The Ramsey Show - App - My Family Is Pressuring Me To Buy a House (Hour 3)

Episode Date: January 10, 2022

Home Buying, Debt, Career, Education, Home Selling As heard on this episode: Sign Up for a FREE trial of Ramsey+ TODAY: https://bit.ly/3rZTUAx Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: https://bit.ly/2Q64HME Insurance Coverage Checkup: https://bit.ly/3sXwUn5 Complete Guide to Budgeting: https://bit.ly/3utmVXi Check out more Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3fHhbVE

5 from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions. It's the 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. Thank you for joining us, America. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, best-selling author of the book Paycheck to Purpose, is my co-host today. As we talk about your work, your money, your

relationships, and your life, it's what we do right here on The Ramsey Show. Again, open phones at 888-825-5225. Danica is with us in Canada. Hi, Danica. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Hi, Ken. How are you?

Great. How can we help? Okay. So I just finished funding my three- to six emergency fund way to go um i don't thank you i don't have a house um so i'm gonna start seeing for a down payment but i'm a little unsure because right now in ontario we have like a housing affordability crisis um it's really expensive like a condo of like one bedroom is maybe minimum 350,000 so I'm torn between do I like save up a down payment until just like be patient have enough money until I can buy something or is it better to continue renting and then put that money

in an investment I'm not really sure where I should go with that one. How old are you? I'm 35. Okay, cool. And how long have you been in that city? I've lived, well, my whole life pretty much. Okay, all right. Yeah, I live a little, like an hour away from where i grew up but

um if i wanted something more affordable i'd have to move probably three or four hours away okay well that's an untenable commute right definitely yeah we're not we're not doing that so that's that's off the table you'd have to change jobs if you did that um and which is a possibility i mean that's okay if you live in an area you simply can't afford to buy in ever then that means you can't afford to live there you need to be able to buy a home at some point in your in your process there's nothing on fire uh but when you're able to save up a good down payment and able to make a purchase i would would go ahead and make the purchase. Yeah. Um, but it shouldn't take you decades.

Uh, it should be a matter of, um, you know, you're out of debt. You don't have anything to do except use your income. Now to get your emergency fund to save for your down payment. And I just would do that.

And then go ahead and make the purchase and put down the roots. Um, doubtful that the real estate's coming down. So, um, you know, you want to do, you want to get in on the ride rather than just watch other people ride. It's, you will end up with FOMO. That's true. You know, Dave, I hear just a tinge of intimidation or maybe, I don't know if I can actually do it. And I just want, Danik, I just want you to hear me say the same thing in you that got you out of debt, that got the emergency fund is going to allow you to put a really nice down payment down.

It is doable. You've got to be patient. And dang it, that's hard, isn't it? It's really hard. Especially when it's a housing thing and the housing prices seem to go up by the minute in an area that's expensive already and that kind of stuff. But, yeah, you'll just end up taking your time and shopping around and finding the bargain, and, you know, the market will calm down a little bit in the meantime, and that will be good for you as well, and you'll get in there.

You're going to get in the housing market, and just don't get in over your head and 15-year fixed rate where the payment's no more than a fourth of your take-home pay, and you'll be in good shape. Joshua's in Denver. Hey, Joshua, what's up? Heyave um thanks for taking my call i'm a huge fan it's an honor to speak with you today you too how can we help um okay so um i had a car loan in 2017 it was repossessed almost immediately because i couldn't afford it um my credit report says that a little over 7500 was charged off in 2019. I finally got them on my debt snowball, and when I called, they said that they wrote it off for just over $4,500,

and that I'll get a 1099 in the mail this February. The man from Wells Fargo said that I don't owe them the debt. Does the 1099 actually replace the debt, or should I be on the lookout for the other $3,000 popping up somewhere? 1099 hasn't got anything to do with anything. That's just a collector technique. Debt that is forgiven is

taxable, and you're supposed to get a 1099 on it. Is he saying they are forgiving the debt? If he's saying that, he needs to send you a note that says that. He says that I no longer owe Wells Fargo. That's great. Send me a note that says that. Did they sell the debt to someone else?

No, I asked them where the debt was. If they did, he's not telling me. I asked him where the debt was. He said the only thing that I'll get is a 1099 with a 4527 total on it. And as far as Wells Fargo knows, I don't owe them the debt. Yeah. Well, that's absolute hogwash, okay? Okay.

I still didn't like it. Well, you're probably just dealing with a lazy guy on the other end of the phone. Now, here's what's happened, okay? A company can write a debt off, meaning they give up on collecting it, and they write the bad debt off as a business expense, at which point they can send you a 1099. That is a tax thing. They want to write it off as a bad debt and take the deduction on the taxes for the bad debt,

and they want to send you the 1099, means you owe taxes on four thousand five hundred dollars and that is all proper and correct that has nothing to do with whether you still owe the debt okay if they want to forgive the debt i want them to send me a letter or an email at least saying that this account has a zero balance. Nothing is owed. So that some moron later, because what they'll do is Wells Fargo is classically incompetent. They're a massive company, and they are full of fools. Just full. They packed a whole bank full of them.

Okay? And you got a hold of one of them so what they'll do is they'll batch all these bad debts on these repo uh repo deficits in a package and they'll sell them to a debt buyer for pennies on the dollar who will then come and try to collect from you and you will go oh no they said i didn't know it and they say oh well you do owe it because you don't have any proof in writing that you don't know it you had an idiot in a cubicle on the phone tell you that you got to get them back on the phone and get it in writing and you got to hound them until you get it in writing if they send it to you in writing i don't care if it's an email that this account has been completely written off. You owe nothing.

We've given up. You have a zero balance. There will be no forward collection attempts. Whatever it says along those lines, settled in full, whatever, forgiven in full. I don't care what they call it, but something along that language. You following me? Got it. So I get that in writing and then pay the taxes and then it's done?

Yep. Okay, awesome. But I doubt that's going to happen. Because I think they still have sold this bad debt to somebody for a nickel on the dollar who's going to show up on your doorstep wanting the dadgum money. For the whole thing, by the way. Because the 1099 is not a legal release from the debt. It's simply them saying, we want to write this off as a bad business expense, and we're going to put the taxes over on you.

That's all it is, a tax move. And generally speaking, it's also a collector's move. But yeah, you're dealing with Wells Fargo. God help you. This is the Ramsey Show. Are you working the baby steps? One of the smartest and most impactful changes you can make is to ditch your cash value life insurance plan, if you have one, and replace it with a term life policy. Listen, the only thing a cash value policy is good for

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Find out for yourself why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings, free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code Ramsey to get the best deal. Dave, today's question comes from Walker in Kentucky. He writes, I'm a 20-year-old college junior majoring in political science. I was recently referred to a logistics brokering company for a full-time job. I completed the hiring process and was offered a $40,000 a year job with options for full benefits and an uncapped commission plan. On average, employees make $95,000 annually after two to three years,

with the top 20% of employees making a little under double that. I have to choose between school and this career. The obvious choice is to take the job, but I don't want to disappoint my father by dropping out of college. I don't plan to use my degree if I were to graduate anyway, but I'm conflicted. Any advice? Well, a couple things here. Number one, you don't have to choose between this job and finishing your degree. I think you don't have to. You've got a looks like a really good financial opportunity in front of you, but you don't have to. And I think what you

got to first weigh in on is the conversation with your dad. You clearly want to honor your father. You don't want to disappoint him. So this is a conversation on how important it is that you finish college so as to not disappoint your father. Because you could disappoint him by making a good financial decision, or you could resent him if you don't take this opportunity and go to school, and then you resent him. And I really get worried about resentment. And so I would sit down with Dad, and I would try to meet in the middle. And if your dad thinks it's important and you don't want to hurt the relationship,

you could finish school and get your degree online while you're working full-time. We see this with athletes all the time. They'll go pro, and they finish their degree. And you can do the same thing. So I think you have to decide, what do I want to do? What do I think is right based on what my father's expectations are, my relationship with my father, and then I've got a really good financial opportunity. But I think it's a false narrative that you have to choose this job and no degree.

Because if the degree is important to you and your dad, you can finish the degree. Yeah. And I think you finish the degree, but you do it for yourself. Yeah, I would rather that than do it for your dad. I think doing things that are tough for someone else, you know, when you set goals, the goals need to be your goals, not somebody else's. And right now, your dad has a goal for you to graduate from college. You don't have that as a goal.

Now, is a college degree a good thing? Sure, it's a good thing. Is it a ticket to success? Nope. Nope. We got a whole bunch of broke people disillusioned in America right now because they got degrees in left-handed puppetry, and they owe $200,000 to freaking Navient and uh they're being abused by their own government

and it's a mess out there people have you noticed yeah so you know you don't want to be joining that mess so don't do this for your dad but do it for yourself i'm with ken i think you take the job and you finish your career finish your degree at night and in weekends and whatever else and you figure out another way to do it we did this okay yeah sharon and i got married um we were so broke we couldn't pay attention i mean we didn't have two nickels to rub together i got a job making big money eighteen thousand dollars a year fifteen hundred bucks a month no need to brag dave big money in 1982 just shut up all right i was making big money and they were actually going to pay me even like no matter what happened as long as i went to work and stuff oh i've been on straight commission my whole life i didn't never had a job

where they just oh that is true so i was just i was so thrilled and none of my buddies even hardly got jobs that year it was a tough year in the economy. So I get this job, and it's in Nashville, so we got to move to Nashville. Well, Sharon has, like, five classes left to finish her degree. Oh. So I marry her, take her away from the university to go get a job so we could eat. And her dad wasn't real thrilled with all that. Can you imagine? Number one, I was involved. Yeah, I think it was think it was more than a degree dave but that's okay but i i to my credit i did promise

him i said she will get her degree we've just got to figure out a way to do it let us get over to nashville and get landed and we'll figure it out and we couldn't figure it out i mean she took a job i took a job and we never got back around to it for about two years, three years. So the first baby comes, and we get this idea that Sharon's going to work her degree now that we've got a baby. So we looked at another college locally to transfer the credits to from University of Tennessee in East Tennessee, and they transferred, but it would take another year to finish, and she only missed like four classes to graduate. So we figured out she could take the four classes in summer session, in those little short cram course sessions, six weeks long. So she drove to Knoxville six weeks in a row and stayed with my parents and left my baby in a daycare. Wow. She left my baby in a daycare and went to class for four weeks in a row or six weeks in a row to finish those four stupid classes to get that stupid degree.

But she got it. And we cried. She'd leave. I'd cry. She'd cry. It was awful. It was horrible six weeks. Right.

Absolutely horrible. But we were 20-something. I mean, you know. So she comes back. She's got her degree by God. But why'd she do that really because it was a good thing to you don't be that close and not finish all right i mean four classes come on no i'm not finished with four classes so even i got that as dumb as i am you know and uh and she wanted to do it but but also i promised her dad it meant a lot to him that's the point i made a promise but i really we weren't doing it only because of that.

No, not at all. We were doing it because it felt like the right thing to do, and you're that close to the finish line. Right. And you can pay a price on the short term here, and I'm glad. It was a rough six weeks. Yes. It was 40 years ago. It's tough.

But it was a rough six weeks. But it was worth it. And yeah, you do that. You take the night classes. You take some weekends. You take some six weeks of cram courses. You take your vacation time. You use it to you do that. You take the night classes. You take some weekends. You take some six weeks of cram courses. You take your vacation time. You use it to go to class.

He couldn't get it done. And you finish this stinking degree. Now, Dave, you and I, I don't know that we agree on this, but I was answering the question to him. Personally, once I realized that I wouldn't need the degree, I wouldn't go back. I'd just have a hard conversation with my parents and cast some vision on it. But that's not what he asked. I want him to sit with his dad. He needs to determine how big of a deal it is to make his dad happy.

I personally, on the issue, if college is not the only way or the best way to do the career you want, then I say forget it. But I'm a little bit out there on that one. But it's also a practical guide. I mean, that's my litmus test, those two questions. Well, i think we need to go more that way than the way we've gone where all college is good no matter what it is no matter what it costs total marketing that's just absolute hogwash yeah same thing that's the way that's the way the culture is i'm more on your team yeah um he can be very successful without a college degree yes but if he's also in his junior year

he could finish his junior year. He can finish. In his junior year. Yeah. It's okay. Knock it out. Absolutely. You can do both. It's not as fatalistic as either or.

This is the Ramsey Show. Thank you. Thanks, America. We're glad you're here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. It is a free call. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host. Chris is with us in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hey, Chris, how are you?

Hey, Dave, how are you? Thanks for taking my call, and thank you for fixing stupid, and stupid is me. So thank you for that. Well, we've all been there, brother. What's up? Yes, sir. So a tragedy has put me in a position to buy a house that I know I can't afford with, you know, 20% down with a fourth or a mortgage and a fourth of my income. So right now I'm 21.

I make $74,000 a year. Next year that will go up to $90,000. I have $80,000 saved. This house is worth $294,000. I'll be buying it for $294,000. It's worth about $440,000. So I'm wondering, do I just put down the 20%, which is $58,000, or do I kind of go more aggressive and wipe out my savings with, I guess, except $1,000 and get my mortgage as low as possible?

I do want to do a 15-year. I don't want to go 30. What do you do for a living? I work in procurement and pretty much government contracts for a national laboratory. Okay. I missed the part where a tragedy helped you. I don't understand. Oh, so it didn't help me by any means.

My uncle passed away five months ago, or five months ago yesterday. And so I'm kind of the only one in the position to buy a house, and my family wants to keep it in. And by no means is it forced. I've been taking care of the house for a couple months, and I absolutely love it. I just don't. So the family wants to sell you a house that's valued at $440,000 for $300,000? Yes, sir, $294,000.

Okay. Where did the $294,000 come from? That is what my uncle owed on the house. So that's what they're selling it for. Okay. Why? Because they wanted to stay in the family that badly? Yes, sir.

Is there an obligation on your part to never sell it? No. Is it on family land? I don't think so. It is not on family land, no, sir. Okay. So what happens if you get married and your new wife doesn't want it and you sell it? Is everybody in the family mad at you? So what happens if you get married and your new wife doesn't want it and you sell it? Is everybody in the family mad at you? That is a possibility.

However, I don't think so. I think realistically my mom would actually probably downsize and get into it. You know, they're very emotional. They're holding on to just about everything. And she had made a comment, I can't get into the house i'll pass this is a trap yep your families your families your families whacked this is a trap this is a trap you're 21 years old this is a trap you're gonna regret this because of all not because of the math but because of all the emotions tied to it. You're going to get painted into the corner,

and you're going to get paint on your feet. Somebody's going to be pissed at you when you try to do something nice, and you strained your butt off at 21 to do it. Well, my goal, so I've been living here since a month after it, taking care of it, and at first, you know, I felt pressured, but after these couple months, I do love it. No, you're going to feel pressure when you want to sell it and somebody wants to buy it from you at a deal.

Well, I don't necessarily know if I want to sell it. My goal is to pay it off. No, you're going to want to sell it someday. And when you do, somebody's going to be pissed if you don't give them a deal inside the family. Yes, sir. There's that expectation on this there is you know i'm right no i they're gonna bring up the fact that they gave you a good deal

chris let me ask you this if if your uncle had not passed away in this house situation didn't come your way would you be looking to buy a 294 000 house if this hadn't happened right now? Well, when he passed, I was in a totally different position. Like I said, I was stupid, and then I found Dave. Five months ago, I was about $60,000 in debt. I sold everything, got myself a hoop deep, paid off my student loans. Now I'm completely debt-free with $80,000. Who are the heirs? Your mom and who else?

My mom and her sister. Okay. They have to write you a detailed letter that says you are free to do with this house anything you want, anytime you want, without asking anyone's permission. You are not obligated to give them first right of refusal. You are not obligated to give them first right of refusal. You are not obligated to give your cousin a deal, your cousin's dog a deal.

You're not obligated to do nothing. If you buy this house, it is yours to do with as you dadgum well, please, forever and ever, and no one is allowed to say a peep about it. That needs to be in a letter i agree with that 100 but i think i don't think they can do that because you've already got it my mom will move down into it if i want to move you've already got all these backup plans and all these side angled things and that's what's scaring me here yeah i mean i say that i mean they live in a house all of us have moved out that's the only reason why she would but but they're very emotional people you just said too i heard yes you've

already let too much escape out of your mouth to backtrack now no no yeah i'm not trying to backtrack uh however you are you got used to the pressure you admitted you got used to the pressure initially there was pressure and i don't think you would have been in the market for a house this expensive at this age. You're 21. You're in great shape. You're just getting started. Here's the way I want this laid out. If you keep it a year and sell it and make $500,000 profit, nobody says beep.

Yes, sir. And if that is the case, how do I go about – Then do the deal. Yeah, you can do the deal. Put everything down but an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. Not everything but $1,000. So everything but $15,000. And then if you get in trouble, do not hang on to this house in the name of family emotion.

You sell it. Yes, sir. Sell it! If you get in in trouble it's a stupid house is it an issue going 15 years because no put it on a 15 year fixed rate put down 65 000 keep 15 000 in your account but you and your mama and your aunt all better be emotionally prepared to cut this thing loose because you are getting into an emotional trap and i'm afraid the trap is going to destroy you not the deal okay you hear my concern loud and clear no i do and i i i thought about that and that is an issue yeah i mean the times, man, in 30 years that I have talked to wonderful people like you and your mom,

where your aunt gets so pissed off she can't breathe because Jim Bob, her third cousin, didn't get a deal on the house after she gave you a deal on the house, and it was an unwritten set of assumptions, and you know what an assumption makes, everybody. That's what happens and you got to have you got to have real clear on that in writing it's not a legal binding contract but it's them saying out loud you are free to sell this house 20 minutes after you buy it and make a profit and nobody gonna say beep and chris chris you don't have that freedom yourself emotionally and they won't give it to you emotionally and relationally please yes walk that's right because chris needs you need

to emotionally prepare yourself that you're not going to get this letter i'm with dave if i was i don't think they can do it i don't think they can either i don't think you're going to get the letter so you got to be prepared for that yeah i think because i think they're going to want to hold it over your head this is a game these, man, and it's just I can smell it. Man, there's crazy in every family, and it takes all kinds of different forms. Be careful. And I'm not saying your mama's crazy. I didn't call your mama crazy.

Don't get mad at me. But I said it could be. Could be the ant, and it could be Jim Bob, and it could be Jim Bob's blue tick hound. I don't know, but somebody in that pile is going to cause a mess. I'm just saying. And I've just, man, I've spent so much time in rooms with people that everybody's mad and it has nothing to do with the financial transaction.

It has everything to do with everybody's set of assumptions. And that's a real you're 21, man. You've got a big, wonderful life ahead of you. Don't screw it up with your uncle's house. This is the Ramsey Show. Thank you. Our scripture of the day, Proverbs 15, 29. The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous.

Abraham Lincoln says, nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Well, that's true. Give him money. Give him power. Those are two things that expand, magnify what is already there. Anthony's with us in San Antonio. Hey, Anthony, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you for taking my call. Currently, I'm actually sitting in a bit of a predicament,

wondering if it's really a good idea to sell our home in order to pay off debt. Do you like the house? We do. We do like it. What's the problem? How much debt have you got? Well, everything without the house, obviously, about $115,000. What do you make of your household income?

Household is about $120,000. What kind of debt is the $115,000? What's it on? Two vehicles. What are they? How much are they? My truck is about $34,000, and my most vehicles about $20,000, $22,000, I think. Okay, and you owe what on the house? $215,000. Okay, and what's it worth? In this market currently, I'm probably anywhere between $330 and $360. Okay. All right. So it doesn't even get you completely out of debt? Not completely, depending on how I sell it, yes. How long have you been working to get out of debt? Oh, gosh. Probably only about a few months now.

I've only started listening to you a few months ago. Cool. How much have you paid off so far? About, what was it, probably about four, about four and a half. Thousand? Yeah. $4,000 in how many months? Probably about six weeks, two months at the most.

Okay. All right. Well, that sucks. Yes. Yeah. You're not making much progress. No. Okay.

Is that the reason, the fact you kind of stopped up here, that you're thinking of selling the house? Yeah. We're living paycheck to paycheck and have been for probably at least a year now, just killing ourselves with the debt. Okay. What's your wife saying about all this?

She's on board. On board with what? With selling the house and paying off debt and then spending another couple of years just kind of saving up. So you're having a pretty good discussion about the money problems then without trying to kill each other? Correct. Good. That's good.

That's a good basis to move forward, that's for sure. Well, the way I answer questions on this show is what I would do. Unless you don't like the house and you said you do like it um then moving is very expensive emotionally financially disruptive to everything else in your life it takes up bandwidth it's exhausting i'd rather have a root canal um you know moving is just a pain in the butt and And so I'll sell almost anything pretty quick when we start to get out of debt process. But the house, unless you don't like it anyway, is something I sell. I suggest you sell very slowly. So if I were in your shoes, what I would do, I'm going to put you guys into Ramsey Plus for a year.

I'm going to pay for it and let you get into Financial Peace University. And I want you to start working the system hard. No eating out unless you're – you don't need to see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there. No more vacations, no more nothing. Beans and rice, rice and beans. You are broke people that make $120,000 a year, and you need to start acting like broke people, and you haven't been.

I know because you suck at how much debt you've paid off. You haven't made any progress because you've not had any intensity yet. You need to crank up the intensity about 17 notches. I think before I sold my house, I'd sell these two cars. Yeah, I'd love to know, Dave. I'm getting rid of both cars. How much is the truck worth? No, it's worth more than $34,000.

It has to be. In today's market. Yeah, I could probably walk away with about $1,000. Yeah, go buy me a car with that or a truck with that, and I'd get rid of both these car payments before I got rid of my house. Yeah. You can repurchase and trade cars a whole lot cheaper and easier than you can houses. And there's some margin, by the way, to start budgeting with for Ramsey Plus.

Yeah, I mean, you dumped $50,000, you dumped half the dadgum debt. Yeah. So I'm selling both cars, and I'm going to work my butt off on a beans and rice, scorched earth plan for six months, and I'll bet you you don't need to sell your house then. I agree. Now's the time to sell those used cars. You're talking about taking some stress off of you. Good time to sell the house, too, but I'd sell cars before I sold a house.

I agree with that. You can get another car. It's just a stupid car. And a stupid house, too. You can get another stupid house, but everything less emotional everything's stupid today but it's just you don't you know you don't have to move yeah i agree you know you just you just get the stuff out of the glove box that's all you gotta do this is a massive move selling those cars you're talking about fifty thousand dollars yeah i mean i'd list those things tonight fifty six thousand bucks out

of 115 it is half000. It is half. That gum, it is half. And then let's just look at the monthly there. I mean, if they're carrying $700, $750, $800 a month. $1,200. $1,200. I can't even compute that, Dave. Yeah.

$1,200. Easy. Easy. Okay, well, there's your margin. That's taking the stress level down. And then just knock the snot out of that other 56 000 making 120 you're debt free in 18 months yeah and you're sitting there with no payment in the world in 18 months and you save up very quickly and pay cash for a car ta-da yeah i know and um it's just it's just a truck man really yeah i like my truck but i don't i don't like it more in the house

i don't like it more moving moving. That's the truth. Yeah. I love that you pointed that out. It's not just the expense, the financial expense. It's the nesting that takes place with the wife. I know she's on board, but that's a major disruption and not necessary in this case. Figuring out where to put the dishes. Oh, my God.

All right. Miguel is with us miguel is in redding pennsylvania miguel i'm short on time uh give us a quick question hey dave um uh so i'm a i'm a full-time uber driver and i'm just uh calling uh because uh from a moral perspective um uh i've been tracking my own miles uh outside of what the uber uh tells me i'm driving when i'm online and because i drive about an hour away um i it for tax purposes it ends up breaking even um uh this isn't a problem for this past tax year it's going to be a problem for next tax year when i'm actually starting um start investing it for retirement so breaking even

you mean your mind the miles you compute in the miles the app computes are the same? Is that what you mean by breaking even? Yes, with the standard mile deduction from the IRS. Okay. Okay. Well, I mean, either one then is fine to use. You've just got to be able to prove it in the event of an audit, and you have to feel morally correct about it,

and you're telling me it's the same number, so why wouldn't it be? Well, basically, when I say breaking even, that means there's no profit. Oh, that's what I asked. I asked if you had the same number of miles with your calculation or Uber's calculation, and you said, yes, it's not what you meant by breaking even. You mean you're not making any money driving Uber? Yeah, that's according to if I track my own miles, because it doesn't include the Uber app doesn't include the actual miles that I drive. Well, guess what?

That means you're not making any money. That's what that means. Really? Because the IRS didn't come up with that. I mean, they're not very good at a lot of things, but that mileage number is fairly accurate. It's costing you what the IRS is allowing allowing you to deduct that's a real cost it's a cost in loss value in the car it's a cost in extra maintenance on the car it's a cost in fuel on the car we're in terror on the car that's where mileage deduction comes from and so you really are having those real expenses so

you really are really breaking even it's not necessarily breaking even the cash out of your pocket because you haven't had to buy tires yet because you wore them out. But when you put the tires back in and change the oil and the repairs that are adding to it with the wear and tear on the car and the loss of value when you get ready to sell the car, you really are breaking even because you're driving too far in and your Uber deal is not making sense. So you probably need to find something else to do. But practically speaking on this question, you should accurately log all those miles. Yes. Uber's giving you one number, but if you can prove the other mileage, yes, you should do that. You need to. Yeah.

Assuming the code allows you to book driving in to start driving, which is what you're saying, and I'm not sure it does, but I don't know what the IRS code allows. But either way, the bottom line is you're spending that money and you're breaking even, really, not just in taxes. So, puts that hour in the books. Thanks, Kent Coleman. Thank you, sir. Thanks to James Childs and Kelly in the booth. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host.

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. Have a friend or family member that needs a daily dose of Ramsey advice in their life? Let them know about the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast. It's a quick hit of advice about life and money in under 10 minutes. Check out the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.