The Ramsey Show - App - Should We Sell Our Rental Property? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: September 15, 2022

Take our Audience Survey & Enter to Win a $500 Visa Gift Card: Click here to take the survey   Dave Ramsey & Kristina Ellis discuss: Selling a rental property, What to do with cash on hand, Using savings to pay off a mountain of debt.   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 Pod's moving and storage studio, it's the 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. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Christina Ellis, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life. It's a free call, 888-825-5225.

Ned is in Fort Bragg. Hey, Ned, what's up? Oh, hey, how you doing? Better than I deserve. How can we help? Hey, so here's my situation. Basically, what happened was I've been in the Army a few years during that time. My wife and I got married. We had two kids. We bought a property, and eventually, we moved out of that property, and we now live on post. We rent the property, and we make about $400 a month on it. Now, I'm getting out of the Army very soon, in the next few months.

We've hit a bit of a rough patch with our finances, and we're wondering if we should sell the house or not to help us transition out of the military in a civilian life yes okay thank you for your service uh but a rental property here here's how i made that decision and how all of us at ramsey process this i always reverse engineer it and then that usually gives me the answer very quickly and the end so by that i mean let's pretend you did not on that rental property what what how much cash would it put in your pocket if you sold it uh there's about 100k left on the property and on the internet it's valued at 175 okay so let's call it $50,000 or so. Okay. You're going to put $50,000 cash in the middle of your kitchen table. In your situation today, if you did not own the rental property and you had $50,000 cash in the middle of your kitchen table, would you go buy a rental property? And the answer very quickly is no.

No. No, no. No, because you're transitioning and you're going through a rough patch, both. Right? Correct. Transitioning out of the military and you're going through a rough patch, both. Right? Correct. Transitioning out of the military and you're going through a rough patch with your finances. Not a time to use your $50,000 for a rental property. You need to use it to make this transition proper and to clean up some of the mess that's causing the rough patch.

Does that make sense? That's how I did that. That makes perfect sense to me. Yeah. Thank you for your service. What are you going to do? I'm looking at some options. It looks like I'm probably going to be a prison guard or a cop.

Okay, very cool. Well, Christina's husband spent a while in law enforcement. She knows something about that. Yeah, he recently retired after 17 years, so it's been an amazing career for him. Yeah, I hope it works out for me, too. Yeah, it's quite the adventure. You'll have some really interesting stories at the end of it all all right good for the grandkids yeah that's exactly right

hey thanks for your service but that's uh that's a good way to do that that's that thing we call sunk cost analysis where you say you know doesn't really matter how you got here you're here and if you weren't here would you put yourself back here meaning that okay i don't want to sell this uh investment i'm going to wait until it comes back up that's not how you analyze it you know the question is if you wouldn't buy that investment again today based on everything you know about that investment based on the economy based on whatever then you shouldn't be owning it today yeah You should get out of it. Yeah. And it's good to just have that reframe because then you can look at that $50,000 and say, okay, what is the best strategy for this money? What can we do to dig

out of this hole and kind of get a little bit of a headstart? And it helps me to just pile it up visually in the middle of the table. Just have like a pile of $100 bills there, $50,000 worth of them. And you go, you know, what would I really do with that? And, you know, sometimes that's a boat sitting in the driveway that nobody has had in the water for three years. And you go, time to sell the boat. Because if I didn't own the boat today, I wouldn't buy it today. And if it's worth $11,000 or whatever it is, I had $11,000 piled up in the middle of the table. Would I buy a boat?

No, I hadn't put the stupid thing in the water in three years. Or, of course, I'd buy a boat. We use it every weekend. You know, and so, yeah, then you'd keep the boat. You can do that with anything. Right. Well, and sometimes it's things that are a bit more painful and more painful situations. Like we have a lot of people on the debt-free stage that sold their truck their beloved truck and it's like they did see that visual representation

of i love my truck but that thirty thousand dollars or that forty thousand dollars that i made that i shouldn't that i shouldn't have spent that money on could be a pile of money on the table that we could use towards debt and we would rather you know at this point i love my truck but i love debt free more yep and that's that's what you're saying when you sell the truck yep that's what you're saying uh i remember that one of the first times that happened i had a good old boy in one of our fpu classes a big hunter had a big collection of guns and a huge collection of uh collectible knives it was a wonderful knife collection and um he was a great big old guy you know and he comes in and his little tiny

wife is sitting there in the we're in the class and financial peace university we're having a discussion afterwards you know in the small group discussion and she starts crying and i'm like what's wrong and she goes my husband just sold his knife collection to get us out of debt wow it's the most manly thing i've ever seen in my life that he put his family ahead of his little thing you know and his wife just she you know she loved him before but when he stepped up and took care of the family and her before he took care of his own little thing it just you know their their marriage went to a whole nother level wow and so um but i'll never forget her crying because i mean i grew up with a bunch of guys that i know what that knife collection meant to that guy some of you're like

you don't understand that was that was like that was like taking off one of his little toes i mean you know it's like it was a big deal well it's so it's so easy to breeze over those stories and just be like oh yeah they sold their their motorcycle or their knife collection and and just kind of see it as part of the process but like to do that is i mean i have seen some of the guys standing on the stage look like they got punched in the stomach when they admit that they sold their truck or something but i mean way to go for doing that because that's just that is love that is commitment that says a lot that's exactly what it takes open phones this hour as we talk to you about your life and your money. We really value the input from people who watch and listen to the show. It helps us know what's important to

you and the ways that we can adjust the show. There's parts of the show that we do and we're really not going to change them. And there's other parts we want to learn about things we can do to help you better. And so we'd love to have your input we really do uh so we're doing a survey the survey takes just a few minutes you can do it on your phone if you want and everybody that takes a survey is registered to win no purchase necessary uh someone's going to win a 500 visa gift card to say thank you for your time so go to ramolutions.com slash survey, and it takes just a few minutes. Again, RamseySolutions.com slash survey. So open phones here at 888-825-5225. You can jump in, and we'll talk to you about your life and about your money. Christina Ellis Ramsey Personality is my co-host today.

And this is the place where we teach you to live on less than you make. The concepts we teach here are not complicated. Not hard to understand. Just hard to do. Because you've got to deal with that person in your mirror.

This is The Ramsey Show. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី welcome back to the ramsey show christina ellis ramsey personality is my co-host today on the line with us our good friend from fox and Friends, Steve Ducey is with us with his new cookbook coming out. Hey, Steve, how are you, my friend? Hello, Dave. Hello, Christina from gorgeous New Jersey. It's nice to talk to you. Hey, good to talk to you, brother. So you have to come on here every time you guys do a cookbook because when you came on with the first one, the second one, they were all bestsellers. And so we want to make sure that this third one is a bestseller, too.

And we want to do everything we can to help. Congratulations. Well, thank you very much, Dave. You know, one thing about what we have seen as we have come out of the pandemic is when everybody was hunkered down, everybody was eating more, and a lot of people were drinking more at home, because that's all there was to do. You couldn't really go out. Now, people are leaving their houses a little more, and they're getting out. They still want to make their own dinner, but you got to make it simple. And so that's the idea behind this cookbook. It's based on simple ingredients, simple to cook, and simply delicious. Now, the Simply Happy Cookbook by Steve and Kathy Ducey.

And actually, the secret sauce is named Kathy. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I love the sound of simple. As a mom of two, that is exactly what I need every night, is something that is simple to make, healthy, good for us, and can be done quickly. So that's amazing. I'm going to be getting this book. Yeah. You know, the whole idea behind the series was that it's like the proven fact. It's a scientific fact that certain foods can kind of trigger, you know, the nostalgia department of your brains.

And when you see it or taste it or smell it or somebody mentions it or you see it on the menu, it reminds you of something happy somewhere in your past. I know when my wife Kathy makes the pot roast that my mom made for us on my birthday. When I walk in the house, I can smell it. And as soon as I smell it, I am suddenly eight years old again, living in that little house in Russell, Kansas. And it just takes you to happy times. So it's, it's, uh, and everybody can identify with Dave. I remember when you and your wife came on Fox & Friends,

and you said one of your favorite recipes was an epic pot roast that your wife makes with a bottle of wine, and it was fantastic. Yeah, it's amazing. It throws a Coca-Cola in there, too, if I remember right. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah, the smells are, you know, there's something really important, and we discovered this again during these times we've all just come through, about people gathering, and gathering and dining together,

breaking bread together is so good for humans, so good for relationships, so good for just your mental wellness, the whole thing. And so having a great cookbook like this to facilitate that. What in the world is one of your favorite recipes? And you've got stories all through this thing, too. It's all about the stories that tie back to the different recipes, and that kind of ties it in like we're talking about with nostalgia and the relationships.

Right. Exactly. So every recipe has a story that explains why it is a happy recipe for somebody. And one of the motivations we had to simplify things was because all three of our kids, including the famous Peter Doocy, the White House correspondent, they all got married this past year. And so, you know, they'd call and they'd say, yeah, we're going to go to the grocery store. You have any ideas, simple things we could cook. And, of course, my wife gave them some great ideas.

But you asked about favorite recipes. I've got a couple of them. One is, okay, in our first cookbook, one of the primary recipes, and everybody makes a lasagna, but my wife made a lasagna on our first date and at the end of the first date i said you're gonna think i'm crazy but we're gonna get married will you marry me yeah it's the will you marry me lasagna well we call it engagement lasagna okay 40 Well, after I told her that, she said, thank you. That's nice.

Please leave. You're a stalker. 40 days later, I proposed. She accepted. And four months later, we were married. So anyway, we did initially engagement lasagna. Then with our second cookbook, I think the most popular recipe was lasagna soup, which is fantastic. And this new one is just wrap your head around this.

Lasagna grilled cheese sandwich. Oh, I saw the picture when I was flipping through. That sounds amazing. Oh, man. And the other one I like is grandma's braided bacon. If you have braided bacon, I've got to hold this up so YouTube people can see it. Braided Bacon Sandwich. Man, I need that.

So a lot of times when I look at a cookbook, I see these beautiful photos, and I'm like, yeah, that's pretty, but mine's not going to turn out like that. How does this cookbook make it less intimidating for people like me, who maybe my recipes don't often turn out as pretty or as yummy as they look in the pictures? That is such a good point, Christina, because so often, you know, you want to take a picture. You want to when you're talking to your family, you say, Dave, Dave, in your cookbook, turn to page 128. If you've got it right there. Okay, I'll find it. You want to take a picture of the food because it's delicious, but it just sits there. Oh, my Lord.

Is that tater tots? Yes. Yes, it is. We call that the Iowa caucus casserole. That is gorgeous. It's because it's tater tots. The prettiest tater tots I've ever seen. Right. I'm from Kansas and my wife is from California, but our son Peter, before he got the assignment at the White House, he was covering all the candidates in Iowa. And, you know, he went

and visited my relatives and they would have a lot of these casseroles. And so we wanted to put together a casserole with tater tots from my childhood. And so Peter and I worked on this and it is off the chart good. We're going to make it on Fox and Friends tomorrow. But that's incredible. It's hard to mess this up when it comes to the beauty department because you just make concentric circles with tater tots, and then you put it in the oven, and boom, you look like a genius. I love that. It might be even a great appetizer.

Right. Yeah. The family will be so impressed. I'm liking this. Okay, now, is the kid with the hatchet throwing it at the board, is that you or Peter? That would be Peter. Yeah, I figured. Okay. Tell him I guessed that, okay? hatchet throwing it at the board is that you or peter that would be peter yeah i figured okay

yeah tell him i guess that okay yeah we love if you're looking we love the work he's doing we're proud of him oh thank you if you're looking at the kid with the hatchet if you look two pictures over dave from that uh that's me with a broken foot and and the kid in the monster suit that we made out of paper mache, that is the 6'6 tall White House correspondent, Peter Doocy. No shame in your game. Maybe in his. The book is The Simply Happy Cookbook,

the third best-selling cookbook from our friends Steve and Kathy Ducey. And pretty, pretty incredible. My wife has enjoyed all of these. Christina will enjoy this one. We'll get another one for Sharon as well. And, hey, little-known trivia, Steve, for you. Christina had a number one bestseller called Confessions of a Scholarship Winner. She got $500,000 in scholarships a few years ago before she came on with us. She came on with you

guys on Fox and Friends, and that was her first major interview, and it put that book on the bestseller list. She was telling me that coming in, so she was excited to have you on today. Oh, that is so nice. You know, you love to hear stories like that where, you know, when you have a good idea or something good happens to you and you get the word out. Because I don't know if you've noticed, but there's not a lot of good news out there, it seems like. I've heard the rumor. So when you hear somebody who does well, everybody wants to learn a secret from them. It's a very full circle moment.

So I'm very grateful for that interview and what you've done and for this cookbook, because I have a feeling I'm going to be able to cook some very impressive recipes in the near future. You got to do the Iowa Cockles tater tots. I cannot wait. That one's an absolute must right there. I love it. I love it. Good to talk to you, my friend. We'll see you soon next time we're up there. Thank you very much, Dave and Christina. Have a great day, and make this day a Simply Happy day. There we go. The Simply Happy Cookbook.

Steve and Kathy Ducey. Check it out. The other two were bestsellers for a reason. It's a fabulous stories, fabulous pictures, all kinds of great recipes. You'll enjoy it. We love this guy. Been friends with him a long time and thoroughly enjoy promoting Kathy's stuff along with Steve's.

This is The Ramsey personality is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Peter and Angelica are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Good, how are you? Great, hi. Hey, Dave. Welcome, welcome. Good to have you. How much debt have you paid off?

It was $147,375.68, I think. There you go. Good enough. And how long did this take? 22 months. 22 months? Yes. Okay.

And your range of income during that time? It's about 160. Okay what do y'all do for a living? I'm a home care nurse. And I'm a paralegal slash I have my clinical business as well. Excellent excellent and where do you guys live? About a half hour outside of Boston. Hudson. Hudson, Massachusetts. Yes. Okay welcome to Nashville. That's a bit of a trip. Yes. All right. Good to have you. So what started this whole process to get you guys out of debt 22 months ago? Well, what started it was about six years ago.

We took FPU after we'd been married for about a year, and I brought a lot of student loans, credit card loans into our marriage. Angelica brought a tiny bit, but not too much. Mostly it was me. We took FPU, Connect Church in Massachusetts, and that started it. It took us about a year

to pay that off, and then we spent a couple years saving up for a down payment. And then 22 months ago is when we kind of pulled the trigger with paying the mortgage off quickly. This is your house? Yes.

You paid off your house that wasn't much of a mortgage no it wasn't well we we put a good down payment down you know we we followed the baby steps we did 3b for for a while you know we saved up our emergency fund in 3b and then uh got our retirements going and everything with our mortgage. And we bought small. You know, we bought a condo. We kept conservative. You know, we said we want to be able to have some margins.

So we want to pay off the house quickly. Good for you guys. Wow. That's all right. So looked up 22 months ago and said, oh, let's just go ahead and knock this out. Let's do it. Yeah. Keep on the plan.

Just stay on the plan. Just stay on the plan. Exactly. Wow. It all starts with financial peace university when you first get married yeah about a year into it after we kind of were just looking around without a plan on how to how to get rid of my loans i just love how much joy is completely radiating off you all like you can just feel it before before you guys came on the stage it's like you could just feel happiness and that's what it feels like when you pay off your house when you're completely debt free feel it before you guys came on the stage. It's like you could just feel happiness.

And that's what it feels like when you pay off your house, when you're completely debt-free. It's a whole different world. So what did this journey look like for y'all? Oh, boy. Do you want to? I don't know. It was hard at first, but we keep always our mindset with, no, we have the highest price and the final price.

And we keep praying and be focused. And we know the Heisenheim Prize and the final prize and we keep praying and be focused and we know the budget is important but we think mindset and pray and be diligent as a Christian we believe we believe that we have to be a good steward and manage God's money well so it's not ours it's just temporary and in 2020 when we we started paying off the house um ethan was born our son and um was a really tough time was in march 2020 we he was born beginning the pandemic yeah yeah isolation and it was kind of crazy because peter as a nurse was really frightening for me to see you know like it was really really hard but we trust the plan and say okay we save it someone and we had $20,000 after he was born and we put it down right away and then we accelerated it remain I'm out way to go you guys way to go thank you powerful

you don't have a payment in the world what's this house worth today or this condo a little over 300 $300,000. How much in your retirement accounts? Combined, close to $100,000. So we are quarter million. We get it there. You're a little over a half a million net worth now. Right at it.

Way to go, y'all. Way to go. How old are you? I'm 36. 38. So 45, you guys are going to be millionaires. That's where you'll be. Hey, man. Hey, man. Speak it.

That's so fun. That is so fun. Who are your biggest cheerleaders in the process? I got to say my coworker, Tabitha. She became a Dave convert in the middle of our Baby Step 2 process, 2 and 3. And, you know, my parents and our fpu leaders back at connect church um who else each other yeah my mom as well i'm from brazil so she was very excited to see this achievement i'm here almost 10 years and i came from less than nothing i just had my education

from brazil and here i met met Peter with so much debt, and I heard people say, why are you going to get married? He's so, you know, so much debt. Are you crazy? But he was worth every penny, you know, such a man, you know, like God man. You say he's good looking. I don't know. I think I married up.

He's just, you know, a perfect husband that, you know, followed Jesus Christ. And that was most important for me than paying off, you know, the debt per se. Amen. Well, you can get out of debt if you have a plan. Yes. And, yeah, we tell folks all the time, we would never tell someone not to get married because of debt. We would tell you not to get married if you're not in agreement about it. And you're both in agreement about it.

We're going to do this. You jumped into Financial Peace University, knock out his student loans and then here we go not go ahead and just finish it up and yes 22 months ago decide oh we're going to do the mortgage and now we're 100 out and you're in your mid-30s y'all are in a great place i'm so proud of you thank you thank you so your mom's jumping up and down huh she will when she sees it yeah she's very excited for how i accomplished well if i switch the currency in brazil i'm millionaire out there i'm multimillionaire in brazil that's great it feels great that'll work too so i like it so for all the newlyweds who are just starting out and maybe one spouse is coming into the marriage with a lot of debt and one's a little bit nervous about it, what advice would you give them as they start their journey?

Boy, be honest, obviously. That's one thing that's very important. What else? Pray together. Pray. Yeah, prayers. That was a big thing throughout the whole process is even though we've got this plan that we know it's going to work because you know we've been watching the show for a while that you you know times get tough and you got to pray and and uh even even getting extra work that you can handle requires

prayer and grace you know we make our plans and god directs our steps and uh you do have to be on the same page i like that little like eyebrow yes like, you got to be on the same page. That's a good word. Good job, you guys. I'm so proud of y'all. Well done. Very well done. Thanks for making a trip all the way from Boston to celebrate with us.

We're honored to meet you and see you and hear this great story. You guys have got a bright, bright future ahead of you. We got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you because that is the next chapter in your story in american dollars you'll be there before you know it and uh a financial peace membership for the next year you can give that to someone that's what started your whole journey and uh that'll get going and of course a total money makeover book as well so let's bring peter in and introduce him oh it's ethan i'm sorry ethan in and introduce him. Oh, it's Ethan. I'm sorry. Ethan in and introduce him. I'm sorry. So how old is Ethan? Two and a half. Oh, he's beautiful.

Good looking guy. I'm not surprised. Very well. Good stuff. Good stuff. All right. It's Peter, Angelica, and Ethan. Boston, Massachusetts, 147,000. House and everything at 36 years old.

Did that in 22 months, making 160. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Tres, dos, un. We're debt-free! Yeah! I love it! That is fun.

That was amazing. That's got to get you get you oh it gets me with the baby i had a pandemic baby as well to hear their journey and perseverance through it your mom is my mom's an immigrant venezuelan right yeah venezuelan and to see her face and that scream and the jump that's it oh Even the Spanish countdown. That's good. Or was it, no, is Brazil's Portuguese? Portuguese. Yeah, okay.

But the tres, dos, uno sounds very similar. I thought, yeah, okay. Very good. Very good. Love it. Way to go, you guys. That's powerful stuff. I don't know what your story is out there, but let me tell you this. You can decide starting right now, right this second, to have a different story.

Right now, you're listening to them. You may not be in the same situation they're in. Maybe better, maybe worse. But you can decide. You have the power. You don't have to wait on someone else to fix your life because guess what? They're not going to.

It's up to you. Pray like it all depends on God. You work like it all depends on you. This is The Ramsey Show. Kanskje vi kan ta en kvarter? Our scripture of the day, Psalm 91.1, Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. John Mark Comer said, In seasons of busyness, we need more time in the quiet place. Not less. Definitely not less.

Christina Ellis, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Up next is going to be Jan in Dallas, Texas. Hi, Jan. How are you? Great. Howdy, Dave and Christina from Dallas. Good to have you. How can we help? Thank you. So I have to admit I've been sitting in a lot of fear about retirement.

So I do not have family. My whole family passed away in my late 20s, and I'm not married and no kids. And I'm about to be 57 next Thursday, and I have $10,000 in 401K, so I have not done a great job there. But right now I have $80,000 in cash. And mentally, I have thought I would like to try to buy something outright or halfway outright so that I don't have a mortgage and, you know, just be free of any monthly payment on housing. But I didn't know if that was the right route to go or stick that money into mutual funds and save. What do you make a year? So I make $120,000 and then usually have somewhat of a bonus.

Okay. Do you have any debt? I do. So unfortunately, I have a fairly new truck that I owe about $31,000 on. And then I have $5,000 on credit cards right now. Okay. I have a feeling the first place to start is with the truck. I knew you were going to say that. I'm in Dallas, you know, you got to have a truck. I know. And that's a painful one to let go of.

But you are technically on baby step two and we want to wipe out that debt quickly and you have the cash to do it so i mean there is a lot of wiggle room here's the thing if you if you don't sell the truck you got to pay it off okay today okay that means you got 50 000 to put down on a house in Dallas. You're 57 years old. When are we going to get this house paid off? Yeah. This truck's a bigger weight than it feels like it is.

It is a big weight right now. It's not really out of line based on your income, but you're late to the game on building wealth and getting your house paid paid off uh you got a lot to do in the next eight years right you need a paid for house and a substantial nest egg and that truck is incongruent in that story so you can do it you can pay off the truck and buy a house with fifty thousand dollars down and pay off the credit cards and cut them up and we'll put you into financial peace university and start showing you how to do all this stuff. I'll tell you what, let's just do that. Okay. And I want you to write on the calendar the week before Thanksgiving, do I sell my truck? By then I want you to have gone through the nine

weeks in Financial Peace University. I'm going to give it to you free. You take the class, and then you decide after you see holistically what Christina and I are seeing. And it doesn't sound so arbitrary then. Then you decide if the truck is holding you back from your goals. Because I think when you learn to run the math out on getting a paid-for house. See, where I want you to be for retirement is a paid-for house and a pile of money. Right. And no other debt either.

Yeah. And how quick can we get there? The good news is you make really good money. And the other good news is you don't have to talk somebody else into doing all this other than the person in your mirror. Yeah. I was going to retire at 70, you know, just because I felt like I had to. You probably do. You probably do. Yeah. It's probably going to retire at 70, you know, just because I felt like I had to. You probably do.

You probably do. Yeah. It's probably going to take you that long. But just the same, you know, what we need is a $200,000 paid for house by then. Okay. And we need, you know, half a million dollars in mutual funds. So we're $700,000 out of line, and we got 80. Okay.

And we got, you know, you got 7 to ten years to do this and i think you can do it matter of fact i know you can do it um it's just a matter of how far you're going to sacrifice because what you've probably done because most people do it and just listening to your story and your math is you've probably had a really good career that has incrementally increased it's probably not been sudden correct and you've incrementally increased your lifestyle faster than your income went up because you got a thirty thousand dollar truck debt and a five thousand dollar credit card debt so we know you spent money you didn't have right and i had a lot of medical debt over the years yeah yeah yeah but either way way, you spent more than you had coming in, not a ton until the truck.

I mean, that was the big one. But I mean, up until then, you've kind of just, but you also didn't save anything. So whatever your increase was, you spent it. Correct. All along. And that's normal. That's not shaming you. But we got to have a plan that goes the other

direction now that goes all increases and we're going to lower our lifestyle starting today less than $120,000 substantially because we got some goals to accomplish here that matter because the quality of your life in retirement is going to depend on how much you sacrifice in the next five to seven years. Well, you mentioned having a fear of retirement. I hope you hear in this conversation not more fear, but rather you can follow this plan. Urgency, but not fear. Urgency, but not fear. Yeah.

You have a great income, and you've got a solid foundation. If you just walk these steps out with that urgency, you can get there. Yeah, absolutely. You can get there. And we absolutely. You can get there. And we'll help you, Jan. And you call us back anytime. And you can decide, you know, what Christine and I are seeing is we think your life will be better faster if you didn't have to climb the mountain without this truck.

But we'll let you just put that on the calendar. And the week before Thanksgiving, you just say a prayer and say, all right, God, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to do with this truck? Now that I prayer and say, all right, God, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to do with this truck? Now that I know what I know from Financial Peace University, what do you want me to do? And we'll teach you, and then you can make the decision. I think you'll come to that conclusion, but I won't. I'm still, I'm not going to be mad at you, but I'm just saying that is one more hurdle, one more obstacle you've got to climb over to get to the end of this obstacle course

you're in that includes a paid-off home or condo or something and a pile of money to retire on. And we need to get there pretty quick. It can be done, though. You make good money, and we've just got to get that money harnessed and heading in the right direction. Hold on, and we'll have Kelly pick up and get you signed up for FPU. Shea is with us in Jacksonville, Florida.

Shay, I'm short on time. Ask your question quick. Hello. Shay? Hey, yes. Can you hear me? Yes. How can we help right quick?

Okay. Okay, so I have a question for you. We are a military family, and just last year we were doing awesome. My husband and I had over $100,000 in our savings account. We were completely debt free. And then we moved in the military and purchased our first home. And when we did that, we kind of put ourselves back into debt by purchasing things for the home. We upgraded our vehicle and kind of got ourselves upside down. You were doing good, and then you lost your mind. Yeah, we completely lost our minds.

How much debt have you got? I put that all on me. How much debt have you got? I don't even want to tell you because I know you're going to yell at me, but we owe on my husband's car about $18,000 on his, and we just got a new van, and we owe $47,000 on that. Yeah, you need to sell that. That was dumb. And I knew you were going to say that.

So my question is, how do we even go about doing something as far as selling the vehicle? How much money? Have you got the $100,000 still in savings? So right now, we currently have $60,000 left in savings, and that's after putting down the down payment for the home. Yeah, and your household income is what? Right now we're at like right at $100,000. You can't afford this van.

You got the money to sell the van. Sell the van and go buy you a van that's $10,000 or $15,000 you're gonna have stopped this you're not you're not in congress you can't spend like this yeah i know you're killing yourself i did something else stupid that i know you're gonna yell at me about i'm not gonna yell at you about anything honey i love you i want you to win i appreciate your service to the country uh and we'll put you guys through financial peace university and help you get out of this. But honey, you ain't going to be able to keep this van. It just doesn't fit. And you know it in your heart of hearts. You know you can't do this. Not me yelling at you. I don't want you to win. I just love you. I want you to do good. That puts us out of the Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the

meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Dave here. We just launched a brand new audience survey for The Ramsey Show, and we'd love your feedback. You could be entered to win a $500 Visa gift card. No purchase necessary. Take the survey at ramseysolutions.com slash survey. We'll see you next time.