The Ramsey Show - App - Rich People “Ask How Much?” Poor People Ask “How Much a Month?” (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Jade Walsh, our Ramsey personality, is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Barbara starts this hour in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi, Barbara. How are you? I am well. Good. How can we help? I need some advice on how to move forward with the collections company.

I had a roof put on, and I got several estimates done, and I got down to making a decision between two different ones. And the insurance company kind of stonewalled on one because they came in like $12,000 more than the other company. So the insurance company told me that, well, why would I pay that much more to have a roof put on when I have a reputable company here that will do it? So when I told, I called this company A, that I was going with someone else, he became very angry and belligerent and sent me an invoice for $697 for the services he had provided. Although even if you go to his website, it says that he gives

free estimates. So he sent it to collections and they keep calling me about it. I just need to know how to move forward with that. Now, there is one caveat here. One time when we were after the insurance company stonewalled on him, he asked me to sign this docu-sign. And he told me by word of mouth, I don't have any written evidence of it, that this does not obligate you to anything. It just allows me to continue to try and negotiate with the insurance company. And he said, I do this all the time. I know I can get them to meet my price.

So I signed it, you know, which was not a wise thing to do. But it pretty much said that the agreement was between the homeowner and him, his company, and that in exchange for his services provided, that I would agree to enter into a formal building contract with them. And that... Does it say anything about a fee for the estimate? It does. Okay. What does it say anything about a fee for the estimate? It does. Okay.

What does it say? Well, no, not for the estimate. But he does say that if I fail to enter into a form of building contract within 30 days of agreement with the insurance company, that there would be a cancellation fee for expenses incurred during the scope of the claim. Okay. Well, you have two options. That's what I signed.

You have two options. Okay. Option number one, I was stupid for signing something. It cost me $695 because you're probably going to lose this because you were stupid for signing that. I've done stupid, too, so you and me are on the same team, okay? I'm not picking on you, but I mean, you said you shouldn't have signed that. I'm saying you shouldn't have signed that.

I think it cost you $695 when you signed that without reading it, without half-butt thinking about it. So that's one way. You can just pay them the money and call it a day and say, well, this guy's a dadgum shyster, and I wasn't real smart when I signed this. It cost me a stupid tax of $695. Or you can call an attorney and take this document to them and pay the attorney $250 or $500 to scare the pants off this guy

and threaten to countersue him for his shyster activities if they don't pull the claim back you can go either way neither one would be really wrong morally or ethically um and um but but you know you the attorney might tell you if he if he does all i'm doing with the attorney there is what's known as a bluff because you're not going to sue somebody over $695. He's not going to sue you over $695, but you're not going to get this stupid thing off your collections until you get rid of it and get it off your collections, either by him removing it or you paying it. A guy like this, so this is not his first time doing this. No, no, he's a bot.

No question about it. And, you know, what i would do is jump on and write some reviews on you know you could also call him and say i'm going to write reviews about your company everywhere about what a crook you are and then i'm gonna pay the 695 but i'm gonna cost you tens of thousands of dollars but because you're my new hobby yeah i mean you can do that that might be fun um because that that's really what's going on. But I mean, he but but, you know, I've done stuff like this. You don't half look at something.

You agree to it and stinking Doc, you sign. There you go. You know, I don't know. I'm not an attorney. I'm guessing, though, that you probably on a technicality, that technicality being you signed this, you probably lost that money. But you could you know you can run the guy up a rail how much how much trouble you want to put into 700 bucks it's up to you it's the energy question i you want to know what though dave i probably wouldn't go to the

attorney only because i bet this guy's done this so many times he would know that that's a bluff maybe and she might end up spending occasionally you know somebody like me and it's not a bluff so i would not want to run into dave on the other end of this to ground just to prove the point because occasionally i just get redneck about it you know but uh uh but yeah i mean but you know honestly you could cost him a lot more than 695 the uh you know uh yeah the social media and you know yelp reviews and anything else you can do. Jump all around his website. For $695, I could hire a web guy to just absolutely make a hobby out of it. Come on now. That's what I'm

talking about. If I'm going to pay the guy, it's going to cost him. I'm going to have a little fun with it after all. But also note to self, when I do something stupid and it costs me money i call that stupid text and uh barbara dave ramsey's paid a lot of stupid tax that's why i'm qualified to do this show because i've done a lot of stupid butt stuff hopefully i

can keep y'all from doing it and signing stuff you don't have to look at that's in the category i've done it too though i've done it too it burns you because it's some little minor thing like that. You don't think anything about it. Yeah, absolutely. No. And the thing is, when it's vague like that, when it says you may be on the hook for, you know, cancellation fees or whatever, and there's no actual dollar amount. So why am I having to sign this to get you to do an estimate on a freaking roof?

Yeah. No, it's too much. It's not like rocket surgery here. I mean, come on. Yeah. Now, that's the thing, though. I mean, we've all done it and yeah uh you you said it earlier and that's a good phrase how much energy do you really want

to put into something like this and um i just have to pick occasionally i pick one burn it to the ground and the rest of them i just go to check and forget it and go on and just decide which one you want to burn to the ground yeah um if you're angry enough about it burn it to the ground i mean make a big deal out of it you know what i'm gonna do cost him 60 or 80 grand i i i need to start having those guys sign my document because i had an estimation the other night the guy was supposed to come out never came i'm like i it's interesting how the the story flips well and you know they say stuff like well it's our policy. Well, and you know, they say stuff like, well, it's our policy. And I always go, you know, it's strange. I've got a policy too. Yeah, my policy.

And my policy is I don't sign crap like this. Or my policy is if you waste my time, you owe me. Like, can we flip it on the other side for once? Yeah. I talked to a guy. He sat in the doctor's office two hours past his appointment time waiting on the doctor. So he sent the doctor a bill. That's what I'm talking about.

Yeah, there you go. That's what I'm talking about. Hey, you gonna make use up my time i mean okay my time's valuable arrogant twerp you know this is i'm sitting here trying to give you too much money good gosh you know i mean that's the deal you just got to decide how you want to play this this is the ramsey show jade washaw remsey personality is my co-host today graham is with us in knoxville hey graham how are you i'm doing well dave how are you better than i deserve what's up uh me and my fiance are getting married next june and we've been bouncing around the idea of buying a home versus renting. And I wanted to get your thoughts on,

on that. Yeah. I would not buy until you're married for sure. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah. We're, we were thinking, you know,

right around when we're getting married next June. Yeah. Do you guys have any, will you have debt together? We will have very little debt. She has a student loan for about $7,000. We've saved up a pretty good bit going into our marriage and plan on combining our finances and following, you know,

a lot of your instruction on that. So you pay off the debt, you'd have an emergency fund, plus you'd have a down payment yes okay then according to the baby steps and what we teach you would be in a position to buy a home let me tell you an idea to think about okay and it's not it's not a hard and fast um i wouldn't i wouldn't call you stupid if you didn't do it or something like that, but here's an idea to think about. I think, because I'm old and I've seen a lot, that one year after you're married, you will pick a different house than one month after you're married.

Because I think you will learn a lot about each other during that year, and I always joke and say it takes about a year of marriage to know how close to your mother-in-law to buy but that's the kind you know you get to know each other i would rather relationally you spend the first year of your marriage all of your energy on your relationship not on hanging curtains and picking wallpaper and for god's sakes doing a renovation okay so i mean i i just i love the idea of the house not being the purchase the move not being an emotional relational drain instead you all just get really comfortable with each other and pile up a big old stack of cash in the following spring by a house. I like that. And it comes from the Old Testament biblical story in 2 Samuel that the young warriors in Israel in those days were not allowed to go to

battle in the first year of marriage. They had to stay home and take care of the family. They were not allowed to go to battle until they'd been married at least a year. And so, you know, it's a bit symbolic or metaphorical, if you will, and it's not something that you would be completely unwise and stupid and foolish and all that. No, it's none of that. I just think you're going to make a different decision a year later. I absolutely agree with that.

And you've known each other. You get to know each other a little bit better by then. We've been dating six years. Yeah, you haven't been living together. It's different. I mean, you've not been married together. You might have been living together. I don't know what you're doing.

Yeah, but it's different. It's a different deal, man. And it's not that dramatic, really, but it's subtle. And the thing that that makes you do is it makes you push back against the whole culture that's yelling at you, buy a house, buy a house, buy a house. Oh, renting is throwing your money away. Buy a house, buy a house, buy a house. Oh, renters are going to hell.

Buy a house, buy a house. You know, people just go crazy. They're like a beagle chasing a rabbit man and it's just you know it's okay to have a little bit of patience home ownership is a great plan owning a home and getting it paid off is a great financial wealth building plan but everybody doesn't have to buy a house right now just calm your butt down you know it's like and the longer you wait the more you'll have more money to put down on it yeah so there's that and who knows what the interest rates will do during that time might be fun it might oh that's true or are you trying to make a call here dave are you no are you calling something nope okay just checking i'm just saying it'd be we'll be after an election at that point, and we'll see what's happening.

I didn't know if you were seeing your shadow or what. That happens around here a lot because, yeah, I've seen things. You get old things circle back around. If you keep the suit coat long enough, it comes back in style. All right, here we go. JT is in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Hi, JT, how are you? Dave and Jade, how's it going?

Better than we deserve. What's up? So I'm about to be at a point where I'm completely out of debt. I've been working on it the last few years and I'm about to hit zero. Yay, way to go. My question is, is it foolish to go back into that yes start a business yes you just called the ramsey show jt i know you walked into the bear cave and that's the bear if it was hungry you already know the answer, JT. I need some straightforward advice. What's the business? My trade or work is I'm a 401k consultant.

I do a risk compliance. And I don't know. I'm going to start my own firm, and it's a lot to try to just bankroll. Why? Why? What do you got to bankroll? That's what I'm wondering. How do you cash flow your day one? Well, I mean, everything from, you know, software, agreements, all sorts of stuff.

Wait a minute. For what? You got to have customers first. Well, I mean, I'm not so much worried about that part of getting everything started. Yeah, but you're going too fast. What are you getting started? What do you mean? I mean, you don't have any money?

Well, I mean, not enough to get this thing going. Well, what do you think it takes to get this going? Why have you decided? What you're describing to me, you need a computer and some sweat. And a customer. Yeah, or six well i was saying you know for what i'm doing i'd be go i'd be whale hunting in a canoe and i need some stuff to be able to do such things you are not ready to open a business and leave your job when you have absolutely no

customers whale hunting in a canoe means that you don't have a clue where your customers are coming from you're not ready to open a business and has nothing to do with a loan you need some customers on the hook well the first thing i do i would take my current job and ask that they uh 1099 me and i would contract all the work that i'm doing right now and then go look for my own bigger client so i have an idea for cash flow. Okay, so now we're eating. Now why are we whale hunting in a canoe? Well, we've got to go after big fish to eat big, right?

Well, I think you're... No, I mean rabbits are more plentiful. Let's kill some of those and eat. I think you're missing the beauty of the type of business that you're starting, which is this is a business you can start with little to no overhead and little to no cash yeah you need enough to eat on but i don't want you floating in a canoe looking for a whale starving to death because you didn't have any plan or any background but if you got a plan for cash flow day one on the 1099 side then um and you think they'll do that what's the probability of them doing that i think so because i'd be taking on a lot of my uh you know i'd get my own insurance and stuff

like that you know this is so vague and you have not proformed this out the business you're in demands that you do a better job of proforming than you have done so far this is a vague a group of vague generalities and i I'm going to go borrow money. No, you don't need to borrow money. You need to organically cash flow this little service-oriented business, and you're going to be just fine. And you need to put together a business plan and process that has the probability of you being able to eat and cover the cost of basic software services.

But there's no big $500,000 or $50,000 or $20,000 outlay for you to come out of the ground being a consultant. Yeah. I think, Dave, people think if you build it, they'll come, and I think it's the opposite. You've got to go get them and then build it while. You've got to build it while they're coming. If you build it, they will come,

and the movie world is called the field of dreams, And the movie world is called the field of dreams. And the business world is called a field of nightmares. So, no, yeah, you don't want to do that. You need to have the, you know, I tell our guys all the time, hey, elephant hunting is great, but they're a lot more rare than rabbits. You can eat really good on rabbits. Okay. There's lots of rabbits. Go get the rabbits, and occasionally you stumble into an elephant, then that's extra. But let's go get on rabbits. There's lots of rabbits. Go get the rabbits and occasionally you stumble into an elephant,

then that's extra. But let's go get the rabbits. Let's get a business model that churns cash. Here, stack some cash. You're fine, JT. Do not borrow into the vagueness that you are describing us. You're really going to make a mess. This is the Ramsey Show.

Jade Walsh, all Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Erin and Melissa are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Good. We're good. Where do you guys live?

Just north of Rochester, New Hampshire. Oh, it's a bit of a haul to Nashville. It is. Yeah. Well, welcome. Good to have you. And all the way here to do a debt-free scream. How much have you paid off?

$162,158. All right. Way to go. And your range of income during that time? About $83,000 to $119,000. Cool. And what do you guys do for a living? I am a service tech at a fuel company.

And I've been a homeschooling stay-at-home mom for 22 years, but I also do eBay sales. That works. Okay. And how long did it take you to pay off the $162,000? Four and a half years. All right. Very good. Excellent. Okay. What kind of debt was it? About $2,000 was credit card. okay and how long did it take you to pay off the 162 four and a half years all right very good excellent okay what kind of debt was it about 2 000 was credit card 18 000 was a vehicle loan

and the rest was the house you paid off your house look at the weird people way to go weirdos i love it wow what's the house worth about 500. Very cool. How much in your retirement accounts? About $250,000. All right. Bumping up and getting ready to be a millionaire. Look at you guys. I love it. Congratulations. Thank you. How long have y'all been married? 28 years. All right. And five years ago, somebody said something and you changed. How'd you get connected to us what happened Aaron actually heard you on your radio show and then he started listening a little more intently and it got him thinking I had recently picked up a full-time babysitting job and the money just wasn't there

like we have more money coming in where is it so he brought it to my attention and I listened and we both just said let's do it let's go oh wow and just off the radio show yep wow and we went out and got total money makeover and we just hit the road just like that and four and a half years later your house was paid off yeah after 25 years of marriage or 20 years of marriage you did something completely different yeah absolutely wow way to go you guys thank It got to feel pretty cool, man. Feels awesome. You knocked it out. We did.

I mean, how does it feel to be debt free? No payments, no house payment, no nothing. It feels amazing and free. I bet. Yes. So you listen to the radio and you hear a guy talking about getting out of debt, how to build wealth. What did the people around you think when you said, I'm following the radio guy, we're doing everything like he says,

and that's how we're getting out of this? Did people think you were crazy? A little bit. They were excited for us, but nobody was like, oh, I'm going to try that. It just wasn't realistic, I guess. Yeah. Now it is. Yeah.

Now it is, because now it's done. Mic drop. Boom. So we were sailing pretty good. Yeah. And then in January of this year, Aaron was diagnosed with tongue and neck cancer. Oh, wow. Oh, wow.

So that halted everything for a bit. Yeah. The surgeon said to expect to be out of work for four to six months. He had just changed companies for the first time in 21 years. And so we weren't going to get short-term disability. He hadn't been there long enough. So that would mean zero income. Two weeks shy.

Yeah. Two more weeks. If they could have pushed the surgery out, we could have gotten something. So how did you make it through that time? We had followed the principles and we had that three to six month savings and we knew right away we were going to have financial peace that we didn't have to stress about that that's right we also had a lot of generosity from friends and family wow so how are you doing now the piece we had from the emergency fund and the life insurance was everything to me.

And that's why we're here today, to thank you, Dave. Well, thank you. Thank you. I'm proud of you. And so you got a full recovery? Yes. We just found out he's cancer-free. Come on, somebody.

Hey, that's better than debt-free. I'm just saying. Debt-free is good. Cancer-free is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Way to go, man. That's amazing. What a great is awesome yeah yeah way to go man that's amazing what a great what a horrible thing to go through but what a great result

having that money in the account was everything because we would have been thinking about that instead of fighting cancer fighting yeah yeah because it takes everything you got to fight one thing and you can't have six different things going on. Absolutely. Yeah, and you didn't have to worry about that. Wow. Wow, that's amazing. Well, I'm so glad you're okay. That's the big thing.

Me too. Yeah, and if you guys are looking through your radio at home, you can't see their I drank the Kool-Aid T-shirts. So there you go. They have officially joined the cult. So say what? I just said amen. Oh, okay. I thought you said and then i'm just okay way to go guys congratulations what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is all right a big part of it is just to have contentment with what you have we've always lived a very thrifty lifestyle we've never carried much debt we're content with what

we have but i think that's a huge part of it enabled you to just click that about two notches and knock the whole thing out right yeah it wasn't like this massive change but you just had to get real intentional yes that's a big thing contentment's everything i have a key to when i uh got diagnosed uh i came up with saying it was opportunities um sorry um challenges are just opportunities to prove how strong you are and i think that's true with that also yeah the challenge makes you a higher risk for my personality you're exactly right that's exactly right that's how things work. Very well done, you guys. Man, you're heroes. That's an amazing story.

I'm so proud of you. Wow. Who was cheering you on outside the two of you on the deck? Anybody? They were just looking at you going, you kind of lost it maybe. We were definitely our biggest cheerleaders and pushing each other along. But our kids have also adopted your principles, and they've been very excited watching us through this journey.

So that's been encouraging to us to see them feeding off of it. They do think we're crazy. They do. They live the principles now, even though one of them is an adult. Well, they saw it work for you, and they saw it change your life. Absolutely. Yes. Very cool.

Well, we've got the Live and Give box for you. That's the Baby Step steps millionaires box you're almost our book you're almost there and uh the the total money makeover book to give away and hopefully get somebody else moving it helped you get you moving and that book has helped a lot of people get moving and of course financial peace university membership as well so congratulations heroes thank you very very well. Took control of your life. So Aaron and Melissa, Rochester, New Hampshire, $162,000 paid off, four and a half years,

making $83,000 to $119,000. Almost baby step millionaires with a paid off house and everything. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We a debt-free scream three two one we're debt-free yes love it wow just by listening to the show dave you know life is going to come at you. Sometimes life is named car wreck. Sometimes it's named job layoff.

Sometimes it's named throat cancer. But life is going to come at you. And if you have that emergency fund in place and you don't have any debt, it puts you, I mean, what Aaron is saying there, it puts you in a completely different posture to fight against whatever life is wanting to deal you. Yeah, that's right. Because it's going to deal you something. You know, we always tell people, you need an emergency fund. It's going to rain.

Dave, you need to be positive. I'm positive. It's going to rain. Yeah, that's just life. It's not being negative. It's just knowing that something's going to come your way. You don't get out of life without something coming your way. It's wisdom.

I mean, the flying monkeys on the wizard of oz there's always going to be flying monkeys somewhere even if you're on the yellow brick road there's flying monkeys you just life is gonna something's gonna come i'd love to say i know what you're talking about but i've never seen the wizard of oz you're kidding mic drop you're how you're are you an american i how do you how do you not have seen the wizard it's always just seemed like a weird movie to me so i never watched it wow sorry you have you i'm gonna have to talk to sam we're gonna have to remedy this we're having we're having a watch party and i'm gonna go rent the thing we're gonna oh my goodness boy we're gonna put it on the big screen out here

up in the event center we're gonna let's have it at the event center have all the people bring their children and get the i mean the original the real wizard of oz i'm talking about the real one oh my i believe your analogy made sense for some people. Jade. I mean, that's not just a boomer thing. I know. I mean, that's just America and apple pie and Chevrolet and the Wizard of Oz. I mean, come on. It's a little known fact. Wow.

How do you not know about the flying monkeys? I'm sorry. Oh, this is the Ramsey Show. Thanks for joining us, America. We're so glad you're with us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Forbes reporting Americans are overdue with their car payments at the highest rate in nearly 30 years higher car prices and rising interest rates are hindering car owners ability to afford their vehicle payments as 6.1

of subprime auto borrowers are at least 60 days past due on their loans the highest percentage in data backing all dating back all the way to 1994 according to bloomberg gen z and millennials may account for a significant amount of the borrowers behind on their auto loans as the two generations recorded auto loan delinquency rates last year that were significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels according to NBC News. Interest rates for used cars are 13.5 on average for those with fair credit but can rocket up to 21 with those with worst credit and subprime loans. 6.1% behind on a subprime loan. Yeah, they shouldn't have been buying these cars to begin with. That's the problem.

Yeah. That's the problem. Yeah. It's, that's the problem. When it's subprime, it's because you've got low credit, you've got low income. There's a reason that they don't want you borrowing money. And so they say, well, we'll just jack up the interest rate, right? So that we can cover our butts. You're a high risk borrower. Yep. So they're going to charge you super high interest rates and continue your problems for you.

Because they know. But I was forced to buy a car. No, you weren't. They did not have a gun. You were not forced to do anything. I have chosen to do some stupid things in my life, but I have to take ownership of the fact that I chose to do it. I was not forced to do it. wanted it i had car fever i loved the smell of the leather and i paid way too much and i put it on a high interest rate because i was stupid yeah and um i suspect that

some people have done that well what's interesting is it's this is significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels which to me indicates that after their pandemic people got used to extra money coming in whether it was subsidies from the government or whether it was i wasn't paying my student loan and let's just go get a car let's get a new let's get a new camry we have the illusion of margin in our budget because of these biden bucks that's right and uh there's not a real margin in my budget but i will go and act like there is and because the famous famous words of right before you die we can afford the payments these are the famous words of fools right before you prove you're a fool right because all you all you care about is how much per month.

Rich people ask how much. Poor people ask how much down how much a month. Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye. And they're not talking about what these payments are, because we know what the average payment is. $717 last time I checked. Yeah, yeah. So. $600.

$650. The interesting thing, though, the way Forbes and the financial media couches these things, it's as if the people that did this are victims. Right. You know, it's like the Gen Z and millennials may account for a significant amount

of the borrowers behind on their loans. These two generations have recorded auto loan delinquency rates last year that were significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels. No, I can't get behind that, Dave, because they went to the dealership and they said, sign me up. I'll sign on the dotted line. They made that choice. No one said you had to get a car loan. No one said you had to spend $25,000 on a brand new car. You chose to do that. Higher vehicle prices are at fault. Higher borrowing costs are at fault, according to the article.

No. Let me help you. You want to know what causes vehicle prices to come down? Lower demand. People aren't buying them. They'll price price adjust it's what's happening to higher education right now colleges are getting ready to experience this people have decided it's i'm not going to pay 250 000 for degree in left-handed puppetry it doesn't make sense and end up being a barista no i don't i'm not going to do that and um people are waking up and you know what if car

prices are so high then don't buy them that that's what i'm saying oh shocking look when see here's the thing it's the it's the ancient word we have forgotten the ancient word no yeah you press your tongue towards the roof of your mouth release and blow air past it sounds like this no no you can't tell anyone no because immediately that's hate speech now yeah no and you told me i can't do something i just did that's right no yeah i don't like dave ramsey i didn't you know i wasn't running a poll i'm just here to help you but d Dave, I have to live in my truth. And my truth is telling me that I need self-care and I need a new car. And the way for me to take care of myself is to get this new car.

The problem is if you have your own truth and I have my own truth and they're in conflict, one of them is not the truth. So you're not allowed to like own your own truth it's sorry it's not like a thing you can buy you can't go to walmart and buy a box of truth and it's different than you know it's a variety i get a variety pack a different kind of truth depending on what truth i want now one truth if it's in conflict with another truth by definition one of them is not the truth the truth is independent of your little feelings darling i'm i'm offended dave i know i'm offended and i'm supposed to care

i love it oh it's so fun hey guys you can't tell we're making fun of you yes we are definitely um yeah you're if you make all of your adult decisions with your feelings, you are by definition a child. And so when you purchase something that you can't afford with money that you don't have to impress people you don't even really like at 21% on subprime and then you get delinquent on the payment, $1,142 car payment, then you become a statistic and then people like forbes make fun of your entire generation because of that and by the way the gen z's and the millennials are actually two very good financial generations they've done a very good job by and large but a portion of every generation is stupid well the problem is a portion of the gen z and a portion of the millennials

portion of boomers are stupid the problem is dave is if you're always pointing to the the problem is... And a portion of the Gen Z and a portion of the millennials, a portion of the boomers are stupid. The problem is, Dave, is if you're always pointing to the problem out there, that's the reason. It's the dealership. It's the interest rates. It's inflation. It's supply chain. If you're always pointing to something out there for your own behavior, you'll never be able to fix it. You'll never be able to fix it. And you'll never get out of debt, and you'll never stop fooling around with cars.

And everybody has to take that moment and look inward. When Sam and I were getting out of debt, we had one, a Jeep car payment for 303 and a Hummer H3 for 432 a month. That's so much in car payments. And I mean, I thought like, this is the way you're supposed to live life. This is what you have to do.

And it took me listening to the Ramsey show and listening to things and people going, that so dumb that's so stupid and at some point you have to look at yourself and go could could I really be making a stupid decision and not blame you're never going to get past it you've got to look there's a reason you don't have any money and it's sitting in your driveway it's the largest thing we all buy that goes down in value i don't hate cars i just hate what they do to people that can't afford them right and um you know when you start talking i mean if you take 550 a month and invest it from age 30 to age 65 you're gonna have 5.5 million dollars in mutual fund hope you like the car it's a five million dollar mistake yeah that your kids are

crunching up cheerios in the back and and your friends are throwing up in the back oh gross i'm just saying what kind of friends have you got well if you gotta just saying who's i haven't had friends throw up in the back of my car since college look god just gross jade i'm just saying this is what okay your kid your kid thrown up in the back yeah the dog i'll go with the dog okay i'll go with that the dog got carsick oh boy but either way either way the thing's going down in value in your case more than mine but wow they go down in value like a rock. Look, people are driving these cars for Uber. You know those cars are getting tore up. Ooh, nasty.

Yeah, nasty. I don't even want to think about it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, okay. So if you can't pay cash for your car, you should not buy the car. That will help you gain wealth later to be able to drive anything you want to drive.

In other words, if you'll drive like no one else, later you can drive like no one else. I did today. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, what's up, guys? It's Jade. If you love the show and want a deeper dive on your money journey, we have a weekly newsletter that gives you trending and helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Just go to ramseysolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter. Again, that's ramseysolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.