The Ramsey Show - App - Millennials Are On Fire and On Track to Be Millionaires (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 18, 2018

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, 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. Thanks for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Merry Christmas to you. We're glad you're here. Brian starts off this hour in Atlanta.

Hey, Brian, how are you? Good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up? I have a rental property that I want to sell to one of my daughters, and I want to sell it below fair market value. Is there a right and a wrong way to do that? And she's going to buy it, get her own mortgage or whatever?

Yes. Okay, that's good. And what is the value of the property, and what are you going to sell it for? Let's say roughly it's worth $180, and I'm going to sell it for $160. Okay. I don't think there's anything you need to do at all. I think that would survive an audit. You just are cutting the price a little, and you're just giving a bargain. You might do that to another buyer, you know, that kind of a thing. If you were going to sell $180 for $100, whoa, you know, now we got a thing where the IRS might say, I think you just gave her a gift.

Right. You know, and that would be deep enough that I don't think that would survive an audit. You can double-check my advice with your tax advisor if you want to. Were I in your shoes, I would just do that transaction and not worry about it. Okay. Is there anything special she needs to do? She wants to put down just enough to where she doesn't have PMI insurance. But is there anything, someone that she talked to on the mortgage side of it,

was talking about gift equity or something like that. Does that make sense? Yeah, I mean, you could give her a gift letter, but then you're going to have to file that if you do that. In other words, if you say, okay, the transaction is $180, and that's the value, and we're going to do the transaction at that, but I'm going to give you 20. Are you married? Yes. Okay then you can give her 15 your wife could give her five

okay and you can do that now you've got to file a gift tax return and there's nothing wrong with that it won't cost you any taxes but you need to file a gift tax return for having gifted her that $20,000 worth of equity, and then she puts with that a down payment, and then that gets her down below the 20% down payment or the 80% loan to value, which avoids PMI if you're doing a Fannie Mae mortgage, which is the only kind she should do. Yeah, that might be a good idea.

You know, it just causes you an extra step, though, as far as if you're trying to do that. Now, how much money does she have to put down? Period. Oh, I don't know exactly. I mean, are you talking about cash? Yeah, you just said she wants to put down the least possible, and I would have her put down the most possible because I want her to get the mortgage paid off. Yeah, they just sold the house, and I think they walked away with about $25,000 or $30,000

and are wanting to do some upgrades on the new property. Okay, well, that makes sense then. Okay, yeah, but the idea being that you know she's going to put down that as little as possible counting the 20 000 here because basically you see 20 of 180 would be 36 000 down but you're giving her 20 so she'd have to put down another 16 to be at a 20 down payment and then that would PMI, and then that would leave her a few dollars, you know, $5,000 or $10,000 to do a few upgrades. That's not out of line.

That makes sense. But be prepared. You know, you need to see your tax person and be prepared to file a gift tax return where you gifted $5,000 and your wife gifted $15,000 or vice versa of this equity in the house because an individual can give another individual in the year 2019 up to $15,000 without paying any gift tax. Okay. But you need to file the gift tax return to make that transfer and keep yourself out of a problem and keep her out of a problem later. It won't come up with either one of you unless you're audited, and you could just do a gift letter for the mortgage company, but then it could come back on you if you don't file the gift tax return,

so you should do that. Angie's with us in Lubbock, Texas. Hi, Angie. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Mr. Ramsey. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up?

Well, I have a quick question. My boyfriend just introduced me to your Baby Steps, and so I'm on baby step number two. I have $18,000 saved up. I was 13 on a car, and then I also have $81,000 in student loan debt, which I just found out about. So I just need to know how to handle that. How did you run up student loan debt and didn't know about it? Well, I got my bachelor's paid for, and then my parents said that they were going to pay for my master's. And then I went ahead and got my doctorate because I work in Texas, and so we got $17,000 back for that. And so, unfortunately, I guess my mom was borrowing money off my name, and I didn't know that.

And so now I have $81,000 that I need to pay off, and I had to start that in March. Did you sign the paperwork? Well, she had my name and everything on the computer, and so that's how she did it. Well, that's called identity theft. That's criminal fraud. Yes. You're not liable for that. Yeah, but I shouldn't have been blind and so this is i have

81 000 i need to figure out okay let's stop stop just a second okay okay your mother stole your identity and borrowed money without your permission well i gave her my information because i thought she was like checking my grades and. So I was just kind of blind to the situation. You're misunderstanding me, Angie. I'm not asking a question. I'm making a statement. Your mother stole your identity and borrowed money without your permission. Yes.

That is a criminal act. Yes. You're not liable when someone steals your identity for the debt. Yes. Your mother is liable for that debt. Okay. You really, this is, so what is, I mean, so this must have destroyed your relationship with your mother. Yes, because every time I try to talk to her about it, she just cries.

So, but yes. So what is your parents' financial situation? Not good. Like, not good. They still take care of my sister. I have a twin sister, and they take care of her still and pay all her bills because she can't afford it. Yeah, so what is your Ph.D. in?

It's in educational leadership because my plan is to be a professor at a university. And so right now I'm just a high school teacher and coach making 63. So I think I can really get this $81,000 paid off quickly if I just work hard on it. Okay, and you said you had $18,000 in savings? Yes, and then I owe 13 to my car. Pay your car off today. Pay it off today, okay. And don't have anything coming out of your check.

No retirement coming out of your check. And then let's lean into this 81 and pay it off as soon as you can. I'm so sorry you've been a victim of this from your own mother. But if we leave this on her, she'll end up going to jail. So it sounds like you're paying it. Wow.

Unbelievable. So, yeah, and, you know, get the professorship as fast as possible because that'll at least double your income. And that'll help you plow through this as well. I'm sorry. It's time to take another look at your budget. That means scouring every expense and making sure you're not leaving any money on the table. One of the biggest expenses is your mortgage payment. I recommend a quick Churchill checkup.

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Hi, Bridget. How are you? Good. How are you? Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Okay.

So my husband and I are moving to Michigan, and we just got an underwriting from Quicken Loans for a new mortgage. And we're just wondering what to do because I have zero credit. And so we're thinking about just doing my husband, which has some credit because of a credit card through work. And otherwise, he doesn't have any debt or anything like that. So and we're married. um we're just wondering do i just the mortgage just go in his name to get the best interest rate and then just me on the deed or how can we go about doing this it may end up that way but you're not going to get the a quality process and service from uh someone like a quicken because you'reicken because you're dealing with a monolith here who has only one system and one process, and you have to go down their path only, and that might not be the best path for you.

That's why we recommend someone that's more of a traditional mortgage company that actually has mortgage underwriters that will actually work with you and help you figure those kinds of things out in your situation. I'm going to guess and say you may be better off to show both of your incomes and you with no credit. But, you know, what I would do is get in touch with Churchill Mortgage, churchillmortgage.com. They have offices in Michigan, and they'll be able to help you with this and walk you through and give you a proper level of service and a customized answer to your situation that's not one-size-fits-all,

and it just runs down because there's a lot of different ways to run a mortgage, a lot of different ways. And it's important that you have someone that knows all the different mortgage or the array of mortgage products, then compares them to your situation and plugs you into the proper thing. And that's why just getting your mortgage on the Internet is not – it's too big and too complicated a transaction to buy that way. So there's some things you can buy that way.

You know, you can click Amazon Prime and buy some things, but mortgages probably aren't one of them I want to do that with. Hey, thanks for the call. Logan's with us in Columbus, Ohio. Merry Christmas, Logan. How are you? Thank you. I'm doing great. How about yourself?

Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, Dave, I feel like I'm doing great. How about yourself? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, Dave, I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. So I commute an hour to work, and I'm in dire need of a new car. And right now, I think with no savings, my only options are to either get out a small car loan or my brother gratefully offered me to offer to loan me $1,500 to get a small beat up car. Okay. Why are you commuting an hour to work? So I met my girlfriend at Ohio university and she ended up getting a job at, um, OSU Wexner as a nurse. And I got this job at, well, it's actually a fellowship,

and it's in Trimble, Ohio. So we decided to split the difference in the drive, and I wanted to move a little bit towards the school because she works night shifts, so I'd rather myself drive in the morning than her drive after a long shift at night and drive in the dark and risk something bad happening. So she's driving almost an hour, too. Yeah, she's driving. Her drive takes about 45 minutes. And how long will this insanity go on?

To the end of the year, so the end of the school year. I'm working at a high school. I see. Okay. And then you will change careers or change jobs? I'll continue to be a high school teacher, but I would definitely change locations. Yeah. Okay.

All right. And what's the car that you've got now? It's a 2007 Ford Taurus. It has about 215,000 miles on it, and the problems seem to build up quicker than the miles. Okay. Yeah, you probably run the wheels off that almost. And what do you make a year? Right now, I'm in a fellowship agreement, so I work 30 hours at the high school in exchange for $1,400 a month stipend and then free master's tuition. That will be finished in the summer. So you hardly make enough to pay your gas bill.

Yes. I have the budget plan that you put out, well, the budget template that you have, and I save about $120 a month. Okay. template that you have and i save about 120 a month okay and um this is a five day a week gig right five days a week yeah okay um well let's start with the premise uh it's not a premise let's start with the the boundary or the guideline that says we don't borrow money for anything ever, particularly a stupid butt car. So now, how do we fix this problem in your situation? That leaves you with only two options. One is continue to fix this thing and limp with it through May, five more months, when your life changes dramatically.

And you just, you know, you just, the thing you just keep duct tape and baling wire and hold the thing together. Or the only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is that you take a weekend job and let that money save up and buy you a $1,000, $1,500 car, which will be an upgrade from where you are. But in no case am I going to have you in debt to your brother or anyone else for a car. Right. But you've emotionally put yourself in a situation here that's untenable.

You've made a series of decisions that have painted you into the corner, and you emotionally have already bought a car and gone into debt, which is going to be a huge mistake. But you're probably going to do it. But it's going to be a huge mistake. Because you've set this thing up, you've set up an untenable situation. I'm driving a 250,000-mile car, so what I'm going to do is move in with a girl an hour from where I work.

And then my car is breaking down all the time you know so you put your you know you've made a series of decisions that have that have seemingly boxed you in the corner and um and painted yourself in the corner and you know when you paint yourself in the corner you get pain on your feet so um this is going to be you know you're going to have an unpleasant five months i just don't know what level of unpleasant you're going to have you're going to drive an unpleasant car or you're going to work like a crazy person all day saturday all day sunday somewhere and try to make a thousand bucks as fast as you can and put it with this car and move up in car a little bit which is probably what i would do if i were in your shoes i I guess. It's hard for me to know because I would not have made the decision to be sitting where you're sitting.

Yeah, I would not. I know I wouldn't have because I'm not going to commute an hour for anything. So, yeah, there's so many different things that are wrong with your situation that i i i don't i'm just stumbling i'm sorry i wish i could help i wish i could be more help but i don't think i can fix all that's going on here um but yeah in no cases dave ramsay going to tell you to borrow money for a car so that leaves you two options drive that piece of crap and keep it taped together, or three options as far as I'm concerned, or take some kind of weekend gig where you just work like a crazy person. The third option you're definitely not going to do, and that is move closer to your fellowship.

And then when you are ready to marry this girl, marry her and move in with her at that point and go live up there next to where you are and quit spending so dad got much on gas and move right next to the high school for five months and finish your fellowship, which is probably the one thing that makes the most common sense. That's what I mean by I wouldn't have made the decisions that you've made to get you to this point. So that's probably actually your best option. You'll never do it, but that's probably your best option. Hey, thanks for the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. This is your show. It's all about you and your life and your

choices. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I just love it when the companies we work with make it a point to give money away, especially during the holiday season. Once again this year, Zander Insurance will donate 25% of all sales from their ID theft protection plan in December to Operation Homefront. Operation Homefront is a very special organization that provides emergency financial assistance and housing to our wounded veterans and their families. To date, Zander has raised and donated over $300,000 with your help. That's amazing.

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How are you? Good. Merry Christmas, Dave. I see on my screen you're debt-free. Way to go. How much did you pay off? We paid off $27,903 in 10 months. Good for you.

And your range of income during that time? It was about $110,000 to $120,000. Way to go. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a software engineer. And I work at a small museum doing all sorts of things. Very fun. And what kind of debt was the $28,000?

It was all my student loans. Oh, just like that. So how long have you two been married? 11 months. Okay, I kind of see what started this then. For a year, but yeah. So you got married and decided one of the first orders of business is clean up the student loans. That's right. We got back from our honeymoon, and we started Financial Peace University about a week later. Okay, cool. How did you know to do that?

Did somebody give that to you as a gift or what? We bought it for ourselves, but our parents, both of our sets of parents, were kind of listening to the show growing up. So we're Dave Ramsey babies, I guess. We'll call them financial peace babies. That's safer for me. Financial peace babies. So well done, guys.

Well done. So second generation smart here. I like it. Yeah. That's good stuff. That's changing your family tree, Mom and Dad. Good job. So the first thing is we get married.

We go through Financial Peace University. We pay off $28,000 in 10 months. How old are you two? I'm 24. I'm 23. Wow. Look at you guys. Rockstar millennials.

I love it. Very cool. Very cool. So what do you tell people now? You've done it. You're all pros now. What do you tell people? The key to getting out of debt is what?

I think for us it was just making a plan and sticking to it. We used every dollar. We budgeted every month. And there was a giant chunk off the top of that budget going to the debt. And we didn't change that. Yeah. It was funny. We had graduated just a couple months prior to starting Financial Peace.

And so when you're on a college budget, your budget is very small anyway. So we kind of kept our small budget even though our income went way up because we got jobs after graduation. So it just, everything extra went towards the debt. Yeah, just keep living like a college student. Yep, exactly. Okay, all right. Very good, very smart so is it and do you think it's an advantage to uh enter into this never having done anything else or is it a disadvantage

i would say it's an advantage i don't know it seemed like that was just like we got married and we were like well why don't we do financial? And both of us knew that like we wanted to get rid of the debt first thing, but we just wanted to follow the program. And so I don't know, it even, it was just a forethought in our minds. Like it was an eventual thing, like, oh, it's going to happen. We'll pay it off. And we just did. I think one reason it was a big advantage is it never really felt like cutting back because there wasn't really anything else to cut back from. It was just the way it was.

Yeah, it's quite the opposite of what the media says, and you've heard this too, about millennials, that they're hopeless and there's no chance you can make it. And you guys were like, it was a foregone conclusion. You're going to pay this off. Yeah, exactly. We're done with the dad, and I've got seven more baby steps to turn through now so very good yeah you're on your way for sure no question about that and obviously you had two cheerleaders in both sets

of parents right yeah definitely they were definitely a big one yeah that's neat that is so neat well i'm so proud of y'all i I know they are. Well done. You are on your way without a doubt. Very well done. So we've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired. We're also going to send you the brand new book at the first of the year, Everyday Millionaires, because you're going to be one. We hope so. Let's hope so.

You're going to be. You make $120,000 a year, you don't have any payments, and you already know how to handle money at 23 years old. I predict you'll be millionaires by 35. Wow. That's my prediction. I think we can do it. I think you can do it.

And you call me back on Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour, and you can remind me I said that, okay? Yes. We will. I love it. Very cool. Well, congratulations, you guys. Ben and Ariana, Portland, Oregon, $28,000 paid off 10 months into their 11-month marriage.

They did it already. 110. What a great start, making 120. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah!

Man, I talk to these millennials every day that are on fire. I talk to them every day that are hopeful. They're not destroyed. They're not hopeless about this nation. They're not hopeless about the future. Oh, there is some that are. But this, I mean, your generation, you millennials, you have been painted with a really ugly brush. Not only does it make you look like participation trophy living in your mother's basement, wusses,

but it also says you're absolutely hopeless and you believe in socialism. And you don't. You don't. I meet you every day, and you're doing stuff like ben and ariana i meet 25 27 28 year olds 30 year olds every day that are doing their debt-free screams here on the air every day they're everywhere it's not like i found the one or two you know we captured a unicorn or something there is there is something going on with this millennial generation that's different than people with a political agenda want you to believe. There is something else going on here.

This generation may end up being the most fiscally conservative generation we've seen out of the last four. They may get their crap together better than any boomer or Xer or Yer ever did. It may usher in the greatest time of prosperity in this country's history. It very well could. I mean, think about what those kids or young adults are going to do. You want to run some math on somebody who makes $120,000 a year and doesn't have any payments and already knows how to handle money at 23 years old? If they never get a raise and they just fund their 401ks at 15%, they will have about $8 million at 65.

If they never get a raise and they just fund their 401k. They will have about $8 million at age 65. And that means they are total screw-ups. Because, I mean, who goes 40 years and never gets a raise? A total screw-up. Right? I mean, what kind of a loser never gets a raise for 40 years? You see what I'm saying? That's just the numbers are astronomical when you're a financial peace baby,

what you are set up to do. But you know what's more important than the math? Did you hear that hope? It was like a, they never, it never crossed their mind that they were going to keep this debt around. It never crossed their mind that this were going to keep this debt around it never crossed their mind that this debt was going to be overwhelming and crippling and they weren't going to be able to survive and the government has cheated us and the society told us that our education was worth it and

we're all been ripped off by the system the man has gotten us and all his bunch of millennial whining hogwash but they're not whining i don't know where i mean there's a few of them whining but i think they're doing it for the pr purposes because there's some kind of a political agenda but i gotta tell you man eight out of ten of my mate are not those now maybe i just don't run around where whining millennials are but i'm not running into them. This victim mentality thing. I'm not seeing this hopelessness. I'm seeing the people that go, you know, now they don't believe the government's going to do it for them.

But that would be just a factual thing. That's not hopelessness. That's just like going, well, I get it. I mean, Donald Trump is not going to pay off my debt. I figured that out back about Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan is not going to pay off my debt. I figured it out back then, you know. So you just get to figure it out with your president, whichever one it is, right?

They're not going to fix your freaking life. By the way, it's not their job. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. our scripture of the day Romans 5 3 through. But we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. Booker T. Washington said, I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.

Very true. Very true. Well, Christmas is right around the corner. Merry Christmas to you. It's going to be here really fast. And nothing will kill your Christmas spirit quicker than fighting a packed mall or a packed parking lot. Our offices, this is the last year we'll be in these offices because we're building a new building, and we're across the street from a major mall, which means that every afternoon when we get ready to leave, you can't leave. You can't even get out of the driveway.

It's unbelievable. If you don't want to fight all that, just go digital. Got great last-minute digital deals in our online store at DaveRamsey.com. Big-time stuff. Yeah, you can download all the audio books, which if you're taking a little Christmas trip, the audio book is a really cool thing. You can just play it in the car. Like get the Total Money Makeover audio book or the Smart Money Smart Kids audio book. Just $10.

And you can get one of our e-books for as low as $7 right now. 30 top-selling digital gifts on sale right now through Christmas. So finish up that Christmas list at DaveRamsey.com or call 888-22-PEACE. And if you want to get any of the live event tickets for Colorado Springs, Irvine, California, Raleigh, North Carolina, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Cincinnati, Ohio, Atlanta, Georgia, San Diego, Minneapolis, Sacramento, Dallas, Texas, Nashville, Kansas City, Des Moines, Iowa, Dallas, Texas. We're going to be in all of those cities with one of our different events this spring.

And you can get tickets to any of them 25% off between now and Christmas. Again, it's a digital download. Very easy to do. You don't have to fight the mall traffic, but 25% off a live event ticket, which live event tickets are really good stocking stuffers. So check out who's going to be where doing what and see if that pairs up with you or one of your fam members. And you can go with it. Use word JOLLY in your checkout.

JOLLY, that's your promo code, to get the 25% off live events between now and Christmas Day. And I've got to tell you, there's just a handful of tickets left for the Smart Conference January the 12th in Dallas, Texas. So I suspect this little sale will finish that puppy off. If you want tickets to that, I suggest you get them quickly. Danielle's in Los Angeles. Hey, Danielle, how are you?

Hi, Dave. Thanks so much for taking my call. I'm good. Thank you. Good. I'm going to be in Irvine. I was just talking about that right there. I heard that. You want to come? Oh, I would love to Thank you. Good. I'm going to be in Irvine. I was just talking about that right there.

I heard that. You want to come? Oh, I would love to. That would be amazing. Go. I'll be there January the 22nd. I'll give you a couple tickets, okay? Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much. Chris Hogan and I are doing the Smart Money event there, and it's during his Everyday Millionaires book tour, so we'll be over there. Anyway, how can I help today? That's amazing. Well, speaking of the Everyday Millionaires, my husband and I will be debt-free this Friday.

Yay! Yes. We are very happy, and it actually came a little unexpectedly with some commission coming in early for us, which was a great Christmas blessing for us. Amen. Yeah, so in addition to that, we're also going to be able to fund our emergency fund at about $15,000 at the same time. So my question is, my husband, obviously, a little over 50% of his income is based on commission. And we do have some months where it's zero and some months where the commission could be $5,000 or, you know, kind of all over the place.

So my question is, should we have an additional fund for the months where we don't quite meet our needs in addition to our three to six month emergency fund? Okay, so how would that work? And you just have a little separate checking account. Sharon, I always wanted to come up with a good name for it and I never found a good name. I always called it the hill and valley account. Like when you're on the hill, you save up some.

Right. So when there's a valley. Okay. And you're on the hill right now, and you're wanting to get ready for a valley. That's all. That's what we called it, but it's not really an emergency because it's predictable. Right. And emergencies are the unpredictable.

It's the thing you don't see coming. But we know that you're going to have a valley. And so while we're on the hill, we're not naive and spending it all we're going to get ready for winter during the summer harvest okay okay so is there like an a specific amount in relation to his income that you would say would be a decent number like a percentage? Well, you said he comes up with zero sometimes. On a zero month, on a zero commission month, how far short are you? About $1,800. Okay, then the account ought to be $2,000.

Okay. And it really shouldn't be any more than that, because as soon as you drain the account down, the next month you'll put some back. Right. So just keep putting it back until you get it back up to $2,000. But you don't need $20,000 in there to cover a $2,000 shortfall. Okay.

That's perfect. Does that make sense to you? It does. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Yeah, you have that, and you're debt-free, and you have your emergency fund in place. It's just slick now. It's just smooth riding.

We are very excited. Yeah, very cool. Congratulations. Merry Christmas. Proud of you. Well done, well done. Elle's with us in Fort Myers, Florida. Hey, Elle, what's up?

Hi. I've been on a journey to get debt-free for nearly three years and just learned about you, and I am so thankful that you could take me on your show. Thank you so much. Well, thank you. How can I help? Well, my question has to do with retirement savings because I read the total money makeover a few times. And in chapter seven, you say that stopping retirement for 12 to 18 months is totally reasonable. And I agree, but I have $94,000 left on my student loan, and I've done the math.

It's going to take me four years paying a little over $2,000 a month towards this debt. What's your income? It's a little over $75,000. And you're single? A year. Yes. Okay. And how old are you?

I'm 33. And what do you do for a living? I am a lawyer. Okay. And how old are you? I'm 33. And what do you do for a living? I am a lawyer. Okay. And so why would four years from now your income be $75,000? You just passed the bar. No, I passed the bar six years ago. So why is your income only $75,000? Because of the area where I work and the type of law that I practice.

It's an appropriate amount for where I practice and what I practice. Okay. Okay. Okay. I mean, do you have any plans to change that to get a better rate of return on the investment you made to become an attorney? I'm on a partnership track where I'm at. You're on a partnership track to make what? What will that put you at? I don't know because I'm not at that point yet, but it would be a couple of years down the road. I'm just not sure when.

But I'm just saying, I mean, what would a partner make in your area? I mean, what do you expect that to do to your income? Possibly double it. Oh, okay. Oh, okay, cool. Yeah, so I'm not sure exactly when that would. Then I go back to my original premise that I was digging at. Sure.

And that is that I don't know if it's two years when your income changes or three years, but as soon as your income changes, this math changes dramatically instantly. Yes, it does. And so I don't think you've got a four-year plan i hope you don't have four years to get to partner yeah i hope so too i'm sort of i'm sort of wondering if i should stop my retirement now yeah when stopping it would save me about a year yeah i would stop it now and because i think here's the point the point is if you drag along for eight years and you don't do retirement and you're 40 before you start and you could have started when you were 32 then that's that's mathematically starts to be a problem even if your income shoots way up

but the the scenario with you is you're going to go from 75 to 150 to by the end of your career, $250 probably, if you have a normal career path in your field. And so if you learn to save and invest aggressively in that, whatever ground you lose over this three or four years while you're getting out of debt will be made up. So you're going to be fine. I would stop retirement and concentrate on debt reduction until you're out. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and the books. 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. I'm Blake, Chief Production Officer for the show, and here's a little tip for 2018. Go download our revamped Dave Ramsey Show app from the App Store. We're always listening to your feedback and adding new features to make it even better. Check it out.