The Ramsey Show - App - Piling Up on Degrees Does Not Equal Job Security! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: November 7, 2019

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Music Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice.

I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thanks for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Patrick is with us in Syracuse, New York. Hi, Patrick. How are you? Hello, Mr. Ramsey.

Thank you very much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Calling today because I have a question about whether or not I should save up more in my baby emergency fund. The reason is because I work as an exploration geologist for metals mining. And the industry, it just goes through cycles and it goes up and down. And I'm kind of worried, you know, like maybe I'm at more of a risk of, you know, losing my position eventually or something like that. How old are you? I'm 33. How many times have you lost your job? you know, losing my position eventually or something like that. And so... How old are you?

I'm 33. How many times have you lost your job? A lot. A lot? Yeah. What's a lot? Yeah, kind of, well... 20?

Two. Maybe. But six years ago, I changed my life, basically, and I went to college and things like that. In your current career, in your current role, how many times have you lost your job? None. Okay, so your current role is not as volatile as your past role? Sure. Yeah, I mean, I'm educated, so.

Well, your current role is not as volatile as your past roles because you used to lose your job all the time, but now that you're in this position, it's much more stable. Right. Okay. your job all the time but now that you're in this position it's much more stable right okay and so as the industry goes um you know how often do people in your current role get dumped in the street well i've kind of heard like uh some some folks have you know been out of work 20 percent of their career and and basically they store up the nuts, you know, and they have the positions. I got that.

So you've been doing this six years and never been laid off? No, no, no, no. I've only been doing this for about six months. Oh, I thought you said you got your degree six years ago. No, no, no. So basically I changed my life in 2012, and then I started going to school. Oh, I see. I got a bachelor's degree.

I see. So this is all relatively new. Okay, so the six months is not enough time to gauge whether or not you're there. All right, so here's the thing. If you think that there's a 50% chance based on logic, not just I heard that there's a lot of people. I mean, you're dealing with a lot of hearsay. The words you're using are worry words. They're not facts.

Okay. Sure. I heard people say, and this industry's volatile you've not given me anything that said your supervisor walked in and said dude there's a 50 chance by next june you're gone okay that didn't happen that's a fact okay that's a fact that would worry the crud out of you right i mean you know uh or you know that they've laid off 62 people around me and i I'm afraid I'm next in line. That's a fact. But this general idea that, oh, this is a crazy industry, oh, and other people I heard, those are general worry concepts. So really dig in and figure out how much of this is fact and how much of this is there. So if the facts tell you, after you do a little bit of really digging around and poking around on it,

that you have a 50-50 chance of losing your job in the next six months, then I would not be doing the baby steps. I would simply be piling up cash. It's not changing baby step one. It's just saying we're going to push pause because there are storm clouds on the horizon, and we're going to gather up an umbrella. Then when the storm clouds pass, we'll do the baby steps. And when you get stabilized and so forth.

But if you can't get facts that tell you you've got at least a 50-50 chance of being on the street, then just work the plan. How much debt have you got? So I've got 50 in student loans. I have 11 on my car and 2,000 to a graduate degree program. Okay. And what's your income? I make about $4,000 as a geologist,

and then I'm also a veteran with a disability, so I take home about $5,000 as a geologist, and then I'm also a veteran with a disability, so I take home about $5,000 a month. Another $1,000 or $5,000 from the veterans? No, no, no, another $1,000. Okay, so you're making about $60,000 a year? Yeah, take-home pay. Take-home pay. So you're making about $75,000 or $80,000, okay.

Right. All right. And how quick can you pay off $63,000 making $75,75 or $80, okay. Right. All right. And how quick can you pay off $63 making $75 or $80? Well, that's the other thing is I just got accepted to an online master's degree through Johns Hopkins, and so I want to do that, too, to really solidify, you know, like just make sure that, you know, that I always have a position where, and plus, you know, I'm kind of getting older. I started a little bit late. So, like, I want to do my master's before I kind of, like, lose steam.

How old are you? 33. Okay. Yeah, you're an old man. I don't know how you're making it around. Yeah, I know. You know, it don't know how you're making it around. Yeah, I know. You know, it's hard. It's hard on the knees.

Well, listen, I would – you can do what you want to do. If I were in your shoes, I would work like a crazy person doing anything I could do, cut my lifestyle to nothing and become debt-free as fast as possible. Then I would cash flow my master's degree. And that's how I would work it. You do what you want to do. But don't confuse the piling up of degrees with security. The piling up of degrees does not create security.

That's a confusion a lot of people run into. And you've kind of gotten into that academic world, which is translating some of that message to you, and it's not true. I mean, I know people with more degrees than a thermometer, and they can't get a job because they don't have walking around since. And so that's not security. You've just got to – now, I'm not saying to be dumb, and I'm not saying don't go get the master's in being,

except that Johns Hopkins is saying it's a big deal. Congratulations. now i'm not saying to be dumb and i'm not saying don't go get the master's and being except the johns hopkins saying it's a big deal congratulations oh and by the way thank you for your service to the country we appreciate you uh i would get out of debt that's what i would do and then go from there and continue to build your career and build your life you've done very very well coming back from the disability coming back from you know, coming back from, you know, launching your second career after your military service. And you've done a great job. Your thinking skills are clear.

You got a lot of worry. There's a lot of worry in your process here. Dale Carnegie used to say, 80% of the things we worry about never happen. Now, I don't know whether he got that statistic, but I think it's probably pretty close. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. No matter what time of year it is, focusing on your family's financial plan is always a smart move. I get questions all the time about where to start and what to do first. One of the most crucial and affordable first steps to take is to protect your family and get term life insurance. I know it's not glamorous, but all the other steps mean a lot less if

something happens to you and your family has no financial protection. Getting term life insurance needs to be a top priority. I recommend 10 to 12 times your income and lock in rates for 15 to 20 Thank you. most affordable term life rates. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. It's not that expensive, it's not complicated, and you need to do it right now. That's 800-356-4282. Thanks for joining us, America. Andrew is with us in Galveston, Texas. Hey, Andrew, how are you? Pretty good.

Good. How can I help? My company does a profit-sharing contribution to my 401k, but there's no matching component. I didn't know if it would be better to contribute to this or do like a non-deductible IRA and roll it into a Roth annually. Your company does a 401k with a match from profit sharing, and they don't have a Roth 401k. They don't have a Roth, and it's not a match.

There's no match just based off of profit sharing. Oh, okay. So does it go into a 401k, the profit sharing, or is it on the side? It side it goes into a 401k okay so whether you put money in there or not they put it in there that's right very cool okay good very neat excellent excellent excellent all right so so you should be when you're at baby step four you should be, when you're at Baby Step 4, you should be putting 15% of your income into retirement. Are you on Baby Step 4? Yes. Okay.

And 15% of your income would be matching first, which you don't have, Roth second, which you don't have at work. So you would do a Roth IRA as an individual. What's your household income? About $300 for Texas. Okay, so you'd have to do the back door to get to the Roth. Are you married? I am. Okay.

And how old are you? 35. Okay, so you can do $5,500 for you, $5,500 for your spouse. That's $11,000. We're trying to get to $45,000, which would be 15% of $300. So you do those two on a backdoor, which you open them as after-tax IRAs and immediately roll them into Roths is what you do. That's how you do a backdoor Roth.

And then you've maxed that out. Then the only other way to get to $45, 45 is go back and put non-matching traditional money into that 401K. Does your wife work outside the home? Yes. And what is her income? About half of that, $300. What has she offered at her work? 6% matching.

Oh, well, we definitely want that. So we'll take that 6%. So the target is 45, okay? And then you start going and you start deducting off. We're going to take her 6% match and so that's going to be $9,000. We got $11,000, so

we're at $20,000. If we do the backdoor Roth and her 6% match, does she have a Roth 401k? There's not an option for a Roth 401k? There's not an option for a Roth 401k. It's just 401k. Okay. Alright. Then we'll do her 6% match first. We'll do the backdoor Roth

IRA second. That gets us to 20. We need to do 25 more in both the other in the 401ks and you can split that up however you need to to get there. You're maxed out at 18 in each. And so, but that's how, that's what you're going to do. You're going to end up with money in all of these.

Right. In order to get to 15%. So, yeah, yeah. And then the bonus is just the extra profit sharing money you get, but that's non-matching. And so it doesn't matter. It's coming to you either way. So, yeah, just do the six.

But the order of attack is match is better than Roth is better than traditional. And we go down the list in that order. It's like rock, paper, scissors, except none of them beat other ones. So good job, man. You're killing it. Well done. Great income. Wow.

Nicole is with us in Napa. Hi, Nicole. How are you? Hi, Mr. Ramsey. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can I help? Well, I am just starting Baby Step 2, and I am going in gazelle speed, as you would say,

in the total money makeover, but my husband isn't. I manage all of the money for our family. We have our bank accounts set up together, and we are just completely at odds on his outside spending. We have a budget set. We have everything in stone on spreadsheets, and we're just not clicking in on the same page as it relates to his outside spending. Yeah, that's because you're acting more like his mother than his wife. Yeah. And he's probably tired of that, and so are you. Yes, I am.

We're in separate beds right now since sunday i just had a breakdown and completely crying and over it because i'm sick and tired of being sick and tired how long have you guys how long have you guys been married we have been married for 21 years yeah and what's your household income uh we are at $163,000. Okay. Well, you've hit the wall that is very predictable, okay? And sometimes it takes people longer than others. And it can happen to a man or a woman where the other spouse is not involved at all and is on an allowance. He gets tired of being treated like a child child and you get tired of being the only adult

right and uh and it it crashes it inevitably it crashes and so um i i would tell you this i mean i don't know what you guys can do you may need to sit down with a pastor a good marriage counselor for sure to get to get to moving on the right page but it could sound something like this okay honey i've been completely wrong and you've been completely wrong we've got to restart this whole thing i don't want to be your mother anymore i need you to be a man and you don't want me to be a nag and you want to have a vote in these finances. And so we've got to start again. You now are in charge of the budget with me. As two adults, we are going to look into the future and determine where we want to go.

And where we want to go is not spending like we're in Congress. Where we want to go is not being an immature child, me or you. Where we want to go is we're going to look in the future like two adults and say we've got to clean up this debt and we've got to retire with dignity and we've got to enjoy our life to some degree while we're doing all of that. You get a vote and I get a vote. But we're going to have mature goals and we're going to work together. I am no longer going to do a budget and try to tell you what you're going to do.

You're going to be a man and you're going to work beside me. The two of us are going to work together. And we're going to come up with a game plan together. We both have a vote. That's going to be a little uncomfortable for you because you've been used to being in control, and you're a bit of a control freak. I am. And it's going to be uncomfortable for him because he's kind of used to being lazy about this subject. He's had no involvement in any.

For 21 freaking years, yeah. Yeah. It's overdue. He's going to have to man up and come to the table. Now, does he have to become a spreadsheet nerd like Miss Nicole? No. But we're going to make the decisions on the money together. And so the way it sounds is the nerd of the family, you, in my family it's me, lays out a budget.

And then both of us look at it together. And together we are going to approve a plan that is good for our future. It's not me telling Sharon what to do. It's not you telling your husband what to do. And he has a vote, and he's going to mess with your little plan. You may lose a few battles with your gazelle intensity, and you need to turn your gazelle intensity off right now until you get him on board him being on board and the two of you working together is more important than gazelle intensity to your success yeah you're right dave well thank you so much and thank you

for coming into our home i thank god for you every day well i'm proud of you and you guys can do this and hey if you want to get him on the phone and call back we'll talk to both of you and you guys can do this and hey if you want to get him on the phone and call back we'll talk to both of you because i appreciate it there's enough there's enough blame to go around here and neither one of you are bad people but you've been doing this the wrong way so long that it blew up in your face and the wrong way is is that he didn't the wrong way is he didn't have a vote and you got tired of being the only one carrying all the responsibility. I totally. Yeah. And today it's over.

I ain't your mama. Yep. I ain't your mama. You hit the cow on the head. That's it. God bless you, darling. Thank you for calling in. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Joey and Jessie are with us.

Hey, guys. Hey. How are you? Good. How are you? So good. So good. Where do you guys live?

Lafayette, Louisiana. All the way to Nashville to do a debt-free scream. Love it. How much have you paid off? Good. $41,320. Love it. And how long did this take?

15 months and 5 days, which was 5 days ago. Very good. This is fresh. And your range of income during that 15 months? $150,000 to $155,000. Very good. And what do you guys do for a living? I work in the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico. And that's the whole thing? That's it.

And I'm his cheerleader. And you're the cheerleader. I love it. She's the financial coach. That's perfect. Okay. Very good. What kind of debt was the $41,000? Oh, we had credit cards, 401k loan, stupid loan. And we had a car loan, and some furniture. Everything. Y'all were normal. Oh, yeah. How long have you been married? We just celebrated our 20th anniversary this year.

How fun. Very cool. Yes. So after 20 years of marriage, 15 months ago, what happened? Last year I had a major surgery surgery kind of set everything in perspective i came out the surgery and we were like that's it we're done yep yep just wanted to stop um you know he made such a good income but we didn't feel like we were getting anywhere we have two adult daughters and um he just wanted them to see a positive, you know, like, we just wanted to leave a better legacy.

And so we were not drowning. We were not, like, you know, starving. But it was ridiculous that the sacrifices he makes and the money that he makes that we were feeling. So you come out of surgery, and you kind of reset, you relook at life really because it's like, whoa, I better get serious about this thing. We might not always have it, this thing called life. And you go, oh, we make too much money to be this broke. Then what happened?

Yes. We got on a plan a couple of years ago. We tried it by ourselves, failed tremendously. We tried your, yes, your your plan but with some of our rules oh ish yeah yeah our rules didn't work at all we loved the idea of it but it's hard to you know when you're teenagers at that time you know you want to give them everything and we felt like we should do that and and um we quickly realized that um you know instant gratification is not always the way to go so you pull the old stuff off the shelf blow the dust off of it or what

we um we yeah we actually we got online and called here and got fpu shipped to the house okay and we started it at home oh okay and they attended a class a few years ago in baton rouge you did a conference down there yeah i kind ofstarted the kids with that. Yeah, both of our daughters have taken your curriculum at Louisiana Tech. Oh, wow. Very good. So they, we have one graduating next week. No student loans at all.

Woo-hoo. 100% debt-free. The youngest one had two years of college. No debt. Wow. So, yeah. All little envelopes, little weathered worn envelopes with cash tucked in them. Our daughters.

Yeah. So, hey, this is awesome. And then mom and dad come along and clean up. Yeah. And here we go. Right. Well, congratulations, you two. Thanks, Dave.

We appreciate it. Thank you. Very proud of you. It's very hard to do. Yeah, it is. It is. It is. You don't have to be drowning to get serious about it.

No. It's hard to do. No, you know, it's just, it's a three Bs, budget, budget, and budget. Sure. There's three things you do. Budget, budget, and budget. So what did you get out of the budget? What did the budget do?

What is it that allowed, because that's the truth. That causes you to win. But I want to hear from you why you think it causes you to win. I think for me, I let her do all the budgeting. I didn't participate. I went to work, let her handle it, and she's great at that. She's great. I was a free spirit.

She's a nerd. And I think when we sat down and actually looked at the numbers, we were like, oh, man, this needs to change. Yeah, what we were spending on what we were spending you know ridiculous stuff financing meals and financing silly things you know we'd not bought furniture in 20 years and we decided to buy furniture you know we could have gone back to restore and bought a 200 account and cash for it sitting down you know both of us religiously sitting down on purpose and taking the steps. Yeah. So when you decided to look at the numbers with Jesse, that's when things changed. Yeah. The two of you doing the budget together was the key.

Yeah. That was the big change shift for you all. That was part of the class that we saw, you know, in the FPU was sit down and have that budget discussion. Because it's hard. Yeah. It is hard. It's hard. Yeah, it is hard. It's hard. And then you realize the struggle in the end, and not in the end, this is not the end, but is a gift in return because it makes you have conversations that you might not have had

the courage to have before. And then you grow as a couple. Mm-hmm. And, I mean, what a gift for our kids to see that. You know, I wish, you know, you can say, I wish we'd have done this when they were babies, but, you know, they're seeing it now. yeah so and they're living it now too right it's perfect right and we did the whole plasectomy cut up the critical you know it was painful yeah it was painful because you're like oh man you know it's easy but it's easy but it's it it's easy in

the moment but over the scope of your life it's hard and the interesting thing is doing it wisely is the opposite it's hard in the moment but over the scope of your life it's easy in the moment, but over the scope of your life, it's hard. And the interesting thing is doing it wisely is the opposite. It's hard in the moment, but over the scope of your life, it's easier. Yeah. Because life's easy now. You've got a budget. You've got a game plan. You've got a great income. And you've got no payments.

We lost $41,000 of weight. I love it. Very cool. Well, congratulations, you guys. We're proud of you. Thank you so much. Very proud of you. We've got a copy of Chris Hoganogan's book retire inspired sweet that's the next chapter in your story to uh close the

chapter one debt free open chapter two become wealthy become everyday millionaires and outrageously generous as you go along well done you guys very very well done joey and jesse lafayette, Louisiana, 41,000 paid off in 15 months after 20 years of marriage. 150 to 155 income. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free. We're debt-free.

Love it. Well done. Very well done. Beautiful. Beautiful. Open phones this hour as we talk about your life and your money. Eric is with us in New York City. Hi, Eric.

How are you? Hi, Dave. How are you today? Better than I deserve. What's up? Yes, sir. I wanted to give you a little bit of an update of our total money makeover. I spoke with you about 10 months ago.

I was the guy that my wife was hiding $75,000 in credit card debt. It was actually $80,000. But I wanted to call and thank you and let you know what we're doing. Okay. Tell me about it. Okay, so it's been 10 months. We haven't used a credit card in 10 months. We paid off $21,000 in credit card debt by making our minimums and our snowball.

And I also sold the RV, which I owed $12,500 on. I found somebody that bought it over the Internet, so we eliminated that debt. So we're looking at $33,500 eliminated in 10 months. Way to go, man. Excellent. And you probably wouldn't believe what our income is. What's your income? Okay, my wife and I, I did land a job.

It's not a great job, but anyway, our net income is $65,000 combined yearly. Wow. You are making amazing progress living in New York City to do that. That's amazing. Very well done. So how did you guys overcome her hiding the debt how's the relationship um the really i mean the relationship is good i mean there there still is there still is time to you know when we feel strained because we still have a lot to go um but we're we're open

now with the finances we we do it together now so you don't think there's going to be any more stuff happening under the table, so to speak? No, I really don't. When I open up the banking, we sit there, we do everything together. We run credit checks. She probably feels a relief then.

Yeah, I'd imagine so, yeah. Way to go, Eric! Thanks for the update, man. I'm proud of you. You're doing it. You're doing it. You're right in the middle of it. Get after it, baby.

You got this. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Thanks for joining us, America. James is with us in California. Hi, James. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, how are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? So, me and my wife bought a car about two years ago, I think, or a year ago, and we owe about $21,000 on it.

And my dad has an extra car he was willing to give me. And we were kind of thinking about just selling the car completely. And I would drive around the free car for work and everything just to get out from under that. But we would owe about like six grand or less and get a loan to pay off the $6,000. Okay. All right. And what's your household income? We make about $75,000 a year.

How much other debt other than your home and this car do you have? We're renting right now. We have another car. It's a Prius. We right now owe $1,200 left on it. We're going to pay that off this month. And then it's just that car. That's it.

That's the rest of our debt. Okay. So $1,200 plus a 6,000 hole on the car. Yes. And then you're debt-free, and then you're going to do what? Yes, sir. Save up three to six months. Whatever my wife tells me.

Whatever my wife tells me. Okay. So, I mean, what's the grand plan here? Where are you going with all this? Save up money to buy a house. Okay. All right. So when you say it that way, what you're saying is I'm willing to sell my car because it gets me into a house faster.

Exactly. Given that Dad will give me a car to drive. Okay. saying is i'm willing to sell my car because it gets me into a house faster exactly given that dad will give me a car to drive yep okay it's an old beater but i mean that's i don't really need anything fancy yeah i mean we got a goal and so we're going to pay a price to hit our goal yeah and the goal is not the car the goal is the house and that's a good goal okay so yeah that's your trade-off you're just yeah all i'm trying to do is force you to say it out loud. I'm not just selling my car to sell my car. I'm selling my car because it gets me into the house faster. Yep.

We were just kind of nervous about the whole, we have a new car and then getting into an old, kind of just an older vehicle, a little rundown. Yeah. I guess. Yeah. Okay. Well, but I mean, for $20,000, you can fix that old car a lot. Yeah, Okay. Well, but I mean, for $20,000, you can fix that old car a lot. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, I think it's a good move.

I think it's a good move. Really? Because I think it's not just a mathematical move that's good. What's good about it is that you guys are, as a team, you and your wife, are committing to sacrifice to hit a goal. Yep. And that's what this car sale represents, and I think that's more important than the actual sale of the car.

So, you know, you kind of were just going along, oh, let's buy a car. Oh, let's get a Prius. Oh, let's do this. Oh, let's do that. Oh, crap, we don't have a house. And we're boxed into the corner. We painted ourselves into the corner. And so, you know, and now you woke up and went, hey, I want to get above this,

and I want to develop a plan, a strategic plan to actually do this on purpose, this money thing. And see, all of that stuff that I hear in this conversation is the most important part of where your head is right now, James. So I'm real proud of you. I think I would do this. Yes. Kristen is with us in Atlanta. Hi, Kristen. How are you?

I'm wonderful. How are you, Dave?. Hi, Kristen. How are you? I'm wonderful. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. How can I help? Well, currently my husband and I are trying to tackle some of your baby steps. We're new to it, but I've been listening to you for about four months now, and I'm madly in love with your philosophy and how to tackle debt. Currently we have about $98,000 worth of debt together.

That's not including our house. We have two little boys ranging in ages 7 and 3, or 2, sorry. And we're looking to add another one to the family. I'm kind of at the point in my life where I want to be done having babies, though I love being a mommy, and we're looking to maybe start next year, though we're only in baby step two and we still have a lot of debt, and obviously saving would be really key here to set ourselves up for success to have another baby. I'm just kind of not sure what to do. Do we wait another year or two until most of our debt's knocked out, or do we just go ahead and say, hey, let's do it. We're both still young,

and we'll keep going on with your program and hopefully manage it somehow. Okay, so what does your husband make a year? 50. 50, and you have $98,000. $50,000. And you have $98,000 in what kind of debt? It ranges from student loan to HELOC loan, credit card, and a car. How much do you owe on your car? My husband's going to tell me.

We recently actually just traded in and upgraded for a minivan so we're kind of set up for a bigger family um so we're at about 43 000 okay all right well um that was pretty freaking stupid yeah i know Yeah, I know. So sell the van. So sell the van, okay. Half of your debt, and you want to have babies, half of your debt was a stupid van. Right. And you called a talk radio host to ask permission to have babies because you bought a van you couldn't afford. I'm fussing at you.

Are you feeling it? I'm feeling it. I'm feeling it okay i mean really you just traded the right to have children financially for a van so trade back trade back the reason this doesn't make sense in your mind and in your heart is you're overwhelmed with debt and you're worried about whether or not you can afford to do this and the reason you can't afford to do this is you bought a van you couldn't afford right conclusion's real simple sell the van well i work too and and i make commission on top of what i bring home monthly um all. You think that changes this conversation? Okay, because I was like, whoa! Yeah. It does.

I bring in about 70 based on salary, and commissions can range from anywhere from... You bought a van you can't afford, and so you're having to ask in your own mind and then asking me whether you can afford to have children. And the reason you're asking the question is you're pinched. And the reason you're pinched is you bought a van you can't afford. Right. That's the bottom line here. And so, yeah, I think you ought to have kids.

Are you going to quit when you have kids? No, no, no. I love working and also being a mom. Great. Okay. So get a $5,000 van and sell this van. It was a really dumb idea. You doubled your consumer debt all in the name of babies that aren't even here yet and a place to carry them in a car you can't afford.

Right. It's just nuts. You even knew that because you know what you said when I asked you about it? My husband's going gonna kill me well he's gonna kill me on how it all happened i went in for an oil change he came out with a minivan but to be honest i was doing it in in effort to have a reliable car because previous cars were all used and were not reliable and costing me a fortune. They didn't cost you $43,000. True, but I looked at this van as a little bit off. I don't think I can help you, darling.

I don't think I can help you, okay? I mean, I'm not going to argue with you about this anymore. This is a dumb move. You can't really justify it. You can't really rationalize it. If you're not going to undo it, I can't help you, okay? You do what you want to do. It's okay.

You're an adult. You're allowed to do what you want to do. But I'm not. It's absolutely absurd. The whole process was absurd. How you got there was absurd. The decision was absurd. The fact that you're now worried about having kids because you made this decision is absurd.

And then the fact that you don't want to undo the decision is absurd. So that's what you're facing, kiddo. So you got to decide. You got to decide what you're going to do here. you gotta decide You gotta decide what you're gonna do here You wanna have kids, you wanna have a van Because it's really tough for you to afford both That's why you called me Because you were feeling that pinch

Not because you actually needed my permission to have kids That's crazy You know you don't need my permission to have kids So, hey, thanks for the call Open phones at 888-825-5225 By the way, folks, let me help you with this. There's an easy way to know if you can't afford to buy something. You didn't pay for it.

If you borrowed the money to go on vacation on a credit card, you couldn't afford the vacation. If you borrowed the money to eat out last night, you couldn't afford to eat out last night. If you borrowed the money, dot, dot, dot, you couldn't afford dot, dot, dot. If you can't write a check and pay for it, that means you can't afford it. You haven't earned the right to do that yet because you don't have the money. It's a real simple formula. It'll really help you. You can't pay for it in cash. Right then, in total, don't buy it. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know you can now listen to The Dave Ramsey Show on Pandora and Spotify? For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at DaveRamsey.com slash show.