The Ramsey Show - App - Should We Pay Off the House Now or Wait? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: November 15, 2022

George Kamel & Ken Coleman discuss: Prioritizing what you do vs. where you live, Paying off your house now or later, Going to law school. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the pods moving and storage studios, this is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm George Campbell, joined today by bestselling author and host of The Ken Coleman Show, you guessed it, Ken Coleman. And we are here to take your call, America, on your money, your life, whatever you're grappling with, career changes. We would love to help. So give us a call. 888-825-5225. Molly is kicking us off in Phoenix, Arizona. Molly, welcome to the show. Hi, George. How are you doing today? So great. We're happy to take your call. What's going on? So essentially, the question is, what is more important?

What you do or where you live? Ooh. Oh. What has brought you to this crossroads, Molly? So I currently live in Phoenix, Arizona. I went to school here and I work with air permitting consulting. So a good portion of that is date specific. Um, so my experience in my job is date specific and I've only been with my firm for a year and a half. So you're

supposed to do that whole three to five year thing. Um, however, my sister is four months pregnant in North Carolina. And if I wasn't worried about how would this look on my resume, does my job experience apply, I'd be in North Carolina right now. Okay, I understand that right now, but what happens when the baby comes? Is this like I want to be near my sister as long as she has a child? Play that out a little bit more, because that's a strong statement. So it is just the two of us. So I've got the one sister, and then her husband is also a single child. So it's a small family, and the parents aren't really in the picture. So I want to be there to help out and to be involved in my niece or nephew's lives. Okay.

And I understand that. So you're saying that your niece and nephew, their parents aren't involved? They're not there? No. Are you talking about the grandparents? Potential grandparents, yes. Gotcha. Sorry, the weird.

Okay. She hasn't figured out if it's a girl or boy yet. Okay, I got you. So the struggle is, I want to move to North Carolina, but my career field doesn't exist there. The career field exists, but I'd be essentially starting from scratch as... No, you're not. You're not experienced in this field. No.

You just said you've been there a year and a half? Yes. There's no golden rule that says you have to do it for three years to get a job. Lots of regulations are state-specific. I'm worried that if I just up and go to North Carolina that I will be starting my learning

curve over. Okay, so do you know this for a fact? Have you looked up the North Carolina regulations in the field that you're in? Yes. And? So the federal regulations are, of course, the same, but Arizona and North Carolina have different stances on environmental regulations due solely to the environment. Right, but what I'm saying is, are you in any way disqualified

from being able to do what you do now in Arizona, doing that in North Carolina? Are you not experienced enough? Is there some sort of state regulation that makes it very hard for you to step from Phoenix to North Carolina and do the work you want to do? No. Okay then. So you've concocted a monster under the bed and there's no monster there. There's no monster. And there's no harm in exploring and interviewing and going, hey, let me see if there's a job out there in North Carolina that'll take me. Yeah,

like make it my full-time hobby to when you're not working, sleeping, eating, hanging with friends and family, you are looking and trying to interview and get an offer in North Carolina. Because you don't have to marry these companies if they make you an offer, but you've got to dig. You've got to look for opportunities. And here's the other thing. I would not limit yourself to that industry unless you're saying that is your dream industry. Okay. industry unless you're saying that is your dream industry okay so so look in north carolina for a job and then once i have one move then yeah absolutely unless well sure your fear is you're

not going to be able to get a job there right yes yeah but that's nonsense this is the hottest job market that we've ever seen in the united states mo Molly. Can I give you some data real quick to help kind of assure you? We are at 3.6% unemployment right now. I'm going to give you a real picture of this as we look across the nation. We have about 11.3 million, 11.4 million jobs available in the United States right now, and about 8.6, 8.7 million people unemployed. Those numbers change month to month, but it's about that. And so that's why we're seeing what they call this crazy job market where companies can't find people. So all of a sudden, Molly, you are

a very talented woman. True or false? True? Yeah. Well, that didn't sound very confident. We're going to have to work on that for the old interview. Alright, I'm going to ask you that again. I want you to say that with some juice. Pretend Ken is the interviewer. Yeah yeah molly you're a very talented woman correct correct there we go that's going to play well all right now listen here's the point you have talent you have experience to offer i also saw george uh headline yesterday because i am a as you know an avid news

reader and molly the state of north car Carolina is the healthiest state economy in the United States, the most business-friendly state. That's what was reported. They've got a lot going on in North Carolina. It is a super, super attractive job market. You have the benefit of having friends and family in that area of North Carolina where you would like to be, so you are not starting from scratch with connections true or false true there we go so we look and we get opportunities offered to us we decide is it the

right opportunity but there's no risk here uh the riskiest thing you could do is if you were to move there sight unseen with no job and live with your sister because you guys get along so great, and that would be a safe landing route. But even that's not risky. So start looking. And, Molly, let's play out the worst-case scenario. Worst case, let's say the regulation is you've got to be there three years. So that's a year and a half away, which means your niece or nephew at that point is a year old or so. Which means you step into their life full-time locally

from one year old until the rest of their life. That's the worst-case scenario. Correct? Yeah, that doesn't sound so bad. Yeah. And so either way, you're fine, but I know your heart is to be with family, and so I'm going to be about the business of doing everything I can do to get to North Carolina as soon as possible, but we're going to bring the boat close to the dock and

have the job before we step. So Molly, back to your original question when you opened up the conversation. What's more important, what I'm doing or where I live? And you've created a false choice. You can live where you want to live and do what you want to do. Ding, ding, ding. Tell her what she's won, George. You've won a prize of living your best life. Oh, very nice. There it is. You know, it's a false choice.

Yeah, the heart behind it is important for people to realize. A lot of people out there, there's a lot of doubt right now. People don't believe that they can have it all, that they can do what they want to do, get paid well to do it, live where they want to live. In the numbers, the data shows us otherwise. It's a hot job market, a lot of talented folks out there. Now's the time if you want to make a jump, but do it wisely. George, you modeled this. People don't know. You wanted to be in Nashville. You wanted to work for Ramsey

Solutions. You figured out a way to do it. You did the hard work. You worked your way up, but today, here you sit in Next to Ken Coleman. In a dream denim jacket that you always wanted to wear. I never dreamed I'd be wearing denim next to Ken Coleman. But here we are. That's true. Nobody's dream is that, actually. I love it.

More of the show coming up. This is The Ramsey Show. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី I'm George Campbell he's Ken Coleman this is the Ramsey Show our question of the day comes from blinds.com their 100% satisfaction guarantee means even if you mismeasure or pick the wrong color, they'll remake your blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Be sure to use the promo code RAMSEY to get the best deal. Today's question comes from Logan in Arkansas.

My wife and I are expecting our first child, but I'm looking at switching careers to go into the legal field. We are currently debt-free except our home and have a three-month emergency fund. My question is, should I delay going to law school full-time and continue to work so we do not go into debt or go to school part-time and pay as I go? Yes. Well, you absolutely should not go full-time and go into debt so delay yes or cash flow part-time both options work and let me just tell you something the legal work is going to be there the legal field is going to keep on going whether you're in it or not and there's no reason to be urgent here you don't want to go into this new field.

And instead of being excited about this work that you've put a lot of time and effort into in the form of law school and the LSAT and all that stuff, and then be stinking dragging around that debt on your shoulders all day long. I would never go after the dream job that could be a nightmare because of the amount of money and stress and lack of margin and relationship tension that debt causes. Wait. So either keep working and save up. But I actually like option two better. Yeah.

I think it motivates us a little bit more when we're actively involved in it. So I'm taking one or two classes, and it's just incrementally getting me there, but I'm tasting it. And you might figure out, this ain't it. This isn't for me. It could, but that's a very interesting point. Before I'd ever go into law school, I would spend time, I'm talking shadowing lawyers, and they'll let you do it. Lunches with lawyers. I would be talking as many lawyers as I possibly could before I ever committed to law school. Taste it.

Smell it. See it. Try it. Get immersed in it. And I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. Once you gather that experience, whether it be law school, medical school, or any kind of expensive school, once you experience enough of it, your heart will then confirm if, in fact, you should do it. Well, the first sentence worries me a bit, Ken.

He said, my wife and I are expecting our first child, but... And so we've got to figure out what this first child, you know, how that's going to go. We've got to stack up cash for the baby. I'm telling you how it's going to go. There's going to be a lot of diapers and a lot of sleepless nights. It's going to be okay. Switching careers while we're having our first kids. There could be a lot of stress here. I was switching careers. I had three kids under

the age of three running a small business chasing the broadcasting dream. Sorry to sound like old school tough guy. I was waiting for you to say, and I walked uphill both ways. Well, I did, George. But no, but seriously, you can do it. You've got to be willing to commit to this. This is going to be a lot of work. Law school's no joke. Yeah, but you can do it.

All right. Love it. Thanks for the question, Logan. Appreciate that. Let's go to the phones. 888-825-5225 is the number to call. We'll talk about your life, your money, your career, a crossroads. We'll give you some confirmation. We are here for you. Here's one, George. If people want to talk about getting a bigger shovel, making that switch, that career switch. Who doesn't want that? Let's go. That's what I love to help people do is get that competitive edge. It's your greatest wealth building tool. Let's do it. We love it. Laura's joining us up next in Miami. Laura, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Thank you so much for having me on. Absolutely. I have, thanks. I have a basic question that should we pay off the house, but there's kind of more to it. Okay. My husband and I are in our fifties.

We just got married three months ago. We were both working the baby steps on our own previous to getting married. So we didn't have any consumer debt. I didn't have a house, so I was maxing out my retirement and I was putting a significant amount of money into a brokerage account. He was on baby steps four through six, trying to pay off the house. This kid has grown. So now that we're married, we've combined our finances, but we haven't really made any other big decisions yet. So like I still have my draft coming out for the brokerage account. So now we have this non-retirement account, but it's down. The market's down.

So according to the baby steps, we should take that out and pay off the house. And it's just like, so we have this big emergency fund, because we both had an emergency fund, and we have this non-retirement account. So do we lock in our losses and pull that money out and pay off the house, or do we wait for the market to recover? Well, I think you could hang on to this money for a little while longer and then throw it at the mortgage. What's left on the mortgage?

$133,000. And what's in the brokerage account? It varies up and down, you know, $123,000 to $ 123 to 130 over the past couple of weeks. Okay. Plus we've got the big emergency fund. So what if we stop contributing to the brokerage account and let's start saving money separately in a savings account, or you can throw that, you know, all your future income towards the mortgage, and then once the balance of the mortgage reaches the balance of the brokerage account,

we cash it out and pay off the house in one fell swoop. Okay. So just when the number gets the same, regardless of the market, just pull it out. Yeah. How much money would you be losing? How much have you contributed? Well, $1,700 a month and it was000 last year, and now it's $123,000. But how much of that is your contribution? I don't know if I understand the question. Well, part of that is growth, because you invested it. So you didn't actually put in $140,000 of your own dollars.

You may have put in $112,000, and it grew to $ grew to 140, right? Ah, yes. So I wouldn't look at this as a giant loss. If you put in 112 and it's now 130, you're up over your contribution. So I'd call that good and I'd go live free without a mortgage payment. That is amazing. We never thought of that. So I think that will help this not feel like an emotional loss. Listen, I'm blessed to be a blessing. Thank you so much for the call, Laura. That's brilliant. We never thought of that. Thank you. I think that will help this not feel like an emotional loss. Listen, I'm blessed to be a blessing. Thank you so much for the call, Laura. That's brilliant. Brilliant advice.

I didn't know it was, Ken. I was just doing math. No, but here's the thing. Never thought about it that way. You gave a different perspective. And it's framing things to be able to make a decision confidently. Well, this market is causing a lot of fear, Ken. People are going, well, my money's down. Well, you didn't lose any money until you actually sell those shares.

Until you cash out. That's right. So there you go. Think about it this way. Yes, the market is down, but if you continue to invest and you're now buying at a discount and it goes back up, bada bing, bada boom, George. I love that. I haven't heard that one in a while. We should probably record that after the show and then use it as a sound effect going forward. I'm sure James is working hard on that one. James shot that one down immediately. Well, Ken, I did a Q&A over on my Instagram yesterday, and it's fascinating how many people are so scared right now that they're taking the money, moving their money from their 401k

into the cash equivalent in a money market. So they're not cashing out. There's no penalty. They're just moving it out of the market. And that worries me. It's unnecessary. Yes. Tell people why.

Well, they're thinking very short term. They're thinking, I want to stop the hemorrhaging. I want to stop this free fall. Right. And therefore, I'm going to move it into cash. The problem is you're missing out on buying all these stocks on sale. Discount, baby. And so what's going to happen is the market's going to come back up and you're going to go,

oh, my goodness. It was sitting in cash, and I wasn't invested, and I could have made so much more if I had just stayed the course. So we say the only people who get hurt on the roller coaster are the ones who jump off early. Yeah. So don't do this. Stay the course.

Literally, think about that. Think about like you're riding the roller coaster, and then you hop off halfway through the ride. You're not going to make it. Because you're in free fall, and you go, this is, whew. Yeah. Makes your stomach turn. And so what do you do? You go, I want to get off this ride. But if you just hung on a little longer, and think about this too, no one's cashing out their

retirement all at once. You're only withdrawing as much as you need to live that month. That's true. So if you're down, you're not taking out all of that money while it's down. You're taking out a very, very small percentage to cover your bills. And so over time, we want you to stay aggressively investing until you take your last breath because you're missing out on big returns. Yeah. I love the rollercoaster analogy. I got a great rollercoaster story for you, George, as we go into commercial break. Hit me. I was at Busch Gardens one time in Williamsburg, Virginia, and was in line for a rollercoaster called the Loch Ness Monster. They shut the ride down. We want to know why they shut the ride down. We find out Fabio, you know, the giant guy with

the hair on the romance novel, the beefcake guy. I can't believe it's not butter guy. I don't know, but he was on the ride and a goose flew into him, broke his nose, shut the ride down. I never did get my eyes on Fabio and his broken nose but there's my roller coaster story i don't even know if i believe that that sounds like folklore a goose hit fabio broke his nose at bush gardens flew into him while he was on the ride this sounds like one of those weird dreams you tell a friend and they go it's really true it was reported in the news the next day you know the news is never wrong well hey folks you didn't come here for that but you got it anyways and that's what you get right here on The Ramsey Show. welcome back to the ramsey show i'm ken cole Coleman. George Campbell joins me this hour. We're here to help you win in your money, your work, your profession, and in your relationships.

888-825-5225 is the phone number. 888-825-5225. Let's go to Knoxville, Tennessee. Harrison joins us there. How can we help, sir? Hey, guys. Thank you so much for all you do. Thank you, sir? Hey, guys. Thank you so much for all you do. Thank you, sir.

All right. So I just got a new job here in Tennessee with TVA. All right. So me and my wife are renting right now because we're just kind of waiting. We did purchase land, but we couldn't really afford just the building prices. It's just out of our budget right now. We're just renting. So my question is

should I rent or sell the home that I had in South Carolina that we moved from? What are you doing with it now? Right now it's just vacant. Oh, that's not fun. Why do you want to rent it? Because it's in a fantastic area.

That area is really blowing up. How much do you owe on that house? I owe $168,000, and the interest rate is 2.8%. Ooh, nice. What's it worth? One realtor quoted that we could get anywhere conservatively $250,000 and then possibly up to $270,000. Now, you guys said that you have this land,

you're not doing anything with it as well on top of that. That's correct. Do you owe money on that? You paid cash for that. You paid cash. I'm completely debt-free, except for the house. Except for this house in South Carolina. That's correct.

Okay. I know what Dave would say, George. Well, my goal is for you to get a house, and so that means I'm selling this one because that's going to expedite the process to get a down payment. And if it's a hot area, that means it's going to sell for a pretty penny. Yeah, I'm telling you right now, Dave, I can hear him in my head right now going, don't be a long-distance landlord. Don't be a long-distance landlord.

You know, it's just a pain in the you landlord. Don't be a long-distance landlord. You know, it's just a pain in the you-know-what, you know. And George is right. That fast-forwards a lot of stuff for you. Correct. My in-laws have experience with a company that handles that, and so I did talk to them. They had great reviews, and they estimated I'd get $1,400 to $1,500 a month if I did rent.

But what do you owe on it every month? $900. Yeah, so we're doing this for a few grand a year. That's not much money. That's if everything goes perfectly. So I'm selling this thing. I'm going to use that money as my future down payment on top of saving up. What's your new income?

It's around $80,000 to $90,000 a year. So making $80,000 to $90,000 a year debt-free, you should be able to sock away a good chunk of money on top of the sale proceeds from this house, and you can get in a house in the next year or two in your area? Yes, that sounds probably about right. That would be my plan, especially as homes continue to appreciate over the next 5, 10 years, especially in your area.

That would be my plan. And ballpark, George, what do you think he puts down on the next house, knowing what he could get on this house? Well, if you're saying you're going to sell it for $250,000 and you owe $168,000, that's going to put you at about $84,000 or so, and then you probably sock away out of that $90,000 you're making. You could probably save another $30,000 in the next 12 months, which gives you six figures to put down on your next property

for your primary residence. Right. That puts you in a good financial spot. Think about that and lowering your expenses. I think your in-laws are telling you, and you respect them, and I understand why, but I think your in-laws are telling you and you respect them and I understand why, but I think your in-laws are trying to talk you in to renting this house. But George said it beautifully, talking about a couple thousand dollars a month after you pay your mortgage.

A year. Yeah, a year. Excuse me, a year. Thank you. I don't care if you got a company managing it for you or not, it's still a pain in the butt for a couple grand a year. I just think you have to really look at that. What's the benefit for that versus the $80,000 getting you started on a fantastic down payment? And think about how long it would take you to save up $80,000 out of your own income. Yes, very good point. So I like this plan.

You can do your plan, but man, this one sounds a lot more peaceful to me. I'd sell it. I would sell it. You know, Ken and I, we're big fans. I like to sell stuff. There's a big, you know, the feeling is, why would you ever get rid of a rental? You can make so much money. Let's look at the numbers.

There's not a lot of money to be made on this thing. I agree. And the hassle of it. So. I agree. That's just one man's opinion. There it is. Mary Lou is up in St. Louis, Missouri. Mary Lou, how can we help? Yes. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. My husband and I are both retired and we recently sold a piece of rental property for $150,000 and we're just wondering which is the best way to invest it.

Awesome. So you have $150,000 sitting in the bank right now? Yes. Awesome. It's in the money market. Okay. Give us a little snapshot of your financial picture. What do you guys have in retirement? Do you have any debt? Do you have an emergency fund? And what's your income? We don't have any debt. We have an emergency fund of probably $60,000 and our income is probably $55,000 a year. Okay, and what's in retirement? We've got about $100,000 probably, or not more than that, I'm sorry. We have investments with Edward Jones, probably $400,000. Okay. And do you owe on your primary residence?

No, we don't. We're not in any debt at all. We have been blessed. That's great news. And so really, you don't have any current plans that you need to make with this $150,000? No renovations, no car upgrades, nothing big that you're trying to do? No, nothing. We just don't know what to do with it. It's just laying there. You know, we would like to invest it in some way. Sure. Well, if you're going to use it in the near future, let's say three to five years, you could park it in an S&P 500 index fund if you're wanting to purchase property in the future. Are you wanting to get back into some real estate investing? No, actually we're 82. We're both 82 years old and we've been there, done that, and we just want

to keep what we have. Well, that's great news. In that case, if you're just saying, hey, we want this to create income for us long-term, use the power of compound growth, you can invest it in some great growth stock mutual funds. And if you need help choosing the right ones, you can connect with one of our smart investor pros at RamseySolutions.com, and they're going to help you make the best use of that $150,000. Because even at, you know, let's say 10% growth, well, that's $15,000 a year that's compounding for you versus sitting in that money market making nothing. Right, right. So I like that plan a whole lot. But you guys have done so well. I'm proud of you guys.

Well, we have been blessed. We have a large family. When we all get together, there's 30 of us. Wow. Well, you might need to carve out some of that money for the catering. You might need to buy a few Astro vans to transport everyone. That's right. Well, we, we have been involved in such as that as well. I'll bet. Well, Mary Lou, that is so great. Definitely, if you've not connected with one of our SmartVestor Pros, RamseySolutions.com, click on the SmartVestor Pro tab and interview a few folks in your area.

But don't just let this money sit there. Yeah, they'll help you maximize this. And what an awesome blessing this is. So congratulations on that. I like Mary Lou, Ken, just so peaceful. I want to hang out with her. After the last call, I was wondering, well, I don't want to sell the rental. And now you hear Mary Lou going, we sold the rental.

Feels great. We got a pile of cash. She's 82. She said, we've been there, done that. She's like, that's for the whippersnappers. That's right. We're chilling. But there's a great teaching moment there because Mary Lou has options.

Oh, boy, does she. When you call in and you go, we got a big pile of cash. She's got 150,000 options. We have no debt, no mortgage. What do we do? Yeah. That's an exciting problem to have versus being backed into a corner going, we've got a huge pile of debt.

We've got all these properties, all these mortgages. What do we do? Yeah. It's a very different tone. Yeah, it really is. And I'm proud of her. Yeah, that is awesome stuff. I love to hear it.

That is just, that is great. You know, 82. It's impressive. Got the money. I hope you make it that long, Ken. I think you will. You think so? Yeah. I appreciate that.

I think people who golf just tend to live longer. And you've been out there on the course this morning. Well, you know, somebody's got to do it. You know, I find it to be tremendous therapy, if I'm being honest. Yeah. What do you do, George? What's your hobby? Golf.

Golf is very stressful to me. What do you do? I play guitar. I like to watch golf. Golf is very stressful to me. What do you do? I play guitar. I like to watch some stand-up comedy. That's what you do? Listen to some good music, yeah. Play with my dogs. Okay.

Dogs are therapy to me, Ken. You seem very lonely. Gosh. That's for the Dr. John Deloney show. I'll be calling in soon. Okay. Well, we can hang out after the show today. I appreciate that.

I'll sit there and watch you play your guitar. Thank you. I need an audience. That feels pathetic. All right, don't go anywhere. More of your calls coming up next. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell joined by Ken Coleman this hour. This is the Ramsey show open phones at 888-825-5225. We are here to help you take the next step with your life,

with your money, with your career. So many people are at a crossroads right now, wondering how they can increase their income, wondering how they can leave a toxic boss, how to get out of debt. Oh, I can tell them, George. We want to help you. Ken is here for you in that regard, and I'll help answer those money questions. Michael joins us in Phoenix. Michael, welcome to the show. Hi. As I said, my name is Michael.

I'm looking to buy my first home, but I'm having some trouble with the 15-year versus the 30-year fixed. I know you guys say to put 15-year fixed. I feel comfortable with putting it down payment, but just want some guidance on how to be able to afford my first home. Sure. So give us some numbers here. What's your income? So total monthly income after tax is around $9,000 a month.

Awesome. On average. Great. Currently have, separate from my emergency savings, have $80,000 cash set aside for a purchase. But when I use the Ramsey calculator, it really only tells me that I can buy a home for around $317,000, which in my area affords you a dumpster on the side of the road.

So I just want some ideas on what I can do, whether I should just wait and, or whether I should just buy a different type of property. Are you single? I'm single. Yeah. And you're looking at single family homes, condos, townhomes. What are we talking? I want a single family home. Nothing too crazy, but trying to stay away from the condo or townhome. And why is that?

Um, well, I understand that they're harder to resell, um, in a scenario where the market is down. So false. George is a townhouse expert. You just told me the Phoenix area is really hot, right? Yes, it is. So you're telling me townhomes just aren't selling. Single family homes are the

only ones that are selling? I would say they're not selling, or they are selling now, but it is an area where the market does take a dip, but I'm not saying that it is going to. But even honestly, even townhomes are looking at $350,000 plus, and they just have such high HOA fees. Have you looked into what those fees are? Yeah, I mean, you're looking at anywhere from $400 to $500 a month. I don't buy that. You're telling me all over the Phoenix area... $400 to $500 a quarter, yeah, yeah.

A quarter. Okay, well, that changes the game. So we're talking $125 a month. Correct. That's very reasonable. It certainly could be. So, I mean, truthfully, I think you have your sights set high. There's two options here.

I'll lay them out for you. You're not stuck. Either we delay the purchase and we save up more cash. So, let's say you have $120 down and you wait another year. Then we can maybe get into a single family home on the low end or we can get into a townhome more quickly with the money we have and we stay there for three four years maybe pay that off and then use all of that towards a single family home a few years down the line this is not forever what's causing the itch michael you know we got to wait for what we want sometimes

and uh there's something that's causing this itch what is it um i mean i would say lots of colleagues are buying those second homes properties so i know it's a chasing what you want um but i feel like the income is enough to support it it's just an idea on how much longer i should wait what if you lived in a vacuum and you couldn't see what anyone else around you was doing? Would that change things? I would say so, yes. All right. Boom. We just unfollowed a bunch of people on Instagram and we avoided a lot of water cooler conversations. Yeah. You got to choose what's best for you. And George is absolutely right. Let's just look at this from a

maybe a different viewpoint where do you want your life to be or what do you want your life to look like 25 30 years down the line and you don't have to answer that but but you can begin to visualize that and when you start to think about the end, the destination, where you ultimately want to be and what you want life to look like, then it's a lot easier to get past the distractions of, well, I'm comparing my now to somebody else's now, when really this isn't about the now, it's about the long-term future. Am I right? I would agree, yeah. I think it's perspective, my man.

And listen, I'm preaching to the choir here, okay? You know, I've always been a guy that wants, you know, I want to make progress as fast as absolutely possible. But, you know, progress is incremental at many times, and then wham, after many years of incremental progress, then we have this unbelievable payoff. And I think I can hear it in your voice. It's a hope that you're encouraged.

I'm not picking on you. I hope that you're encouraged that you've got to be focusing on your long-term vision and what must be true for that to happen. Thanks so much for the call, man. Remember this. We don't know your friend's situation. They could be broke up to their eyeballs, losing sleep. There's a good chance they are.

George, tell folks what the average car payment in America is. $733. That means a lot of people have even higher car payments to get to that average, and your friends that are buying a second house may be watching shysters on Instagram telling them to leverage themselves up to their eyeballs. A lot of shysters out there. You like that word? That's such a great word.

It's a great word to say. Stay the course, man. Don't worry. Run your own race. And I've said this before, Ken. I'll probably butcher it. But the problem with running other people's race is that there is no finish line. It's never enough.

I've got to write that down. It's never enough. Say it again, George. The problem with running other people's race is that there is no finish line. That's right. And that's what we see time and time again comparing your life. Because back in the day, Ken, you didn't know what your coworkers, where they lived and what their life was like and where they vacationed. And now it's in the palm of your hand 24-7.

And there's a growing movement, a little bit of a pivot. George, there's a growing pivot all over the Internet and in social media where people want to know what each other makes. And they think this is great. Oh, we need transparency. Let me tell you something. That's going to turn into this big, giant comparison cesspool, and people don't understand that.

And the very people that you think you want to help by telling them what you make, they're going to end up resenting you. It's nonsense. Comparison never, ever, ever pays off. I'm going to throw a Rachel Cruz quote at you. Here we go. Comparisons are the thief of joy. It's true. I'm taking joy. And if that means putting the comparisons down and doing it my way, even if it's slower, even if it means I don't have a house and they do right now. Here you go. If you're going to compare yourself to somebody, there's only one person you should compare yourself to.

The you of yesterday. Ooh, there's another tweet. We're dropping some gems. We're like Socrates over here. Well, I don't think we are. Okay. Fair point. Yeah.

Aristotle? Give me something, Ken. No, we're two guys in black t-shirts. Yeah. I think that's probably. That's a fair point. Thanks for bringing us back down. But both of those things are true, by the way. But it's we're two guys in black t-shirts yeah i think that's probably that's a fair point thanks for bringing us back but both of those things are true by but it's a great point but here's the deal if i'm going to compare myself to anybody it's like yesterday in my personal life my professional life my financial life my spiritual life my

physical life whatever that's okay but looking at everybody else as the measure of who I want to be or where I want to go is just deadly. It will crush your spirit. It will create resentment, and it will ultimately turn into discouragement. That's why a lot of people fall off the path, whether trying to get out of debt, trying to lose weight, trying to get in a healthy relationship, is they start comparing their progress to everybody else. And then when you're always measuring it and everything's moving all the time, of course you're going to become frustrated. And then you can only take so much frustration before you just go, ah, forget it. Well, it's one of the reasons we see broke people driving nicer cars than millionaires.

Oh, yeah. We've got this thing all twisted. Oh, yeah. Millionaires are going, well, why would I put all my money into appreciating asset buying new cars? I'm going to drive an older car that gets me from A to B because I don't care what people think. Yeah. Woo. I'm seeing a theme here today, Ken.

What is it? Not caring what other people think is a superpower. Yeah. And the sooner we can get there and add in some common sense and add in some discipline, then we've got something on our hands here. Yeah. You know, it's interesting you say that because when you said that, it's like we all fight that as humans. You know why?

Because we want to belong. Like humans want to belong to a tribe, to a group. We want to feel accepted. And so I think what has to happen is we got to change the group of people we want to belong to. If we want to belong to Baby Steps millionaires, the people that have financial peace, let's start hanging out with those people. Change who you hang around with. That's it. That'll help.

Man, good stuff there. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. My thanks to my stellar co-host, Ken Coleman, all the folks in the booth, the bro booth, as we now call them, Austin, Ben, James, Zach, Andrew, Kyle. They're all in there. Affectionately, the Brobooth. Yes. Fine. And David, too. He's upset with me now.

And, of course, you, America. We can't do this show without you. We love you guys. Appreciate you listening in. We'll be back with you before you know it. Hey, folks. Ken Coleman here. Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world? It's your daily dose of advice on life and money. Check out all of our shows

from The Ramsey Network wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, it's James, producer of The Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but check the episode notes for links to products and services you heard about during this episode. Thanks for listening.