The Ramsey Show - App - Make Peace with Being Weird—It's Worth It! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: April 18, 2019

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Starting point is 00:00:00 🎵 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. The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Logan is with us in Denver starting off this hour. Hi, Logan.
Starting point is 00:01:00 How are you? Doing well, Dave. How about yourself? Better than I deserve. What's up? I was wondering if I would be a good candidate for the 100% down plan, or if not, when I should get into a house. Okay. How fast can you get there?
Starting point is 00:01:14 What's your math saying? Well, currently I'm making $84,000 a year. I'm looking for a house somewhere in the $250,000 range, given the current housing climate here in Denver. I can save about $1,600 a month right now. I am contributing to retirement as well. That puts me at about 11 this year, 11 to 12 years, to fully have 100% down payment.
Starting point is 00:01:44 How old are you now? I'm 23 years old. Okay. Well, you'd be 34 with a paid-for house at $250,000. Houses are going to go up in value during that time. That's a pretty far stretch. What I might do, what I would be tempted to do if I were in your shoes is do a two-step, meaning why don't we save up and buy a $150,000 condo real quick? You sound like you're single, are you?
Starting point is 00:02:19 Yes, sir. Okay. The way you were using your pronouns, that's what I was guessing. But the, yeah, I mean, I save up and buy you a condo in like three, five years, whatever, and then sell it and add the money to it to move up. At least you'll get the benefit of two things by doing that. One is you'll have no rent because the condo will be paid for. Or a cheap house. I don't care as long as it's safe and is in a market where you can resell it.
Starting point is 00:02:51 I just want you to be able to sell it again to make the next move when you're 34. You might get there quicker if you did that. Now, of course, your set of math assumes you never get a raise too, right? Correct. Yeah, which was not realistic. What do you do for a raise too right correct yeah which was not realistic what do you do for a living uh i'm a petroleum engineer oh yeah you're not going to be making the same 11 years later your income has to be on a curve i mean if you if you do a good job and your career continues to grow so yeah i'm probably going to look at it that way i'm probably going to say
Starting point is 00:03:22 let's let's do a step into something that's not quite as nice a property as you are considering, or maybe a different kind of a property, like, say, a little one-bedroom condo. The trick is buy something that's marketable, though. Real estate, sometimes we think we've got a bargain, only to find out it's something that's very difficult to sell, and that was why we got a bargain in the first place. And so we end up giving up a bargain when we turn around and sell it. So let's don't do that. Reese is in Billings, Montana.
Starting point is 00:03:52 Hi, Reese. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I talked to you about a month ago and asked if I was ready to purchase a house. I'm 21.
Starting point is 00:04:07 I make $60,000 a year. And I found a house, but I also found a fourplex property. And I was wondering, the fourplex is about twice as much as a house would be. But I was wondering if it might be a good idea for me to do something like that and live in one of the units as opposed to just get a house. It can be. There's two downsides to that. One is that your renters are next door, which means that you have access to them.
Starting point is 00:04:41 That's good news. But they've got access to you. That's bad news. So every time a stinking light bulb goes out, you may get a knock on the door, almost like you're a building manager or something. Right. And so that's a little it's not a bad idea to have some physical separation from you as a landlord and tenants. So it can be a bit of you got to really learn to set good emotional and relational boundaries where you don't interfere in their space. They don't interfere in your space because you're going to see and hear everything.
Starting point is 00:05:09 And that's going to be weird. But, you know, it's okay as long as you set yourself up for that and are ready for it. The second problem, in your case, the third problem, there's a third problem. The third problem is you're not used to running tenants, and you get burned if you don't learn how to be very fair but simultaneously very firm. And so I started running tenants. I started running rental properties and having tenants when I was about your age. But, boy, I made a lot of mistakes. I let people get away with murder i let them stay too long
Starting point is 00:05:46 uh i let them tear up stuff i mean and nowadays i'm not mean about it but you're just gonna behave in our property and that includes no cats you know you're gonna leave if you bring pets into our property um or the pet is no you don't like animals no i don't like animals in my house that's what i don't like and so uh it's a ten thousand dollar cat it'll depreciate a property ten thousand bucks um so anyway you got to learn stuff like that and learn how to be nice about it and firm about it and just you know really really really fair really kind really firm. The third downside is this. When you buy, when you sell an investment property that is a fourplex, and it is an investment property by definition,
Starting point is 00:06:33 it is not an owner-occupied property. Typically, your buyer is not going to be someone that's going to occupy even one of the units. And so your buyer is always an investor. Investors are always trying to buy it wholesale. So traditionally, duplexes, triplexes, quads have not gone up as fast as the same price range of single family has. Because the buying market is not a retail buying market. It's a wholesale buying market. And so you may not get, in other words, a $200,000, $500,000 triplex, quadplex,
Starting point is 00:07:10 is not going to go up as much as an equivalent price range home in a better neighborhood or a good neighborhood. And so that's your downsides. Tenants next door, number two, you've got to learn how to handle and be a good landlord and handle tenants and work with renters in a fair way where they have dignity, but where they pay you or they leave. And you got to be able to do that without. By being kind, but firm, extremely firm and extremely kind. And it's a process to get to where your confidence level is there that you can do that.
Starting point is 00:07:49 And then the third thing is the buyer is a wholesale buyer, so they don't appreciate quite as much. So all of that said, it's okay to do it as long as you understand all of that and you think it's what you want to do, you're desperate to be in that business. I have never done that, and I've owned a whole bunch of real estate, but I've never lived in a property that I rented at the same time. It's not to say it's evil, bad. I just didn't like the dynamic.
Starting point is 00:08:13 I wanted that physical separation. It enabled me to be more firm and more fair and more kind and that kind of a thing. So there you go. Good question. Interesting discussion, Jason. Thanks for calling in. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Let me tell you a story about two families that are very much alike in a lot of ways.
Starting point is 00:09:00 Both families have two working parents and a couple of young kids. Each has debt and a struggled to make ends meet. But they're starting to make headway with their budgets and smarter decisions with money. They have dreams and plans, and the only real difference is that one family has the right amount of term life insurance, and the other doesn't. Big difference. If one of the parents die, and that does happen, their well-being would be destroyed. Paying for the mortgage, utilities, food, and other bills would be impossible, let alone saving for education or
Starting point is 00:09:31 retirement. That's why every day I talk relentlessly about getting term life insurance. Just go to zanderinsurance.com or call 800-356-4282 and see how inexpensive it really is. Be the family that takes those deliberate steps to be different and responsible. It really does make you the hero of your story. And it puts you on course for better things ahead. Our question of the day is from Blinds.com. A 100% satisfaction guarantee means even if you mess up, if you mismeasure, you pick the wrong color, they will remake your window blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code Ramsey.
Starting point is 00:10:27 Today's question is from Jaden in California. 21 years old, making $80,000 to $90,000 a year. Being young and dumb, making the money I do, I let my ego get the best of me and ended up buying a $70,000 truck. Today, I owe $60,000 on it. My question to you is, should I try and sell the truck or just try to pay it off as fast as possible? The only problem is, if I sell the truck, it's not worth $60,000. It's worth more like $40,000. The payments on the truck are ridiculous.
Starting point is 00:10:54 $1,100 a month. Good Lord. $320 a month for insurance and about $450 in gas. Yeah, you know what you need to do. You need to sell the truck. And, Jaden, let me tell you what else I know from 30 years of doing this. Your numbers are wrong. The truck is not depreciated as far as you stated, 35,000 to 40,000 current value.
Starting point is 00:11:19 You understated that value because you were trying to figure out a way that it makes it look dumb to sell the truck. And it's really dumb to keep the truck. Almost as dumb as having bought it in the first place. So, yeah, dude. Hey, we've all done stupid. Every one of us has done something stupid. Everyone that doesn't think they did something stupid did something stupid by thinking they had never done something stupid. Because they just didn't admit it.
Starting point is 00:11:52 I've done stupid with zeros on the end. I have a PhD in DUMB. If you're 21 years old and this is the dumbest thing financially you ever do in your whole freaking life, you're going to be a multimillionaire. You'll survive this. But you have to have the courage to play through what you already know to be true. A, it was dumb. B, keeping it is dumb. Buying it was dumb. Keeping it is dumb.
Starting point is 00:12:19 So let's just get out of the dumb column. Sell it. Take your licks. Take your licks. Take your licks. You make good money. You're single. You make ridiculously good money. For 21 years old, making 80, 90 grand?
Starting point is 00:12:34 Jiminy cricket. Wow. Yeah. So you're going to be okay. You'll survive this, and someday you'll tell your grandkids, yeah, back in, back in all 18, I bought me a 70. You'll tell them that story back then in all 18, remember? You know?
Starting point is 00:12:52 Back in the beginning of the century, I did some stupid stuff. I bought me a trailer. You'll tell your grandpa's story. This is to your grandson. Try and keep him from being dumb. And, you know, this will work out. It'll work out. Jason is with us. Jason's in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Hi being dumb. And, you know, this will work out. It'll work out. Jason is with us.
Starting point is 00:13:07 Jason's in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Hi, Jason. How are you? I'm great. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, my wife and I are former opiate addicts.
Starting point is 00:13:18 We've been in recovery now for three years. And, you know, we've made big advances compared to where we were a couple years ago in our life but i'm starting to see a lot further into the future um than i used to and i'm looking for some motivation we've kind of fell into a slump where i think especially my wife sees things is we're not doing as bad as we used to, so where we are today is okay. And so I'm looking for a way to get on the same page, not only financially, but just in our life in general and start really moving forward. Good for you.
Starting point is 00:14:00 Congratulations, man. You fought a tough fight. Yeah, it's been a long road. And, you know, like I said, we've come a long way, but I want so much more for her. I want so much more for my children. And we're scratching and clawing every step of the way, but some days it just feels like life has its way of getting in the way of everything we try to do, you know. Amen.
Starting point is 00:14:22 Amen. That happens to all of us. You have come a long way. I mean, you've come from the brink of death really because that's what the road you were on uh to living life and now you're trying to live life well and that's the next step so how old are you i'm 32 years old i'll be 33 in august My wife's 31. We've got a couple of daughters. How old are they? Say again? How old are they?
Starting point is 00:14:51 11 and 8. Okay. And what's your household income? We're right at about 60. Good. What do you do for a living? I'm a steel erector by trade, and then I also remodel houses part-time, and a little bit of anything else I can do to get extra income in, mowing, brush hogging, kind of depends on the season, you know. Gotcha, okay. Well, I know a couple things about you two from your story already. One is you're fighters, and you've seen the bottom, and so you know what it looks like, and you
Starting point is 00:15:28 don't ever want to go there again. No, sir. And the second thing I know about you is your hard workers. You're not afraid of hard work, and what you are saying is, I want all of this to amount to something breaking even and okay. Yes, sir. And I agree with you. I think you're right. And truthfully, coming out of what you all have come out of, she may be a little bit emotionally tired from fighting the last three years to get to where you are, you know?
Starting point is 00:16:01 Yes, sir. And it's like you run a little bit out of gas. And so what you've got to do is look in, what I have to do, and what anybody has to do when we look into the future, the Bible says where there is no vision, the people perish. You die from a lack of vision. And it doesn't mean physically you die, it can mean that, but what it means is you don't become what you should have become. And that's what you're talking about exactly.
Starting point is 00:16:29 And so you see that there's a possibility of becoming something. And so what I think you guys need to do is to sit down and dream together about what life would be like if, not just if we were clean for three years, but if we were clean for 23 years and we were wealthy. Yes, sir. And in other words, you need a why. You need a dream that you detail out and say, it would be worth kicking butt and taking names to get to this dream. And then Chris Hogan in his book, Retire Inspired, says you need a dream in HD,
Starting point is 00:17:04 high-definition dreams, not vague. Oh, someday I'd like to have some money. That's vague, right? But instead, it's like I want a house that is two stories with white columns on a hill on 14.3 acres. I just made all that up. That is not necessarily yours. I just made that up.
Starting point is 00:17:23 But whatever your dream is, my point is paint the detail out where you both can see the detail and you both that makes you smile that makes your heart rate change that makes you get excited that makes you willing to pay a price that's how you got dry yes sir you saw a vision clearly that life would be good if you could get there. Am I wrong? No, not at all. It's the same thing when you're setting goals for your career, when you're setting goals for your wealth building, when you're setting goals for your marriage and the future.
Starting point is 00:17:58 Whatever it is you're working on, paint it out in high-definition HD in detail. Here's exactly what we're doing. We're getting ready to move into a new building, a new office building for our company. And when we got ready to start work on that, we bought the ground four years ago. We broke ground on the building two years ago, and we're going to move in in July. And it's 223,000 square feet, so it's a massive building with nine bazillion details but i tell you what every single one of those details were on paper before there was a building called a blueprint we didn't go all right let's put a building over there
Starting point is 00:18:38 you know it was a detailed line byline blueprint as thick as a freaking phone book to build something like that. And that's an HD dream. That's a high-definition dream. And then the weird thing is, you know, that building came up, and it looks just like that blueprint. Isn't that weird? No, not at all. That's what happens to your life, man. That's what happens to your life.
Starting point is 00:19:04 It's HD dreaming. And hold on. I want to be part of your recovery. I'm so proud of at all. That's what happens to your life, man. That's what happens to your life. It's HD dreaming. And hold on. I want to be part of your recovery. I'm so proud of you all. You're raising some kids. You stayed married. You didn't kill yourself. You got dry.
Starting point is 00:19:15 Man, I want to be part of your story. You're awesome. Hold on. I want you two to go through Financial Peace University as my guest, and I will speak a little vision over your life. Hold on. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. He is my guest, and I will speak a little vision over your life. Hold on. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. One Dental is a company I've been telling my listeners about because I know these guys will save you money at the dentist.
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Starting point is 00:20:26 This is a great cost-saving alternative to expensive dental services and a great alternative to costly dental insurance. It really is that simple. And unless you want to blow your emergency fund, everyone needs to go to the dentist. Folks, this is a no-brainer. Join today at OneDental.com. That's OneDental.com. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Brandi is with us. Hi, Brandi.
Starting point is 00:21:10 How are you? Hi, Mr. Ramsey. I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. Where do you live? I'm from Spokane, Washington. Oh, very cool.
Starting point is 00:21:18 Yeah. All the way across America to Nashville. Welcome. And here to do a debt-free scream. Yes, sir. How much have you paid off? I paid off $28,000-free scream. Yes, sir. How much have you paid off? I paid off $28,000 in 12 months. Good for you. And your range of income during that time?
Starting point is 00:21:38 I started at $54,000 and I ended at $58,000. Good for you. Very cool. What kind of debt was the $28,000? It was all Sally Mae. Got rid of Sally Mae. Yep. Student loans. So you graduated from school with a degree in what? I got two degrees in business administration and accounting. Very good. And how long ago did you graduate? I graduated in spring of 2016. Okay. And so you were out for a couple of years and then you decided to attack this.
Starting point is 00:22:04 Yeah. I got out of college and I thought I would pay it off in a year. And after a year, I had only paid off $2,000. So obviously, I didn't know what I was doing. And so I started listening to your podcast. Oh, okay. Yeah. And then it was game on.
Starting point is 00:22:19 Yep. I was bored at work, and so I started listening to you. And I got super inspired by the debt-free screams. So I just decided to kill it. And my thing was it would never be easier to pay off debt than when you're 24 years old and don't have many expenses. That's very wise. That is very wise. I mean, yeah, if you had a family and kids and you were 35 or 40 or something, you'd have a mortgage and all this other stuff. Exactly, yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:48 Yeah, this is the best time. I had never thought about that. That's very wise. It's as easy as it'll ever be, so. Yeah, so you just leaned in and basically had no life for a year. Yeah, I have no life. Kelly was saying to send pictures of your debt-free journey and i don't really have any it's not a journey i was sitting at home i didn't do anything yeah
Starting point is 00:23:09 that's fabulous yeah good for you so uh 24 you're you're 25 now yeah just about yep okay wow good for you and what do you do for a living i'm an auditor for a cpa firm okay very good yeah very good how's it feel feels amazing i mean it feels natural like i wasn't meant to be in debt you know what i mean being in debt was not it didn't feel right and now i'm back to just normal back to myself exactly yeah yeah When you grew up, were your parents conservative with money or good with money? Yeah, they're pretty good. They're both natural spenders, as am I. And so I knew because out of college, I got a credit card for work.
Starting point is 00:23:57 And even though it was paid off for work every month, it's still like I could tell that was a slippery slope for me. And I just knew it wasn't a good idea. So I closed it as part of my debt-free journey. And yeah, so. You know, one of your greatest strengths is how self-aware you are. Like four or five times in this conversation already, you identified this is not how it's supposed to be. And that was a slippery slope.
Starting point is 00:24:23 And this is the best time of my life to do this. And yeah, you got to, that's impressive. Very impressive. Good for you. Yeah, I mean, I, when I started listening to you, I also listened to Ken Coleman a lot, his podcast and the Entree Leadership podcast. And so to me, my debt-free journey
Starting point is 00:24:41 was also a lot of personal growth and realizing how immature i was handling money and the podcasts i mean really helped and i've been reading books that you guys recommend and all that so so who were your biggest cheerleaders my parents my family okay they saw you doing this you talked to them about it i did told them everything you're doing i did i have no life i'm getting out of debt yeah i did so that i have a life exactly yeah very good so 24 year old 25 year old out there out of school single lady listening wondering if she can do it yeah uh what would you tell her she needs to do i would say make peace
Starting point is 00:25:18 with being weird to other people um you just need to get over it that was hard for me that people thought i was being unwise with my money to pay off debt that I wasn't getting airline miles they thought it was the end of the world just decide that you're okay with being weird to people and you're okay with not going out to lunch every single day
Starting point is 00:25:37 and having a different life that's good that's really good yeah I mean and I think one more thing is to be brave enough to put yourself in a community that will help encourage you and keep you accountable so for me that was my church oh good yeah okay yeah so your church came around you insured for you as well yeah they did yeah okay so good very good good for you so you did this completely off the podcast i did yeah i am a big podcast person.
Starting point is 00:26:06 I love it. Yeah. Well, we're glad. We're glad you're in the audience. Thank you. And we're honored to have you as a new friend. Very well done. Very, very well done.
Starting point is 00:26:14 Thank you. All right. Brandy from Spokane, Washington. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's Everyday Millionaire's book for you, because you are going to be one, probably, before you're 35 at this rate. You're going to be there so fast, it's going to be one probably before you're 35 at this rate you're gonna be there so fast it's gonna be unbelievable wow amazing 28 000 paid off in 12 months making 54 to 58 count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two. I'm debt free! Yeah! Woo-hoo!
Starting point is 00:26:49 Love it, love it, love it. Well done. Very, very well done. Man, that's fabulous. Open phones this hour at 888-825-5225. One of those phrases that wise young lady said is ringing in my head. Open phones this hour at 888-825-5225. One of those phrases that wise young lady said is ringing in my head. You have to make peace with other people thinking you're weird.
Starting point is 00:27:22 Now, I tell you to do this a lot of different ways. You know, I say stuff like, if your broke friends are making fun of your financial plan, you're probably right on track. You know? And you can't care what other people think if you're going to get ahead. None of those people are going to pay for your bills in retirement. None of those people are going to send your kid to college. And they've all got an opinion about your plan. Isn't it interesting how people can't mind their own business with their negativity anymore?
Starting point is 00:28:01 And I had the unusual benefit, and it has lasted, of going broke when I was her age. I was 26 when I started going broke, and by the time I was 28, I was bankrupt. And having started from nothing, I had $4 million worth of real estate. Twenty-six years old, I made $250,000. Twenty-seven years old, I made $6,000. Spent the year losing everything we owned. Two and a half years there. And the benefit of that of course is that everything you thought you knew is challenged and only the truth when the fire is that hot only truth doesn't
Starting point is 00:28:34 burn all the mythology burns up and one of the myth one of the things that burned up was my and i was really bad, y'all. It's hard to believe listening to me now because I'm so caustic and sarcastic and everything else. But I had this unbelievable need for you. I needed you to think I was okay. I needed you to think I was successful. And it was you at a stoplight who I never met, the car I was driving. You needed to think I was successful.
Starting point is 00:29:11 Going through the drive-thru at the hamburger place, you needed to think I was successful. The clothes I wear walking through the mall, you needed to think I was successful. I had a fake Rolex. That's how fake I was successful. I had a fake Rolex. That's how fake I was. By the way, you can tell the fake ones because they don't have a sweep hand. They have a quartz movement hand. If you ever look down and see a quartz movement in a Rolex, you know it's a fake. I was that fake. And going broke burned all of that.
Starting point is 00:29:47 Melted it to nothing. To the point that my need to impress other people was completely gone. Too much so, actually. I actually should actually care a little bit what you think. But I just don't. I just don't. I just do almost, I don't take a poll on anything. I don't care what you think, because most of the time you're wrong. Isn't that bad? I've gone the other way too far. But that's a benefit if you want to build wealth,
Starting point is 00:30:21 because all these broke people have stupid butt opinions about money and they will share their opinion. This is the Dave, Hebrews 11.1. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Chuck Swindoll said, We can't solve modern problems by going back in time. we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Chuck Swindoll said, we can't solve modern problems by going back in time. Retreating to the safety of the familiar is an understandable response, but God has called us to a life of faith, and faith requires us to face the unknown while trusting him completely.
Starting point is 00:31:24 Good word. Good word. Good word. Hey, teachers, we want to say thank you. Because of you, we have been able to impact the lives of over 4 million students with our high school curriculum foundations and personal finance. To say thanks, we're honoring you with our teacher appreciation giveaway sponsored by Jackson Charitable Foundation. If you are a classroom teacher, go to DaveRamsey.com slash teacher
Starting point is 00:31:51 to enter for a chance to win one of two $5,000 vacation getaways. Yeah, baby. We love teachers here, I'll just tell you. Jose is with us in Los Angeles. Hi, Jose. How are you? Hi, Dave. How are you?
Starting point is 00:32:10 Better than I deserve. What's up? So I started getting to you about a month ago. I got really impacted by you. We have already paid off $37,000 in debt. In a month? Yeah. Wow.
Starting point is 00:32:32 Yeah, it was money that we had sitting in our savings. Okay. So we just started paying everything, all the credit cards. So we're currently in baby step number two. My wife and I have about $120,000 in student loan debt. We have $4,000 in a finance card and a mortgage of $442,000. My question is, I have a lease that's coming up in 11 months, so I'm just going to run with it. It's not worth going through the hassle and my losing money at the end. I plan on buying a beater, a North car for myself, $3,000.
Starting point is 00:33:10 Okay. And I don't know if I should save money for that car or if I happen to have extra money that's coming in from something that the IRS charged me twice for, so they owe me about $3,000, so I know that's coming in. Should I just put that money aside, or if I find the card, should I purchase it now, or just wait until that time comes? I'd set the money aside and purchase it closer to the time because you don't want to um have it sitting in
Starting point is 00:33:46 the driveway with tags and uh insurance and everything taxes and everything until you need it so you're you're approximately a year away and so you know i might let it sit there a month or two but i don't want to have it sit there a year that's going to feel weird i think you'd have been better off to let just let the money sit. And you can earmark the money and just set it off to the side. There's $3,000 sitting over here. That one's done. Check that box.
Starting point is 00:34:12 It's a little miniature savings account, an envelope. I don't care. Whatever you're going to do. But keep it separate from everything. Don't leave it in an account with something else. Like don't have it in the same account with your $1,000 emergency fund. Because I don't want you to get confused about what money is what. It's really good to have very clear lines around every dollar.
Starting point is 00:34:34 Kind of like when you're doing your budget. Every dollar has a mission, has an assignment. Every dollar has a name. And that's what we're doing. We're giving this savings account a name. This is the car fund. It's not the, oh, I'm tired, and I want to go on vacation fund. No, this is the car fund.
Starting point is 00:34:51 We're screwed in 11 months if we don't have a car. And so you've got to really be very hardcore and diligent about that. So, man, you're making great progress. Way to good start, Jose. Great job. Megan is in Los Angeles. Hi, Megan. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm good. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What a good start, Jose. Great job. Megan is in Los Angeles. Hi, Megan. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm good. Thank you so much for taking my call.
Starting point is 00:35:08 Sure. What's up? I have a 401k that is pre-taxed for a previous employer, and I don't know if I should keep it as pre-tax or roll it into a Roth. I'm currently in baby step two and have about $40,000 left in debt. I'll keep it in pre-tax. Okay. If you roll it, it's a previous employer, I would go ahead and roll it to a traditional IRA, which is pre-tax, but you don't need a tax bill on top of trying to get out of
Starting point is 00:35:33 debt right now. Correct. Well, the question on that is, until I just started your program, and I started the class at the end of January, so really February, and I've heard that you talk about basically you shouldn't get tax refund. I got about $2,500 back. Yeah, throw that at your debt. That's baby step two. Okay.
Starting point is 00:35:52 And adjust your W-2 so it doesn't happen next year. Okay. Okay, and then just roll this. How much is in that old 401K? It's not very much. It's around $12,000. Yeah, okay. Go ahead and get with the SmartVestor Pro.
Starting point is 00:36:03 Roll that to a traditional. Now, let's fast forward in your plan, okay? Mm-hmm. You're out of debt now. This is our new plan in the future. You have your emergency fund in place. You're putting 15% away, maybe step four into your retirement. You've started kids' college, and you get a $3,000 bonus.
Starting point is 00:36:22 Mm-hmm. Well, that's about what the taxes will be if you want to go ahead and roll that thing out to a Roth at that point. Now you've got the money to pay the taxes. Okay. Today, you don't need a $3,000 tax bill. You need to use that $2,500 to get out of debt. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, I completely agree.
Starting point is 00:36:39 Yeah, so you're right on track. You're doing good. Good start. Good, solid start. You're asking the right kind of questions you're thinking again and you're now applying thought to the handling of your money bright future for you cory is with us cory is in oregon hi cory how are you hi um thank you for taking my call i just have a quick question um last year my husband and i we bought a house that we knew
Starting point is 00:37:03 we'd be too small for, but we were able to pay for it in cash, and we were going to use it as a rental to get another house. But my husband wants to save all of our money to get that new house and doesn't want to put things towards things like life insurance or 401k right now. And so I't know i mean is that a good idea or how do i get my husband on board with getting life insurance well wealthy people play defense with money as well as offense and all he's doing is playing offense defense defense is things like life insurance it's things like um making the proper kinds of insurance are in place you know what the number one cause of bankruptcy is it's not credit cards
Starting point is 00:37:52 it's medical bills medical bills for people who don't have health insurance and it's not that they couldn't get health insurance they just didn't get health insurance and so um listen life insurance i heard a baby in the background. Life insurance is just a necessity for y'all. Yeah, I have three babies. Yeah. Fourth on the way. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:14 Listen, you just grab him by the ears when he gets home and tell him you're either going to kiss him or you're going to headbutt him. He gets to decide. Because you're not going to leave you dead with three babies. That's just irresponsible. Okay. Okay? It really is. I mean, I think he wants to give us a larger home.
Starting point is 00:38:30 It's not that expensive. It's not that expensive. It's the cost of a freaking pizza. How old is he? He is 27. Is he obese? No. Does he smoke?
Starting point is 00:38:43 Does he smoke? No. It's not going to cost anything. Go on ZanderInsurance.com and get a quote on term life insurance for a 27-year-old male. The cost of a pizza will take care of you. This is not going to keep him from buying a house or you from buying a house. No, no. He's just trying to get us out of the house sooner because we've already lived here a year.
Starting point is 00:39:04 Not $27. Yeah. $ 27 dollars isn't gonna do that and he's leaving you and these babies vulnerable it's just wrong don't do it it's you gotta play defense and you don't have you have car insurance yes okay why don't you get rid of that if we're going to use his formula well because it's against the law, I guess. Yeah, it ought to be against the law for you to be there with three babies and no life insurance, but it's not. It's against my law. Listen, let me tell you what. I had a lady walk in here 12 years ago, and her husband, he had a sock hat on.
Starting point is 00:39:40 He was 32 years old. He pulled his sock hat off, and there's a scar across the top of his head he'd had cancer removed from his brain steve and i became friends and he died 18 months later that lady and her 12 year old son just walked back in the lobby in here today 12 years later he had life insurance because he listened to this show and that 12 year old little boys had a completely different life because his daddy was a man. Grab your husband by the ears. Tell him you're either going to headbutt him or kiss him, depending on his decision.
Starting point is 00:40:13 This is not okay. Go to Zander Insurance and get that insurance now. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. 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
Starting point is 00:40:40 DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.

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