The Ramsey Show - App - The Best Mortgage You Can Get (Hour 1)

Episode Date: May 7, 2019

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Music Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions Broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

Rebecca is with us in Boise, Idaho. Hi, Rebecca. How are you? Good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I'm just wondering about what your advice would be on how to balance helping family financially

and taking care of yourself financially. So I'll just briefly describe our situation. My husband and I have been married for almost a year. We have no debt, and I'm about to start school next month, and we have a goal to purchase a home next spring or summer. So we're doing great, no complaints there. However, my mother-in-law is recovering from cancer, and since she had no health insurance,

they've got quite a few thousand dollars of debt now due to the medical bills. She's probably not going to be able to go back to work. And my father-in-law is 68. He's partially blind, drawing from the Social Security already, and still works a little bit part-time, but it's barely enough to support them. They're renting. They have no retirement savings. And they have all these medical bills now.

Their income is about to go down. So I'm concerned about their situation, their future. We try to send them money periodically to help them out. But to reach our goals, like school and a house, like I said, we can't keep helping them to the same extent. So I've been told it's the best way to help others. What's your household income? Collectively right now, it's about 52. Oh, okay.

And, well, here's the rule. You can only help others to the extent you're strong enough to do it. And so if they need a million dollars to pay off their medical bills, they don't. But if they did, you can't help them. You don't have the money. Right? Mm-hmm. And so at what them you don't have the money right and um so at what point do you not have the money it is desperate and dire as their situation is at what point do

you just not have the money you don't have a million dollars even if you wanted to you couldn't pay a million dollars to help them so how much in medical bills do they have do you know? About $15,000. Okay. And you guys make $50,000. And how much money have you been sending them? We usually send them just a couple hundred a month. However, when I'm going to start school, I'll be working part-time, so our income will go down by about $10,000 a year. So that will change here soon. Yeah.

Okay. And so you're going to be very very tight to be able to even do that right so basically the question comes down to prioritizing and you know i've been told that as well that the best way to help others is to set yourself up well first but from a christian perspective it almost seems selfish and i feel like I can't ignore my family's immediate needs. I'm sorry, why is it selfish from a Christian perspective to take care of your own family? Because we're set up well enough right now that we don't have to buy a house in a year. That's our goal. We could put that on hold and still help them in the near future instead of ignoring their

immediate need and helping them later there's not a biblical mandate for you to do that though so i'm not going to take a christian guilt trip on this current bible clear it says clearly take care of your own household first or you're worse than an unbeliever that's pretty that's pretty strong so um do good people and including christians want to help mom and dad when they're struggling absolutely but uh we're not going to spiritualize this and make you like a bad christian if you don't send them 200 okay that's absurd now once we've said that but good people want to help, and you want to help, and certainly your husband wants to help. And I want to see you be able to help them.

So $200 a month doesn't keep you from buying a house in a year. You going to school might keep you from buying a house in a year. Yeah. But $200 a month is $2,400. If you're $2,400 off of buying a a house you weren't ready to buy a house anyway so what i want to do is i want to get up under this because what the problem is is it feels like there's no end to it for you and uh helping them and it looks a little mathematically like there's no end to it number one i wouldn't pay a dime of medical bills, and I wouldn't have them pay a dime of medical bills until they have met their basic needs.

And that's true of anyone I'm coaching, okay? And their basic needs are food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and utilities. And so he has the Social Security check coming in. How old is your mother-in-law? She is 56, about. Okay, so she's not going to be able to draw right now unless she's declared disabled. And they have absolutely no money anywhere, is what you're telling me. Aside from the Social Security, yes.

Yeah, but I mean, they're broke. They don't own anything, and they don't have any money. Right, and that's what concerns me. I guess their income is about to go down and so they are you know so what is even right now what you've got to do what you've got to do if you really want to help is it's it's more trouble than just sending a 200 check you need to get with your husband and with them are they in the same town you're in by chance uh no they're about four hours away so not too bad though then maybe you jump on the phone or

maybe you jump over there one weekend and you lay out a budget of how they're going to make it for the next 20 years or the next 10 years or five years until she gets social security okay and that's basically his social security income plus whatever other jobs that either one of them can do given their health situations and and then you say that's how much money there is we need to work out a plan where you guys can live on that because we can't pay your fifteen thousand dollars in medical bills they're not going to get paid right now and you can't pay them either because you have to eat first that's a rule and so if he has three thousand dollars a month coming in and in social security and they need uh three thousand two hundred dollars a month

to exist that's 200 bucks i'm probably coming up with if it delays something in your life yeah i'm probably going to do that okay okay but if it's if they10,000 to exist and you're giving them $200,000, that's someone good money after bad. You haven't really solved their problem. So I want you to get up under this and make sure that what you're doing actually causes them to be sustainable mathematically. And your husband is in this too. And really, he needs to lead the discussion, not you, because you're going to end up up being the evil greedy daughter-in-law if you're not careful here okay you don't want to be that one okay i mean that's how you're going to get posted in this and so does your husband have any brothers or sisters he does he has one younger brother that is how old he's 17 and he's about to turn 18

good gracious so he's living with them right and that's when their income will go down He's 17. He's about to turn 18. Good gracious. So he's living with them. Right, and that's when their income will go down. Since he's on disability, or sorry, my father-in-law is on disability, they get a check since they have a dependent. But once he's 18, that will go away. Wow. Okay.

So we've got to lay out a game plan that sustains them. That may mean moving. It may mean doing a lot of different things. But $200 a month is not going to fix this situation, nor is it going to delay you. But it certainly doesn't have anything to do with you being a good Christian. You're just trying to be a good person and help mom and dad. It's not a spiritual issue involved here. And don't over-spiritualize it.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I get asked all the time about what people need to do to improve their family's money situation. Two of the most overlooked things are term life insurance and disability insurance. Both plans make sure that you have income to pay bills and take care of yourself and your family if something were to happen. For term life, you need to carry 10 to 12 times your income, and I recommend 15 or 20-year plans for most families. Stay away from cash value or return of premium plans. They're just a rip-off. Disability insurance is just as critical.

How are you going to pay your bills if you're unable to work? Disability is the leading cause of bankruptcies and foreclosures. That's why I send you to Zander Insurance. They've been helping my listeners find the right plans at the lowest cost for almost 20 years. Call 800-356-1780 or visit zander.com and compare online. That's 800-356-1780 or zander.com. Amber's with us in San Diego. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Amber.

Hi, Dave. It's a pleasure to speak with you today. You too. What's up? My question is whether I should switch my employee-sponsored health insurance to a high-deductible plan from its current plan, which is only like a $20 copay. A little context, my out-of-pocket before has only been about $6.80 for my entire family. It's going up to only $60 a month out-of-pocket, but there is a high deductible option that they are offering, which is zero out-of-pocket and a cash incentive of $2,700 a year towards either my paycheck or an HSA, which would cover that deductible of $2,700. Okay.

So the high deductible is a $2,700 deductible? Yes. And they're offering you $2,700 deductible? Yes. And they're offering you $2,700 a year to go that direction? Yes. So they're funding your HSA account every year? For this next open enrollment year, yes. Oh, not every year, but just for one year? Yeah. We're a government agency, and so we have to look at our open enrollment every year based on negotiation.

I got you. Okay. All right. Well, I mean, it costs you $6 out of pocket now. It will cost you $60 out of pocket, and your first year deductible is covered, or your deductible is covered if you don't use it this year in the future, right? Correct. Okay.

All right. So you're $720 ahead per year plus $2,700, so you're $3,400 ahead if you do the high deductible. The risk is next year they don't cover the $2,700, and you've used the $2,700 this year or some portion thereof. Okay, so what is the current deductible on the PPO that you're in? They're all HMOs, but the current one I'm in has no deductible. It just has a max out-of-pocket. Which is what?

Which is $3,000 for the family. And that's on an 80 20 uh yes 80 20 okay all right and so um if you had a what does it come out a twenty four thousand dollar event i guess you would have a uh you'd be uh i didn't do that right but anyway you had a twenty thousand dollar event or so you would would have used up $3,000 of your own money. Then that would be it. Yeah. And then it would be done.

Yeah, okay. So anything in excess of that. So how healthy has your family been so far? Very healthy. We haven't used a doctor, gone to appointments or anything for any health issues for a couple of years. I had an elective surgery last year, but that cost me my $20 copay is all it cost me. And so we're fairly healthy. I have a 5-year-old, my husband's 35, and I'm 33. Well, the HSA high deductible I personally carry on my family

and have since it came out about 10 or 15 years ago the very first time they opened them i took one uh and because the math works much to your favor if you are either uh in most cases if you're very ill and you're constantly blowing through your deductible like a chronic illness or if you're very healthy like you guys and like Ramsey's have been so far, knock on wood. Okay, so we, I mean, the number of times we have met our deductible in our marriage of 37 years is zero. We have never even busted through the deductible once. So, I mean, that's pretty crazy. So it's highly unusual.

But given the blessing or the luck or whatever we want to call that that we've had uh the hsa has made us a ton of money because it is much cheaper in your case 720 a year cheaper and you're going to basically put 720 in your pocket where it's going to blow up is um if they don't renew the 2700 next year and you blew through the deductible two years in a row you'd come out on the short end of the stick here okay but that that would not be the pattern that you guys have been living in no and so i'm probably doing it if i'm you this one's not as much of a slam dunk and the reason is your hmo max out of pocket is unusually low yeah it's a really oh by the way your whole freaking insurance package is an unbelievable

dream it is that's probably a thousand dollar that's probably a twelve thousand dollar a year benefit they're giving you yeah easy twelve hundred dollars a month that they pay for us yeah that's what i was guessing so yeah i mean we've we're a much smaller entity but we're still fighting with that stuff all the time here to keep our costs down for our team and how much we can pay out for our team and still have them have some skin in the game but if i'm you i'm gonna take it i like it you see how i did the math yeah yeah that yeah, that was helpful. Thank you. So, hey, thanks for the call.

I appreciate you calling in. Christian's in Boston. Hey, Christian, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. It's a pleasure to be on, and I just have a quick question. Okay. So I'm in $22,000 in debt total. $8,000 of it is credit cards cards and the rest is all on student loans.

I haven't graduated anything and I plan on going back to school. It's going to defer it. Anyways, I have about 3k in the bank as of Friday, uh, coming up. Um, I make about $25,000 after taxes plus commission. Um, I just started this position about a month or two ago. And I'm looking to buy a new car, or not a new car, but just buy a used beater. I don't really need it to get to the position that I'm in right now. And I know there's other positions. I work four days a week, 10 hours a day, Thursday through Sunday. And I'm looking to buy a new car or a beater so that I can deliver food, deliver pizzas,

work for Uber, work for various gigs. I was wondering if that's a good investment or if I should use the $3,000 that I have in the bank as an emergency fund and to pay off the debt. You have no car at all? I have no car, but I live in Boston. I understand. You understand public transportation yeah understood that i'm just making sure and you're you're on your own you're single and you don't live at home yep and i have no kids or anything like that how old are you uh i'm 26 almost 27 27 this month and

how expensive a car are you talking about buying like as cheap as possible i want i like literally i don't as long as it's not falling apart. I mean, give me a price. What are you thinking? Two grand. Okay. So you're going to have a grand in the bank and two grand in the car, and you're going to take the fact that you have extra transportation and wheels and use that to make a whole bunch of part-time side gig money.

That sounds great. Is that what your plan is? No. Well, I have many plans, so I can't do plans so i can't is that your current plan that's what you described to me wasn't it oh yeah that's what i wanted but if you if you say no here's the thing i think you're going to make two grand extra in one month well if you're willing to work like you're talking about working you're going to work all the time to work yeah seven days a week yeah i would either this or i apply to the liquor store right down the street.

Yeah, but I think you can make $2,000 a month delivering pizza, driving Uber, doing whatever, those kinds of things. I doubt you're driving Uber in a hoopty, but not successfully anyway. But, yeah, let's do it. I'm in. Pay cash. But use it as a way to make money, as you said, and use it as a step towards your bigger plan, your bigger goals for your life, for your career, for your finances. It's not a way of life.

We're not driving a $2,000 car for long. It's a step to get where I want to go. It's one of the things I've got to do to get to where I need to get to, and that's how it works. So, hey, good question. Thank you for joining us. Hey, if you want to win a $100 gift card, we are doing a survey, and we need your participation. Someone doing the survey will get a $100 gift card.

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No salesman will call. Or you can text the word survey to 33 to 33789 and you can participate. Just take a few minutes and share with us. That's DaveRamsey.com slash SURVEY or text the word SURVEY to 33789. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Sarah is in San Francisco. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Sarah. Thanks, Dave. Thanks for taking my call.

My pleasure. How can I help? Okay, so I just discovered you just about two weeks ago. And my husband and I, we are about fifty five thousand dollars in debt and i'm really excited to to get started we're on baby step two um but my my uh dilemma is around so my husband and i were renters um we've rented for the past seven years and our the owner passed away away and left the house to her grandchildren, so they are selling the house.

And they want us to buy the house, and the plan was to buy the house, even though we have no down payment and we're in debt so bad the way that we are. But because we live in Northern California where it's really, really expensive to live, my husband feels that the house is a good investment because it is, you know, we'd be getting it, what he says is under market value. I don't really know that that is a fact, but he is super handy, so he feels that he'll be able to fix up the house over the time that we're living in it. So my question to you is, is it wise for us to buy a house that I'm not sure we can afford and slow the process of us getting out of debt?

I mean, we obviously have to live somewhere, or should we consider moving and renting somewhere else or moving out you know to a different location entirely most financial questions have at least two answers to them and one of them feels good today but hurts you long term one of them feels bad today but causes you to win long term does that make sense yes and the people that are wealthy do the one that feels bad today but causes you to win long term right and that is you're moving okay you can't afford this house you know you can't afford this house you told me three times in the conversation you can't afford the house your husband wants to fix it up he doesn't want to go through the pain of moving he thinks he might smell a deal but you guys are broke right you need to go rent something as cheap as you can possibly rent increase the length of your commute if you have to

and get your debts paid off and build your emergency fund and then start building towards a down payment. What's your household income? We'll take home monthly. We take home around $7,000 a month. Good. Okay. So you're making about $110,000, $120,000, right? Yeah, that includes my second job, which, you know, he wants me to quit because I'm driving out.

How old are you? So I'm 37. Okay, so you have to ask yourself, what is the answer to this question that causes the 50-year-old version of me to be smiling that the 37-year-old version of me was wise in other words if you may if you go by this house and it chokes you guys and you have to work a part-time job and you stay broke from now until 50 all because you bought this house which is what the math is telling me in this conversation when you're 50 you're going to be pissed at the 37 year old version of you yes and that's what it is it's going to put you in the it's going to put you in the rat and wheel mode where you can't get ahead, you can't get traction, because you can barely breathe now or you wouldn't even be in this situation.

Right. I mean, it isn't like you guys went on a Mediterranean cruise or something. That isn't what's going on here. You're just trying to make ends meet in the freaking San Francisco Bay Area. Woo! Right. That's tough. You know, you make good money, but you don't make you know you

don't make silicon valley money you know no so um uh you know it's tough and three kids in that market so can you pull it off and stay in the general area yeah but i'm going to rent as cheaply as i possibly can which obviously increases the speed at which you clear the debt and build your emergency fund and build your down payment. And then you buy a home, and the home will be a blessing. I'm afraid this home is a fixer-upper that you can't afford. It sounds like a double curse. Yeah. A, I can't afford it.

That's what I felt. Yeah. A, I can't afford it. B, I need to fix it up. It's what you told me. And I'm going based on what you told me now if the house is worth 800 000 and they're going to sell it to you for 300 000 we might have to have a discussion but that isn't what i heard no i mean you know my husband really feels that you know it could be worth you know 150 200 000 more than what we're going to get

for it down the road if now down the road yes down the road is after he fixed it up you're buying a fixer-upper what's it worth today as is if they put it on the market versus what they're selling it to you for sounds to me like they're selling it to you at market value but oh after we think yeah oh after we fix it up and after we wait three or four years and let, you know, good California inflation real estate kick me, kick the thing up, then it'll be worth $150,000 more. Well, no kidding. Of course it will be. You know, but today it sounds like they're selling it to you for what it's worth today and it's as is condition. No bargain.

I'm out. Tap out. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's inconvenient as crud to do the right thing yes it's hard yeah i don't want to move i mean i'd rather have a root canal than move and you know telling you to move it's not it's one of the last things i tell people to do but nothing you've described here said stay. Mm-hmm. I just, you know, I'm concerned because even to rent here is, you know, going to increase our expenses now by, I mean, because we got in on a really good deal.

So what we're paying now is really not a lot. That's why you didn't hear me say you have to increase your commute. Yeah. And get that way, the further out of of town you get the lower your rent drops unless you head towards napa valley but i mean you know don't don't head into the silicon valley either but you see what i'm saying there's there's an inconvenient place to live where the rent is cheaper this whole thing is inconvenient but it is the best five-year plan it is not the best five-month plan the next five months are going to suck. Right. So that the next five years don't.

Yes. You live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. It's hard. I get it. I get it. Hey, thanks for the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Ryan is in Erie, Pennsylvania. Hey, Ryan, how are you? Good, Dave.

How are you doing today? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, I was just wondering, we started the old debt snowball here, me and my wife, about two months ago. We just got married two years ago, or a year ago, rather, and got one of the loans paid off, working on the second one. Our tractor just broke down, so I'm just kind of need some motivation, need some help on what to do to try to get this snowball rolling again.

A tractor. You're a farmer? No, we just have a, just to cut the grass. Oh, okay. And so are you on a farm or you're talking about just your lawn mower? Just our lawn mower, yeah. Okay. How many acres do you mow?

About two. Oh, that's pretty substantial. Okay. What's it take to fix your lawnmower? Well, this is the second time we've had it fixed this year already, so I'm starting to think it's like nickel and diamond. Yeah, you don't get any money, though. So what's it take to fix your lawnmower?

I would probably say the guy I called him, he said it'd be anywhere from $200 to $600. And what would it sell for the way it sits? Probably could get, I would say, like $1,000 to $1,500. Okay. That'd be a range. So what if you sold it and got a $1,500 one that worked? Yeah, that just happened yesterday. I was like, ah. But what if you did that would that

work i think so that's no money out of pocket you sell it for 1500 you take 1500 you buy a tractor that works uh you know it's not it's not we're not getting you know we're not getting a john deere zero turn for that i know that right yeah unless it's an old worn out one but um you see what i'm saying? You get something to get the dead gum grass cut and you don't have to buy a $25 push mower. You can do that and do it, but it just takes a while. You do

what you got to do right now to not spend money to get out of debt. And a upgrading and riding lawn mower is not called an emergency. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Andrew's in West Palm Beach. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Andrew.

Hi, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? So, I have a bit of a two-pronged question here. I'm 20 years old. I'm debt-free, baby steps number one already, and I'm in college. But I had some thoughts about a partnership with my cousin for starting up an internet cafe gaming business and uh

i was also thinking about how to fund that business okay uh what are you doing now for a living right now i work at an it company and i'm contracted to go to a law firm usually every uh other day cool you're you're contacted to do what uh contracted to go to a law firm usually every other day. Cool. You're contacted to do what? Contracted to go to a law office, sir, every other day. I got you. Okay. And what are you being paid? I'm being paid $12 an hour.

Okay. Good. All right. And so you guys would start this idea on the side while you keep your full-time jobs, right? Well, I don't have a full-time job. I still go to college. Oh. Yeah, I'm getting more hours as I go.

That was part of my question, was maybe I get a second job on the weekend on this business? What would it take to get the business started? It sounds like it's a digital affair. Why would it take any money other than your sweat? So it's an idea for a gaming cafe, so we'd open, like, a small storefront and have about maybe 20 to 30 computers.

Yes, sir. Oh, I thought you meant a digital cafe. You're wanting to set up a hard business. Yes, sir, brick and mortar. Yeah. I'd pass on that until you get out of school. That's a heavy investment of time and money, neither one of which you have an abundance of right now.

What are you studying in school? Computer science, sir. Good for you. When will you graduate? December this year with my AA, and then the program I would go to is at the same school, which is the BAS, about four more years after this December. Four more years?

After getting your associates? Yeah, sorry, it's a bachelor's, but two more years, I'm sorry. Oh, two more years. Okay, that makes more sense. All right, good. Okay, and why are you pursuing a bachelor in computer science? It's cheaper for me, and I could go straight into the field right after I graduate, and I would get a master's eventually down the road, I like to think.

I'm not suggesting a master's. I'm wondering if you even need a bachelor's. Are you doing anything? Can you get involved? What is it you want to actually do when you're through i so with the business or my life no with your career why are you studying this well personally i love to work with computers and help people who have problems with the computers and i think it'd be a really great idea and fun idea to be helping people at the same time making a decent or livable wage off of that sir well the more people you'd help the less that have to be helping people at the same time making a decent or livable wage off of that, sir. Well, the more people you'd help, the less it would have to be just decent or livable. It could be awesome.

I mean, Bill Gates helped a whole lot of people. Yes, sir. It worked out well for him. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so here's the reason I'm poking around on this. I'm not suggesting you change direction. I'm just asking questions because I know that a lot of the guys and gals on our IT team, and we have several hundred people here working in IT, in programming, in building apps,

and working in Java, working in Ruby, working in architecture, doing IT support, helping people keep their boxes running uh i dropped mine and they had to come fix the headphone jack on it this morning all that kind of stuff right and so having all these guys on the team almost none of them have a four-year computer science degree most of them have certifications in microsoft or ruby or java or whatever and they've got they've built up experience in those areas of programming, okay, and that kind of thing. So it depends on what you want to do as to whether you actually need

a four-year computer science degree in order to do it. So I want you to investigate that a little bit further to start with. Number two, I think in the technology field, you could start something in the digital realm very cheaply without doing brick and mortar. Right. And that would make you more money with less investment quicker. Yes, sir. One thing I do have right now is just on the side, I have like three Craigslist ads in the area, and I service computers at people's homes.

Ding, ding. That's for $50 an hour. Ding, ding. That's good. And how much an hour? $50 an hour, sir. Look at you. Yeah, you get many of those.

You could drop that $12 an hour gig. Yes, sir. Yeah, that's what I would do is I would expand that instead of do the investment in the click and mortar someday you may come back around and do the click and mortar depending on what the industry does in the next five years when you're 25 and you know you're starting to reach out and do some of your your longer term goals the second thing i would or the last thing i would add to the conversation is i would avoid partnerships the only ship that won't sail is a partnership. They end badly almost all the time. Working with small businesses, the number of partnerships that we have worked with that are 10 years old or older is almost zero, except for law offices and medical offices.

Docs and lawyers do a different kind of partnerships when they go together, and they usually last. But two guys, cousin and two cousins starting up something almost never makes it. And it oftentimes ends badly. So if you want to work with your cousin, fine. If he wants to open the store and give you a percentage of the profits for working there and running it for him, that's okay, but you don't own it or vice versa i don't mind you participating off the bottom line as if as if you're a partner or him participating off the bottom line but i don't want you to get married to your cousin yeah me either there's just so much wrong with that metaphor hey thanks for calling open phones at 888-825-5225 david is in dover delaware

hi david how are you hi dave how are you better than i deserve what's up so uh my wife and i are on baby step um four good Five and six. Good. And we are in the process of discussing if we should continue renting. Our rent is about $1,050 a month, which is good value for what we have. Continue to do that and save up to buy a house with cash, which would take between approximately five and seven years to do that. Or if we should take a year, save up down payment and do a 15-year fixed rate. Well, neither one of those are outside of our plan.

This is the only advice you ever get on the dave ramsey show that i am okay with you doing but i will never do i will never borrow money i do not borrow money for any reason ever in any circumstance ever again i'm done the borrower slave of the lender i'm not going back in debt ever. And so I love your 100% down plan. I think it's awesome. But I don't yell at people for taking out, as you obviously know, a 15-year fixed rate where the payment is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay, and then you get about the business of paying that off as soon as you possibly can.

And you need to pay it off in between 7 and ten years so that you're on the track with the same data points as the everyday millionaire study shows us that millionaires are doing. So that's what you're facing. Either one of those are inside of our plan. The reason the zero-down plan works so well is between now and the time you buy a house, you have a huge pile of cash, building and building and building, which gives you lots of options.

When you do buy a house 100% down, I said zero down. When you do buy a house with 100% down, then you've got all kinds of options because for the rest of your life, you now have no house payment. And if you just invest every month what would have been a house payment, you're going to be so stinking rich, it's going to be unbelievable. So it is the shortest path to wealth, but it is so countercultural. It is so painful to watch everybody else buy a house, and houses going up in value during that time. It's tough. And Delaware is a, you know, Dover is an expensive market.

So, I mean, you're sitting there. So I think if I were in your shoes, what would I do? Well, I don't borrow money. But I don't yell at people for that other route. So I'm okay with you doing either one. I appreciate you calling in. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books.

Our thanks to James Childs, our producer, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer, and phone screener. We'll be back. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Once again, you made The Dave Ramsey Show one of the top five most downloaded podcasts last year. To get your daily dose of motivation and inspiration, subscribe today.