The Ramsey Show - App - The Dave Ramsey Show 12/22/2018 hour3

Episode Date: December 22, 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. This is a giving show, our annual giving show. Generosity is what it's all about, living like no one else so that you're in a position to live and give like no one else. The most fun you'll ever have with money is generosity. You'll never have any more fun than that. Generosity is mercy, mercy in action.

Yeah, you see it happen. And we get some great stories on this annual giving show. Our last live show before Christmas, and the rest of them will be best ofs. And our best ofs are really better than when I'm here because they mark the segments when I'm good. And I'm not always good, so there you go. It is a best of.

And the people in the booth are laughing because they know that to be very true. Anyway, so call us with your giving stories. The phone number here, 888-825-5225. Chris is in Baltimore. Merry Christmas, Chris. How are you? Hey, Merry Christmas, Dave. How are you doing, sir?

Better than I deserve. Tell me your giving story all right so this story is a little bit of giving and a lot of receiving uh so it's got a few elements so in 2013 i was a staff sergeant in the air force we just pcs to alaska i had a pregnant wife and a two-year-old son we get to alaska and get to alaska and start uh looking for a church couldn't find one uh having a little trouble finding the right fit. So wife and I felt sort of called to find another way to give. And so Anchorage has a fairly large homeless population.

So we just tried to make or did our best we could to provide them food any chance we got. So one evening we were leaving a Wendy's in Anchorage, and a man approached us and asked if he could get some french fries. And so I say, sure, man. I don't know exactly how cold it was, Dave, that day, but the guy was just in, you know, torn, battered clothes. His shoes were, you know, probably on the last mile. So anyways, he and I – sorry, I'm getting a little choked up.

He and I walked into Wendy's, and I said, dude, you order whatever you want. He orders a small French fry and that's it. I nudged him and I said, hey man, you really, you can get whatever you want. You're not limited to a kid's French fry. And he follows with, okay, well, I'll take a kid's hamburger too. I jumped in front of him and I said look i told the clerk i said get him two of y'all's biggest hamburgers you know two of the biggest things are fries you got and the biggest dang coke you got on in the restaurant uh the man just started crying just weeping and he thanked me probably a thousand times and he's not as he and i were leaving he asked for a hug i say sure man whatever so we hug and he he whispers to me, he says, God is going to bless

you soon. And, you know, I just kind of brushed it off, and, you know, we went our separate ways. Well, not long after that encounter, about two or three weeks or so, my father-in-law calls us real early in the morning. We're in Alaska, he's in Texas, so it's like six or seven in the morning, and father-in-law's just screaming. He's like, you just want a car and a drawing. And my wife and I, you just won a car in a drawing. And my wife and I, we went back and forth on how that was possible, thinking it was some kind of cruel joke. And I remember before PCS into Alaska, I had donated to a nonprofit,

and in return they gave me a raffle ticket for a car, and it turns out we did win the car. The story gets a little better. So after confirming that we actually did win the car, we made contact with the owner of the dealership that donated the car and I told him about our debt situation and we were able to work out a deal where I sold him the car back for about $15,000 and the wife and I were then able to turn around and pay off the remainder of her student loan debt and then start our little emergency fund. And that's it.

I love it, man. That's so fun. That is so fun. It all starts with a small fry. Or did it? It might have started with the donation back with the nonprofit. Or it might have started before that when your dad was raising you and teaching you how to be so generous. Yeah.

Generosity is a fun journey because you never know exactly where it starts, and you never know when it's going to end. Very, very well done. Jesse is with us in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Hi, Jesse. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, Dave. Nice to talk to you. You too, sir.

Merry Christmas. I'm having a little bit of some throat problems. Okay. Well, tell us your giving story. Well, I actually have more of a receiving story. So in December of last year, my wife and I found out that we were expecting our fifth child. And though we wasn't planning on growing a family, we soon became excited, and we began praying for a daughter, for a girl.

Everything progressed as normal. And whenever that day came in September, we received a little girl. You know, much toward this May, God decided that she was too perfect for this imperfect world that we're in, and He didn't grant her that breath of life. You know, we had just, I just started listening to your program back in July or August of a few months before and had just started trying to get together my big step one, which was only about a third of the way through. So, I mean, we're just totally unprepared for any type of an event like this.

I apologize for my voice. You're fine. But anyways, you know, just a real hard time on my wife and I and the kids. You know, I remember as we're going through this, my wife's just asking me, you know, what are we going to do? You know, we came to afford a shoebox for our daughter. How are we going to pay for a funeral? And, you know, the days, the next few days went by.

We had people coming in and out of our house. They were bringing us food, groceries, flour, just whatever we needed for the house. They were bringing different ones. They'd bring us money, and, you know, whenever it came time for us to buy the cemetery plots for, we had enough money given to us by that point. Wow. We was able to buy not only just one that we needed for her, but we were able to buy three of them so that we could ensure that my wife and I would be able to

lay next to her one day. Oh my goodness. Wow, so this was friends and neighbors and church members and people bringing food and money by. Uh oh, we lost your call. I'm sorry, i didn't get to hear the end of it but i think we got the gist of the story the funeral got paid for wow what a sad story but sometimes that's where generosity shows up too generosity is mercy i'm telling you telling you it is it may be some other things but it's at least mercy

this is a generosity hour on on 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. I recommend a quick Churchill checkup. In just five minutes, our friends at Churchill Mortgage can tell you if you could save some cash each month. They've helped thousands upon thousands of my listeners keep more cash in their pockets through a smarter mortgage.

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This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. It's a generosity hour on The Dave Ramsey Show. It's our annual giving show. We always do a giving show where you call in with your giving stories and your receiving stories as our last live broadcast before Christmas, our way of celebrating the holidays. Merry Christmas to you, America. Paul is with us in Scottsdale, Arizona. Merry Christmas, Paul. Merry Christmas, Dave.

How are you doing today? Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? Tell me your giving story. So earlier this year, I was at my eye doctor appointment sitting in the waiting room, and a couple walked in with their young son, probably five or six years old. And when they were talking to the receptionist, I could overhear that they had an outstanding bill due. It was $647, and all they could afford to pay was $300, and then they would have to

figure out a way to pay the rest. So they actually came and sat down pretty close to me, and somebody from the billing department came over and talked to them, and it sounds like the husband had had quite a few eye issues over the year and the billing person knew them well and they were they were talking about the outstanding bill and what they could do to pay it and then after the gentleman's appointment that he could they would talk to him about possibly setting up a payment plan so when I was sitting there and could overhear this conversation, I was actually thinking to myself that this is a time for me to be outrageously generous. Fortunately, you know, my wife and I have worked pretty hard and had successful careers and we're debt free,

except our house and we're everyday millionaires. So when the woman left, the billing woman left, I followed her and kind of tapped her on the shoulder and said, Hey, I overheard that conversation. I would like to pay off that gentleman's bill. And she kind of looked at me quizzically and, you know, asking me if I was serious. And I said, Yeah, yeah, I'm serious. So they proceeded to let me pay off the gentleman's bill.

And I said I wanted to remain anonymous. Just tell them at the end of the appointment when you talk to them So they proceeded to let me pay off the gentleman's bill, and I said I wanted to remain anonymous. Just tell them at the end of the appointment when you talk to them that their bill is taken care of and they don't have to worry about it anymore. So after the appointment, we actually, I got done with my appointment at the same time as the gentleman did. So the woman actually took him in her office away from me so I could check out and get out of the office. And then about a week, week and a half later, I got an envelope in the mail from the eye doctor,

and it was a thank-you card from the couple saying how appreciative they were of their secret angel for paying off the bill and how much it really meant to them. That's wonderful. That's fun. I love it. I love those appointments. Yeah, you had an appointment while you were having an appointment.

I like it. Very good story, sir. Well played. Well played. It's fun, y'all. This idea of generosity and just catching somebody off guard right when they need it. That's fun. Madison is in Louisville, Kentucky.

Merry Christmas, Madison. Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. So tell me your giving story. So I kind of want to preface this and say with our group, which is through a church group is what happened, and this group is full of young professional adults.

So I think the highest age is maybe 27. So this was a group effort and not just an individual effort. So each year we go through and we sponsor a family for Christmas. And normally what that consists of is kind of a need for each member of the family and then some clothing items and some toys for the kids. Sorry. Well, this year for Christmas, we had a family that was struggling a little bit more than most were that we had had previously.

And the family that we were given this year actually didn't really have anything in their apartment whatsoever. I mean, it was completely bone dry, and there was nothing there. Wow. And so what we ended up doing, yeah, is... No furniture? No nothing? No furniture.

There was nothing in the apartment. Wow. And so we were given the task, and we were essentially... Originally, we just wanted to go through and to give beds and dressers for each member of the family. And we were told to pray about it and then to contact our sponsors with amounts that we may want to donate because we were all donating with ourselves for this family. Well, we get a call in our group meeting that we had actually raised more than we had intentionally wanted to do. And I don't know the exact dollar amount, but from what we ended up doing,

we had to have raised at least over $2,000 to purchase items for these families. And we ended up were able to furnish the whole apartment. We did dressers, coffee table, a couch. We even went through and purchased brand new washer and drives for the family. And then additionally, we had funds left over where people had donated items to purchase winter boots and also some toys for all the kids in the family. And this family was five total. It was a single mom and then four kids.

The ages range from about 16 to two. Wow. That's fun. Well done. Well done. Woo-hoo. Thank you. And so you were able to see them enjoy all of it then?

Yes. We went through it, and we took, like, a big trailer and put all the furniture on it, and were able to deliver it to the family. And we set up everything in the apartment. We set up all the beds, the dressers, and we sat there and just like visited with the family while we were there. And I have never seen someone so thankful and so appreciative of a gift. And honestly, we couldn't have done this without just like blessings from God, because this wasn't us. This was God working through us. Because all of these people that

contributed in this group were college-age students. So we had just graduated college. We're very new in our careers. And what was really crazy about it is because of your program, I had paid off my car a couple months prior and used my car payment as my contribution for, like, the whole fund. There you go. That's what happens when you don't have debt. Oh, well done.

Well done, well done, well done. Man, that's fabulous. Great job. So proud of you guys. That's great. A bunch of college students furnished an apartment for a single mom. That's real generosity. Kevin is with us in Milwaukee.

Kevin, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Dave. Tell me your giving story. Yeah, so our story from our family starts just about two years ago. We started volunteering for a Christian nonprofit organization called Safe Families for Children. The Safe Families has a goal of keeping children safe and families intact and relies on families like ours and churches to practice biblical hospitality by opening our homes and caring for children whose parents or guardians are struggling.

Parents will voluntarily ask for their kids to be taken care of while they deal with either homelessness, unemployment, or other health-related issues. So really just to provide a safe family for children. And when we decided to get involved with Safe Families, we decided to become a host family and open up our house. And my wife and I decided that we would always host a child and be a safe family for children whenever we would be able to have daycare available to help us out. Yeah. So this is kind of like a foster care type of a program.

It is. It's all volunteer-based and it's all church-based. And all faith-based and it's all church-based. And all faith-based, yeah. Okay. Exactly. So over the last two years, we've had eight children in our house, and I had two quick stories I wanted to share. Our first hosting, which was two years ago, we asked our children's daycare to help out and watch this little girl

with the expectations of paying full tuition for her. After a week or two of us going through it and hosting, we didn't notice any changes in our billing with having a third child in daycare. So we asked, and they said, oh, no, we're not going to charge you anything. We're going to just do it out of the blessing of our hearts. So that was a blessing for us at the time. We were expecting to pay full tuition, and it would have been real tight for us money-wise before we got on your plan,

but it was a real blessing to be able to let God provide for us in that way. Wow. Awesome, man. That's good. So you're helping, they're helping, everybody's helping. This is the way it's supposed to be. You know, if we could just get everybody kind of moving in that direction instead of just trying to buy the next trinket. Yeah, we could probably do away with the need for a government. Yeah, in other words, we just took care of each other.

I don't know. It's just a thought. I'd like to get everybody so wealthy and so generous that we put the government out of business. There's a plan. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I get asked all the time, when in the baby steps is the right time to buy life insurance? My answer is typically now. Life insurance is not part of the baby steps because it's needed when your family has debt and not enough savings to provide for their financial needs.

That's when they're at the highest risk. And no matter where you are in your baby steps, it's a necessity, not a choice. This includes working husbands and wives, as well as stay-at-home parents. It's pretty expensive to replace those stay-at-home parent responsibilities. I only recommend term life insurance, since it's the most affordable way to get the right amount of coverage and not break your budget. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282.

These are the guys I personally use. Term life insurance is inexpensive, and your family needs this no matter where you are in your baby steps. That's Zander.com or call 800-356-4282 zander.com so It's a generosity theme hour. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. And we always bring on at least one story about generosity from our own team members once an hour. And Michael joins us. He is one of our stewardship sales advisors, which means he works with churches that are

teaching financial peace university. Been here about a year. Michael, how are you? I'm doing well, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.

So tell us your giving story, sir. Sure. It was November 11th, 2014. I was a senior at Trevecca University here in Nashville and I was running cross country and I was looking forward to Christmas break. I was looking forward to coming back second semester and running track, but I woke up on November 11th in 2014. I had some severe stomach pain.

And long story short, I ended up going to the emergency room and the doctor came in the room and he looked at me. He said, Michael, I didn't expect to tell, and the doctor came in the room, and he looked at me. He said, Michael, I didn't expect to tell you this when you came in here today, but you have stage two testicular cancer. Whoa. Yeah. And I was afraid. I was overwhelmed. Yeah.

Six years prior to that, my dad had actually passed away from a long-term battle with testicular cancer. Wow. So I was, needless to say, I was at the lowest point in my life. Yeah. And if it weren't for my parents and many friends and family, I'm not sure that I would be here today. And there are a few people in town in particular that I'd like to thank. One is Mark Elliott. He is the athletic director at Trevecca University.

When he found out about my diagnosis, he reached out to my cross-country coach, Austin Selby, and they decided to honor my athletic scholarship for the spring. Wow. Yeah. So I was able to go to classes. I was able to graduate in May. And I was able to do that without running.

So that was a big deal. That was a big deal. Very thankful to them. And I also have a friend. His name is Daniel White. He works with Food for the Hungry here in town. He's also a photographer. I coached both of his boys in gymnastics in college.

And so when he heard of my story, he was like, Michael, I would love to share your story on my social media. And so he did on Facebook and Instagram. He raised over $6,000 to go towards my medical expenses. Yeah. Yeah. I'm so thankful for him. And also, finally, I would like to thank Miss Terry and Mr. Carl Moody and their three children.

They're actually a family here in town. This family did perhaps one of the most selfless things a family could do for another person. When I found out that I had cancer, I wanted to stay in Nashville so I could finish school. I wanted to be treated here with healthcare, but I didn't have any family in town. And I wasn't able to stay in the dorms. I was really going to need a place to stay. I was going to need someone to take care of me. And this family, it was not my family, took me in for four months. Wow. And I lived with them while I was going through chemotherapy treatment.

Mr. Carl drove me from their home in Spring Hill to Williamson Medical Center here in Franklin for almost every one of my chemotherapy treatments. When I went home, they looked after me, even when I wasn't fun to be around. I was in a lot of pain. And the love, the time, the sacrifice, the resources that they poured into me, I'll never be able to repay them. And their support is second to none. They actually, just a testament to that, they came here today because they knew that I was going to be sharing this story.

Wow. So I'm so thankful for them. So how were you connected to them that they make the decision to take you on? I mean, because they did. They took you in, took you on. Great question. So growing up in Franklin, Ohio, they were actually our friends. They went to Franklin Road Baptist Church.

And Miss Terry knew me from preschool. She knew me as the boy that wore the snakeskin cowboy boots. And so she knew me in preschool. Some things don't change. Yeah, but they've moved here now over 20 years later. They've moved here and started a family and I got to connect with them through that. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah. Very cool. So obviously you healed and obviously that's a story that is the cancer is a part of your history, not part of your present. Yeah, I've been cancer-free for three years now. There we go.

Married to my beautiful wife, Amanda, for two years. Yeah, very good. Well, congratulations. Very cool. That is a great, great giving story. Man, take somebody in. That's amazing. Hey, thanks, Michael.

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Good stuff. All right, thanks, Michael. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Good stuff. All right, Lauren is with us in Boston. Hey, Lauren, your giving story. Merry Christmas, by the way. Oh, Merry Christmas, Dave. It's a pleasure to speak with you.

You too. Yeah, goodness, what a story that gentleman had. Well, about six years ago, on December 18th, my mother actually passed, and it was severely unexpected and a huge punch to the gut, as you can imagine. My husband and I had literally just gotten engaged a few weeks prior, and we were still in that celebration mode and, you know, come to find out my father actually that week was just diagnosed with testicular cancer as well and so there was a ton of emotion going around and, you know, and then top it off we had the holidays coming around and I had shared the story with my, you know, my best friend at work. And she basically had known a lot of my history, you know, being my work family.

And she went through, she went to my friends at work and basically mentioned the fact that my sister and I had to actually pay for my mother's burial expense because my parents were very, unfortunately, living paycheck to paycheck and had zero savings. So knowing the huge financial strain that was put on my sister and I, my friend $3,000 to $4,000 and gave that to me at the funeral service, as well as my entire team from work showed up. And we're talking like 20 or 30 people that traveled the weekend before Christmas, about two hours away, and surprised the heck out of me and gave me that generous gift.

And I'm still with the company, and I just forever am thankful to them and their generosity. Amen. That's good. You know, there's a lot going on there. The cash is one thing. All those people making that trip means a lot. When you're standing in a city several hours away

and you pretty much think you're by yourself at your mom's funeral and you look up and all your buddies show up. That's a big deal. I was just taken aback. When they entered the church, I was just speechless. It was just like, I mean, people that just started with the company, people I hardly even met before with different branches. It was just, it was such an outpouring of support. And I, you know, it's just one of the many reasons I'm still with the company

and then lucky to have a very generous work group that I adore. Absolutely. Great story, Lauren. Thank you for sharing that. Merry Christmas to you. We appreciate you calling in. Well, this is a Giving a Generosity theme hour. David is in Columbus, Ohio.

He says, a family friend covered half of my college costs so that I could go to my dream school. Because of that generosity, I now have my dream job after my dream school, and my wife and I are able to fund Financial Peace University at our church and support a missionary that plants churches in France. Well, there you go. That's cool. I remember the very first time I heard of someone doing that. A guy was working for me probably 25 years ago when we were first getting this business going.

And one of our first 10 or 15, 20 team members had graduated from college at the University of Kentucky, and a family friend that was wealthy in Kentucky had paid for his college. And I'd never heard of anybody doing that. I never knew anybody could do something like that. That was amazing. And it's inspiring, though, isn't it? Really inspiring. Generosity.

It's the best possible use of money. Generosity. It changes you. Generosity is the best possible use of money. Generosity changes you. Generosity changes the person you're helping. Generosity is mercy. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Our scripture of the day, of course, Luke 10 and 11. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. Winston Churchill said, we make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. Well, several years back, not that many years back, I guess, but it seems like about two or three years back, I guess it is, I look over in the lobby here where we do some of our debt-free screams, and a guy does his debt-free scream. And it was a different kind of a debt-free scream.

And it has become one of the more popular debt-free screams, the ones viewed on YouTube. And it sounded a little bit like this. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free screams are the ones viewed on youtube and it sounded a little bit like this count it down let's hear a debt-free scream a play-by-play debt-free scream are you okay with this all right all right dave bottom of the ninth inning financial series game seven three one in favor of crushing debt leading financial freedom bases loaded two outs on mound is Chase, the indomitable closer. He's the Mariano Rivera of debt. But the bases are loaded for Financial Freedom. Honda Freedom at third. Heloc Freedom at second. Mortgage Freedom at first. Keenest steps into the box. Here's the pitch. A swing and a line drive down the left field line. This is fair. Coming in is Honda Freedom to score.

Heloc Freedom rounding third base. He's going to score to tie the game. Here comes the game when you run around for third base. The throw home from Aquin Mortgage. It's on the fly. It may get him. The slide. The tag.

He's safe. He's safe. He's dead free. Love it. Patrick, if you hadn't figured out by now, is a play-by-play announcer of the Durham Bulls over in North Carolina, the Raleigh-Durham Market. And Patrick, after that debt-free scream, kind of became famous, not only around here, but a lot of you have memorialized that debt-free scream. And then he has started interacting not only with us he's kind of become our kind of become part of our family and we got patrick on the line merry christmas to you

patrick merry christmas dave to you and the family and i guess that's the gift that keeps on giving right yeah that's fun man that's fun it's like it's like it's chiseled in stone now they're on youtube you know so cool stuff so tell us what you're doing on the giving we get stuff from you all the time you're very generous to us you're always sending us some kind of an item or uh uh you know goodies over here always look up something's coming from patrick sure sure so it was and i guess it goes back to the whole process so when i was paying off all my debt you were kind of a pretend family for me because, you know, listened, got to know you a little bit.

The content was kind of our connection. But then after I came to your plaza and did my debt-free stream and then got to know you and Kelly and Cam and James and George and the rest of your team, you truly have become kind of an extended part of my family. And one of the things that families are supposed to do are be selfless for one another, and they're supposed to set examples for one another. And to help keep me connected to your program after I finished Baby Step 7, I needed some way to tether myself to stay with the Dave Ramsey team, with the program, to kind of keep me centered and grounded and maintain progress forward.

Because it can get a little bit lonely when you finish with Baby Step 7. You're not exactly sure what's next. Because when you're in debt, the question is why. You know, what's the purpose of becoming debt-free? Why am I buying this? Why do I want this? But after Baby Step 7, the question changes to why not? You know, why not make a donation? Why not be generous? Why not treat these people? Why not reach out with no connections at all to a family that has dealt with some serious tragedies? So that was one of the reasons

why I wanted to stay connected with you and your crew. So on the anniversary of my payoff, not my death retreat, but my payoff, and it's been four years now, I just decided that I was going to say thanks to my family for sticking with me and believing in me that I could do it. And so I send treats to you guys, whether it's 40 pizzas to the lobby to treat you and your staff, or breakfast, or whatever. And you're right about the generosity. It just makes you feel good. It validates you, because I'm not very good at treating myself, but I'm great at treating others.

Well, and you've been handing out tickets to the Bulls, too, haven't you? I have. I have, and that's kind of the way where with the visibility in my career because now I broadcast a couple of Olympics and I work for the Olympic Channel as well as the Bulls. I go to some really cool events. I do some really neat things. But there's, as you know, a huge community of Dave Ramsey followers,

of people somewhere on the continuum between Baby Step 1 and Baby Step 7. And so I pop into several Dave Ramsey Facebook pages and into the YouTube chat, and as I head to various cities covering pro baseball games or college basketball games, whatever I'm doing, and see if there are people in that community who would like to come out to a game because I want to hear their stories. My career is all about storytelling, and I know what story that they're writing as far as their debt payoff, and I just want to meet them and encourage them and hear their accomplishments

and maybe be a little bit of a tailwind in their sales as they cross the finish line. And so, you know, they bring out their families. There is the Charlotte family of nine that you had on your show a couple of summers ago. They came out to a game in Charlotte. I've had people from Louisville and Indianapolis and Norfolk and Columbus and Toledo and, you know, Pataki, really anywhere the Durham Bulls travel that people have taken me up on the

offer. And so I'll take them on the field or their grandsons on the field to meet some players, kind of create a moment for them in their memory that adds to the process of paying off debt. And then they love coming up in the booth and they call an inning and putting the headphones on. It's just kind of behind the curtain that they really enjoy that. And these people, just like your staff, have become very good friends of mine in certain cases deanna who overcame uh you know the the alcohol and drug addiction who was a a huge huge personality

in her show last summer she and i become very good friends she came out to a game at clemence a few months ago so just my my way of trying to give back and it's much easier when you're baby step seven to be able to do that uhabashedly. You're a fun guy. Man, we appreciate the donuts. We appreciate the pizza. But most of all, we appreciate your friendship and your generosity. Absolutely incredible, Patrick. Merry Christmas to you, sir.

God bless you. Thanks for sharing with us. We really, really appreciate it. Well, there you have it 41.6 million dollars almost 50 million dollars paid off with debt free screams on the air this year alone

this year alone and so if you add that up through 10 or 15 or 20 years pretty quickly you get to over a billion dollars worth of debt-free screams and that's on the air only of debt reduced that's the ones that got on the air what a year what an incredible year and your generosity stories today have rocked our world. I mean, there's been a little bit of everything.

Pretty cool stuff. People taking people into their home, paying for college tuition, giving cars away, covering eye doctor bills. I mean, it's everything. And that's what you can do. It'll happen to you. It'll appear. The situation will appear right in front of you as soon as you're able to look at something other than yourself because you're not broke anymore. When you're broke, all you can do is look at yourself because you're just trying to eat, just trying to get by. I remember that.

There's no shame in that. But this is the year coming up. The one coming up is the year you're not that person anymore. This is going to be behind you. You're not only going to be out of debt. You're not only going to have your emergency fund in place. You're going to be working towards an everyday millionaire status and outrageous generosity. Contentment comes from gratitude Gratitude leads to contentment

Contentment then Leads to generosity Changes everything Thanks to all of you Thanks to James and Kelly in the booth You guys have had a great year Congratulations It's an honor to work with you too

Merry Christmas to you That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Kelly in the booth. You guys have had a great year. Congratulations. It's an honor to work with you, too. Merry Christmas to you. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's the reason for the season. Christ Jesus. Merry Christmas to you, America. Hey, it's Kelly Daniel, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show.

Did you know that in 2017, Dave Ramsey Show listeners paid off $50 million of debt? That's pretty impressive. And it could be you this year. Keep listening for more inspiration.