The Ramsey Show - App - My Husband Disagrees With Me About How to Use Money (Hour 1)

Episode Date: September 25, 2020

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Starting point is 00:00:00 🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. My name is Anthony O'Neill, and together, Dr. John Deloney and myself will be co-hosting the number one talk radio show in the world in my opinion I'll go with it yes sir and so we are
Starting point is 00:00:51 two of the personalities out of six of us and we are excited to take your phone calls 888-825-888-825-5225 again 888-825- two two five dr john deloney and myself are here to talk about your life talk about your money and whenever he and i are together we talk about relationships we talk about some of the hard stuff that's going on in america today and believe it or not it has not failed dr. Every time you and I have gotten on the phone, we've had at least two people cry. And then I go home all emotional because you and that individual made me cry.
Starting point is 00:01:35 So today, we're going to try and get through a whole show with no tears because I'm connected to my emotions. Very loosely, but you are connected. I'm connected. I'll let a loosely, but you are connected. I'm connected. You know, I'll let a tear fall back down a little bit, you know, but Kelly is on the phones right now taking your calls, 888-825-5225. Let's go out to Las Vegas and have a conversation with Steven. Steven, good afternoon. How can Dr. D and I help? Yeah, so I've got a real estate rental property that I'm selling. It's a single-family home, and I'm looking to make about $100,000 off of it.
Starting point is 00:02:09 I'm wondering if I should reinvest into more real estate or if I should put the money or some of it towards my wife and I's fund to buy land to build a house on. Oh, man, talk to me. You have any debt right now? Just the current house we own and uh one car okay and how much do you own the car about 30 grand 30 grand okay cool and what's your um household income right now uh with the state of america it's about uh about five grand a month
Starting point is 00:02:42 five grand a month okay cool so you're about to make $100,000. What do you have in your savings? We've got six months' worth of funds if we need it. Cool. So this is what I'll do with that money. So with the sale of the property, Stephen, I'm going to take that $100,000, and I'm going to apply $30,000 of that to pay off my car. What kind of car is that, by the mercedes oh yeah yeah what kind of mercedes is that steven mercedes
Starting point is 00:03:10 uh glc glc yeah yeah all right all right all right so i we won't talk yeah we won't talk about the car uh because you have the cash coming in uh to go ahead and take care of the car uh but i want you to go ahead and pay off the car. And then from there, what I would advise you to do is if I would sit in those funds a little bit until COVID is over. So that way you have a good cushion set aside. And then after COVID has removed and the world is starting to get back to at least 75%, 80% of being normal, then, yes, I'm a huge fan of property of land um me personally i'm actually going towards more purchasing land and property here's why we can't make any more land but we can also we always can make more property so anytime you can get land uh at a good cost i would
Starting point is 00:04:01 definitely look into that down the road but just make sure you follow the baby steps, and then from there you'll be well. But I'm proud of you, the decisions that you're making. Just go ahead and pay off that car, and don't finance any more cars, my brother. All right? Yeah, no, I'm not planning on it. There you go, man. Hey, Stephen, do you like being a real estate mogul? Do you like collecting rent and having tenants?
Starting point is 00:04:24 Yeah, I do, and that's why I'm hesitant to put the money into just the land and give up the passive income of the real estate. But I know getting a land loan is kind of tough, so that's my tricky part. What's the goal for the land, to build something on it? To build our forever house. Your dream home. Settle there. Yeah, so I'm going to do that before I buy rental property.
Starting point is 00:04:48 Absolutely. Yeah, I'm going to do that, pay off my dream home, then get into rental property. That's what I'm going to do. Okay. All right? All right. Thanks so much, man.
Starting point is 00:05:00 Thanks for the advice, and we'll see what happens. No problem at all, man. Thank you for calling in. All right. You see, I love how you asked that question because you was like, hey, do you want to get into renting? Do you want to get into ownership and doing stuff like that? But I think oftentimes the world gets things twisted, John. We feel as if that, well, we need to get all this passive income, but then we don't have a solid foundation over here for our personal life.
Starting point is 00:05:27 Right. And so for me, what I'm always teaching specifically young people, millennials, because I get so many millennials saying, yeah, I want passive income. I need this. I need that. I want to do rent a property. I want to get this duplex. Well, what do you have that's stable for yourself?
Starting point is 00:05:40 Yeah. Going passive income first is like building a house on a trampoline, right? Exactly. Sucker moves. Build it on a sidewalk. build it on a foundation. Yes. Yes. Get out of debt. Go ahead and get your fully funded emergency fund. And this is what I tell people. If you're going to go into the passive income rental property, have six months on reserve. Don't do the minimum of three. So that way you're fully covered because it's not a matter of if something's going to happen with your rental properties. It's just a matter of when.
Starting point is 00:06:07 Or something's going to happen to the real estate market in your area. Yes. And you're leveraged up. Yes. You owe rent to a house and nobody wants to rent from you anymore. That's suddenly worth less. Worth less. Yeah, I love it.
Starting point is 00:06:18 I love it. I love it. Well, John, you need to be a Ramsey personality in the money space, man. I'm still trying out. I'm trying out. You're doing good. Let's go out to Buffalo, New York, and talk to Ken. Ken, good afternoon.
Starting point is 00:06:28 How can Dr. D and I help? Hey, Ken, we there? Yes, sorry. Oh, no problem at all. How can we help, man? Good afternoon. I just recently found out about the Dave Ramsey and all the baby steps. I've made some mistakes probably in the past
Starting point is 00:06:46 because I just recently graduated. I have a car loan from a brand new vehicle I kind of just got, and I'm recently starting a new job, and my income is going to be going up eventually. Cool. How much do you own a car? About $25,000. What kind of car is it?
Starting point is 00:07:09 It's a Toyota Prius. Toyotaota prius okay all right 25 000 how much is it worth it's worth about rate what it um about 25 000 right now um and then the first year i get a tax incentive um a credit back so i have to at least keep it to the first year okay all right sounds good what's that what's What's your other debt? How much debt are you totally in right now outside of the car? My house loan is about $210,000. Outside of your house loan, you have anything else other than the car? I do not. I graduated college debt-free. How old are you, Ken? Hello? How old are you? you yes i'm 29 years old okay young man you're a young man okay cool what's your income right now a year um my income from my pension i
Starting point is 00:07:56 have a like a military retirement and it's around 48 000 48 000 and then i'm starting a new job which will be around 65 000 a year on top of that. So you're going to be right around $100,000. Here's my recommendation to you. I would sell the car, okay? You have two options, Ashley. Sell the car and go ahead and buy you a cash car or buckle down and pay it off. You know, having $25,000 right there with your income at your age bracket,
Starting point is 00:08:22 I don't have a problem with you keeping it, but I really want you to aggressively go after it. Or you can go ahead and just sell the car and go buy you a $5,000 cash car. But the key thing here is we want to make sure that your car's value is not worth more than 50% of what you make. And you're right there.
Starting point is 00:08:39 So that'll be my recommendation for you, man. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Families all over the country are discovering a faith-based and budget-friendly way of meeting health care costs, whether they're anticipated or completely unexpected. For example, take the Olcheski family from LaGrange, Texas. Jeff and Carice had just celebrated the birth of a new baby boy. Shortly after, they had another expensive medical issue come up. They could have faced a huge financial setback,
Starting point is 00:09:21 but thanks to Christian Health Care Ministries, the Olcheskis were spared from a ton of medical bills. As members of CHM, they're part of a group of believers who financially and spiritually support each other. CHM is the longest serving health cost sharing ministry and is a Better Business Bureau accredited charity. It's Christians helping other Christians and it shared nearly $97,000 to help the Olcheskis.
Starting point is 00:09:43 To be a part of Christian Healthcare Ministries, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. 888-825-5225 888-825-5225 888-825-5225 Kelly is in the studio taking your phone calls
Starting point is 00:10:16 and we would love to talk to you about anything you have going on. So let's go ahead and have a conversation with Jake from Dayton, Ohio. Jake, good afternoon. How can Dr. D and I help? Hey, guys. How are you doing today? Doing good, man.
Starting point is 00:10:32 I have a question about Baby Step 3. Okay. I'm 40 years old, and I make pretty good money, and my debt should be paid off early next month. Okay. And my monthly expense is only about $800 a month. Hmm. early next month. And my monthly expenses are only about $800 a month. So even if I had the six-month emergency fund, it'd only be about five grand. And I'm wondering if I need to bump that up a little bit
Starting point is 00:10:53 just to have a little bit of an extra safety net. How do you have expenses only $800? Well, I live out in the middle of nowhere in an internal tree. So what's your rent payment? 300. Well done, Jake. I mean, well, good Lord, Jake. Can I move in with you?
Starting point is 00:11:15 We'll split it down the middle. I'm trying to tell you. It's okay. All right. How much debt are you paying off next month? $2,500 next month. The total is about 10 grand. Total 10 grand. $2,500 next month. The total is about $10,000. Total $10,000. $2,500 next month. I love it. How much money do you make a year? With overtime, I'm probably going to do about $70,000. $70,000? Yes, sir. And you only have $800 of money in expenses? Yes,
Starting point is 00:11:43 sir. Well done, Jake. So your question is, should you get more of a six-month emergency fund? That's a great question, Anthony. Yes. I mean, I'm going to say that yes. You've got artificially compressed expenses, right? Yeah. Jake, just to be honest,
Starting point is 00:11:59 I don't know how that's even possible. But that's where you are. And here's the thing, Jake. We don't know where you're going to be at in the future. So here's going to be my recommendation. I would look at what's the average cost per month in your area, as far as in that Dayton, Ohio area, and just do it that way. So for an example, if you have $5,000, I'll get it up at the $10,000.
Starting point is 00:12:23 But what you're making nearly $70,000 with your income right now, your price, I mean, at your age, man, I honestly will just go ahead and just keep stacking a little bit over there and just really start thinking about what do I want to do. Because you're renting right now. Do you eventually want to own something? Yeah, I'd like the zero debt idea where i just save up my cash for a house so i could be able to do that in the next year too jake i like you man i do too jake check i
Starting point is 00:12:52 like you you talking about paying cash for a house brother you single yes sir oh you're gonna be single much longer man today random people they hear you doc they hear you paying cash for a house yeah they they hear you hey listen here jay um i would absolutely go ahead and up that up to about ten thousand dollars minimum uh because i think the average person can live about twenty five hundred dollars if you was here in the nashville area twenty five hundred dollars a month if you're only paying for your rent and your normal bills will be okay so i think ten thousand dollars is great and then i love the idea of you just living way below your means and just stacking up a couple hundred thousand dollars over the next few years and going to buy something cash.
Starting point is 00:13:31 So I would definitely, definitely encourage you to do that, man. Awesome job. Awesome, awesome, awesome job. I want to give a shout out to our YouTube channel. every single day when Dave, myself, or one of the Hogan, not Hogan personalities, but the Hogan personalities, one of the Ramsey personalities, Chris Hogan, Rachel Cruz, Ken Coleman, Christy Wright, John Didonyi, myself, or Dave, anytime we're on the Dave Ramsey Show, we have the YouTube channel. So I want to give them a shout out because I always log on every single time.
Starting point is 00:14:02 And you can feel free to join on to the YouTube channel and watch us live. You'll see my facial expressions, Dave's facial expressions. John doesn't really have much. Chris Hogan has a straight face because he has a very firm voice. And so you could definitely log on. I don't even know what that means. I'm just saying. He has an interesting voice.
Starting point is 00:14:23 But definitely log on to watch us and to engage with the amazing people on YouTube. Going out to New York, we're going to have a conversation with Tiffany. Tiffany, good afternoon. How can Dr. D and I help? Yes, hi. I'm sorry. I'm a little nervous. Hey, we're nervous too, Tiffany.
Starting point is 00:14:41 We're with you. How can we help? November coming will be a year since I've been married. My husband and I, we have a 10-month-old. She's turned 10 months about two days ago. I have about $35,000 in credit card debt. When we got married, my husband let me have the money from the wedding to pay off my student loans. So now I just have the credit card.
Starting point is 00:15:04 He has the money to write the check. So now I just have the credit card. He has the money to write the check. So we can get out of credit card debt. But his logic is if he does that, he won't have money on a down payment for a home bus. And I don't know how to explain to him that by us getting out of debt, we can build that back up again quicker than making monthly payments and paying interest on a credit card. Okay. How long have y'all been married?
Starting point is 00:15:31 November coming to be a year. A year. Coming up on a year. Okay, good. And what's y'all's combined income? Are you working, Tiffany? Yes, I am. We are both in law enforcement, and together we make over $200,000.
Starting point is 00:15:43 Okay, over $200,000 in New York. Thank you so much for serving right now. I know right now with law enforcement, I think we need to honor you all a lot more. And so thank you for helping and serving the community. You know, Dr. D, what do you think about this one? Because this one is not just a money thing. It seems like it's even a deeper thing than that. Tiffany, you're not ready to buy a house yet.
Starting point is 00:16:09 And here's why. Not financially, but because you two are still referring to his money and your money. And he let me use this to pay off this, and now he won't let me use this. Y'all are still two inches apart on a couch, but you're 2,000 miles away philosophically and where you want to go as a united couple. And so what I want to tell you is you've got a 10-month-old in that house. You've got something that is beautiful and that is life-changing and life-giving but also can wreak havoc on young new relationships.
Starting point is 00:16:43 So before you and your husband do anything else, you don't need to go sit down with a marriage counselor. You need to go sit down with a minister at your local church that you trust and that will be honest with you and direct with you. And you two need to make sure you are united where you want to go, both spiritually, emotionally, financially stuff. So that's going to come. But this is a relationship that's been launched out of the gun with cracks already in it,
Starting point is 00:17:08 and I'm worried for you, Tiffany. Okay? I tried to mention that to him, and he said he wasn't going. Okay, so in that situation, you can only do one thing, take care of you. And so you can go start going to see somebody. Yeah. You can make sure you're well. You can model what you getting
Starting point is 00:17:25 well looks like you two both make a lot of money and here's the other thing i've worked with police officers that's a hard that's a hard ask i know it's hard for cops to go talk to folks i know stuff ends up written down i know there are special therapists that work directly with law enforcement it's it's imperative that y'all go do that. You have enough daily trauma, enough secondary trauma, enough life stress in your job that I'm worried about the future of your relationship. I'm worried about the ecosystem this little baby's growing up in. If y'all don't put the brakes on his and mine and yours and theirs, and y'all get together on we real fast.
Starting point is 00:18:04 Tiffany, I want you to stand in line i'm gonna have kelly give you ramsey plus your husband may not uh want to do this with you but um i agree with john i think that you need to um do the very best that you can possibly do i will say this as a single person and correct me if i'm wrong please do but i do believe that sometimes men we can be stubborn. Absolutely. And so one thing I've learned and watched from my fathers, when my mom would ask them to do something and my dad would say no, my mom would respectfully go do it for herself.
Starting point is 00:18:36 So she went to therapy for herself. Then my dad started realizing there's something different about my wife. And he connected the two. She went to therapy. She's treating me better. better if i love her i need to now go right and it just gives a picture of what that looks like right exactly and so that's what i was telling tiffany at this moment all she can control is her thoughts and her actions yeah and for the sake of that baby that baby needs a well mom yeah that needs a whole mom and so she needs a whole parents but right now one of them's not ready that's cool she can go start taking care of her yes yes yes so tiffany
Starting point is 00:19:09 sanderline kelly's gonna take care of you ramsey plus on dr d and myself free for a year we're gonna help you walk through this process in the meantime i can say this because this is just who i am um and dr d we're gonna be praying for you and your husband and y'all's relationship all right we love you. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, guys. At the Dave Ramsey Show, we really value your input. It helps us to know what's important to you so we can deliver relevant content to help you crush your money goals. We just launched a brand new survey, and we'd love your feedback. It only takes a few minutes, and you'll be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card.
Starting point is 00:20:11 No purchase necessary. Take the survey at DaveRamsey.com slash survey or text survey to 33789. Your everyday choices will decide your future. When you're too tired to cook, you get takeout. When you're overwhelmed, you buy something to make sure yourself feels better. So stop it. It's time for you to understand your everyday habits and how you view your money understanding your past and your personality will set you up to change your money behavior and actually have a healthy money lifestyle our number one best-selling author
Starting point is 00:20:58 and money expert and i gotta say this our new york times bestseller friend rager cruz has written an amazing new book called know yourself know your money this book will give you the confidence you need when making money decisions because you have the clarity you want i'm telling you guys you want to pre-order this right now because i've read it and dr d it's a book that i suggest everyone at every stage of their life read because when you know your money you know yourself well as we know yourself you know your money go to dave ramsey.com get it for 20 and you'll get over 50 in free stuff including the audiobook which is dope thebook, and a new exclusive. Check this out.
Starting point is 00:21:47 A new exclusive 30-minute video lesson from my good friend, our good friend, Rachel Cruz. She has written two amazing books. And one thing I love about Rachel is she really takes the time to step back and to really speak through her life, through her stories, through her journey. And I think that this right here is Rachel's best book. Now, I've read it, and it's good. And what I love about it is it addresses this question. Why do I keep doing that? That's it.
Starting point is 00:22:16 Why do I keep doing that? Where is that coming from? Why can't I just stick to this stupid budget? Me and my husband just had this conversation. Why can't I? Why can't I? It goes back. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:26 And it asks you to follow the rabbit trail back in your life where some of these seeds were planted early on and then what to do about it. That's good stuff. That's the thing, man. When you really know yourself, you not only know your money, but you know where you're going. Hey, and it's also, you know what? She's pretty vulnerable in this book.
Starting point is 00:22:43 Absolutely. That's what I'm saying. It's her best book. It's Dave's daughter. She didn't have what she promised. She got know what? She's pretty vulnerable in this book. Absolutely. That's what I'm saying. It's her best book. People think it's Dave's daughter and she didn't have, what problems does she got? Man, she's pretty open. She's real open. She talks about what their challenges were, what she went through. I think that's the problem.
Starting point is 00:22:55 I think that's the problem. And I'll say it here for Rachel and for Dave. I mean, Rachel is human. Rachel has made some mistakes. And she's grown since I've even been here with her money with her experiences and and and you know me i'm probably one of the most vulnerable personalities we have but i have to say i've never been as vulnerable in a book the way rachel has that's good and she's really bringing to life about how she grew and she grew herself she knows herself better now she understands why
Starting point is 00:23:22 she does things with her money. Rachel loves to spend money. Yes, she does. Yes, she does. Rachel loves to spend money. Her husband is the saver. She is the spender. And so I would encourage you guys go to DaveRamsey.com and go to our online store. Get her book right now.
Starting point is 00:23:40 It will bless you. And I promise you it will not just bless you, but it will help you know yourself better as well. Man, let's keep this conversation going. Let's have a conversation with Aiden out in Arkansas. Aiden, good afternoon. How can Dr. D and I help? Yeah, hey, man. So I'm a truck driver by living.
Starting point is 00:23:57 I make about $50,000, $60,000 a year. Okay. I've got maybe about $8,000 worth of loan left on my property. Um, I bought a piece of land in Arkansas and I've been building a house. I personally go out there and build it myself. It's hard, but it's possible. Yeah. Um, so, so question is, because I drive a truck for a living and I'm in a semi three quarters of the year, I'm thinking about buying a 2020 zero finance vehicle. I know you guys see it's bad, but if I could pay it off in less than 27 weeks, if it's a $27,000 vehicle and I can pay it off in 30 weeks, what do you call it?
Starting point is 00:24:48 I'd be sleeping in it on the weekends that I'm here. Uh, besides, you know, when I stay at my house, you know what I mean? But there's no heater, there's no AC at my house. So it gets really terrible. Is that something that you would do? No. Why not? I'd rather you wait 30 weeks and save that money up and then go pay cash for something. No, I hear you there. But how does that work with the 0%? I mean, I know that they tax things on, blah, blah, blah. But if they say it's going to be $30,000 and when I get done signing paperwork, because I won't pay for gap insurance, I won't pay for this. I won't
Starting point is 00:25:26 pay for all those extra fees. They'll tack on. How does that work? Go ahead. Let me help you understand why. We're not harping on interest. We harp on debt. We harp on debt. We harp on debt.
Starting point is 00:25:45 Our thing is debt. We don't want to be a borrower to anyone. We don't want you to borrow anything from anyone. So if you're saying you can pay this thing off within 30 weeks, I agree with Dr. D. I want you to save up. And I think, honestly, with your kind of income, you can get there earlier. Now, let me say how you can get there even earlier because you're talking about getting to 2020.
Starting point is 00:26:06 The 2020, what's the car model you're trying to get right now? What's the name of the car? Unfortunately, it's a Rev or I'd probably get a Honda CR-V. I mean, if I could buy one from 2000, I would because they're more reliable. Right now, I got a Jeep Cherokee 2000. No heater, no AC. Aiden, Aiden, why are you living in a car, brother? You make good money.
Starting point is 00:26:27 Yeah. Why don't you relax a little bit and get an apartment and have some normal creature comforts? And listen, I live out in the woods, man. I'm with you. When you were saying you're building your own house, I'm cheering you on. But, man, living in a RAV4 for a year, that would make a whole lot of sense, Aiden. Yeah. Here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:26:47 I live in a semi three-quarter. Right. I mean, I've got a little bit more space in a semi truck. Right. So here's the thing. Here's the thing. You can do what Dr. D said, or here's another option. All right. You can go buy you a cash car, and if you're living in your truck for three quarters of the year,
Starting point is 00:27:03 that means you only have a quarter of the year left, go just do a month at an Airbnb somewhere and that way you're not signing a contract at an apartment complex you're not racking up any debt because you didn't purchase a car, you didn't finance a car and then three quarters out of the year you are
Starting point is 00:27:20 actually on the road and so and I really want America to hear me when I say this. A lot of people come to me all the time. Oh, Anthony, I'm going to get zero percent finance and I'm going to use their money so I can pay for it over a period of time. What that tells me as an individual is that you don't have self-control. You don't have self-discipline and you don't know how to tell yourself to wait and i think that when we can discipline ourselves to wait and honestly forces us to get there quicker when i walked into the dealership and i bought my dream car i walked in there with that nice check
Starting point is 00:27:57 but i'm telling you right now i walked in there thinking i was carrying a suitcase because i'm like this is what i worked for that my car. This is what I'm going to do. And I got a better deal for it because I walked in there with a certified check saying this is the max I can pay. Take it or leave it. Right. And so it's not just about the zero interest rate. It's about, you know what?
Starting point is 00:28:17 We want you to own everything that you have, because what if something happens to him driving a truck and he doesn't make the income anymore, then he can't the car payment well that's the thing is yeah it all works out and it's all easy i'm winning right i'm showing them i'm not even paying interest on this car they're not your friends number one right but number two yeah october 15th rolls around you get a call that says hey we can't have you drive anymore where things are slowing down. Right. Or we're going to cut your miles. Or we're going to, or we're going to, or we're going to. And now that free interest, you know, no interest, just I'm winning, I'm winning, suddenly becomes an albatross. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:56 And suddenly you're living in a RAV4 365 days out of the year. Yeah. Man, I get it. The math sounds fun, man. The math sounds fun. But. The math sounds fun, but Anthony and I talk to people every day who think they figured it out, and the one thing you can count on
Starting point is 00:29:11 is life will happen to you. And I can't say this for all the banks, man, but a lot of the banks, what they do is when it's 0% interest, they've already wrote some of the interest inside of the card. Yeah, they're not being nice to you. They're going to get their money, guys.
Starting point is 00:29:23 They're going to get their money. They're going to get their money. So listen, don't play the game. If you don't play the game, you can't get hurt. I don't play the car. Yeah, they're not being nice to you. They're going to get their money, guys. They're going to get their money. They're going to get their money. So listen, don't play the game. If you don't play the game, you can't get hurt. I don't play the game. I'm going to tell you the game I play. Anthony O'Neal's game. No debt.
Starting point is 00:29:33 That's the game I play. That's exactly what I do. I stick to my goals. I stick to my vision. And I have no problem waiting. I will wait. My car is a Bentley. I'm going to get it, America. I'm going to sleep in a bed, America. And I'm going to pay cash for it. You're going to sleep is a Bentley. I'm going to get it, America.
Starting point is 00:29:45 I'm going to sleep in a bed, America. And I'm going to pay cash for it. You're going to sleep in a bed? I'm going to sleep in a bed. I'm going to sleep in two of them. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. so going out to washington dc we're going to have a conversation with Karen Karen good afternoon how can Dr. D and I help hi good afternoon um so I'm currently in baby step six okay um I don't have any debt um currently trying to pay off my mortgage.
Starting point is 00:30:55 But so currently I'm not sure between deciding if I go ahead and pursue a certificate program on public health. I have a master's in public administration and my work is in public health. So I wanted to kind of gain more skills in population health. So the certificate program is $18,000, and I can complete that in one year. And so I have the money. So I'm between doing that or putting that into my mortgage. Do you need that certificate? Is your boss coming to you and saying, hey, I need you to get a few more skills or are you trying to move up and they're telling you,
Starting point is 00:31:30 sorry, I mean, you got to have this credential or is it just one of those things that you got a bachelor's degree and then you got a master's degree and then you paid all your debts off and now you're starting to feel a little squirmy that this is kind of just the rest of your life and so you want to go do something else. Exactly. I think that's where I am, yes, because currently, no, they're not requiring me to do anything, sort of additional skills. But I'm just thinking in the future, you know, what if, I don't know, I'm just not sure. Like, what if in the future I might need this skill, or maybe where I am, I want to move up and I might need this.
Starting point is 00:32:08 That's where I'm coming from. If you've got a graduate degree in public health already and in public policy, that tells me you are very, very smart. More importantly, it tells me that you know how to go get information. You know how to learn things. You know how to be self-driven. You know how to accomplish things on your own. And so I think you can get the skills, the knowledge all on your own without spending $18,000 on a certificate. And you can put yourself in meetings, you can rub
Starting point is 00:32:36 elbows with scholars, you can take people out to lunch. And I did the same thing. I did that for years before I finally then pulled the trigger to go get another degree in counseling. But I spent time with mental health professionals. I tried to learn all I could. I read all I could. I put myself in situations where I could listen to people as they did their job in cool ways. I went to all the free trainings I could get in my city. And then once time came, somebody else ended up paying for it.
Starting point is 00:33:04 Because by that time i was good enough at my job i had a gracious boss that let me trade some this professional development money for this thing over here and end up working out so if i'm you i would find another outlet for my itchy feet and i'd go running i'd go work out i would take my kids somewhere and have a hike day i'd learn how to paint i would do something else else, and I would take that $18,000, and I would throw it at my mortgage and get that mortgage off of my books. Yeah. How much do you owe on the house, Karen?
Starting point is 00:33:35 So, you know, I got divorced a year ago. Okay. And so I just started with my condo in July. Okay. So I did a 15-year fix. Okay. I put 20% down. Okay.
Starting point is 00:33:53 How much do you owe him? Currently, right, 180. 180. So you put 18 down. You're going to be right around 162. That's going to be good. What do you make a year? 75.
Starting point is 00:34:04 75. And so if you aggressively go after the mortgage, do you have any kids? Yes, I do. One. One, okay. Nine-year-old. Say it again.
Starting point is 00:34:12 How old is your child? He's nine. Nine, okay. Are you investing into your 401K and your fully funded investments and his 529? Yes. Part of the divorce agreement also kind of put more money into my 401k. Okay.
Starting point is 00:34:30 And yes, and I have the 529 for my son. Great. And so I agree with Dr. D. I mean, he hit that head on. I'm not going back to school. You are already fully educated. And I would take that money and just aggressively go after your mortgage. And here's why. One of our good friends, Chris Hogan, wrote a book called Everyday Millionaires, and he studied nearly 11,000
Starting point is 00:34:56 millionaires. And one of the things that he learned from those millionaires were how they built their net worth was because of a paid for mortgage. And so if you really want to improve yourself as far as in financially, if you really want to set yourself up to be financially wealthy down the road for your child, I will go ahead and attack this mortgage. So you're on that journey to becoming one of the everyday millionaires. And so I suggest that's what you do. Don't worry about the extra certificate. And then down the road, if your job wants to send you there, let them send you there.
Starting point is 00:35:32 Absolutely. Or if somebody comes to you and says, you are management material, you're going to have to get this qualification. Man, you are smart. You will figure that out. You'll crank it out. Anthony, one of the things I see happen is that people use graduate school another program another certificate as a bomb as a BALM as a BALM something to soothe them because they just can't stand being
Starting point is 00:35:56 still yeah see yeah there's free money always available someone's always ready to loan you some money for new program or someone like Karen is incredible she saved up the money she's ready to loan you some money for a new program or someone like Karen is incredible. She saved up the money. She's ready to rock and roll. Sometimes people are getting certificates and degrees and programs and things just because they have a hard time sitting still. Sit still. Stop wasting money. Figure out what else
Starting point is 00:36:17 can you do that's a little bit more wiser with your money and you'll be alright. Let's take one more phone call in this hour there, Dr. D. Let's go out to Phoenix, Arizona and talk to Richard. Richard, good afternoon. How can Dr. D and I help? Hey, thanks for taking my call. No problem at all, man. How can we help? So I have, I'm on baby step number two, and I'm trying to decide whether I should remain in my circumstances. I currently am in healthcare and I, and I stayed with a couple that are like my grandparents. And, um, as a trade-off,
Starting point is 00:36:52 I live rent free, um, but also help care for the husband who is disabled. Um, but I'm just, I really would like my own space. I can't afford to live on my own, but it would halt baby step number two. So I'm just trying to figure out where I should go from here. Okay. So what are your options? Give me your options. Either I can move out and get my own apartment and pay off that slower or stay with them and pay off that a lot faster. How old are you again? I'm 27. Okay.
Starting point is 00:37:33 And what were you about to say? 26. 26. Okay. I also have the opportunity working in healthcare to pick up a second job on the weekends because currently I make $37,000 a year with my full-time job. But with my second job, I can pick up, I can work double shifts on the weekends. So I can work two 16-hour shifts Saturday and Sunday, which would bring in an extra $28,000 to $30,000 a year. So in total, that would be about, what, $30,000 a year. In total, that would be about $66,000 a year.
Starting point is 00:38:08 How come we won't do that, though? I'm sorry? That sounds like a great option. Why would we not do that? I am going to do that. I just picked up the job, and I'm starting to work two 16-hour shifts Saturday and Sunday. My dilemma on picking up that second job was I would be sacrificing my spiritual life, which would be obviously church on a weekend, working from 6 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. Saturday
Starting point is 00:38:33 and Sunday. Are you going to church right now? Is your church back open? Or are they online? It's back open. Are they streaming online? I would have the option to do both, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:48 Get the job. Because that's going to be temporarily. It's a season, brother. Yeah, it's a season. Get the job. Go ahead and get the job. The majority of people in the world right now are watching church online. So you can do that too for a season.
Starting point is 00:39:02 I'm not saying sacrifice the spiritual walk because I am an ordained pastor, ordained preacher. And so I'm a huge fan of you growing spiritually. But at the same time, you've got to put in the works so you can be a good steward of the financial resources and the responsibilities that you currently have. When it comes to moving out or moving in at the age of 27 if Dave was here Dave would say move out okay he would be like get out get out on your own and I agree with him as a young man I do believe that all young men
Starting point is 00:39:34 should be out on their own paying their own bills and living their own life because eventually you will have a family to worry about so that's what I recommend so praying for you man Dr. D thanks so much man first hour i want to thank our producer james shouse and our uh associate producer and screener kelly daniel this is the dave ramsey show Dave here.
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