The Ramsey Show - App - Laying a Foundation for Your Desired Future (Hour 1)

Episode Date: May 8, 2019

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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'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show. Thank you for joining us. It's all about you, your life and your money. The phone number is 888-825-5225. You call, the advice is free and some say it's worth what you pay for it. The phone number 888-825-5225. Casey starts off this hour in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Hi Casey, how are you? Hi Dave, I'm great. How are you? Hi, Dave.

I'm great. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I have a really weird question for you. His family has been asking for our financial information. They want to know what our utilities are, how much we're spending on everything, and who is paying what. So I am from a family where you don't share those things outside of your immediate household.

So my question is, should we be giving them this information or should we be holding the barrier and like the wall that we are saying that this is our information and, you know, it's not really any of their concern. We're not in any kind of financial need. Yeah. Okay. And so you're married. We are not married. I told him he could not propose until I finished grad school, and I finished in about six weeks. Mm-hmm. Which is kind of another thing of whether or not that answer changes once we are married.

Yeah. Well, it does because then it's a different situation because there's not a we now. Yeah, I mean, all of our bills are in our own individual name. You have a roommate and your roommate's mother is going over the line. Yes. That's different than your husband's mother is going over the line. For me, it is. And I think relationally, it is. Either way that she's going over the line, what is their motivation in being so dead blame nosy?

Honestly, it's his sister. His sister? Why does his sister want to know his stuff? Honestly, she, for whatever reason, does not care for me, and that's been well known. We go through points where we're fine and then other times where she doesn't. But we are taking a trip as a family to Disney this fall, and his sister spent $12,000. And I said that we would only go if we could do it our way and we are only spending about $1,500 instead of $12,000. So she's really upset right now that

I'm refusing to do everything that she wanted to do and taking on extra debt because I was only willing to go if I had time to save up the money. And our $1,500 covers our whole little unit. And how old are you guys? 33 and 34. And how old is sister? 39. Well, here's the problem. There's more going on here.

This is not about money This is about your Roommates Future fiancé Maybe future husbands Sister's relationship with you That's what this whole thing is about And let me just tell you

Who solves that It's not you This is just an old man talking i'm not a family therapist okay no i know this is not i mean it's because it's not a money thing but you trying to solve this with her is going nowhere agreed i do agree yeah him sitting down with her and going, hey, sis, back off. He did, and his whole family's not speaking to either of us now. Well, there you go. Okay. So we weren't sure if we just disclosed all this information, if it would fix it or if it's just going to put it in a situation, I'm going to have a boundary,

and then they say, oh, the only way we're going to have a relationship with you is if we can tell you what to do in your life, we're going to violate boundaries. That is not a relationship. That's a controlling, manipulative bunch of jerks. I think there's more going on here, though, that's outside my realm of expertise. So I don't know exactly how to address this um but uh no i know you caving to people who demand that they can violate your boundaries is not the way you solve a relational issue okay but i don't think this has anything to do with

disney and i don't think this has anything to do with Disney, and I don't think this has anything to do with your light bill. I think it has to do with you all living together, and his family doesn't like that, and they don't like you shacking up with their son. And it's talked about all the time, and they don't like your stance on anything. And that's what's going on, and it's being reflected in these other things that are symptomatic. So you've got a much bigger problem than that. And so, you know, I think you sit down with a marriage counselor and get some pre-engagement, pre-marriage counseling, because you have a real problem in one of the four areas that causes marriages to end, and that's in-laws. It is one of the four areas. Money fights, in-law fights, fights over kids, and fights over religion.

And when you are unequal on any of those four things, you cannot come up with a solid way to handle this on any of those four things, then your marriage is going to struggle your relationship's not going to last so you need to see a a good marriage counselor to help you with that and um uh so you know you ask me and i that i i i don't think you can solve this by giving them the information that's absurd it's absurd they asked for it in the first place. It's absurd they're angry because they want you to spend and do everything that you can afford to do. That's not an act of love. That's an act of control and manipulation by them.

But none of those are the problem. They're all symptoms of a bigger problem that's a relational breakdown between you and his family. And that's what you're going to have to get into that I'm not qualified to deal with nor do i care to sorry open phones at 888-825-5225 deanna is in fresno hey deanna welcome to the dave ramsey show hi dave how are you better than i deserve what's up um i just have a quick question so i'm currently in the navy my husband got out two years ago. I mention that because that means we're both eligible for the VA loan. We're currently on Baby Step 2, but we plan on moving next year when I get out.

Do you suggest that we purchase a home or rent until we're completely debt-free? Rent until you're completely debt-free and have your emergency fund in place. You buy a home after baby step three. Because if you don't, all kinds of crap is going to happen in your life, and that is going to mess you up. You're kind of inviting Murphy to visit. If it can go wrong, it will when you don't have an emergency fund and you buy a home. The VA loan is not the way to go it is the most expensive loan of the

three loans fannie mae fha and va unless one of you is disabled in the military and if you're a disabled veteran all the fees and gotchas that the va charges the military folks are waived but otherwise they're not waived and it's expensive, which is weird because it's supposed to be a benefit for serving, but it ends up not being unless you're disabled, one of you. So check out that part, but no, wait until after Baby Step 3. Hey, thank you for your service to both of you. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. options? Do you wish you could find an affordable biblical solution to your healthcare costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major healthcare costs. Christian Healthcare Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry.

A Better Business Bureau-accredited 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, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Brian is in San Antonio. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Brian.

Hey, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Hey, I'm in the initial planning phases of constructing a home, and I was just wondering about what you thought about me basically self-financing it and paying for it with my IRA. How old are you?

I am 59 and a half. How much is in your IRA? About $700,000. Okay. How much is in your other nest eggs? My total net worth, and I'm completely debt free, my total net worth is about $1.16 million. Okay. And right now I have liquid cash at hand, about $130,000.

Cool. And your home that you're living in is worth what? I had it appraised about four years ago, and it appraised around $190,000, which is probably maybe around $200,000 now. Okay. Plus you've got $100,000 and how much in cash? $130,000?

About $130,000. Yeah, okay. So you've got $330,000 with the sale of the house and with the cash. How much house are you building? About 1,800 square foot. No, I'm talking about dollars. What are you going to spend to build this house? Oh, it's going to be around $300,000 to $325,000, I believe.

Okay. So you're like $100,000 to $325,000, I believe. Okay. So you're like $100,000, $150,000 short, right? Right. Yeah, I'd use that money. There's no penalty on it, and you're going to pay taxes on it. Okay. But you definitely would do that. Yeah.

Okay. Well, that answers my question, and thank you. So you're going to be sitting, let's review then, okay? You're going to be sitting in a $1.1, $1.2 million net worth in a $350,000 paid-for house as a part of that net worth. Do I have that correct when we're done with this deal, right? Yeah, correct. Okay.

That's correct, because I still won't have any debt i'll just use that money as an ira and you know of course houses it's still it's still part of it yeah a house is an asset it's part of your net worth and but the point i'm bringing up for those listening that i want everybody to hear and you too is that your house is about one-third of your net worth and you're a millionaire at 59 years old and and everything is paid for, you're 100% debt-free. Your house is not three-quarters or 80% of your net worth. You didn't ask me to do a $900,000 deal on your house, which doesn't produce money, doesn't produce income to live on.

The other money that you have produces money to live on right and so we don't want too much of our net worth in a house percentage wise as a matter of fact the more your net worth increases folks the less a percentage of your house should be in other words if you have 100 million you wouldn't want 30 in your house a 30 million dollar house if you had 100 million you're probably living in a five a 30 million dollar house if you had 100 million you're probably living in a five or six million dollar house you know that kind of thing so it's five percent of your net worth at that point so the more it increases the more the value of your home decreases as a percentage of your net worth as you build wealth so well done another everyday

millionaire there you guys hear that well done sir well done congratulations jonathan is in wilmington delaware hi jonathan welcome to the dave ramsey show hey dave how you doing better than i deserve what's up um so um i had a question um i i just recently discovered your radio show and everything you're about within the last year um i read the total money makeover twice. I'm calling because now I'm trying to implement the steps of the Total Money Makeover in my life. And so I recently bought a car in 2017, brand new. And now I kind of want, like, I'm going to start the Financial Peace University, but I'm trying to figure out how do I go about getting out of that debt? I know you tell people to sell their car and things like that.

Do you have any advice on how would you go about doing that? Well, I tell them to sell their car if it is either of two things. Number one, if it is preventing them from being debt-free within two years and selling it allows them to do it. Number two, if the total of all your vehicles, things with motors and wheels, added up, motors and or wheels, added up equals more than half your annual income because things with motors and or wheels go down in value. Okay? So, what is the car worth? The car is worth, well, Kelly Blue Book says the car is worth about $12,000. Okay, and what do you owe on the car?

$20,000. Okay, and what do you make a year? Household income. Household, are you married? Yes. Okay. So what's your household income? My household income is about 80 grand, 80 to 85 grand.

Okay. All right. Cool. And how much other debt do you have, not counting your house? Well, I rent, and the other debt I have, it's about five grand. Okay. Cool. All right.

So $25,000 makes you 100% debt-free. You make $85,000. And so that's doable within two years. Easy. Should be done in one year. The car is not the problem. It's not killing you. Do you like the car?

Yes. Okay, good. Then I would keep the car. Do you have two cars? What's your other car? Then I would keep the car. Do you have two cars? What's your other car? No, just one. You have a one-car family? Yep.

Okay. All right. So your problem is like me and most people when we first start the journey. Thank goodness, in your case, it's not overwhelming debt. Your problem is you just weren't paying attention. You were disorganized, and you didn't have a plan, and you weren't doing things on purpose. And so stupid stuff crept up and hit you from behind. Does that sound right?

Yep. And now you're paying attention. So if you get game on, dude, I mean, gazelle intense, focus like a gazelle running from a cheetah for its life. And you start focusing, and you get on a written budget, and you and your wife say, we're getting out of debt, and we're going to work extra, and we're going to go crazy, you can pay off $25,000 in one year making 85, but you're on beans and rice, rice and beans, you're not going on vacation, and you are not going to see the inside of a restaurant

unless you are working there. That's what I mean by beans and rice, rice and beans. Okay? Okay. If you do that, you could pay off 25, make an 85. Agreed? Yep. You can do it.

And then you keep the car, and then we rock on to the next baby step, and let's get on with the business of building wealth. Did you say you already had a total money makeover book? Yes, I have the book already. Good, good. I had a question. The question was, can I do financial peace online? Like, I want to sign up for it.

You can. It's the second best option. Going through the nine-week class at a class puts you in a community of people that are going to encourage you and also bust on you. And it gives you a place to kind of flesh out the first parts of your journey. And so that accountability and encouragement is really vital if you can get a class near you to get into. Do you travel? Yes.

Yes, we travel. Are you on the road all the time for a living, I mean? No, no. I'm actually local. Gotcha. Okay. So I'll give you Financial Peace University, and it includes a one-year membership that has all the classes, audio, video,

everything online as well. But I'm going to send you the workbook and encourage you. Attending the class doesn't cost a dime more. It's a part of the deal. You get the one-year membership. You get the EveryDollarPlus, which is the world's best budgeting app tied to your bank. It does everything for you, with you. It's awesome.

You get all the follow-up classes. You get all the stuff online. The membership is very valuable, but it's free the first year when you join Financial Peace University and go through the nine-week class. You can do it online. I'm going to highly encourage you to go to a class, but I'm going to give it to you as a gift. I appreciate you being a new listener. And the only thing I ask you to do is someday when you're doing really well, you find somebody else who's just starting out, and you pay for them to go through. You've got to pay it forward.

That's all I ask. So you hold on, and we'll have Kelly pick up, and we'll get you signed up and get you going on that. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Folks, it's really important that you understand personal finance is 80% behavior. It's only 20% of knowledge. It's just like losing weight. I mean, I have to tell myself, back away from the cookies. I mean, we know what to do, right?

We know what to do. Sharon laid out. Our kids were all over the grandbabies last night, and she laid out dadgum homemade chocolate chip cookies on the counter. That is Satan right there. That's what does that. Not my wife, but I'm just saying, oh my gosh, you know, but I'm telling you, that's what, yeah, I know what I'm supposed to do to not be built like an Oompa Loompa, but I have trouble doing it. We know what we're supposed to do with money, but we have trouble doing it. You know what fixes that?

Getting in a group of people that are holding you accountable and encouraging you. That's why Financial Peace University has been so successful, is attending the class physically. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Did you guys know that we go through the top real estate agents in your area and we vet them? And if they are the top real estate agents in your area, they qualify to be an endorsed local provider. That means they're endorsed by us, they're local to you, and they provide you with help in real estate. These agents are committed to helping you find the right home for your budget without all the crazy and the drama. Don't take it from us. Listen to what one family had to say they said we finally decided we were ready to move our elp came to our little 900 square foot home and she never made us feel

any different from other clients that may have a million or multi-million dollar home she gave us a lot of confidence in our plan and i think the house sold the first day well there you go hear the full story at davramsey.com slash gomez and you can discover the difference that one of our endorsed local providers can make for you bianca is with us in reno hey welcome to the dave ramsey show bianca hi dave How are you doing? Better than I deserve. How can I help? So I just started recently with the baby steps and I have a line of credit that's like extremely high interest. It would be like my 11th debt out of 12. But right now I'm paying $300 every two weeks, and $185 of it is going to their fees, and supposedly they have no interest. I was wondering, like, where should I put that on my list? What's your interest rate on this? Yeah, that's what they say.

They have no interest, but they charge based on how much you owe. Right now I owe $3,000, and they charge $ on how much you owe right now i owe three thousand dollars and they charge 185 dollars a fee every two weeks so this is a payday lender uh it's called elastic i don't know they don't say they say credit line but i don't know yeah the numbers you're giving me are payday lender rates. This is 600%, 700% a year. What is your income? It's going to take me another $3,000 just to pay in fees. What's your income? $92,000.

Why in the world did you ever walk into this place? Well, three years ago, my husband was almost killed by our neighbors, and instead of them being in jail, they went back home with a $300 fine for disturbing the peace. So we kind of had to abandon the house and leave everything behind and just move. Okay, so wait a minute. Stop, stop, stop. That was three years ago.

You make $92,000. Why do you have a $3,000 debt at 800% interest? Because, like, we still have medical bills for my my husband and he doesn't make any money. You make $92,000? Yes. You make $92,000. Why do you have a $3,000 bill? One of the things you're going to have to stop doing is you're going to have to stop trying to figure out all these things that are going on. There's so much freaking drama in your life that you're going to have to just step back from all that and look at the numbers because all I'm hearing is $92,000 and $3, 000 and i can't grasp why you haven't dealt with this before now

when it's 600 interest so yes you put it at the top but you get rid of it this month not three years from now and i don't want to hear a drama story about why you didn't do it get it freaking done okay take care of business Take care of business if you can. No, darling, I've got to move. I'm sorry. All right, Daniel is with us in Orlando. Hi, Daniel. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? That's great to hear. I'm in a very fortunate position of getting out of college debt-free because of my parents. So I'm going straight to step three. Great. My question is, after step three of the baby steps is I'm looking maybe within five years

or after five years to go purchasing a home. Do you think investing in a Roth IRA for a first home purchase is a good investment? No, no, no, no, no. We don't mess up Roth IRAs by cashing them out. We start those immediately and we leave them alone and let them grow tax-free. That's going to make you rich. You don't want to screw around with that thing. You want to buy a house with money you saved to the side of that.

So once you're at baby step three, you can either not save money and not do baby step four 15% for a short period of time, like one or two years to save up your down payment, not five years, and then start your 15% of your income going into retirement. Or you can just start your 15% of income going into retirement and save two for your down payment. I don't care which, but I would not use a Roth IRA ever for a down payment on a house. Ever, ever, ever. Don't mess it up.

Man, look at those numbers. That money is going to grow to such a huge pile, completely tax-free if you don't screw around with it. Just put money in there and let it grow. Joshua's with us in Ashland, Kentucky. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Joshua. Thank you, Mr. Ramsey. It's good to be talking to you.

You too, sir. How can I help? Just a quick question. I work for a gym, and I've already helped set up a couple of programs there, but they kind of worked it from what I would like it to be, and so I'm kind of trying to figure out how to either help it, try to grow that program to be able to help people or strike it on my own. I don't know where to begin as far as setting goals and even just getting started.

So I'm trying to kind of like a health coach type thing with nutrition coaching and exercise coaching. I'm just trying to figure out where to get started and how to get there. Great. Very cool. I think you take the skills that you already have and you apply them to goal setting in business. And what that sounds like is my friend Henry Cloud calls your goal your desired future. How old are you? I'm 32.

So when you're 42, what's your desired future with your career? I'd like to be able to be doing online coaching, have a flexible schedule, be able to work when the kids are at school and when the kids and the wife are home in the evening. Are you working for someone else in this dream or are you working for yourself in this dream? I'd like to be working for myself in this dream. Okay, cool. Then that's your desired future is to build a business that allows you to do what you

just described. Okay? Now, if someone walks into your gym and signs up for you to be their coach and uh they're out of shape uh their eating habits are poor they've not worked out ever um and they say my desired future is to look like you i need an eight pack right a 12 pack instead of a keg right and so um if that's what they say to you, they say that's your desired future, first thing you tell them is, well, it's going to be a long road. Strap in.

It's going to be incremental progress, and we're going to do the basics to lay a foundation. Am I correct? Is this what you're going to tell them? And we're going to get you where you can breathe first so that you can exercise, so that you can breathe, so that you can exercise. And we're going to really look at your food intake. Your caloric intake has to go down while your sweat level goes up

and your aerobic activity goes up. And then the weight will drop off and you'll start to beat it. But it doesn't happen quick or easy. It's an incremental step at a time. The tortoise wins the race, not the hare. Anybody who tells you that they can get a body like that in 90 days is lying. Am I correct? Yes, sir.

Same thing applies to your dream. We just set you a 10-year goal. Now, what is the first step to get to the 10-year goal? What's the second step? And then as we get more sophisticated, what's the next step? And what's the next step? And you named, like, three different things you were doing. One was online coaching, one was in-person coaching, and one was flexibility around the family.

I think I heard that right. And so you need to say, okay, which of those am I going to start with when I do start my own business? In the meantime, business level number one might be to learn a bunch of these things while working for someone else and just get a really good income and a big pile of money, because I'm going to need a little money to start my first clip brick and mortar to start my first little gym i gotta have a little money to get that going oh maybe i don't do that maybe i start with in-home workouts with wealthy people who have their own gym and um and i become a concierge uh guy and so that gets me out on my own and i've got some flexibility oh while i'm

doing that at night i can work on my online thing and start building that out. And you begin to study and think it through. But what you've got to do is lay out what your steps are, and then your steps will change over the next 10 years, but you still have that desired future that you're aiming at. I mean, you might make more progress or less progress in a workout program that would allow you to change direction there. You know, you might have an injury that would keep you from certain types of workout program that would allow you to change direction there. You might have an injury that would keep you from certain types of workout program while you're trying to do this. I got a friend that was just training for Boston, screwed his back up,

blew his Boston training out of the water. He's been bummed out. It was about six months ago that happened. So he'll have to do Boston another year. It was his desired future. That's his goal that you're setting. So you set it in front of you. You adjust to the injuries.

You adjust to the setbacks. You take the advantages and the things where you're going faster, and you run fast with those. And it's a go and start, go and start, go and start, go and start, slow down, go start, slow down. But we're always aiming at the same goal, and it's incremental progress, step-by-step strategy to get there. And that's how you lay this out, and it'll work for you.

You can get going. Hold on. I'm going to send you a copy of our business playbook called Entree Leadership, How We Grew Our Business. Buffalo, New York. Mary is on the line. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Mary. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. It's an honor to speak to you. You too, ma'am. How can I help? So my family and I are in Baby Step 2, however, and we'll be finished paying off our debt next month.

Yay! Way'd it go? So due to a death in the family, we are receiving a small inheritance that will put us automatically into baby steps 4, 5, and 6. We won't have to be saving for our baby step 3. Well, that's good news. I'm sorry for the way you're getting it, but I'm glad you're getting some money. So how much money is coming? Because of our ages, which 52 for me, 55 for my husband, two kids currently in college, one in high school, I feel like four, five, and six are coming at us all at once, and I don't know which one to do first. Okay. How are you paying for kids' college now? Bank, like we pay cash.

Okay. Out of your budget? Out of my budget and out of 521 plans mostly. Oh, good. 529 plans, I'm sorry. Okay, so you had some money saved for college. Very good. That's unusually wonderful.

Okay, so what's your household income? Okay, it was $120,000, and now it's gone up to about $140,000, $150,000. Awesomeness. Very cool. All right. And so any new kids coming into college that aren't there now? One is just finishing up his freshman year in high school, so yes, one's coming up. Okay.

So how many kids you got? Three. Okay. So is the oldest one going to graduate before the youngest one hits? up. Okay. And so how many kids you got? Three. Okay. So is the oldest one going to graduate before the youngest one hits? Yes. Graduating this month, but I'm also would like to pay for her graduate school one year. She's contributing half. I'm contributing half. Okay. And she's going to work to do that? Yes. No loans we don't have any loans good okay good so all i'm trying to think about is what baby step five looks like okay because basically we're going to start

putting 15 of your income into retirement since you're not getting out of debt anymore you're going to be able to do that easy what you were throwing on baby step two while you were cash flowing college cash flowing college is going to look exactly the same all the way through unless your freshman starts before your oldest does their one year of grad but i think even one year grad is going to be done before your freshman starts college am i right that's correct yeah so you're never going to have more than two in and you got two in now you're cash flowing two now so you should be able to continue to cash flow too is that logical yes okay so just watching your p's and q's to be able to make that happen and of course college choice by the youngest one is going to be

required to fit the budget they have to go where you can afford not where their little dream is okay and so um anyway we're doing all that so baby step five is kind of cash flowed the way it is now uh we're going to take what you used to pay on debt and call that 15 of your income going into retirement um anything above 15 going into retirement and above cash flowing college that you have left over you could do one of two things for it one is you could say we're not paying any extra on the mortgage right now. We're just going to beef up this college stuff until we get these kids done. And then we're going to reach over and pay off the house.

So you're eight years, you're 52 until your freshman in high school graduates from college. You'll be 60. Your husband will be 63. 64, yeah. 64. Okay. 64. Okay. And how much do you owe on your home? We have about $22,000 left that will be paid off next October.

That's 2020. Well, that's easy. Yeah. Okay. So we don't have to worry about it. You're going to be debt-free. You're cash-flowing college, and you're going to be putting all you can put into retirement. You'll be putting more than 15% after the house is paid off and after college is taken care of.

You're going to load up retirement and play catch-up. Okay, so 15% first for the retirement. Until the house is paid off. Until the house is paid off. Cash flow college until the house is paid off. When the house is paid off, then it's game on on the retirement. Anything you can squeeze out above cash flow in college. Oh, and by the way, when college is done, when you're 60, or even when you're down to one in college, that's going to feel like a break.

Yeah, for sure. Then you're going to be able to load more up and load more up and load more up. And with your fabulous income, you guys will likely be millionaires if you're not already um and when do i get to go on a vacation anytime after baby step four okay sounds good anytime once you get your and once you get your uh as long as it doesn't cause your kid to not go to college oh god no no no yeah as long as it doesn't cause you to not be able to put 15 away so we and we're lucky that we started early. We have combined about $500,000 in retirement right now.

Oh, man, you're in such good shape. What's your house worth? My house is worth only like $220,000. Okay. So you're going to be a millionaire in about three years. Oh, what a nice thing to say. That's where you are. I mean, your house is $300,000, and you've got $500,000.

That's $800,000. You're only $200,000 away. You make $150,000. You're putting 15% away. You're going to be there, and your house is going up in value while we're talking about this. So, yeah, that's where you're headed. Hold on.

I'm going to send you a copy of Chris's book, Everyday Millionaires, because you fit the exact guideline. And here's the thing. You woke up a couple years back and decided we're going to work these baby steps, and all of a sudden, look what happened. You took control of your destiny. Congratulations. You're a victor, not a victim.

Way to go. I'm so proud of you. Josh is with us in Midland, Texas. Hey, Josh, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello. How are you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve, man. How can I help?

I have a question um i got a situation where i'm i've been dating this girl for go on three years that sounds like a situation my dad took your uh your your your uh school through the church and he turned me on to you uh gave me one of your books and i read through it and we both decided we wanted to do this so we took our money out of savings account uh besides a thousand so we go and start on baby step number two and we've already paid off quite a bit of debt wait a minute who's we yes who is we it's it's my girlfriend and i oh there's not a way you're not married okay okay yes so that you're not paying her bills i hope well we we divide everything up so should we go ahead and

get married first kind of put this on yeah or keep doing what we're doing yeah you're already got things out of order yeah you ought to get married yesterday okay listen here's the here's the thing about getting married when you're in debt, which is kind of your question, right? Right. Exactly. Having debt should never keep you or someone having debt in the relationship should never keep you from getting married. How you view the debt and how you view money should be a deal killer. For instance, let's pretend she was a princess and she demanded that you buy a bunch of stuff that you can't afford to buy and put it all on your credit card. And you, in the meantime, are going, I'm the guy

who wants to get out of debt. Now, this is not a match made in heaven. Because you're going to spend your whole life trying to make a woman happy who will never be happy. Or let's pretend she's dating you and you don't like to work too much. And so you don't make much money because you won't work. And so that's a deal killer, right? It's not the fact that you got debt that's a deal killer. It's your bum. Okay?

And so that's the kind of stuff you look at on whether you'll get married or not. As long as you're both on the same page, and it sounds like you are maybe even more than you should be at this stage, but you're both on the same page heading in the same direction with money and you both agree we're getting rid of this debt we're both agree we're going to work these baby steps yeah you should have gotten married yesterday have at it baby okay and is there a cost that we shouldn't go over as far as on the wedding every dollar you spend on that's going to be money doesn't go towards your debt how much debt have you got um i'm not sure exactly but when we added it up when we first started four months ago we were at 98 000 that was both of you

yes sir together with student loans uh vehicles and run your finances separate until you see the preacher you can run them together you can run them together and talking about them but you don't need to pay somebody's bills you're not married to, somebody's debts you're not married to. But if you're going to go see the preacher this weekend, you're going to solve that. But anyway, $98,000, and what do you make? I make $120,000. And what does she make? Around $40,000.

And what would you think spending on the wedding is reasonable in this situation? Just rough numbers. I would think $10,000, and that includes the ring. I would do it. I would do it immediately. But that ain't two years from now, dude. It's time to do this. Let's scrape up the $10,000.

You got the money, and let's set a date, like 4th of July. Let's hear some fireworks go off. It's time to get things out of order, man. You're going to mess it up. Don't do that. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for the Dave Ramsey Show. If you would like

to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.