and I are sharing the phone here, breaking the social distancing thing,

but she has a question that I'm going to ask her. We're sharing the phone here on our ear. Okay, fantastic. We are looking to retire inspired. We have no debt. We're in a great, blessed place, graduates of FPU. She's 62. She's contributing on the max for her age for a 401 law.

So should she go with a 1-up or just put it back in a 401 tag? Okay. And how much longer is she planning to work, John? A couple more years. A couple more years. Okay. And how long longer is she planning to work, John? A couple more years. A couple more years. Okay. And how long has she been participating in the Roth 401K? The Roth 401K is about three years. About three years.

Okay. Keep your mouth up near the phone if you would, my friend. Okay. So what's your all's household income right now? Our household income is $170, 170. And what would you say is the total you guys have saved for retirement right now? Our portfolio is about 350. Okay, all right. And so, and are you still working, John? No, sir. I'm living off a pension. Okay. Very well pensioned. Okay. Okay. So here's the deal. Roth, whenever you hear the word Roth, and I'm so grateful to Senator Roth for getting this

legislation passed, because that's dealing with after-tax dollars. And so what you have is tax-free growth, which is a beautiful thing, which means Uncle Sam's not putting their hands back on it anymore. So if she has an opportunity to be able to use the Roth 401k, I definitely would suggest that. That is a great opportunity to be able to have that money continue to grow for you. Now, versus a regular standard 401k, which is all pre-tax money, which means when you start to pull that money out, you have to pay taxes on it. So if she's got an opportunity to be able to utilize the Roth 401k, I highly recommend you to continue to use that, stay that course. You guys, especially looking

at the 15% with where you are to really kind of get that dollar amount growing for you. I'm proud of you guys for being debt-free. That's a big deal because now what you don't have is any kind of thief pulling at you and pulling at your income, right? You've freed it up. So yes, please go that route and use it. And for all the listeners out there, if your company offers a Roth 401k, I highly encourage you to get the information on that plan. Get connected to a SmartVestor Pro so you can walk through it and look at it. It is a great opportunity.

Again, go to DaveRamsey.com slash SmartVestor. It's a great opportunity for you to set yourself up for the future. All right, let's go to line two. We got Ryan on the phone in Texas. I love talking to people in Texas. Ryan, how are you? Good, how are you? Oh, man, I'm focused and not finished Texas. Ryan, how are you? Good, how are you?

Oh, man, I'm focused and not finished. What's on your mind today? So, quick question. My wife had a medical emergency about last year, so on her death number, we only have $1,000 left. And I did it where I'm funding my HSA plan and doing direct payments to pay that off.

Once we're done paying this off, does the HSA fund play into the emergency fund at all? Ah, great question, Ryan. Okay, so here's the deal. In talking about with the HSA, that's really your insurance side of things. So I would not know. I mean, with it, that's your insurance. But with your emergency fund, that's going to be totally different. And so once you guys attack that debt and get that out of your life, you're going to want to build up a fully funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. So you're

not counting the money that's going to be in the HSA. That's just going to be there. You want to look at your budget. And again, the budget you're using, and hopefully you're using every dollar. Hopefully, yeah. That thing is amazing. Go to everydollar.com, and you you're using EveryDollar. Hopefully, yeah. Because that thing is amazing. Go to EveryDollar.com, and you can do a free budget there. And there's an upgraded version that you can get that actually will connect to your bank account. But Ryan, no, you will want to do your budget and look at it. And so if it takes $3,000 for you guys to take care of all your bills each and every month,

when we say three to six months of expenses, then you're going to do three times that or six times that $3,000 amount and have that in a fully funded emergency fund. And we tell people to keep that in a money market account, Anthony, just so it can get a better rate of return than a savings account. Absolutely. Money market account or maybe like a high-yielded interest account online. One thing I would even suggest to Hogan as well as to say, for an example, Ryan, if you know your wife may have some more medical procedures here coming up in the next couple of

months, maybe go ahead and put in some more money back in the HSA will be okay for that particular situation. But if it's just to have an emergency fund, no, but I do have a lot of millennials, Hogan, who are always asking like, Hey, I have HSA, but I have a medical procedure coming up here in two months. Should I put some money into the HSA? Absolutely, because it's going to save you some money and some taxes on that end. So I agree with you there, Hogan, but just keep in mind, just keep the HSA. I have HSA. I love it. Yeah. And if you have that through your job and it's a health savings account, yes, it's what HSA stands for. But Ryan, thank you for calling in, my friend, and continue to push on baby step number two

and continue to keep the same intensity as you're building up that fully funded emergency fund. A lot of people tend to get a little bit more lax. They get a little bit more laid back once they get themselves out of debt. And I say, no, no, no. I want you to keep that same drive and that same focus as you attack this emergency fund building. All right, let's get to Dan. He's here in Tennessee. Dan, how are you?

Hey there, good afternoon. How are you, my friend? Listen, Dan, hold on a second. I got a little anxious. We're going to hold you over, and once we come back from this break, we're going to get on the phone and talk to him. I'm excited to talk to Dan. Listen, this is The Dave Ramsey Show. folks since you're spending more time at home these days why not make the most of it now i know not everyone has the means

to do a full renovation but thanks to our friends at blinds.com there are some small changes you can make to help improve your home blinds.com makes it incredibly simple to shop top quality blinds shades and interior shutters from home with easy online ordering and free shipping right to your door. Listen, window treatments are a simple project that you can do that really benefits the look and feel of your home. And if you're nervous about doing it yourself, well, don't be. Blinds.com has helped millions of homeowners through the process with free design help by phone or online.

Plus, they guarantee the perfect fit for your windows. Go ahead and get started today. Go to Blinds.com to take advantage of this week's special offer. Rules and restrictions apply. Hello, everyone. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, filling in for Dave this hour, and I'm joined in studio by Anthony O'Neill, financial expert. And we have had a blast talking to you.

If you're out there and you've got a question, give us a call, 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Okay, I've got Dan on the line. Dan, how can we help you, my friend? Hey there, good afternoon. My question is, my fiance and I, we're looking into our future home, which will be our first home purchase. The home is located in a different state where we hope to relocate in the next few months. Uh, I currently live in Tennessee and she currently lives in Denver

finishing a master's, but she'll be working as a nurse. And what our goal is, we found a really great house on the market in the neighborhood that I would need to work when I re when I get the job relocation offer, but it's definitely not going to stay on the market. So my question is, based on my income savings, current student debt amount, and the home that's on the market, is it a good idea to consider purchasing something while the market is offering low rates, or should we just wait until we're situated and then find a home when we are currently employed in the state we're looking to live?

Oh, okay, Dan. I see your dilemma. Anthony, what do you think? You know, Dan, that's a good question. How much debt are you in? What's the total amount of debt? I only have $20,000 in student debt remaining. You only have $20,000, correct?

Yeah, just $20, correct? Yeah, just twenty thousand. Okay, twenty K, and you have not, you haven't gotten a job offered just yet, correct? The job is not offered yet, but I am still currently employed by that company. It's just that I'm currently working in Tennessee, and I'm working to get an employee, or a job transfer to the state of Michigan. I love it. So it's still employed by the company. It's just, you know, relocation. And congratulations, man, on your engagement.

Curious, how old are you and your future spouse? We're both 30 years old and we are planning to be married in September. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, Hogan and Dan, this is what I'm going to recommend, Dan. I'm super excited. You're about to get married. It sounds like you have a great job and a great opportunity before you. I would hate to see you jump out there and to sign into this mortgage right now with this debt.

I want to see you pay off this $20,000. Sounds like you're making good money. Sounds like you have a great opportunity before you. I know it looks pretty cool to have this great opportunity to get this house a little bit cheaper with the rates right now. But I still want you to go ahead and knock out Baby Steps 2, get you three months in your reserves before you purchase a home. And I'm saying that, Dan, from a 35-year-old who just purchased a home for the first time two years ago because I wanted to have it correctly. And when I say

correctly, that means it costs me a lot more money to live in my house than it does for me to actually even live in an apartment. Now, my mortgage payment is cheaper than my rent, but the cost of my house is more expensive than my apartment. So I'm going to root for you to go ahead and knock out your baby step number two, get a baby set number three. And I promise you when you get to baby set three B, which is a safe or down payment for a house and start that house process, you'll, you might even find a better deal in a better house that you all like when you move there.

Yeah. Dan, do you all currently have any money saved as a down payment on the home? Yeah, I have a 5% or roughly 6% now to put down on the home. Okay, and that's how much? How much is that equal to? $11,000.

Okay, you've got $11,000. All right, and what's the household income just for you? You guys aren't married yet. So what's your income right now? Last year I made $105,000. Okay, all right. I mean, I'm going to agree with Anthony. I think the market is tempting right now just because mortgage rates and homes are low.

But I'm going to tell you something, man. Anytime I move to a new state, I'm going to advise that you rent. And I didn't when I first got to Tennessee. And it was almost like a rush buy because I felt like I had to hurry up and get something. I like the idea of going to rent somewhere. And it might be a three-month or a six-month period of time, but it's going to allow you to get the lay of the land to understand about school districts and churches

and where you want to live, and renting is going to give you a lot more freedom than buying. You guys are both going to be making good income. You're going to be able to buy a house. And so I'm never going to let the market determine what I'm doing. I'm going to let my financial situation determine it. And so you've got a great opportunity. You could take that $11,000 that you've been saving and throw that toward, right, the $20,000 in student loan debt. And now you've only got, you know, just a little bit left. And you can knock that out with

your income. You got a good income, my friend. Thank you for calling in. I would just remain slow and remain methodical. You're going to be okay. All right, next up I got Mike in Texas. Mike, how are you? Hey, how are you guys doing? Oh, focused and not finished, my friend. What's on your mind?

Hey, so I'm in the oil gas industry, right? Fortunately, I still have a job. But, you know, I just signed a letter that basically I'm going from making about $100,000, combined with my wife, going from $190,000 to about maybe $90,000, $100,000 income. Okay. So we're on a baby step two. We've got about $62,000 left to finish that. And I hadn't looked at my 401K.

I've been with my company 13 years. And I looked at it a couple weeks ago, and I have close to $300,000 in there. So I'm wondering if I should take advantage of the CARES Act, take out some of that money from a 401k, knock out my debt, and now I can go to Baby Step 3. No. Mike, tell me this. You're $62,000 in debt that you have.

What kind of debt is that? It's two cars and three non-secured debts. No. Three non-secured debts. So what does that mean? Are they three personal loans? Like personal loans, yeah. And what did you get those personal loans for?

Well, it's really not a personal loan. I'm going to tell you, it's like a private school deal. Okay. Okay. Yeah, so I'm committed to that, so I got to knock that out. No, no, no. I'm going to tell you, it's like a private school deal. Okay. Okay. Yeah, so I'm committed to that, so I got to knock that out. No, no, no. I'm with you, buddy. You want to honor that and take care of it.

But you heard Anthony over here screaming, no, no. You know, here's the thing. It's just now, you know, with our zero budget, I mean. Still no, man. We got like 200 bucks left. No, I know. Well, listen, you've seen $100,000 swing in income, okay? And so, I mean, this is one of those things where you want to cut back, but I'm going to tell you this.

What you don't want to do is reach out to the future, Mike, and steal from him to clean this up. So I would just tighten down the budget. I mean, now the two cars you got, listen to me. I got two words for you. For sale, right? You can sell them things and get that payment out of your life. Things are tight. And now what you've done is just created some margin.

But don't reach out and do that. Don't take from that 401k. You've been focused for 13 years, Mike. You have focused and over time put money away intentionally for you and your wife, right? And I'm going to tell you something. Those dreams are still real. Those dreams are still possible. So we don't want to do anything to set ourselves back. What you want to do is do something to set yourself up for success. So that's going to be looking at and figuring out what you can do to bring in some extra income. And you know what, Mike, there's two words who I want to add with Hogan here is discipline and determination. You

see, self-discipline is the bridge between who you are today and where you want to be tomorrow. And you want to be debt free. You want to have financial freedom. You want to be able to do what you want to do when you want to do. So you have to be determined to look at your budget today. Don't look at your income that's prepared for your future. I want you to sit down with your wife and I want you to get through that budget and see what can we cut off? Not what do we want to cut off? What can we cut off now so that way we can start attacking this debt?

Okay. And you got to be determined. And so you look at it. Are we spending $300 a month on groceries? Well, it's just two of us. How can we cut this down to two hundred? We have all these extra subscriptions. How can we cut this stuff down for temporarily? You know, we got cable. Cut the cable bill. Do not cut your future off, though. OK, do not pull from your future. Pull from your present and you'll be all right. Yeah, I completely agree. This is where you go into conserve mode, Mike, and then try to figure out what are ways to bring in some additional income.

But let's not bring in income for depreciating assets like those vehicles that are sitting out there. And so again, you and your wife sit down together, you guys start to think, what could we do? Right? Then you go from what could we do to what should we do? And that's how you start to get a little bit more intentional. You get a little bit more, just a little bit more gritty in the process, and you push through. And you guys can do this. I got full faith and confidence in you. And that's what we have to do right now, America. We have got to go into conserve mode and be very intentional about how we spend our money.

Well, listen, I want to thank Anthony O'Neill for taking the time to join me. I want to thank all the callers for calling in and thank all you listeners for taking the time to tune in. I want to thank James Childs, our producer, Zach Bennett, our phone screener. And until next time, America, stay focused because you're not finished. This has been The, Ramsey Solutions wants to give you some hope. For the very first time ever, we're giving you Financial Peace University free for 14 days. Go to DaveRamsey.com slash hope so you can watch from home. Business leaders make your life easier with FreshBooks.

Whether you're starting a business or you've been at it a long time, FreshBooks is one of the smartest decisions you'll make this year. FreshBooks is an accounting software designed for people like you that lets you do the things like automate your invoicing and your online payments so you get more time to work on your business. Try FreshBooks for 30 days free at freshbooks.com slash Dave Ramsey.