The Ramsey Show - App - Should Chris Buy a $9,300 Bed Interest-Free? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: April 29, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for being with us. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Casey is with us in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi, Casey. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Good afternoon. How are you, Dave? Better

than I deserve. What's up? Hey, I'm calling about, I'm asking what would be the best way about getting a refinance on my student loan. I currently have $92,000 in student debt, and my interest rate is a variable interest rate at 5.78%. Okay. There's lots of consolidation companies out there for the purposes of student loans. No problem with doing that as long as you can get a similar rate at a fixed rate. It doesn't solve your problem, really.

No, it really doesn't. I guess, should I stay with the current rate that I have, or should I try to get that to a fixed as fast as possible? And if so, who do you recommend? Don't have a company we recommend for student loan consolidations, but if you can find one in that 5% or 6% range, you should be fine as long as it's a fixed rate, again, with no prepayment penalties of any kind. So what is your income? My income yearly take-home pay is about $58,000.

Okay, so you make about $75,000 a year. On my last pay stub that I looked at, it said that I made $93,000 last year. Okay, but you're only getting home with $60,000, so where did all that money go? Because you don't have that much in taxes. Well, I know one fault that i have is i'm still contributing to my 401k which i do need to stop um and some and some insurance um okay some miscellaneous gimmick insurance no it's through the company i mean you need no i'm talking about i mean health insurance you need but the gimmick stuff you don't need

did you get a big tax refund? Not yet. I haven't received one yet. But have you filed? I mean, are you going to? Do you know? Yes. Actually, I'm in the process of filing right now.

Okay. I suspect you're going to find a pretty sizable one. Okay. Because you've got two, you know, you're $30,000 shy here. That's a lot. It's quite frustrating. Yeah, your taxes should not be anywhere near that. So my guess is you've got way too much coming out of your check.

You're probably going to get like a $10,000 return. And stop that. You've got to reset your W-4 once you know what that is so that you have the proper amount coming home, not the amount that you have now. You have too much taken out now. And you stop your 401K.

And I take it you're single the way you're talking about this, right? No, sir. I'm married. Oh, I'm sorry. Does she work outside the home? She does. She's a medical assistant. What does she make?

I believe she's making about $1,200 to $1,500 a month. Okay. We're in the process of doing our budget right now, so we're still in the money talks right now. Okay. All right. How long have you been married? Ten months. Okay.

Good. Yeah, it's time. Time to put your money together and you know what's going on with her, her know what's going on with you. How much other debt do you all have other than this $92,000? That's it. Right before we got married, I paid off about $7,000. Okay, good. And then cash flow to the wedding and a honeymoon and a move.

Good, good. Okay. Well, now the smoke is settling. The dust is settling from all this. And, you know, we're talking a household income north of $120,000 here and $92,000 in debt. So how quick are we going to pay that off? I'm going to tell you, at two years or less. No life. No life at all.

No money going towards your retirement. No money going towards anything except $92,000 goes away in two years. That makes the interest rate discussion less poignant because it doesn't matter much if it's all going to be gone in two years. Okay. But it's okay to move it if you want to move it to a fixed rate. But don't move it to a fixed rate and plan on keeping it like it's a pet. Let's kill this thing. Put a bullet in it, man.

Run Sally Mae out of the house with a stick. And you and your wife get on the same page. This is number one goal. Enemy number one, Sally freaking Mae, has to die. Has to die. She's going down. And you have to get fired up about it and get her run out of there, man. Because this thing will hang around forever if you don't do it.

It'll hang around forever. Patnacia is with us in Minneapolis. Hi, Patnacia. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm great. How are you? Better than I deserve.

What's up in your world? Yeah, so I am 24 years old, and I just started Baby Step 2. Good. I'm still living at home, and I was wondering if I should move out live in Baby Step 2 or if I should save up and move out after I'm out of debt. How much debt do you have? I have $26,000 in student loans. And what is your income?

I make about $28,000. What's your degree in? I have an English degree. Okay. English, literature, and writing. Okay. And so what is your career direction? Are you seeing your income coming up pretty quickly?

I am still trying to figure that out. I would hope so. I just started the job that I'm in. I'm basically an admin assistant for a publishing company a year ago, so I'm hoping to figure out, I guess, what to do next. Cool. Okay, good, good. Well, here's the thing. I try to balance these two things out.

Obviously, living at home means you're going to be able to make a lot more progress on the student loan debt because you've not got the overhead, right, of rent and utilities and food and other stuff. The downside is at some point it starts to stunt your emotional growth. Yeah. Your maturity. A little bit, yeah. And so, you know, so if I were in your shoes, I probably would do a little bit of a combination of the two and say, all right, I'm'm gonna go like crazy for 12 months

i'm gonna have no life at all i'm gonna live on nothing and i'm gonna pay off like almost all of this okay but there'll be a little bit left we're not gonna quite get there because you got taxes and stuff and you got other things coming out i mean you got about gas and stuff, and you've got other things coming out. I mean, you've got gas in your car. Do you have any other debt other than this? No. Okay, good. But, I mean, let's say out of the 26, let's say not half of it in a year, but more than half. Like 18 or something out of that. I mean, you just like say $1,500 a month, that would be 18, right?

That's not a bad target. And so then you've got you got like 8 000 left yeah then i'm probably moving out okay and uh but i'm gonna get like a get like a run and start get the runway get the runway going and get the get the plane lifted off uh and then you got a good solid flight but if you move out right now it might be a little bumpy yeah and is everything okay relationally at home yeah no okay so there's no there's no like weirdness with mom and i want to get away or anything like that no i'm not a man at all okay all right yeah you give given that everything's cool at home i like stay there like one year and use that to get off the ground but i i i want you

out there as fast as i can get you out there because it's good for you. It's good for you. It's going to change you when you do that. But good question. And also, by the way, during that time, maybe your career moves along and your income moves along, which will be pretty cool too. That'd be neat.

This is The Dave Ramsey Show. The last thing I want you to feel is buyer's remorse, especially when you offered thousands more on a new home to win a bidding war. If I've taught you anything, it's that blindly throwing money at a problem is a stupid plan and something you'll regret for years. The key to avoiding this rookie mistake is to call Churchill Mortgage and get certified. This easy program puts you miles ahead of your competition because you are pre-underwritten. Your interest rate is secured, and yes, you can close within 14 days. Don't fall into the trap of offering more money just to compensate for a poor plan.

Call Churchill Mortgage today and get certified. Call 888-LOAN-200 or visit churchillmortgage.com. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. levina is with us in dallas welcome to the dave ramsey show levina hi thank you for taking my call. I really appreciate it.

Sure, what's up? Okay, so me and my husband, we have been listening to you for the past couple of months. I wish I would have found you sooner. But we are on baby step number two. We paid off a couple of debts so far already. But here's my issue. I'm just kind of looking for some encouragement or inspiration, so to speak. So I want to be able to pay off my debts faster, so I'm looking to start in my freelance web and graphic business again.

But I've been kind of burnt in the past few years, and that's why I kind of just let it go because I just lost encouragement, just having the fear of just getting back into business, don't know where to start. So I'm just looking for if you can give me any kind of inspiration just to kind of get my feet going again and get back into business, don't know where to start. So I'm just looking for if you give me any kind of inspiration just to kind of get my feet going again and get back into business. Sure. So how did you get burnt? What do you mean?

Well, I guess I was kind of selling myself short pretty much, trying to get the best bang for my buck for a customer's buck, trying to lower my price compared to other people's prices. So you didn't get burnt. Nobody messed you over. You just didn't charge enough. Yeah, and I think that's the fear of just charging what I want to charge and then telling me, well, you cost too much money.

So let me think here. You currently are working yes i am so this is all side hustle we're talking about it is side hustle yes okay so every dollar you get as a dollar doing this is a dollar you didn't have there's no downside right the only downside is somebody might say you're overpriced right people tell People tell me that all the time, and I give free advice. But listen, if you do anything, somebody's not going to like it. So just be ready for that, right? Right. So just do it anyway.

Go be somebody. I mean, charge. You need to charge. Whatever your price is, we're going to want you to double them. Okay. Because I don't care if you work. You're already making money. This is just a side hustle.

It's extra money. It's an experiment. And it's good. It'll be really good for you for the first time in your life to declare to the marketplace that you are valuable. It'll be good for your soul. Just throw your shoulders back and say, I'm worth it. Right? Yes, sir.

You kind of need that. Because last time you kind of felt like, I'm not worthy. And, you know, here's what's weird with some things. If you undercharge, people think you're not any good. You know what I mean? Sometimes when people overcharge, you're like, wow, they must really know what they're doing. And just whatever you were charging before, I want you to charge a lot more. And I want you to do, if you do half the work and you charge double, you'll make the same money.

That make sense? That makes sense. And then you can just go, well, I'm worth it, and I kind of pick and choose, do whatever I want to do. I don't have to do any of this. I'm just only going to do the ones that make sense, and the ones that make sense are the ones I want to do because I get paid a lot. Because that's the purpose of business. This is not a hobby. It's for money.

Right. And so I think you can do it. The good news is you don't have to do it to eat, right? It's not like you can't pay your bills if somebody rejects you. And I really want someone to reject you. I'm sorry. I think the rejection part, it really gets to me. Yeah, because you're taking it too personal.

Let me ask you something. If you're driving down the street and you see two restaurants and you decide to eat in one, the guy that you didn't go to, the restaurant you didn't go to, you just rejected them. Was that personal? No. I just wanted chicken today.

I didn't want steak. Or vice versa, right? And so some days you're chicken, some days you're steak. Who cares? Some people like Suzy Orman. They don't like Dave Ramsey. That's fine. Suzy's awesome. She does great work some people like robert kiyosaki they don't like dave ramsey that's okay they're both great people

that's not necessarily a rejection of me now sometimes you get people on twitter they're just nasty but that's just part of being you know part of moving around. I really, if I were you, I would be so proud of the quality of work you put out that you don't worry about it when people reject. The Bible calls that a fear of man, that rejection thing. Fear of what other people think, right? Right. And I just, you know, are you good at what you do? I am.

Okay. Then what's it matter if somebody... Let me tell you this. Here's an interesting thing, okay? 92% of the reviews of the Total Money Makeover book are four and five stars. Okay? Mm-hmm. That's a pretty good vote on Amazon.

Right? Right. 1% or 2% are one-star reviews. I think it's safe to say that the one-star reviews, when it's only 2%, 98% are not one-stars. 98% customer satisfaction. Does that make sense, reading that book? I think it's safe to say those 2% are wrong. They're wrong.

I mean, when 98% of the people say something's one way and 2% say they're not, they're wrong by definition. And so if 2% of your people don't like what you're doing, by definition, they're wrong. If you can please 90%, you're a dadgum genius, you know, in this world. So just go do your work. Make your art. Ship something. Enjoy the process.

Expect people to be crazy sometimes because about 2% of the public should be institutionalized. I'm going to give you a copy of Christy Wright's book, Business Boutique, and I want you to jump on her website, businessboutique.com. A lot of people who start businesses, this is equipping women to make money doing what they love, a lot of people who start businesses face the same fear you face. When you first start charging for something that you're good at, it feels weird. Particularly if you're going to charge your friend for something you're good at. It feels weird.

When I first started doing what I'm doing, I was doing financial counseling or financial coaching, and I was doing it as a ministry at my church. And then the first time I ever charged somebody an hourly rate to sit down and tell them what to do with their money, the very first time I ever did that, that felt weird. I'm like, well, what if I give them the wrong advice? And then I thought, if I get them out of debt, how is it the wrong advice? I mean, nobody's going to be pissed off if you get them out of debt. So I'm going gonna try this and i think i charged like 50 or something it was like real money you know but uh we all face that thing of you know somebody might not like what i'm doing

somebody might not like my art will paint anyway and what you're feeling is a very human thing to feel but i want you to go do it anyway and then i want you to do so much of it that you almost get used to the criticism because there's one thing about this culture it is really good at criticizing now some of you have taken criticism to an art form level you haven't got anything else to do if you guys don't believe that i'm what i'm telling you the truth i want you to get an article that is written in a newspaper or on a website read the comments after the article you will find some of the dumbest meanest human beings on the planet. Almost all of them are anonymous. Very few people have their real picture or their real name beside them,

and they are nasty, angry, mean, critical people. There's a percentage of our public just spend all their time trolling. You know what? Go make your art anyway. Go help some people anyway. Go serve anyway. You hang on, and Kelly will take care of you. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Are high health care costs getting you down?

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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 Shereen are with us. Hey guys, how are ya? Hi. How you doing Dave?

Welcome, welcome. Where do you guys live? Sacramento, guys. How are you? Hi. How you doing, Dave? Welcome, welcome. Where do you guys live? Sacramento, California. All right. Welcome to Nashville. Thank you. And all the way to Tennessee to do a debt-free screen. All the way.

Love it. How much have you guys paid off? $165,400. $165,400. That makes more sense. Cool. And how long did this take? 16 months.

Wow. And your range of income during this take? 16 months. Wow. And your range of income during that time? $120,000 to $180,000. Well, good for you. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a public relations consultant. I'm a physical therapist. Cool.

So why did your income go up $60,000 in 16 months? I graduated college and started working. Oh, there's that. Okay. She also started working with a different company, so it bumped her income up as well. Gotcha. So both of you just hit the jackpot because, man, you're killing it. Way to go, you guys.

Thank you. Very well done. What kind of debt was this? 165. I'm guessing Sally Mae's in there. You know it. Almost 90,000 student loans. Had a little car in there.

We also had a little bit of credit card debt and medical debt. Yeah. And we had some, how do you want to call it? Some inherited debt. He supposedly co-signed for some debt. Oh, you helped somebody. Yeah. That didn't help.

Yeah. Got it. Okay. Done that myself. That's some stupid tax. Okay. Cool. So how much stuff did you sell? We sold I think four vehicles. Four cars. Goodness! You were car poor.

Yeah, we sold four cars. You had four cars, really? Well, over the course of time, we had some junkers and we sold cars. Oh, I see. We time. We had some junkers, and we sold cars. Oh, I see. We sold cars that we had loans on, and so we refinanced it, and then we sold it, and then we got another car that was just cheaper and just moved a lot of stuff around to make stuff make sense. You're working your butt off making all the moves you've got to make so you clear this thing in 16 months.

Exactly. And one car, we weren't going to sell it. We wanted to keep it and pay it off, but then it got crashed. And then we got a settlement on it, and that totally paid off the car, and some more to the debt also. Oh, got a totaling check. Exactly. A check from the insurance company, getting totaled. Wow. Okay, cool.

So what happened 16 months ago that lights your fire? Is this when you got out of school, and you said, we've got to get serious, or what? I'll let my wife start that story. So my brother, I believe, introduced me to your show. And I do a lot of driving for my job. And I'm listening to the show. And it's really interesting because it's so much good information. But you don't have to pay for the secrets to financial stuff.

So I'm like, I can do this. It's free. I'll just listen to it. And one day you're talking about term life insurance and whole life insurance. And you're telling me whole life insurance is crap. And I go home and I'm like, oh, gosh, which kind of life insurance do we have? And I go home and ask, do we have term or whole life insurance? So, yeah, when she walked through the door and said, do we have whole life or term life?

I looked at her and said, we have term life. And who have you been talking to? Where have you been? Because why do you not care about this all of a sudden? I was kind of the nerd in some aspects. She was the nerd in others. When it comes to insurance and interest rates, that was me. So when she said that, I knew somebody had been chirping in her ear.

So then it sparked my curiosity. And she's like, yeah, Dave said we need term life. I said, who the heck is Dave? So from then on, you got her to care about interest rates. So I was all on board. Wow. Very cool. on board. Wow. Very cool. All right.

Cool. So then you guys sit down and you start looking at the debt at that point? Or tell me, what was the next step? Yeah, so I think we had already been trying to get our money together in general. I mean, once you get that student loan bill that's more than your rent, you realize, I have a problem and I need to get rid of this problem. But you were giving us a how to get rid of that problem. And so I just showed it to him.

I'm like, hey, he's got it written down, seven steps. Actually, this is only the second step to get rid of this problem. But you were giving us a how to get rid of that problem. And so I just showed it to him. I'm like, hey, he's got it written down, seven steps. Actually, this is only the second step to get through that problem. And he was on board. We put our checking accounts together. We came into an agreement. And it was really good because it was like me and him against the debt instead of me and him against each other. Yeah, very cool.

How long have you all been married? Ten years. Okay. First time you've been debt-free in the ten years? Yes. Wow, very cool. How long have you all been married? Ten years. Okay. First time you've been debt-free in the ten years? Yes. Wow. Very cool. Well, congratulations. Thank you. Now that you've done it, what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is, since there's no secrets?

Right. Definitely having an SWI account helps. That's one thing that helped us a little bit. But no, seriously, I think the biggest thing was not trying to cheat the process. We are in a microwave generation and our friends. So a lot of us just, there's a lot of processes, whether it's getting into shape, whether it's building a healthy marriage or getting out of debt, we can't cheat the process. And I think the second most important thing is FTDI, is follow the dang instructions. You spend a lot of time, I'm sure, putting these steps together.

And for us to come in and say, oh, yeah, I think we should do it this way, that would be very arrogant of us. So the steps were perfect. I think it was very interesting. I was like, get out of debt is step two. I was like, what's three, four, five, six, and seven? So that was very helpful for me. One of the first things

that got him on board, he said, who's Dave? And I said, Dave Ramsey. So he Googled your net worth. And he was like, yeah,

I think we can listen to him. He looks like he probably knows. Yeah, I've listened to broker people before. Well, and the funny thing is, is that's even wrong. Right.

Right. It was good. Abraham Lincoln said, everything on is that's even wrong. Right. Right. It was good enough for me. Abraham Lincoln said everything on the Internet is the truth. So there you go. Well, it worked. I would say the secret is creating a safe place for the budget. We did the budget every single time we got paid. I mean, like we reviewed the meat and potatoes of the budget every single time we got paid.

And it was a safe place. It wasn't no jabs at each other. You spent, I spent. It was just us and him. And we're just reminding ourselves that we are continuously attacking this enemy, which is dead. And it was good. It was a boost for us every single time we sat down to do the budget. Very cool. Way to

go, you guys. You have cheerleaders or people saying you were crazy? Eventually they became cheerleaders. But we were looked at a couple of strange ways a little bit. Because, again, having a paid-for home, let alone being debt-free, was unimaginable. We don't know anybody who's necessarily debt-free. We don't know anybody with a paid-off home. So it's very foreign concepts to not have car payments

and not have these payments. So even us, we're like, okay, we wrapped our mind around it. We go to really a faith church, and we talk about being debt-free. So it wasn't too foreign for us, but once we actually started implementing the steps, getting rid of things, downgrading from an iPhone to a LG flip phone or whatever it was. That got us a couple of crazy looks, too.

Yeah. Well, it goes from theory to really doing it. Right. And now you've gone from theory to you're really here. You don't have any payments. How's it feeling that I have any payments? It feels great. I mean, I think I would like it better if everybody around us were doing it, too,

because they're cheerleaders. They're like, that's great that you're doing that. I'm not going to. And so I'm just like, well, this is what we're about to do because it feels great and I don't need to pay anybody any more money ever again. Love that. Yeah, I definitely equated it to,

this is like financial boot camp and you're like a financial bodybuilder. So it's like trying to convince somebody to work out six days a week and eat your vegetarian diet. It's very uncomfortable and i'm not gonna just hop on that you know so for me i had to have a big enough why um like i said my father passed uh in the beginning of these steps and that was the first time we had to deal with somebody's uh like it missed me it was just me and my sister so like his financial

dealings his you know things that needed to be taken care of and And so that really kind of rocked us once we started with that. And I was like, okay, well, this is never going to happen for our children. There's a lot of things in there that we learned from. And they were like, all right, well, this is it. We're on the plan. They change it. Never again. Change the family tree.

Exactly. And you brought the girls. What are their names and ages? Yes. We brought our beautiful daughters. This is Tayla. She is five. And this one here is Tayla. She is five. And this one here is Jada.

She is ten. All right. Very cool. All right. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired. We want that to be the next chapter in the story. And that is where you're not only debt-free, but now you're millionaires. You're on your way to doing that.

This is great income. You're going to kill it. This is amazing. And not only millionaires but outrageously generous as you go so well done beautiful family you guys are incredible thank you all right brandon and sharon and jayden and taylor from sacramento 165 000 paid off in 16 months making 120 to 180 they sold everything even got rid of the smartphone. Wow. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! I love it. Great job. Boom! Wow. Love it, love it, love it.

Man, oh man. Proud of you guys. Very well done. When you think about investing, what do you think about? I'm young. I've got plenty of time. Or it's too late. I missed my chance.

Most people say one of the two. Neither one are true. You need to get with it right now. Jump on DaveRamsey.com. Click SmartVestor. Put in your info. It'll drop down a list. Click SmartVestor. Put in your info. It'll drop down a list of the SmartVestor pros in your area. Pick one.

Get your baby step four stuff going. Get your investing going now. Our scripture of the day, Isaiah 40, 31. But those that hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint. Henry Ford said, when everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. Derek is in

Chicago. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Derek. Thanks, Dave, for taking my call. Sure. How can I help? I have a few questions. Me and my wife just kind of started getting on the plan. I actually read the total money makeover, and we just got our $1,000 saved up as of my last paycheck

and got our budget done for last month and realized we had about $1,600 worth of money going out that we didn't really account for. But my question is, my car that I have currently, my car and we have one for my wife, is going to be repoed, and I'm trying to figure out exactly what I should be doing and what I should get. I do drive about 55 miles each way back and forth to work. They're going to be repoed.

Yeah, on the list I read, the account was closed, and just the car that I drive currently right now. The account was closed. So you're so far behind, they just said they're coming to pick it up. Yeah, I missed two payments, and they got 140 days past due, and that was the other 160 days. How much is your payment? It was $380. And so how many payments are you behind now?

It was somewhere around $1 hundred dollars or something like that it was that's not 140 that's not 140 days at 380 it kept like they just kept adding up the payments everyone going forward was always one behind they just kept adding it up yeah but 1800 divided $400 is four months, not three. I could be off a little bit, too. Wow, okay. All right, so you're $1,800 behind on the car. What do you owe on it in total?

About, I think it was $1,200, $1,100, $1,500, something like that. And what is it worth? Maybe $5,000 or $6,000 or six who said i looked it up before to see what it would be worth um it was only about five or six it's a 2012 chevy cruze with about 80 000 miles on it yeah five or six on dealer trade or on individual sale i think it was on individual sale. I want you to do some fresh research on it. You've given up on this car and I'm afraid it's going to

make a bigger mess for you than if you could figure out a way to sell it and borrow the difference. Because they're going to take the car and they're going to sell it for a lot less than you would sell it for and they're going to come after you for the whole difference. I don't like that plan. Yeah, I called them a couple months ago when I first missed it

and asked because I had started watching the show, and I asked them if they would sign a note for the difference because I use one of the bigger credit unions. And I called them, and they said, no, we can't do that. My credit wasn't good enough and everything else. They didn't really want to work with me at all, and I asked them a few different times. Okay. Well, I mean, I would look for a different lender then to see if you can find somebody.

I mean, I hate for them to come sell this car for $3,000 when you could get six maybe for it yourself. Because it's an extra three, you're going to have to pay them. Because they're going to come after you for the entire difference. You understand that, right? Yeah, I know. Okay. All right.

Well, as far as what you're going to get to drive, you don't have any money, I assume. No, we have $1,000 saved up. I mean, I make a pretty decent income. and, you know, between what we're saving. What's your income? I make about $85,000 a year. So why are you behind on this car? To be honest with you, it's just a lot of stupid mistakes. A lot of things, doing the wrong things, and owing too many payments.

It wasn't my only payment. I had probably three, four credit cards and my wife's car and a lot of loans. I had about $150,000 in debt. Okay. And so how much is your house payment? $901,000. How much is your wife's car payment? About $385,000.

How many kids do you have? Two. Okay. If you didn't pay anything but your house payments and your car payments, you could pay triple car payments and get this thing current and just keep it. Go to that credit union, sit down in person, and offer to pay them $1,200 a month or $1,200 a month until you're current. And they will do that.

I can't go to this credit union unless they have a branch by me. I thought you said they had branches. I thought you said they were a huge credit union in your area. They're not in my area. Okay. Well, get on the phone with them. Get on the phone with them and see if you can get somebody to send you. You make enough money.

How much other debt have you got other than these cars in your house? Besides the car in the house, maybe $40,000. Okay, and what's that on? I got about $6,000 or $7,000 in credit cards, and then I got about $10,000 on one loan, and then my wife's car is about $15,000. Okay. All right. Yeah, keep your wife's car current. Tell the credit unions to jump in the creek. Tell the $10,000 to jump in the creek and get your car current and keep it.

And then get on a budget with your house and your cars and keep them current, feed your kids, and then catch up on the other stuff after you do that. Your car is your best bet. Keep it and let's get it paid off and get it current and then get it paid off like we do everything else here. Once you get current with everybody, then you start working your debt snowball. But you make plenty of money. Have you stopped your 401K?

I never started investing. Okay, good. Have you stopped everything else in your life that's out-of-control spending so you can concentrate on saving this car? Yeah, we stopped all the credit cards and got a payout. You know, once we figure that out, we can't hold on. And you and your wife are working together, and you're on the written budget with every dollar, right? Right.

I got the app. So I'm right. You can put $1,200 on this if you don't pay anybody but utilities, house payment, food, and her car. You can put $1,200 on your car. Am I right? Yeah. Yeah, or more. Put all you can on it.

Yeah, put all you can on it and get it current really, really fast and get this monkey off your back. You don't realize how much stress you're carrying. I can hear it in your voice tone that's associated with this. Yeah, a little bit. It's riding your back pretty hard. It's a big old monkey on your back. And you get this thing current, and you keep your house, your two cars, your utilities,

and your food current, food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and utilities. We call that putting up the four walls. Then you go catch up the unsecured creditors, get on a plan with them, get them current. Then you start your debt snowball, but not until. Okay? Does that make sense to you? That makes sense. And you're going to be able to turn this around pretty quick once you start paying attention to this.

And how old are you two, did you say? I was 26. Okay. All right. Have you guys been through financial peace university yet i have not i guess i read i read total money makeover yeah and i did that last week actually gotcha and and this stuff takes a toll on your marriage doesn't it yeah a little bit yeah between knowing where's going what and who's been what and what's going where. Well, and just the freak out that they're getting ready to come pick up my car.

Yeah. There's a lot of freak out going on. I was your age when I went broke with little babies in my house, so I remember how it feels to be scared. So I want you and your wife to go through our Financial Peace University. I'm going to give you the one-year membership. I want you to get in one of the groups and go to the nine classes, and then I want you to go through everything that you can get to online there.

And go to the groups, too. Go to the group and learn and get some people around you that are doing this stuff, walking with you. They'll encourage you. You hold on. I'll have Laura pick up, and we'll get you signed up for a one-year membership on Financial Peace University and EveryDollarPlus. We'll get this whole this whole thing going for you brother you call me back if you need more help that's what i would do in your shoes thanks for calling in you ever been scared i've been scared

that puts this hour of the day ramsay show in the books we'll be back with you before you know it in the meantime, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about a product or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything that is mentioned during this episode in the podcast show notes section. Thanks for listening.