The Ramsey Show - App - Ryan's starting his own business. He's 10. (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 19, 2018

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show. Net 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. Ryan is starting this hour off from Indianapolis, Indiana. Hey, Ryan, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, thanks for taking my call.
Starting point is 00:00:58 Sure, what's up? I have a stepdaughter. She is 10 years old in the fifth grade. She does okay in school, but she struggles a little bit with focus and attention. But she really shines, and she's got the entrepreneurial spirit, and she's really good with people. So I'm wanting to start a business for her that her and her mother will operate,
Starting point is 00:01:18 selling candles that she makes. But I also want to do it to where a good percentage of the proceeds go to... Your phone is breaking up. Can you speak directly into it? You're cutting in and out. Oh, sorry. Can you hear me better now? Yes, sir.
Starting point is 00:01:32 Okay. So my 10-year-old, she's in fifth grade. No, I got... We heard. We heard. I got up to that point, but you started breaking up. Up to the point she's making candles, right? She's making candles.
Starting point is 00:01:43 What's that? She's making candles. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Up to the point she's making candles, right? She's making candles. She's making candles. Yeah, exactly. Okay. And I want a percentage of the profit to go to a local children's hospital, some barbecue charity. So my question is, should I do it as a not-for-profit company,
Starting point is 00:01:56 or should I just set it up as a regular LLC? None of the above. Okay. Just set it up as a sole proprietorship. You're overcomplicating a candle business with a 10-year-old. Just set it up as a sole proprietorship you're over complicating a candle business with a 10 year old okay just set it up as a sole proprietorship you're probably not even going to make any money if you make a little bit it'll be fine pay some taxes on it and if you want to fund a roth ira for her or something the point here in this situation is when you have a kid running a business the point is not the business The point is what the kid is learning.
Starting point is 00:02:27 They're learning work. They're learning interface with customers and how to treat people. They're learning that they have to deliver on time. They have to deliver quality. They're learning how to put prices on something. They're learning that it's a good thing to make a profit, that capitalism is not evil. The lessons are what is important. Understood. If she makes some money, that's just not evil. The lessons are what is important. Understood.
Starting point is 00:02:50 If she makes some money, that's just a bonus. Right. But what you've identified is you've identified the way this kid is wired, and a lot of us that are entrepreneurial are a lot or at least a little bit ADD. Right, right. I'm pretty much a bass. Anything that's shiny, I run towards it you know so um sure you know but i if you start maybe if it starts making a hundred thousand dollars a year or something you may want to do an llc but if you might if you're making under a hundred grand with
Starting point is 00:03:15 a profit and that's not you know unless you just hit some bizarre weird thing or something like home depot wants to buy her out or something i I don't know. But, you know, what you're trying to do is teach her the lessons of how to set up, operate a business, deliver on time, follow through, responsibility, the character of work ethic, those kinds of things that you have to have to run a business initiative. And it's a wonderful thing to teach a teen or a preteen like that. It's absolutely fabulous. So much so that Anthony O'Neill here on our team put together the Teen Entrepreneur Toolbox. It's a box of teaching aids for parents to work with their kids on how to restart and run a business. They're $49.
Starting point is 00:04:00 I'm going to give you one because this 10-year-old sounds like she's special. And let me send you one of those teen entrepreneur toolboxes. It will help you with that process. But I wouldn't fool with doing all of those things unless she was doing something where you really thought you were going to get sued or something. And you're not. You're not. She's fine. Hey, thanks for the call.
Starting point is 00:04:20 Katie's with us in Maryland. Hi, Katie. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you? Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Okay.
Starting point is 00:04:28 So I have bullet points here. I'll go through them quickly. I've been with my employer for 20 years. I relocated here to Maryland two years ago because they closed our offices in New Jersey. And I make $75,000 a year. My husband makes $35,000. What. My husband makes $35,000. What do you do? I am a claims adjuster.
Starting point is 00:04:51 You do what? I'm an auto claims adjuster. Oh, a claims adjuster. Okay, good. Yes. We have $45,000 in debt. We purchased a house last year. We have $221,000 left on that um two leased vehicles that mature in 2021 um i have 117 000 in my 401k plus a pension. So my question is this.
Starting point is 00:05:30 First of all, I could relocate to a different city, but I don't want to. I really like it here. Why would you need to do that? I'm afraid that I won't make as much if I look for another job. Why are you leaving your company? Oh, I'm sorry. They're closing here next August. Oh.
Starting point is 00:05:49 Yeah. Okay. Forgot to mention that. That's okay. So we do want to stay here. Now, the other part to this is that if I stay until next August, I'll get a severance package, which is equivalent to about 32 weeks. I'm thinking after it gets hit with taxes and because I currently have the health benefits, that it's probably not going to come out to enough that's worth waiting for. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:19 So I'm wondering if I should... Well, it depends on what kind of a job you get. I mean, if you get a job making 8080,000, it might not be worth waiting for because you might trade out the severance for the stability. But, I mean, we're talking about $35,000 here minus taxes. And that's not, you know, that's no chump change. That'd be a nice thing to have around, particularly as deeply in debt as you guys are. So, you know, your tax rate is 22%,
Starting point is 00:06:45 and so it'll only be taxed at about $5,000, $6,000, $7,000. So, no, after taxes, the taxes are not going to eat it all up. So what is happening here is you've been hit and got the wind knocked out of you with this announcement, and I think you're immediately assuming negative things. Why don't we look around and think we might get a job making, instead of 75, maybe we get a job making 85. When you lose a job, it is not a federal law that you have to take a job making less. Sometimes it's a blessing that you lose the job.
Starting point is 00:07:23 Especially with these people. They moved you because they were going broke, and now they've gone broke. I mean, my gosh. Wow. So my guess is they're not overpaying people, including you. So I don't know that you're overpaid or you're overcompensated. Claims adjusters generally can make good money. You may have to do a little traveling or something like that and follow some hurricanes around or something or whatever.
Starting point is 00:07:47 But you generally can make pretty good money in that world. And I've talked to them that have made twice what you're making. Now, again, that sometimes involves travel when I'm talking about that. But, you know, I think you guys work your way out of debt, get as far out of debt as you can. And I'd be looking for a job post-haste. And if you get a job that you can land above what you're making now, you might punt the severance. But the ideal world would be that you would start the next week after they wrote you a severance check, and the severance check becomes your signing bonus for your new life.
Starting point is 00:08:21 And that's the ideal world. But you get a new job, make an 85, and it starts a week after yours ends. Ooh, that'd ideal world. But you get a new job making 85 that starts a week after yours ends. Ooh, that'd be sweet. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Can you believe this real estate market? Home shopping has become so competitive. There's a ton of new buyers in the market, and bidding wars are the new normal. Folks are under a lot of pressure to offer more money to get into that house. Don't do that.
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Starting point is 00:09:45 This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. You know, one of the things we tell people when they're getting ready to have a kid go off to college is be sure you shop and understand what college costs because it is one of the most bizarre things to learn the distance between the less expensive schools and the most expensive schools.
Starting point is 00:10:27 I mean, we're talking $8,000 to $80,000 a year spread. I mean, it's even cheaper probably than that. But it's amazing. And people just assume all of college is the same cost. It's just not. And it's the number one mistake people make when they don't have a lot of money and a kid is going off to school. It drives people into student loan debt because they simply go to a school they can't afford.
Starting point is 00:10:57 And as you know, we have a student loan crisis with a half a trillion dollars in student loan debt. We have an entire department within our company called Ramsey Education that puts a curriculum into high schools and into colleges across America. We're now in 40% of the high schools teaching high schoolers this common sense stuff of staying out of debt and being on a budget and learning to save money and all of that kind of thing. And what happens from time to time is the schools can't afford the basic resources, and so someone will come alongside in the community, a business or an entity of some kind, and will pay for that high school to have foundations and personal finance curriculum from the Ramsey organization. You can say we've had about 4 million students go through it. One of the coolest things that's happened lately is the University of Wyoming has decided that every high school in the entire state of Wyoming
Starting point is 00:11:55 needs to have this curriculum, and they're sponsoring it and paying for it. Ding, ding. Touchdown, baby. That's how that happens. The college, the university, says we're going to take care of these high schoolers in our state and make sure they learn about money. And, of course, the University of Wyoming is the best cost alternative in the Wyoming area to go to college. So this all works out really, really good. Now, Kyle Moore is with me on the line, and Kyle is from the University of Wyoming.
Starting point is 00:12:28 He's the Associate Vice Provost of Enrollment. Kyle, way to go, man. Thank you for doing this. Well, it's a pleasure to be with you, Dave, and thanks for that. We are certainly excited here in the state of Wyoming to be able to partner with Ramsey Education and provide some practical, applicable things for students to be able to apply in that college search and be a real savvy consumer of higher education. Yeah, because you guys do have low tuition. I mean, you're the best deal around.
Starting point is 00:13:02 I wasn't kidding, right? Yes, sir. We have the lowest resident tuition of any public institution that grants doctoral degrees anywhere in the United States. Of all 50 states? Yes, sir. So, like, you're cheaper than my University of Tennessee, or you're cheaper than the University of dot, dot, dot? That's correct. Wow. Very cool. Very cool.
Starting point is 00:13:25 Very cool. And I got to tell you, when I heard what your whole promotion was behind this, I immediately wanted to steal it and bring it and use it somewhere, like in the University of Tennessee. And I'll tell you what I'm going to do in a few minutes, but I haven't been able to get them to do it yet. You guys are creative. I love this.
Starting point is 00:13:43 Tell everybody about this campaign. And the motto for the campaign is, hands down, the best thing I've heard. So our campaign is called The World Needs More Cowboys. We're not talking about guys in cowboy hats that ride off into the sunset, but we are talking about a state with a long heritage and a university mascot and a cowboy that can be anyone from any gender, any background, but we're talking about that inner spirit. We're talking about a curiosity and independence of boldness and a pursuit of adventure,
Starting point is 00:14:19 and we're talking about someone who changes landscapes and looks for opportunities to make differences in the world. We're talking about trailblazers and people who exemplify the spirit of the underdog. You know, it's not, a cowboy isn't what you are, but it's who you are. Yeah, well, and you guys are the Cowboys. I mean, it's a play on words, obviously. I mean, it's your mascot, right? That's exactly right.
Starting point is 00:14:44 Your football team, your basketball team, whatever, it's the Cowboys. I mean, like my a play on words, obviously. I mean, it's your mascot, right? That's exactly right. Your football team, your basketball team, whatever. It's the Cowboys. I mean, like my University of Tennessee volunteers. I think they ought to steal it and say the world needs more volunteers. That makes just as much sense, right? It's as good a play on words. But you guys got to the table first with this. Way to go, man.
Starting point is 00:14:59 I love it. It's a great motto because it says so much in just a so few words. Very, very cool. Well, we are really grateful to all of our sponsors around the country that are helping us. And you guys sponsoring the high school. Every high school in Wyoming is going to have, as of coming up soon, the high school curriculum because the Cowboys paid for it. That's pretty cool, Kyle. Thank you, man.
Starting point is 00:15:29 We're happy to be a partner. We are a state that is very practical. We're a state that's very much applicable in terms of being smart with our money. We wanted to make sure that we were not leaving out our opportunity to educate the future generations and know that there are opportunities in higher education to be smart with your money to be smart about that investment in your future and the university of wyoming is a way to do that and we're we're helping helping our students and our future generation in the state of wyoming through the ramsey education product well it's one of those win-win-win things as far as I'm concerned
Starting point is 00:16:06 because you're helping them by sponsoring this and going in there. We're blessed because you're doing it with us, and we appreciate that. And the win is that you get to put the University of Wyoming Cowboys right in front of every high school student and remind them that's where they ought to go to college. Because sometimes people do silly things like wander across the state line. I've talked to a lot of provosts around the country, my own chancellor and vice chancellor at the University of Tennessee,
Starting point is 00:16:33 and it's a constant thing that the state is trying to woo their own residents to their own university. And it's become a thing. You've got to go after it, don't you? Yes, sir, absolutely. And we have a lot of great students here in the state of Wyoming, and there are a lot of great students across the country who need to know that there are opportunities, even out of state, but you have to be smart and you have to do your due diligence in that process of searching for higher education.
Starting point is 00:17:03 In addition to being the lowest cost for resident tuition of a doctoral-granting institution, we are near the very lowest for non-residents to come to Wyoming. So we have a lot to offer, not just here in the great state of Wyoming, but from coast to coast, north to south. We can be a solution that provides students an incredible opportunity for education. And we are going to be very, very good at making sure that we are helping a student be successful, not just student success. And part of that is not racking up a lot of debt at the end of their degree completion. Amen.
Starting point is 00:17:41 So how many students on your campus? We have a little over 12,000. So 12,000, a little over 12,400 students here that call themselves Cowboys. That's a good size school. It's not too big and not too small. That's just right. That's a Goldilocks there deal. Just right. Very cool. Very cool. Well, Kyle, it's an honor to talk to you again, brother. Thank you for coming on with us. Thank you very much. Best wishes to you and your team there in Tennessee,
Starting point is 00:18:09 and we appreciate the opportunity to say the world needs more cowboys. I love it. I love the motto, and I think the world does need more cowboys in so many ways. Good stuff. I got a little picture of John Wayne going in my head. I can't help it. It's just the way it is. But bottom line is that's their mascot and so now it's uh that's very cool stuff i love it
Starting point is 00:18:30 and what a neat thing that the college the university of the state is buying it for every single high school now if you're a business or a university and you'd like to do something like that maybe you don't have to maybe you don't have the money to buy the whole state or something every high school in the state. Some states have more high schools than others, can you imagine? But maybe you just want to do it to the high school you used to go to. I went over and spoke in the building where I used to go to high school the other day. It's now a middle school. So I had 40 really bright and shiny little eighth graders looking at me.
Starting point is 00:19:04 That's the hardest speaking gig you'll ever have, I'll just tell you But Anthony O'Neill's got a tough job, y'all But pretty cool, it's pretty cool to go back over there And by the way, that school has our curriculum, I furnish it to them So I'm the sponsor on that one But see, that's how you do it, it's just that easy, wasn't it? The world needs more cowboys. I like it. This is
Starting point is 00:19:27 The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know, statistically, when it comes to life insurance and protecting your family, that women are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured than men? This doesn't make any sense. Women make up half the workforce, contribute mightily to family incomes, and in many cases are the breadwinners and take care of their families 24 hours a day. This is one of the most overlooked areas when it comes to financial planning. Maybe it's a relic of the past, but a loss of income or the need to replace family care is equally important for women as it is for men.
Starting point is 00:20:22 Single moms, working moms, and stay-at-home moms all need term life insurance. Rates are actually lower for women, which is why I send you to Zander Insurance. They shop the top term life companies to find the lowest rates available. You can compare rates online at zander.com or call 800-356-4282. This is something every family has to deal with. That's zander.com or 800-356-4282. This is something every family has to deal with. That's Zander.com or 800-356-4282. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Sean and Maria are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hey, Dave.
Starting point is 00:21:15 What's going on? Welcome. Where do you two live? Arlington, Texas. All right. Welcome to Nashville. Thank you. And all the way up here to do a debt-free scream.
Starting point is 00:21:23 Absolutely. Love it, love it. How much have you paid off? $184,000. Wow. How long did this take? About approximately 36 months. Man, you've been getting it. And your range of income during that time? $140,000 and now we're about $230,000. Well, there's a nice little jump. Yeah, that was nice. What do y'all do for a living and why did you get an extra $100,000 in income? Well, we were both cardiovascular x-ray techs and then we're both in the field of x-ray working in the cath lab. But I decided to get into medical device sales.
Starting point is 00:21:52 So there was the big jump. Oh, okay. So you used all that knowledge to be the world's best salesman at that. I don't know about the world's best salesman, but I knew very good. Best product knowledge. You know the inside. Working is no kidding. I'm right there alongside with the inside. Working is no kidding. I'm right there alongside with the surgeons.
Starting point is 00:22:08 Wow, very cool. Very cool. What great careers you two have. Excellent. So I'm going to guess and say this might be a little student loan debt. Yes. Lots of student loan debt. How much of the 184 was student loans?
Starting point is 00:22:22 Oh, actually, not lots of student loan debt. The majority of this was the house. Oh, actually, not lots of student loan debt. The majority of this was the house. Oh, you paid off your house? Yes, we did. I'm looking at weird people. Yes, we are. Yo! Look at here. I love it. Well done. Well done. So, how much of it was student loan debt?
Starting point is 00:22:38 We had about $6,000 in student loan debt. None? Okay. Engagement ring. Oh. Credit card, a car, and of course the house. How long have you been married? Three years. Okay. And so at the time you get married, you come home from the honeymoon and start this process
Starting point is 00:22:53 game on. Well, actually, when we started dating, I was actually on step 3B of FPU, and Sean's like, where are you getting all this money from? And I said, oh, let me show you. And so I walked him through the baby steps, and he was hook, line, and sinker, and that's how we started. Just like that. Just like that. So while you were dating. Yes.
Starting point is 00:23:19 So as soon as you come home from the honeymoon, you combine everything and game on then. Game on. His debt became my debt, and we just went after it. Now, did either one of you already own this particular house? No. Actually, I bought it when we were dating in 2015. I bought the house with 20% down. Okay.
Starting point is 00:23:35 Very good. And so you were already rocking along, and then your 3B became the house. Correct. And then when Sean comes in, he had a little bit of debt to clean up, odds and ends still, it sounds like. That's correct, and we went backwards. Okay, she went back to baby step two, knocked it out, and then worked her way right through again, took out the house and everything. Boom!
Starting point is 00:23:54 Touchdown, baby! Mic drop, mic drop. How old are you two? I'm 38 years old. I'm 47. Man, and you have a paid-for house. Yes, we do. You don't have a payment in the stinking world.
Starting point is 00:24:06 No, we don't. How's that feel? It feels liberating. It feels amazing. It feels like we can walk into our FPU class because we're actually coordinators of FPU Legacy and Generation Next. Wow. And we just feel like we can just walk in and tell our story firsthand. Yeah, you can because you did it.
Starting point is 00:24:24 Wow, that's great testimony. Well done. Thank you. Well done, well done. Anybody in your family ever had a paid-for house? I think both of our parents eventually paid their houses off, but other than our parents, no. They were a lot older than you are now.
Starting point is 00:24:37 A lot older than we are now. That is correct. Wow. So who were your biggest cheerleaders telling you, go for it, you can do this? Our family definitely, and right now, you can do this? Our family, definitely. And right now, let's say my sister. She went through my first class in 2017, and she has just been telling everybody about FPU.
Starting point is 00:24:57 And I've been getting lots of phone calls and emails just from her telling her story. I love it. Well done, you guys. Thank you. What do you tell people now? The secret to getting out of debt is, because you did it, house and everything. I don't think it's a secret at all, but when you say 80% is behavior and 20% is head knowledge, it's 100% true.
Starting point is 00:25:18 So I'm going to tell people right now, get up. I know it feels like it's your seventh time down, but we say get up because you feel defeated. You feel like you have all these toxic messages of everybody telling you that you can't do it, the culture telling you you're always going to have that student loan or you're always going to have that house payment. But we say get up. We say work your butt off. One job may not be enough. You might need a second job and you might need a third job. And then last but not least, we
Starting point is 00:25:48 say tell your story. Sean, I think she can fill in if I'm not here. She definitely can. I think she's got it dialed in. She is definitely passionate about Dave Ramsey, that's for sure. Well, I am so honored. And I'm so proud of y'all. You guys are just impressive rock stars, man. Well done.
Starting point is 00:26:04 Well done, well done. Well done. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's retire inspired book for you. That's the next chapter in your story. Making this kind of money with no debt. Be millionaires. Take you about 20 minutes now. Pretty incredible and outrageously generous as you go along. And you're already leaving the classes and all that and sharing your story.
Starting point is 00:26:22 And that's a sign of the spirit of generosity already on you so amen well done very well done proud of you guys thank you man i'm so proud of you well done man you can do it whoa get up get up get up sean and maria dallas texas 184 000 paid off in 36 months making 140 to 230,000 to $230,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah!
Starting point is 00:26:56 We're losing everything! Get up! You heard her. You know, I swear, half of doing this stuff is just believing you can. You got to go do it, too. It's all the hard work and the sweat and the sacrifice. But there's a whole big chunk of it is just get up. I love it, Maria.
Starting point is 00:27:15 Well done. Very, very well done. You can do this. There's no reason you can't do this stuff. I'm talking to you. Yes, you. Right there. You.
Starting point is 00:27:24 You can do this stuff. When are to you yes you right there you you can do this stuff when are you going to start i mean she 30 something years old freaking house is paid for been married 36 months house is paid for no debt in the world all they did was follow the plan all they did was say no so later they could say yes no is a complete sentence and if your broke friends are making fun of your financial plan, you're right on track. Dave Ramsey's not realistic. Dave Ramsey's more realistic than you are. I'm so realistic, millions of people are out of debt now because they just believed they could.
Starting point is 00:27:59 That's how realistic this deal is. Well, you don't know. Yeah, I do. Shut up. I do know about. I know about people that have hope, and I know about people that steal hope. And you're pretty much in one category or the other. Get up.
Starting point is 00:28:20 Do what Maria said. Get up. Leave the cave. Kill something. And drag it home. Get up. Leave the cave. Kill something. And drag it home. Get up. Make a decision. You keep doing what you've been doing,
Starting point is 00:28:33 you're going to keep getting what you've been getting. This is not rocket science, people. You spend more than you make. You act like you're in Congress, buying crap you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you don't even really like. Get up. It's time to stop.
Starting point is 00:28:55 It's time to stop. It's time to do something different. Try something new. What you've been doing has gotten you to where you are. How's that working for you? Time to change. Time to change something. And your time, the reason that you think you accidentally tuned into this show today at this moment,
Starting point is 00:29:20 and as my friend Rabbi Lappin says in the hebrew there is no word for coincidence that'll preach it's not an accident that you're here right now this is your day you you this is your day. Are you ready? If I'm wrong, you can go back to your old ways. They're easy. But here you got to live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. That's what you have to do around here.
Starting point is 00:30:05 Are you ready? It's around here. You ready? It's your turn. You ready? You ready? Ready? Set. Get up! Let's do it!
Starting point is 00:30:16 Maria's on it, man. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Today's my life. When does time go by? I don't know. Sleep, sleep, sleep in hell. Wake it up. You've got all your life. Tamarin is in Roanoke, Virginia. Hi,arin how are you i'm doing well how are you better than i deserve what's up well i have a quick question um we are completely debt free we have we paid our mortgage off about six months ago fun no it's's great. No student loans, no car loans, nothing like that. But we are debating on moving,
Starting point is 00:31:52 but using all the money that we gained from the sale of our house as a down payment towards the new house and potentially getting maybe a $50,000 mortgage. Now, is that silly since from where we just came from to start over again, but yet it's a much smaller loan than it would have been if we had to pay full price out of our pocket? What's your household income? We bring home about $4,000 a month. Take-home pay. Take-home, mm-hmm. um we bring home about four thousand a month take home pay take home and like i said no other loans no debt no car payment what's your current home worth
Starting point is 00:32:37 what is our current home worth about 220 000 about $220,000. And we would need about a $50,000 loan to purchase the house that we are interested in. So you're moving from a $220,000 house to a $270,000 house? Yes. That's not much of a move. No, it's not, but it does have a lot more upgrades than what our house has now because if we stayed, we would have to invest money into the house to do the upgrades,
Starting point is 00:33:10 or we could move and those upgrades have already been accomplished. Or you could stay and not do the upgrades. Or we could stay and do what? Not do the upgrades. Or we could stay and not do the upgrades. Absolutely. And save money and move with cash. Right.
Starting point is 00:33:31 There's no way I would go back in debt. I mean, you finally got out. And the first thing you do is go get house fever. Right. And after hearing that debt stream that you just had on, I thought, I bet I know his answer already. Yeah. I mean, you can do what you want to do. I wouldn't call you stupid.
Starting point is 00:33:50 I mean, you're not out of control. You're not being irresponsible. It's a tiny little mortgage, as you said. But I just couldn't go back once I'd worked this hard to get out. I mean, you have a $220,000 paid-for home in Roanoke, Virginia. That is not a bad house. That's a great house, as a matter of fact. Well above average square footage in the United States, in a great neighborhood.
Starting point is 00:34:17 By definition, in the Roanoke market, that's what that house is. So I couldn't do it. If you want to do it, you can do it. if you want to do it you can do it um but i certainly can't tell you to do it what i what sharon and i would do we worked our butts off to get out of debt and there's nothing will get us back in there's nothing i want bad enough to go back into debt and there's a lot of stuff i'd like to do a lot of things i'd like to accomplish i don't have the money to do but i'm not going to debt for it, even for a minute, even for just a second, because my life is so good without any payments.
Starting point is 00:34:52 So you do what you want to do, but I can't tell you to do that. It would just make me throw up to think about it. I can't. There's no way. So what would I do? I'd say either piecemeal out of your income. You don't have any payments. You save up some money, fix up the house you're in, as you said, do some upgrades.
Starting point is 00:35:11 Or if you want to move, save up, save hard for a couple years. You probably save up $50,000 in two years without any payments if you watch what you're doing. But it doesn't mean you don't get the house that you found while you were out impulsing, riding around on a Sunday afternoon and saw this particular property. Well, that one's not going to be there. Oh, well, there's a house on every corner. You do what you want to do. I'm not going to be mad at you either way.
Starting point is 00:35:36 I just couldn't do it. There's no way. Ariana is with us in Canada. Hey, Ariana, how are you? Hi there. Thank you, Dave, for taking my call, and thank you so much for your ministry. Thank you. How can I help? So I'm a long-distance landlord by default. Three months ago, I put my townhome on the market, and my sister,
Starting point is 00:35:54 who was my tenant by default, found her own place, so it's currently sitting empty. The entire complex that it's in has gone down in value, so my unit is worth $15,000 less than what I had bought it for five years ago. Right now, so there are four other units of the same style and layout as mine, and mine was the lowest priced at $200,000. Good. Yesterday, a fifth similar unit came on the market, $5,000 less than me, so $195,000. I'm starting to feel a bit of urgency to sell because it's sitting empty and winter is coming. So I was thinking of dropping my price to $194,000 and adding an incentive that I'll also pay six months' worth of condo fees. Doing all this would mean that I would pay $5,000 to $6,000 out of pocket after the mortgage is discharged.
Starting point is 00:36:46 So my question is, how much would you pay out of pocket to get rid of the thing? How low would you go? Obviously, you'd have to have the money to pay out of pocket. That would be one limiting factor. Yeah. I don't know. What I'm going to do is judge the situation and how quickly are these things dropping overall. And, you know, that's going to give me my urgency.
Starting point is 00:37:10 I don't want to just get emotional about it. I want to judge the future and say these things are going down in value. There's already five of them on the market. I've got to be the lowest one on the market. This is not looking good, you know. So would I drop it another 50 000 no i wouldn't you know so you know so at some point you do you laugh right and and that's that's so uh but but 5 000 out of pocket to be done with this 200 000 or 180 000 mortgage yeah yeah i'll be done with
Starting point is 00:37:40 that in a heartbeat i'd do that because because know, waiting two years is not going to help this situation is what I think I'm hearing. Right. Yeah, exactly. It's going to get worse. And winter's coming, and Winnipeg is not a place to move in the wintertime. Well, but I mean, not only just this winter, but in general, this complex is not going to heal and become worth $300, years from now exactly yeah it's going the wrong way and so it's time it's time to get out of town you know and uh yeah i'm with you i think you're right i don't think you're panicking with the numbers you're giving me now if you start telling
Starting point is 00:38:18 me somebody wants to offer you a low ball offer and you have to come out of pocket with 30 grand yeah i'm probably gonna wait the winter out you I may put a tenant in it and wait until spring and see what happens. But there's some point that I'm not willing to be that far below the other properties that are on the market. But overall, yeah, let's get rid of this thing. Good question. I'm sorry you're facing this. Open phones at 888-825-5225.
Starting point is 00:38:45 Thanks for joining us. Andrea is on Instagram. I've now got over a million people on Instagram. Wow. And I'm just now figuring out how to do it myself. The guys that work here do it. And when I actually put a picture up there, people freak out. Because I'm not very good at it.
Starting point is 00:39:02 But I got pretty good at Twitter, but nobody's on Twitter. Twitter died, except except a bunch of trolls. I mean, it's just a bunch of angry people that don't have a real identity or whatever. So Instagram is like nice people, by and large, not all. But I did block one woman that was being a test pilot from a broom factory the other day. But anyway, Instagram. Andrea, by the end of the month, we'll have four months of expenses saved. Do we save up for a down payment on a home,
Starting point is 00:39:34 or do we start investing, or both at the same time? We'd love to buy by the end of next year. I think it's fine to wait for one year to start your baby step four. We call that baby step three B. If you postpone your retirement savings for a short period of time to save up a big, juicy, fat down payment. And if you can do that in a year, and I think you can, sounds like you've got this thing on the run. You're out of debt. You've got your emergency fund.
Starting point is 00:39:59 Ding, ding. You've done this the right way. You move into the house. The house is going to be a blessing, not a curse. It's going to be a dream, not a nightmare. So yeah, save up until the end of the year and then buy a house next spring
Starting point is 00:40:13 sometime and restart either one, your retirement savings at that point. And thanks for following us on Instagram, Andrea. We appreciate it. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer. Kelly Daniels, our associate producer and phone screener.
Starting point is 00:40:31 I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, and we will be back. Hey, guys, this is James Childs, producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm excited to announce that we're now carried on 600 radio stations across the country. To find one near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.

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