The Ramsey Show - App - Is the US Dollar Going To Collapse? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 15, 2024

Девочка-пай 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 amazing relationships. I'm Ramsey personality, George Campbell, joined by my best friend and best-selling author, Dr. John Deloney. He's in the house. He's ready to help. We both are. So give us a call, and let's talk about your life and your money and help you take the right next step regardless of what's going on in your life. Joseph kicks us off this hour in Los Angeles. Joseph, welcome to the show. Thank you. How are you guys?

We're doing well. How are you? I'm doing really good. My question is, so just give you a little backstory. My wife and I are debt free. We're saving up for our fully funded emergency fund right now. And then we plan on to start investing from there to fund our retirement. But yeah, so we're super blessed. I'm grateful to be debt free. But so my question is, though, how can we, can we be sure that the dollar is going to maintain its value over the next 30 years since we are going to be investing and following, you know, what you guys recommend in like mutual funds, 401k, like should we be worried about the economy or what are you guys' take on that? Where's that question coming from? It's a question I hear all over the, the,

I mean, I hear that question everywhere and I've actually lost many nights sleep over that question. Where are you getting it from? So, you know, I'm, I'm, you know, I have some friends and they're talking about, you know, I have some friends and they're talking about, you know, Bitcoin and all these cryptocurrencies. And I'm not going that route. But I don't have a, you know, when they say, well, what about the dollar? I don't really have a good answer or a rebuttal as to why dollar is going to, you know, maintain its value over something like cryptocurrency. So I just wanted to get. So I guess it's coming from, you know,

what is trending. Just kind of in the air. Yeah. I'm going to give you my very primitive answer and George, who's way smarter on this stuff. We'll give you a more sophisticated answer. Okay. Can I guarantee anything over the next 30 years? No, you can't. But here's what I can guarantee you.

If the U.S. dollar, if we woke up one day and the U.S. dollar had collapsed as a global currency, as a localized currency, Bitcoin would not save you. Having an alternative oh okay we've got this special um email account with these special zeros and ones and ones and zeros in it that say it's worth stuff because every every the world's debt is in u.s dollars bitcoins are bought and traded in u.s dollar everything revolves around that and so when people are calling for the collapse of the dollar i can't guarantee it's not going to happen

what i will guarantee you is you'll be fending off your neighbor because they're going to be trying to kill you for your water like it's it's or you're going to be figuring out how to walk 30 miles to work to an office that doesn't exist anymore because there's no gas to put in a car like it will it will so change the way we do life for a while that right um as one of my buddies told me he's a he's a bank executive and he said hey because i was just peppering him with these questions it was actually the the response that freed me he looked at me and said hey man i don't have a meteorite plan i don't have a plan for if the world gets hit by a meteorite. I'm not building that world up, right? I will deal with that if it happens. But until then, I'm going to

do the next best smart right thing that I got, which is buy real estate and invest wisely. Right. And so I think most people don't have a, what kind of scorched earth it would be if Wall Street goes away, right? Definitely. No, that's super good. All right. That was my dragon's end, like, swords answer. What do you think, George? I fell asleep about three seconds into that, John.

I know you did. I was bored to – no, I'm just kidding. That was a really good answer, and I have similar things to say, but I'll add to that and tell you this. I grew up in a very evangelical household. My mom can't wait for Jesus to come back, right? She sang the songs. She watched Left Behind. We were all in.

And so my thing is always like Jesus could come back tomorrow, and that could waste all of the effort I made trying to save up this retirement account. But also, what if it's not tomorrow, and I still have to feed my family? And I kind of feel the same way about the crypto. Like, yes, the dollar could get devalued. I don't think it's going to collapse. If that happened, we're not worried about crypto. Like John said, we're worried about feeding, you know, trading for gas and ammo at that point. And so to your point, I'm going to invest 15% into mutual funds in the stock market because for decades and decades and decades, I know there's a large chance of a 10% return. With crypto, I'm losing sleep because 24-7 that number is moving and the goalpost is moving and now it's down 50%, but now it's up 1000%. And what if I had just

gotten in and instead I just want to live with peace. I want to sleep well at night. I got to go to work in the morning. And so for that reason, it's fine to keep those friends around. They're probably good guys, well-meaning who want to take care of their families too, but it's not a peaceful way to live. And so for that reason, it's fine to put fun money in Bitcoin, but I'm also not going to do it under the guise of my paranoia apocalyptic plan that I'm going to be the one to survive it if I put money in crypto. Hey, Joseph, I'm going to ask a question on your behalf to george is that right okay he's smarter on this stuff than i am um george i remember doing an event uh with jaco once and at the end of the event he he said to the audience um we were both on stage there and he said we talk a lot about

military stuff we talk a lot about might and and our you know navy seals ability but he said the thing that the u.s has it is um the small business is the economics the economy yeah and as i dug into that because i started asking people like is that true is that i mean it sounds good from a stage but is that right and what one finance wizard told me and again i'm asking you because because who knows but said when a country says we're going to devalue the dollar and they have bought u.s treasuries they have an invest a vested interest in the u.s economy that they actually are going to lower the amount that we owe them and so the the the advantage we have is if a country's like we're gonna try to crash the dollar

then that the investments that they have made go away it hurts them financially it hurts them significantly and so my understanding is the world's debt essentially traffics in u.s dollars and so if a group of countries get together like let's crash the dollar you can do that and it may be maybe to your advantage over 100 years but but it's going to be ugly, right? Because you're crashing the amount you're actually owed back. Yeah, and as much debt as we have, we have a lot of friends out there, John. And so they go, hey, that's my friend. You don't mess with them because they're protecting us.

And so it's a very – you get into geopolitics and economics, and Joseph, I'm not smart enough to answer that question on that end, but I just tell you what I do, what John does, and that's investing in our 401ks and IRAs, paying off our houses, and sleeping well at night, not looking at our investments 24-7. Joseph and George, that was what ultimately, where Joseph was. I was spinning out, man. I wasn't sleeping for weeks. I was asking everybody all the time.

Ultimately, I came to, what can I control here? And if it all goes away, if I don't owe anybody anything, then there's not going to be somebody knocking on my door and say, that's mine, right? Whether it's a car, whether it's a house, whether it's land, whatever it is, if I don't owe anybody anything, then there's not going to be somebody. Somebody might try to come take it, but they're not going to be saying, hey, that's actually mine. And that to me feels like the smartest hedge is I don't owe anybody anything. Let's start there. Joseph, thank you for a great conversation, man. Hope it helped.

Thank you. Have a good day. You too, man. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. 888-825-5225. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell joined by Dr. John Deloney.

The number to call is 888-825-5225. Alexis joins us up next in Des Moines. What's going on, Alexis? Hi. Thank you guys so much for taking my call. I'm really excited to talk to you today. We are excited to talk to you. How can we help? Yeah, so my question is that I just started Baby Steps 3, and I'm kind of at a crossroads as far as where I want to live. So right now I'm in a really low cost of living area. My rent is only $9.50 a month outside of Des Moines. I could renew that lease in August and stay there for another year, so that'll give me about 16 months to save up my down payment.

But really, I think that my dream is to move to Boise, Idaho, which is a lot higher cost of living area. I'm wondering if I should move out there in August, continue to rent and save up my down payment there knowing it's going to take me longer, or if I should just stay put where I am for the next year. All right. Is it just you? Are you single? Yeah, it's just me. Okay. And when will you be done with Baby Step 3 when you have that emergency fund? Well, so Baby Step 3 is done. I'm in 3B now. Oh, good. Okay. So you're in 3B and you're saying, hey, it's going to take, what, six months longer to get the down payment goal for Boise if you move there? I'm not entirely sure how much longer it would take me. I think six months is probably a good estimate versus where I'm at now. I think it would take me about 16 months. So I guess about 22, I would say if I moved to Boise. Okay. And do you have a

job in Des Moines that's that you can is flexible enough to move to Boise? Yes, I'm in medical sales. So it shouldn't be too hard to find another position in Boise. What's to Boise? Yes, I'm in medical sales, so it shouldn't be too hard to find another position in Boise. What's in Boise? Or who's in Boise is probably a better question. Nobody is in Boise. I just took a trip out there before Christmas time, and I really, really loved it. I love hiking. I love the Mountain West, and I'm still young. I'm only 23, so I'm pretty unattached, and I'm able to move if I want to. Yeah, I mean, and I'm still young. I'm only 23. So I'm pretty unattached and I'm able to move if I want to. Yeah. I mean, if I'm in your shoes, I'm moving. I would be moving this weekend. Cause even if you were, I wouldn't tell you to buy a house

sight unseen anyway. So move there, rent, get to know the areas, save up that down payment. If it takes six more months, Hey, at least you've been living in your dream city for a year or two, you know? Yeah, that makes sense. So your advice is even if it's going to take maybe closer to two years instead of a year and a half to save up to move out there. Yes. And if it's going to take longer than two years, I would begin investing into your retirement plans 15%. Okay. Okay. And I'm already doing that. Not quite at 15% yet, but I'm already investing a little bit into retirement. Great. And this is assuming your income doesn't go up and you don't have any side hustles. And so if you're feeling that itch, I would work on getting your income up. And in medical sales, that's pretty easy to do if you

hustle. Correct. Yeah. I would have to look exactly at what the going rate is for my industry in Boise, but I would imagine it would be a bit higher than where I am now to adjust to the cost of living. I love it. And the other thing is you could also get a roommate in Boise. You don't know. And so that could also help free up some margin to throw at the down payment. True. True. That's true. I hadn't thought about that before. I had roommates up until I was married and, you know, it's not the most fun you can have, but it wasn't a deal breaker either. And it saved me a whole lot of money that I was able to put toward my financial goals. Right. 100%. It is nice that I don't

have to have a roommate now just because rent is so inexpensive outside of Des Moines, but definitely could be an option if I moved to Boise sooner. Yeah. Find some community and get plugged into a church and Facebook groups and you'll find someone to rent with. I think females renting together very different than males. Males are just gross. I just... I was just thinking, I bet you were the guy that cleaned up everything and complained about how nobody cleaned up anything. I didn't complain. I was just secretly resentful. There's a difference. That is true. You just had that smoldering. I can't stand dishes sitting in a sink. I can't stand stuff just sprawled across the coffee table at the end of the night. Just bothers me. I went to counseling, George, and

I was healed and you can be too. My OCD can be healed. Thank you for that, John. That's for a different show. Maybe the Dr. John Deloney show. You should call into my show. Why am I so hard to live with by George Campbell? That's my wife calling in with that call. All right, Rhonda's up next in Washington. What's going on? How can we help? Hi. Hi. I am a 54-year-old, recently divorced, and I have an opportunity to start taking my pension a little early. Currently, I have $270,000 in home equity, $385,000 in a 401k, and my pension, I'm eligible to start taking it early. They won't let me take a payout. I know I've heard Dave say something about take the payout if that's possible. If it's a lump sum. Right.

Okay. So I cannot take a lump sum that's not eligible on my plan, apparently. But they do have something called, I don't know, where I can take a higher amount until I'm 62. Okay. What's the amount? It would be like $2,000 a month until I'm 62, and then at that point it drastically reduces down. It's a level income annuity. Okay.

And why are you wanting to take the early pension? What would the purpose be? I'm thinking of taking it just to pay off the house early and make sure that I've got myself set up better since I'm on my own now. How recent was the divorce? A year ago. Okay. And has the dust all settled from this? Yeah.

Okay. So now you're living alone. Are you renting? You've got the house. How much is left on the mortgage? The house has worked for $420,000 and I owe $150,000 on it. Okay. And what's your income? I make $175,000. Oh, amazing. So either way, you could knock out this mortgage in the next few years. Yes. I mean, you throw $50,000 at it, it's done in three years, making $175,000. That's very doable. So it was your goal. Let's say you don't take the pension. Can you pay off this house in two years?

It would be a struggle, but probably, yeah. Okay. And if you wait to take the pension, what is the upside of waiting versus taking it now early if the pension doesn't roll to anybody like it's not like i can leave that to my children or anything so if something happens to me it's just gone but you don't get more if you wait um i would get my my monthly payment it would go to a single annuity as um for the rest of my life which would be like nineteen hundred dollars a month so it's not really that great of a difference yeah i'd go ahead and take it then i mean 24k a year for the next eight years that's serious right okay but i'd have a purpose for the money and i was just talking to somebody um in their 50s recently just a personal family connection and um off of the back end of a divorce and the advice i gave them the same advice i'll give you which is i can't think of a better place to start

being 55 or 56 and suddenly finding yourself in a different marriage situation you expected to have no house payment at least that part is okay for the foreseeable future and that is both a financial risk but it's also just a physiological risk right right yes was this Was this divorce expected or unexpected? It was very unexpected. Okay. So there's going to be a part of your body learning how to redo life in a world where the ground just got pulled out from under you. So it's hard to trust every next step. And you're going to find your heart rate going up a little bit when you get mortgage statements. You're going to find your heart rate going up a little bit when you get mortgage statements. You're going to find your heart rate going up a little bit when you get whatever statements.

And the more you can pull those off the table, the more you're teaching your body, we are okay now. See what I'm saying? Yeah. And so, yeah, I would, man, if you're going to pull that 24 out, I would dump that right into the mortgage. I'd get that sucker taken care of and just give yourself a platform of peace. And okay, I've got housing taken care of for the next 25 or 30 years until maybe I have to go live in a retirement community or something. Got that. And nobody can take it. Right? Right. And you haven't had an exhale like that in a long, long time. No, I haven't.

That's right. Go get it. You're worth that. Freedom's around the corner for you, Rhonda. And I want this thing gone in like 18 months if you're taking this early pension. And I think you'll get there. And then max out every single contribution you can make to retirement. You have catch-up contributions you can make as well.

So I'd love to see you build up that nest egg and retire with dignity. And then work because you want to instead of because you have to. It's a very different way to live, and we want that freedom for you. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Dr. John Deloney. I know a lot of you out there get questions about taxes, and we get it. It's confusing. It's not fun. So to help you get a better handle on them, we're going to unpack a question from one of our listeners. Here it is.

I'm a new business owner. What are the most important things I need to do to make bookkeeping for my business easier? Well, first of all, congrats on starting a business. We love small business around here. Well, we used to be one, John. I think we technically, by technical terms, we're still not a large business. We're humongous, George. Gigantic.

And so bookkeeping can be a lot. And if you're not already, one of the first things we tell people to do, John, is to keep personal and business expenses separate. So create a different business checking account, your personal checking account, keep them separate, and then create a regular bookkeeping routine so you're always on top of tracking expenses, receipts, invoices, all that fun stuff. And the last thing you need to do is try to automate any processes with accounting software or by working with a tax pro. And we always tell people, if you've got a small business, I'm not doing it on my own. I'm going to get a pro in my corner to help. So it can pay to have a CPA in your corner. They can review your books, help you reduce risk, eliminate errors, maximize your tax deductions. And that means you can focus on growing your business because you didn't get into business to do taxes unless that is your business. Hey, and listen, I don't have a lot

of friends. It's not a huge secret, but listen, I... You have a CPA friend. I do. But before I sent all my stuff to my tax pro, I used Ramsey Solutions. As an employee here, we get it for free. Smart tax. Smart tax. And I went through and did my own taxes. And it was almost to the dollar. Wow.

The software is outstanding. And I did it at my kitchen table. And let's be honest, not the smartest guy when it comes to numbers and money and stuff. And it was clean, simple. And I was glad that I got the stamp and the signature of a CPA. So I don't have to worry and money and stuff. And it was clean, simple. And I was glad that I got the stamp and the signature of a CPA. So I don't have to worry about it. But dude, that ramsolutions.com slash tax pro, that software is legit. It's legit. I love it. So here's the deal. A Ramsey Trusted Tax Pro can help if that's your boat. You need that level of support. And our team's

already vetted these folks. You know they're top notch. So head to RamseySolutions.com slash TaxPro to get started. That's RamseySolutions.com slash TaxPro. Let's get to the phones. Kim joins us up next in Houston. Beach Town. What's up, Kim? What's happening?

Go Strohs. Kim, you there? My husband and I. Yes. All right, cool. What's up? Okay, you there? My husband and I... Yes. All right, cool. What's up? Okay, you can hear me. So my husband and I bought our home,

our dream home three years ago. We're scheduled to pay it off this year. And we're really excited about that. We'll be completely debt free. But it's really difficult for me to feel a sense of relief given that our property taxes are really high. So even though,

and I listen to your show all the time, I don't hear any guidance on property taxes are really high. So even though, and I listen to your show all the time, I don't hear any guidance on property taxes. And I'm just, it makes me nervous to stay in this home knowing that our property taxes are high and probably will be high for the duration of our living there. Well, it should only make you nervous if you can't afford it. And I know everything's bigger in Texas, and that includes property taxes.

It includes property taxes. They're pretty brutal there in Texasxas what can you tell us the number so um the house is worth about 900 to 950 000 and we paid 20 000 a year in property taxes so what makes you nervous are you are you angry are you nervous that y'all are gonna not be able to pay the bill like what what is the if you're paying off a nine hundred thousand dollar house in three years y'all are going to not be able to pay the bill? Like what is the, if you're paying off a $900,000 house in three years, y'all have the money? Yeah, yes, we do. I just, the idea of paying someone else's mortgage,

you know, pretty much every year or buying a new car every year just kind of freaks me out. Yeah. And my husband doesn't seem to be worried about it. Well, what's your household income? This year is probably going to be around, you guys are going to probably laugh, but around $650. Wow.

I don't laugh at all. So this is about anger. This is about how in the world when it got cold that we run out of power and I'm paying this kind of homeowner insurance. And then I looked at what the property, the property taxes were in Nashville, and then I got really upset. Yeah, they're pretty low here. I moved from Texas and it's pretty awesome. Not going to lie.

It's like maybe a tenth of that. Seriously, how should you think about it? Yeah. I mean, how should we think about it in terms of, I don't care how much money you make. Think about it in terms of all of the other frustrating expenses that you'll always have. Because we talk a lot about debt freedom and don't owe anyone anything.

And I know people are always like, well, you'll always have property taxes and insurance. I'm like, yes. Number one, that's not debt. And number two, I look at it in terms of ratios. And so you guys make $650,000. How much of that $20,000 is eating up the $650,000? Well, it's likely a few percentage points. And so while it hurts to pay, you guys are in an absolutely amazing place where you have this huge income to support it.

And therefore, unless that income goes drastically down, I wouldn't lose sleep over it. It just becomes another budget line item. We're going to put $1,600 in this checking account every month in order to cover that bill at the end of the year or just sell the house and move but the one thing you can't do is just sit there and stew in it because you're making yourself crazy and you're making your home a place of tension and your your marriage a place of tension if you if you got to get out get out but otherwise just say this sucks but i love this house i love this neighborhood i love this community i'm gonna move on with my life okay is that i mean i hate to be that that black or white about it but do you have another option uh no my husband really loves our house and every

time i mention he says we'll be fine um but i just wanted to know if there any guide posts around it because um you know we're because, um, you know, we, we're still going to be, you know, required to spend $20,000. And as a house, the value of the house goes up,

it'll just increase over time. And he's considering putting in a pool. We want to pull in a pool once you pay out the house. And I'm like, um, I don't know. It just makes me nervous. So you're,

can I ask you a quick question? And I know some people on, on Reddit are going to roll their eyes at this question. Did you grow up with very much or not very much? Not very much. Okay. Yeah.

Often, if you don't grow up with very much, the adaption to ratios is very hard. Meaning, you still have a nine-year-old that remembers whether... Wond wondering if we're going to eat tonight wondering is big sister gonna is are those shoes gonna still be stable enough for me to use them because those are the shoes i'm getting you're a multi-millionaire in an almost million dollar home making more than half a million dollars a year. And we have one car. Listen, you are choosing to see the world through a lens of scarcity

instead of choosing to see the world through a lens of gratitude. Look at what has happened for us. And so often when people ask me privately, how do I get over this? I grew up with nothing and now all of a sudden I'm a surgeon. Now all of a sudden my business exploded. What do I do?

The two things I tell them is to put in your budget. You will spend money on yourself every month as a practice. It's a spiritual practice because people can be as proud of the things they don't have as some people are of the things they don't have as some people

are the things they do have it's the same it's the same it's the same curse right the second thing is is i want you to be insane about tipping people not big grandiose gifts you can do that because y'all are wealthy but i'm talking about go you and your husband go out and get a burger go to papa's burger tonight there in houston and i want you to tip the waiter or the waitress $100 on your meal and watch their face light up. And you're going to find that, oh my gosh. You'll forget about the property taxes. Yeah, man. Look what we get to do. And then, yeah, it's an annoying cost. Living in Texas is very, very expensive. They don't tell you that before on the brochure

before everybody moves there, but it's expensive. Property taxes are bananas there. And if you like living in Houston and you like the home, you're a multimillionaire, you can kind of do what you want. I know you don't like that answer, but it's kind of, it is what it is. And back to the math, Kim, this is 3% of your gross income is going to cover your property taxes. Let's say after taxes, it becomes 5%. Well, our parameters, because you're looking for one, is no more than 25% of your take-home pay going towards housing expenses. So you guys are well below that, even when you factor in insurance.

And so I would sleep easy at night knowing this home is about to be paid off. You're going to free up that level of margin. What's your mortgage payment? $2,000. We bought it for $600,000. Boom. Once you pay off this house, just see that money as we just covered the property taxes. And become an advocate in your community for lower property taxes. Get involved at the local political level. Be a loud voice there. But man, just don't haunt your home through, I wish it was different, when it's not going to be different. Right?

Make a choice and then move on. Life's too short and you have done too well for yourself. Beautifully said. Thanks for the call, Kim. This is The Ramsey Show. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm John Delaney, joined by my co-host George, the man, Camel. It's a weird middle name.

I know. We're taking your call on life and money, whatever you got. Let's go out to Orlando, Florida, and talk to Caleb. Hey, Caleb, what's up, man? What's happening? Good afternoon, guys. Thank you for taking my call. Sure.

Big thanks to both of y'all. Thanks, man. Appreciate that. So what's up? So I'm a little bit nervous here, so I'll try to keep my thoughts organized. First off, my wife and I have eliminated about $272,000 worth of consumer debt in the past two years. Two years? Wow. What do you do for a living man i'm a i'm a lineman um so work on power lines and i've we've been very blessed um i've had some some big storms here and there that have that have paid well and was a major curse on us for a long time

because we were spending every bit of it. A lifestyle creep hit you. You just made more and spent it all. Yes, yes. Started in the industry making $14, $15 an hour and got to the point where I was making a little over $50 an hour and felt like financially we were in the same place we were at $14 or $15 an hour, just had more stuff.

Sneaks up on you. How can we help today? So my big question is, we just recently have closed out every line of credit we had. We caught a podcast about making sure that you eliminate those open lines of credit. Even if they have a zero balance, cancel them and get them closed out.

We have done that. We do not currently own a home. We're renting and we have a piece of property that we owe about $60,000 on. Um, our dream is to finish paying the property off and, eventually build a house. So the issue that we've recently run into through kind of celebrate in our no credit cards,

no lines of credit, people have said, well, how are you going to build a house? How are you going to get a construction loan? Um, so we started digging into it and we have recently found out that there are to our knowledge no option for construct construction loans with a na credit score or a zero credit score do you guys guys agree with that? Have you contacted Churchill Mortgage?

I actually did. I spoke with them yesterday and they, to my surprise, were in the same agreements with our local credit union. They said they do conventional mortgages every day with a zero credit score. But for a construction loan for a new built home, you will not get a construction loan without them being able to see your credit history. Okay. So what would it look like for you to go the conventional route? I mean, I believe we could do it, but we've've got so the piece of property that we've got we've kind of invested a lot into over the years um it's about 18 total acres so side development work um we love the property so what's it going to cost to build in our area right now, um, to build a very modest, moderate house.

We're looking at about 350,000 and that's, that's on the moderate side. And, uh, of course we plan, like I said, to pay the property off. Um, we'll have to have more than 20% down to make sure that our mortgage isn't above 25% of our monthly take-home pay. But I just kind of feel like this has kind of put us in a little bit of a pickle, and we're looking for some advice on the right direction to go here. Man, well, I'm sorry to hear that. That's a tough one. Construction loans are one of those. They're obviously more rare than the conventional side,

and they're shorter term. There's more risk involved. You don't know how long these things might take. And so I get that it's a different animal to chew there. And so in your case, I'm wondering what would it look like to cashflow this process with your huge income? So definitely, definitely possible. But it would definitely take a little while. So I used to travel a little bit in this line of work and the income was significantly better than it is now. So what's the household income today?

Household-based salary right now is right at $100,000. Okay. My wife no longer works, which has been a huge blessing. We've got three kids that she stays at home and homeschools and wouldn't change that for the world. But my income still varies significantly. I mean, the past two and a half years, I've taken every ounce of overtime I can

and have made right around $170,000 to $180,000 the past two years. Yeah. And your next goal is to pay off this $60,000 on the land? That's right. That's our last debt is the $60,000. And you guys have an emergency fund in place already? So we're on that step three. Okay.

We've got about $7,000, so not quite our three to six months. So technically, that's what we're focused on right now. And immediately after that, we will focus on the rest of the land. And are you renting? We are currently renting, yes. Okay. I would just sit down with your wife tonight, look at the budget and go, what would it look like if we pursued this path over here and we tried to cashflow it? We need to get the emergency fund, want to pay off this land, we want to start saving up. And that might

be that this is a five, six-year plan instead of a one-year plan. Right. Okay. So definitely, I guess my biggest question to add on to that, and I know y'all never suggest opening a line of credit or debt, but both our local credit union, and I hate you to say it, but Churchill Mortgage even said you may have to open a single line of credit. In order to qualify for the construction loan, you need to have a version of credit history. And it's similar if you want to get even a conventional mortgage over, I think it's a $765,000 threshold, something like that. It becomes a jumbo mortgage, and there's no manual unwriting for that one either. So there is some weird quirks in it.

There's some outliers, like the construction loans, the jumbo loans. I think it's going to come down to you, man. Right. And what is, it's between you and your family. So I definitely feel that our mindset and our look on our finances is completely different than what it was two and a half years ago. I have a hard time telling a lineman who's got three kids at home who has just – I mean, you are the epitome of – you're the man that I want to parade in front of everybody across the country who tells me and george you can't do it and you're a guy who went and got a trade and you got real good

at that trade and you said yes to every opportunity and you missed a lot of little league games you missed a lot of home stuff baby steps you missed all that because for you said for two or three years i'm going to bite the bullet and change my family's trajectory. It's amazing. That's right. But I don't want you to take out a construction loan that's going to vary. They're going to tell you, hey, 18 months, we're going to have the structure up. 24 months, you're moving, and suddenly it becomes 36 months, 46 months, and you're out there having to now float $170,000 salary against this variable mortgage.

You see what I'm saying? Absolutely. That's the part that makes me nervous for you versus a conventional mortgage. It took us another year, year and a half, and that's really annoying. We didn't want that. But, man, we got a lot more peace making this process. I got no problem with you getting a mortgage, man. Get it all day long.

All day long. And you told me you paid off $3 272 in two years two it's actually to the t 272 5 and it's been right at two and a half years and that has been i mean that has been grind like you've never you know what you're capable of and so i'm going okay one more year you could have paid for this whole thing in cash. And so I know it doesn't sound fun to go back to that level of sacrifice. And maybe you do it in four or five because you got three kids now and you're down to one income. But I'm telling you, it's possible. There's ways around it. You don't have to play the credit score game. And I believe you will be, you will have that dream. It just may not be in the timeframe you

were hoping for. And you got to reset the expectations there, but you're crushing it, man. Keep it up. We love to see it. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. I'm George Campbell. He's Dr. John Deloney. Thank you to all the folks in the booth keeping the show afloat and you, America. Thanks for listening. We'll be back before you know it. Thank you.