The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Take a Pay Cut That Will Lead to a Better Job? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 20, 2020

Career, Home Buying, Debt, Insurance Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

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. Thanks for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Jenny starts off this hour in Kansas City. Hi, Jenny. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Hey. I have a dilemma. I've been offered a position where I work that means a cut in pay. I've just started your program, just got my $1,000. Yay. But I just started. I'm about $56,000 in debt.

And I currently make $20 an hour. Taking the new position would mean a cut down. They said it can pay between $15 and $17 an hour. But it puts me on the path to becoming a director of operations. So do I take the cut and pay, or do I stay where I'm at until the debt's paid off? Okay. So we're talking about a $ or six thousand dollar pay cut a year yeah how long does this go on

if you take the step back when do you get to take the other steps forward when the positions open is that 10 years or 10 months um the company i'm at, it's usually about every two years. Okay. So you're investing $10,000, $5,000 a year in less pay for the opportunity to move up into a better position long-term. How old are you? 42. Okay. And what will it pay when you move up into one of those positions? Those are usually $80,000 to $90,000 a year. Doubles your pay? Yes. Okay.

You have $56,000 in debt. Are you married? No. Okay. And what's the $56,000 in debt? Stupid. A lot of stupid. Yeah yeah but what's it on credit cards a car what um well i have 11 000 on a car another 11 000 in old student loans that i've been paying on um college i never and there's some medical bills. That's nowhere near 56.

I'm still at 20. A large portion of it is child support. You owe back child support? Yes. Okay. And it's like $ thousand dollars worth it it it's like twenty seven thousand yes yeah kind of like thirty okay and so uh all right and um are you paying monthly on that or how is that being paid on the child support i pay pay weekly. Weekly? Right. They ask for $100 a month.

I pay $200 a week. Okay. All right. And can you continue to do that if you take this cut? I don't know. If you take this cut, are you working 40 hours? I'm working more than 40 hours, yes. How much more?

It's a 56- a week okay all right um last question when you're 62 years old what do you want to be doing with your life uh director of operations so this is your goal yes yeah. Yeah, I'm doing it. Yeah. I'm doing it. I want to be running a trucking company. I'm a truck driver. Can you get more hours in this new role than you get now? Yes.

Then your pay cut's not going to be that much. It's a per-hour cut, up you pick up the income by picking up more hours right i would do that and that makes it a no-brainer okay yes let's do this and pick up ot and pick up any extra hours you can get to make up the loss of the per hour rate for the two years or the year and a half until you get into operations. But I also want you to have a leader, a supervisor, or someone dialed into your goal that says, I'm doing this so that I can become one of these when the position opens up. Help me learn what I need to learn and do what I need to do to be right at the front of the line when that opens up.

And meet with them about once every two months for 20 or 30 minutes and say, what do I need to do? What do I need to be? What do I need to read? How can I make myself so good that you have to have me when this opens up? Yeah, my terminal manager, when he hired me for this driving position, I had told him that that was my goal. So when this position came open, he came to me and said,

this is the next step you need to take to get to your goal. Yeah, but ask him for 15 to 30 minutes every two months to give you input, a little bit of baby sort of kind of mentoring on making sure you're lined up to go right into this slot. All right. I don't want them passing you by after you do all this. Thank you, Dave. Thank you. Good call. Interesting.

Very interesting. Well done. That's a lot of child support. Speaking of that, John says on Twitter, should spousal support be included in my debt snowball if not where does it belong in my financial plan spousal support i assume you mean what we would call alimony in tennessee i'm guessing that's what that means um and if it's alimony or child support you if you have a monthly expense, it's part of your budget.

If you are behind, like that lady was behind on child support, $27,000, that $27,000 is a debt, and your debt snowballed. And so when you get to that debt, you clean it up like you clean up any other debt, and then that lowers your obligation from back child support or back spousal support down to only your monthly obligation. And your monthly obligation should be part of your monthly budget. So your monthly child support, your monthly alimony, whatever it is, should be in your budget. And you stick with that.

But if you've got a back, if you've got an arrearage, if you've got a backlog, back child support, back spousal, back alimony, then you need to put that in the debt snowball. Good question. Thank you for following us on Twitter, John. You can do that, at Dave Ramsey. And I'm on there checking you guys out. There's about 900,000 of you there. Folks, follow us on Facebook, facebook.com slash Dave Ramsey.

There's about 5 million of you there. Hundreds of thousands of you in the Ramsey Baby Steps Facebook community. That is the official community on Facebook. And if you join, you will find a lot of people working the same kinds of plan that you are working. And, you know, you'll get lots of encouragement um lots of accountability it's a great community jump in there the ramsey baby steps facebook community it's the only official facebook community associated with this show so be sure and check us out there thanks for hanging out this is is The Dave Ramsey Show. One of the questions I get all the time is, which life insurance company should I use for my term life policy?

A valid question since there are hundreds of companies out there with rates all over the place and riders and add-ons that are simply a waste of money. You need to get this done and make the right decision. That's why the only company I use and have recommended for over 20 years is Zander Insurance. Zander is a broker who shops the top term life companies for you and finds the best rates available from the only plans I recommend. They also save you time. Whether you want to work online, over the phone, or via text, their team will cater to your needs and help you make the right decision.

This is an absolute necessity, and Zander has made the process easy and convenient. Call them at 800-356-4282 or visit zander.com for instant online quotes. Travis is with us in Chapel Hill. Hey, Travis. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Thank you for taking Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up?

I have a question. My wife and I are looking to buy a new house. Currently, I'm driving an hour to work, and we don't live in the best of neighborhoods. We currently have a two-year-old child. So when we purchased our first property, it was kind of just a house for us. But now that she's going to be starting a school in a couple years, we want to go ahead and prepare for that. So you would move closer to work and in a better school district? Correct.

Okay, got it. My wife's only driving 10 minutes right now, so we're kind of looking somewhere in the middle, where it's equal distance. We currently have $60,000 in student loan debt. What's your household income? $110,000. Okay, very good. Great income. How old are you guys? I'm 34, and she's 30. Perfect. Very good.

Well, it depends on what your goals are as to what you do, okay? If your goal is to build wealth, which is what the assumption I always make is in this process, not at the expense of everything and not at the expense of being completely outrageous, but if your goal is to build wealth, you follow the data points and the processes of people who have actually built wealth, not people who are broke and have opinions about money. Okay? Correct. And so what we have found is two things that show up in your conversation with the millionaires

that we have studied. One is the millionaires typically get their home paid off in an average of 10.2 years from the time they start their financial plan. Okay? Now, some of them started at 30. Some of them started at 25. Some of them started at 40. an average of 10.2 years from the time they start their financial plan. Now, some of them started at 30, some of them started at 25, some of them started at 40. But from the time they started, they paid off their house in about 10, 11 years, something like that. And that's why we put folks on a 15-year fixed and have Baby Step 6, where you throw everything extra at the house once you get to Baby Step 6. And that should get you there.

The second thing is that we have found that they avoid they get out of debt and they avoid debt of all kinds other than that mortgage that they pay off very quickly okay because the debt is a barrier between you and your ability to build wealth so having said all of that then what does that lead me to tell you in your situation if i woke up in your shoes, I would move now. I would sell your house, and I would move to the area that's going to be the area you want to live in, and I would rent. Okay. And I would pay off that student loan. What's your home worth?

It's worth $140,000. We owe about $70,000 on it. 000 on it oh ding ding you're out of debt correct if you rent ouch correct uh we he's thinking to himself how am i going to sell my wife on this yeah this is the right this is the shortest path okay the ramsey's did it we moved for school districts sold our home and rented for two years it was very difficult emotionally i come from a real estate family and i've owned rental property most of my adult life and as a landlord so the idea that i was a renter just about drove me into the padded cell baby but i did it for two years because it was the right thing to do to get on a solid foundation.

It's not going to take you even two years. It's going to take you about a year. So you build your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. You build your down payment, and a year later, you buy your house. But you rent something cheap and inexpensive, and this is an adventure. And then you're doing this the wise way. And if you want to do it another way, you can, but the data tells us, and my 30 years of doing this, coaching people on how to become wealthy,

tells me as well that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and that's avoiding debt and setting yourself to be in a position to pay off your home in about 10 to 11 years. And that's going to put you on track to, you should reach millionaire status in about 14 years from where you are right now. And that's with no raises. If your income goes up dramatically, you probably make it in about a decade, about the time your house is paid off.

But if you keep the student loan around like it's a freaking pet, you're going to limp along and you're going to be a normal broke American that bought a house and kept your wife happy. So that's what you've got to be careful. You've got to be careful. Live like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else. Julie's in St. Louis, Missouri. Hey, Julie, how are you?

Good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up? So we are just starting Baby Step 1. We have about $120,000 in debt. And before we started, I was planning to go back to school. Previously, I was a teacher. I'm currently, I have my own in-home daycare. but I don't want to go back to teaching. So I was going to go to school to be a radiation therapist, which would increase my salary. But now that we're starting with steps, I'm thinking maybe I should wait to go back to school. So what is your household income? Before taxes or anything, we're at about 70 000 right now combined and what is 120 000 in debt on i've got 84 in student loans oh yeah um 17 on a van that

we bought um 17 in credit cards and then there's about 1500 to 2000 in medical bills okay um if i'm wrong you tell me but i kind of think you're going to be a radiation therapist because you would just want to make more money um well my original plan was i wanted to get into something in the medical field and how old are you? I'm 34. When you're 54, what do you want to be doing for a career? For a career? You do anything you want to do. It's America.

Travel the world? No, I said your career, not your leisure. What do you want to be doing to earn money that is going to pay you really good money and that you get up every morning smiling because you get to go do that, not got to go do that? I mean, honestly, I'd like to do something where I was the boss. You'd like to run your own small business? Possibly.

Any idea in what field? Not really. Okay. I want you to explore that a little more and not waste your money on radiation school. Okay. Because it's not what you want to do. Yeah. You just picked out something you thought you could get a job in and make money,

and you decide you didn't like teaching. Yeah. And so I want you to have a bigger in and make money, and you decide you didn't like teaching. Yeah. And so I want you to have a bigger view, a more noble view of your life, and let that inform what classes you need to take. Okay. I'm going to send you a copy of Christy Wright's business boutique book, Equipping Women to Make Money Doing What They Love, because it very well might be that you should spend the money you're getting ready to spend on radiation school on uh setting up and starting your small business

idea that's not a daycare okay i don't know what it is but i i want you to spend a little bit more time and effort on this than you have in that in that old uh in that old bucket of soul searching searching down in your soul talking to your husband and say, what would you see me doing that I came home every day smiling because I was doing it? Okay. And that's really, that's by the way where you're going to make the most money because you're going to be the most energetic, have the most passion, have the most creativity around something you actually like.

Now, in the short term, daycare is not making you any money. No. I might go back to school teaching for two years as step one to get to do my dream job because I can make more money and get our house out, hold out of debt faster. Okay. Just knowing that it's only for a two- or a three-year stint because the faster I get out of debt, the faster I'm going to have the money to live my dream job, whether it's with new training or starting a business, whatever it is. But you've got a big weight hanging over your head

from the last set of education decisions you made. Yeah, let's talk about cleaning that up, at least be underway cleaning it up, making good money towards cleaning it up while you pursue the next thing and give more thought to pursuing the next thing. Hold on. Kelly's going to give you a copy of that business boutique book. We'd love to have you enjoy that. Check out Christy Wright, everything she's doing. She's a Ramsey personality.

It's a number one best-selling book. Ladies everywhere are gravitating to this business boutique movement, equipping women to make money doing what they love. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I love talking about companies that know how to do business right. You've heard of Grip6 belts, right? Well, if you haven't, it's the only belt you can get online with no holes, no flap, and no bulk. I'm talking weightless, and the buckles come in really cool designs and are interchangeable. I personally own a number of these belts, and they're so comfortable, you forget you're wearing it.

Plus, these guys have a great story. B.J. Minson started Grip6 on Kickstarter from his garage in 2014, and now sells hundreds of thousands of these american-made belts to customers all over the world as a mechanical engineer and a minimalist bj took his dislike for heavy bulky leather belts that never fit right and created the perfect belt a high quality minimalist belt that gives the strength and support of a belt without even knowing you're wearing one. I'm really proud of these guys. Check out this month's special offers from my listeners at GRIP6.com. Speaking of celebrating other people's success, Justin and Samantha are with us in the lobby at Ramsey Solutions.

Hey, guys, how are you? Doing great. We are honored to be here. We're honored to have you. Where do you live? Louisville, Kentucky. Cool. And you're here to do a debt-free scream.

We are. That's right. How much have you paid off? $117,866.08 in 18 months. Way to go. Wow. Got the big red thermometer to prove it. I love it.

Love it. You guys look deeply into your radio, you'll see that. And what was your range of income during that 18 months? We started about $85,000 and with Justin working a bunch of overtime, got up to about $125,000. Way to go, Justin. Killing it. What do you do for a living? I'm a police officer for Louisville Metro. Ah, well thank you. And you? I'm a CPA. Alright, very good. Great

household income. What kind of debt was this $118,000? Well, wasn't it? We had everything, Dave. We had a rental house, a home equity line of credit because we thought, you know, it was a great idea to consolidate debt into that home equity line. We had two leased vehicles, a lawnmower, a shower. We had everything.

You financed a shower? We did. There you go. How much did you owe on your lawnmower? $2,700. Ah, there we go. How much did you owe on your lawnmower? $2,700. Ah, there we go. All right. And so what happened 18 months ago?

Because you obviously just stopped going crazy because you were crazy and then went the other direction on fire. I mean, you did this. This is amazing. I think it was just that, you know, at the end of the month, not having any money and realizing that we both have good jobs, we make decent money. And every month at the end, you know, wondering where our money went and just kind of being ashamed that, you know, we don't have anything to show for it. And, you know, with her having degrees in accounting and finance, I think that played a part in it, too, that, you know, it was like, you know, there's no reason for us to be living this way. So what happened?

Tell me your story. We just kept talking about it and trying to figure out, you know, I had what I considered a budget. I had our income listed and then a list of all of our expenses, but it definitely wasn't a zero-based budget. And every month we should have had, you know, $300 to $ dollars left. And we were coming up five to seven hundred dollars short. So we just pull it from the home equity line of credit to cover everything. And we're like, this is just ridiculous. And then he heard about you through some friends. We heard about it at church and then we just decided, let's take the class.

OK, so you took Financial Peace University. We did. And that was the aha and gave you the tactical things that what to do first, second, third, and then how to go through. Absolutely. And hearing it from a biblical perspective and the way that you explain it just spoke to us. Very cool. How long have you guys been married? Well, it's kind of a funny story.

We got married in 2010, got divorced. That's where the rental house came from. When I bought a house during the divorce, we got remarried. So now we've been married going on five years and so this is kind of everything's coming full circle so wow interesting part of our story that's a great story i love it good at least a good ending to the story anyway yeah very cool good for you guys so how much stuff did you sell um we sold quite a bit on facebook groups and stuff the biggest was of course we sold the

rental house which was a struggle you know a lot of people think oh you sold the rental house and got rid of sixty thousand dollars in debt but it wasn't easy no i mean we still did in 18 months making on 85 to 125 those numbers didn't work yeah right 60 a half of it was the rental about half but for the first six months we were paying mortgages on both because we didn't have a tenant. We were paying mortgages on both. We were saving money. We had to cash flow $8,000 worth of repairs to be able to even sell the house to just break even. Okay.

So it was a struggle. It was rough. Now, that was the cost of that little detour in your relationship a few years back. Yeah. Ouch. Okay. And you kept the cars we did not well we kept them through the end of the lease mine had two months left we went ahead and paid that off and turned mine in and then i started driving his truck that had

another year left on it and he just drove the police car while we saved money to purchase a van for cash once the other lease was finished. Well, that worked good. Okay, good. Very good. So you had to cash flow a van in the middle of this, too. We did. Because you got the two lease cars both being turned in during the 18 months. I got you.

Very cool. Good for you guys. Way to go. Thank you. How does it feel to be free? Amazing. Amazing. Have you ever been debt-free while you were married?

Actually, we started. For about the first 10 minutes, I think. Before we bought the house and decided we need to get furniture and everything else that goes in it, we actually started our relationship debt-free. I think it took us 10 minutes with a credit card to acquire the same standard of living that our parents had provided for us over building the you know over 30 years i guess a sense of entitlement when you leave home you think that you know you deserve something and you know luckily we don't think that way anymore so yeah way to go you guys i'm proud of you did you have people cheering you on or people saying you're insane

we did everybody was super supportive you know there's a lot of people they kind of don't necessarily want to do it. They think it's too hard, but nobody was discouraging. Everybody supported us. We have with us our class coordinators, Billy and Angie Bishop are here with us. Oh, cool. They coordinated your financial peace class? They did. They came down here with us. Neat.

Very neat. That's a way to celebrate. I love it. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? You pay off $118,000 in 18 months? Honestly, one of those things is just so simple, but just stick to the plan. Delay gratification for now. I think in life you're going to feel pain one of two ways, either the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.

You can make that choice. That's philosophical. Good. And I would just tell people you know i always say just watch for god's blessings because i could fill him throughout the whole process we just kept our eyes on him and then also don't give up our first budget meeting was beyond a disaster i mean it was big argument tears argument we i ashamed to say this but took money off the echo line to pay the credit card because we hadn't been having a balance on the credit card.

We didn't want to have a balance on the credit card, so we included that as income. And it was just a total disaster. Second month was a lot better. It took three months to get it working. It did. It did. So don't give up. That's about normal.

Yeah. I think the roughest budget committee meeting, the roughest budget fight is usually at the very start for most people. For most people. Well, and it's eye-opening, too. You know, we thought that we were doing okay because we were paying all of our bills. You know, we weren't having creditors calling. So we thought we were okay until we wrote it on paper and saw this number and had a heart attack. Yeah. It's a wake-up call, you're going i gotta do something yeah that's good that's good though because i mean the more the more you get shocked like that the more intense you get quickly and

the faster you turn it around absolutely and so you get you get radical when you get scared and uh that'll do it i mean that'll get you moving and the good news is you got scared before it got really really nasty and turned it real fast well good for you guys way to go very very well done what was the hardest part of this for you guys honestly the hardest part was just that first step i think because once the snowball started rolling to me we just had so much momentum at that point, motivation. You know, once we paid off that first debt and got to the second one, at that point it was like there's no turning back. I mean, you know, we sacrificed. There's things that, you know, friends would call us and ask us to do things.

We didn't have the money. But just taking that first step, setting your pride aside and understanding that, you know, you've been doing it your way for however many years and you're not having success. You know, try it a different way. And you brought the kiddos to celebrate with you. What are their names and ages? We did. We have Xander. He's three and a half.

And Ryder is one and a half. All right. We've got one on the way coming in May. All right. Fun times. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's retire-inspired book for you. That is the next chapter in your story where you guys become millionaires and outrageously generous as you go along. So good job. All right. book for you. That is the next chapter in your story where you guys become millionaires and

outrageously generous as you go along. So good job. All right, Justin and Samantha, Louisville, Kentucky, along with Xander and Ryder, $118,000 paid off in 18 months, including the sale of a $60,000 rental. Make it 85 to 125. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. You ready? Three, two, one. We're debt-free! I love it, I love it, I love it. That is so fun.

So fun. Well done, you guys. Very well done. Open phones at 888-825-5225. This is your show, America. It's a show where we celebrate success. Yours or somebody else's. I'm not ever going to pick on somebody for having one.

This is the Daveedo, Ohio. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Marie. Hi. How are you today? Better than I deserve. What's up? My mother has a Parent PLUS School Loan of about $20,000 in her name right now. And I was wondering if it is possible that we can refinance that loan into my name if the Department of Education does not allow Parent PLUS loans

to be refinanced to the student's name? No, they do not. You cannot refinance it. The only thing you could do would be to just go borrow the money on a personal loan and pay it off. But there's no Parent PLUS or minus a kid loan where the kid can come in, refinance, get it out of her name. And so what is your household income?

Mine is about $40,000. That's your household income? Yes, that's me. Okay, just you. Okay. And you have other debts? Yes, I have another small school loan of about $4,500 and then a car loan for about $7,500.

Okay. All right. And your mom took out the Parent PLUS loan in her name for $20,000. And was the agreement for you to pay that? Yes. This was about eight years ago that she had done that. It was originally about $18,000, of course, interest, and I had paid my way through school in the meantime, so it gained interest.

And then I began paying on it, I believe, about three years back, but I haven't been able to gain much traction, and it's kind of causing a financial burden in our relationship. So I wanted to know if it was possible. Why is it causing a strain in your relationship? Are you not paying the bill? No, I am. Okay, so why is it causing a problem?

Because it is affecting her and, I guess, their financials too, and we're trying to see if it is possible to get it out. So how is it affecting her financials if you're paying the bill? Honestly, I'm not totally sure. Let me just tell you, here's what I think I'm hearing, okay? Your mom took out a loan in her name. You promised to pay that back when you were in college, and that was the deal you all made. You have kept your promise most of the time and now are keeping your promise because you are paying it monthly.

Yes, sir. Okay. That's the deal she signed up for. Yes. And so, you know, I don't know where she's got a complaint unless you're not paying the payment. If you're not paying the payment, she's got a complaint because that's the bargain you signed up for. Yes. And it really should not be causing her any hardship unless she's trying to borrow money somewhere else.

I'm unsure of that. Okay. I just know that it's kind of causing an um she a burden on her so i wanted to know if i could get that off of her yeah to put it on me since it is my educational well if i could hear that there was a reasonable reason that it was causing a burden it might be worth you going to the trouble to refinance it by getting a personal loan and getting it out of her name if it's not i want you to pay the minimum to refinance it by getting a personal loan and getting it out of her name. If it's not, I want you to pay the minimum payments like you've agreed to and pay the minimum payments on your car and then pay off your $4,500 loan as fast as you can

and then pay off your car as fast as you can and then pay this loan off as fast as you can. Once those two are paid off, you should have extra money to be able to plow into this thing and knock it out. That would be the normal debt snowball that you would do. Now, you know, it's not costing her anything. So I know she's not having trouble buying food because of it. The only thing I can think of is she's trying to sell a house or buy a house or something, and this loan is being in her name is hurting her. Or she's just got her panties in a wad and just decided she's going to be mad about this,

which is kind of what I think this is. And you're just trying to get it out of her name just so that there's no tension in the air, and you don't really have a reasonable way to do that. In other words, you can probably go get a 10% or 12% interest loan and pay this 5% loan off, but that would be stupid unless there is some real hardship here and i cannot perceive what that is and talking to you because you don't know what it is uh it's more of a vague thing which makes it feel like that she's just trying to change her mind and that's what it sounds like to me so i don't know you get into it and figure it out but

i i think you get you get in there and get it paid off as quick as you would as if it was your own $20,000 student loan. But it would be in the back of your debt snowball after you paid off these other two debts. You're taking an extra job yourself. You're on beans and rice. You're working your way through it as fast as you can. You want to get it paid off.

You promised her you would pay it, and we want to pay it as quick as we can, and you didn't do good in the past. Now you're doing good. All of that kind of stuff is all part of the equation. But let's get her paid off as fast as we can. Thanks for joining us. This is the Dave Ramsey Show at 888-825-5225. Cliff is in Raleigh. Hi, Cliff.

How are you? Hey, Dave. I'm doing well today. How are you? Hey, Dave. I'm doing well today. How are you doing today, sir? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I just wanted to let you know about our situation. My wife and I recently got married about five months ago.

And about a year and a half ago, we met you, and we kind of looked at our financial situation at the time when we were engaged, and we were a little over $65,000 worth of debt, pretty normal stuff, you know, student loans, car loans. And we started on your strategy, and recently we became debt-free, and on the last Friday we built up our emergency fund for six months. Way to go. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. It really is an honor getting to talk thank you very much thank you very much it really

is an honor getting to talk to you today you too how can i help well basically we want to see you know with being five months into our marriage i know we do need to start investing we're 27 and 28 years old but also we want to save for our house so what would dave do in our shoes well we always talk about when you have your baby step three done of three to six months of expenses before some people before they start baby step four they pause and build up their down payment to buy a house and that would be baby step 3b we always call it and so if you want to pause right there in the middle and not start your investing for a month or a few months or a year or something while you save up a really good down payment

and you know get your first house on a 15-year fixed rate where the payment is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay then that works there and then once you've got that saved up then you're buying a house with no debt, with your emergency fund intact, and with a good solid down payment. Then you start your 15% going into retirement, maybe step four, and move your way right on out. And that's what we do. So, hey, thanks for the call. All right, Christian is in Houston, Texas. Hi, Christian.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. How can I help? So we are actually outside of the bank about to pay off our car loans. We will be debt-free in hopefully a few minutes. Yay!

Yeah, so the question is, so I have been working since we got married. We've been married for three years, and we have a six-month-old daughter. She had heart surgery when she was born. So she is currently on my insurance, which is wonderful. I have a very low deductible covered at 100% after that. So we've paid hardly anything for all of this. Hopefully in the next two to three months, I'll be able to stop working. The question I have is, we had my husband on Christian Healthcare Ministries before,

but she is not fully covered under that because she has that preexisting condition of the heart surgery. There's nothing coming in the future that we know of, but, there's always a chance something done so the question is his insurance um has like a seven thousand dollar deductible and a thirty percent covered co-insurance so like super super bad for us uh the question is there any other option we have for coverage for her that you know of well i would look at his insurance as a possibility and um okay uh the seven thousand dollar deductible doesn't bother me thirty percent copay forever uh it's that's what it is for now he's actually i mean all the way past the seven thousand and everything uh the out-of-pocket max i believe is fifteen thousand oh okay that's not bad at all. So that's what we could hit every year. Yeah.

Yeah. His insurance doesn't sound bad. You also could just price an independent individual HSA with somebody like a type of a Blue Cross or somebody like that. Just get with one of our endorsed local providers for insurance. They'll help you price that out and compare that to the insurance he can get. And I would put him and her on one of those two, all of your family, because of her special situation. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. 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.