The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Transition to a New Career? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 10, 2021

Debt, Career, Education, Relationships, Budgeting, Home Selling, Home Buying As heard on this episode: Sign Up for a FREE trial of Ramsey+ TODAY: https://bit.ly/3rZTUAx Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: https://bit.ly/2Q64HME Insurance Coverage Checkup: https://bit.ly/3sXwUn5 Complete Guide to Budgeting: https://bit.ly/3utmVXi Check out more Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3fHhbVE

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Ramsey Show. It's where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life. I'm Ted Cohen. I'm joined this hour in studio by my colleague, Dr. John Deloney, and we are here for you. The phone number is 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Let's get to it from the Big Apple, New York City.

Andrew is on the line. Andrew, how can we help? Hey, guys. How's it going? We're living the dream. What can we do for you? Basically, so right now I'm working in an accounts payable job, making around $52,000 a year. I'm 25.

I have a degree in business administration, but I'm really unhappy in the position, and I kind of dread going to work every day. I dislike sitting in the office, and there's not a whole lot of room for growth other than pay. I get two raises a year of $2 each per raise. And the company right now I work for is an HVAC and refrigeration service company. Wait a minute. You get a raise twice a year of $2? Yeah. Well, so far, yeah.

That's what my boss told me. Usually every six months I can expect a raise of $2. Oh, $2 an hour. Per hour. Gosh, I thought it was annualized. That's true generosity. I was wondering where you were going with the questioning. Sorry, man.

Per hour, yeah. Andrew, give him just a minute. It takes about five minutes for the meds to kick in for him. I was not in honor class. He'll be there in just a minute. I'll get there. All right. All right, so this is a dead end for you.

This is a dead end. Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. get there all right all right so yeah this is a dead end for you this is a dead end yeah yeah a little bit a little bit um and the company i work for it's an hvac and refrigeration company and i've been thinking about transitioning into a role as a mechanic in the field um because i talked to the supervisor and he said uh once i get my epa certification i'd be good to go um but in the beginning i would be taking a pay cut to around $20 an hour but the mechanics get a raise of six raises per year of $1 per hour usually. So we've got a lot of money flying around, forgive me for my ADHD.

So you are making how much per hour right now? $25. $25 and you'll drop to $20 for a short amount of time. Yeah, basically I'd be back up to 25 within about a year. I'd be back up to making 25 and probably a little bit more. All right, so to me it's not a money issue. This is a meaning issue, right? Yeah.

You started off the call going, man, I don't even want to go into the office. And the reason is because you don't love the work. That's passion. And the results of your work, while they're valuable, they just don't move you. Am I right? Yeah. All right. So then I got to ask, I want to put that same classification on getting out there as a mechanic.

Will you really enjoy fixing stuff? Do you get fired up seeing problems solved? Are you a guy who's motivated by solution? Yeah, yeah. Because right after college, I was working just cutting grass at a golf course. And just the idea of being outside and seeing a finished product was more satisfying than inputting invoices all day. So I think I would, yeah. Well, how much of this, you have a business degree, how much of this you're having

to swallow some I went and got a four year business degree and I'm going to end up working alongside guys who just went straight to trades. How much of that shame are you carrying around? Yeah, there's a little bit of that. Hey brother, let that go.

Hey, I got a bunch of doctorate degrees. Ken doesn't. Same job. Get over it. I do want to point out I have no degree at all. I think that's kind of fun. But I will say this, John. I'm glad you pointed this out. There's a lot of sunk cost shame out there. There is. And you just nailed it with Andrew. Andrew, did you hear what John said? Yeah. There's no shame in your game, man. You didn't waste a bunch of time and money. I think that's what you think or people think. But no, here's the deal.

You're actually figuring this out. You learned. How young are you? I'm 25 right now. Come on, man. You haven't even started yet, brother. Yeah, I love this. Okay, so here's the only other thing I'd say.

I'd say this feels like an absolute get after it. But just because I love clarifying and verifying i'd love for you and you may have already done this um have you spent some time with any of the techs that are that are doing what you're doing now the guys that are that are mechanics have you spent any time with them to say hey give me a quick uh give me a quick high low uh the ins and outs of what you do have you spent any time with them on that yeah i, I talk to one mechanic basically every day. He's kind of encouraging me to do it because he kind of knows that I'm unhappy.

I mean, there's good benefits. The job is in the union after a while. Yeah, but I'm not hearing anything about the work itself. Do you feel confident that you got all your questions answered as it relates to, am I going to enjoy this? Yeah, I think I would. I think I would, definitely. All right.

I call it a soul tax when you stay in a job that you don't like. That's good. Because it's $2 an hour or more or whatever. It's costing you somewhere. It's costing you somewhere. And I'll also say this. A plumber came to my house today with their gadgets to unclog my – you can help families.

You help families. That dude is more important to Sheila than you are. Let's be honest. No question. Okay, you want to find meaning in your work? Be a plumber. Be an electrician. You know what my wife can do today?

Be an HVAC repair. They don't love us. She can go to the bathroom on the inside of the house today. It's incredible. That's fantastic a plumber showed up to my house to help my family out yeah it's awesome yeah watch watch the ac go out at the coleman house in the middle july yep and the guy shows up and does an incredible job yeah he's a little sweaty he's a little dirty stacy don't care no in my little she's like uh

my skill set my little pep talks they don't make the house cooler. Oh, I promise you. I can't coach an HVAC system to work. I promise you that right now. Oh, I love it. All right, let's go. Oh, look, let's just stay here, shall we? All right. We don't know what borough Andrew was in, and we don't know what borough Jeff is in,

but they're both in New York City. Let's see if we can do this. Jeff, you are on the Ramsey Show. How can we help? How are you guys? Thank you for taking my call. You bet. We've got about two minutes.

Let's see if we can help you. What's up? I am for taking my call. You bet. We got about two minutes. Let's see if we can help you. What's up? I am calling about home purchasing. Okay. So right now I'm 35 years old, family man, wife, three kids, and I'm looking for some advice on purchasing my first home. Currently I make about $95,000 a year. My only debt right now is a car loan for about $19,000 and no other debt. Okay. Do you have any savings at all?

Currently, right now, by the end of this year, I'll have about $75,000 saved. $75,000 saved? $75,000 saved? Yes. Okay. Are you familiar with our baby steps? Not so much, but a little bit. All right, John, you want to walk you through it? Yeah.

Well, so you want to first, before you buy a house, before you add any sort of risk to your life, I want you to pay off all of your consumer debt. So I want you to keep... Well, actually, you don't even have to do that. I want you to write a check for that $19,000 car today and be debt-free today. How much cash do you have right now in the bank? Right now, 68. All right. So at the end of this call, you're going to have $49,000. You're going to be 100% debt-free. And then you're going to save up three to six months

of an emergency fund. That's three to six months of your expenses. Things go up or to go down. You're going to buy a new house. The air conditioner is going to break. The roof's going to cave, whatever. You're going to save up three to six months of emergency fund. And then you're going to save 10 to 20% down on your home, and your home is not going to be more than one-fourth of your take-home income. And if you meet those numbers, you're in. Stay on the line. We're going to send you a copy of the Total Money Makeover that's going to walk you through this. Jenna's going to get that for you.

That's going to be our gift to you as you start this new journey. But, brother, you're debt-free in about 13 minutes. I want you to get online and pay this thing off. Yeah, try to beat the 13-minute deadline. This is the Ramsey Show. Folks, having an ID theft protection plan has just become a necessity in today's digital world. For you and your children, the risk of being a victim is higher than ever. With all of these devices and time spent online, not to mention the scams

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I'm Ken Coleman, Dr. John Deloney joining me this hour. Thrilled to have you with us. It is a free phone call if you want to jump in, 888-825-5225. If you've had it with living paycheck to paycheck It is a free phone call if you want to jump in, 888-825-5225. If you've had it with living paycheck to paycheck and you're sick and tired of constantly worrying about money, you don't have to live like that anymore. No matter how you've managed money in the past or how much debt you have, you can take control of your money.

You just need a plan, and the right plan is Financial Peace University. It's helped almost 6 million people take control of their money one step at a time. You'll learn how to make a budget that actually works, pay off your debt, spend and save wisely, and invest for your future. These numbers blow me away every time I see them. The average family in Financial Peace University pays off $5,300 in debt and saves $2,700 in their first 90 days of the class. We'll walk you through the plan, but it's up to you to step into it and get started. Decide today. Financial Peace University is only available through a Ramsey Plus membership. Get started today or gift it to someone you know by visiting ramsaysolutions.com slash FPU. That's ramsaysolutions.com slash FPU. Tracy joins us now in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Tracy, how can we help? Hello. Thank you for taking my call. You bet. My boyfriend was laid off in July of this year. He's 65. Hey, Tracy, talk directly into the phone so we can hear you. There you go.

Okay. So he was going to try and retire. He's a union welder. He was going to try and retire. He has found out that he does not like retirement. He did start receiving his Social Security. Our problem is he still wants to work, but we don't know how he's going to work and receive his Social Security,

how much money he can make, and how we're going to do all this. Okay. Why don't you have the answers to these problems? What's the source of this? You're not doing your homework. What's going on there? Well, I mean, somebody tells him he can only make $18,000 a year. We make very, very good money.

He actually went back to work last – this week. Yeah, he doesn't need to be drawing from Social Security. Right. And then he was told do we stop that? Are we going to get penalized if we stop Social Security? I got to tell you, off the top of my head, I don't know if stopping receiving

the payments creates a penalty. I don't think it does, but here's the deal. This is a phone call to the Social Security Administration, and you could get this figured out. I mean, that's what you need to do. I wouldn't think it does, but here's the deal. This is a phone call to the Social Security Administration, and you could get this figured out. I mean, that's what you need to do. I wouldn't just operate in ambiguity here. But the real big issue is, the more important issue, you can get an answer to that. So go get an answer to it and then stop it.

But he doesn't need to be drawing from it. He loves to work. He wants to work. You guys make really great money. So I would double-check on all of that. Can he draw from it and still work all the nine years? I'm not the expert on that, but this is not hard for you to find out. This is just making a one phone call, maybe even getting online with the Social Security Administration and checking into that. But he just needs to be staying active. He needs

to be working. So that's the better financial move for him and for you guys. Tracy, I recommend if you're even considering retirement, even whether it's a one-year, two-years, five-years, have you all sat down with a smart investor pro to sit down and look at your numbers to see is it even a viable option here? No, he has because, like I said, we're not married yet. So he has absolutely no debt. I, we're not married yet. Sure. So he has absolutely no debt. I'm paying off mine right now. Okay.

So that's all in the works. But, I mean, he's got all the – because he's an everyday millionaire. Okay. So he's got all the – He likes working. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yes. Tell him to stop drawing Social Security and keep working. Okay, so here's the deal. I'm on the Social Security Administration website. If you change your mind about starting your benefits, you can cancel your application for up to 12 months. How long has he been receiving the payments? Just for a couple months now. It's not that long. Yeah, there is no penalty on that.

So you can do that. Okay? Okay. Good stuff. But here's the deal. I want to be very clear. I mean, I'm glad you keep those finances separate. They're not married. And so, you know, you've got to do what's best for you and he's got to do what's best for him financially. I appreciate the call on his behalf.

But yeah, go ahead and pause that right now. And I do like the idea, of course, of getting with a smart investor pro to go, okay, once I reach the age of 70, you know, and what's this all going to look like? How would I invest that and everything else? It's good to have a really good plan. And for those of you getting up to 62, 65, 68, 71, you don't have to retire so many people get there and say well i guess i'm here i guess i should just i have to quit i like working i like going in i like accomplishing things i like serving people keep doing it keep doing it yeah i've got no intention of just

stopping i i don't know i like working man i man. I like my life. I like my job. Yeah, I think there's something to the idea of staying active, not just mentally active, but staying active emotionally. Because you know how I think about work. Staying connected to a purpose, yeah. Yeah, if you're doing work that you really enjoy, that's creating a result, that's touching the lives of some people, and you go, it doesn't even matter if you need the money anymore. But staying active, it's reframing work and all of a sudden it's contribution.

What contribution do you want to make at 65? And you get paid for it? Game on. I love that. Let's go to Madison, Wisconsin next. Matt is on the line there. Matt, how can we help? Hi, guys.

Thanks. I'm looking at, I'm trying to prioritize a work-life balance with a significant increase in pay and benefits. My current situation, I'm 32, my wife's 31. We currently make $156,000 between the two of us. I can look at doubling my salary and take us to about $198,000 if I took another position with a better retirement plan, stuff like that. The issue is the hours, quite terrible hours, honestly. But it's not so much that I would have to do that long-term. It'd be for a few years until I got my rental properties paid off. I could grind it out

for four or five years, do that, and then look at something with a better balance. So how do I – I don't want to – Let me jump in. We've got about two minutes. I want John to jump in on this one, obviously. I'd like to simplify these questions. So you're only considering this because of the bump getting you to a place of paying off your rentals, so it's a part of your debt-free journey.

That's the only reason you've been considering this, correct? Well, not necessarily. I have a lot of intrinsic rewards position I have now, but my boss is tough to deal with. So that's a piece of information we didn't have. So the next question i have is this this sucks on the outset we forget the salary for a moment the way you described is these hours are going to be pretty darn awful your words i believe correct yeah yeah yeah well i mean is it worth dealing with awful for two years to well to pay off the debt and escape your boss or could you consider

uh another side hustle or another job where you make a little bit of a bump and you and you wait a little longer i i just wonder what the sacrifice is worth john your thoughts on that yeah i've seen i i've made that sacrifice and we went into it with the shorts knowing this is going to be a short season this is going to be a short season, this is going to be hard, and it's always 10x harder than you think. But you can do it for a short season. That's right. Four or five years seems— Well, if I double my salary, I can pay off my properties in four years.

What I'm currently at would be five years. So that's the time savings I'm looking for. How many properties you got? Five. Okay. You've boxed yourself into an either or. What if you sold one of them or two of them and you had three paid off properties in two years? And then you've got your marriage.

Well, my wife and I have talked about that, but they all make good money. All right. Here's the deal. Yeah, it's hard, but you're going to pay a tax either way. You're going to pay a tax on your soul. You're going to pay a tax on your marriage. Divorce court's real expensive. Or have three paid-for houses.

Can we at least look for another job that doesn't have sucky hours that can make you more money? I just think we're looking at, well, I'm in a current situation. I got all these good things. My boss is a jerk. I got this new thing, double my salary, allow me to pay off my rental prices. But it's going to be awful for my life, and we're not looking at a third option, which is – Well, the third option is to sell the rental prices.

Well, sure. I'll pay the fourth option. Fourth option. Go get a really good job with not sucky hours. That pays you more money. So you've got to look at all of it. All right. Tough stuff, but you can make the decision.

This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show America. Thrilled to have you with us. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, Dr. John Deloney. We're here taking your calls, 888-825-5225. And it's always fun when we look across the lobby there on the debt-free stage. We see Shanique and Harold. Welcome. Hi. Hi. Thank you so much for having us we're thrilled you're here where are you from well we're I'm originally from Florida I'm from Louisiana but we moved here well we we came here from Atlanta we live in

Atlanta right now we're in Atlanta we're in Sugar Hill come on. Right next door to Sewanee. Yes. Where the Coleman's lived for 11 years. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I read that in your book. Come on. All right. These are my neighbors, John. Yes. Okay.

They are way better looking. You lived in their neighborhood, I think. They're way better looking than you. John, I was aware of this. Did you have to point that out to everybody else? For those of you listening, not watching. Yeah, it's a fantastic looking couple. Well, that's fantastic.

Great, great, great. So you're up here to do a debt-free screen? We are. All right, let's go through the numbers. Here we go. How much did you pay off? We paid off $175,000. Whoa!

Yes, yes. How long did that take? It took us two and a half years to do it. Wow, that's getting with it. Still smoking. That's a lot of money. Wow. Yes, it is.

Herculean. Yeah. I'm surprised you both are standing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. We'll get into that.

All right. And then range of income during that time? Well, it was like $97,000 to $160,000. Great. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a doctor of audiology. And I'm a graphic designer. I work at CNN.

Oh, really? Yeah. Okay, great. That's fantastic. I love it. Doctor of audiology and i'm a graphic designer uh work at cnn oh really okay great that's fantastic i love doctor of audiology yes specializing in hearing issues yes hearing imbalance you got it yeah okay great great great great all right okay so real quick oh i keep hearing that because we all walk around with earpods shoved in our heads that we're starting to hear a little bit worse and worse and worse is that as as a culture what did you say exactly just turn it down just a little you should okay hold on hold on james i can't go forward until i feel like she's a little loud in my ear and i feel like convicted about it all right now okay doc we're good okay all right so uh what happened two and a half years ago where you guys said we're getting rid of this debt?

Well, I would say it started with a car loan that, well, our car loans that we had. And I was making the usual payments and that it just felt as though we weren't getting anywhere. And once I logged in to that lender, I noticed that really most of the payments were going to interest. And that just, it bothered me so much. So I just, I told my husband like, hey, we, I just can't do the, we can't do this. We need to just figure something out. So somehow I came across Dave's videos and I guess you can say we were gazelle intense ever since. What else was in the 175?

Some loans, student loans, I'm guessing? Student loans. Yeah, majority student loans. Majority student loans and in a car. Yeah, two cars. Yeah. So you're very normal. Very normal.

Yeah. Yeah. Very normal. No big deal. Everybody's doing that. Yes. Yes. Wow.

Yes. Very interesting. Yeah. So who sat down at the table and had the conversation with who? Pretty much, she pretty much led the majority majority of it i can tell by the look she yeah i would say yeah it was definitely me but i couldn't do it without my husband so how did you receive it harold when she brought this to you um i pretty much i was i was down for it the whole time um i've always been a person who's always been like i guess tight pockets in

a sense about um but when she came to me um she kind of had a plan and a kind of a step-by-step plan when she started watching you guys and i was down for the whole time yep love it so what what kept y'all going for for two and a half years that's a that's a long time that gazelle stuff the the yeah let's do it that wears off in a month or two oh yeah and then you're like whoa now we're in it sooner than that um but um but for the most part we just kept going we didn't necessarily like our family and our friends they knew about it um but they didn't necessarily get it so i would say like our biggest support was from you guys like the dave ramsey community just social media

youtube and things like that um although we didn't have that, those one-on-one conversations, just being a part of the Facebook group, you know, that goes a long way just to bounce information. Yes. So how much grief did you take? I mean, you're rolling into CNN and you're driving the old car and you're driving up, you know, your doc. Oh, she's the good doctor. And like, that's the car that a doctor drives you

bring in your lunch to work doc yeah like how did y'all navigate the the comparison challenges well i guess like with us i guess the results start coming in and you kind of see what happened throughout the time period you see like your debt is being knocked down so like when you're looking at you know uh the income i guess the actual debt going away you kind of get you know motivated more and more each time it's like we're almost here we got like you know a year left you know some months left and you finally get to that point so you just so you by watching the the debt get paid off those loud voices just get quieter and quieter yeah much quieter we didn't even we no longer cared about what people had to say like, oh, you guys are so cheap or so frugal.

I was like, that's okay. We have a fully funded emergency fund. We can give and help others. We are comfortable where we are. That's so good. Wow. So I'm looking to get after it, people. It's just obvious.

You said we went gazelle. I want people to hear what did that look like for you guys? How intense? What did you do? What was some of the crazy just like, you're a maniac. Get after it. You got something for us? We stuck to our budget.

And when it comes to, you might think this is crazy, but for the two and a half years that we were on the plan leading up to paying off all of our debt, we only spent like $120 on groceries every single month. Okay, break that down. For a household. Look at this guy. This is an athlete. Yes. Or he looks like one.

How do you feed that man on $120 a month? What were you feeding him? We shop sales. I always pull out the circular. I look it up. I buy things based off sales. I buy in bulk. I have a based off sales. I buy in bulk. I have a deep freezer.

We meal prep. You're using... Yeah. What were you eating? You were intentional? Say what? You mean you planned your life? Intentional is the word for sure.

You have to be disciplined and intentional. I just need to know. The American people are waiting to hear. Was it rice and beans or something else? You know, rice and beans. It was, but it was other things. Vegetables. Yeah.

For a minute, we gave away meat. Like, for a minute, we stopped eating meat. I mean, we're eating chicken and things like that now. Right, right, right. But for a while, we didn't. That's serious business. Yeah, definitely, definitely. That is not messing around.

And she ate two pots as well. Yes, yeah, that too. So you made it, your side hustle was cutting the grocery costs. Yeah. Absolutely. Cutting any costs side hustle was cutting the grocery costs. Yeah. Cutting any costs that we could. That's cool. Good for you. Wow.

See, I love that. I do too. I love it. I love the intensity. Okay. Yeah. A lot of people listening to you. Okay.

What would you say, each of you can take a stab at this, what would you say is the key to making it through this two and a half years of intensity i would say just remembering your why and not allowing outside influences to get into or to um disturb or impede what the things that you're trying to do so just keep going and don't allow anyone to influence you no matter what head down yes love it absolutely what do you got for us harold um i would say um leaning on each other So just keep going and don't allow anyone to influence you no matter what. Head down. Yes. Love it. Absolutely. What do you got for us, Harold?

I would say leaning on each other. I feel like we've grown a stronger bond together through this journey, depending on each other, and I learned to trust each other. Definitely, you know, following her, letting her lead this, and, you know, walking with each other. We also, depending on as far as ideas, what can we do as far as money-wise, so I would definitely say lean on each other.

I love it. And God as well. Well, I got to tell you, we got a couple things for you here to kind of reward you and honor you. One is Dave's Total Money Makeover book for you to give to somebody else that you believe needs it. And then we're going to give you an advanced copy of Dave's Total Money Makeover book for you to give to somebody else that you believe needs it. And then we're going to give you an advanced copy of Dave's new book.

First book he's written in eight years, Baby Steps Millionaires, because that's who you are going to be very, very soon. So we're going to give you that. And then we also want to bring Champ in, the coolest name. I wish my name was Champ Coleman. Hi, Champ. And this is Champ. How old is Champ? Champ is 19 months.

He's 19 months look at that stud look at that guy he has no idea how awesome his parents are but we all do so here we go you guys ready to do your thing we are all right so we've got shanique uh harold and champ from sugar hill georgia i gotta throw that in there uh they paid off $175,000 in debt in two and a half years, making $97,000 to $160,000. Take it away. It's time for your debt-free screen. Ready to count? Yeah.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yay! Yes, you are. I love it. It's awesome. Champ kept the passy in the whole time. Champ's like, what?

He's a champ. You're free, brother. You're free. You are free. That is so great. What an awesome story. What an awesome family. That's what peace looks and sounds like right there, folks.

Don't move. More of the Ramsey Show coming right up. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined by my colleague and Ramsey personality, Dr. John Deloney. Thrilled to have you with us. 888-825-5225 is the number to jump in. Today's scripture, James 5, 16.

Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Our quote today from John Wesley. Oh, this is one of my favorites, John. Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can. Only a Methodist preacher like john wesley and writer can say it that powerfully that effectively i mean that just that's pretty much you want to

know why you're on the planet your life right there that's purpose that's it do that and the rest takes care of itself life is going to be really really really special good stuff there all right let's uh stay right here in our backyard, Nashville, Tennessee. Annie is here. Annie, how can we help? Hi, thank you guys so much for taking my call. You bet. So my husband and I, I'm 24, he's 25. We have no debt. We have a fully funded emergency fund, and we are saving up to buy our first house. We both have awesome sets of parents who paid for our college and gave us cars. And I just want to say they did awesome, so it really does work.

But now we're kind of in the market for a car. My husband's car is not the best. What is it? What kind of car? It's an 08 Hyundai Az azera nice how many miles and it's got 175 000 miles on it so which isn't horrible like we were planning on driving it till we like i had to go pick him up on the side of the road or something but um okay we can get it we can pay to get it fixed it It's going to cost about $2,000. But we thought, why don't we just keep saving up money? Like I said, we're saving up for a house.

So we, I mean, we have some cash. We can pay for a car. But we've just been, like, doing research about getting a car. And the market is, you know, off the chain right now. But we just wanted to know why you guys teach we should pay ourselves first, like keep paying monthly like we're paying a car payment and then paying cash, whereas we've also seen people say, like, get the loan but then pay it off as soon as you can because the car dealer will give you the best deal if you don't say you're going to pay in cash.

No. We were just wondering why you teach pay for it fully in cash. Because the philosophy behind this is because most people, and I forget what the new number is, but it used to be about $450 a month. It may be as high as $500, $600 a month is the average car payment. And you're paying that on a depreciating asset. So you buy it for one price, which by the way, you're going to pay premium for a used car right now, even from a dealer. It's premium. You're overpaying right now.

And if you don't pay cash, so now you're carrying around those payments. So let's just use round numbers. And let's say you've got a $500 a month car payment, and you're paying interest on that. So that's $500 plus, and it's a higher interest rate. And so that car, you're driving around, and it's a higher interest rate. All right? And so that car, you're driving around, and it's going down in value, down in value. Every week it's worth less money. Less money. And you're still under pressure to pay off that debt, as opposed to if you spend $2,000

right now to fix the Hyundai, and you keep saving up, and let's say you paid yourself $500 a month towards a car replacement. All right? Let's say that becomes one of your line items. It should be. You guys have no debt. Or maybe you remove some of that money from the house payment. You get a really nice, dependable car. And then after we get the nice, dependable car, that's going to be less in mechanical cost, obviously.

Then we go back into saving for the house. There's no viable reason. It's horrible. It's a bad decision to have a car payment because you're paying more every month than you should be paying, and it's depreciating in value. And so let me tell you this. Just down the street from you, I went and bought a new car. Not a new car, but a new-to-me um maybe a month ago now i just did as well and i went over to a dealership here in nashville and i wrote a check for it and then i went home and

i don't have to worry about what's this thing worth and is it losing value and i don't care i just shook the person's hand and said i'll give you this for that and they did give me a run around because like well if you finance it you can say they did because that's where they're going to make their money and i said man look i'm gonna write you a check let's let's let's walk out and what i'll tell you is i haven't thought about it twice since because we saved that money up and there's no pressure there's no worry there's no whatever what's going to happen is you're going to say to yourself we'll just pay it off as fast as we can and then the air conditioner is going to, or then your car is going to have an issue, or you're going to find

the greatest deal on the one and only home that's available ever in the world, ever, ever, and then you're going to find yourself in a mess. So, I would rather see you drive, I bought that new car from my wife. My car is an 08. No, it's an 06. It's an 06. It's older than yours. Same amount of miles, and it's just putting along just fine. And that's my recommendation. Until you've got

the money, pay for your house and pay for these cars' cash. You just have to just determine what's the greater priority. The down payment on the home or having a car that's not going to be a nuisance to you. And this car is getting into nuisance territory now there's a reason it can't go for another 75 000 miles and by the way annie remind you what you said at the start of the call our plan was is to drive it until i had to pick him up on the side of the road now you're faced with a two thousand dollar repair and you're going well maybe we'll take on some debt well so here's what happens so when you go look for a home like here's our price range let's make up a number. Let's say it's $300,000. And the realtor says,

well, let me show you this one. It's $450,000, but let me show it to you. And they show you that one, and then every house you look at after that is ruined. Because it's not that. Same as, we're just going to drive this until the wheel falls off. We don't look at other cars. We don't think about other cars. And then you think, well, before we get it fixed,

let's look at these other cars. Yeah. You hop over to a website and start looking at cars. And you're like, ugh. And now your car suddenly looks awful, and you hate your life. It's true. I'd go get it fixed and keep driving it. That's what I would do.

Because it sounds like the house is more of a desire. Right. So drive the Hyundai a little bit longer. That's right. Two grand for a car repair? Please. You guys are debt free. You're cool. Come on. Take on take it off yeah i think you now should actually i think i'm going to hold you to your words drive this thing until it literally dies on the side of the road

then you go by and in fact i want you to drive out here next week to the ramsey solutions building and me and ken will take a photo with this hyundai it's fantastic john says he'll lay on the hood he'll lay on the hood of the car with a Christmas wreath. It's going to be fantastic. All right. Let's go to Maria in Anchorage, Alaska. Maria, how can we help? Hi. Well, I'm looking for some support and guidance.

Okay. Right now, I'm a stay-at-home mom. I was a CMA, a certified medical assistant, and I am looking to change my career. I am looking into nursing. I had been wanting to do this for the past 10 years, and I've been to school, so I have some credits. But along the way, I've had many things happen and, like, getting bad grades. So now I guess I don't have the confidence, and that's what I'm calling. You don't have confidence to be a nurse, to step forward? I feel like I don't have the confidence to go through through it like through the program like I

sometimes I I don't have self um discipline so I feel like it's gonna be hard for me and that's something that I'm learning about myself why do you choose to not have self-discipline because it's a choice. Why do you choose that? I don't know. I want you to hear me say these words. I want you to tattoo them on your soul. You are worth discipline. And if you

will choose discipline, even when it's hard, especially when you don't feel like it, you will open up everything because nobody else is disciplined. Nobody else gets up and works out when it's cold outside. Nobody else studies when the TV's on. It is wide open for anybody in this country who wants to step into the, and walk the steps

of a disciplined life. It's a choice. It's a choice. And you're worth it. Maria, you said you want to change. How bad do you want it? Tell me. Quickly.

How bad do you want it? Pretty bad. Pretty bad. I want it bad. All right, then. So you know what the issue is? John's right. Nobody wakes up on their own because they're thrilled at 5 a.m. to work out.

They want to get in shape. And they've got to remind themselves at 5 a.m. why they want it. That gets them out of bed. I think that's got to be your focus, your desired future. You better keep your eyes on that. The discipline will show up. Hey, I want to thank my colleague, Dr. John Deloney. I want to thank our producer, James Childs, our associate producer and call screener, Jenna Sears, and you, America, thank you for listening. This is The Ramsey Show. Have a friend or family member that needs a daily dose of Ramsey advice in their life? Let them know about the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast.

It's a quick hit of advice about life and money in under 10 minutes. Check out the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.