The Ramsey Show - App - Tanya's Husband Helps Other Too Much? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 16, 2018

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. We're glad you're here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Amber starts off this hour in Kansas City. Hi, Amber. How are you?

Hi. Thank you. Good. Thanks for taking our call. Sure. How can I help? I need some advice. My husband is eligible for pension

pay through a previous state-paid job, and we received a letter in the mail offering a cash payout, a future retirement annuity. The letter says it's for 60% of the present value, a future normal retirement annuity. I've heard you advise people in the past to take the cash payout, but my concern is that there was a recent news announcement that the state treasurer has said that the pension plan has weakened financially and that 10 years ago there was funds to cover like 79% of the future benefits and now it's dropped to 60%. So can an employer not have available funds when it comes time for your retirement? Yeah.

I mean, they could be broke. And a lot of pension funds have gone broke. And the problem is you don't own anything. You're just depending on a stream of payments. So that's yet another reason to take the lump sum. And almost always, and you can get with a financial advisor, get with one of our SmartVestor pros and run the actual calculations, which they're about five steps too complicated to do here on the air, okay?

But basically, you can put in the amount of payments you would receive and put in an average death age of 76 for a male, 78 for a female. That's how they're calculated typically on an actuarial table. And then you figure out what the present value of those payments are because that's what you're going to receive. And that's what they're saying that they're offering you and it's probably the discount rate is the interest rate and it's probably six percent five and a half percent something like that so you probably make five and a half percent on your money and if you die you lose it when you die not if you die when you die you lose it

now and so if you took the lump sum you'd'd be making 10%, 12% on your money if you invested in good mutual funds. And when you die, your family gets the money. Right. So the lump sum, 99% of the time, comes out better, especially if you include the fact that when you die, you get to keep the money. Well, you don't. They do. Well, it's, I mean, unfortunately, it's not a lot. You know, the lump sum isn't a lot.

Yeah, but I would, I'm just saying that it's a mathematical theory that you run through on whether it's 100,000 or a million or 10,000. You know, the theory is still the same. It's just, it's less important if it's a small amount of money, right? I get that. But, in other words, the mistake is not going to ruin your life, you know, that kind of a thing. But if you want to run the actual numbers out, that's how you would do it. And I think you'll find that you'll be better off to take the lump sum and roll it into good growth stock mutual funds in a good IRA, just a direct transfer rollover

IRA is what I would do. Thanks for calling in. Our question of the day comes from blinds.com. You don't need a second mortgage to make your home over. Brand new custom window blinds will make you feel like you did it all over. No custom prices either at blinds.com. You get free samples, free shipping, new promos. This is a great company, great American company. We love these guys. Blinds.com. You get free samples, free shipping, new promos. This is a great company, great American company.

We love these guys. Blinds.com, number one seller of window blinds in the world on the Internet. Use the promo code Ramsey when you're there. The question comes from Josh in Illinois. I own a small CPA firm, and I embrace the hire slow mindset, part of which is getting to know the spouse and family dynamic. I'm interviewing a lady. She's great. We we had dinner with her husband really liked him as well then we found out that her ex-husband lives in the basement of the house that she and her current husband share seems weird how should i approach that is that a deal breaker well yeah that's weird

um and we've got a rule around here we you know you ever you ever said something like this when you look back, something falls apart. We have a team member that goes off the rails. They go crazy. And we go, yeah, well, you know, it kind of felt weird before that, you know? And you know why something feels weird? It's because it's weird. That's why something feels weird.

And, you know, yeah, ex-husband living in the basement. Yeah, that qualifiesifies that's under the weird column yeah i'm with you and and so you know what i would do is and what i do in situations like this is i just lay it on the table and let everybody look at it and so i'm gonna sit back down with her and her husband before i hire her and i go okay i don't want to be rude and i'm not trying to be tacky or anything, but this is a small business, so we're going to work pretty close together, and I got to know because ex-husband in the basement, that's just weird in most people's minds.

Do you think that's weird? And if they go, oh, no, we think he's awesome, then they're weird. You know, that's weird, dude. That's weird. Well, I forgive him. That's great. Get him out of the house. He's the ex-husband. Jeez, that's weird, dude. That's weird. Well, I forgive him. That's great. Get him out of the house. He's the ex-husband.

Jeez, that's weird. Okay. I don't care if he's in the basement. I don't care if there's locks between. That's just strange. So, yeah, I mean, really, normal people would look at that and go, you know, head tilt like the Sherman Shepard sideways, you know, you know what that is, right? That look, right?

And so, yeah, you just call it out. Now, you don't have to be as bombastic as I'm being right now. I'm being funny on the radio, okay? I would be kind and gentle, but I'm still going to put the question on the table and go, okay, guys. And they go, yeah, it's weird. And you know what? We've been thinking it's weird, and he's moving next month. Okay, cool.

That's a hire. No, we think it's good, and it's part of our Christian walk to forgive him and give him a place to live. No, you're strange. I'm not hiring you. And that's what's coming up. Problem, problem, problem. And so you can find out a lot about these people as to how they feel about that. Now, if you don't think it's weird and they don't think it's weird, then y'all will probably work well together.

But I think it's weird, and they wouldn't work well here. So that's kind of how you look at it. And you just call stuff out and go, strange. That's strange. That's weird. You know, my husband and I have been separated for 16 years, but we've not managed to get the divorce done. Why? That's weird.

You know, that's strange. There's something dysfunctional as crap in that statement. And you don't think I hadn't had that question a time or two on the air? Yes, I have. And if you're listening and you've been separated for 16 years and haven't gotten a divorce, that's strange, okay? You're strange. You're weird.

You've got some dysfunction going on there. So when something just kind of seems weird, it's like we're afraid to say it anymore. Now, you don't have to be mean. I'm not suggesting you hurt somebody's feelings. I'm not trying to slap somebody around. Again, I'm being bombastic. This is a radio discussion, okay? If you were sitting in person, it would be very low-key, very calm.

I would be very kind. But I'm going to say very similar words to what I just said. I mean, you know, if you change your tone, then you go, you know, darling, that's just, that's just strange. That's weird. Y'all think that's weird? You see, when you change the tone, it's not quite as offensive. But you can still say the exact same thing. Because that's weird.

You know? That's why it seems weird. Because it's weird. That's the good, you know, when you're hiring in a small business and you get weird in your building, you got a lot of weird. Because there's not a lot of people there. The percentage of weird is really high then. The ratio, your weird ratio just went way up. Something to think about when you're hiring, especially in small business.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Okay, things are getting pretty weird out there. I thought the Equifax breach was bad enough. It exposed the personal financial info of half of all Americans. Now we have breaches affecting almost every U.S. citizen, and the data stolen is more personal and equally dangerous. One company had over 230 million consumer files hacked, which included not only the home address, but info related to religion, pet lovers, smokers, you name it. And the businesses were not any luckier this time with 110 million files hacked. It really is no longer a matter of if,

it's when you'll become a victim. That's exactly why the only plan I've ever recommended is through Zander Insurance. They cover all types of identity theft for families and businesses, and they take over all the work if you become a victim. I use it for my family and my entire team. Call 800-356-4282 or visit Zander.com.

That's Zander.com. Thank you for joining us, America. Cody is with us in Wichita, Kansas. Hi, Cody. How are you? Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So this is kind of a long story, so I'll try to keep it really short. Back in February, I started school and I tried to go with as little debt as I could. I hadn't

started listening to your show. So my grandma offered to take over my finances for me so I turned over my debit card to her. That way all of my extra cash she said she would apply towards my school tuition. How old are you? I'm 25. And why did you need your grandmother to handle your finances? She offered, and it sounded like a good deal.

Well, she offered to take over mine. I wouldn't let her. Why is it a good deal for somebody else to handle your money um i had hoped that she would be able to get me on a better financial track okay at 25 that'd be your job i know it is okay Okay. All right. So what happened? Well, my sister checked her credit and found that my grandma had drained about $15,000, his't paid any of my bills for several, several months. And I guess I just don't know what to do right now. Okay. And so when did your grandpa commit suicide?

About three weeks ago. Oh, my Lord, son, I'm sorry. What a horrible thing. So how old is your grandmother? 70. Okay. Well, what you need to do as soon as you get off the phone is you need to take back control of all your finances. Okay.

Before the next hour rings 12. You have 30 minutes. Get it done. Okay? If you have to shut down the checking account, if you have to shut down the credit cards, and if you have to freeze your credit, that's fine. But you need to get control of your finances.

Because your grandmother, for whatever reason, is misbehaving. We've established that, correct? Yes. With your money, with your grandpa's money, and with your sister's ID. And for all we know, she's opened up credit cards in your name as well, correct? We don't know. Yes. I'm not sure yet.

Okay. You need to check your credit and see if she's done that to you as well. But you need to shut down. So did you give her your checking account? Is that what you gave her to take over? And how does she handle your money? I gave her my checking account, my debit card. Just go down to the bank.

I don't have a credit card. Yeah, just go down to the bank and close your checking account. Just close it. Okay. And whatever money's in there, use it to be moved over to a different account and have that bank tell that bank what's going on, that this lady is misbehaving, she's mentally ill, she's a thief. We don't know what it is, but we need to get all control taken away from her. Is that all she had was your debit card and your checking account?

That's all I have. That's all she had of your money card and your checking account that's all i have so that's all she had of your money or your stuff so you get paid it's is it direct deposit into your account yes sir okay so you need to change that as well right to the new account number today sir today yes are you going to do it today i am going to okay good and then you just call her up and say uh granny i got enrolled in a financial class and so i'm going to take over my finances thank you for your help i'll take it from here and then you need to call and make sure your bills are being paid call every one of your bills how much debt have you got uh my bills totaled i added it up a minute ago it's uh right around 2500 how many different

creditors do you owe uh that's just regular bills uh oh that's like utility bills and that kind of stuff yes sir so you don't have any you don't have any debt you don't have any debt no okay okay then you just need to call your utilities and make sure. Were they on auto draft on your account? Yes. Okay. Then you're going to have to give them your new account numbers. And get all that switched over today so that you take over the handling of your money.

And you can just let grandmother know that, you know, with grandpa's passing, I didn't want you to have to fool with this, honey, so I'm going to take it over. And I'm enrolled in a financial class, and I'm going to get control as a 25-year-old man of my life. She's actually in jail. I'm sorry? She's actually in jail right now. She's in jail. Why is she in jail?

My sister pressed charges for credit cards in her name yesterday. Wow. Okay. Well, you can let her know that you took the bank account over due to all this weirdness in the family then. Very interesting. Wow. So people in the family are not real happy with grandmother right now, I take it? No, not at all.

Yeah. Very sad. Sad to be 70 years old and that and so and then the next thing you need to do is you need to pull a copy of your credit bureau report and you can do that for free once a year with each of the three credit bureaus and see if there's anything showing up on your credit bureau report regarding identity theft. See if she's opened cards in your name as well. Okay? Okay. And let me help you, too.

Your sister may or may not have been really mad, and she may or may not have meant for your grandmother to be picked up, but here's the thing. The only way, if someone opens an account in your name, the only way to get that account cleared other than pay it yourself which would be pretty stupid to pay a account that you didn't open when someone stole your identity the only way to keep from doing that is you have to file a police report and when you're filling out the police report they always ask you if you know who stole your identity and if you don't tell them that would be breaking the law and so your sister followed the

law properly when the police report was being filled out and said, yes, I know who the identity thief is. It's my grandmother. And I'm surprised, actually, that they went and picked her up. But they did. Yeah. You know, because it is a federal law. It is a federal offense now to steal an identity.

And so she's in trouble. She's in real trouble. But your sister could maybe accidentally activated all of this because she just had to do a police report to get the identity theft removed from her name. Right. But she may have been just mad and gotten arrested. I don't know. Either way is fine with me. But because the woman's definitely a thief.

But oh, my goodness. what a sad thing, though. What a horrible thing you guys are going through. Now, Cody, how much do you make? What kind of money do you make? $40,000 a year. Okay. All right. Are you really ready to take this over and learn how to handle money?

If you are, I'll show you how. I'll put you in our class. I am, sir. Okay. But you're going to have to square your shoulders back now and not look for anybody else to babysit you. You're too old for a babysitter. So time for you to man up here, okay? You hold on.

I'll have Kelly pick up, and we'll get you signed up for Financial Peace University. You can go through the class as our guest, and we'll take good care of you and show you how to handle money, and then you go handle your money. Thanks for calling in, dude. Open phones at 888-825-5225. How devastating. Your 70-year-old grandmother stealing your stuff. I mean, I've run into parents who steal their kids' identities, and that's pretty much scum. But when your grandmother does it,

oh my gosh, that's just heartbreaking. And then a suicide in the family on top of that with Grandpa, oh my gosh, what a mess. This money stuff, man, it's a big deal. Not because money's a big deal, but it's just so revealing. It reveals everything else about you, doesn't it? Jesus said it. He said your treasure is where your heart is.

It's just the money problems. When you have money problems. When I had money problems, they're not the problem. They're the symptom, aren't they? Something else going on causing that problem. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. It's time to take another look at your budget. That means scouring every expense and making sure you're not leaving any money on the table. One of the biggest expenses is your mortgage payment.

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This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLS ConsumerAccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Rich and Krista are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Doing good. How are you? Welcome, welcome.

Where do you guys live? Calhoun, Georgia. All right. Just across the line, huh? Yeah. I love it. Very cool. Well, welcome to Nashville.

Thank you. And up here to do a debt-free scream, huh? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Fun. How much have you paid off? $93,120. Love it. And how long did that take? 16 and a half months. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? $177 to $197.

Very good. What do you all do for a living? I'm a product support rep. I'm an electrical engineer with an automotive company. Very good. Cool. What kind of debt was the $93,000? Mortgages. You paid off your house. Two houses. I'm looking at weird people. Love it. What's the second house?

A rental or a vacation? A cabin. A cabin. Very cool. Not a rental, though. That's our baby. I hear you. Where's the baby?

Murphy, North Carolina. Oh, beautiful area, especially this time of year. You need to head over there this afternoon. Yeah. Yeah, very cool. Good for you. How nice. So what's that cabin worth?

Probably $125,000. Yeah. What about the house, your home? $180,000 maybe. Okay. Wow. Bunch of good paid for real estate. It's a good feeling.

Very cool. How long have you two been married? Seven years. Seven years. Very cool. Very cool. Good for you. So what started this adventure?

I mean, you're sitting there just, you're doing good. You're ahead of the average bear. Everything's paid for. But the houses, but all of a sudden, 16 months ago, what happened? Actually, the story goes back, I'm ashamed to say, further than that. So I made a series of bad decisions after college and got myself into a lot of debt and was turned on to your show by a co-worker. So I was about halfway between, it was about a three-year journey for me.

I was living Amish, is what my friends told me. And my sister lost her husband. And the estate was insolvent. And so she had two little babies. And there was nothing that I could do to help her. And I hated that. So I wrote to you. And you sent her to FPU.

Oh, wow. And I got to go as her family unit. Oh, neat. So we both got out of, she knew what to do after that, and I finished up my debt. The problem was, once I got out of debt, I didn't get into more debt. I tell people I fell off the wagon, but I ran along behind it. Well, you got it. Yeah, I see what you're saying.

Exactly. How's she doing? She's doing great. Good. How many years ago was that? Well, her daughters are in college now. And they were babies? They were babies.

Oh, so it's like 15, 20 years ago. Three and two, yep. Wow. Wow. Good. So we got married several years after that. And I have a long commute to work, so I started listening to your podcast. And sort of began to see where I went wrong.

And we watched one of your, I bought something here and I got a free download. So we watched it one night. I was a little apprehensive about that because my first marriage had some issues in this area. And at the end of that, he looked at me and he said, how long would it take? And I fell in love with him all over again. So we gave up everything that wasn't essential. For 16 whole months. For 16 whole months.

But now it's all done. I mean, drop the mic. You guys are in awesome shape. Yep. It's a way better feeling. Yeah. I mean, you're sitting here with a $200,000 income, paid for property everywhere. Life is good on your planet.

It is very nice. It is very good. I mean, you're on a trajectory that's going to be incredible. And you'll never be in a position again if somebody you love needs help, you can't help them. Amen. You're there now. Amen. I mean, this is amazing.

Wow. Well, good for you. What a great story. I love it. Thank you. And I love the cabin. The pictures they flashed up on the YouTube channel are great. You can go there anytime you want, Dave.

Oh, bless your heart. You're sweet. Well, it probably sleeps good since it's paid for. I like it. So what do you tell people the key was? Because there's a lot of heart in your story. A lot of emotion in your throat when you're telling that story. For sure.

It's hard to get it out, actually. You know, life is about choices. God gave us free will. And you choose to do what you want to do. And so it's a choice. We chose to do this. And we sometimes. And so it's a choice. We chose to do this. And we sometimes chose it more than once a day. But the key would be to choose it.

I think you would say the budget. Have a plan. Have a plan. And find your contentment in that. Yeah. Well, the good news is it only took 16 months. Yes. I mean, that's the beautiful thing.

On the scope of your life, that's a blip. True. You know, and you live like nobody else, and then later you get to live and give like no one else. And the funny thing is the things that we gave up I really thought we'd miss, we haven't really turned those things back on again. We did start date night again. That's about the only thing I really missed. Well, you can do anything you want to do now. You're making $200,000. Date night can be in Europe

if you want it to be. That's coming up. Good. You should celebrate. Maybe Paris for date night. That's good. Well, congratulations, you two. Very, very well done. Got a copy of Chris Hogan's retire-inspired book. We want that to be the next chapter in your story.

Be millionaires. And that's the podcast you listen to now. Listen to his podcast. I do. I have a long commute. Good. Very good. All right.

Very well done. Rich and Krista, just outside of Chattanooga, Calhoun, Georgia. $93,000 paid off. That's their house, their cabin, everything. I'm looking at weird people. They're completely debt-free in 16 months, making $177,000 to $197,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! I do love it. I do love it. I do love it. Very, very well done. Man, that is awesome stuff. Man, very good. Tanya is with us in Columbus, Ohio.

Hey, Tanya, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, one, I dated my husband back when I was 15 and he was 18, and then we were apart for a long time, and then we got married. Well, one of the personality traits that I fell in love with, and I still love, well, until recently, is his generosity

and his willingness to help anyone at any time. He's the guy that pulls over on the highway to help the person change the tire. So he's an amazing man. How long have you been married? Oh, we just celebrated nine years in May. Okay. The problem that I'm having is I can't, I fell into the trap of saying, well, Dave Ramsey said, Dave Ramsey said, so now I'm not allowed to say your name. So now I call you Voldemort.

That'll work. Because he says, you know, your name isn't allowed in the house. So I pulled a whole Harry Potter geek out and call you Voldemort. And I do that whenever, because he's a big business guy, or at least a business mind. So he'll say some, you know, financial advice. And I said, hey, you know, Voldemort does the exact same thing. Voldemort, he says that too. So how can I help you today? Well, he serves people so much, but he does it against our budget. So he has an integrity problem then. Because his arrogance allows him to serve someone outside of his home by breaking his word to his wife.

So I guess my name's still going to be a cuss word there. Because the first place he ought to keep his word is at home before he worries about feeding, changing somebody's tire on the side of the road that he doesn't know. The Bible says take care of your own household first, or you're worse than an unbeliever. So I think there's a whole lot more going on in this conversation the way you're describing my name becoming a cuss word and the way you're describing him than meets the eye. I suspect the two of you probably should go to a good marriage conference or two.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Thanks for joining us, America. Karn is with us in San Diego. Hey, Karn, how are you? Hey, good afternoon, sir. I'm doing quite well. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

I've got a question about really advice and the best way to finish knocking out Baby Step 3 with my emergency fund and launching myself into the next steps of the journey. Okay. I've got a couple options. I've got a brokerage account I can cash out. It's about $21,000, and that would fully put me up to my emergency fund that I need. My other option is also a car I have that's about $24,000. If I sell it, that's another option I have.

So I'm kind of looking for thoughts on the best way to go ahead with that one. So you're debt-free except your house, and you're trying to finish your baby step three, right? Yes, sir. And actually, I don't own a house. I'm military, so I rent right now. So which would you rather have, the brokerage account or the car? Well, I'd rather have the car, but I think I'm probably going to end up selling it for a car another car that we're going to have to replace here in a couple years

i'm sorry you're going to end up selling it anyway you're saying but that's not that's not about that's not about the emergency fund that's about something else what are you talking about you know that yes they're not that's that's something else we we have a car though i know i'm going to have to replace. And so the car I'm thinking about selling is kind of a toy car I've had for a few years. And as much as I like it, I'm thinking I'll probably end up selling it anyway. What's the car that you need to replace? So the car that I will need to replace is a Hyundai Tucson.

It's a good, reliable car, but I know that eventually the miles are getting up there. Well, yeah, that would be normal, but why can't you just save up between now and the time you replace the car? How much longer are you going to drive the Hyundai before you replace it? It depends on how long it lasts. It's about 118,000 miles. About how long are you going to drive the Hyundai before you replace it? Probably three to five years. Can't you save up a car price between now and then?

I think I could, yes. Okay, then you don't have to sell the toy car for that. The only question is, do you want to keep the toy car, or do you want to keep the brokerage account? Because one of them needs to go so you can have an emergency fund. Yeah, yeah. Which one do you want? So now I guess the second question, on the brokerage account,

most of it's long-term, so I think if I sell it, it's just a matter of, you know, it'd be additional income to my salary for the year then. You don't have any basis in that stock? Say again? No, I don't. Why? You didn't pay anything for the stock? No, I'm sorry. Yes, I have a basis in there.

So there's that. As far as taxes go, it would only be the capital gains on the long term. Exactly. Which one would you rather have, the car or the brokerage account? Because one of them needs to sell. When you decide that, you'll know which one to sell, and you'll know how to fund your emergency fund and keep the other one. Vanessa's with us in San Diego. Hi,essa how are you hi dave i'm doing great how are you better than i

deserve what's up um i just wanted a little bit of help on where to start um i'm looking to start a side business possibly to a full-time business uh down the line i'm looking to try to, I've been listening to Chrissy Wright's Business Boutique. Great. You already got a copy of the book. Yeah, I have the audio book, Joe. It works wonders in the car. Yeah. I am looking to move forward on my idea.

I have a business plan that I've had developed a few years back. Now I'm trying to move forward. Good. My plan is a sports boot camp. My question is, is how do I start? Where do I go? My problem is, do I need permits for local parks? I have ideas of asking YMCA to use their facilities.

It's basically practicing baseball or practicing basketball. So I need locations. It's not just a plain park out in the open. Well, I guess you could talk to the Y and ask them if you could split revenues with them or something like that in order to use their stuff. A lot of Ys do that with personal trainers, and in a sense, this is a type of personal training. I mean, I guess if you're holding a, I would suspect some of the yoga teachers or the aerobics

teachers or whatever at the Y probably just do a split revenue deal, don't they? Okay. I assume so. I just didn't want to be contract, or I didn't want to be owned by the Y. No, I wasn't going to do that. You're just a teacher right now. And what you do is you get in there and you work out all the kinks out of your system, and you learn how to do it. And you develop a reputation with people.

But they may not let you necessarily have a business name on this. They may just pay you as a teacher there at the Y for right now. But that'll get some income coming in and get you in the field actually doing this. And then the next step would be that you could actually rent part-time someone else's gym to do this with or part-time someone else's ball fields to do this with. And, you know, you can start there if you want. Have you got the money? Have you got a little bit of cash?

No, I don't. I'm starting from scratch. It's basically a plan that I've had. I've been in that dreamer stage for the longest time. And now that I've had the book and I've listened to your podcast, I'm looking forward. I'm just lost. I just didn't know where to go, how to start.

I think I just go make some money kind of almost as a side job doing this exact thing at the Y or at some place like a Y first. And as I said, then you get the kinks out of your teaching methods and all that kind of stuff. Then the next step is you take that cash and that gives you the ability to rent the gym or rent the ball field on a per day basis. But right now, let's say you go rent a ball field and you can't get anybody to sign up for your course. Oh, my gosh, you just lost all that money. Oh, wait a minute. You don't have any money. Oh, my gosh, you just got into debt. No, we don't want to do that. See, that's what I'm trying to avoid. So let's create a little bit

of money while learning a few things about how to talk to people, how to teach people, how to coach people, and prove out some of your dreams and your theories that you've got here by just poking around under somebody else's roof a little bit. And then when we get a little bit of cash, we can go rent the ball field or rent the gym by the day for a little while, and then that way it won't break you if you don't get clients right off the bat. When I started Financial Peace University, our office building allowed us, the people that were tenants in the office building, they had a common conference room that you could book. It didn't cost anything, but you had to book it, and you couldn't just keep it booked. You had to just book it, you know, for a meeting. You could, you know, other people could go in there and use it as a meeting. And it held like 130 people. It was a nice-sized little conference room and a little meeting room kind of thing, tables that moved around and all of that. That's

where Financial Peace University started, is in that little conference room. And pretty cool, if you think about it. And so, but i had to just book it as a part of renting the little office that i was in and so but it wasn't really my meeting room it was the office buildings meeting room and you could just use it and so i booked it in the evening and then i booked it in another evening then i booked it in another evening and then i was booking it so much they asked me to start paying a little bit and then i started paying a little bit but i had a lot of classes going by then but i just the first night i did that there were four people came thank goodness

i didn't rent that thing for the month and have four people come because we would have probably gone out of business that month so that's what i'm saying it's okay to start it on a very piecemeal basis and start it on the cheap. There's nothing wrong with that at all. I'm really proud of you. You can do this, Vanessa. Go do it. Go do it. It's time to do it.

It's time to get off the dream and move into the actual action. Go do it. You can do this. I promise you, you can do this. Very well done. Good, good, good. Laura follows me on Facebook.com slash Dave Ramsey. Is it

worth it to refinance a student loan to save on interest? If you're saving on interest, you can get a better interest rate. It's okay to do that. Make sure that the loan is a fixed rate. And make

sure that it is a lower fixed rate. Sometimes people refinance student loans and just throw them all in one pile and end up paying a net rate that is higher because they'll mix a 4, a 5, a 6, and a 7 in there and get it all at 6, but the 4 and the 5 wasn't cheaper, and they don't end up cheaper. Net, net, net, right? The aggregate, in other words. So make sure that you are getting a better rate

or don't refinance and make sure it is a fixed rate. But then you've got to do a lot of work to get out of debt. The interest rate's never going to get you out of debt. You've got to get really mad. That's how you get out of debt.

And you've got to work your tail end off. That's how you get out of debt. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and the books. Thanks to James Childs, our producer, Blake Thompson, our senior executive producer, and Kelly Daniel, our associate producer. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, and we'll be back. Hey, it's Blake, chief production officer for the show, and here's a little tip for 2018.

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