The Ramsey Show - App - The American Dream Can Be Yours (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 9, 2018

The show about you

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. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you are here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Nathan starts off this hour in Minneapolis. Hi, Nathan. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave.

Hey. So my question is this. My wife and I just had our first kid, and we're updating our wills. Cool. So in the event that we both get hit by a bus, we plan on creating a trust for our assets. And my question is, is there any advice for how do we wind down this trust when the kid comes of age? I don't necessarily want to give him millions of dollars when he's 18, but nor do I want to hold it over him until he's like 35 either.

Good, good balance. I like that. I agree with both statements. And so you wind it down by releasing some of it at different times. We had ours set up before our kids, you know, became adults trying to serve the same situation. So we put it together. We both get hit by a bus. There's millions of dollars in a trust to be used only for their good.

We did not leave the money to their guardian. We left it into a trust, which is the proper thing to do. The trust is formed only at your death. We put in that trust exactly how the money was to be invested, the four types of mutual funds, for instance, that I recommend. We put in that trust that the income off of the investments could be used for the care and feeding of the kids and the use of the guardian at their will. Beyond that, if they needed money out of that trust, it had to be for a major medical thing, possibly a little bit on a first car and paying for college. But coming out of college, when you graduate from college, we would release a percentage, and then we'd release another percentage at 25 and another percentage at 27.

I think we did maybe third, third, third. I don't remember. But we let them kind of roll it out a little bit. Like you say, I don't want to hold it too long, but I also don't want an 18-year-old to hit the lottery. Yep, and that's exactly what we were thinking about doing, too. Yeah, so you lay all of that that way. And, you know, we put ours in.

Nobody gets it until after college age. And so you might as well go to college. It wouldn't be a way to bribe them? Yeah, just kind of trying to direct a few things from the grave, but whatever. I'm a control freak, you know. Thanks for the call, brother. Appreciate you hanging out with us. Brent is with us from Huntsville, Alabama.

Hi, Brent. How are you? I'm broke, Dave. How are you? I'm broke, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve, sir. How can I help? Well, my wife and I, we're starting our third lesson of FPU, and we're kind of seeing if you think we should sell our house.

Do you like it? We current. Oh, I love it. What's the house payment? $1,400. What's your take-home pay a month? We make, my wife and I, I'm both dependent on overtime, we make about $40,000 a year, or $40,000 apiece a year. What's your take-home a month?

Right at $4,000, $4,200. Okay. And you said the house payment is how much again? $1,400. Okay. All right. Well, we recommend it should be around a fourth of your income. That's a little more than a fourth, but it shouldn't be killing you.

So what's the motivation to sell it? We just think it would be nice to have the extra money just to go ahead and burn through the rest of our debt. And, you know, after the debt is done, just to have the extra money just to kind of do things we'd like to do. So you like your house, but you like the idea of having extra money more? We're still not 100% sure on that, but the idea is there. I wouldn't do it. How much debt have you got, not counting the house?

Well, my wife has $18,000 on student loans. We have one vehicle for $13,000, about $500 in credit cards. That should be done this week. And $5,000 is on a second mortgage that we use when we purchase the house. So you make $80,000. You should be done with $36,000 in under two years. Yes, sir. There's no reason to sell your house. Okay. You make $80,000, you should be done with $36,000 in under two years. Yes, sir.

There's no reason to sell your house. Okay. Not unless you just hate it. I wouldn't do it to blow up that amount of debt. I mean, if you told me you had $100,000 and you could sell the house and clear $100,000 and you make $80,000, it starts to be kind of tempting because you're going to have a long slog. But you can knock out $36,000. So here's what I would do. I think I would table that decision for now,

and let's see where you are one year from now after applying the principles you're learning in Financial Peace University. Yes, sir. And then if this time next year you still feel stuck, like you kind of do right now, I don't think you will, by the way, but if you still feel stuck like you do right now, you may reconsider this idea.

But the numbers I'm hearing, I think you can do this and keep your house, and I think you've got a good house. Let me ask you the last thing is your income trajectory, how much in the next three years do you think your income is going to increase? I actually start a new job next week, so mine will jump about $5,000 a year at the beginning of next month. My wife's will probably stay about the same, and then mine will probably go up another $2,000 to $3,000 per year for the next probably two years. Okay, so you've got some increases coming, and that starts to get it back down to that fourth of your income

situation where we want that payment to be. You're going to have the wiggle room because you're going to learn to budget, and you're going to clear this debt, and your incomes are going to go up. When you combine those three things, you're going to have the wiggle room to live the life, the margin that you want to live the life you're talking about. Have a little better life. So, hey,

good question, man. You got this. You can do it. You can do it. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Our Entree Leadership One Day event, we teach small business and business leaders how to thrive in business today. You can join us on November the 9th in Phoenix, Arizona, or you can live stream it from anywhere. During this event, you're going to learn to see the opportunities and failures and create a culture that embraces innovation and how to ride the wave of change rather than get

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years. And our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Thanks for joining us, America. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Jonathan is with us in Los Angeles. Hey, Jonathan, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Mr. Ramsey. Thank you for having me. Sure. What's up? Okay, I'm going to try to get to the point as fast as I can. I called you back in January about a $1.8 million inheritance, asking you how I should handle that. And you told me how to go slow and take my time and be patient with it, and that was very helpful. But now I'm having another problem.

So basically since then, I bought a house, remodeled it, Airbnb. I'm making a lot of money, about $15,000 a month. Gross. Yeah, about $15,000 a month, and I'm just blowing through that. I have a crazy sex addiction. I'm spending just insane amounts of money about $10,000 a month on prostitutes and strip clubs and therapy, all of the above and I don't know what to do

I've tried everything I go to Sex Addicts Anonymous and I want to know what you would do in this situation I've done well I've spent about half that money I'm buying the house I'm Airbnb-ing this situation. I've done well. I've spent about half that money on buying the house, and I'm Airbnb-ing it now, and I'm doing well with that. I've done that since then.

It's been a long project that I finished, but I don't know what to do about this, how I should handle it, or anything else that you would try that I haven't. How old are you? I'm 20. Okay. How old are you? I'm 20. Okay. All right. And the inheritance came from who passed away?

So my dad passed away about two years ago. He was in a missing plane. And I might be coming into a lot more money because we filed a wrongful death situation. It's a long story. What about your mom? My mom, she's out of the picture of the divorce. I barely talked to her. Yeah, so she's out of the picture.

Well, as you know, Jonathan, I'm not a therapist. I'm not a trained counselor. I have worked with addicts for 30 years because 100% of the addicts end up broke if they don't heal their addiction. And so you are going to destroy your legacy, your dad's legacy, with the money that was left to you. And you're going to destroy all your future dreams that this money represents if you don't get the help and heed the help and fight to win against the addiction. Sex addictions and pornography addictions are the fastest-growing addictions in America today. We see that in our offices with financial trouble um people in your situation more than any other addiction we see we still see cocaine we still see um and we don't

treat for that but we end up helping them with their finances we still see alcohol and uh but gambling and sex are both just the the pornography is the pornography is gone crazy because of the Internet. The access and it's affecting every part of our lives in good ways and bad ways. But the access in this case is causing excess and gets people in real trouble with gambling porn sex addictions um so you're you know you named off a couple of the right things and that's getting in sa getting in um uh an anonymous group um getting in with a therapist is the second thing i would do um the third thing i would do is um it sounds to me like just a guy talking to a young guy an old guy talking to a young guy that all of your family structure has gone it's just you didn't have it

with your mom and then your dad died and so you're just left without any authority structure as a 20 year old young guy there's nobody in your life kind of standing over your shoulder that's going to thump you when you screw up your life. Yeah, I do have some family on my dad's side that I'm actually good with, but... They know what's going on? No, so...

I had some problems going on like over a year ago, like aside from this, just... And whenever I tried to get close to them, they were like, excuse me, oh, you're just being a victim on this, and I never kind of trusted being okay with them, so I just kind of put off the illusion that I'm okay, everything's good. That's fine.

So they're no help is what you're saying. They're no help, but they're good, but they're just, yeah, they're no help. Well, I know that all behaviors obviously have psychology involved. As a person of faith, as a Christian, I also believe behaviors are spiritual. And so to treat something like this only as a psychological thing is usually a half treatment. To treat it only like it's a spiritual thing might very well be a half treatment but um there's something that you're obviously searching for and there's something that you're missing um that's causing you to um literally go crazy in this part of your

life right yeah i i i think it's like i'm just beyond lonely i don't know if it's that um but Right? It's amazing. You can be in one of the largest cities in the world and be lonely, you know, but you can be. It's very, very real. So the last component I would add to it, and you're asking me, so you always get my opinion when you're asking me, and that I'm an expert on, my opinion. So what I would tell you to do is find a great church, and we'll help you do that, and sit down and get pastoral counseling to go with your other counseling get with some young guys in that church and become friends with some people who have some character have some integrity and that are walking a straight line not perfect

there isn't any perfect people over there at that church, I can tell you, because the church has got people in them, so you can find that out pretty quick. But you will find people that are... You go to synagogue. Oh, you're Jewish. Okay, cool. That's perfect. Then let's get with a rabbi, dude.

Let's get the spiritual element of this going, because there's an aspect of that that goes with this. And if that's your heritage and that's your faith, then wonderful. Because the Talmud has a lot to say about the issues that you're dealing with. A lot. And so, yeah, that's the only thing I know how to tell you to do. Because I can't just yell at you, stop it, or you would have already stopped it. I mean, you're a smart guy. You've already realized this is ruining your life. And you know that. I mean, you're a smart guy. You've already realized this is ruining your life. And you know that.

I know that. But the nature of an addiction is, and you're finding this from the 12 steps, is that one of the things is you realize you're powerless. And, you know, God has to step in. And I've got to put some structures in my life. And I've got to, you know, figure out, do some careful self- self-analysis and say well loneliness is the issue so how do i fix loneliness well obviously i'm fixing it inappropriately and so how do i fix it with more wisdom and that would be hanging out with good people uh that are lifting you up um obviously not hanging out with paid friends, which doesn't work for anybody.

Whatever version of paid friends you have. And yours is one of the more gross. But that's the only thing I know how to tell you. I would make sure I'd really lean into getting a group of people around me that I can trust. And if there's a group of people that are working on a social project that is worthy, and you could get with a bunch of young men doing that, and you had some good guys around you, then that's very important. I've got a group of guys I get with once a month.

I was with them last night, as a matter of fact, and I'm 58. That group of guys got all our sons together that are in their 20s the other day, and we all encouraged them, and they all agreed that they need a group of guys got all our sons together that are in their 20s the other day, and we all encouraged them, and they all agreed that they need a group of guys. You need what my friend Steven Mansfield calls a band of brothers in your life to walk with you in these situations. So, man, I'm just a guy. I don't know how to help you. I'll pray for you.

I'll tell you that. And hold on. I'll have Laura pick up. We're going to send you a copy of Mansfield's book. He's got a lot to say about this kind of stuff in that book, Mansfield's Manly Men or whatever it's called. And good book. And you need some guys around you, dude. That's what I'm thinking.

And you need some spiritual wealth added as a component to this. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Let me tell you a story about two families that are very much alike in a lot of ways. Both families have two working parents and a couple of young kids. Each has debt and has struggled to make ends meet. But they're starting to make headway with their budgets and smarter decisions with money. They have dreams and plans, and the only real difference is that one family has the right amount of term life insurance and the other doesn't. Big difference. If one of the parents die, and that does happen, their well-being would be destroyed. Paying for the mortgage, utilities, food, and other bills would be impossible let alone saving for

education or retirement that's why every day i talk relentlessly about getting term life insurance just go to zanderinsurance.com or call 800-356-4282 and see how inexpensive it really is be the family that takes those deliberate steps to be different and responsible. It really does make you the hero of your story, and it puts you on course for better things ahead. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Dale and Angela are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? We're great. Thank you.

Cool. Welcome. Where do you guys live? Asheville, North Carolina. Oh, beautiful area. Yes. Beautiful area. I was just emailing with a friend of mine.

We're heading over to Highlands to see them soon, but it's the time of year. Yes. It's a pretty area. Welcome to Nashville. How much debt have you guys paid off? Dave, we paid off $253,188. Wow. Three years and five months. There you go.

Wow. And your range of income during that three years and five months? It varied quite a bit. We started at $170,000, both working two jobs up to $198,000. And then down, our household salary now is 114 okay very cool what do y'all do for a living i'm a professional firefighter with city of asheville cool and i was in sales when i started and now i work as an assistant as well as a financial advisor oh very good yeah good for you well done you guys what kind of debt is this $253,000?

Well, we had a little bit of everything from credit card, 401k, car, taxes, two student loan, and then our house. You paid off your house. We did. I'm looking at weird people. I love it. Yes. Way to go.

How much of the 253 was the house? 208. Wow. Almost all of it. Wow. Way to go, you much of the $253,000 was the house? $208,000. Wow. Almost all of it. Wow. Way to go, you guys. Thank you.

How old are you two? I'm 41. Mm-hmm. 49. All right. With a paid-for house. Did you ever dream? Never.

Yes. That you'd have a paid-for house? I did. You did. I love it. Very cool. Fun. Fun. So something happened in your all's life three years and five months ago.

And, hey, switch flip. Tell me what happened. Yeah, so a great story. But it started five years ago today when we got married. Very good. Two months after that, we decided to buy a house. And our debt went from about $250,000 to $302,000. And we started on our own path not sharing the debt.

I was to pay off what I owed, and she was to pay off her part. Mm-hmm. And I made a really brilliant decision, and I bought a flute on a credit card. Oh, good. $300, huge money argument. Mm-hmm. It wasn't an argument. It was an ultimatum.

Whoa. She said, I'm not doing this again. This is a second marriage for both of us. And she had money problems before with her previous and wasn't going to do it again. So I said, I don't know how to do it, but I know a guy who does. And I led her over to the podcast and that started our road. Whoa. Very cool. Very fun. So it's the podcast, and that started our road. Whoa, very cool. Very fun. So it's the flute that broke the camel's back.

Exactly. Exactly. Dale has two daughters from his first marriage, and the oldest was going to start band, and he went and charged it. And I thought, what? Okay. Well, yeah, that's good. You should, you know, buying your daughter a flute. Okay. That even makes more sense. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, it's, yeah, that's good. You should, you know, buying your daughter a flute. Okay.

That even makes more sense. Yeah. Okay. Wow. I just didn't see you playing the flute. I just couldn't visualize this. But the firefighter, the flute guy. But, yeah, okay, whatever.

All right. Good. Oh, fun. Very fun, you guys. Okay. So, yeah, you did look up and you realized last time one lady told me, she said, my starter husband. The first one, right? She said, that time I figured out that this doesn't work and I'm not doing this again.

That's a good line. I've had it. You had an I've had it moment. And Dale said, okay, I'm with you. I've had it too. Let's fix this. So it wasn't this long, drawn-out argument, but it was kind of just hit the ball and said, no, okay. Look, there's two ways that work. There's a way that works and a way that doesn't work.

The way we're doing it doesn't work. Exactly. Well, and I had never really heard of you before, and I didn't even know how to use a podcast. I didn't even know what a podcast was. And so when Dale charged the flute, at the time we kept our finances separate and we were getting ready to go on a vacation to Italy. And I said, I can't do it if you have credit card debt. So we canceled that. And I went on a yoga retreat on my own and part of that retreat was four hours of meditation and I listened to your podcast the whole time and I came back and said okay I'm ready all right let's do that that won't work we can do this guy okay and so then you got the books or financial peace

university or what or just listen to the podcast? Mostly we listen to the podcast. Okay, that's good. Then we got the book, and then we've led FPU. Oh, okay. So it did all unfold after all. Yes. Okay, very cool. Good for you guys. Well, congratulations. Thank you.

How's it feel to have no payments in the world? Amazing. Wow. It's so hard to describe. Yeah. And in your case, it also removes this monster in the closet that might bust out at any time and step on your marriage. Yes. You know, and we're just, that's not there anymore. He's gone.

Well, and so we try to tell so many people that this isn't just about money. I mean, the day we committed to following your plan, like our marriage just improved so much. And it's just continuing year after year. And it's just crazy. It's so hard to describe to people. Yeah. Three years and five months later, here we are with no house payment. Yeah.

I'm so proud of y'all. Thank you. Thank you. Very, very well done. Very well done. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? You paid off $253,000 in three to five years. I tell everyone to follow the baby steps.

My way didn't work, but yours does. And for me, given that we started out not combining our finances and not being on the same page, that you really do need to combine them. And I know everyone says the budget. It seems obvious. But what the budget does is it keeps you intentional. And so when you're intentional with your money, you're intentional with all of your choices. And we like to quote somebody else who says,

you know, the key is to keep the goal the goal. Because for six months, it's not... Keep the main thing the main thing. Yeah. It's not so hard for six months three and a half years can be a long time that is a long time so but you i mean their house is paid for what's the house worth about 350 wow how fun yeah very very very cool so outside of each other who were your biggest cheerleaders as you were doing this? Did you tell people you were working on this? Everyone that would listen.

We told everyone. You got some eye rolls. You've joined a cult. Oh my God. But you had some cheerleaders too. Who were your biggest cheerleaders? I've got a crew at work that's listening right now. Oh wow. And I had a very close friend who I run with and

she cheered me on every run. Very cool. Yes. Good for you. Way to go, you guys. Thank you. That's awesome. Thank you. This is as good as it gets.

Well, we got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired, and that is the next chapter in your story, and that's to be millionaires and outrageously generous as you go along. So you just got one chapter done. You got to finish chapter two now. Yep. And then you get to move on to a whole other thing. Way to go. Thank you. Very well done. Thank you go along. So you just got one chapter done. You got to finish chapter two now. Yep. And then you get to move on to a whole other thing. Way to go.

Thank you. Very well done. Thank you so much. It's an inspiring story. All right. It's Dale and Angela, Asheville, North Carolina. $253,000 paid off in three years and five months, making $170,000 up to $198,000 down to $114,000.

Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! I love it! That is awesome stuff.

Make the main thing the main thing. Keep the goal the goal. That's good. You know, you don't win on accident. I was speaking at my old high school this morning. It's now Antioch Middle School to a group of 8th graders.

Very, very sharp 8th graders. And they were very interested in what it takes to become successful and i told them what i tell you guys every day no one is successful accidentally no one is surprised when they become successful we're humbled we're amazed we can't believe it really did happen but we're not surprised because we know we paid a price to get there you don't graduate from college in four years accidentally it's a series of intentional acts that get you there you don't have a great marriage

accidentally it's a series of intentional acts that gets you there. Winning is a series of intentional acts. Make the goal the goal. Make the main thing the main thing. You can do this. I know you can. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. Find out for yourself why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings.

You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos every month, you save money. Use the promo code RAMSY. It's a magic word. RAMSY. Blinds.com. Jason, Wisconsin, our financial advisor, recommended a trust in addition to our will.

Our advisor stated that a trust would prevent our children, 18, from making poor financial decisions. I'm already paying for a will. Our advisor stated that a trust would prevent our children at 18 from making poor financial decisions. I'm already paying for a will. I don't want to pay an additional $3,500 to complete a trust. What do you suggest in these situations? This is the reason that I tell people not to do trusts in these situations. It's an income opportunity for your financial advisor.

And I agree with you. I wouldn't pay $3,500 in your situation, in most situations, to develop a trust. If you form what he's talking about, which is called a living trust, you put all of your assets into the trust, and the trust owns everything. You don't own anything. Then every time you get ready to do a transaction, you have to run it. You have to do it with the trustee. You get ready to sell your cars.

You get ready to cash in some mutual funds. You get ready to sell a house or property, whatever. The trustee has to be involved because the property is actually owned by the trust, not you. The items are owned by the trustee. If you don't do that, then the trust has no benefit. That's called funding the trust, retitling everything you own into the name of the trust, which is a bit expensive, too, and a lot cumbersome.

Consequently, I was reading in Financial Planning Magazine the other day an article that said 78% of the trusts that are formed are never funded, meaning people pay their stupid lawyer, their financial advisor, $3,500 to build this trust, and then they never retitle all the stuff into the name of the trust, which means the trust has absolutely nothing. It's got nothing in it. And so it's of absolutely no value.

So I don't use living trusts. I don't personally use living trusts, and I have a substantial net worth with a lot of detailed estate planning. Now, I do have some trusts. I have a couple of trusts here and there, but they have different functions than what this guy is describing. And so, no, I would not build a trust. Now, you can set up, and you can have your attorney, your estate planning attorney do this, not your financial advisor, a trust, a family trust to be formed upon your death

and upon your death the money if both of you die and you have minor children the money goes into a trust and then it's managed for the good of the children i was talking about that in the first segment of this hour and um or a second segment of this hour i guess but you can do that that's that's not that hard to do and it doesn't really cost anything because there's no trust being formed and no trust happening unless both of you died. I had that in my will when my children were minors, and then, of course, my will has changed since the children are of age. They're no longer legally children, emotionally either, for that matter. But there we go.

So, I mean, some of you have children that are emotionally still minors but have chronologically moved on, like the guy who said the other day. He's 30 years old. Ask him what he did for a living. He said, I'm a stay-at-home son. What does that mean? I'm a stay-at-home son. Kick your butt in the street.

Mike is with us. Mike's in Chicago. Hey, Mike, how are you? I'm good. How are you doing better than i deserve what's up so i uh have uh i'm gonna babysit too i have a ton of medical bills um and recently i was originally paying 10 bucks a month for a medical bill that i had um they stopped it was an withdrawal, and they stopped taking out, and they've sent my account to collections and then to a lawyer. And recently, I was summoned to court. I'm just trying to figure out what my options are, if I need to hire a lawyer or what I

need to do. How much is on that bill? $1,568. $1,568. Okay. And what's your household income? About $75,8. Okay. And what's your household income? About $75,000. Okay.

And why $10 a month? Because of all the other bills? Yeah, I got all kind of paying $100. And medical bills, a lot of credit cards as well, student loans. So what's the total medical bill balance? Of all the medical bills that I have are probably fifteen thousand dollars okay and my daughter just was diagnosed with a few other medical issues that more bills will be coming so how old is your daughter uh three okay and what were the medical issues uh she has what's called

chiari syndrome uh a carry mal, and then she was diagnosed with epilepsy. Okay. You guys have had a hard time with this little baby girl, haven't you? Yeah, yeah. Ever since she was born, we have a lot of things going on. And how much credit card debt do you have? We are probably at $25,000. And how much student loan debt do you have?

That one's up there. That's about $120,000. Who's the doctor? I'm just a teacher. My wife's a stay-at-home mom. Okay. All right. stay at home mom okay all right um well what normally happens if you have a heart and you're a good person and you have a baby that is sick you pay all of your attention to the baby

and it drains every drop of emotion and love and concentration and focus out of your family your body and your life and it's all directed at this baby and that's what's that's what's happened to you which just means you're a good dad and a good husband you guys have not paid attention to the money at all and all that means is you're human but it's screwing up your life now and you're going to have to deal with it, right? Yeah. So as tough as it is, your daughter is not going to get 100% of your attention anymore. Your money is going to have to get some percentage until you get this thing back under control. So let's put the student loans, if they're not already, on hardship deferral.

If you scrape together $500 to $700 and offer it to the attorney on this $1,500 as a lump sum settlement, they'll take it. Okay, because we called today. So we got someone done Saturday. We called today, and we said, you know, what can we do? And they just said you can either pay the full amount plus court fees and attorney fees or hire a lawyer, and we'll see you in court. Okay. You can call them back and say i've got 500 bucks i can use that for a lawyer or i can give it to you to settle this debt which one do

you want to do okay and what if they don't take that then you you keep messing with them and messing with them and messing with them because they're listen you're dealing not with an attorney you're probably not even dealing with a paralegal. You're dealing with a large law firm that runs medical collections through like a widget in a factory. This is your life. It's your daughter. It's the illness and the struggles. It's got a lot of emotion tied to it. To them, they have no soul.

There is nothing to this thing except you're just a number on a page. And they have a whole bunch of numbers on a page they talk to 5 000 people like you every single day and they give everybody the exact same script okay this is not like you owed me money and i called and we would actually talk about it yeah you're dealing with a robot in a factory. And if you get that stuck in your head when you're talking to the person on the other line, it's emotional to you. It is not to them. It's a robot and a factory, like a movie, okay?

And just keep that in mind and just keep going, well, I don't have that, so does that compute for you? Can you compute that I don't have $1,500 and that me going to court or you taking me to court doesn't make me have $1,500? I simply do not have it. I do have $562, and you can have every bit of that. Okay? And if you have every bit of that, you have to take it as settlement in full. No, I will not give it to you as a partial payment to get started.

No, I'm not going to put this on payments. That hasn't worked for me, and it hasn't worked for you. But I will settle this with you for pennies on the dollar, and you're going to be lucky to get that, because I got so much debt coming out my ears from this sick little girl that I'm pretty sick of you people, and I'm thinking about filing bankruptcy and giving you zero anyway. And you just start having these conversations with these idiots, okay?

Now, you legitimately owe them money, so we've got to work with them. But, you know, you just keep talking. If it ended up going to court? If it ended up going to court, then they will take a judgment against you. You don't need an attorney. You're going to lose. Okay. Because you owe the money.

And you walk in before the judge, and the judge says, Mike, do you owe the money? And you say, yes. And he goes, guilty. Right? Over. So it doesn't matter if we tell them, you know, my daughter's sick. They don't care. They don daughter's sick we don't care i don't care okay i don't care it's the industry side of the medical world they don't care i'm

sorry i wish they did but they don't so just try to settle it and then let's put together a system to work out of this whole mess i'll help you put together the whole system in financial peace university i'm going to put you through that for free you and your wife are going to get your arms around this money thing so you put yourself in a position of strength to walk through the rest of the things you and you're going to walk through with his daughter because you got to fight ahead of your brother. We're with you. You got this. We'll walk with you. Hold on. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey guys, this is James Childs, producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm excited to announce that we're now carried on 600 radio stations

across the country. To find one near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.