The Ramsey Show - App - Stop Looking for the Easy Way Out (Hour 2)

Episode Date: September 23, 2019

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

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Chris Hogan, filling in for Dave, and I'm excited to be with you. And I'm so excited also because I'm joined in studio by best-selling author and Ramsey personality, Mr. Anthony O'Neill as well. How are you? Man, Hogan, I'm doing well. America, glad to be on the show with you, man. I love jumping on here with you when Dave's out, man.

We're going to have fun. It's going to be amazing. It is. And listen, I'm hearing people all the time say, Chris, how do I do this with a student loan? Or how do I go to school debt-free? Well, listen, I've got the expert in studio with me this hour. Anthony O'Neill has just completed a project. We're going to tell you a little bit about that here soon.

But I'm telling you, if you've got a question about student loans or how to be able to go to school debt-free, I want you to get on the phone. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. We'd that's 888-825-5225. We'd love to hear from you. Or you can also find us on social. The Dave Ramsey Show on social is at Ramsey Show. You can find me at ChrisHogan360.

But also Anthony O'Neill. You can find him as well on Twitter, Instagram, and all the things. So you've been busy. You've been working on some major projects here lately how are you feeling man i'm feeling great you know we got this new book coming out debt-free degree i'm excited about that the book tour starts here in a couple of weeks i'm actually exactly 14 days away he's doing the countdown man i'm counting down the hours the minutes uh because you know hogan i'm excited that we're 14 days away from giving people the step by step guide on how to get their kids into college and 100 percent debt free.

Everyone says, are you excited to sell a lot of books? I am because I want to help a lot of people. Yes, absolutely. And people need this information. So listen right now, what you can do. This book is on presale. You can pre-order your copy of Debt-Free Degree for only $19.99. Okay, we're also going to toss in some free amazing content as well. You're going to get the Debt-Free Degree e-book. You're going to get

Anthony O'Neill's compelling talk on how to connect with your kid. I've seen that. It's fantastic. And you're also going to get our premier smart parent event with over two hours of talks from Anthony O'Neill and bestselling parenting expert, Dr. Meg Meeker. So to pre-order debt-free degree, go online at our store and go to DaveRamsey.com or you can go to AnthonyO'Neill.com or you can call our Ramsey concierge team at triple eight, eight, triple eight, 22 piece. So they'll be there ready to take your order. This book, Anthony, is going to make an impact not only in helping young people, but also helping parents to finally understand the path. Man, you know, and that's that's that's the reason why we wrote the book, Hogan, is because I want the parents to have the path because this future generation is graduating in debt.

The average student is going to graduate about $35,000 in debt. And then one out of 10 students who graduate are going to have $100,000 or more. So this means that some students who will graduate in high school, their student loan payments are bigger than some people's mortgage payments. Isn't it funny, Hogan, that a young person can't buy a six-pack of beer, but they can sign a quarter-million-dollar loan? And so this right here frustrates me because we're not setting our kids up for success. We're not setting them up to go out there and start families, to enter into their dream jobs, start businesses.

No, we're setting them up to get out of college and then get straight back into the workforce so they can pay back their student loans. And I'm tired of that. It has to change. It needs to change. We cannot wait on the government. We have to take it into our hands and say, you know what, we're going to do it. And this way may not be the most popular way, but it's a debt-free way.

Yeah. No, I like that. And you're absolutely right. It's all about empowering people to be able to take a stand for themselves. So, again, if you've got a question on student loans or how to go to school debt-free, call us. We want to talk with you. All right, we're jumping on the phones. I've got Kaylee on the line in Texas.

Kaylee, how are you? I'm doing well. How are y'all? Oh, we are doing fantastic. I like that Texas accent right there. Makes me feel at home. Oh, I'm from Kentucky. You make me feel at home right there.

What question do you have for anthony and i so my husband and i are currently working on paying off his twenty two thousand dollars in student loans okay um and we've been doing a pretty good job so far uh problem is his car is a piece of junk like this car is old enough to vote, pretty much. I mean, we've already had to replace the transmission on it. We've had to replace the compressor on it twice. I mean, it's worth less than what we're putting into it. And so my question is, should we go ahead and get a different car? He's afraid of getting a car payment along with a student loan. What can we do to fix that? Okay. Tell me this.

What's your all's household income, Kaylee? Well, right now we're renting. It's about $750 a month. Okay. But how much income are you all bringing in per year? It's about $50,000 to $65,000 a year. Okay. All right.

And both of you are working? Yes, sir. He's working more than me, though. Okay. Well, that's all right. both of you are working yes sir he's nothing more than me though okay well that's all right how long have y'all been married well it'll be a year next month okay newlyweds okay so what's the year of this vehicle of you of his that's given y'all so so many issues oh golly um it's it's a chevy. I mean, this was the first car that he got whenever he got his license. This is the car that his parents took him and his brother to church in when they were little.

And so it's, again, it's super old. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a family member. Um, so, uh, okay. What do you think you could sell this thing for? Um, I mean, if we're being generous, maybe two K. Okay. What do you think you could sell this thing for? I mean, if we're being generous, maybe $2,000.

Okay. So here's my thought with this. Your husband's absolutely right. And, Anthony, I want you to jump in on this. I absolutely am not getting a car payment anymore. That's not going to happen, right? And so now it's a matter of figuring out how do you go about this to save up cash to buy a new- them car oh absolutely and let me ask you this as well kaylin uh did you say this already about how much total debt do you have right now right now it's around 22 000 okay so 22 all together all right sounds

good and how long do you think it would it could take you to save up maybe let's say five to maybe eight to ten thousand dollars if you all really aggressively went after it oh man um i'll i'll kind of just be somewhere maybe in the ball field of like two to five years two to five years okay all right so here's the thing if we could sell this car for uh two thousand dollars okay um i'm thinking if you're making 65k a year it shouldn't take you five years to save another three thousand dollars so it sounds like we may have a budgeting problem so before i'm even looking at a car hogan i'm getting the every dollar app and i'm going to budget and i'm going to list out every single thing. But I'm thinking with $65,000 a year, you only have about $22,000 in debt. I'm thinking about three months of aggressive budgeting.

You should be able to set aside another $3,000 to go with this $2,000 and buy you a better car. Now, it may not be the dream car. It may not be what you really want. That's right. But it's going to be better than what you already have. No, I like that. And here's the deal, Anthony.

I've found that when people get motivated, they don't mind making some sacrifices. Sure don't. Right? And so you take on a side hustle. You get focused and you go, every dime of this money is going toward getting me a new-to-me vehicle. Yes, sir. Right? And so you go find a Yugo or

one of them little smart cars. Skateboard. Did you just say Yugo? I said a Yugo and I meant it. You buy the cash. You stay focused. Hey, we're giving solutions here, people. Stay tuned. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Folks, let's cut through the bull.

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I'm Chris Hogan, Ramsey Personality, joined in studio this hour by Ramsey Personality, Anthony O'Neill. And we are taking your questions. So if you've got a question dealing with your money, your life, or student loan debt, or how to go to school debt-free, I want you to call us. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Or you can look for us on social media at Ramsey Show or me at Chris Hogan 360 or Anthony O'Neill at Anthony O'Neill. So we're going to get back to the lines here. Terry is on the line calling from Georgia. Terry, what's on your mind? Well, thank you so much for taking my call. So I found Dave Ramsey about two months ago, and I've been working the baby steps,

and I have step one done. I'm working on two. Good. I'm 65 and a half years old, and I make $75K a year. Okay. And I have $39,000 worth of debt, which I've already paid off four cards. So I'm very proud of the work that I'm getting done. Yes, ma'am.

I'm taking extra jobs and everything. But my question is, I have no 401k. The only thing I have is an annuity that's worth about 100k. And I have 3.6 acres up for sale up in the North Georgia mountains, which is only probably worth about, we'll just say 50,000 and that's it. So do I need to put some money in my, start putting money in my 401k now while I'm working on step two, step two. Okay. Now tell me this.

You said you have $39,000 left in debt to pay off. Yes. Okay. What kind of debt is that Terry? It's basically all credit card debt and one loan from a bank. All right. So it's credit card debt and your income's at 75. How much longer are you planning to work?

Well, probably three or four more years at least. I mean, I'm 65 and a half, but I'm willing, I'm young, I'm healthy, I'm willing to give it whatever I need to give it. Yes, ma'am. So at least three years. Okay. And do you own your home or are you renting? I own my home.

Okay. My mortgage is about $1,200 a month. Okay. And how much is your home worth? It's worth $218. $218. And how much do you owe on it? $209.

Okay. All right. I just bought it a year ago. Okay. You just bought it a year ago. Okay. So in looking at this, you know, the bottom line is you're going to want to have a full-on strategy, right? And I tell people when you're attacking debt, I don't want you to try to invest.

I want you to be 100% focused on attacking debt because when you do that, you get your income back. This is money that's not leaving you to go out to debt. So it gives you a great opportunity to really dig in and get really, really focused. I like the idea of you cleaning up this debt and then being able to adjust that income to look at investing once you attack it. What I would love for you to do, Terry, is to get connected with one of our SmartVestor pros. I want you to go to DaveRamsey.com. You can click on SmartVestor, or you can go to ChrisHogan360.com and click on the Dream

Team button. But I want you sitting down with an investment professional for several reasons. To start to talk about where you are, to look at this annuity and understand the options surrounding it, but to also lay out the strategy for you as you move forward with investing. And it's going to be really, really important that you have a clear strategy and a timeframe. And so I think that's key. And Anthony, I tell people all the time, it ain't over until you stop. You've got an opportunity. Yeah, absolutely right, Hogan. And one thing that you're saying that you need a strategy, I believe that you need a vision.

Where there is no vision, that's where people perish. And I think when you have a plan, when you have a game plan, you have a direction which you're going to follow. And you gave her some good advice. But this is one reason why I'm out there talking to millennials and really trying to help them get a game plan now. So that when they do get to 65 years old, they're not stressed. They're not saying, hey, I don't have anything in retirement, but I have a lot of debt and I don't have a lot of options. And so while I'm praying for her, I hope America, if you're listening and you're a young individual, a young person, these are the things that I want us to avoid. So so follow me. Rock with me, because we're not going to be there. We're going to be wealthy at 65.

But thank you, Hogan, for helping her out in her situation. Absolutely. And I think it is possible. We just have to get the right knowledge and the right people around us. Yeah. All right. Next up, I've got John in D.C. John, what's your question for Anthony? Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my call. The reason for my call is I have a stepson that's 10 years old. Part of my wife's divorce settlement was that her ex would be paying for his college tuition. My wife and I also have a son that's three. I don't want to come off as like a debbie dad and not contribute to my stepson's college tuition. That being said, since he's paying for college, would I set up a 529 for my stepson or should I just put money and invest it and then give him money for rent, supplies,

whatever it may be? Man, that's a great question, John. Let me ask you this question. Are you and your wife out of debt right now? We are. Within the next six months, I'm hoping we'll be that free and I get to call and tell you that. I love it, man. And what's your yearly income right now, the family income? Annual is probably about $200,000. Okay. So 200K. And then you're in, how much debt do you have? Just ballpark. We were at 142 and we're down to one last thing, which is a truck for about $52,000. $52,000. Yeah, so you'll be there in definitely six months. But, man, I definitely want to thank you because your heart reminds me of my stepfather.

My stepfather was like, hey, I know Anthony's biological father is in his life, and my biological father and stepfather played major roles in my life. I mean, my stepfather was really making sure that he was involved in it all the time. You're not going to be a deadbeat dad. Just the fact that you're already thinking about this 10 year old man right now speaks highly of you. I have no problem with you opening up a 529. And here's why.

Because if you open up a 529, let's say your son doesn't use all that money for college, it could then pass down to your three-year-old. And so what I would do, I would look into that option for both of them because it's going to go towards their education. Because here's the thing, we don't really know if the biological father will 100% for sure come through. I hope that he will. I believe that he will. I speak that he will. But let's go ahead and make sure that we have everything in a process of that. But there's a lot of different things that I would really say look into. And I talk about that in my book, Debt-Free Degrees. So definitely what I want you to do is get a copy of that. And actually, I'm going to send you a copy of that. I'm going to put you on hold and I'm going to have them send you out a copy on October 7th when that comes out, because there's a lot of different

things that you can do to prepare for your 10-year and your three year old. But the key thing here is, Hogan, I have no problem with him doing a 529 at this present time because it could go towards their education and to their three year old. Yeah. Yeah. No, it gives an opportunity. But I like the way you put it. You want to make sure that you're doing your part and you're clear. Yeah. Right. And too oftentimes people can get caught off guard and then they're not prepared. Yeah. All right. I want to go to a social question here.

I've been asking people to send in their questions and they did it. This is from Jansen from Instagram. Says, hi, Anthony. I'm a junior in high school and will be turning 17 in November. I'm just wondering what advice you can give me. What should I be doing with my money? I don't have any debt and I want to keep it that way. Where should I start with the baby steps?

I want help. Well, it sounds like you don't need that much help. You're doing well right now. You're in school. You're 17 years old. You're thinking about your future. Now, here's the main thing I tell young people in high school, that the caliber of their future will be determined by the choices they make right now.

So the number one choice that you can make is one, keep debt off of the table and then to have a vision. I want you to write down where do you want to go in life? And then once you get motivated, once you have that vision, here's what you should be doing. You should be setting aside. If you haven't purchased your car already, I want you to go purchase a car. OK. And then at the same time, I want you to save for college okay um but here's the baby steps for you right now it's just going ahead and just saving for college because i want to make sure

that you get through college 100 debt free i like that and that's key and so uh absolutely so jansen on instagram i hope that helps uh very proud of you and what you're doing as a 17 year old. If you keep that attitude of being allergic to debt, you're going to make some stuff happen. And it's awesome. Well, I'm going to go to a social question for me. James says from Facebook, I just got my invitation to my brother's wedding. I live in Kentucky and my brother lives in Maine. I'm on baby step two.

What should I do? James, it's your brother. Get to going to the wedding. No. Right? Don't go. Hush, Anthony. It's your family.

You go to that wedding. You take on extra jobs. Do what you got to do. But it doesn't mean you act crazy and you don't stay up in Maine for 19 weeks or for a weekend. It's family. Take care of it. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. The Dave Ramsey Show. The Dave Ramsey Show.

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Visit LinkedIn.com slash Ramsey. Terms and conditions apply. Very excited to be back with you. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, Ramsey personnel, joined in studio by another Ramsey personality, Anthony O'Neill. And we are excited to be with you. The calls have been fantastic so far. I want you to keep it up. I always like when we just start being real and shooting straight with these questions. And so if you've got something on your mind that's dealing with life, money, college,

student loans, whatever it is, call us. The number to call is 1-888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. We'd love to talk to you. All right, we're going back to the phone. I've got Jason from Washington. Jason, how are you? I'm good.

Fantastic. What's on your mind for Anthony and I? I got a little less than $60,000 in debt. Okay. And I'm hoping to put that all in a refinance on a mortgage. I bought the land and I dropped a house and I did that all from equity from a previous home. And right now I got $37,000 of that debt is in a land loan for improvements that has a balloon payment. And I was thinking about just refinancing all of it into a 15-year mortgage because I have enough equity in all of it.

Okay, so what are you planning to – so you've got a $30,000 to $7,000 land loan, and what else? i got a fifteen thousand dollar um line of credit um that i got mostly to finish the project okay and then i have about five thousand dollars in credit cards okay all right so and in your primary home how much did you pay for it um i sold my primary home and i used the the equity to buy this land and to pay for the manufactured home on the land. Gotcha. And so what's this new loan you're proposing? $60,000 mortgage. I'm actually mortgage-free right now. Okay. So you're talking about getting that loan with the manufactured home? Yes.

Okay. But that's a consolidation loan. I'm not going to advise you to do that. Okay. Yeah. And the reason why, Jason, is when you consolidate, what it does is they do – I'm a former banker. I've seen this stuff. But it gets fuzzy because they start to show you how you will be saving money per month.

Here's the problem. They never show you that you're in debt longer, right? You're in debt for a longer period of time. So you're actually paying back more. And so while it looks good on the surface, absolutely not. And so I would encourage you to leave these debts individual. You're going to start with the debt snowball, as we teach, smallest to biggest. And you attack the $5,000 credit card.

Then you go to the $15,000 line of credit. Then to the $37,000 land loan. Ayo, I'm not falling for the okey-doke. I know better. Hey, man, I'm right here with you. We can go to the next call. Yeah, I'm right there with you, man. We're not doing it.

We're not doing it at all. Yeah. And so we have to see this, America. You've got to start to understand. I've got to learn how to count. Yeah. And when I'm using somebody else's money, I'm paying interest. I'm being penalized.

And when I'm earning interest with my investments, now I'm gaining interest and I'm being rewarded. And so it's just this different mindset that we have to get into so we don't fall for these same old traps. Cycles don't get broken by accident. It happens intentionally. Next up, I've got Tyler in Arizona. Tyler, what's on your mind for Anthony and I? Hey, guys. I was just wondering, I'm about $30,000 in debt right now. I just got two new jobs, one of which I'm going to be making about $35 a year. Okay. But I've already paid my lawyer to start a bankruptcy process. So I don't really know where to go from here, whether to go through with the bankruptcy or to just tackle the debt.

How old are you, Tyler? I'll be 25 on the 30th. 25 on the 30th and you're thinking about filing bankruptcy already man yeah i just i don't know if i thought it would be a good idea to you know start with the clean slate but then i started doing research on all the you know negatives yeah tell me this how much what debt do you have what is the 30 000 in debt the the main part 20 000 of which is a vehicle that was repossessed the rest is like medical bills and other small debts well it can't be that small it's ten thousand dollars worth so like how much of it's medical medical is probably uh like eight

okay so you had a medical okay all right uh so you're essentially saying that tyler you're looking at filing bankruptcy which is not free by the way it costs money right because of a car that got repossessed yeah no right yeah no buddy and and and i say that because and listen you had heard and probably thought that was the only option you had i'm proud of you for calling in because too many people would have gone down that path and you'd pay whatever it is you pay in your area five to ten grand to be able to file bankruptcy on on essentially that amount of debt so i'm going to tell you and hey i want you to chime in on this i'm going to call the attorney and say hey i'm

going to pause this thing right now uh let's talk about what i owe you up to this point and i'm going to i'm going to fix this myself this car that was repossessed you can call them you start to talk through they have the collateral right they've either sold the car or they're gonna sell the car you talk with them about what you're gonna to afford to pay. Then you got medical bills that's left over. You can clean this up, Tyler. You're being nice, Hogan. I mean, he's 25 years old, $30,000 in debt. I was 19 years old, $35,000 in debt, homeless, sleeping in my car.

And I was not thinking about filing bankruptcy. What I had to do is just say you know what I got to change the choices that I'm doing today he's making $35,000 a year and Tyler I definitely want to encourage you the end is not here you're still young you still have time what you got to do is get on the plan you got to work hard you're gonna need to pick up another part-time job and you have to get focused. But we have to stop. This generation looks for the quick and easy way out, which is kind of frustrating to me when honestly, we are the reason why we in here. The repo is because of myself. The bills are because of myself. And so I'm not going for the quick way out. I'm going to get out of it. And so, Tyler, I want to encourage you. You can be done. You can do it.

But don't don't know. Filing bankruptcy, no, no, that's whack. Yeah. Well, and again, Anthony, I'm going to tell you, a lot of people don't understand. They do believe that it's free. They do believe that it's the only route. And I'm going to tell you something. You have to start to begin to think about the long-range play. For example, some cons to bankruptcy, not to mention the emotional side

and the dealing with all the stress, but it can impact jobs in the future, the types of jobs that you can apply for and get. It can impact living situations later. It can impact mortgage loans later. So, I mean, there are a lot of things that I want people to see the full 360 degree picture of this scenario and understand based on your state, you also have to qualify to be able to file. So there's a means test that you have to take to see if you're even able to, and then not to mention it's not free. It can be anywhere from 2,500 up to five to $6,000 or more. So anyway, I just, I always want people to call in or to get the right kind of guidance

so you just don't make a knee-jerk mistake because that can have lasting impact. Lasting impact. You're being so nice. I guess I'm just being Dave Ramsey. That's just dumb. Work. You know, just work.

Just get out there and work. Stop looking for the easy way out, but I'm going to be quiet. Well, no, and I don't appreciate you telling me I'm being too nice. You are. I'm out there and work. Stop looking for the easy way out. I'm going to be quiet. Well, no, and I don't appreciate you telling me I'm being too nice. You are. I'm the feisty one between the two of us. No, you're not. I'm going to deal with you at the break. Alright, listen.

I want you all to know, Anthony and I are going to be out on the road. We were just in Austin, Texas, and we had an absolute blast. But listen, we are coming to Tacoma, Washington on October 2nd. We're going to be doing to Tacoma, Washington on October 2nd. We're going to be doing Financial Peace Live. Then on October 10th, Anthony and I will be at Phoenix, Arizona.

Oh, Tyler, I want you to come to our event as our guest. Matter of fact, that's exactly what can happen. We're going to be coming to Phoenix. You live in Arizona. I want you to come out and see Anthony and I live in person. We'd love to see you. But America, we are coming out on the road, bringing this event, and it's absolutely a blast. So if you've not seen us live, you need to come check it out.

You're going to laugh. You're going to have fun. But you're going to learn a lot. You're going to learn enough that you can leave out of there and start to get serious about your future because I know we are. This is The Dave Ramsey. hello everyone you are listening to the dave ramsey show this has been a takeover anthony o'neill and i have taken over the dave ramsey show for this past hour and the calls have been fantastic so i'm here in studio with anthony and he reminded me this man is so busy that i i missed it he reminded me they got a brand new event that I missed it. He reminded me.

They've got a brand new event that's happening on November 12th and 13th here in Franklin, Tennessee, and it's called the Start Right event. Okay, Anthony, tell us, what is this event and what's going on? Well, pretty much Ken Coleman and I, another Ramsey personality, are really gathering high school

students. Again, I'm all about touching this next generation and preparing them and helping them transition into college or into the next phase of their life with a solid foundation. And so I came up with this idea with our team, our education solutions team said, hey, you know what? Let's do an event specifically and only for high school students. And let's just teach them how to start right. So I'm coming from the perspective of how to get in college 100% debt free.

What are the right decisions you need to be making preparing for the next stage of your life? Then every young person wants to be successful. They want to have a career that they love doing. So why not bring in the career expert who's a national number one bestselling author from his book called Proximity Principle. He's going to be talking about, hey, how do you surround yourself and get into that career field that you love? So on this one night, a two-hour event, we're talking about how to get in college debt-free, what are the right decisions you need to be making, and how do you land that dream job?

What's the method to doing it? And Ken Coleman and myself are doing it, and it's only $10. Go to anthonyneal.com, dayramsey.com, buy a ticket. I think the first night is already selling out fast. We have two nights back-to-back because we know it's going to be amazing. So it's November 12th and 13th right here in Franklin, Tennessee. We have people flying in from Chicago and New York already just for this event

because they want to get their kids in this building. That is fantastic. Well, it sounds like an amazing event. And if you're out there and you think, I need to get my young person to that event, here's what you do. You go to anthonyoneal.com. That's anthonyoneal.com. You can get your tickets right then and there. Reserve your spot.

This is the kind of thing at that time of year, this is going to sell out. It's going to be busy, right? Because this is right before Thanksgiving, right? And it's a great opportunity to put this kind of thought and good things in the young person's mind so they can have a plan. That's the key. So excited for this event. Let's get back to the phones. I've got Phillip in Florida.

Phillip, what's your question for Anthony? Hey, fellas. How we doing? Doing good, man. How about yourself? Doing all right. I just want to say, first and foremost, it's been an absolute pleasure getting to know you fellas and learning over the last 14 months. Here's the deal. My wife and I, we got serious about the baby steps about 14 months ago, and we're down to our last debt, and it's my Harley Davidson motorcycle. We struggled with the idea of selling it back and forth over the last year,

decided to hang on to it and go ahead and get it paid off, but today we called to make our first payment, which was going to be greater than just the minimum payment like we had been doing over the last year, and they told us that we couldn't do that. So they said it's called a simple interest loan and that you can't pay anything directly towards principal. You have to make an interest payment on each payment that you make. So I'm calling because we could basically have this thing paid off in the next three months if we did it how we've been doing all of our other debt right but am i missing something or or should we pull this out of harley davidson financial services and go somewhere else well i here's the deal i mean what that is is it's called

greed um and and they're trying to make sure that they get their dollar amount and so here's the deal you guys with the plan that you're on, Phillip, you guys are attacking this debt. You write the check. You send that thing in. Watch how they process it. You can look at it online. I don't want you to run up in any more finance charges when you're so close to being done with this thing. Tell me this.

What type of bike are you about to pay off? It's a Harley Davidson Street Glide. Okay. Oh, I know exactly which one. Yeah. That's so nice. Is it nice? Oh, yeah.

That's a good one. Oh, man. Yeah. I don't do bikes. Do you ride it very often, Phillip? Well, we just got back from riding the Dragon's Tail at the Tennessee-North Carolina border. So to answer your question, I don't ride it as much as I'd like because my work takes me on the road, but I try to keep it running.

Yeah. Tell me this. How much debt did you guys pay off over the last 14 months? Just over $40,000. We started out with about $53,000. Did you? I mean, you all had to make some sacrifices to make that happen oh for sure yeah we cut our expenses monthly just about in half in half wow how'd you

do that uh just by looking at the outgoing money and going, you know what? We're spending an extraordinary amount of money on eating out. And I'd come home from a trip and I'd say, hey, let's go do this this weekend. And without even thinking or looking at the bank or anything, we'd just go spend the money. And it's that thing that I hear all the time where it's so easy to swipe plastic, but when you actually take that piece of paper and you have to hand that $100 bill over, it's a whole lot harder. That's what we would do. We'd go out on a date and we'd just swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, and it caught up with us. Phillip, what was y'all's annual income a year?

Over the last year, it's actually increased. I would say about 14 months ago, we were bringing in about 120 together, and I've taken on a new position at work, and so now we're doing between 130 and 150. It just happened in the middle of the year, so waiting until the end of the year to figure out exactly where it's going to be in that bracket. How old are you guys again, Phillip? I'm 24. My wife is 26.

Hey, I'm proud of you guys. Listen, that loan place has lost its mind. You guys send in a check. Keep paying that thing. Like you said, you're going to have it paid off in the next couple of months and have it out of your life. Just move forward. And I'm proud of what you've done. Paying off $40,000 of debt in the last 14 months, that's not an accident. That's what's called being focused. All right, let's get one more call in here for Anthony. I've got Tony on the line in Texas. Tony, what's your question for Anthony O'Neill?

Hey, guys. How's it going? Good, man. How about yourself, Tony? Good, good. I had a fun time with you all in Austin last week or the week before, whenever it was. It was a great time. Oh, man, thank you so much. Hogan wasn't there, but thank you so much. Yeah, good. I had a fun time with you all in Austin last week or the week before, whenever it was. It was a great time.

Oh, man, thank you so much. Hogan wasn't there, but thank you so much. I'm just playing. Yeah, yeah. How can I help you, man? My question is, my wife and I are in Step 3B and 4, and we don't have any kids right now, and we won't for the next three or four years probably.

However, we would like to set up a 529 for my niece and my nephew to help them out when they get to that point. And, you know, my thinking is, even if they don't use the money, when we do have kids that could transfer, and I was just seeing what y'all thought about that. Oh, man, that's good. So you're in step three being means that you're saving a down payment for your home and you're also investing already 15% into your retirement. Correct. Correct. Okay, cool. Great. Now have you talked to your nieces, uh, parents? That was the followup with how to, cause I don't want to go over their head, but you know, at the same time I want to help my niece and nephew.

No, I do this. I mean, I feel you, man. I have a four nephews and these three nephews, one niece. I mean, we did the very same thing. I actually had a family meeting. Um, and I mean, I feel you, man. I have four nephews and these three nephews, one niece. I mean, we did the very same thing. I actually had a family meeting and I said, hey, you guys, you guys know I'm very passionate about us avoiding debt. And I want to think down the road. And when my nephew was born, Theo, I literally went to him, said, hey, how can I help you? You know, I've heard of this thing called 529 or ESA. And I told him I would love to contribute a little bit if that's okay with you, because I want to make sure that I help you all invest into my nephews and nieces. So if you take it from a loving approach and you invest a little bit and ask them to

include, I'll tell you what we do. Me and my whole family, I donate a certain percentage. The grandparents donate a certain percentage percentage and then my sister and my brother-in-law they donate a certain percentage into the 529 so just have the conversation but the key thing here is make sure that you're preparing and that you're also taking care of yourself and your family so do not stop saving for your down payment for the home and do not stop investing into your retirement because Hogan youogan, you know this. You're a retirement expert. But do we even have grandparents who are pausing their retirement just to invest into their grandchildren's education? And we don't want to see that happen to anyone. I'm not going to stop investing into my retirement for my nieces and nephews.

But if I'm in a good place and I can put $50, $100 into it, I will. No, you're absolutely right. Well, listen, I want to thank all of the callers for calling in. Thank you all for tuning in. And I want to thank Amanda Rogers, the phone screener, James Childs, the producer, and thank all of you all for your support. Anthony, I want to thank you for being here as well. Listen, we've had a blast.

I can't wait to get back with you. This has been The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey guys, this is Blake Thompson, Senior Executive Producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know over 15 million people listen to The Dave Ramsey Show every week? And a lot of those people listen to one of over 600 radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.