The Ramsey Show - App - My Mother-in-Law Wants To Give Us $20,000 To Buy a Pool (Hour 3)

Episode Date: April 13, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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, Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, host of the Ken Coleman Show, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Ian starts us off this hour in Knoxville. Hi, Ian. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Dave and Ken, thank you so much for having me on the show. How are you today?

Better than we deserve. What's up, brother? All right, so I'm in the middle, almost halfway through a master's degree, and I'm taking on debt. If I continue, I will take on more debt. I know your policy on student loans, and I just happen to work at a job that I'm a teacher at a private school, and in order for me to maintain my position here, I have to show that I'm making progress towards licensure through this master's program. My question is, do I stay in the master's degree and continue to take on debt, or should I get out of it but then have to look for a different job? What do you think? So the master's degree, you're a high school teacher?

Yes, sir, at a private school. No, sir, I'm a middle school teacher at a private person's school. And they demand that you are going into debt and taking on to get a master's degree to teach middle school kids. Well, they... That's kind of ridiculous progress it um that's a good way of putting it now these are eighth graders for god's sakes i mean i'm not against education but this is a little bit onerous so uh so how much debt have you taken on? All right. So, so far, I have $11,200 in debt.

And if I continue, I estimate at least $15,000 additional in debt. Okay. Are you married? Yes, sir, I am. Does your wife work outside the home? She has a job, but it's one that she can work from at home. She actually just got it. We're unsure. It's commission-based.

We're unsure what that's going to look like month to month. What do you make? So I make $32,000 a year. Do middle school teachers in the public school system make more or less? They make more. I mean, the price varies. The amount varies by district, but overall it's more. Yeah.

I was thinking Knox County would pay better than that. I've got to ask here for clarification. Is this a part of your employee agreement when you signed on where they say you have to have continuing education to stay employed here? That's correct. What's the long-term goal for you as a teacher? Where do you want to end up? What's it look like in the future? Where are you headed?

Well, this is kind of what I'm thinking right now. For many years, I've wanted to be a teacher. My wife and I, we've just started to get out of debt, and we're reading through one of your books Dave and so we want to be going to have financial freedom obviously and I've just read and heard over and over that you are like you're against doing you're against that of any you know in any form and and like I'm willing to do whatever it takes. Like, if I have to find a different job, like, I will. If it's worth it to continue.

Well, this is not about me. This is about what gives you your best life a decade from now. And is that student loan debt? Is it this career track? Is it this place that you're working in? Aside from anything you've learned from us um just commenting you know just as your friend looking in from the outside you are underpaid in a private school setting what you could be paid in a public school setting and they're putting

extra rules on you that make it super unreasonable um that's aside from Dave Ramsey or Ramsey Solutions things. Am I missing something, Ken? No, I mean, the question I was asking is, Ian, do you want to be in education long term? Because that kind of plays into this. I would certainly pause the master's degree. Where do you want to be in 10 years? Like in terms of my job? Yeah. I mean, up until this year, I thought it was teaching but after going through the numbers i'm like like i could be paid i could get paid way more and provide for my family and still do something i enjoy for less hassle yeah but here i want to caution you on that

and i understand those emotions but but if you always felt the call to be a teacher and you want to instruct you love instructing uh then number one you can make more than you're making right now number two uh we have a study the largest study ever of net worth millionaires and the third largest group of net worth millionaires in the united states are teachers so you can take care of your family. You can retire a millionaire. So if that's true and you believe that, would that give you reason to leave being a teacher? You said, would that be reason to be a teacher? Yeah, but my point is, if you know you can take care of your family and retire a millionaire,

would that make you want to leave being a teacher? If you knew you could provide and take care and retire wealthy, would you leave? It would definitely make me consider it much more as an option. Yes. Knowing that does help. So I think you need to look at being a teacher somewhere else. That's right. You're doing the right thing in the wrong place.

And so you need to, if they're going to fire you upon quitting, which I don't know how stringent this is, then you need a plan. I don't want you jumping here. But if it were me, I'd pause and move on to another middle school teacher. Start talking to the county and the city school system about coming on there or another private school. And maybe you're working your way up to, I don't know, what are the best paid teachers in the land? How do you do this? I know I have a friend that's in a county school system that made $90,000 a year, 30 years with a master's degree, but a specialized area of teaching, not just in the traditional classroom, but in a public school system working with K-12.

And so not to reveal any more than that. And so my aunt taught at Farragut, and I don't know what she made, but she was there for 38 years right around the corner from you there. So I know the school system there, and I know Knoxville. So do you want to be teaching middle schoolers, high schoolers? Where's the best money? Where's the best reward for you psychologically, spiritually? What's God asking you to do while you're on the planet?

Or do you continue your education path and even at some point with a Ph.D. end up in a college classroom, which I suspect pays more than the high school classroom? I don't know for sure. It would depend on the college versus which high school. But I think you develop a path that is not $32,000 with a forced set of rules 10 years from now. It could be you stay there for a year, and you ask them for some mercy because you're having to stop your master's right now.

You don't have the money to complete it, and you ask them for a little mercy. Meantime, you start looking for a job and move to a different teaching gig. That's probably what I'm going to do. But I want to kind of start thinking about what does the mountain look like? What is the path on the mountain look like? And what's the top of the mountain look like? And as Ken talks about that, to get clear on where you're going, get promoted along the way.

But you need to develop a system. I'm going to work this many years in high school, this many years in the college classroom, this many years. I don't care where you want to end up or where God's telling you to end up. But I think that this has revealed not a lack of burden for teaching, but a bad situation. Yes. Ever wonder how to save more money or pay off debt fast?

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Get started today with a free trial of Ramsey Plus at RamseySolutions.com slash Ramsey Plus. That's RamseySolutions.com slash Ramsey Personalities, my co-host today. This is the Ramsey Show. We're so glad you're with us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. This is common sense for your dollars and cents. Ken and I are the two ornery uncles that will give you the advice you always needed. I like that.

You never know. Everybody had some ornery uncles, right? Ornery Uncle Ken. I'm going to own that. With my niece and nephews. Ornery Uncle Ken. There we go. That's a new one.

Summer is with us. Summer is in Cincinnati nephews, yeah. Ornery Uncle Ken. There we go. That's a new one. Summer is with us. Summer is in Cincinnati. Hi, Summer. How are you? I'm great. How are you guys doing today? Better than we deserve. What's up?

I'm so glad to be talking to the two ornery uncles. Yes. It's like two of those old men Muppets. Yeah. My question is, my father-in-law passed away a few months ago. And since that time, my mother-in-law has been dealing with her finances on her own. They have plenty of money. They've never had debt.

And they're very blessed. But she called my husband last week and told him that she wanted to gift us $20,000 to put toward a business. We're having trouble hearing you, Summer. Can you speak directly into your phone? She wants to give you $20,000 to do what? She wants to give us $20,000 to put toward an above-ground pool for the kids and also a barn for my husband because he is inheriting a workshop full of tools and equipment and other things. So my first reaction was, we're in babysit two, by the way. We should be finished with babysit two in October. We've been on the journey for 15 months.

We have $21,000 left to go. Yeah. So I thought we should take the money and put it for Baby Step 2 because we were going to save in the future other items. Your phone is all over the place. We're having real trouble hearing you. If you can stabilize it somehow, it would be great. Okay. I'm sorry um so i thought we should put the money towards baby steps too my husband thinks that we should use the money

um as my mother-in-law has given up for wishes what do you think i think you shouldn't take the money. Okay. At all. Here's what's going on. Your husband and his mom are grieving. They're hurting. And they're not thinking clearly. Okay. He's lost his dad. He's got all his dad's tools coming that he probably used to work in the garage with his dad.

And that brings back a lot of memories, and he's trying to rebuild that portion of that memory because he's hurting. He lost his dad. And how long were your mother-in-law and him married? Fifteen years. Yeah. I mean, she just lost, like, her right arm and her right leg, you know? I mean, I've been married to Sharon 38 years. I don't need to be making decisions like this two months after Sharon's gone.

My brain's not going to be working good. And your mother-in-law is a very sweet person, and she's hurting deeply. Okay. And so you need to love her gently and kindly and just say, you know what, this is not a good time for us, and it's not a good time for her. And by the way, even your husband, you need to tell that too, and he needs to take care of his mom. You don't need to say a word to her because you'll get painted in the ungrateful daughter-in-law position if you're not careful.

Okay. Yeah, she's just hurting, honey. Because this is, truthfully, her suggestions are ridiculous. The last thing you need is more expenses while you're in debt. And an above-the-ground pool does not add value to anything. It's useless for the property. It's good for fun, but it does not add value to the property. It may, as a matter of fact, detract value from the property.

And it has to be maintained the money i spend on my in the ground pool makes me want to throw up per hour we swim in it you know it's crazy you don't need an extra expense right now well we'll do it with our own chemicals well you gotta buy the freaking chemicals and you gotta go out there and spend the hours dealing with the thing uh for a lot less you can take your kids to the to the another pool and put them in somebody else's problem and um this is just her hurting and her wanting to express love and she just um doesn't doesn't know how right now and it's completely inappropriate and the and the and the conclusions that they're all coming to are silly okay but it's but it's all it's all sweet and it's all love and it's all because he was probably just a great dad wasn't he yeah he was yeah 50 years yeah i. I will have my husband talk to her then, and we will tell her now's not the right time.

Yeah, I just think it's a bad idea. And I think she wants to do something that she can see the family enjoy, and getting you out of debt is not something she can see and do that with. And you guys just plow on through the debt. And then later on when you get ready to do something, if she wants to give you a gift to do something for the kids and with the kids. I mean, I'm trying to channel my inner John Deloney, Ken. What are you thinking?

Well, I absolutely think you're right here in this situation. There are strings attached to this gift. So it's not really a gift. It's really not a gift. It's got all kinds of conditions. It puts you in a situation where maybe your husband and you could be at odds because you guys have been walking out baby step two. If I heard you correctly, you're out of debt in October,

so you can see the finish line. I think you're right. But I think the most important advice you gave was that the husband needs to, A, be on board with Summer, and he needs to deliver that news. I thought that was – because she doesn't win if she delivers that. No, there's almost no mother-in-law in the world that's going to love that coming i mean that's just a hard thing and so you know because and he doesn't even need to reference summer when he delivers the message that's the key to say you know mom i appreciate this but i'm hurting right now with dad's passing i know you are and it's just a bad

timing let's just let's just put this on hold we'll look at doing it later maybe and just be very kind and very gentle because she's really grieving and and not grieving well by the way uh when you start throwing money around like this right in the face of a loss after 50 years it's it's a bad sign for how she's handling this so she may need to sit down with a pastor with a good counselor and just start to walk through all the pain, because it's legitimate, real pain. I mean, this hurts. And you don't make financial decisions in a vacuum ever. You're always affected by your emotions. You're always affected by your relationships. You're always affected by your career status. Everything around you is a variable affecting your financial decisions.

So there's no one that makes financial decisions based purely on math. It never happens. There's always something going on, and it could be good things or it could be horrible things, tragedies like this. Joy is with us. Joy is in San Diego. Hi, Joy. How are you?

I am well. So happy to talk to you guys you too um thank you we have a home that we raised our kids in and it is just we own it we own it outright we are debt-free thank you very much dave ramsey way to go uh-huh and we i'm ready to sell and my husband is too but he keeps going back and forth okay you know the holiday market here is great. We can get a nice penny for our home and walk away with the money to buy another home. We cannot buy back into Southern California because it costs too much. We are considering buying in Michigan, but then maybe buying back in Southern California when the market goes down.

The question is, my husband says maybe we should keep our home and rent it. No. Okay, why? No, because you don't need to be long-distance landlording. If you're moving out of this house, it's time to sell it. But I'm confused. If you sell a home in Southern California, why can you not buy a home in Southern California with that money? Because that's pretty much going to be our retirement, although we do have a nice nest egg.

Okay, so it's not the Southern California thing. It's you don't want to put the money back into a house. And then that's pushing you out of Southern California. So I think you ought to sell it, but I think you probably ought to look at just buying another house there. I think you ought to sell it, but I think you probably ought to look at just buying another house there. I think you'd live there. Um, and if you're wanting to downsize or right size or something, I'd probably do that. But, um, I would not move out of it and rent it. That's not going to work. It's not a rental house. It's your home. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today here on The Ramsey Show. I'm Dave Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today here on The Ramsey Show.

I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Open phones at 888-825-5225. In Orlando, Florida, Beth is on the line to do her debt-free scream. Hey, Beth! Hi, how are you doing? I'm so excited to be in your show, and this has been amazing so and i wanted to share with everyone that's why i write an email and i wanted to for people to know how much debt did you pay off beth 121 i love it how long did this take you took me five years around five years and I can tell that I started um I have a friend that's listening right now

she introduced me to Dave Ramsey the plan and she spoke to me at work and I'm like okay what's that I have all this debt I don't know how to do it and I was always struggling I came from Puerto Rico with zero with nothing with my daughter escaping from a domestic violence relationship. Wow. To live in a shelter. I used to live in a shelter to protect myself and my daughter. And when I came with nothing, I was like struggling like a single mom with just a job with $1,000 back then. And when I started the plan, my salary was around, I will say like $52,000.

What is it now? Right now, I'm 68. What do you do? I work for a sheriff's office in Central Florida. I'm right now a community services coordinator. I also am a public information officer for the state of Florida. And I'm in that law enforcement. I teach self-defense classes. And you save lots of women who are facing domestic violence like you used to. Correct. I opened when I started here. I didn't know English at all.

I learned the language. I created a nonprofit to help and assist other women that are going through a massive violence. It's called Life in Your Hands. And I'm here today, Jeffrey, because of you, and I'm so thankful. And I would say that that $1,000 made, for me, everything, because that was the first step for me the thousand dollars and I say okay I can save money how I'm gonna do it I start cutting things using the envelope system I remember my friends used to make fun of me because wherever I went I was I had the envelopes and it was fun because that was my goal i say that before 50 i wanted to pay off my house

and i did it with a lot of sacrifices this is your house you paid off i paid off everything my car my student loan the house what's this how what's your house worth? Right now, it's around $180,000. So from homeless in a shelter due to domestic violence to $1,000 to $180,000 paid for house, a new career and new language skills all in five years. You are an amazing woman. Oh, but no, but I got here before that, many years ago. But in five years, I started everything, like the process with you. Oh, I see, I see.

Yeah, no, but that took me longer. Learning a language is difficult. But I'll say that I follow everything. I paid using the Snowball. And I've been telling everyone I see everywhere because I did a video and I shared it in my social media that when I paid off the house, and I wanted people to know that your plan really works. And the way it requires a lot because you have to sacrifice different things or trips or vacations but i'll say that from all the steps the hardest one for me was the three to six month expenses um but because it was little by little trying to get that money and get it all together how

does it feel now that you're completely debt-free? I accomplished. A big, this is for me, it's been everything, because I wanted to show my daughters that you can do it, that you can live debt-free, because I remember when I pay off my car, when I was planning to pay off the car, someone from the family said, why are you paying that car?

You need to make payments monthly so if something happened why are you going to spend all that money paying off the car i say i don't want to have no debt and they couldn't understand what is living debt free and for me was kind of like that made me kind of like that encouraged me to keep going keep going and say no i can do it everyone's all they have all that everyone has something they have to pay and i want to live debt free and the other thing was my retirement my i have the actual retirement from the state and in addition to that following your baby step um i added a 457 tax deferred plan so i have to so you are going to be the first millionaire in your family i don't know about that but i'm working on it well you're sitting with a 200 000 paid for house and you're loading up your retirement you're only 50 years old i think you're gonna make it no i'm 47 not yet not yet you put three extra years on there

dave no no that's no good you're still gonna make it you're still gonna make it right beth what does your family think now those people who are saying why would you do that why would you do that now they've seen you on the other side what kind of impact is it having for my family they were so thrilled and my friends as i say i did a video i recorded a video on my way to the bank to pay off the house and i'm i i documented everything on my way there and i kind kind of like give my testimony how God from nothing, zero, came here to the States with nothing and where he placed me now. And as my testimony, kind of like I share it with everyone, that video. I edited, I had pictures and all that, share it with everyone.

And I even wrote it for a newspaper. And the feedback was amazing. Yeah, I'm sure. People kind of, like, sending messages that they wanted to do the same thing. Your whole life is inspiring. I'm inspired. You're so impressive.

Well done. They all ask me, like, how I did it, and I definitely say they run the baby steps, and I'm so grateful i'm so grateful you're a blessing you keep doing what you're doing because it really blessed us wow you're an incredible lady i'm so honored to get to talk to you today absolutely incredible very well done so uh are you ready to do the debt-free scream, Beth? I'm ready.

All right. I have a request in Spanish. Okay. I don't care. You can say it in German. I don't care. $121,000 paid off, house and everything, at a mere 47 years old. Did it in five years, making 52 to 68,

a life completely transformed. Count it down, Beth. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. Estoy libre de deudas. Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! Yeah!

I like that. I love it. Yeah. Man, what a story. Unbelievable. What a life. What an arc. I mean, that's incredible.

And, you know, we find, when we did the millionaire study, we find more people like her than we do some kind of blue blood, you know, went to Harvard and, you know, had all kinds of advantages or something. As a matter of fact, people who come to this country legally are four times more likely to become millionaires than Americans are that grew up here. And it's because they believe it is the land of opportunity. They believe in the Statue of Liberty. Yeah. Well, you know, one of the powerful things for everybody that becomes debt-free are the baby steps is just a clear path for people. And they say, wait a second, there's an opportunity to live debt-free. And she caught that opportunity from a coworker. To your point, she believed in it. And there's no stopping anybody.

There's no stopping her. The human spirit is alive and well holy there any stopping that woman she's incredible yeah that's great beautifully done beth beautifully done so proud of you you're an absolute rock star this is the ramsey show I'm going to go ahead and get started. our scripture of the day isaiah 41 13 for i the lord your god hold your right hand it is i who say to you fear not i am the one who helps you brian tracy said failure is a prerequisite for great success. If you want to succeed faster, double your rate of failure. Well, this is true. This is true. So, how many of you guys are stressed out or hurting because your retirement savings scared you to death last year?

Well, if you're in that kind of pain, you may need to have someone to help you with your confidence by teaching you, and that would be a SmartVestor Pro. You don't have to let 2020 kill your confidence. Text INVEST to 33789. Find an investment pro in your area. Never again face a global crisis alone. Text INVEST to 33789. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America.

Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Joel is with us in San Juan. Hi, Joel. How are you? Hi, I'm doing great. How are you guys? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Yeah, I was calling because me and my wife have been kind of stuck in this dilemma between deciding and investing in what would be essentially an investment property or building our first house. So basically the question is, would you guys recommend buying a multifamily house where basically we'll be living upstairs and renting the bottom apartments or build on a plot of land that we own but still owe on because we recently bought this plot of land? Okay. So you would build what on the plot of land? A single family?

So there's nothing. No, there's nothing yet on the plot of land. What would you build of land? A single family? So there's nothing. No, there's nothing yet on the plot of land. What would you build on it, a single family? Yeah. Okay. So the question is, at the end of the story, do we end up with a single family or living upstairs in a multifamily that we rent out? Right.

Okay. How old are you? I'm 25. And what's your household income? We are currently at approximately $ 85,000 a year. All right. And you have children? Nope, but we do plan on having, well, in the next few years, hopefully. Okay. All right. Well, quality of life would be the single family. Investing with a lower quality of life would be living upstairs in the multifamily and having your tenants next door. Right.

The great news is your tenants are next door. The bad news is your tenants are next door. Yeah. And from a landlord's perspective, it's not always a beautiful thing. So, I mean, you've got the people all up in your business, and you're all up in their business while you're trying to do life. Now, if you had kids, I would push even more towards a single family from a quality of life standpoint.

But purely on the investment side alone, not considering lifestyle or quality of life, the multifamily will make more sense. You'll make more money that way. But it's going to be a pain in the butt. That's part of the deal. I mean, you're giving up some things to do that. And I can tell you this. I've owned a whole bunch of investment real estate. There has not been a piece of investment real estate that my wife was wanting to live in.

So I've never done what you're talking about, and I own several hundred million dollars worth of real estate today. And I started out like you started out here, you know, with my very first one. So it's not an evil, bad thing for you to build a house on that piece of land, get it paid off, save up your money and buy your first rental as somewhere else it's not an evil and bad thing to move in that multi-family for a little while pile up a bunch of cash and then build a piece of build a house somewhere or buy a house somewhere and move out and rent that other apartment out after you get it all

paid off but uh it's just a matter of how you all want to live and you need to be real sure you're listening to the wife on this yeah i pull off the paper with all the math numbers, and I'd say, what's this really going to be like? And, you know, it sounds really good. Walk up there and stand in that apartment a little bit. That's right. Just listen to the noises. Yeah, and if you've lived that way before,

and it's essentially like you're the, you know, you've rented out multiple apartments, and you're the supervisor. So if you can do with that, if the wife is on board, sure. John is in Boise, Idaho. Hey, John, what's up? Dave, Jim, thanks so much for taking my call. I was hoping that you guys could help me out. I am trying to figure out if I'm using math to justify a stupid decision.

So I'm about to graduate from law school and also with a master's in accounting and tax. I'm going to finish with only about $8,000 in student loan debt that I unfortunately had to get with COVID last year. So thank you. I am planning to pay that off within the first couple months of starting my job. I've got a great job lined up. I'm going to be making six figures starting out, which I'm really excited about. And I'm looking to buy a house.

I'm not in a position to have a large down payment, though. And I was wondering, mathematically, being here in Boise, rent prices have gone through the roof. I think we were one of the highest in the nation to see anise, rent prices have gone through the roof. I think we were one of the highest in the nation to see an increase in rent prices and just overall property values have been going through the roof as well. I was wondering if it would be appropriate for me to get a mortgage or something with a three and a half percent down payment and get PMI for a few years knowing how fast property values are going up or you know my Dave Ramsey alarm is going off in the back of my head wondering if I should go the more traditional route and get a you know save up a full 20%

down payment if not more we don't we don't have as a Ramsey rule that you put down 20% on your first house it just saves you PMI. That's all it does. And we just want people to understand that because, you know, the culture has gone, you know, buy a house when you're broke, and we don't want you to do that. So I do want you to get the student loan paid off and have your emergency fund plus some down payment above your emergency fund. But a 5% down on a 95 fannie mae conventional loan will be the cheapest route to go you're still going to have the pmi but it'll drop off when you pay it down to an 80 loan to value um and you can do that in just a few years with your great

income so yeah i'm probably doing that but i'm not gonna do more than a 15 year and i'm not gonna do a payment that's more than a fourth of your take-home pay, and I'm not, you know, but if you put 5% down instead of 20% down on a conventional, and you have your emergency fund in place and you're debt-free, I don't have any issue with it. Okay. Well, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I really appreciate the insight. Yeah, but just keep in mind, you're paying a premium.

You know that on that pmi that pmi is a ripoff yeah absolutely and i i wouldn't do it i i've worked out the math and it's not a math thing it's a it's just a stupid insurance thing that they make you buy and you want to get rid of it because you're getting screwed as quick as you can that's the thing but it's not okay you know it's not a matter of i i don't i don't i just tell people you know go ahead and buy the house but get the rather stinking pmi as fast as you can uh because it's just foreclosure insurance that you're buying to protect the mortgage company pays them if they have to foreclose on you and lose money that's all it is

you're buying them foreclosure insurance and it's 75 to 100 a month per hundred thousand borrowed and so it's it's a lot and and um so you know that that's the process you're in and uh but yeah we don't have a hard and fast rule 20 down uh especially for first-time homebuyers i would hold to that second third i think you just need to behave but uh where you're kicking out right you're starting your life off you know coming out of school what a great job though only eight thousand dollars in student loan debt yeah really fantastic to come out with that kind of degrees and a master's plus the law degree and he is going to crush that in two months and the sky's the limit uh you're but you're not opposed to him saying all right maybe i'll wait a little bit or do you think because skyrocketing prices because he can do it and you and you've already explained that, but he also could wait and not necessarily get crushed.

It's not the end of the world to wait. He's not wrong. And I think we get the emotions of skyrocketing prices are greater than the actual prices. That's what I was wondering. They are skyrocketing. This market's white hot. It is. I mean, we're experiencing the same thing in our area here.

Lots of these markets are experiencing this. It's just blistering white hot. I've never seen anything like it. Rental market is full and jammed here and shooting up fast. And certainly the for sale market is jammed here. And it is in Boise. Boise is a hot market. So there's a bunch of these markets out there that are that way right now.

But just because something goes like that doesn't mean you walk into the land of stupid. You still do it with the basics in place, which is what we outlined for John there. Well done, John. Good job, brother. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey show in 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. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free screen live on the show, make sure you visit theramseyshow.com and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.