The Ramsey Show - App - Real People Win One Step at a Time (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 4, 2019

The show about you

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, 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. Happy New Year, America! We're so glad you're with us. It's going to be a great year. It is for me, and I bet it is for you. And I want to show you exactly how to do that. For many years, we have told people how to do what we call the baby steps. The baby steps were born because we realize that winning is an intentional act.

You don't end up in Florida without a map and following the map. You don't end up on vacation at your destination at the beach or the mountains or whatever it is without a map and following the map a clear path gets you to your destination money is no exception to that winning is an intentional act it is something you do on purpose and by the, winning is usually an incremental act. Very seldom do people just suddenly win. Oh, it just happened. Oh, I just struck gold.

I won the lotto. It almost never happens. Real people win one step at a time. The race of life is not a sprint. It's a marathon. It's a long race. So you need clear steps outlined. And the financial planning steps that have set millions of people through are called the baby steps, the seven baby steps.

They're based on God's and grandma's ways of handling money, the principles of handling money from the Scriptures and from Grandma's common sense. So what do I do first? What do I do next? What's the breakdown? Am I the exception? No. And so on. So we're going to talk about the seven baby steps.

Baby step one is to save $1,000. Before you do anything else, stop all savings. Stop all investing. If you've already got some money saved, just pull $1,000 to the side and say, that's my $1,000. Stop all paying extra on debt. Be current with your debts. And then what you'll do is simply, once you're current current then you start your baby steps and baby step one's put a thousand dollars away two is work your debt snowball that snowballs listing your debts all except your home smallest to largest pay minimum payments on everything but the little one we've temporarily stopped the 401k temporarily stopped the retirement investing temporarily stopped the kids college we've temporarily stopped investing We put all the money we can squeeze out of our life and money from selling things and

bonuses and budgets and everything else onto the smallest debt. When it's gone, you go down the list. Once you're out of debt, everything but the house, now you've got some wiggle room. You've got some margin. And you go back to that baby step one and baby step three and raise it to three to six months of expenses. Then you move up and you start your retirement savings at 15% of your income. Kids college is baby step five.

Six is pay off the house early. And seven is become very wealthy and outrageously generous along the way. That's the favorite step right there, I'll just tell you. It's a lot of fun. So we're going to celebrate the baby steps this hour. We're going to talk to someone who's in each one of the baby steps at this moment and give them some advice and answer their questions and take them to where they want to go. Baby step one, Nicole, is in Columbia, South Carolina.

Hi, Nicole. How are you? I'm good. You? Better than I deserve. So you got your baby step one done or almost done? What's the deal? Finishing up, just finished it up at the end of December.

Okay, great, perfect. So you just got her done, and now you're moving on into Baby Step 2. How long did it take you to do your Baby Step 1 to get the $1,000 put in there? We started it at the beginning of October, so about three months. Okay, all right cool and how did you learn how to do all this stuff uh we went and we started stu in the first of september and then i had a couple weeks to get my husband on board it does take that yeah perfect okay so he's he's he going to the classes and stuff with you? Yes, we finish class at the end of October, 1st of November,

so we're done with our classes. And game on. All right. Yes. So what question can I answer for you today? Congratulations on making it through Baby Step 1. Thank you. I need to know if we should sell the boat that we financed in May of last year

or if we would be able to keep it. How much do you owe on it? $22,000. Oh, my goodness. What's your household income? We make $81,000 combined before taxes. And how much do you owe on your cars? We have one car payment.

We owe about $13,000. Okay. And we have total consumer debt is 56. That's with the car and the boat. Gotcha. So what is the boat worth? Probably about 23, 24. Okay.

It's 2017, but it was brand new when we got it. And what's the car's worth, both of them? The car that we are making a payment on is probably both of them. Well, we own several cars. Oh, you do? Okay. Well, here's a couple. You make 80, and how much debt do you have other than the boat?

You said 56 total. 56 total with the boat. Okay. It's borderline. It's up to you. Here's why. Here's the numbers I use. Boats and cars, anything with motors and wheels goes down in value.

Agreed? Yes. And if you have too much tied up in things going down in value, you can't win with money. And you can always get another one later and, you know, enjoy a different situation later. But you can't have too much tied up in things that go down in value. So the rule of thumb I use is don't have things with motors and wheels all added together that are worth more than half your annual income. You're probably right on that bubble. Okay.

And you're probably right around $40,000 worth of cars and boats, you think? Well, the other vehicles are like made cars. Okay. If you add them all up, if they're more than 40, including the boat, in value, then you've got too much stuff sitting around. You may have too much stuff sitting around anyway. You may have some extra cars you need to sell. But aside from that, you don't need spare cars.

But aside from that, you're driving junk cars. You've got a really nice boat. That's weird. The second rule of thumb I use is can I be debt-free and keep the item, everything but my house, within two years? And the answer to that is yes. Borderline. Borderline.

I mean, you're going to have to pay about $30,000 a year out of an $80,000 income for two years to be debt-free. And you can make that, but barely. And really concentrating. So this boat is really kind of a glaring thing it probably ought to go because it's right on the bubble but i'm i wouldn't slap my fist down so you're crazy if you don't have a go partly because i'm a boat guy i've got two boats i love the lake i love the water so i completely get it, okay? But it is your largest debt. It is almost half of your debt.

It is what's going to make the two years tough. I'm not sure it's worth it, even though I love boats. I was thinking we'd sell it and get another one in a couple years and pay cash. I think I probably would, but with the guidelines I use, I wouldn't slap my hand on the, you know, if you told me it was a $40,000 boat, I would say you've got to sell it. See what I'm saying? It would be just a no-brainer. But it's right on the bubble with the two guidelines I use, the two years and a half your annual income on rolling stock and stuff with motors,

and that's right where you are. So you can decide, but I probably, if I were in your shoes, I probably would sell it. You've done a great job. You're getting progress here. I'm proud of you. Baby step one behind you. Head long into baby step two. And a good clarifying question.

This hour we're celebrating the baby steps by talking to people in each one of them. That way we can educate you on how to walk through it. Real people doing this stuff. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. With more frequency than you know, I get calls and emails from people dealing with the recent loss of a spouse or a parent. You can hear the struggle and the heartache that they've been experiencing. And at a time they should be grieving, what breaks my heart the most is the strain and tension that they're going through because of money, especially when it's a situation that could have been avoided.

If you have a family, it is your responsibility to have term life insurance. It's one of the things you do to say I love you. And yes, this is an ad for Zander Insurance. But since this is one of the most effective ways I have to get my point across, so be it. For over 20 years, I've been telling you about the importance of term life insurance and protecting your family. Listen, you need to check out Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. I can't say it enough. Protect your family.

It's what you're supposed to do. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Welcome back to the Dave Ramsey Show. We're celebrating the baby steps and Financial Peace University, the best way to execute them. Happy New Year. We're glad you're here. Happy New Year. We're taking calls from someone in each of the baby steps. We just talked to Nicole in the last segment who was in Baby Step 1

just coming out of it and heading into Baby Step 2 and had a question about selling her boat. And so we're going to someone in each of the Baby Steps and they're usually looking forward to the next Baby Step and are thinking about that when we're talking to them. You're going to see that as a trend because that's how life works when you've got a map. You're not looking in your rearview mirror. You're looking at the windshield for, are we there yet, Mom? Mom, are we there yet? How many more hours till we get to the beach?

Our kids were little. We had an old blue Astro van. We used to cram one of those little TVs with a VCR in the middle of it between the seats and plug it into the cigarette lighter. And so we used to measure how many little mermaids away we were, how many times we had to watch Little Mermaid away from the beach. So we could all memorize Ursula's songs. There you go. I mean, that's how life works.

So you've got to measure things, and then you can tell if you've got traction and progress, and that's why the baby steps are there. Makisha is with us in Waco, Texas. Hi, Makisha. How are you? Hi. Hey. I'm doing well, babe.

Welcome, welcome. So I see you are on baby step two, which means you're working your debt snowball. How's that going? It is going great. Like, I'm so on fire, it doesn't make any sense. I love it. How much debt have you paid off so far? I have paid off $66,000.

Woo! Woo! I love it. $66,000. How much more you got to go? $66,000. How much more? $22,000.

Oh, man, you're two-thirds of the way there. Yes. I love it. How does it feel? It feels amazing just having a plan and seeing what's next is is a feeling i've never felt before so it's amazing i bet you're tired you've been working hadn't you i have been working i have been working i started 2018 in a salary position and you know picked up a part-time job and i went ahead i'm an orient so i went ahead and went back to shift work and they know who to call big time nice weekends yeah

they know who to call good money so what's your question today my question is um i don't have a home yet so i i can be debt free and have my six month emergency fund i believe um you know probably around april may june um but i don't have a home yet so i was wondering like when is it okay to dial back um you know with all this extra that i'm working to get through baby step three and then trying to save for a down payment for a home exactly get through baby step three and then before you start baby step four a lot of people call it baby step 3b where they do their save up for their down payment and of course the more you work the faster you'll have the down payment but you'll be debt free with an emergency fund plus a down payment when you do the house and so what we're

saying is by next january you're going to be in a house yeah that's pretty cool okay because i mean you're debt free you're going to be debt free in the spring here and then you finish your emergency fund and then you save your down payment. And you can work as hard as you want to work. I don't care. You can dial back on the work once you have the baby step three in place, your emergency fund. But that will just slow down how quick you get your down payment.

You might get excited and keep working and knock that down payment out to get a house. How old are you? Exactly. I'm 28. You ever owned a house? No, never owned a house. Well, it's time. I'm ready for you. I'm proud of you. You ever owned a house? No, never owned a house. Well, it's time. I'm ready for you.

I'm proud of you. You're doing good. You ought to be proud of yourself. You feel good. You got to feel good about yourself, don't you? I do. I do. And I try to tell anybody who's willing to listen that this plan has changed my entire

viewpoint on everything. I'm so happy for you. Way to go, kiddo. Get them. Get them. You got this all right baby step three is putting away three to six months of expenses to go back to that thousand dollar account and raise it up after makisha's doing her baby step two that's what

she's going to do and in baby step three is ryan hey ryan in dallas how are you i'm outstanding how are you doing dave better than i deserve welcome to the dave ramsey show so you are in the middle of uh working your baby steps you're working on your baby step three how did you come to do all of this what caused you to do this the way that we figured out is we kind of looked at the uh the four walls uh you know just pretty much if we lost our job, how are we going to, you know, how much do we need to pay the bills, have gas, be able to go, you know. Oh, that's how you measure the number of the dollars per month you need to calculate your Baby Step 3? Yes, sir.

I got you. Okay. All right. And so how did you end up doing this whole program, the whole Dave Ramsey Baby Steps thing? So back in January 2016, we were actually gifted, FPU, me and my wife. So we decided, you know, kind of why not, and, you know, we were pretty frugal with our money. How old are you guys? Right now we are 28, both of us.

Love it. Somebody gave you Financial Peace University. You guys went into the class, and that's how you learned how to do this. How much debt did you pay off in Baby Step 2? We paid off $28,000, and we made about $35,000 a year.

Making $35,000 a year? Yeah. So, honestly, it took us probably two years to do, but we jumped our income up a lot because I got promotions. My wife got a new job. We were dedicated to make more money. Gotcha. And that works, man. I mean, when you have more wood to put on the fire, the fire gets bigger.

You did it. Well, congratulations, man. So what can I answer for you today? All right. So, of course, you know we're on the three to six months. Would you suggest that we do the whole six months before we go on to the 3B? Or should we just do like three months and move on? What do you do for a living? So I work at

a Lexus dealership on the service side. Are you a certified mechanic? No, sir. I kind of sit in the background and make all the legal paperwork. I got you. And what's your wife do for a living? She is an expediter at a company that sells towels. Okay. How stable would you say your jobs are? Really stable.

Okay. The more stable they are, the more you're safe with three months for two reasons. One is you would have a stable job, and two is you have two jobs, yours and hers. Okay? So if you had one job that was straight commission and volatile, you'd need to be on the six-month side. You follow me? Yes, sir.

But since you have two jobs, one of you loses one, you've still got money to eat at least, right? And so the emergency fund is not as big a factor when that occurs, then you're good. So, yeah, that's exactly. I think three is fine. What you may end up doing, some people do this, is they'll do the three right now and then save up their down payment and then get in the house.

And then just to kind of put a icing on the cake, they'll go back around and spice it up to six. That's kind of what I was thinking, too. Yeah, but I think you're safe because you have two jobs and you have two stable jobs that are predictable so you're safe at three to go ahead and save up your down payment is what i would do is that logical to you yes sir hey well done man i'm proud of you you're killing it this is exactly how you do it this is exactly how you do it so financial peace university is a gift. Works. Did you hear that? Got a young millennial there who's changed his life,

not making a ton of money. Thirty five thousand took extra jobs and paid off all kinds of debt. And it's taken him a couple of years. They're trudging through now. They're doing their but they're doing very clear path. That's what these baby steps are. That's why we're featuring the baby steps from Financial Peace University this hour. And so you can gift it. You can get in it. Millions, over 5 million people have been through Financial Peace University already. And by the way, if you've been through it, you ought to get back into the membership because there's other classes in there now like the Legacy Journey Journey and the Smart Money, Smart Kids, and Every Dollar Plus is included.

It's a bargain to just make it part of the rhythm of your life, not just the first nine lessons. The first nine lessons are kind of base camp that kind of gets you off the ground, right? But this is what happens when you follow a plan. When you sacrifice, when you live like no one else, later you're going to have the opportunity to live and give like no one else, later you're going to have the opportunity to live and give like no one else. The Bible says no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but it yields a harvest of righteousness.

We're featuring the Baby Steps from Financial Peace University this hour. The seven Baby Steps. Someone from each of the steps telling their story, letting them ask a question, and letting you see how this unfolds during this Baby Steps theme hour. The first one of these we've ever done, but it's our way of celebrating the new year. Happy New Year, baby! You can do this stuff!

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Your goal this year is to get rid of your debt, but here's the deal. In order to keep your momentum going past January, you have to make small changes that get quick results. That's why you need to attack your debts smallest to largest. I also recommend you look for ways to find extra money to pay off your debt sooner. It's there, I promise you. Take a look at your mortgage. If you call my friends at Churchill Mortgage and request a five-minute checkup, they can help you find extra money.

Churchill Mortgage Checkup has helped thousands of my listeners save big. In just a few minutes, the Churchill team can tell you how much cash they can potentially save you or they can restructure your mortgage to pay it off early. Become debt-free in 2019. Call Churchill today at 888-LOAN-200 or visit ChurchillMortgage.com for your Churchill checkup. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLS ConsumerAccess.org. Equal housing lender.

761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. Welcome back to a Baby Steps theme hour. Celebrating the new year. It's a step-by-step process to build wealth. You lay the foundation, then you put the walls up, then you put the roof on, then you celebrate. And that's how it works. We're talking to someone in each of the seven Baby Steps answering their question. Up next is Baby Step 4, which is 15% of your income going into retirement.

Now, Baby Steps 4, 5, and 6 you do simultaneously, but in that order. The first thing you do is 15% of your income into retirement. Then, if you're going to do kids' college for some reason or another, that's where you would start saving for that. Then, with extra money beyond that, you start doing Baby Steps 6, which is pay off the house. So let's talk about each of those. Megan is with us in Lansing, Michigan on Baby Step 4.

Saving for retirement, huh, Megan? Yes, sir. Very cool. How long did it take you all from Baby Step 1 to get to Baby Step 4? Less than a month. Less than a month? So you were almost debt-free and you already had some money saved. No.

Well, we sold a house. Oh, there you go. Essentially wiped out our debt, had our emergency fund, and then we were at baby step four. Gotcha. And how'd you learn about all this stuff? My parents did FPU, I don't know, 15 years or so ago. Oh, so you're an FPU baby. Okay.

Yeah. So then my husband listens to your radio show and he's driving home from work. And then we borrowed books from the library to read so that we're on the same page. Okay. So you never even bought a book. You just got them all from the library. I like that. You're a che from the library. I like that. You're a cheapskate.

I love it. I'm going to give you a book, okay? So at least you'll have one of your own. I'm going to send you a copy of Chris Hogan's new Everyday Millionaire's best-selling book, okay? So when we get done, you hold on. Kelly, I'll send that out to you. So your question today while you're in Baby Step 6 is what? We're in Baby Step 4. I mean 4, I'll send that out to you. So your question today while you're in Baby Step 6 is what? We're in Baby Step 4.

I mean 4, I'm sorry. And it has to do with Baby Step 4 and 6. Okay. So we are currently putting approximately 20% of our income into retirement. Why? That's about Baby Step 4. Right. 15% is Baby Step 4.

That was my question. So he does 7% into his Roth to get his company match, and then he does the 2,000. He has 7% to a 401k. Then he does 2,000 to the Roth for the $200 favors match, which is 3% of what we're putting into retirement, and then we max out our HSA. So my question was, do we just cut that to the 15% and put that extra 5%?

Yep. Okay. Absolutely. Put the extra 5% towards the house until the house is gone. Now, when the house is gone, you come back out and max out everything else. Do you not have anything better than an HSA to put this in on the balance of the stuff? Well, we have the 401k, we have the RAS, and then we're using the HSA to max it out, but we're still using it for medical expenses, too.

Yeah, that's not really retirement. That's really health savings when you're doing that. So I really would use a retirement mechanism if you have them rather than that to get you up to the 15%. But beyond 15%, stop and move on and get to the other. Hold on. I'm going to make sure Kelly sends you a copy of Chris Hogan's new bestselling book, Everyday Millionaires. You're going to be one since you borrow all your books from the library. Tricia is with us with Toby in Washington, D.C. Hey, guys, you're on Baby Step 5, saving for college.

Way to go. Thank you, sir. Did you guys have student loans when you went to college? No, sir. You didn't. So you're going to pass this blessing on to your kid. That is correct. I love it.

So your parents doing well by you inspired you, or did you find another way to go without student loans? No. Well, I had two years of academic scholarship, and I went to a branch campus of Ohio University, actually, and then went one year away. But my parents paid for my college, and Toby, you can go on. My parents did the same thing. They started saving when I was young. I had scholarships, but they took care of it for me. I had to cover the books.

Love it. Love it. So that inspired you guys to do the same for your kids. Now, how long did it take you from baby step one to get to the point that you're doing your retirement in four and now saving for your kids college in five i would say 26 26 months or so oh wow over two years very good you plowed right through how can i help today uh so a question kind of goes towards baby step six pre-dave we bought a couple rental properties. One of them was paid off, but we still have mortgages on two of them. So we're trying to figure out, do we snowball them and baby six with our primary mortgage,

or do we take care of our primary first and then worry about the rentals? Okay. And so you've already got your kids' college savings going, and now we're trying to figure out how to move baby step six along. Good. Okay. Well, so you have one rental mortgage and your personal residence mortgage. Two rental mortgages.

Two rental mortgages. And a personal residence. And a personal residence mortgage. Okay. How much do you owe on each of the three? Break them down for me. On one rental, we owe about $41,000. Another one, about $60,000.

And our primary, we owe $3441,000. Another one about $60,000. And our primary, we owe $342,000. Because the prices are so disparate, meaning the two rentals together are very small, even together it's only $100,000 versus $340,000, I'd probably go ahead and knock out the rentals. Were they close? I mean, if you owe $200,000 on a rental and $300,000 on your personal, I'd probably pay your personal first in that case. But these are small enough, you're going to be able to knock them out. What's your household income? We make between $232 and $250. Oh, you're going to do this in no time. How old are the kids? 10, 8, 6, and 3 1⁄2. Okay, so before your kids get to school,

probably your house and all your rentals are paid for, which will also help fund college because you're going to have a great income with no debt of any kind flying around. So you'll be in really good shape. Well done, you guys. I'm proud of you. Congratulations. Jaina is in Baby Step 6. Pay off your house.

Working on paying off the house. love it hi jana how are you jana i am good thank you dave welcome how did you learn about the baby steps well picking up the kids from school listening to talk radio and you would come on and i kind of got addicted there we go we like that kind of addiction around here. Thanks for listening. Yeah. And how long did it take you to get from Baby Step 1 to where you were working on Baby Steps 4, 5, 6? Well, we started in April of 2015, so in like two and a half years. Wow. Way to go.

And we started paying off the house in January this year. And, yeah, we're hoping to get paid off in about a month. Wow, very good. So you're almost done with the house. Ding, ding. What's the house worth? It is right now at about $215,000. Way to go.

And what's your household income? It's a little bit over $100,000. Way to go. Very good. So you're about to be a Baby Step 7 person. So what's your household income? It's a little bit over $100,000. Way to go. Very good. So you're about to be a Baby Step 7 person. So what's your question? Oh, yes. Oh, boy. Okay. Well, we've been toying around with this idea. My husband has TSP.

So, as you know, it became Roth within about a year or so. So we were wondering if we should focus on maybe moving some of the regular TSP money to the loss and just pay the taxes and leave it over? Yes. Okay. Absolutely I would, because it's going to grow tax-free from this point forward, and the tax money that you're paying is the same as investing money. It's like you put that much more money into the IRA,

or into the TSP at this point. So, yeah. And so when you hit baby step seven, what you do is you go max out everything you can that is available to you, which would be a couple of Roth IRAs. How old are you two? We are 39 and 38. Okay.

So $6,000 in the year 2018 each that you can do our 6500 i guess it'll be we'll have to look and see but anyway new amounts this year in the year 2019 i'm sorry in 2018 is 5500 each at your age but there's new guidelines for 19 and so anyway max those out max out everything you can put in the, everything you can put in the Roth, and then above that, you start other investing. But as far as transferring the stuff inside the TSP from non-Roth to Roth, thereby making it taxable, yes, at Baby Step 7 is exactly where I would do that. That's the best time to convert traditional to Roth, especially as young as you guys are, because all the growth from this point forward will be completely tax-free.

You gotta love it. You gotta love it. We're doing the baby steps this hour. You know what that means? Next segment, we're going to hear from somebody in baby step seven, somebody who's arrived at the mountaintop, baby. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Celebrating the baby steps from Financial Peace University this hour.

We've gone through baby steps one through six, talking to callers in each of those steps in the previous three segments. We thought we'd celebrate Baby Step 7 by talking to someone that is actually there. I do want you to note something. Several of these callers that we talked to, I asked them to tell a little bit about their story, how long it took them. A lot of them, oddly enough, not really oddly, but you should notice the coincidence. It's not a coincidence. Started their journey in January. Ta-da.

Happy New Year. You're thinking about changing your life. You could start your journey. This should be your starting point. So you need to get Financial Peace University going right now. You need to be downloading these podcasts or listening to this show on your local station or SiriusXM. You need to be plugging this information in your brain regularly, and it keeps you on track. We are your pep rally.

We're your cheering squad. We're your coach that yells at you to get you to run harder. We're those people. We're here to help you because we love you. We're proud of you, and we think you can do this. It's January. Start something new. The worst thing that can happen is you could go back to doing your old stuff later if you can do this it's january start something new the worst thing that

can happen is you could go back to doing your old stuff later if you didn't like it all right baby step seven caller is rachel rachel how long have you been in baby step seven hey dave you have pete and rachel here we've been in baby step seven for about three years. Awesome. Very cool. How old are you guys? I am 45, and Pete is 51. And so you paid off your home three years ago. Yeah. And now you're investing and giving aggressively. Tell me your story.

What happened, and how did you get here? So we got here about a few months ago. A very young woman that I was, I'm very sorry, do you want to know the story of how we ended up with Dave Ramsey or the story of our giving? I'm sorry. The story of your giving. Okay. So I was at a little party for a young lady who was diagnosed with brain cancer that I worked with about eight years ago, and she was talking about having to go on permanent

disability. And one of the things that happens when you go on permanent disability is that you lose your employer's contribution to your health insurance. So I was just chatting with her about what that meant to her financially, and she's an RN. She was work night shift and was working overtime, so she ended up losing about 60% of her total pay and now also had to pay this amount of her insurance. And really without even consulting Pete, because we have our giving budget already set,

I was able to tell her that night, like we can commit to paying your health insurance for as long as you need for the remainder of your life or whatever it is that you need us to do so that you don't have to worry about that while you're trying to take care of your life or whatever it is that you need us to do so that you don't have to worry about that while you're trying to take care of your kids and while you're trying to get care and to live as long as you can. So this is a single mom with terminal brain cancer or she's a young mother. Is she married? She is married. Her husband is actually in nursing school so that this will allow him to continue to finish nursing school

instead of having to drop out to find a job that will give him health insurance. But basically she's been given a diagnosis and says she's not going to make it. Yeah, she has geoblastoma, so she will not. And we are praying for her to live as long as possible, but it is a very scary diagnosis. Absolutely. Yeah, it's a very negative one, yeah. And you guys are stepping up, and because you don't have any bills, including your house,

you're able to just without even thinking about it, because you have the budget set aside for giving, say we'll cover the health insurance premium for you. I bet that was an interesting moment. Yeah, yeah. I bet that was an interesting moment. Yeah. And I would say that, like, if need was greater, if they expressed other needs, we would step up and take care of those as well. It's just what Rachel was inspired to do at the moment. Yeah. And had the leeway to do it because you guys had a game plan put together

that said we've got this much, let's look for these God appointments, and when God knocks on the door, we answer. Exactly, and we just have such a belief that this is God's money, and it's God's will what to do with it, and we're just the steward, and we try to, like you said, when God knocks on the door, we say this is what we're supposed to do, and we do it. Poor Pete did not even find out that we were doing this giving until I was contacted by the show.

She put it on Facebook before I knew. Well, congratulations, you guys. It puts you in a completely different place. I mean, talk for a second about the mindset change of where you are now versus like 10 years ago when you were in debt and didn't have a plan or whatever, wherever you were. But I just remember with Sharon and I, we're just kind of walking around looking for opportunities like that where we can be a blessing because we don't have to think anymore about whether we can pay the light bill. Yeah, I think that's exactly what it is. When you are in debt, you want to do those things,

and you might see those things that you're like, there's no way. I have to pay the light bill. I have to make sure that the kids have shoes and clothes and all of those things that happen in your life that are the normal things. And, you know, if the car gets repossessed, I'm not going to help anybody because I'm not going to work. Right. And what else, what I'll say to that is, is when you're fighting the bank by paying all these interest payments, you can't believe some of the, one of the things that you

say all the time is that you can actually have fun giving. Like when I was in that point, I'm like, I couldn't believe that you'd say that. But now we can have fun giving, and a lot of times we do stuff that is just, it just makes us ecstatic to give. Oh, yeah. It's so, it is the most, I tell people this all the time when I'm doing the Smart Money events and even in Financial Peace University, the most fun you'll ever have with money is giving it. And people just look at you with this blank stare like you've got one eye in the center of your head

because they're so far in depth they can't breathe, and they can't visualize being there. But that, you know, I want people to hear loud and clear that when you get where Rachel and Pete are in Baby Step 7 and you don't have any payments, you don't have a house payment, you don't have anything, retirement's done and underway. I mean, you've got a serious net worth. You've got a good income. They're in their mid-40s, early 50s, and they're in a position to travel. They're in a position to be a blessing to others and give.

They're in a position to live out their dreams, and it's living like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else, and you guys are living that out beautifully. Quickly, tell me how you got connected to us. For me, I got connected to you by hearing you on the radio, and, you know, and like I was in a very dark place financially, and I heard you on the radio, and I kind of sort of started out doing what you did. How long ago?

That was probably six or seven years ago. I would say that was about nine years ago, and then seven years ago we met, and he handed me the total money makeover on our third or fourth date. Oh, wow. Okay. And when we got married, we got serious. Okay. And I'm a numbers guy kind of like you. And I was in my early 40s, mid-40s, whatever.

And our first year of marriage, we built more net worth than, like, and we've both been working since we were at least 16 than we had in the previous, like, 20, 24 years. And you guys have not only gone to Financial Peace University, you've also been coordinators, right? Correct, sir. Wow, very good. Well, thanks for doing that, guys, and thanks for sharing the story of your giving and what it feels like to be in Baby Step 7. That will motivate a bunch of people to get there. I suspect you guys are everyday millionaires, aren't you?

Yes, we are. Way to go. Well done. I'm glad it worked for you guys. I'm glad the Baby Steps and all this stuff went from a dark place to an everyday millionaire in nine years. And starts on a radio call, starts on the radio dial being flipped over, and then marries up. And Shands are a total money makeover book, and it's game on. They go through Financial Peace University.

They coordinate Financial Peace University. Why? Because you get yourself in and around people who are going to cheer you on. Community is an important part of transformation. It's hard to transform your life. You know, if you have a drinking problem and you hang out with your drinking buddies every day, it's hard to transform your life. You know, if you have a drinking problem and you hang out with your drinking buddies every day, it's hard to transform your life. You need to hang out with guys and gals at AA. You need to hang out with people that are sober if you've

got a drinking problem. If you want to stop drinking, right? I mean, if you want to stop, if you want to get control of your money, you've got to get in a community of people that are doing that. And that's what Financial Peace University is. It's a community. It's a movement. It's a happening. It's a membership. And you go to the nine lessons, and you learn the seven baby steps, and then you keep working this stuff. And then you get to be an everyday millionaire.

And when you run into somebody who has a need, oh, you can just do it. Oh, it's so sweet. Well done. Ah, I love it. it. Oh, it's so sweet. Well done. I love it. That's a Baby Steps theme hour. Happy New Year to you. Are you going to change something this year?

Yeah, I think you should. Check us out at DaveRamsey.com. We would be honored to help you with Financial Peace University or anything. Hey, guys. This is Blake Thompson, Chief Production Officer for The Dave Ramsey Show. Here's a tip. To keep from missing Dave's classic facial expressions to some of those calls,

make sure you watch him live. Just visit DaveRamsey.com slash show each day from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern. Enjoy.