The Ramsey Show - App - Short Term Pains for Long Term Gains (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 11, 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. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. We're glad you're here. Mark starts off this hour. Mark's in Huntsville, Alabama.

Hey, Mark, how are you? Hey, Dave, I'm doing great, and it's a pleasure to be talking with you today. You too, sir. What's up? Well, I'm a 57-year-old retired military guy, now a government contractor down here in Huntsville. And my wife and I last month just completed Baby Step 2. It took us four years. Congratulations.

Thank you, sir. Starting on Baby Step 3, I guess my question is kind of twofold. We are in a house that's not our forever home, and when we get done with Baby Step 3, it took me a while to kind of go through and get my investments going. Between my wife and my IRAs and my 401k, we have about $190,000 in investments. My question is, should I increase the investments and just pay the minimum on the house? Or should we still try to pay off this

house uh even though this is not our forever home well i would do uh the baby steps in order even though it's not true from your forever home by the way thank you for your service were you 20 year and you've got that coming uh i actually did about 28 years. So, yeah, I have my military retirement from that, and I have some VA disability that I get. Great. Okay, cool. Well, then what I would do is when you finish Baby Step 3, you would start Baby Steps 4, 5, and 6 run simultaneous. Four is 15 percent, no more, no more, of your income going into retirement. You've got a really good start, a couple hundred grand is not a bad start.

And then if you have kids that you're paying for college, that's baby step five. Are there kids involved? No. Well, our son, I mean, we have our son, but he's in his 30s, and he has a family in South Carolina. We're done. Okay. So we're not involved. So there's no baby step five because there's no college.

Okay. So baby step four is 15% of your income going into retirement. Any money you can find above that, throw it at the house. Now, here's what will happen. When you sell the house and you move to the, quote, forever house, which I'm not sure there's ever been one of those, but anyway, nobody stays forever in these houses. We don't think we're going to.

But if you sell it and you've paid it off or you've paid it way down, they're going to give you a check at closing. And money's not going away. Okay. And the worst-case scenario is that it ends up being your forever house and it's paid for. Right. Oh, well. And so once it's paid off, then I would start doing additional investing at Baby Step 7,

and I would make some of that investing non-retirement because you're probably going to add that money for your additional. If you move up in-house, you'd need some money in addition to the house you sell because you sell the one you move in, pay cash for the one you land in, quote, unquote, at retirement, hopefully forever. And if you want to have some ad with that. But I want you to take that $190,000, and let's just keep piling on there, 15% of your household income.

What is your household income? It's right at $150,000 a year. Well done. Very well done. So, you know, 15% is only $20,000 a year. Mm-hmm. Okay. And if you've got no debt except the house, 15%, 20 grand a year,

you've still got plenty of wiggle room in this budget to chunk on this house, then when do you think you'll move to the quote forever house? We've been talking about it probably within seven years or so, plus or minus a few years, depending on how things work with the contracting world of the government. And is it the location that keeps you from doing that or something else? a few years depending on how things work with the contracting world of the government. And is it the location that keeps you from doing that or something else? It's primarily the location. I mean, Huntsville is a great town, great city. Yeah, it is.

But, you know, we enjoy the eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina. Okay, so you go to the mountains. Okay. So that's like retirement. When you're done doing your contracting work in Huntsville in seven, eight years, that is going to be your retirement place then? Yes. Okay, cool.

Very cool. And so house price might not go up. What's the house you're in worth? As a matter of fact, we just recently had it looked at and appraised, and we refinanced to a 15-year, and it appraised for $345,000. Okay. Well, you can buy a ton of mountain house for $345,000. Right.

So if you got the thing paid off, it's no loss. True. Yeah. So it just increases your cash flow until you make the move. And you probably will have it paid off within seven years. I bet you do. With your income and with the situation you described to me, it's just like military.

It's all about discipline to pull it off, but you can do it. Again, thanks for your service, and thank you for your call. Jason is with us. Jason's in Tampa. Hi, Jason. How are you? How are you doing, Dave? I'm doing good.

How about yourself? Better than I deserve. What's up? All right, so a couple questions. I'm 26 years old. I'm looking to propose to my girlfriend this upcoming February. And thank you. So I've been following the baby steps. I'm on baby step two and I'm in a situation. So I'm living. We live together now and where she was living at and I've been renting my house out. I've owned it for about three years now. Um, and I have about in total $15,000 in

debt. Uh, if I were to sell the house, um, with, with what I owe and everything, I could probably walk away with about $17,000. Um, so I don't know if I should just keep renting it or sell it because, you know, I'm going to have a wedding coming up soon and I want a cash flow that I don't want to take any more money, borrow any more money. I'm sick and tired. If you're not going to live in it, you need to sell it. Okay. Okay.

Okay. And, yeah, okay. Because here's's let's look at it this way okay let's pretend that there was seventeen thousand dollars in the middle of the table would you go buy a house and go in debt on credit cards and come back to the situation you're in now no no no you wouldn't you're not in a position to be a landlord right now. You didn't become a landlord by intention. It was by default. You fell into it, so to speak.

So, yeah, let's just, it's time to get that house sold and clean up your life and, you know, get yourself in really good shape to get married as soon as possible, and let's get this thing done. Well done, sir. Very well done. Open phones at triple eight eight two five five two two five we're so glad you're with us guys you know one of the things you do at the new year's is you promise yourself all these things right

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and see how inexpensive it really is. Be the family that takes those deliberate steps to be different and responsible it really does make you the hero of your story and it puts you on course for better things ahead Thank you for joining us, America. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We're glad you're here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Chris is with us in Columbia, South Carolina.

Hi, Chris. How are you? Hey, Dave. I'm well. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I have an interesting situation that I don't know that I've ever heard anyone call you about. Okay. I'm 46. My wife turns 29 next month. So there's going to be a age gap. And so obviously, our retirement ages are fairly far apart. And so what I'm wondering is, how would you allocate our retirement savings based on those ages and the disparate dates in which we would be retiring?

Hmm. If you're in Roths and not in Traditionals, where we don't have your mandatory withdrawals beginning at your RMD, required minimum withdrawals, at 70 and a half, I'd probably go about 50-50 because the 50% on her is going to have longer time to compound to her benefit, assuming that because you're 17 years older, you will pre-decease her, since 75% of the men pre-decease their wives anyway. And so statistically, you've got a real heavy chance of that. So yeah, I'm going to try to go 50-50 if we're heavy in the Roths, because that's going to

allow her to have a really nice nest egg in her name. And on the other hand, we're going to be able to pull some of it out that's in your name as you hit retirement age and do some stuff together. So it's going to give you early access to retirement money for her, the money that's in your name, for her, again, the money that's in her name is going to have longer time to compound and grow and you would keep your hands off of that portion for her future um long-term future i'm talking like when she's 80 you know that kind of thing uh right and that's one of my concerns is i i want to make sure i i'm uh i'm planning on the fact that i'm going to pre-decease her potentially by quite a bit.

And I just want to make sure that she's set up. Yeah, so I think if you're 50-50 out of your household income into hers and yours, regardless of who makes the money, but 50-50, then we've got the best of both worlds then because we've got access to money that when you hit retirement age, and that'll be cool, earlier rather than later. And then the other money is growing for her future. But if it's all in your name and you guys burn through it, then she's cooked, right? That won't work. And if it's all in her name, you've got no access to it when you hit retirement age

because it will all be penalized because she's too young to get the money out. So if you don't mind me throwing a couple of numbers out at you, if I had to say a baby step, I would say seven, simply because my children are already grown and out of the house. Your house is paid for. Well, we don't own a home. We are considering moving. We're in an apartment right now, but we live in a very low cost of living area.

So our rent is just obscenely cheap compared to the rest of the country. So, you know, we're focusing on saving for retirement right now. And we are – I'm putting back at least $2,000 a month. So it doesn't take us long to fill up both mine and her Roth. So, you know, at a clip of about $25,000 a year, assuming we fill up our Roths at, you know,, that's 20, I'm sorry, at 11.5 total, would you also allocate the rest of that 50-50? Yeah. Yeah, just whatever you're going to do, I would say 50.

Anything that's in a retirement plan, I want about 50% of it going into her name and 50% of it going into your name and 50% of it going into your name, if you have that option, if she has enough income with a 401K to do it. You know, if the income's not so far out of whack that you're stuck. Obviously, you can do Roths. You both can do Roths, and that's an easy 50-50, right? But then, like, if she doesn't work and you have a 401K, you're going to end up with a lot more money in your name.

Right. And she does. She has a pension. I don't have a 401K, you're going to end up with a lot more money in your name. Right. She does. She has a pension. I don't have a 401K. I'm self-employed. So I have been putting money in. Yeah, you can do a sale. Yeah, you can do a sale.

So you can do some things. And so just kind of watch that and try to keep the money that way. The other thing I'm going to do in your situation, though, is I'm going to start saving up to pay cash for a house. The data that we're seeing from our new millionaire study, we've got data on about almost 10,000 millionaires. The average millionaire has

about a third of their net worth is in their paid for house, and they paid their house off in 11 years. That's what we're seeing, and so we're going to really start advising people forcefully to get a home and get it paid off in 11 years because that's the track that the typical millionaire is on so in other words a guy that calls me up with a million five in net worth most of the time he's got a five hundred thousand dollar paid for house

and a million dollars in his 401k and that gives her stability to see because cost of living is so tied to housing cost when you have zero housing costs because you've paid for house even though rent's cheap in your area that stabilizes her retirement as well so if you're having trouble moving money into her name that's another thing you can do quote for her unquote hey thanks for calling interesting discussion justin is with us in orange county hi justin how are you or justine hi justine how are you hi dave how are you better than i deserve looked at the name wrong my fault what's up okay um i'm calling for my grandpa he has a reverse mortgage right now and i know you're typically against those. Oh, no. And we were talking to, my mom does mortgages,

so I was talking to one of her friends, and they were looking at switching him back to a regular mortgage. Good. But with his age and what's due and what's not, I wasn't sure which option is best. Well, has he continuing to receive payments? He's taken almost all of it out. There's about $5,000 left.

Okay, so how much does he owe? $370,000. $370,000? Mm-hmm. What's his income? About $6,500 a month. He can't pay payments on $370. When they did it, it came to about $1,700 a month for his payments.

Well, they put him on an adjustable rate 30 years or something? I think it's been 30 years, but it should be a fixed rate, 3.49. eight four nine well the um when the uh when the reverse mortgage runs out the only thing that happens is that it sits there and continues to accrue interest but there's no call on it as long as he keeps the house maintained and keeps the taxes paid right Right. So the house is worth a little over $700, maybe about $710. Yeah. So if he accrues interest, it's accruing about $1,000 a month right now. Yeah, yeah. And he's probably, I mean, he's pretty healthy overall, so we just want to make sure that he's got someplace to stay long term.

If he did switch back to regular. It could eat up everything, and he could end up cooked. Yeah. What's his age? 77. 77? So $12,000 a year for three years is $36,000. That puts him at 81.

The thing's probably sitting there at five and a half percent isn't it um the reverse mortgage i think is also around the i think it's the high three three point eight well that's an unusually good rate most of them are at five five and a half okay um no i'm probably gonna let it accrue because I don't think he's going to burn through $300,000 at $12,000 a month. Not if he's 77. He'd have to live to like $120,000. I don't think that's going to happen. I mean, just run your $12,000 a year out.

If you burn equity for 10 years, he'd be 87. It's only $120,000 if it's $300,000. It's not going to get all the way out. And let him enjoy his cash flow now. No, I wouldn't get him out of it. I wouldn't have put him in it, but I don't think I'm going to get him out of it unless I'm missing something. I'll have to go back and think through that,

but I don't think I'm going to. I think I'm going to leave him sit there. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Our high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs. Christian Health Care Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry, a Better Business Bureau-accredited organization CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other.

It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years. And our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Brandon and Edith are with us. Hey, guys, how are you?

Good, yourself? Good. Good to have you guys. Where are you from? From Phoenix, Arizona. Cool. That's a bit of a haul to Nashville. In a plane, it's pretty quick.

Not too bad. Not too bad a Southwest Air jump, huh? Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, welcome. Good to have you guys. You're here to do your debt-free scream. How much have you paid off?

$146,000 in 39 months. Way to have you guys. You're here to do your debt-free scream. How much have you paid off? $146,000 in 39 months. Way to go. Very nice. And your range of income during that time? We started at $40,000 and then we're about $130,000. Wow, that's a big jump. What happened with your income? Somebody picked up a job that didn't have one? Yes. I dropped out of school and then she went to Mexico. Oh, wow. Okay. You went to Mexico? Well, our you went to mexico well our income was 40 000 because brandon was the only one working uh and then we decided to go to do the immigration

process because i was in the u.s illegally and that's when i came back and i was able to have a job okay all right cool so you're married obviously. That helps with the legality part, right? Okay. Good. Good. Okay. Oh, so you had to swing through Mexico to make that whole process work. That's what you're saying.

For about nine months. Okay. And so you worked there? No. No. No. Okay. No.

So what do you guys do for a living now? Now you're married, and what do you both do? I'm a full-time real estate agent. Uh-huh. And then I work in a warehouse. Okay. General warehouse. Good. Very cool. Good for you guys. And then I work in a warehouse. General warehouse. Good.

Very cool. Good for you guys. And a great income now. Yeah. It's got to feel good, right? It feels pretty good. Okay. So this is quite a story.

So did all of this happen with getting married and all that stuff while you're doing all of this? So, yeah. I heard your show at work, and then I came home and said, I'm dropping out of school school and you're going to mexico because i was taking student loans for mechanical engineering so your stuff made sense and then i paid we paid off the student loan it was 13 grand in three months and then we started the immigration process and that takes about two years okay okay and then we bought a house when we got back we bought a house and then we had enough money to pay it off in two years.

Wow. But we waited a year because we started a business and then we decided to pay it off. Okay. So three years total, 36 months. Wow. So you've turned this around really, really fast. Yeah. So, I mean, Edith, he comes home and he says, I quit my, I'm quitting school.

You're going to Mexico. This sounds like he's been smoking something. Yes. I was like, where are you doing, you're going to Mexico. This sounds like he's been smoking something. Yes. I was like, where are you doing? Why? What do you mean? It makes sense, but it's really expensive. Yeah, they feel like he threw you out, I mean.

Yes. Wow, but it's worked out. Yeah, absolutely. So three years later, here we sit in a whole new, and a whole new income, and everything's clear. So will you go back to school now, do you think? Possibly. I mean, still kind of, at this point, can do anything now, really. Yeah, yeah.

It's a possibility. Okay. All right. Well, very well done, you guys. Very well done. So what do you tell people that the key to getting out of debt is so i guess the biggest thing i think for people is uh keep your mind focused on that end goal and uh don't concentrate on like what you're missing out on like nine months of her in mexico

yeah that little thing if you concentrate on everything you don't have it's going to be very difficult yeah yeah but it's a you know short-term gain Yeah. But it's short-term gain for long-term, or short-term pain for long-term gain. Live like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else. Absolutely. And now you're in a position to do that. Very well done, you two. Very well done. Well, I'm very proud of you.

Thanks. Thank you. Very cool. Very cool. So how scary was that with all this immigration stuff in the air? It was a hot topic, obviously. At the time it was, too. And it was back then, too, because it's been yacked about, really heated for two, three, four years now. So while you're in the middle of all that did you did you worry about that or yeah well

after we got married uh we waited two years because we were waiting for something the dream act yeah to pass the dream act since i've been here since i was 12 years old and um i went to college too and uh but then that's when brandon came and said, you know what, DRAM says, you can't be waiting on the government to pass something. So we applied for it, and it took two years. Now I have permanent residency, and actually I apply for my citizenship already. Cool. Very good. Good for you.

Thank you. Good for you. That's cool. It kind of takes your breath away to circle back the way you did. And yet, now it gives you a real solid foundation. And no worries now, huh? Wow. Not as many.

Well, no worries about that. So, well, congratulations, you guys. Thank you. Very, very well done. All right, we've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book, Retire Inspired, inspired the number one bestseller and that's the next chapter in your old story we want to hear from you when you're millionaires absolutely and uh very cool stuff six years yeah there you go you got it all figured out all right good chris will be happy to hear that interesting stat edith um that i read if someone comes to our country legally i I pronounce that carefully, legally, because you've done that now.

Congratulations. You know, you are four times more likely to become a millionaire than one of us that are homegrown. Because the people so oftentimes that come here legally and go through the process, they so desperately want to be in the United States, believe in it they believe in the free enterprise system and you guys are proving that with your income jumping way up you're you're a sterling example of that statistic so you really are on your way and i really do expect to hear from you and i want to hear more about this story later on on the air when you call back for your millionaire theme hour okay yeah congratulations all right brandon and edith from phoenix arizona 146 000 paid off in 39 months making 40 to 130 a year now they're killing it count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three one. We're debt free.

Well done. Well done, well done, well done. Man, that's how it happens right there. Congratulations, you guys. Dan is in Kansas City. Hi, Dan. How are you? I'm ready for spring. I hear you, man. I don't know. I hear you. How are you? I'm ready for spring.

I hear you, man. How can I help today? I've never really heard a retirement. I don't even know if it's a pension. I've talked about it on your show before like this. I'm a teacher and a coach here in Missouri. We've got a public school retirement system where essentially

I put in 14 and a half percent and the district matches 14 and a half percent and then and that's and that's mandatory isn't it that's that's kind of where i'm going with this because i started looking they sent me a statement the other day when i hit the rule of 80 i get a average of my top three years 80 of that which is a pretty sweet deal. But I got to looking at the money that's going in there and the interest that it gained, and it's 3.6% of what it's returned. And this may be a stupid question, but if there is a way to opt out of it,

because I always listen to your millionaire hours, and those guys talk about the magic of compound interest right is there a way i can take my 15 go invest it through you know ross and traditional iras or neutral funds and get you know 10 to 12 percent return and end up better off yes if you could opt out but i don't think can. I think you're probably in a mandatory system. So it wouldn't surprise me if the answer is no when you try to opt out. So what I would do then is, you know, you're just stuck with that. It's just part of your program.

The good news is you're actually going to get some money out of it. It's not like the money is just going away completely unless the pension system failed there in that area but uh which would be highly unusual so i'm not that worried about that but then i'm going to want to do more in addition to that on the side with roth iras so that you have some things working harder for you and the problem with the pension stuff is it dies when you do or it maybe survives with your wife depending on how you sign up but at the end of both of your lives it's gone the money's gone all that money's gone and so had that been invested in a more traditional investment not in a pension fund then it doesn't die with you and so i want you to have some wealth built outside of the pension regardless you know if you can opt out it makes it very easy it's a no-brainer. Opt out.

Done. And do your own investing on the side. You'll come out better off in life and in death when you do. But I'm guessing that this is a mandatory system. That would be my guess in this. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that back from you. Wish I could help more. Thank you, Dan.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. thanks for joining us america mike is with us in pittsburgh hey mike how are you? Oh, better than I deserve, Dave. How are you? Just the same. How can I help? Well, hey, I got an issue here that's probably not a bad one to have, but it's been a long time since I talked to you, and the last time I talked to you, you gave me some great advice, so I'm trying it again.

Okay. Look, about a year ago, a little over a year ago, I came out of the corporate world and opened my own business. Um, I set aside a bunch of money in a savings account to kind of live off for a year, year and a half. And as of a couple months ago, I'm back into the corporate rat race. Uh, needless to say, it didn't work out too well in the business, but now I have a huge chunk of money in the savings account that I was going to live on for the next year,

about $120,000 sitting in a zero-interest savings account. And I know how you feel about paying off the house. I have no debt other than the house. I have about $190,000 left on a $450,000 house. And I don't plan on being there too long, another maybe three and a half, four years at the most. And I was wondering if what I should do with that $120,000 now is try to pay down the house or invest some other way. Okay. What is your household income? Right now, just a little over $200,000. Okay.

All right. And you have an emergency fund other than this $120,000? No. Yeah, there's probably about $15,000 in an emergency fund. And, again, since we had this in here, we weren't adding to that at this point because there was plenty in there. And you have no debt except the home. You told me that. Correct.

So I'm going to walk you right up our baby steps, and you're aware of those, obviously. So you need to have a fully funded emergency fund at baby step three, and you're a little light on that. So I'm going to tighten that up, but you can do that almost out of cash flow. Even if we throw 20 over there, you know, that puts you at 35. That's probably plenty. And then throw 100 at the house which leaves you 90 on the house how quick can you pay off 90 making 200 and something thousand a year two years you'll be debt-free house and everything i know you're going to sell it probably

but when you do they'll hand you a check and you move it on to the next deal so it's it's a great place to park money in a paid forfor house because it's real safe. And the rate of return on your money is equal to your mortgage interest rate, which is a whole heck of a lot more than you're getting now. You know, the only other option is to invest the money long-term. And in essence, if we do that, we're borrowing on your home to invest, and I'm not going to take you that route and of course you know in baby step four while we're paying on this house you're going to start putting 15 of your income aside for retirement but just walk the baby steps that you've heard me talk about and uh right up baby step you know you're you're at baby steps three four five six you know right in there getting the house paid off and kids college and 15 going into retirement and that's how i'm going to use that

money is right there so i'm probably going to throw 20 on that 15, put it up to about 35, and I'm going to throw the other 100 at the house. Make sure you've got your 401ks and everything cranked up and Roth IRAs to where you're putting in 15% of your income. If you have kids, then let's make sure kids college is in some manner being addressed, depending on the age of the kid and how much you need to be putting in, that kind of thing. And then I'm going to start really chunking on this house. And you should be debt-free house and everything in two years, 24 months. And then when you move, if you move, you sell the house. And at the closing table, they'll hand you a big check.

And you take that money and move it on to the next deal. And that's likely what will happen in the scenario you gave me. Cody is with us in Atlanta, Georgia. Hi, Cody. How are you? Pretty Cody. How are you? Pretty good. How are you? Better than I deserve.

What's up? All right. Interesting situation. I found you probably about two months ago, and I've been nothing but hardcore Santa. Shaved my head. I've been drinking Kool-Aid every day. Got an IV for it. But I got a car back in probably October, November.

And when I got it, um, I put no money down. They did what they could to get me in the car. And I love the car. Just had to have it. One of those situations. What is it? And, uh, it's a Nissan Maxima. Cool.

How old are you? And, uh, 23. Cool. And, um, I live at home and I'm wanting to move out, but this is my last thing on my debt snowball, and I'm going crazy towards it now because it's my last debt. I'm upside down on it, and my interest rate is ridiculous. It's north of 15. Wow.

So what do you make? I make about $22 a month. And how much is the balance on the car? Right at $16. Mom and Dad charging you anything to live there? No. Okay. So when will the car be paid off?

I think it's on six or seven years. It's ridiculous. No, I mean, we pay an extra on it. I mean, months before you have it paid off. I haven't calculated that. $2,000 a month into $16 would be eight months. Yeah. As an example.

All right. And that means you're probably working extra to pull that off. Yeah. I was curious, though, if I should just, technically my last thing on my debt snowball, if I should just debt snowball it down enough to just sell it. Yeah, probably. Probably. Because that gets you out from under it, number one.

Number two, it's an awfully expensive car. You're making about $35,000 a year, and your car is more than half your annual income, so I'm probably going to go ahead and get rid of it. It gets you out of it faster. The difference in your situation is you don't have any overhead, and so you could knock it on out. That's what I was trying to do. But I think you move down to about a $10,000 car that you pay cash for or less, and you pay cash for it or move all the way down to a hoopty and just be done

and then get moved out and save up and move up in car. Okay. But you're on your way. You got this by the tail now. You're running hard, dude. Yeah, I was telling the screener I've got a mad gazelle disease. Yeah, I hear you. So have you been through Financial Peace University?

No, sir. Okay. You want to go through as my guest? Oh, I would love that. And I wish I had been as smart as you are at 23. I wasn't that smart. Well, I mean, it's your fault, so. Well, the good news is when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

We'll help you out, sir. And you call me back and let me know how this turns out after you go through the class and you get this car turned over and you start undoing the stupid and you start living the smart. And I'm proud of you, man. You're doing good stuff. You keep it up. Keep after it, Tiger. Open phones this hour.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Oh, man, don't you wish. Some of you that are 63 are going, I just wish I was that. I just wish I was 23, and I just wish I was getting this stuff when I was 23. Oh, my gosh, I wish I'd gotten this stuff when I was 23. All of us are thinking that right now when we're hearing that every i mean if you're 24 you're thinking that i wish i'd known this when i was 23 if you're 64 you're going oh my god i wish i oh man oh you know and you know that's that's the thing about the financial peace university class

that's why i put people through it and and why we want you to get in that class, because it's not for broke people. Oh, broke people go. But it's for people who want to get smart. That's all it is. You want to learn about investing? And you can learn about that when you're 72. And you can learn more about investing if you've got $2 million than you know now.

Because I have more than $2 million, so maybe I know more than you. Hello? Maybe. Well, that's arrogant. It's not arrogant. It was a mathematical factual statement. now because i have more than two million dollars so maybe i know more than you hello maybe it's not arrogant it's not arrogant it was a mathematical factual statement you know it's like a kid that uh his daddy's professional football player told my son when he was in first grade he said my daddy can beat your daddy up and it's not a very nice statement but it's a factual statement. It's the truth. There's no way. Guys the size of a Kia.

I wouldn't stand a chance. You know what? You can learn something. If somebody's skinnier than you, they know something more about physical fitness than you know. So you probably got something to learn from them, right? Somebody's run six marathons and you can't run around the block? Well, maybe you've got something to learn from them. There's something to be learned from everybody, isn't there?

And that's what Financial Peace University is about. So if you're wealthy, you probably ought to go through the class. And by the way, take your spouse because they probably have questions you didn't even know they had about what happens when you die. This is the class you should have been made to take before we let you out let you out in the world but cody he's got the head start man at 23 years old man that guy right there he's a stud he's on fire he's going places yeah we'll check back on cody in about a decade and see where he is you know where he'll You know where he'll be, and I know where he'll be. It's going to be good.

It's going to be really good. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer. Blake Thompson is our senior executive producer. Kelly Daniels, our associate producer and phone screener. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, and we'll be back. 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.