The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Buy a Business? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: July 31, 2019

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Starting point is 00:00:00 🎵 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. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Starting off this hour is going to be Chris in Texas.
Starting point is 00:01:05 Hey, Chris, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, thanks for taking my call. Sure, what's up? So a quick question for you. My wife and I took your FPU class in the springtime and work in the baby steps, so we're on baby step two. Together we have a take-home pay of around $85,000, $90,000. The only debt we have is student loans, which is also around $90,000.
Starting point is 00:01:36 And so the question that I have for you is we have about $60,000 in equity in our home. We have a two-year-old and another one on the way. So should we sell the home to rent a home for a few years to take the equity and put it towards our student loans? The thing with that is that our monthly bills, I guess you could say, for having to rent a home, it's going to go up about $700, $800 just because it's so expensive to rent in the area. Yeah, no, I would not i would not sell okay okay so just hang tight and just keep working the stuff you're you're going to be out of that in a couple years anyway yes sir you're just going to have to lean into it and be you know beans and rice rice and beans and um you know the kids the kids uh crib is going to come from a garage sale oh well so did so did mine, and maybe so did yours. I don't know, but, I mean, I survived without having a rich kid's nursery,
Starting point is 00:02:31 and so did my kids, and so your kid will, too. And, you know, you're just going to get your mess cleaned up, and you're going to pay a price. You're going to work like maniacs and have no life for two years or two and a half years, and then you're going to have this debt paid off, but you keep your house. Okay. Okay, okay cool that's all i need to know i appreciate you taking my call and i appreciate for what everything that you're doing you got a tough couple years ahead of you but i think it's worth the trade-off that's what i'm saying okay hey
Starting point is 00:02:57 thanks for the call man i appreciate you all right kevin is up kevin's in uh pennsylvania hi kevin how are you? Hi, Dave. Thank you so much for taking my call today. Sure, what's up? My wife and I are debt-free, thanks to you, so we appreciate that. But my question has to do with my mom. Two years ago, she did one of these debt settlement companies. She signed with them. She gave them access to her checking account.
Starting point is 00:03:28 And after two years, at 29.7%, she still owes about $4,500. And my question had to do with, I hear you talk about debt collection companies being able to settle with them for a lower amount. Is that the case with a debt settlement company? Well, a debt settlement company, that's what they were doing. She quit paying her bills and started paying them. They did not pay her bills so that they would get very late so they could settle each of the debts. And they kept some of the difference, and that's their profit. And the problem is when you use a debt settlement company, it does to your credit exactly what
Starting point is 00:04:16 a Chapter 13 does to your credit. So it's screwed up everything. So you need to get her out of it. All this is is an intermediary company settling the debt for you in an inefficient manner for profit. Right. That's all it is. And so we do not recommend using debt settlement companies ever. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:04:43 It's ridiculous. Yeah. So tell her to stop either close her checking account or stop the draft on the checking account. You can help her take that one debt that's left, or however many debts that $4,500 represents back, and then you just negotiate with them and settle with them for pennies on the dollar. She cannot pay bills by herself absolutely so they did settle they did settle the debts with the credit card companies those
Starting point is 00:05:14 accounts are closed okay so what is still owed um the uh so they basically sold it to another company i don't know if i can say on the air what the company sold it to another company. I don't know if I can say on the air what the company is. They sold what to another company? The loan. So she signed a loan with this other company. And so she signed a loan for about $8,000. Oh. Yeah, so she's deep.
Starting point is 00:05:39 So they loaned her money to settle these debts. Correct. Holy crap. They double dipped. At $3.67 interest per day. Okay. And so there's $4,500 left on that. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:05:54 And if she continues to pay, it'll cost her another like $3,000. Well, at the current rate. But, I mean, if you pay it off today, it doesn't. Right. I mean, she would be better off to move that over to a credit card, oddly enough, right? Yeah, for sure, because it's a lower interest rate. Yeah. We can help her.
Starting point is 00:06:14 We can help her. Can you pay it? We can pay it, yes. I'll just pay it. Just get it done. Yeah, just pay it off and forget it. As long as mom's learned. As long as she's learned her lesson.
Starting point is 00:06:27 We're still working on that part. Mom, I'll pay it, but you've got to go to Financial Peace University. Gotcha. And I'll pay for that. I'll give you that, okay? Awesome. So you hold on. Kelly will pick up, and we'll sign mom up for Financial Peace University.
Starting point is 00:06:42 You tell her that you're going to pay her $4,500 debt, and away she gets that free money as she goes to class so that this doesn't ever happen again. You have to fix the problem. You can't just treat the symptom. That's the thing. You've got to dig out the dandelions by the roots so they grow back. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Thank you for joining us.
Starting point is 00:07:03 We're glad you are here. Dave, what's your take on tiny houses? They don't always gain equity. That's true. They hardly ever do. But when my job is a flight attendant and I'm traveling and working a ton, it doesn't make sense to pay full rent and only be home half the month. Well, a tiny house is right around living in a uh
Starting point is 00:07:27 camping trailer or a tent a fancy tent and you could do either one of those two but that didn't mean i would do them um you're right it doesn't make sense to pay full rent or only be home half the month a lot of flight attendants for that reason have multiple roommates and work schedules and work around you know unusual living situations like that you can buy a tiny house if you want uh i personally wouldn't um i i just i think that there um well i know that there's a very very small market for the resale on them and so it's to be, it's a tiny house and has a tiny market. We could really go way too far with this. But we'll just stop right there.
Starting point is 00:08:14 I won't try to do the tiny thing too much. But, yeah, a tiny house with a teeny tiny market and a teeny tiny increase in value. And, oh, yeah, it's not a good idea. You're going to get stuck. You're you're gonna get stuck don't do that it's weird and you know it's weird and you know it's a fad and there's a reason you know that because you've got common sense this is the dave ramsey show This is big news, guys. You need to stop and listen. The Fed decided not to raise interest rates.
Starting point is 00:09:01 That means you've got a small window of time before rates rise again. Here's the deal. Most people are paying too much interest on their largest expense, their home. So you're freaking crazy if you don't take 10 minutes to call Churchill Mortgage right now and see if they can save you money before rates rise again. A mortgage through Churchill could save you thousands, or better yet, reduce the time until you're debt-free. Can you imagine how it would feel to no longer have that payment looming over your head every month? Just go to ChurchillMortgage.com or call 888-LOAN-200.
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Starting point is 00:10:42 You can save up to 69% on life-changing books and tools that'll help you get your money back on track. You can get our number one best-selling book, The Total Money Makeover. Right now, it's $12.99 in the store. That's a deal. Our number one best-selling kids bundle, which is the whole pack, including bedtime stories and teaching your kids how to handle money, everything, the Financial Peace Junior, all that stuff, $45.99 for the whole bundle. You can also get the best-selling money bundle, the Starter Special, which is $43.99. Check these things out. We put these things together.
Starting point is 00:11:06 The bundle makes a serious bargain. Back-to-school sale ends this week. Go to the online store at DaveRamsey.com or call the Ramsey Concierge Team at 888-22-PIECE. 888-227-3223. That's not right. 888-22-PIECE. 888-227-3223. Yeah, it is. 3223. I don't know. Brain locked up. Okay. That's not right. 888-22-P. 888-2273. Yeah, it is.
Starting point is 00:11:25 3223. I don't know. Brain locked up. Okay. Michelle's with us in Alaska. Hi, Michelle. Welcome to Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave.
Starting point is 00:11:33 Hey, what's up? Thanks for taking my call. Sure. I'm just wondering what you would do if you were in my shoes. I'm 32. My husband's 37. We make about $135,000 to $140,000 a year. We've made a lot of progress this year
Starting point is 00:11:47 paying off all debt, but our two cars, the balances are pretty high. One's $45,000, the other is $18,000. So we're barely within your guidelines. Uh-huh. So my question is, we have $300,000 in mutual funds, and we have $130,000 in our 401ks. The $300,000 in mutual funds is non-retirement, just regular investing? Correct, yep.
Starting point is 00:12:15 And I have a Smart Investor Pro. Okay. So we've gone back and forth of using that cash because we love the cars. We're having a hard time selling that expensive vehicle should we just use some of that money and move on with our life or i just pay them off i'd pay them off i would have done that i would have done it the first day i understood what dave ramsey said yeah well i asked my smart investor pro and he was against that so um oh that's not good so i guess we'll have to give him a little teaching lesson so um when you when i get through i'm gonna get you to hold on i'm gonna find out who that is
Starting point is 00:12:49 because we're gonna help him he's he's confused so anyway well we were gonna sell it and then no i'm just saying i don't want a smart investor pro that doesn't know his butt from a hole in the ground so we'll have to help him fix that but anyway yeah you should have cashed that out the 30 seconds into doing this you should have cashed it out and paid that off so that's what we teach i mean it's in the total money makeover it's in everything i've done for the last 30 years so hold on kelly will pick up and we'll find out who this goob is all right uh matt's with us in arizona hi matt welcome to the dave ramsey show hey dave thanks for taking my call. Sure, what's up? Hey, so I manage a pretty successful auto shop in Arizona, and the owner is getting older. He's looking about thinking about retiring
Starting point is 00:13:32 in the next couple of years, and he wants to sell it to me. Great. My question is, do I put my debt snowball on hold to get a down payment for a small business loan so I can get some cash fast and kind of put the debt snowball on hold. Well, I don't suggest people go into debt to buy businesses. Okay. So we've got to find another way to do this. So what will the business sell for, do you think? He had it estimated earlier this year at about $300,000. Okay. And what will he sell it do you think uh he had it estimated earlier this year at about 300 000
Starting point is 00:14:05 okay and what will he sell it to you for uh i believe somewhere around there he said he would carry some of the loan some of the amount um but that he's just i think he's ready to retire and pay his house off and he just wants the cash now i don't think he wants to carry all of it and what kind of profit does the business make a year um it's hard to say he hasn't shown me the books he he had i know that it's a it's a good amount of money it's a lot of money it's what's a lot of money um from what i've seen it's probably he's probably taking home. He probably earns $150,000 would be my guess.
Starting point is 00:14:48 Okay. All right. And that's after he pays you? Yes. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So what if you just kept your salary and you gave him all the profits for two years? I didn't think of that.
Starting point is 00:15:03 That might be a good idea. That would be like $150,000 and $150,000 would be $300,000. That's getting his money pretty quick. Yeah. I'll give you 100% of the profits until we get to $300,000. And I'll live off my salary, and I won't give myself a raise until we get you paid off. Right. That would be a pretty good deal for him.
Starting point is 00:15:22 Yeah, that's not a bad idea, as long as he's willing to do that. Yeah, as long as the business is really worth $300,000. Yeah, he's had it assessed a couple of times, and it was between $300,000 and $350,000. If he's making $150,000 a year profit, it should be worth more than that. Okay. So I don't think he's making that. Okay. My guess is he's making more like $75,000.
Starting point is 00:15:46 Okay. Well, I make $60,000 as a tech and a manager. Yeah. And we made $10,000 yesterday. I see the receipt reports. You got gross revenues, but gross revenues don't mean a thing. It's what you net. Right.
Starting point is 00:16:02 Net profit is all I'm talking about right and so um you made ten thousand dollars in receipts in what in one day yesterday okay so the thing we're the only shop that does the caliber of vehicles that we that is serviced anywhere is that a normal day uh no it's probably i would guess if I had to average it between probably somewhere around $5,000 every day, $3,000 to $5,000 every day. Okay, so it's a couple million dollars a year revenue. Yes. Yeah, he ought to be making $150,000 out of that.
Starting point is 00:16:38 And it ought to be worth more than $300,000. Okay, if you can buy something that has a net profit of $150 a year after everything is paid, including your salary, your current salary, and you can buy it for $300, and he'll let you give him 100% of the profits until you get to $300, which would get him there in approximately two years, that's a great deal for both of you. Yeah, and it's interest-free. Yeah. Well, I don't mind paying him interest. Yeah. I'm fine with that for both of you. Yeah. And it's interest-free. Yeah. Well, I don't mind paying him interest. Yeah. I'm fine with that. But here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:17:09 If there's no profits, he didn't get any money. Right. That's how this deal was struck. That's not that. You're not going to get sued later because you didn't pay some bank. Yeah. Over 10 years trying to get yourself out of hock right so that's the deal i and let's just start talking to him about that kind of thing
Starting point is 00:17:32 yeah and just say hey i talked to my i talked to my business coach and he said because i'm your business coach and i just told you that right and and he he said why don't we structure it this way i'll give you all the profits after I make my current salary, 100% of the profits, until we get to 300. And how long do you think it'll take us to get to 300? And see if he says two years. Right. Yeah, exactly. That'll tell you what it's really netting, right?
Starting point is 00:17:57 And we don't have to do that deal today. But when you get ready to do it, I'm ready to strike that deal whenever you want. And you don't have to have anything to do that. Right. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense except once a month you do the books with an accountant that you both agree on and that accountant helps determine what the profits are and you dump all the profits back into that now again you may have purchased tools you may have to upgrade equipment occasionally that normally happens in anything where you've got equipment like you guys do that affects the bottom line but you're not going to go spend all the money you want to get him paid and out of there as fast as you can right exactly
Starting point is 00:18:35 but you've got to keep the business operating yeah so structure it all that way and i i've seen people do that kind of a deal and i'm fine with that but you know pledging your house for an sba loan oh shoot me and get it over with please really dumb idea i would not do that the great news about this is you know the business and you know how to manage the business because you've already run the business not only have you run a business like it you've run this one. And you know exactly what to do to take this to the next level and to keep it at, certainly to keep it at this level, because you've been the guy that did that. Very, very cool. Good job, man. This is the Dave Ramsey
Starting point is 00:19:16 Show. Thank you. We'll be right back. Preston is with us in Texas. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Preston. Hey, Dave. How's it going? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, I appreciate you taking my call. I just want to say thank you for all you do. I found you late last year, just after I'd done something stupid and then purchased a brand
Starting point is 00:20:26 new car. And so I kind of fought, you know, dove headfirst into the plan and got out of that, paid the car off quickly and have gotten through baby step three now. So I'm- Good for you. I'm moving on. Yeah, yeah. So I moved on here to baby step 3B. So me and my wife will probably be in this step for another you know year and a half to two years while we you know pile up cash to put a nice big down payment down um so my my question is i just wanted to get a little clarity i know it's a little bit down the road here but some clarity on the you know the 25 of your take-home pay um so that take-home pay is
Starting point is 00:21:02 that is that uh after taxes or is that after your you know after medical and your 401k no just tax a little bit of clarity just taxes okay yeah the point is i mean your medical and your 401k is something you would pay out of your pocket if it wasn't coming out of your check okay some people even have their car payment or their daycare or whatever coming out of their check you know because of credit unions and you know 125 plans and all that kind of stuff so none of that none of that's what i'm talking about i'm just saying that the guideline is just so you don't become house poor or you don't get the payment so high you can't breathe and you're stuck you know that that's what we're trying to get away from so okay yeah so back out you know if you're doing your 401k you know while you're doing 3b but um then you'd have to back that out
Starting point is 00:21:54 to calculate it if you're not doing your 401k yet then it makes it easier to calculate it yeah i do have a i know i think if i understand correctly you kind, you kind of – hey, it's okay if you don't – It's okay either way. I'm being in 3B for – okay. It's okay either way. That's what – you know, like I said, I got other HSAs and some other things set up in there. Yeah, whatever's coming out. But I'm just saying, you know, net of taxes, take your taxes out, and then what are you getting home with after payroll tax and income tax coming out and that kind of stuff?
Starting point is 00:22:22 Because that's the real money you got to work with you're choosing to put some of that money towards retirement or hsas or whatever but you don't have to in any of those cases you could stop all of that if you needed to to do it to do you know to survive if something happened so that's what makes the 25 percent of take-home pay a very conservative thing but no it no, it's net of only taxes. Hey, man, congratulations. You got it on the run. Keep fighting. Keep fighting.
Starting point is 00:22:50 I love it. All right, Chris is in Wisconsin. Hi, Chris. Welcome to Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks so much for having me on, and thanks in advance for changing our lives. Sure. Way to go, man.
Starting point is 00:23:00 How can I help? So my wife and I are beginning baby step number two tomorrow. We've recently been with an assistance program through church that was helping us out, and we can be a lot more aggressive with our snowball in our own control versus through them. Wow. We have about $36,000 in debt, two car loans, one for $14,000, one for $15,000, one of which we're upside down in, and about $14,000, one for $15,000, one of which we're upside down in, and about $7,000 in medical and consumer debt. I have about $15,000 in assets that we are
Starting point is 00:23:31 currently trying to sell. And I was looking to buy a beater because my everyday drivers bought the roll 100,000 miles and start depreciating greatly. So I'm concerned of going further upside down on that car. So I'm wondering, A, should I buy the beater, and B, we have money in the bank, and should we use that and pay down some of these debts? Yes. Yes and yes. So what price range of beater are you talking about? It would be about a $4,000 car.
Starting point is 00:24:02 Okay. So let's say you've got $10,000 left because you need $1,000 in Baby Step 1. And which car is upside down the most? My everyday driver, which is a Honda. Okay, and it's worth what, and you owe what? It's worth about $14,000 on the top end, and I owe $15,000. Oh, okay, so you owe $1,000 in the whole. Correct. Okay, so you use $1,000 of your remaining $10,000 and sell that car, and it's gone, right?
Starting point is 00:24:28 Mm-hmm. That got rid of $14,000 of the $36,000, right? Correct. That's great. And what's your household income? About $65,000 a year. Okay, cool. For now.
Starting point is 00:24:40 Cool. So then we got Mama's car and the medical debt to clear, and you'll be okay, right? That would be it. You're game on, man. Do it. Definitely do it. Because you got rid of the car payment, and you got rid of almost half your debt. This is brilliant.
Starting point is 00:24:55 Oh, and there's $10,000 to throw, so the medical debt's gone, too. Yes, we would be able to eliminate the medical debt. Yeah, all we got to do is pay off Mama's car, and you make it 65, you got no debt, man. You're going to feel like you're going to knock that car out in just no time. Well, you know, this is the plan we're on. Where we fall into an issue is my company was just sold in a major acquisition, so in about five months, my job becomes redundant. So I may catch a decent severance, or I may just end up on my butt.
Starting point is 00:25:27 But you won't be staying? The odds aren't against it. Like I say, I'm in a corporate regional position. They already have one of me at the other company. I become redundant. So they're not going to move you inside the company and keep you? More likely than not. They may offer me something that's within 50 miles of my territory,
Starting point is 00:25:49 which is anywhere from Wisconsin to Missouri, and our family's really not in a position to pack up and move to southern Missouri right now. Okay. I got you on that. So what do you make? I bring home $65,000. Oh, it's single income. Okay. All right. Yes, sir. Single income.000. Oh, it's single income. Okay.
Starting point is 00:26:05 All right. Yes, sir. Single income. My wife is raising our two beautiful daughters. Okay. Well, with what we're talking about, you'll be debt-free other than her car, and you'll be beating on her car. Now, watch what's happening with the company, and if the storm clouds get darker and darker don't wait on the storm to get there stop your total money makeover and pile up cash if the storm clouds get darker for right
Starting point is 00:26:34 now they're kind of it's off in the distance rumbling right but i'd like to get her car paid off and build up a nice war chest before all this comes that could happen absolutely it could okay and or you could take an uncomfortable position for six months with them and then move on you know that kind of a thing that could happen and so there's a lot of things you can do to continue to eat and not have to panic about losing your job. Because at the point that you are like 100% having an oh crap moment, not just worrying about it, but this is really coming down, you need to have stopped your debt snowball prior to that and piled up as much cash as you can pile up to create your own margin, your own war chest between you and life, okay? Okay.
Starting point is 00:27:26 But I think today it sounds like it's premature to do that. Okay. You know, it's kind of like pulling up the thing on the weather channel and the lightning strike is 22 miles away. Well, I'm not worried about that. Lightning strike is two miles away. Well, I think we'll go inside. Fair enough.
Starting point is 00:27:44 You know, it's that kind of it's that kind of thing that's what i'm talking about so just you know let's not overreact but let's not under react on the other side later i'm hoping hopeful that you can with your newfound zeal really crank on this budget work extra jobs sell more stuff have garage sales and let's get her car paid off asap and start building your own war chest so you never have to slow down because your next step once her car's gone to build the emergency fund anyway but at the point that you you know if you haven't gotten there then stop and build build a rainy day fund if you can see the rain really coming across the horizon and so it's
Starting point is 00:28:24 there so you never know though they may offer you a severance of two two years of income you never know what happens people do all kinds of things and so uh you know you just you get into all kinds of weird things it's possible everything's possible what's interesting i i remember reading dale carnegie when i was 18 years old, How to Win Friends and Influence People. And one of the things he talks about in some of his writings, I don't remember if it's in that book or in something else of his I read, but he said how to deal with worry. We all worry about things from time to time. How do you deal with worry? The first step of dealing with worry is figuring out that about 80% of what we worry about never happens.
Starting point is 00:29:07 That helps. And then another portion of what you worry about, there's nothing you can do about it. And so don't spend any time worrying about things that aren't going to occur and things you have no control over. That gets rid of a lot of worries right there. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Our Scripture of the Day, Proverbs 4, 5 and 6. Get wisdom, get understanding. Do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you.
Starting point is 00:30:18 Love her, and she will watch over you. David Letterman said, Next in importance to having a good aim is to recognize when to pull the trigger letterman really okay i guess he's speaking metaphorically when i would have been speaking of that i would have thought of an actual, but that's the difference in me and the other David, I guess. Oh, well. I'm guessing I may be wrong. He may be a big gun guy.
Starting point is 00:30:54 I don't know. Alex is with us. Alex is in Wisconsin. Hi, Alex. How are you? Not too bad, Dave. I want to thank you first off because I'm pretty sure my wife is praising God that I found you. She's tried to get me to read your book, and I actually read it last weekend and listened to the audiobook version as well.
Starting point is 00:31:13 And I listen to your show every day now because it's absolutely positive, so it's good for the whole marriage and morale and relationship. Awesome. The issue that we're having is we have a morale question. We have about $70,000 in consumer debt, like credit cards and stupid little things like that. Together, we have a combined household of $110,000 or possibly $120,000. My wife's wage fluctuates. And before I discovered you, I made a really dumb mistake and got a VA home loan and actually put an offer in on a house with an earnest offer. So the question comes down to is what's the moral correct answer?
Starting point is 00:31:52 Because we feel like we're obligated morally to actually purchase the house rather than take the $1,000 hit and back out and actually continue baby step two. That's where we're struggling right now so um how hot is the market that you are in um it's it's very interesting houses are going pretty quick how hard would it be for the seller to resell? Honestly, I don't think it would be that hard. I mean, everything's getting – we used Redfin to find it in the first place, and they already had two other offers before us. So, I mean, the market is hot according to the VA, according to everybody in this area.
Starting point is 00:32:45 Why don't you call the seller and tell them what you're facing? I've never actually thought of that. That actually sounds like a really good idea. I would beg you for mercy and let me out of this deal. And most people in our culture today would just walk away. But I feel like I've made a contract with you, and I need to honor the contract. But I'm asking you to release me from it. I'd be happy to let you keep my $1,000. And I think you can resell the house and make more on it anyway.
Starting point is 00:33:18 All right. See if they'll give you, you know, say, you know, we're a young family. We got $70,000 in debt. We've bet off more than we can chew. We've woke up and realized this. It's not simple cold feet. It's mathematics. We really are in a mess here.
Starting point is 00:33:32 And yet we've given our word. And so we're asking your mercy to let us go, to release us. And if they let you go, there's nothing immoral about that, obviously. He might be so shocked that someone had that much integrity and honor that they would just let you go it could happen they may not they may not but uh the given especially given that they can resell it. Yeah, exactly. And I think that that is the best advice I've heard all day on it because I've asked a couple other people. And oddly enough, I can't.
Starting point is 00:34:13 Everyone knows about you. Even my boss knows about you because I told him my plan to pay off. And he's like, oh, you're doing FPU. I'm like, no, we've never done that. I've just read the book. So it's like crazy that everybody I know knows you, but I've never heard of you until literally two weeks ago. That's okay. What was my mind?
Starting point is 00:34:30 We're glad you're here. We're glad you're here. It's all good. And you're going to go through Financial Peace University as my guest because you're a man of honor, and I appreciate you struggling with keeping your word. That's such an unusual and wonderful thing. Thank you, sir. So you hold on on and we're
Starting point is 00:34:46 going to sign you up for financial peace university the blessings have already started flowing see that's how that works and uh you call that guy and if he's an old guy like me he'll probably let you out just because he'll think this is cute if he's a young character he may hold you to the deal and if he does, do the deal. It'll be okay. You'll survive. It's not going to bankrupt you. It's just not a smart, wise thing to do, as you have realized.
Starting point is 00:35:13 But following through on your word is always the best thing to do, even when it leaves you with an ouchie. Because the long-term ouchies of no integrity are much higher. Thanks for calling in. And all the real estate agents in America just said, amen. Someone that signs a contract to buy a house actually ought to keep their words, that are just willy-nilly walking away. People walk away from contracts like it's nothing now,
Starting point is 00:35:41 much less walk away from keeping their simple handshake. I mean, when I got in the real estate business in 1978, if you broke a contract, we would sue your butt. Because we believed back in the dark ages that if you gave your word, you should keep it. But now people just sign up and they go, well, I'm going to... And so, God forbid my feelings would be hurt, you know. But now people just sign up and they go, well, I'm going to. And so, God forbid my feelings would be hurt, you know. And so, you know, it's just like, geez, man. So I love guys like that right there.
Starting point is 00:36:15 What a stud. That's very cool. All right, J.R. is with us. J.R. is in Michigan. What's up, J.R.? Hey, how you doing? Thanks for taking the call. Sure. I'll try to make this real quick.
Starting point is 00:36:25 We're debt-free except for our house, and my daughter is about eight years old, and I've been putting, since she was born, about $1,000 into her savings account so that when she's 16, 17, she can have a big lump sum of cash to have a car and have an emergency fund and pay for things. But I've also been putting into her 529. I didn't start the 529 until she was a few years old. And then we took a break while we were going through your system. Good.
Starting point is 00:36:51 So I'm doing catch-up. Good. And I'm putting about 3,000 a year into the 529 at this point because what I would like is by the time she's 18, I would have liked to contribute the equivalent of 2,000 a year. So I want 36,000 in there. But since I'm so far behind right now at 8 years old, I feel like I'm missing out on the gains. And should I stop putting in the savings or move the current savings balance into the $529?
Starting point is 00:37:18 How much is in the savings now? It's just about $8,000. Nah, I'd leave that. I probably would stop adding to it. And then when she gets a little bit older, I'm going to let her add to it for her own car. Let her work. Yeah, we plan on that as well. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:33 Okay. So, I mean, if she saves some more money and you put that, puts it with that, then maybe you even help her with a little bit of a match or something, a partial match or something like that. Then, you you know that gets her car your car you probably got her car done and then let's just lean a little heavier on the 529 it's much more important than the car oh right it's so do you think that if i just leave the savings at eight and take that money i was putting in monthly and just contribute that along with everything else i'm putting in the 529 that'll help me get some gains better yeah probably you may sit down with your smart investor pro and actually do some calculations
Starting point is 00:38:09 to say okay I got 10 years and I'm putting in this much and there's this much in there I'm putting in x and there's y already in there and it's you know it's in mutual funds so it's growing at this rate what's that going to have me at? And compare that to, you know, tuition rates in your area, and that'll put you in a pretty good place. So, you know, you can project out what you need and how far off you are one way or the other. But I think you're going to be in pretty good shape of what you're outlining, assuming, you know, a reasonable in-state school. Now, if you want to go to a super expensive private school you're really short you're not going to have enough with what you're doing so that all comes down to you know the choices on that but and that's not that's an okay thing to start talking to the eight-year-old about right now you know we're saving up for school but that means for
Starting point is 00:39:03 school not you living in an apartment with a skylight and a jacuzzi while you're in school. Your college experience is not my concern. Your education is. That kind of stuff. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and the books. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. We'll be back with you before you know it.
Starting point is 00:39:25 In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, guys, it's Blake Thompson, senior executive producer for The Dave Ramsey Show. This hour's over, but you can find more great content on our YouTube channel. Catch the most- Dave Rants, debt-free screens, and the very popular Everyday Millionaire segment. Go to the Dave Ranty Show YouTube channel and click subscribe.

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