The Ramsey Show - App - Real Estate Is NOT the #1 Way to Wealth (Hour 2)

Episode Date: December 26, 2019

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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. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Jonathan is with us to start off this hour in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Hi, Jonathan. How are you? Doing well, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Thanks for taking my call. A career question. I've been working for Super Regional Bank for the last 10 years, been promoted four times in the last six years, and I'm coming close to hitting six figures in my current role because of bonuses. And I'm looking to get into our wealth management division.

However, I've interviewed twice in the last two months for the same position, sat down with our wealth director, asked her specifically what it is that she's looking for, and she's brought on people with more experience than I've had from outside of our bank. And so my question to you is, in the next eight or nine months, I should be able to pay off $45,000 in student loan debt. That would be the rest of my debt. And I'm not sure if I should just wait to see if another position is opening up or there's a junior program that might be coming into existence early next year. I feel like I've hit a roadblock with my employer.

I know everybody up and down the food chain, have great relationships, and I'm just stuck on what I should do. So they will not answer the question what you need to do to qualify? They did, and it was working with our new advisor, which I have. I've referred three clients to him in the last two months of the segmentation that we look for for wealth management. And I have others in my rule deck, if you will, but I'm not necessarily willing to keep giving them over when I'm only going to get pennies on the dollar, if you will, while as much as I like working with this guy, he's going to get more money than I am if he lands the deals. Okay. Well, that Rolodex is of no value if you leave this company, though.

Right. I've never signed any waivers. I mean, it's unheard of in my position as a personal and business banker to have the success that I've been having and to take the leap, secondly, to take the leap from where I'm at. It's not impossible. It's just unheard of. So I'm the number one banker in the state of Florida for my bank. I have all the accolades.

And to be honest, I don't care, Dave. I just want to be paid for what I'm worth. I mean, there's no other banker in my world that's making the amount of money that I am, and that's not the drag. That's just like I'm ready. I mean, if this junior position can open up, then I heard that I'm on the short list. But at the same time, if that doesn't happen, after June of next year, do I say thanks or no thanks and already have three offers in my other hand? But that's the thing.

If I go to another competitor, I'm going to have to start from the ground where I was at of being just a personal banker just to show that I'm capable of doing. I mean, I think it's just a way of life. No, there's lots of people who hire financial advisors that don't start as personal bankers. Right. All kinds of people in the financial world do that. I mean, they hire. I guess I'm just married to my company.

I drank the Kool-Aid. I mean, it's one of the super-freeze super recent banks that you haven't passed on the air. So, I mean, I know that we're doing something right. Yeah, but you said the marriage is bad. True. You're married, but your marriage is bad. So, we either have to heal the marriage or we need to end it. And so, I think you're on the right track.

And I think you put yourself some, you you know basically you're flow charting out your critical thinking here and you're saying okay if i can't get into this or that by this date then i am going to have to look elsewhere you know and i don't know what this or that is or what that date is but i think you just lay that out and i think then you'll get some peace about this you're you're feeling all this pull and um stress because you're feeling the you know all the hard work you've done reputation you've built the uh promotions that you've gotten the loyalty that you have on one side on the other side of the column is the frustration that you can't move in the direction you want to move or haven't been able to yet. And so there's going to be a point that the frustration is going to mean more than all the other stuff. And it's going to cause you to leave.

At what point is that? And go ahead and decide that now. And then your stress goes down. And so you say, okay, if I can't land one of these two or three different avenues to make a move inside my organization by this date, give yourself a date. I don't care if it's next summer. I don't care if it's September. Next year, I don't care when you do it. But when you give yourself a date certain, and then you just go, and then we're just going to see how this plays out. If it doesn't play out, that's my day. I'm going to pull the ripcord that day. We're jumping parachute or not. And we're just going to see how this plays out. If it doesn't play out, that's my day. I'm going to pull the ripcord that day.

We're jumping parachute or not, and we're out of here. And, you know, you start, as that date approaches, you start looking for a place to jump to and a way that you can do it that's not detrimental to your household, obviously. But, you know, all of that stuff doesn't matter to you in the past is what you said. And yet it does matter to you because you're not being recognized for it. It's not getting you to where you wanted to go. And it feels you feel like you're being disrespected in that regard. And that's what's underlying your statements. It's what I'm hearing anyway. So I'll just give

myself a date certain. And let's lay out a couple things and say one of these things has to happen by that date, or I'm going to be in the job market. Hey, thanks for the call. Brandon is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hey, Brandon, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Good afternoon, sir. Hey, what's up? So my wife and I started the Baby Steps about three weeks ago.

Cool. And we're currently on Baby Step 2. I just sold my truck that I was making payments on, and I wanted to get your opinion or advice. We have about $7,000 in savings, and we were talking about spending maybe $4,000 on a replacement vehicle. How much debt do you have, not counting your house? About $80,000.

Whoa. And what's your household income? It is around $60,000, $60,000, $62,000. Okay. And what was the truck? How much was it? I owed $17,000 on it. Okay. And now you don't. Okay. And what was the truck? How much was it? I owed $17,000 on it. Okay.

And now you don't. Okay. Good. And now I don't. Okay. Cool. And what's the rest of the $80,000? $30,000 of it is solar panels on our home.

Another $11,000 is a deck and a fence that we had installed this past summer. And we have another vehicle that we owe $20,000 is a deck and a fence that we had installed this past summer. And we have another vehicle that we owe $20,000 on. And then the rest of it is credit cards. Yeah, I think $4,000 is correct. I agree with you. And you've identified by now that you have a problem with home improvements, right? Like you're addicted to home improvements or something? And you're going to have to work on that as part of this. But yeah, definitely $4,000. Get you a

little something to drive. You may want to get rid of that $20,000 one. Do the same thing again. And let's get this thing geared up here. Hey, I'm glad you're getting it. I think you can do it. I'm here to help. You call me back if I can help more. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs. Christian Health Care Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry.

A Better Business Bureau-accredited organization, CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years. And our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Ruth is with us in Charlottesville. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Ruth.

How can I help? Hi, Dave. Thanks. Thanks for answering my question today. Sure. I have a purging question for you. We paid our house off about four, four and a half years ago, and I still have all the loan documents from that. Can I get rid of them or should I hang on to them? What should I do? I'll probably hold them a few years. The

essential ones, I mean, the original loan documents, you don't owe the money more. You have a copy of the release, the release of the mort mortgage is filed at the courthouse, I assume, which is the main thing that has to be done. You know, something that important or that big I hang on to for a while. Okay. You know, I don't know that you need to keep every single item in that. Some of those closing files get a little thick, you know. But certainly the original closing statement, the original deed of trust and note, those kinds of things, a copy of the release.

I'm sure you've got one of those in the mail. I'd like to have those basic things, and that should be no more than a quarter of an inch thick by the time you get the other stuff out of the file. And that's not too bad. But I hold on to that stuff for a while anyway. I don't know if I'd hold it 20 years but you know it's it's fairly fresh still and uh there shouldn't be any need for it as long as you've got the release technically

you're going to be fine and for that matter as long as the release filed at the courthouse even if you don't have a copy of it it should be fine but that's what it does the other thing that happens is a technical detail and check with your attorney about this in Virginia. I'm not sure how Virginia is, but Tennessee, as an example, is a deed of trust and note state. The release filed at the courthouse releases the lien on the house and releases the deed of trust. The note is the actual debt instrument that says you owe money. The deed of trust is the lien debt instrument that says you owe money. The deed of trust is the lien on the house. And the original note should be returned to you eventually, marked paid in full.

And you definitely want to keep that probably the rest of your life. And I would keep a copy of the release of the deed of trust the rest of your life. But that's been filed at the courthouse. The note itself is what's a little bit dangerous if it's floating around because you should be able to prove it. It shouldn't be any issue. But in a weird scenario, it could come up that that note says you still owe money even though there's no longer a lien on your house because they're two separate things.

In a mortgage state, they're tied together. It's one document. But in a deed of trust and note statement, you have a separate note for the debt itself. And, you know, I keep up with that kind of stuff just to make sure I don't have that kind of stuff anymore. But, you know, those are kind of important things in case something weird came up. They sold the mortgage, and they didn't realize it was paid off, and then they came trying to collect from you, and you've got the note that says paid in full,

and you've got the release both. You know, you pretty much got your proof then if you needed it. That's the only reason you'd need something like that is a very weird scenario. Brandon is in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hi, Brandon. How are you? Oh, I'm great, Dave. Thanks for taking my call.

Sure. How can I help? Well, I have a question, a conundrum with me and my wife. I'm trying to get out of debt, starting to follow your program. We actually have followed your program once, got divorced, and we're married a second time. You remarried each other? Yes. Oh, cool. That's neat. I had some things in my life that I needed to take care of, and I did. Good for you. Anyway, but what our situation is, a couple years ago, we bought a new house, which we can afford with our income. Our house that we were living in, which we'd had, she had bought before we were together originally. She had, but we wanted to keep it and rent it.

And we'd been renting it for about a year and a half. And I did some calculations and repairs that need. And we're looking at about three to four years before I ever see any type of profit from it. Yeah. And we've got about $50,000 in debt. Mostly student loans and cars left. That's about all we've got about $50,000 in debt, mostly student loans and cars left. That's about all we've got left. And I want to sell the house.

We'd get about $50,000 to $20,000. But what is your debt? Yeah, I do too. And she wants to keep it. Her family's in real estate, and I think that's the only way to wealth. I'm actually getting my master's in finance and accounting. So I know there's other ways to income, but I think it would be more worth it to sell the house now

and there'll be other rental properties down the road. There's a couple, three things going on here. Number one, yes, what you're saying to do is correct. But let me walk you through what your barriers are and why what you're saying to do is correct and um but let me walk you through what your barriers are and why what you're saying to do is correct and maybe that will help real estate is not the number one way to wealth i'm a real estate guy i love real estate we've just finished a study of 10 150 millionaires very that started from nothing 90 of them started from nothing and very% of them started from nothing. And very few of them, like almost none, made their money in real estate. Now, sometimes after they get a million in their mutual funds and get their house paid off,

sometimes they start buying some property. A few of them buy property. But this idea that real estate is the way to wealth, especially the property you're describing that you're losing money on, that's such a joke. I grew up in the real estate is the way to wealth, especially the property you're describing that you're losing money on, that's such a joke. I grew up in the real estate business. I've had a real estate license since 1978. I love real estate.

I own a bunch of it. But the data tells us it is not the shortest way to wealth. The shortest way to wealth is what we're talking about, getting out of debt, staying out of debt, and getting your personal residence paid off and building wealth through your, your retirement plans. Then the next step of wealth is to start to buy some paid for real estate, but buying, holding a house you can barely hang on to that's losing money is not a path to wealth. That's just a problem. It's just a problem. Okay. So that's

why she's wrong is the data tells us otherwise and i would have probably been like her family a few years ago because i grew up in that business and i thought real estate's the cat's meow and i actually do i think it's wonderful but it is not the way to wealth in the situation like you're in okay it's costing you money it's not a financial blessing the other thing that's running around here, though, is what you all have been through in your marriage. How long have you been back together? We've been back together for five and a half years now.

There's a tiny bit, and I don't know what, but some percentage, and you ask her about this and then you shut up and watch her eyes, okay? There's a little percentage of hanging on to this house that's a security blanket because of what y'all have been through and the stuff that used to be in your life and i've suspected that yeah i don't know what percentage five years maybe a small percentage if that was five months ago or two or a year ago it might be a larger percentage i mean you've got a five-year track record of staying clean and life being good now right so ago it might be a larger percentage i mean you've got a five-year track record of staying clean and life being good now right so that it should be it should be a smaller percentage but that would not make her a bad person that would make her actually fairly reasonable

but if we just say that out loud and then she goes yeah but i'm really not worried about it okay then let's cut it loose it's not making us money it's not the path to wealth okay then let's cut it loose so you've just got to work through not making us money it's not the path to wealth okay then let's cut it loose so you've just got to work through those two things that it's not the path to wealth and what percentage of this is a security blanket and then that house gets sold and that's what you should do it should sell but you got to do that you know uh i guess gently kindly and you're just discussing this with her and just dealing with the things that she has put up there, the reasons to hold it. And you work through those, and then you make the call. That's what I would do.

Speaking of real estate investing, Mark's on Twitter. Should I unplug my investments to start investing in real estate? No, you should not. You should be doing 15% of your household income at baby step four into retirement. Five is kids' college. If you need to be saving for your kids' college, six is pay off your home. And you do them in that order. When your home is paid off, if instead of loading all of your investing into mutual funds,

you want to start saving, investing to buy some real estate, fine, that's what I would do. That is what I did the second time. The first time, I bought $4 million worth of real estate, nothing down, and I went broke. Almost everyone who does that goes broke. You can hardly find anyone who started their real estate investing career nothing down that 10 years later has any real estate they almost all go broke it only works on the infomercial people that kind of leverage that much leverage get you some real, but pay cash for it.

Collect all the rent and don't give any of it to some stupid bank. There's a way to accentuate your wealth building. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Support a small business this holiday season that does business right. I'm talking about Grip6 belts. It's the only belt you can get online with no holes, no flap, and no bulk. And the buckles come in really cool designs and are interchangeable. I personally own a number of these belts. Plus, these guys have a great story. BJ Minson started Grip6 on Kickstarter from his garage in 2014 and now sells hundreds

of thousands of these American-made belts to customers all over the world. As a mechanical engineer and a minimalist, BJ took his dislike for heavy, bulky leather belts that never fit right and created the perfect belt, a high-quality, minimalist belt that gives the strength and support of a belt without even knowing you're wearing one. I'm really proud of these guys, and I'm thrilled to recommend them to you. Go to Grip6.com and search for the Dave Ramsey page to get 35% or more off Grip6 products. Grip6.com. Greg is with us in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Happy New Year, Greg.

I see on my screen you're debt-free. Way to go, man. Thanks, Dave. It's an honor to be talking to you. Thanks for having me on. How are you today? Better than I deserve. How much have you paid off? So I paid off $210,000, oh, $210,202 in 21 months.

Whoa. And your range of income during that time? About 88, it was about $88,000 to $176,000. Little jump in income. How do you explain that? Yeah. Yeah, so basically my first two years out of residency, I'm a dentist, and I worked as an associate at multiple private practices in Texas.

I was not very busy, and I was not making that much money. And then there was a period about four months where I just couldn't even make my loan payments. Additionally, during that time, I had an engagement that ended, and I just kind of got really down on myself after all that happened. I was like, how could this happen? I worked hard and did well in school all my life and now I'm two years out and, you know, this isn't kind of what I expected my life to be like. So I kind of felt like I hit rock bottom at that point. And then an opportunity came Um, I decided to move to New Mexico. Um, I took a temporary job with the Indian health service on the Navajo reservation. Um, I, I didn't

have a internet for a couple of months, um, cause it's kind of in a remote location. So all I could do was read. Um, and it was there that I read your book, the total money makeover, um, which I had taken from my parents' bookshelf about a couple of years, but I never read. And kind of, you know, I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired, like you say. And after reading the book, I wrote down my first budget and debt snowball on a piece of paper. And then I cut up my credit card and I began to make headway on my debt. Six months later, I took a full-time job at an awesome community health center. And then I continued to go to the Indian Health Clinic on Fridays as an extra job just to make as much money as I could. And then I've continued to do this to this day. And after

21 months, after moving to Mexico, I paid off my student loans. And I can't thank you enough for showing me the path to get out of debt. I feel like I've totally rebuilt my life. I'm out of debt, and I'm engaged to the woman of my dreams and scheduled to get married this upcoming September. I also wanted to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for giving me strength to do this, and my parents, Bernie and Christina, and brother and sister Alec and Alexis for all their support. So out of the 21 months, it had to be the majority of that 21 months you were making 176. Yeah, about it.

It was a pretty big jump. Yeah, that had to be the majority. Because otherwise I can't get to 210 in two years. Yeah. Yeah, okay. So it was pretty much like 176. Like it was about 88 when I'm like in Texas, and then once I moved it, it jumped up. Yeah, I got you.

Okay, cool. Cool. And so you really have been living on beans and rice? Basically, yeah. I just, you know, I still live like I was when I was in school, you know, just have a one- yeah i just you know i still live like i was in when i was in school you know just just have a one-bedroom you know apartment um and my luckily my one-bedroom apartment's like right next to the office so i can just walk there you know and i do have to travel an hour on fridays but but yeah basically just beans and rice like you said so you're an

md making 176 000 a year you're engaged and you're how old uh i176,000 a year. You're engaged, and you're how old? I'm 32. I'm a DDS, actually. I'm a dentist. Oh, okay. Yep, yep. And you're 100% debt-free? 100% debt-free.

How does that? My next goal is actually, you know, we got money saved up for the wedding, you know, to totally cash flow that. And my next goal is actually to save up for a house. Very cool. So how's it feel actually to save up for a house. Very cool. So how's it feel, man? You're a weird dentist. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

And, you know, I just envision this day like ever since I, you know, set on the path to get out of debt. So it's awesome. I can't describe how awesome it is. Well, you're used to setting big goals over a long period of time and hitting them and this is yet another one of those for you going through dental school was one doing this was another and so you've you've proven that you can delay pleasure to win on a whole bunch of areas of your life congratulations

very thank you so much i really appreciate it what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? So I remember cutting up my credit card. That was a big one. When I was on the Navajo Reservation, I didn't really carry a balance on it, but it was kind of like what I had for my emergency fund. And I saved up $1,000 like in the baby steps. And then I cut it off and I was like, cut it up. And I was like, you know, you know, if something happens, I surely hope I'll be able to cash flow this.

And I did, you know, there's things that came up, but I was able to cash flow emergencies, you know, so cutting up a credit card is a big one. And then absolutely the written budget every month. I still do that. I use every dollar right now, but I used to just use a piece of paper to do it and kept the paper in my wallet. And then the debt snowball was big. I feel like you get more motivation once you pay off that first loan with the smallest balance, and then that helps you tackle the bigger ones

later in life. And then just working an extra job to get your income up as high as you can. Very cool. Well done, sir. We're proud of you. Thank you so much. Got a copy of Chris Hogan's new book, Everyday Millionaires, because you were on your way to being one without a doubt.

Wow, man. That's your next step, isn't it? Yes, thank you so much. I can't thank you and your team enough, you know enough just for showing me the path to get out of debt. It's like I listen to you every day pretty much through podcasts or YouTube, so it's just an honor to talk to you. An honor to talk to you. We're proud of you, Greg.

Well done. All right, Dr. Greg and Albuquerque, New Mexico, 210,000 paid off in 21 months, making 88 to 176. Count it down. Albuquerque, New Mexico, $210,000 paid off in 21 months, making $88,000 to $176,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! Yeah!

This is how it's done. Talk to these docs all the time, man. A whole bunch of them keep their student loans around for decades. There's no reason to keep your student loan around for decades. You need to just roll a ball up your fist and bust it in the nose. Just bust it in the nose like it's a bully. Old Sally Mae is an ugly old bully. You need to give her her eviction papers and put her on the street, man.

There's some stuff to do here. Well done. Very, very well done. I love it. Chris is with us in Baltimore. Hey, Chris, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, thanks, Dave. Thanks for taking my call.

Sure. What's up? Hey, so you've probably answered this question before, and I apologize ahead of time, but my wife and I plan on buying a house in about 10 years. I'm in the Air Force, so I move every two and a half to three years. So right now we've got our savings in a money market account that's getting about 2.3% or so every year, and I've got roughly $20,000 in there.

But, you know But 10 years out, I'm trying to determine whether I should dump the money in a Roth or just keep it in the money market. If you're going to leave it alone five years or longer, I would not put it into a Roth, but I would put it into some mutual funds and let it grow. Okay. Because you're not earning anything now. Right. I mean, the money market is for five years and less goals, including the emergency fund.

It should be in a money market type account. But the rest of it needs to go to long-term investing, needs to go into good growth stock mutual funds. And that's what I do with mine. Anything I'm leaving alone at least five years, I'm going to try to get a better rate of return on it so open phones at triple eight eight two five five two two five the stock market jumps up and the stock market jumps down and it is a good solid investment there's nothing wrong with being in good mutual funds but there is really really really really risky if your horizon is five years or less meaning you're going to use that money i'm saving up to buy a car in three years don't put that in a mutual fund i'm saving up to buy a house in three years don't put that in a mutual fund

no you what you do is you only put stuff in mutual funds that you're going to leave alone five years or longer, and you stand a really good chance of making money that way. But you've got to be able to ride the waves up and down a little bit, and that way you don't get burned. That simple. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thanks for joining us, America. Verna is with us in Portland, Oregon. Hi, Verna. How are you? Hi. I'm good. Thank you. Thanks for taking my call.

Sure. What's up? Well, I have a question, of course. I own two homes. Well, I'm buying two homes. I don't own them yet. One is a rental. I owe about $78,000 on it and some change. And the residence that I'm living in that I'm buying, I owe right now is higher, so I'd like to pay more on them than the amount due. Which one should I pay off first?

What's your income? $62,000. Good. Okay. How old are you? 55. Okay, good. So when you retire in 10 years, the main thing that has to happen is your personal residence needs to be paid for, right?

You don't want to go into retirement with a mortgage on your house. And if you have a mortgage on your house, you've got a problem. If you have a mortgage on a rental, you can sell it. So I pay off my home first. Well, that was easy. I'd like for you to get them both paid off before you get to retirement. That would be my goal, right? And it should be yours.

Right. Because if you're sitting there with both of them paid for, you keep both of them. But if you got to flip out of one of them because things start getting tight at retirement, you don't want it to be your residence. You want it to be your rental. And so I'm going to normally, I'm going to pay off my personal residence first just because in general of risk. In your case, the risk is getting to retirement age and not having it done. And you've got to have it done.

You've got to have it done. You want to go into retirement with a paid for property for sure. Raymond's with us in St. Petersburg, Florida. Hey, Raymond, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, how you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve, sir. I'm trying to get there. I don't want to take up too much of your time.

I'm a person about time. I have a couple questions. I'm just now starting, and I don't know anything about 401K. I'm a truck driver, And the first question is me and my wife, we're barely, we barely see each other, but I want to do the financial piece, which I know is kind of hard for us to do, but I bought the books, like your total money makeover, the one you had on sale and the workbook. And I bought the retire and inspire and I bought a couple of other books and I bought some books for friends. But my question is, how do I stop a 401K?

Because, like I said, this is my first time ever having one, and it just started, and it's only 3% being taken out. You get in touch with HR and payroll department and have them just put a stop on it. You can do that any time you want. It's a temporary stop while you work through the baby steps, of course. And is your wife reading this stuff with you while you're on the road and she's at home? Is she reading through it? Are you all talking about this all the time?

Sir, I bought, Mr. Ramsey, I bought a book for her and me. Oh, good. Because we're really trying to get on this. Good. Very cool. Well, the good news is that Financial Peace University is online, and so you can actually go through it together if you're not together. Lots of military families, for instance, do this.

You can go to a class in your local hometown and take the nine lessons. You can also take the nine lessons online when you're a member. And you ought to do both, really. But in your case, if you're gone all the time, she could and watch you know go to go see the first lesson and then you watch the lesson online and then y'all talk about it uh facetime that night you know when she gets home uh when you get out of the truck that night and you know uh or the next morning or whatever it is you know and so you can track right with each other by using the online aspects of financial peace university and every dollar plus is online uh as part of the membership

as well and that that connects all your bank transactions to where both of you are watching that and both of you have access to it and so again uh we've got military families where one of the spouses is in the sandbox they're deployed uh you know in the middle east somewhere and as long as they've got Internet access, you know, it's almost as if you're sitting down every night together at the kitchen table. You can keep up with the budget. You can keep up with the spending. You can keep up with the lessons.

You can do everything together. And it absolutely makes sense. So I'm going to put you through Financial Peace University as my gift. I'm going to put you in the one-year membership, and that will give you access to all those things I'm talking about, every dollar plus, the class, the local lessons, the online classes, everything. So it's like a combination home study and go to the class, or either or both kind of thing.

You can do it all. So hold on, and I'll have Kelly pick up, and we'll get you signed up for that. Ben is in Fort Lauderdale. Hi, Ben. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thanks for having me. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I just wanted to call for some advice. My wife and I are on baby step four or five and six, or actually four and five. We don't have a home. So we paid off all our debt, $55,000 in a year and a half, and we did baby step three.

We have three to six months. Right. We saved for a down payment, and we just started investing. And my question is, we want to relocate in about six months, and we're wondering if we should wait to buy a house until we relocate or start the process of finding a home now and, you know, just making calls and looking at homes, or if we should get our feet on the ground to where we're planning to move first.

There's no wrong answer. I mean, you're going to have to invest in some travel and a lot of online hours if you're going to buy as you make the move. Otherwise, you make the move and you rent and you look around and learn the neighborhoods and learn everything. So real estate is a large purchase. Anytime you're making a large decision, he with the most information wins. And so you've just got to gather information and you sound like just talking to your guy that gathers information and so that's natural for you probably but um you know you need to learn the neighborhoods you need to learn the square footage prices and

you know stuff in this neighborhood sells for 220 a square foot stuff in this neighborhood sells for 270 a foot and um you know you start to learn that stuff and the other thing you want to almost get you a map of the city out and draw some lines down some of the main thoroughfares because in almost every main thoroughfare on one side of the road is across the tracks and on the other side of the road is across the tracks you know it's like you're on the other side of the tracks what you know what that means means one neighborhood's better than the other. It's considered more prestigious than the other. And that can be all kinds of different ways as you move out of town.

It doesn't necessarily extend all the way down that line of that main thoroughfare, but there's invisible lines in every city that people that live there know where they are. And you want to learn those lines because otherwise you get fooled and you say, well, houses over there are really cheap. And then you find out, well, they're really cheap. And that's why they're really cheap. And so, you know, you start to find out there's stuff going on there. It's not necessarily the bargain it looked like,

like you discovered something no one else in the whole town knew or something. That's not usually the case. So, anyway, anyway more information the better puts you in a really good place to win and um so if you want to gather the information and work really hard make a few trips there um and more maybe more than a few really become an expert on that marketplace before you make the decision then you're fine to go ahead now um but if you want to just wait and you know know, live there a little while, it seems to become second nature.

Most of us know when you live in a city for a little while, you start to go, oh, I kind of get it now. There's something that people attribute to that area that they don't attribute to that area, this other area. And, you know, it's prestige. It's ridiculous. The old joke is, and it's true, the first time I went into appraisal class I was taking in college, and the professor teaching how to do appraisals said there's three things that dictate the price of real estate,

location, location, and location. And it's amazing to me that this dumpy butt little house built in 1958 is worth a bazillion dollars because it sits on that particular corner. And, you know, that corner is just a thing. And it's humans that make it a thing, but, you know, that value is really there. It's location, location, and location. So that's what you want to learn about when you're buying a home. You want to find out where you're going to be, what the trends are,

how are things moving, how's the growth patterns. You know, people moving out of there, people moving into there. Is this a re-gentrification area? What's going on with it, the whole thing. And once you learn those patterns, then you can make a really good selection. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and the books. Hey guys, this is Blake Thompson, Senior Executive Producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know over 15 million people listen to the Dave Ramsey Show every week? And a

lot of those people listen to one of over 600 radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.