The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Charge my Sister 24% Interest on Her Rent? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 21, 2020

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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. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Eric is on the line, and he's in Florida. Hi, Eric. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey
Starting point is 00:00:57 Show. Hey, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, I just found you on YouTube about half a year or so. I started learning about your baby steps and session. I'm actually really excited to start paying off my own debt. But I got a question about my sister. In 2017, I moved in with her to help with living costs while she's in doctorate school. But she's horrible with money. And she's currently only using student loans to pay for everything.
Starting point is 00:01:26 But she blows them within like a couple months of disbursement. So with our new lease, I had a bright idea to charge her 24% APR interest on like any back rent that she may owe me. But I'm really afraid that I'm robbing her of her own future if I do this. So I guess the question is, like, do you think I'm doing the right thing to protect myself and help further my own baby steps, or should I approach this in a different manner? You live in her house? No, we have a lease together with one of her roommates, or one of her college classmates. Okay. We?
Starting point is 00:02:08 Who's we? You and her and the college roommate? Yeah. There's three of you? Originally, it was just me and her in a smaller house, but then to help me, because she owed me so much in rent, we brought in one of her classmates as a third roommate, so where I'm supposed to be paying... So you've been paying the rent. Are you on the lease? Yeah, I am, yes. Okay, for how much longer? It's for another year and a half. Why did you sign a multi-year lease?
Starting point is 00:02:41 Mainly because I hate moving. So I know that, you know, I assigned it with the assumption that she was not going to pay me the entire time. I thought that charging her interest would be enough motivation to get me right on time, but it's already not working out with that. So I'm not. So what do you, what do you make? What do you make a year? I actually, I have a very decent salary.
Starting point is 00:03:08 I make about $75,000 a year. Okay. And she's in school? Yes. Okay. And how much is the rent? Rent right now is $19.45 is what it's averaging with utilities and such. Wow.
Starting point is 00:03:25 That's a lot for you to be paying making $75,000 is what it's averaging with utilities and such. Wow. That's a lot for you to be paying, making $75,000 by yourself. Yeah, it is. It's really slowed me down on debt repayments. How much is the other roommate supposed to pay, and do they pay? Yes. Thankfully, I know it's horrible of me, but I know that she has parents backing her up with her college degree. So I know that her money should be coming in throughout the entire lease.
Starting point is 00:03:51 Why is that horrible of you? You have a tenant that is well-heeled and going to pay the bill. Well, it's my sister. Her third of the bill I'm having to... I understand, I i understand but the other roommate there's nothing horrible about the fact that you have a good one oh yeah i'm sorry yeah okay now as far as your sister goes there's a good rule of thumb on all ethics questions and that is treat other people like you would want to be treated so let's just reverse it for a minute.
Starting point is 00:04:27 You're horrible with money, and your sister moves you in to help her save money, and then you don't pay the bill. Okay? So just walk around in her moccasins for a minute here. What is best for her is what we're asking. And what's best for her is obviously to stop living like a doofus. Right? Right.
Starting point is 00:05:00 For her to get her crap together. That's what's best for her. You to charge her 24% is not what's best for her. That's not what motivates her. You take over all of her bill paying and handle her checking account as if she is mentally incapacitated would might be best for her. Until she can start acting like a freaking adult. Now that'd be okay. and I might do that. It might be best for her if she was out on her own and didn't live there anymore.
Starting point is 00:05:32 But it's not best for her for her own brother to charge her 24% interest. Agreed? I do agree. Yeah. In other words, what would you want someone to do with you if you were a money doofus, you were horrible like she is, and, you know, you'd want some help, you know? And granted, she has to make the decision to be a grown-up and make some, you know, use her brain and actually make some positive decisions, but, you know, I'd want someone
Starting point is 00:06:03 to come alongside me, coach me, pat me on the back, kick me in the butt, coach me, pat me on the back, kick me in the butt until I got my act together. I'd want someone to love me that much. And that's much more difficult than just standing back and going, you're an idiot and I'm going to charge you 24%. You know, because I understand how you got there. I don't blame you for getting there.
Starting point is 00:06:24 But, you know, sometimes it's harder to love there. I don't blame you for getting there. But, you know, sometimes it's harder to love. It takes more energy to love people. Well, does that make sense? Yeah. And so I would I would put some real ultimatums in her life. 24 percent is no longer an option. I refuse to take advantage of you or anyone else in my future because I'm going to treat other people like I want to be treated. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get deeply involved in your finances and I'm going to help you handle them as if you were mentally incapacitated until you prove otherwise. Or if you do not relinquish that to me, you're moving. You have to leave because I'm not going to participate in you misbehaving in your life
Starting point is 00:07:08 and bringing harm to your life and me supporting your crazy by paying your rent because you're being crazy. And so a confrontation is inevitable here because that's what a loving person would do with her. And apparently what your parents didn't do. They let her get away with murder. She was daddy's little princess or something. What am I missing?
Starting point is 00:07:33 Yeah. I would never say that to their faces, but yeah. Okay. I mean, somehow she got here. I'm making that up. I don't know, but I'm just, I'm reading the tea leaves here and saying, what really happened to cause this young woman to get to the point that she is completely oblivious to the fact that she has to pay bills. I mean, that's pretty princess-oriented.
Starting point is 00:07:56 So, you know, are you a little brother or big brother? Big brother. Good, good. Well, big brother, put your arm around your little sister and kick her butt. Love her and kick her butt. Love her and kick her butt. And take over her life and guide her into adulthood. But it's not motivating her to charge her 24%.
Starting point is 00:08:18 It's not motivating her. Drag her butt to Financial Peace University. Make her go to class. Make her go to one of the events we're having in Florida this year. If you want to do that, we'll be in Orlando doing an event. I'll give you a couple tickets if you're in that area. Hold on, and I'll have Kelly pick up. But let's help this girl get her life turned around, because she's incapacitated. She's not living an adult life. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options?
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Starting point is 00:10:31 Use the promo code RAMSY to get the best possible deal. Questions from Andrea in New York. Dave, my question is regarding a HELOC we took out three to four years ago. Our home is paid off, so we have only this $65,000 loan. My question is, does a HELOC loan count as a debt that should be paid off in baby step two, or does it count as paying off your home in the later baby steps like six? It would count as paying off your home in baby step six unless, wow, hey, you can do whichever one you want, okay? But if it's a small percentage of your income, you might just go ahead and throw it into baby step two.
Starting point is 00:11:11 Here's what's running through my head. Our normal advice is where someone has a second mortgage, and usually a HELOC is a second mortgage. In your case, it's the only mortgage, a first mortgage. So when it's your second mortgage, we tell you if it's less than half your annual income, it goes in baby step two. Otherwise, it goes in six. So I probably would apply the same rule to the HELOC here because even though it's technically not a second mortgage, it does have crummy terms.
Starting point is 00:11:46 And the HELOC terms leave you very exposed with potential calls and interest rate raises in a changing environment, that kind of stuff. So yeah, if it's less than half your annual income, I put it in baby step two. If it's more, I'd leave it in six, as if it were a normal second mortgage, which usually a HELOC is. It took me a second to get there, but that's what I'm going to say. Gwendolyn is in Ohio. Hi, Gwendolyn.
Starting point is 00:12:09 Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Well, hello, Dave. Hi. What's up? Well, we ran into an unfortunate situation last year when my husband lost his job. We were doing everything that you were saying as far as financial in our retirement. But now we don't have jobs and we have this home that we need to do something with.
Starting point is 00:12:37 My thing is I would like to pay it off using our 401 and uh rent it out but my husband doesn't want to because he thinks that uh you know that's our retirement but to me we still have the retirement as long as we have the house and use it as income for now so this is not the home you're living in yeah it is the home we're living in we're currently actually moving out to an apartment to even start doing this. Okay. Now, if you're too broke to own a house to live in, you're too broke to own rental real estate. Oh, really? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:18 Oh, wow. Your first goal is you ought to own the house you live in. What's this house worth? It's $183,000. That's the house you live in. What's this house worth? It's $183. That's the appraisal amount. And why are you moving out? Because you can't afford it? We can't afford it.
Starting point is 00:13:33 We lost our job. And how old are you guys? We're 56. We both are. 56. Okay. No, you cannot pay it off with your 401K unless it's to avoid a bankruptcy or a foreclosure. You're not facing either one of those because you can sell the house.
Starting point is 00:13:49 And the reason is, is if you take your money out of your 401k before 59 and a half, you're going to be charged a 10% penalty plus your tax rate. So you can be borrowing money at 30% interest to pay off your house. No, I'm not doing that. And no, you don't need to keep this house. If you can't afford it because you've lost your jobs, you need to put it on the market and get it sold. And then we'll work on buying a piece of real estate to live in in our retirement years after you get your careers back on track. So what you have is not an investment question. What you have
Starting point is 00:14:22 is a career crisis. And you guys need to get your incomes back by getting back to work, both of you. You're young. You have a lot of time left to build wealth, including getting a home and getting it paid off. So if you're moving out of that house because you don't think you can get jobs before the house gets in trouble, then it is time to sell that house. I'm sorry. I wish you weren't going through this. Anastasia is with us in California. Whoops, what did I do?
Starting point is 00:14:53 I must have messed up. All right, let me try again. Anastasia is with us in California. Hi, Anastasia. How are you? Hello, hello. Thank you for taking my call. Sure.
Starting point is 00:15:05 What's up? So I'm a single mom of three. And so, yeah, we do, well, not legally divorced, but he doesn't live with me. And I have 100K cash. And my question is basically, what should I do? Should I get a degree? Should I invest it or should I or should I I really want to buy a business like so I could work in it
Starting point is 00:15:32 or should I just like invest those money in a business? How'd you get the hundred grand? Well we sold the house when we were together with my husband. We sold the house when we were together with my husband. We sold the house? Yeah. Oh, so you were living with your boyfriend, and you sold the house, and you got half the money. No, no, no.
Starting point is 00:15:52 He was my husband. Oh, your husband? I lived with my husband. Oh, I missed that. I thought you said you were a single mom. Single mom with three. As of right now, yes, I am. So you divorced?
Starting point is 00:16:04 Not legally, but we just, he has an addiction and we just don't live together. Okay, you're not a single mom if you're married. There's a definition problem here. I understand you kicked him out because he's got an addiction problem, and then you sold the house and you got to keep the money, and he's off handling his addiction, right? Well, he got to keep some of the money as well, so he got half of the money and I got another half keep the money, and he's off handling his addiction, right? Well, he got to keep some of the money as well. So he got half of the money, and I got another half of the money.
Starting point is 00:16:29 So we kind of split it. Yeah. And so where are you going to be five years from now? Still married to a guy who's addicted to stuff that you don't live with? No. No, no, no. I mean, I'm going through the papers and stuff to start all that stuff. But, yeah, the process is on, you know.
Starting point is 00:16:49 I'm doing the paperwork. It just takes a long time. All right. So you're a future single mom then. Okay. And you have $100,000. How old are you? I'm 29.
Starting point is 00:17:00 How old are your babies? Seven, four, and two. Okay. And what do you do for a living now? Nothing. What are you living on? Well, I live with my parents right now. It's like a duplex, and I live on the other side.
Starting point is 00:17:22 And he was paying rent for a while. When was the last time you worked? About four years, five years ago. Okay. So he was paying the bills, or your parents were? No, he was. He was making really good money, and it's just his addiction was up and down, up and down. And when he was doing good, he was making good money,
Starting point is 00:17:44 and then when he was down doing crazy stuff, we would still have money to live on. But it's just too much. The first thing we've got to invest in then is you and your future. And so you need to do some discussing and praying and reading and thinking about what you want to be doing when you're 39 years old that you make really good money. Ten years from now, what does your life look like, and what are the steps to get there? A degree generally might be a good idea.
Starting point is 00:18:15 It might not be a good idea. But don't just run off and get a degree because you're in a transition. You need to be doing something that is a step to take you towards where you want to be when you're 39 10 years from now and i want you to be a highly successful woman making a hundred thousand dollars a year 10 years from now now what are you going to be doing to do that ready set go well i was thinking but to buy a business with the money have. You don't know how to run a business. I can put everything into it. I know.
Starting point is 00:18:51 You can put all that money in it and lose it. You don't need to buy a business. You haven't worked in four years. You haven't told me anything in this conversation that indicates you know how to run a business. I would love for you to get to where you can learn to run a business. And maybe you want to take some classes and learn about that. Or maybe you go to work for someone that runs businesses or small businesses and you learn from them. And then later on, you buy a business.
Starting point is 00:19:16 That's okay. But right now, you're just desperate and flailing around with 100 grand in your hand. And that makes you dangerous to yourself. Calm down. Develop a solid plan for the next decade and where that's going to take you. And then take solid, gentle, incremental steps. And that will get you there. Okay, I need you to listen to this. When you're on Wi-Fi anywhere in public or at home, you're at risk of hackers easily seeing every site you visit
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Starting point is 00:20:24 on any device you access the internet with. CyberGhost VPN helps you keep your connection on your own Wi-Fi and any public Wi-Fi secure and private. Over 34 million people worldwide have downloaded CyberGhost VPN. Download it now. Just search CyberGhost on iTunes or Google Play or go to CyberGhost.com. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. One of the smartest things you can do with your money in the new year is to protect it. You have to have a good defense as well as an offense,
Starting point is 00:21:24 and that means the right insurance is in place. Checking your credit report regularly, having an updated will, you have to have a defense to go with your offense. We built a tool that will show you which of these you need to adjust in just five minutes, and we'll even email you a to-do list and tell you exactly what to do first. The tool is free. It's the coverage checkup tool. And it could be the most important five minutes you spend this year. Tracy saved over $900 a year on home and auto insurance and reworked her will.
Starting point is 00:22:04 Now, not everybody saves money, but most people do. Some of you don't have enough coverage and you need to increase your coverage some of you don't have things you need to spend money on like getting your will that kind of stuff but you can rest assured knowing you're protected in 2020 if old murphy drops by for a visit so get the free tool the coverage checkup tool. Get your phone out right now. Text the word CHECKUP to 33-789. Text the word CHECKUP to 33-789 or DaveRamsey.com slash CHECKUP. Rachel's in Texas. Hey, Rachel, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, it's a blessing to be here talking to you. You too. How can I help?
Starting point is 00:22:48 Well, my husband and I were very stupid six months ago. Well, a couple months ago. We were gifted with a $30,000 get-out-of-debt money, and we got out of our debt and paid off our $24,000 vehicle. And we were going to stay in the vehicle and save for buying a house. And the vehicle started not being what we wanted anymore. So my husband and I decided to buy a truck. And we put another loan and now we're 21,000
Starting point is 00:23:29 in car debt and 6,000 in personal debt and we are renting a house for 1325 and our lease is almost up and we are looking to buy a house again to get another loan. But the good things are we didn't know about Dave Ramsey or show until now. We know what we're doing with our money. We've learned our spending habits and we've corrected them. We've got our emergency fund. We're ready to start the snowball of debt to get out of debt but we're not sure if this is a smart idea to move into a to buy a home but our goal is to have a home that is less rent than we're paying now or equal because we are in debt and you don't need to buy a house when you're in debt
Starting point is 00:24:21 yeah i know you're gonna say that yeah you did so do we just stay in the rent what's the truck worth um well we bought it for 21 it's a i don't know the worth kelly blue book worth how long have you had it um since october okay And what's your household income? Well, it was $77,000, and then I just got a job for the first time in three years, and I'm going to be bringing home, I think it'll put up to $81,000. So what do you owe on the stupid truck?
Starting point is 00:25:00 $21,000. Where did the money go from the car that you had that was $20,000? Like our monthly bill, where did it go? No, I mean, you took $30,000 and you paid off a $24,000 car, and then you bought a $21,000 truck is what you told me. Right. The rest of the $30,000 went into our personal debt. Yeah, but where did the money go from the sale of the $20,000 paid-for car?
Starting point is 00:25:29 We kept it. Where is it? We traded it in. Good job. Sorry. So you bought a $40,000 pickup? Okay, wait a minute. Stop, stop, stop.
Starting point is 00:25:46 I'm having trouble with your math, okay? At some point in this story, you told me you had a $24,000 car that you paid off with a gift, and you have a paid-for $24,000 car. Was that correct? Yes. And how in the world did you trade that for a $21,000 truck with a $21,000 loan? Where'd the $20,000 go from the paid-for car? I'm not sure.
Starting point is 00:26:12 I feel like that the vehicle, we were given $7,000 from the dealership to trade in the vehicle, the car. And that $7,000 went towards the truck. So it got us $7,000 cheaper. You got $7,000 credit for a $24,000 car? Yes. How is that possible? We've been upside down a lot on our trading. I thought you paid off the car.
Starting point is 00:26:48 You told me you paid off the $24,000 car. Yes, we did. So it's sitting there with zero debt, and it's worth $24,000, right? I would assume so, yes. And we only got $7,000 when we gave it to them. How is it possible that you would give someone a $24,000 car for $7,000 when we gave it to them. How is it possible that you would give someone a $24,000 car for $7,000? Are you a charitable organization? No, we were just stupid. Yeah, like lots of stupid, not just a little. I don't believe this story. There's something wrong. I think you got your
Starting point is 00:27:20 numbers screwed up. Nobody could do what you've done. That just is not possible. Okay, so here's the situation today. Today you have a bunch of debt, and you're obviously completely freaking out of control, and you've just discovered our stuff. You do not need to buy a house under any circumstances right now. You are not under control. You can't even figure out what happened to the $24,000 from your car. So you guys have got to get your head around how money works where it is it's going to take you a little time to do this take your time and slow down and quit buying crap stop it stay off the car lot you're obviously a target there um you probably need to sell a stupid truck i can't tell i can't tell what's going on here but uh You probably need to sell a stupid truck. I can't tell. I can't tell what's going on
Starting point is 00:28:05 here. But you probably need to sell the truck and get down into a little cheaper car and let's get that debt cleaned up. But in the meantime, before you make that decision, slow down. Let's get everything wrapped, get our head wrapped around these numbers a little bit better when you're not on the radio and nervous and all of that. Hold on. I'll have Kelly pick up. We're going to put you in Financial Peace University and see if we can walk you through getting your arms around this stuff, you and your husband, and both of you need to know your numbers, and both of you need to slow down. This impulsive, herky-jerky way of doing things is killing you.
Starting point is 00:28:37 It's killing you. Thanks for the call. Hopefully we can help you turn this around. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Now here's the deal. There are you can go along
Starting point is 00:28:54 making good decision after good decision after good decision after good decision and then suddenly go crazy for six months and offset ten years worth of work with mistakes. You can buy a house that's a money pit. You can buy a car you can't afford.
Starting point is 00:29:13 And it's just suddenly the four-year-old that lives inside of your supposed grown-up body wakes up and starts making decisions for you. And you can set back five or ten years worth of really good progress and work with one or two really stupid decisions i know i've done it i mean one or two massively stupid things can throw off a decade or a half a decade of work depending on how massively stupid they are and so what you've got to do is you have to really slow down and change your decision-making style to avoid mistakes. Everyone has to do this, not just her.
Starting point is 00:29:54 You have to do it. I have to do it. We have to have a decision-making style that has some wisdom to it and that slows down. Do not make big decisions unless you wait overnight. Do not make big decisions unless your spouse and you are in agreement. Do not make big decisions unless you understand every freaking detail of the decision. Period. These things will kill you guys. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. One of my favorite parts of this show is hearing your debt-free screams.
Starting point is 00:30:47 You guys are our heroes. You've kicked debt to the curb and you've saved for the future. Now we want to celebrate with you. If you have lived like no one else and are currently in baby steps four through seven, well, it's time to enjoy some money. And the perfect place to do that is on board our first ever Live Like No One else cruise in March. That's right.
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Starting point is 00:31:34 Don't miss the boat. Head over to RamseyCruise.com today to reserve your room. Thanks for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. Teresa is in Missouri. Hey, Teresa, how are you? Hi, Dave, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hi. Okay, well, here's a quick synopsis.
Starting point is 00:32:24 So our family has moved five times in the past four years due to my husband's job. He does contract work. And for the past a little over a year now, we've been living in Missouri because his company at that time was helping out a local company, and the local company offered him a long-term job. So he decided to take it because we were tired of traveling around. But in taking that, he took a significant cut in his income. And now, as of, let's see, last week, the company that he was originally working for has now told him that they've offered him a job again where if he takes it, we would be in the same area for three years and our income would basically, I think I figured
Starting point is 00:33:18 it out, it would be like a six to seven percent increase in our income. A six to seven or 67 uh 67 okay right now um he makes approximately uh 54 um after taxes and everything like that and it would go up to around 94 and i guarantee you and i guarantee you being stay put for three years and it would be staying put for three years and um so we're basically trying to and during the let me just backtrack during the time that we have been here we've bought a house and um as of this past week we actually refinance it to get a lower tax rate, and we're actually waiting on the results from the assessor right now. So we're just basically trying to decide if it's worth moving again or if the grass is green on the other side of the fence thing,
Starting point is 00:34:17 because we do have debt and we want to pay that off and stuff like that, and it would mean obviously uprooting our family again, and it's just very hard to figure out what to do well not only uprooting them again but then again in three years right the only thing about the three years thing we thought about well maybe going there and doing that and gaining complete financial freedom paying paying off her debt, paying off the house completely, and then coming back here like we would rent out the house while we were gone. No. And we can probably rent the house.
Starting point is 00:34:52 No. No. Okay. You don't rent a house out and then come back to it. You will be sadly disappointed with that experience. Okay. Because renters will not take care of your house like you do that's not going to be a thing you're going to enjoy um especially long distance landlording and
Starting point is 00:35:13 too much risk and you got other debts no you don't need to get in that business if you leave you need to sell your house and decide where you want to be so if you sell this house and you move and you stay there for three years there's nothing that says you have to come back to where you are now where would you want no there's not where would you want to go somewhere warm texas florida where is the new place for three years? It is in the most opposite of all opposites, Iowa. Okay. All right. What does your husband do, you said?
Starting point is 00:35:55 He's like a cable tech, so he does contract work. They run fiber optic cables. Oh, okay. Okay. So he goes where the work is. Oh, okay. Okay. So he goes where the work is. Yes, exactly. And it's a really good job for a single guy, but not so much for someone with a family. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:14 Yeah. Okay. The only way I know to make these decisions that makes sense is you need to pan back and say, not three years from now, not three days from now, but 10 or 20 years from now, which of these decisions takes us to our goal? Where does he want to be and you want to be in 20 years? What do you want to be doing then? What's he doing for a career?
Starting point is 00:36:40 And how's he going to get stabilized? Because one of the things we know 20 years from now, based on this discussion, is you want to be stabilized. 20 years from today, you want to have been stabilized for a long time, right? And so which of those two choices gets you there? In other words, let's say you go out there to Iowa for three years and you get completely debt-free and you use all this money that he's making as your one last run, then what's he going to do?
Starting point is 00:37:10 Well, that kind of falls back on me because I have a master's degree in counseling and I've actually been itching to go back to work. No, that wasn't what I asked you. I asked what he was going to do. Because he's not going to quit work Because he's not going to quit work. He's not going to quit work. Go ahead. Oh, I was going to say,
Starting point is 00:37:32 I was going to say he was probably going to be stay home at dad and I would work. Yeah. Okay. You know why that is? It's just because he didn't have a plan. That's the only reason you did that. And so I'm going to force you. No, you don't have a plan.
Starting point is 00:37:52 You guys have been running around chasing money in 14 different cities, five cities in four years. Now you finally got it lit. You thought you had a plan, and now someone offered to almost double your income, and it disrupted your plan. You don't have a plan. Now the reason you can't go ahead and engage your counseling degree right where you're sitting, you don't have to leave town to do that, and he can stay right where he's sitting and not take the pay increase. Or you can go take the pay increase, but it needs
Starting point is 00:38:18 to be along the path where he has his next career choice picked out, and you have your next career choice picked out. But him sitting on his hands because he doesn't have a plan is not a plan. And that's exactly how you got here. It's not because his great desire is to be home with the kids. That's BS. I can tell by talking to you that's what's going on. And so you guys need to develop a plan that's longer term.
Starting point is 00:38:43 You've been living short-term thinking and you need some long-term thinking and that will give you the solutions and tell you which of these decisions is the wise decision pan back back up from it get a better view of all the trees you're too far into the forest and start making a decision that takes you where both of you want to be and you're living your best possible life 20 years from now. Which of these decisions takes you there? My first opinion is it's not moving. Or if it is, it's moving for a permanent job, not the one he was offered.
Starting point is 00:39:19 And that job is taking him into a career that is his long-term career. That's my guess. Because I'm thinking he never really wanted to do this job in the first place. He's just doing it for money, just to feed his family. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's not a good long-term plan. That's the only thing wrong with it. So that's what I would tell you to do. Thanks for the call.
Starting point is 00:39:40 All right, there's a couple principles there all of us can use in making our decisions. I read a study 25 years ago when I first started doing this show, almost 30 years ago, that said that people who are wealthy when making a purchase decision or an investment decision, or for that matter, a career decision, ask themselves, how's this going to turn out 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 50 years from now? People who are not wealthy when making a purchase decision or a career decision ask themselves, how's this going to feel Friday?
Starting point is 00:40:17 Their planning window is about six days. Thank God it's Friday. Oh, God, it's Monday. But if you can extend your planning window as an act of your intellect, as an act of your will, you have a greater tendency to become successful in most any area of your life, but certainly in the area of money and career. And so when you're asking yourself, you know, is this going to take me where I want to be 20 years from now? Does this purchase do that? Does this decision from now? Does this purchase do that?
Starting point is 00:40:45 Does this decision do that? Does this experience do that? Does this investment do that? Does this career do that? How does it feel today? Children do what feels good. Adults devise a plan and follow it. And that's the principle.
Starting point is 00:41:02 So ask yourself when you're getting ready to buy this car, is this a good long-term decision? I'm getting ready to buy this car, is this a good long-term decision? I'm getting ready to buy this house. Is this a good long-term decision? I'm getting ready to study this field of study. Is this a good long-term decision? I'm getting ready to take this job. Is this a good long-term decision?
Starting point is 00:41:18 This is how wealthy people think. If you want to be wealthy people, all you got to do is start thinking like them. And it'll lead you in that direction. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Blake Thompson, Senior Executive Producer for the show. You know you can listen or watch Beanywhere with the Dave Ramsey Show app on your smartphone. Catch the full show or watch the highlights and check out Dave's upcoming guests. Head to the App Store and download it today.

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