The Ramsey Show - App - It's Time to Paint or Get off the Ladder! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 6, 2019

Get Started on Your Debt-Free Journey We’ve made it even easier to get started taking control of your money.  Learn How! How Fast Can You Be Debt-Free? You don’t have to be in debt for the rest of your life! Answer 5 simple questions and our Debt Calculator will show you how quickly you could be out debt!   Get the Complete Guide to Budgeting. Budgeting is often misunderstood and overcomplicated. It doesn't have to be! We made it simple. After 90 days of budgeting with EveryDollar, 9 out of 10 users feel more confident in their financial future. Get the Complete Guide to Budgeting.   Get the Coverage You Need. How does your coverage stack up? This Coverage Checkup will show you what you need (and don’t need), which questions to ask, and where to get the best coverage.   Find the Right Financial Advisor. Finding the right financial advisor doesn't have to be complicated. Our free guide makes it easy to know what questions to ask so you can make a confident choice. Get the guide!    Listen and Watch Anytime, Anywhere.   The Dave Ramsey Show app lets you download episodes for offline playback, customize your content, and see what’s coming up!

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Adam is calling from Ocala, Florida. Hi, Adam.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, Dave. It's nice to talk to you. You too. So my fiance and I are here, and we're kind of working through the baby steps a little bit. We haven't been through FPU, but I've read the Total Money Makeover, and I've been listening to your podcast for about three years. We've both been to the Smart Money Tour.

Like I said, we're working through about baby step two. I make $55,000 a year. Like I said, we've been together seven years. We do own our own home. She does not work currently. She goes to school pretty much full-time. So we owe about 10 or 11. I owe about 10 or 11 left on my truck. And outside of that, we're pretty much debt-free. Now, my question is, I don't know whether or not to consider...

Something that's slowing us down is I'm trying to cash flow a lot of stuff. We're getting married in November. She's currently in school, taking a majority of her prereqs now with intentions of going to full-time for the core program for dental hygiene in June or August of next year. And so we're just trying to keep from accumulating more debt and it's slowing down our debt snowball, just trying to pay things off. So I was just kind of trying to get an idea of, you know, what you kind of thought, what your ideas were on that. You said your income is what?

I make about $55,000 a year as a fireman. Okay, and it takes $10,000 to be debt-free. Yes, sir. Now, I've also got some braces that are currently on. They're not off, so that's about $1,500. What do you spend on the wedding? So we're spending, we're getting a little bit of help from her parents, about $3,000, maybe $4,000, but we're going to be coming out of pocket

probably us about $10,000. We've already came out of pocket probably the us about ten thousand we've already came out of pocket about three so we've got you know six to eight left that will come out of pocket maybe only seven all right so if you're if you want to be debt free and be married in november you need seventeen thousand dollars yes sir my intentions were to put the truck on hold, or not necessarily on hold. I'm getting my numbers together just a second. I wasn't asking your plan. So $17,000 pays for the wedding and pays the truck off,

and then she's starting dental school as a dentist? Yes. No, sir, as a dental hygienist. Oh, dental hygienist. She's currently in school now, and we kind of cash flow the individual prerequisite classes as they come up. And then the core program starts next year around June or August, depends on when she gets in. I didn't know you needed to have a four-year degree to go to dental hygienist school.

She doesn't, but the way we have spaced out the prerequisites, they have taken about two years, and the program itself is... I thought she was going to school full-time. She is, for the most part. I mean, she takes about two to four classes per semester. It's considered full-time, but, I mean, just kind of the way the classes and programs are laid out i mean this summer she's taken two classes next semester she's taken two classes but we're also being married getting married last semester she took three classes so it's pretty well full-time she works a little bit with her mother under the table but i mean it's only maybe three or five thousand

dollars a year so it's typically dental hygienist is full-time for two years. It doesn't take a full-time student for two years to get ready to be a dental hygienist, to get ready to start the program. There's something broken in what you're telling me. So to start out, she did not meet some of the score requirements in the college, so they tacked on some additional classes to get her ready for some of the curriculum, which has slowed her process down a little bit. I did forget that.

I'm sorry. Okay, that makes a little more sense because typically when someone wants to go to dental hygienist school, they sign up, they go to school for two years, and they're a dental hygienist. That's the normal thing, okay? So that's what I was trying to figure out, how you have to be a full-time student to get ready to go i couldn't get that but they but what you're describing makes sense okay cool yes sir yeah and so you're so you're working for you're you're working what are you working three on and uh four off or what uh no sorry i work 24 on 48 off and then i also work a prn four or five days a month at a hospital, which I'm trying to transition out of that

to go be an instructor at a local state college, which brings in a little more money. Yeah, you guys have got a lot of time on your hands that you need to be working and earning some money. Because $17,000 changes your life. Yes, sir. We're only 24, so we're trying to stay on track and keep out of debt. Yeah, I think $10,000 is reasonable for the wedding in this situation. to stay on track and keep out of debt and uh yeah i mean i would i would you know i don't i think ten thousand dollars is reasonable for the wedding in the situation i think or seven thousand dollars more and i think um you know thirteen thousand dollar wedding it's not out of hand um but i

don't think both of you are working as much as you can be working and so i want you to you know because really i mean between now and november if you were to make an extra $2,000, extra $1,000 a month each, your problem is solved. Ta-da! Just like that. So it's not that big a problem. And so the good news, that's the bad news, or the good news, the bad news is the way you're going to solve it is you're going to work more. And just be debt-free.

Pay the truck off, pay the wedding off, and by November. Because we work our butts off between now and then. And then when she goes off to, when you're married, and she goes off to dental hygienist school, you pay cash for that as you go along, and we know how we're going to pay for that. We're going to work our butts off.

So this is how it works. It's where money comes from. And, you know, you got a good career, and you got a lot of time off. And she's not carrying a full load. This is not that overwhelming. I work 40 to 60 hours a week while i graduated from college in four years that's a full load okay so i i know what a full load is and you know nothing suffered except my little social life that was all very little social life but you gotta decide

what your what your priorities are you know you gotta get this deck cleaned up. You've got to pay cash for the wedding. We've got to get her into school. These are a lot more important than whether we go out to eat or not, you know. So let's work more. That's what I would do. Hey, man, thanks for the call. I appreciate you joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Lacey is part of our community, our private Facebook group called, it's the official one, The Ramsey Baby Steps Community. The Ramsey Baby Steps Community. You can join it on Facebook if you want. Do you have a recommendation as to how much money to save for kids' college? Depends on where you're going, when they're going.

I mean, you know know obviously college is going to go way up in cost for a baby that's born today versus somebody's getting ready to graduate from high school so what you need to do is look at what the college costs today the average inflation rate of tuition for the last 50 something odd years has been around 7.2 percent and so people talk about college going up through the roof seven percent% is a very high inflation rate, but that's what you can calculate. It'll go along several years and not go up at all, and then it'll go up 25%. And everybody goes bananas. But the average is about 7% a year.

And so if you'll calculate what the school and dorm and food and everything costs today, if I had a baby today, I'd want to be aiming at $150,000 probably would be my target for a state school. And that would take it for a new baby starting today, roughly. But, you know, you've got to look at that and figure out where they are, what it costs now, what you think it will cost then. And then that gives you your target. And it's a different target depending on what they're going to study, where they're going to study, and how old they are. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options?

Do you wish you could find an affordable affordable biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs. Christian Health Care Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry, a Better Business Bureau-accred organization, CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years, and our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, Thank you. another everyday millionaire theme hour coming up if you would like to be on the everyday millionaire theme hour because you are a millionaire, regardless of how you got there, we want to hear your story. A millionaire is someone who their assets minus their liabilities equals a million dollars.

That's called a net worth millionaire. That's an actual millionaire, not someone who earns a million dollars a year. So if you're 401k plus the equity in your house plus your rental property or whatever else you own, maybe you've got an art collection. I don't know. Maybe you inherited $5 million from your great grandfather. I don't know. Where did you get your money? We want to know. We want to talk to you if you're an everyday millionaire.

We're going to do an everyday millionaire hour coming up very soon here, and we would love to have you be part of it. So if you qualify for that, email us right now at DaveOnAir at DaveRamsey.com. That's one word, no dashes, no spaces. DaveOnAir at DaveRamsey.com. Put millionaire in the subject or everyday millionaire in the subject line a little about yourself and your situation and kelly will get right back to you and we will schedule you to be on the air we don't tell you what to say but we need to know

that you're going to be there be available for us to call and have you be a part of that show that day and chris hogan and i or chris hogan if i'm not here we'll interview you because he's mr everyday millionaire you know that about chris thomasina is with us in indianapolis hi thomasina how are you hi dave i'm great thank you for taking my call sure what's up well i am going through a divorce and i make about 3535,000 after taxes and I pay about $1,050 a month in rent. And my question is, my mom lives about an hour from here and I know I can go and stay with her to rebound from this marriage. I guess my question is, because my brother in school, two and they're a junior and a senior,

and I would hate to uproot them to move them out of town, but it is where I'm from, but not necessarily where they're from. Would it be a good idea to make that move? It would be my last choice. I would make that move before I was homeless, but it would be my last choice. You've got the girls, and it's an hour away from your work. It is. Yeah, that's crazy land.

So you have $1,000 rent. That's what we need to fix. Move. I agree. I agree. I do. I just need to move. But in reality, just because I have been doing reading your books

and trying to get, you know, bounce back from this. I wanted to not pay rent for at least six months. I would love it. I would love it. But the cost of free rent is too high. Yeah. If I'm in your shoes. Because you've got these teenagers right late in their high school career,

and they've already been through a divorce with you, and you're going to be commuting an hour. Yes. That's two hours a day you're not going to be with them while they're healing and you're healing. This is true. Yeah, this is too big a cost for me. I would do almost anything else.

I mean, I might move 25 minutes out of town and that kind of stuff. I don't know. I hope not because, again, that uproots them out of the school. But, no, I'm going to do everything I can to try to hold it together. Now, $1,000 on a $35,000 income doesn't work, though. You're right about that. I'm so sorry you're going through all this stuff. Hey, let me help you with this time.

I want to help be part of the healing for you. I don't have any magic beans or anything to give you, but I can put you in our Financial Peace University membership, which allows you to attend a group and go through the first nine lessons in a group, and you'll get some support around you, some cheerleaders cheering you on as a newly minted single mom. And also then you've got access to every dollar plus for the whole year. You've got access to all the lessons in Financial Peace University and Legacy Journey and everything else.

Smart Money, Smart Kids and Legacy Journey. The whole bit in there for the whole year. It's an incredible membership. I'm going to give it to you. It's our gift. We want to help be part of you turning it around. And if you get scared and you get in a pinch as you're fighting through all this, you call me.

I'll walk with you through this. Jimmy is in Jacksonville, Florida. Hi, Jimmy. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I am a deputy outside of Jacksonville.

I make about $50,000 a year. In retirement, we have basically two options. There's the traditional, and then there's the investment. Twelve years ago when I got hired, I was in the traditional, which is roughly 3% a year of your income. So at 25 years, you get 75%, or 30 years, you get 90%. So I've been with you for a while, and I'm looking at going to the investment. We have a one-time transition that we can do.

They're offering me $88,000 just to move into that. I'm trying to figure out which is my better option in the long run. Okay. Their offer is not random. It is based on your average life expectancy that they're going to have to pay out the average amount that they have to pay out for someone. And it's probably based on the 20-year because probably very few people make it to 30. And they usually opt out, move on to something else. So I'm guessing they're basing it on a 20-year.

They're probably basing on average death age of 76 and so on and then they back that out and they come up with 88 000 and the discount rate that they use meaning the interest rate that they calculate this based on is probably around five and a half percent so um at so and maybe i should clarify a little bit um the 88 000 would be put into an investment right now i know okay i'm saying that i'm saying today's value of your future retirement benefits okay based on the fact you've been there 12 years you have eight more years to go and then you start getting 20 year you know 70 percent of 20 year you have eight more years to go, and then you start getting 20-year, you know, 70% of 20-year, you said, right, and all that, they can calculate that out based on averages

and a 5.5% interest rate, and that's where the $88,000 comes from. So, yes, I would roll the $88,000 for two reasons. Roll it into the investment side. I'm sure you've got good mutual fund options there that you can put it in, right? Yes. Okay. They're going to outperform 5.5%. They should.

Okay. And they should have long track records of outperforming 5.5%. If they don't, they're the worst mutual funds I've ever seen. So, you know, get good growth stock mutual funds. And so your $88,000, 000 my point is if you do an average tour of duty there so to speak if you stay with the sheriff's department an average period of time and um the 88 000 plus what you put in from this point forward that three percent will grow to more than you would have will grow to enough that it throws off more income than you would have, well, grow to enough that it throws off more income than

you would have gotten because you're going to be earning more on it. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. Okay. Then the second thing is when you die with a pension, it dies with you. For the most part, yeah, most of it does. Yeah, you got a survivor benefit maybe for a spouse, but when they die, it's gone for sure.

Yes. Yes. Okay? It doesn't go to your kids. We know that. So, it doesn't go to your great-grandkids. But the $88,000 plus the money you put in turns into a million dollars someday. When you die, that doesn't die with you. It goes to your heirs.

That's one of your assets. You own that. So, you're better off when you live, and you're better off when you die if you have the opportunity 99% of the time to roll pension money in a lump sum into an investment option like you've got. So, yes, I would do that. Those are my reasons. And if you understand, you're going to make more rate of return on that $88,000 and on the money you add to it over

the time than it would have grown in the pension plan. Because pension plans simply cannot pay. They're regulated. They're not allowed to calculate it on mutual fund rates of return. And they're not allowed to invest even that aggressively because they have to meet all the pension guidelines. And so because they're trying to be safe, they end up being hyper-conservative because they're trying to not be that pension that went broke kind of a thing.

So anyway, all of that to say, always do it yourself when you can. With the same money, you'll come out with more money when the smoke clears. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Lee is with us. Hi, Lee. How are you? I am thrilled to be here. How are you, Dave? We're thrilled to have you, sir. Where do you live? I live in Dallas, Texas. And all the way to Nashville to do a debt-free scream.

All the way to Nashville. Love it. How much you paid off, brother? I paid off $70,000 in 4.75 years, about 60 months. There you go. All right. 4.75 years. Good. And your range of income during that time? Range of income was $45,000 to about $80,000, $85,000. Cool. What do you do for a living? I'm an actuary but i'm doing like

general business analytics okay just the real exciting stuff of course well it is for those of us that are math nerds so uh cool what kind of debt was the 70 grand oh well i diversified my debt so i had that's right i had student loans i had had a car fleece and then I had 14 K of like, who knows what credit cards, you know? So tell me your story. Five years you've been working on this. Tell me about that. Well, well, my story starts about 10 years ago, but five years ago was that moment where, you know, I, my car broke down and I was on the fence. I'm like, I need to get a car. I've never had to buy a car. So I went and got a car fleece and it brought my debt over 50 K. And so I was looking, staring down the barrel of,

you know, 50 plus K debt. And that was the aha moment where it's like, I can't do this. I can't, this is, this is un, this is unsustainable. And so that was, I had been listening to your show for six years at the time doing like some form of the program.

You wouldn't call it your program, but yeah, the lead debt free program, which isn't as effective, you know? Okay. But the, the lead debt-free program, which isn't as effective, you know. Okay. But when I really actually started doing your program, things started clicking. And, you know, that was the moment where, you know, the moment where I realized I have to stop taking on debt to get my debt down.

I know it sounds obvious, but I was paying down my debt for 10 years, but it was growing. So there was a problem there. So during what period of time did you have the most success, and what were you doing during that time? Most success paying down my debt? Well, it's, I mean, I feel like the whole period was successful because, you know, each paycheck, I'd have a target. And whether or not I'd hit that target, I'd put something towards that. And maybe, you know, maybe sometimes I wouldn't have anything left over at the end of the budget. And that's okay.

But, man, when I would get my tax return, boy, I would just throw that whole thing in there. And that felt good. Yeah. Okay. All right. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? The key to getting out of debt is it's definitely your program. And it's following it to the T.

But it's a very personal experience, and it's a very personal challenge. And so within the framework of your program, I found what works for me. What worked for me may not work for someone else, but just it's a whole different mindset. And it's a marathon. It is not a sprint. Well, that's for sure. Yeah. It is a marathon.

Did you have people cheering you on on the marathon or telling you you were nuts for running it? More so nuts for running it. Also, because I was doing a lot of weird things. You know, I'm driving a former canine unit cop car that I bought at the auction. Bought and paid for. I looked really official on the streets, but, man, did I look weird showing up to work. Boy, my car in that lot, it just didn't fit. It did not fit. I'd park it in the back away from the Lexuses.

What did you do with the lease? Well, the fleece, that was one of the first things I got rid of. And I had to pay. I was on the hook for, I think, like $20,000. I had to pay $4,000 to get rid of that thing. Okay. I just got rid of it. Okay.

But you wrote a check and sold it and got rid of the car then, and that helped move some of the $70,000. That's right. Okay. Well done, sir. That's right. Okay. Well done, sir. Very well done. Proud of you. Good job.

Good job. Well, we got a copy of Chris Hogan's book, Retire Inspired, for you. That needs to be the next chapter in your story, that you're a millionaire and outrageously generous along the way. So well done, Lee. Very well done. Appreciate it. How old are you? I'm 31. All right. And this whole journey was me, single, just. Very well done. How old are you? I'm 31.

All right. And this whole journey was me, single, just pushing the thing alone. Very good. Good for you. Well done. Lee from Dallas, Texas. $70,000 paid off in 4.75 years, making $45 to $80. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free. Yeah. There you go. You're the opera version. Well done. Very well done.

Bree is in New York. Hi, Bree. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? My boyfriend and I have been dating for five years, and against your better wisdom, we have been shacked up for three of those.

During this time, I have had a career conundrum, and so I have been working various jobs in order to keep going on my baby steps. My question is, he is frustrated that I'm working so much if it's not involved in a particular career that I'm aiming to pursue. So he has offered to either combine our finances or give me a stipend a month so that I can work less and focus on, you know, figuring out what it is I want to do for a career. I do not want to combine our finances, nor am I okay with receiving a stipend. And so my question is, how do I, you know, try to work 11 or 12 hours a day, but also be pursuing something else? Why don't you get married that's a good question he says that we should just combine our finances so that we can test everything out before we get married

oh you've been kind of doing that for three years you've been doing that for three years right and legally like you've said a bunch of times like there's no protection yep you know in case we were to break up. Well, and here's the thing. It also changes the – bless his heart, he's trying, okay? But what he just said was, I'm going to pay you to live with me. That's what you heard and that's what I heard but he didn't mean that okay but but that that when you start this down this road a stipend seriously i mean is that not just a little bit insulting to

a girl i mean come on you're about as romantic as an actuarial i mean gosh unbelievable yeah so right and i don't want to be like if you want want it, put a ring on it. You know, that's not very romantic either. But at the same time, I don't know. I feel like I'm in a lose-lose situation where I want to keep pushing forward on my baby steps and being gazelle intent. And I don't feel like he's supporting that. You know, you guys have got to decide what you're going to do. My advice to you would be get married. you've been living together three years you've been dating five years i think we've established a level of compatibility go get some pre-marriage

counseling and get married and then that solves this whole issue that's my advice to you it's not put a ring on it but it's just a matter of you're already doing everything associated with marriage, except you don't have the legal benefits, and it creates a weird relationship dynamic when someone you're not married to is paying you, and you live with them. I mean, that just kind of feels weird, doesn't it? I mean, and I understand he doesn't mean it that way, but it's almost like he's paying you. That's just weird.

You don't want to be that girl for sure. And he doesn't mean it that way, but it shifts the dynamic in this. And so if I were in your shoes, I'd get married. That's what I would do. I'd get some pre-marriage counseling, see if there's any toxic stuff left in this relationship. Short. I'm talking like September, like this one. So five years is enough.

Really. It's time to paint or get off the ladder, really. You've got to decide what's going on here. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Sandra's in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Hi, Sandra. How are you?

I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Thank you for taking my call, first off. Sure. I got some bad news last week about some mold in my crawl space and i'm getting in the process of getting some estimates to see how much it would take to fix it um um i don't have the money to pay for it

i've got four estimates so far sorry three and um one of them is like thirty five hundred dollars one of them's eighteen thousand dollars and um i don't like i said don't have the money to pay for it i want to make sure that i get the job done right the first two that i have i'm not confident that they will address the issue with the water underneath the home but i'm confident that the eighteen thousand dollars will so i don't have a lot of debt my home will be paid off this year and uh i do have a home line of home equity line of credit and they said they would do some financing on that so what should i do okay um and so what do you make a year uh 42 000 okay and you're single yes and you don't have any money i have a little bit a couple thousand i was planning to pay off um a smaller debt with what i do have but i've stopped that just as maybe as soon as I heard this. Okay.

I have about $3,000. All right. And so what's the water under the house coming from? It's from seepage and also some gutter issues. It doesn't seep unless it's getting to the outside of the house and coming through, so it's probably gutter issues. Yes. Okay. And the $3,500 is mold eradication as well as fixing the gutter issues?

No, that's just getting rid of the mold. They're not touching the gutters at all? No. Okay, well, you've got to fix the gutters or the mold's going to come back because the water's going to keep coming, right? Right. Okay. Yes.

Okay, here's the thing with mold. It is a bad thing, and it will will make you sick no doubt about it it does need to be fixed okay but there's something about this issue uh i think it's because it makes us sick and it's kind of silent and it's under the house it's like the monster under the bed or something. I don't know that people, including people in the business, go bananas. There's a lot of drama and a lot of emotion around this business, okay, around mold and mold eradication. I mean, I had tenants move out of a house because they decided a spot on the wall was mold and we had it checked by a mold eradication company.

It did not come back, but they still thought it was mold and they were freaking out. They were, it was one dot on the wall and it wasn't even mold. It was something else, you know? I mean, but people people that's the way people react around this subject so sometimes you have an overreaction you're not overreacting but some of the companies you're dealing with might be okay so when i hear when i hear a bid between thirty five hundred and eighteen thousand that's nuts i'm going with the thirty five hundred plus i'm hiring a gutter company to come out and fix the gutters.

And you're going to have $5,000 in it. You can gutter your whole freaking house over for $1,500. Completely redo every gutter on your house for that. Okay. Okay. So $18,000 is nuts. That's what I'm hearing in your situation. I'm not seeing it, but I'm just giving you my outside opinion looking

in and i own a whole bunch of real estate and i eradicated mold out of my personal lake house uh you know while it was being built we got mold under it because it's at the lake it draws moisture right the whole thing right so you just have to deal with this stuff and that one was twenty five hundred dollars by the way for the eradication on that and that was a couple couple years ago. And, yeah, I don't want mold in my lake house. I don't want to sleep over the top of it. I don't want you to. So I'm not suggesting that we don't deal with this. I am suggesting the house is not burning down.

It's not an emergency. And don't overreact. So the $18,000 is an overreact. $3,500. What can we sell? What extra jobs can we take? And how quickly can we save $3,500 if we stop everything? You've already got $2,000. Okay?

Yes. And so I'm going to – we'll declare this an emergency. Use your emergency fund and put – you know, save up $1,500 and then get the work done. I think you can do that by fall, and you're not going to get sick between now and fall. Okay. That's not a doctor's opinion. That's just an old boy that owns a bunch of real estate's opinion. Okay.

I wouldn't have sweated if I was living in the house between now and then, or whatever. As fast as you can do it, I want you to do it. So first thing is get the eradication done, and the next thing you save for is get the gutters fixed so it doesn't come back. But let's get the mold out from under there then let's fix the gutters and you know the drainage off the house most basement leaks in kentucky and tennessee and most crawl spaces that have the water issues are guttering it is not something else it's most of the time the house has got water running against the house and standing against the house and it will stand against the house until it goes under the house

it's just the way it is so you got to get it off the house it's a little bit of ditching a little bit of uh pipes running away from the house with gutters and maybe some new guttering and that that should get you there So are you in a good church? No. You're not. Okay. Do you know anybody around the construction business that is a friend that would look at this with you and kind of help apply a common sense measure to it? Yes, I do.

Okay. Let's get kind of your good friend to be your friendly uncle to stand with you and go, like I'm doing, don't overreact. Address it. It's serious. But here's the two things we can do. We can get these gutters off the house in terms of get the water away from the house, I mean, and get the mold eradicated. And you can do all of that by fall with your income and the $2,000 that you've got

and not borrow money. I'm not going to tell you to borrow money. But I am going to tell you to stop everything and address this and then restart your plan. And don't worry about that other debt that's laying there. Don't use your home equity loan. No, I would not go into debt. But I would address it. And that's the parameters under which the way I'm looking at it.

And I do have a little bit of experience with it. I'm not a mold expert. I'm not a mold expert i'm not a medical expert but that's a common sense view of this and and we'll we'll give you a yell back and i mean uh you give us a yell back if we can help you further with this and thanks for calling in tyler is with us in lexington kentucky hi tyler how are you doing well what about yourself better than i deserve how How can I help? My question is, I've been looking about buying a house in the next year,

and I've been lucky enough to save up to this amount of money. And also, I've been looking about possibly getting into stocks either before or after I buy a house. So that's primarily my question. Okay. Well, I think since the house is right there on the horizon, the first thing I'd do is get the house bought with as much of a down payment as I can. Okay. Making sure that you keep at least an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses

and that you don't have any other debt other than the house. As far as stocks, I don't invest in single stocks personally. I don't like the risk. I invest in mutual funds inside my retirement plan as my first part of investing, Roth IRAs and good growth stock mutual funds. And that's the way I go at it. Now, if you want to buy some single stocks, you can. Because they're very volatile and it's a high-risk i wouldn't have more than 10 of my nest egg tied up in single stocks because you just you're just asking for trouble the mutual funds will grow and you're participating in the good parts of the stock market but you're diversified better

and you've got pros picking the stocks inside of there rather than you and i picking them with somebody we ate breakfast with right and so um you know or you pick them based on what you read some article somewhere or whatever no that's how people lose their money so i'm not losing but lose a lot of it and so i don't buy single stocks at all because i don't want to fool with the risk if you're going to for whatever reason at some point in your wealth building i would not have more than 10% in the process, 10% of your nest egg tied up in that. Thank you for the call.

That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer, Blake Thompson, our senior executive producer, and of course, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener. As I said, I'm Dave Ramsey. We're glad you're with us. Thanks for hanging out. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Blake Thompson, senior executive producer for the show.

You know, you can listen or watch anywhere with the Dave Ramsey Show app on your smartphone. Catch the full show or watch the highlights and check out Dave's upcoming guests. Head to the App Store and download it today.