The Ramsey Show - App - The Economy is Sizzling: Get a Better Paying Job! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: January 11, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage is going to help you become an everyday millionaire. That's right, folks. We are excited. It is book tour week, baby. That's right. Chris Hogan is out there, man, all over the United States of America, seeing you guys and signing books for you.

We're doing events everywhere. Exciting first week, Chris. It really is, Dave. I'm so excited for it to be here and to be out on the road meeting people, telling them about this message. And so I can't wait. Just continuing to meet people, shake hands, look people in the eye, and encourage them that they, too, can become an everyday millionaire. Somebody just tuned in right now for the very first time. They've never heard of Chris Hogan or Dave Ramsey or Everyday Millionaires.

What's this book? Oh, well, this book is going to show you that the American dream is still alive and well. We did the largest study that's ever been done on millionaires from all across the country. We talked to over 10,000 of them to find out the truth. And we've got statistics. We've got stories. We found out what millionaires are doing and how they got there. And we're going to show you exactly what you can do so you can get there, too.

You know, one of the things that drove our company to do that piece of research along with you as a Ramsey personality was the our knowledge that if you do these things, you can become a millionaire. But also, we were kind of a little bit pissed off about the mythology that's going around that steals people's hope that the only way you can be wealthy is to inherit it. Oh, Dave, we found out that's not true. It is absolutely not true. Ten thousand millionaires told us that they did not inherit their money. That's right. What's the percentage? You've got 90.

You've got 21 percent of them inherited something. OK, anything, anything. And then only 16% of them inherited $100,000 or more. None of them inherited an amount to make them become a millionaire. 93% were not inherited millionaires. Were not inherited. So that means they didn't get anything handed to them. Now, what does this mean?

What this means is that a lot of you out there, maybe you weren't giving anything, and you thought, man, that's the only way I'm going to be able to get there. Well, it's not true. These millionaires work their way and built their wealth on their own. So what that means, Dave, is that everyday people, this is possible. It's not a, it's not an impossible mission. It's possible, but it's going to take you doing the right things at the right time. But, you know, it's not only a message of hope. It's a message of confrontation against lies that are being spread that cause your hope to not be real. Yeah. And this isn't false bootstrapping. And, oh, you're just the American dream.

You don't understand about my obstacles. Everybody's got obstacles, baby. But what we found is these people start from dirt poor they start from the projects they start from every race creed color national origin every segment of society and have turned into millionaires we found them from everywhere yeah and we found the correlations and um there was no correlation to an ivy league school no no and that was another one people thought that hey you've got to go to a private school or fancy school and listen we talk a family of privilege yeah not at all we

talked to people a majority of them had public education they went to a public university and so what this means is is that regardless of where you are you have an opportunity to make some decisions to be able to grow, to be able to become an everyday millionaire. And a lot of these millionaires are first generation. That means they did this on their own. But Dave, they were consistent over time. I haven't attended an Ivy League school.

As far as I got was two years into the community college. I owe a lot to my folks. They instilled in me, save, save, save. Don't owe money to anybody. But I think the biggest part is having a plan and sticking to the plan and budgeting and smart investing. That's what Rich said. And he's one of the everyday millionaires that we interviewed. And that was very typical of the responses that we got.

So you had a great book signing earlier today at the Barnes & Noble in Dallas, Texas. Now, this coming Monday, January the 14th, you will be in Houston. Yes. Yeah, I'm doing the Texas run, Dave, and I'm going to be at the Books a Million at 6 o'clock right there on Katie Mills Circle. 5,000 Katie Mills Circle. And guess what, Dave? Not only am I going to be there to sign books, I'm giving away some money. Yahoo!

Yes. Get you started on your everyday millionaire run. That's exactly right. So we're going to give away $1,000, and that's brought to you by SmartVestor. But you've got to be there. You've got to be present in order to win. Right. And we're going to have fun and no purchase necessary. You just have to be on site. Yes, you do. You do not have to buy a book. I would hope that you would. But I'd like to shake your hand and be able to meet you and be able to talk with you about this message and this journey. So it's a great opportunity to come out, have some fun, a chance to win,

and just see other people that are thinking and moving in the direction of becoming everyday millionaires. So the book tour continues, of course, been in New York and Chicago and Nashville, signed in Dallas earlier today. Coming up Monday is Houston, Texas, 6 o'clock, Books a Million. On Tuesday, over to Austin, Texas, the Barnes & Noble there at 6 o'clock at the Arbor Edom. Each one of these have the $1,000 drawing brought to you by SmartVestor. Each one of these are no purchase necessary.

You must be on site to do that. And you've got to be 18 years old or older to win that because of the lottery laws and all that junk, right? So come on out. And then on Wednesday, January the 16th, so that's Monday, Houston, Tuesday, Austin. Wednesday is San Antonio, Barnes & Noble. At 6 o'clock again, the shops at La Quintera. We've done that book signing at stores there many times. That's a wonderful store.

Again, $1,000 cash prize there. And then it continues on from there. Thursday, Friday is Colorado Springs. Friday is Phoenix. The next Monday is Los Angeles. And so, man, you're just going, man. I am running, Dave. And listen, I'm coming through Texas, so I'm going to be bringing my cowboy boots,

but I'm also going to have my running shoes because we've got things to do and places to go. But seriously, come out. I want to see you. I want to meet you and be able to talk with you. And I think we can bond together and band together to help people realize this is possible. The American dream is alive and it's available. All you have to do is decide. Yeah.

And one of the things we found was they pay off their house. Oh, Dave, they really do. About 10.2 years. Is that what the average was? That's exactly right. That's the average. And so you think about that. Not only you have the house paid off, and now you redirect that mortgage payment. That makes you easily wealthy. It puts you in that

direction. And so, again, this is the stuff, Dave, you've talked about for years in Financial Peace University. Well, I always get the response, though, Dave, I'd pay off my house, too, if I was a millionaire. No, dummy, you got it backwards. You have to pay off the house so you become a millionaire because you don't have a house payment anymore.

You can, you know, pour that into investments and ding, ding, you turn into money, right? That's right. This is not rocket science, people. It really isn't. And if you're behind or you're feeling behind,

think about that. You pay off the house and you redirect that $1,500 or $2,000 mortgage payment. Now going into your 401k or your IRAs, you're building money. You're building interest.

And that's one of the other things they all did. They all did their retirement plans. They did. They loaded up the 401k. They loaded up the Roth IRAs. And they kept the government's hands off the money. And they systematically, steadily, systematically, steadily, systematically, steadily, the tortoise, not the hare, and their everyday millionaires.

They started with nothing, did not inherit their money. How ordinary people built extraordinary wealth and how you can, too. Not a bootstrap message, not a positive thinking message. Researched facts. Yes. That you can align yourself with those facts and change your whole future. It works. You surely can, and it really is.

And this is where, I mean, Dave, this research project was so big that we used an outside firm to help us with it. Over 10,000 millionaires from all across the country. So I'm excited for people to read the information, see the stats, but hear these stories. These stories are motivating, my friends, and they tell people the reality of what's available to them. The book is Everyday Millionaires. Monday is Houston, Texas. Books a Million. Tuesday is Austin, Texas. Books a Million. Tuesday is Austin, Texas.

Barnes & Noble. Thursday or Wednesday, rather, is Barnes & Noble at San Antonio. Chris Hogan, best-selling author yet again, baby! Yeah, we'll be announcing that soon. I love it! Everyday Millionaires! This is the Dave Ramsey Show.

Your goal this year is to get rid of your debt, but here's the deal. In order to keep your momentum going past January, you have to make small changes that get quick results. That's why you need to attack your debts smallest to largest. I also recommend you look for ways to find extra money to pay off your debt sooner. It's there, I promise you. Take a look at your mortgage. If you call my friends at Churchill Mortgage and request a five-minute checkup, they can help you find extra money. Churchill Mortgage Checkup has helped thousands of my listeners save big. In just a few minutes, the Churchill team can tell you how much cash they can potentially save you, or they can restructure your mortgage to pay it off early.

Become debt-free in 2019. Call Churchill today at 888-LOAN-200, or visit churchillmortgage.com for your Churchill checkup. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLS consumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. Thanks for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. Alex is with us in Seattle.

Hey, Alex, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, glad to be here. How are you doing? Better than I deserve, sir. How can I help? I got a new financial advisor several months back and we're just transitioning all our accounts over to their firm. And he's recommending I have some money that I rolled from 401k, a Roth 401k, to put it into a fee-based account because most

of mine are in the commission mutual fund thing. And I'm kind of concerned about that because I don't know too much about the fee base. And he says that until it's a certain amount, like $8,000 in there, it's going to be $10 a month. And then after that, it's going to be 1.35% or whatever for the fee. So I'm not sure if I should do that or just stick with my mutual funds. If he's discussing a managed account, which it sounds like he is, a managed account meaning that this is going to be a group of mutual funds

and they're managing it for that and they're removing the commissions in lieu of an annual fee to do what's called a managed account, that's fine, as long as they've got a good track record doing their managed account. So I'd want to see what their track record is on their managed account. But the 135 is a reasonable, that's a pretty standard fee for that service. And truthfully, most of the managed accounts will outperform if they're doing a good job with it.

But not all of them do. So there's two problems here one is you don't understand it yet so don't do it because i said to or he said to okay take your time with this guy and um secondly um you know learn the track record all it is is they're saying instead of charging you a commission on what are called A shares, when you purchase the mutual fund up front, they're going to charge you an annual fee. Instead of charging you five and three quarter commission up front, they're going to charge you one percent per year, which actually is more. They're going to charge you more over the, you know, over a 10 year period of time. Right.

Because one percent for 10 years is 10 percent. Right. Versus five and three quarter up front, and then there's no more fees. So it ends up charging you a little bit more, but most of the managed accounts, if they're done right, there's not a problem with it because they're going to net you more than they cost you. And all it means is he's managing the mix of the mutual funds, and if you and he decide he can't he shouldn't move them without you

deciding but if you decide you want to change the mix of the mutual funds that their suggestion to follow their management model um you could end up you should end up with better rates of return he has shown me the accounts and their performance and he's kind of confident but i'm just i kind of felt like maybe he was selling me a product but i mean i i trust him there's of confident but i'm just i kind of felt like maybe he was selling me a product but i mean i i trust him there's a reason why i'm there yeah um but he's like hey look it has done well he went back like you know 17 years through two economic downturns he's like hey we have this chunk of change it's about five grand he's like let's just see how it does for a year if you don't like it we can come back so i'm kind of assured in that's good. You can try it with a portion of what you're doing and you don't have

to commit to it for life. But yeah, I'd probably jump in and try it. If you want to get a little bit more nerdy on it, just say, okay, show me your managed accounts versus say like the four types of mutual funds that we could pick that Dave talks about, right? Growth, growth, and then look at that portfolio over that 17 years as opposed to his managed accounts. I wouldn't be shocked if his managed accounts outperformed because it might even include some of those same funds during that time, right? But it's just a matter of they're keeping their finger on the pulse of it, and they're charging you an annual fee based on the balance that's outstanding at the time,

not based on what you invest so in other words if your 5 000 becomes 50 000 it's one percent of 50 000 right later on so they get more doing this but i'm not opposed to it they're they're um in the early days of managed accounts i told people not to do it because there was very few of them that had good long track records of managing it well enough to outperform a standard portfolio now most of them have managed them well enough long enough that a good advisor a managed account is not a problem so it's okay either way the big deal here is you're paying attention and you're investing kind of what i was ranting about in that first segment and if you're doing it on purpose and you're getting in good mutual funds

and you're doing your baby step 4, 15% of your income into retirement, you're going to end up with a lot of money either way. The difference in this is a bit of a hair-splitting discussion, but it's just how you want to do it and how you want to have your relationship with your advisor. But managed accounts are just fine, as long as they've got good long-track records that outperform standard portfolios, and most of them do. Jason is with us in Bowling Green.

Hi, Jason. How are you? I'm doing good. How are you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve. How can I help, sir? Well, long story short, I'm 31 right now and an ex that I had she

had the I guess you'd say spending like the Senate and Congress and she kind of helped get me in a lot of debt right now I'm looking at about $40,000 to 40 to 50 000 in debt and how long you've been divorced

well say we wouldn't even marry that's uh oh that makes it extra fun okay oh yeah it's got your name on it yeah it's got my name on it and what kind of debt is it? About 10 in credit cards. Okay. Do any of them have her name on them? No. Okay. So it's 100% in your name, and you've got her off of them. She can't use them anymore, right?

She can't use anything that she's screwed up. Yeah, but she just walked away, and you're left holding a $40,000 bag. Yeah, pretty much. Okay. What kind of debt? Credit cards $40,000 bag. Yeah, pretty much. Okay, what kind of debt? Credit cards? $10,000 credit cards. She needed a car, and I kind of agreed.

Where's the car? It got repossessed. Oh, okay. So $10,000 in credit cards, how much is the repo bill? $10,000. $10,000 is my magic number. That's what they're chasing you for is $10,000 in credit cards, how much is the repo bill? $10,000. $10,000 is my magic number. That's what they're chasing you for is $10,000? Yep.

Okay. That's the deficit. What they sold it for was $10,000 less than what was owed. That's $20,000 of our $40,000. What's the other $20,000? Let's see. I've got $10,000 in student loans. For her?

No, this is for me. Oh, okay. All right. This is the one that I'm... I got you'm i got you i got you so you got a forty thousand dollar mess okay what's your other ten uh i'm trying to think of where the other ten is other ten is just kind of a little bit medical bills here and there and i've also got a four-wheeler okay so 20 of it's you and 20 of it was her but you inherited it got it what's your household income uh right now it's about 36 40 grand okay and i'm looking at changing

jobs okay make them more yeah because i drive a truck and these electronic logs have royally put a curtain on me gotcha okay cool, well, always make more money helps the equation. The second thing is manage the money that you've got and get on everydollar.com. Download the app. It's free for your laptop or your iPhone or your Android, and it'll help you track your spending because when you make your money behave, it works harder. You'll feel like you've got a raise doing that alone.

But you're right. Let's do some things to get your income up part-time and long-term as far as changing jobs completely. Obviously, the four-wheeler is gone. You've got to sell it. Yeah, I've been trying to figure out what to do with that as far as selling it. We're going to cut up all the credit cards, and then we're going to list all of your debts smallest to largest when you're

doing that for the car repo do not pay them anything let it sit there but put twenty five hundred dollars in for the car repo in your debt snowball list because you can settle the 10 for 2500 when you get to it i suspect some of these credit cards are smaller than 2500 so we're going to knock off some of the little stuff first. But when we get up to, listing them smallest to largest, up to $2,500, then I want you to save up $2,500, and I want you to call the repo people and offer them that. As a settlement in full, get it in writing and negotiate with them.

And now we just got our $40,000 down to $32,000 minus a four-wheeler. And so now we're down into the $20,000 range or whatever that four-wheeler brings, $20-something thousand range. And then you begin to just work like a crazy man and completely focus on this and work your way through it. You can do it. I appreciate you listening. You call me back.

If you need some help, you should go along. But that do it. I appreciate you listening. You call me back if you need some help as you go along, but that's exactly how I would do this. Get really focused, really intentional. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm going to go on a little rant here for a minute. I took a call from a father who wanted to know how to plan for the care of his special needs daughter after he dies. Why is it that parents of special needs children are so deliberate in their planning, while other parents have a tendency to be sloppy? Do the needs of your family matter less if something happens to you? Oh, I'm sorry, did I just guilt trip you into getting some term life insurance?

Well, then good. Your family needs you to step up. Having the right amount of term life insurance is a matter of personal responsibility. If you want to use the new year as a reason for doing the right thing, then do it. Term life insurance is something every family needs, which is why I talk about it every day. It's not complicated, it's not expensive, and you need to do this now. Zander Insurance is the only place I recommend. Visit zander.com or call them at 800-356-4282. Please learn from other people's mistakes and get this taken care of. That's 800-356-4282 or zander.com Thank you for joining us, America. This is the Dave Ramsey Show.

We're glad you're here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Shelby's on Facebook. Dave, I only get one small check per month, but I want to be debt-free. How can I get there? Well, Shelby, there's two sides to the equation. The good news is the math is very simple. There's the income side and the outgo side.

We spend a lot of time on this show talking about the outgo side, controlling what you're spending and being on a budget and not going out to eat when you're broke until you get yourself straightened out. You live like no one else, so later you can live and give like no one else. That refers to lifestyle and vacations and what you're spending money on. That's the outgo side of the equation. Sometimes it's an income issue, and that may be what you're facing. I only get one small check per month it probably needs some more work the good news is that the economy is absolutely sizzling and there is work everywhere

there's a lot of work out there and um i mean it's the the number of people that I know that are trying to hire people and can't find anybody is mind-blowing, and so it may not be exactly what you want, but for the first goal, you know, when you're working through your career process is go make a big pile of money. Your second goal is to begin to move your efforts into areas that you love and have passion about where you make a big pile of money but the first goal is just gonna make some money i mean i you know i'm going to chase my passion i make a book 65 an hour no that's not passion that's just stupid

okay you're just gonna starve to death and the only thing you're gonna be passionate about your hunger you know that's it so you're just going to have to do something beyond that you cannot chase your passion and be broke that doesn't work but here's the weird thing is you're if you are passionate about something for real you'll get better and better and better and better and better and better and better and better at it because you actually enjoy doing it and you'll become one of the you'll read about it you'll study you'll take classes you'll go to events and seminars and hang out with smart people in that area and you'll just get smarter and better and sharper and smarter and better and sharper just because you're having a blast it's like candy like a kid in a candy store and so generally speaking the people that

find something that they enjoy doing are the ones that make the most money. But, you know, this idea, I'm going to make less so I get to do my passion, that's just the dumbest crap I've ever heard. But that's a myth that goes around out there. I'm going to go work for a nonprofit. What does that mean? That makes you holy? I mean, seriously.

There's nothing wrong with working for a nonprofit, but don't call me up and, you know. So, anyway, all of that to say, I only get one small check per month. Dave, that line I'm reading between the lines between the words tells me that you don't have you got some career issues. And so I actually talked to a lady here the other day. Get this one. This one blew my mind. She called me here on the air. Some of you heard the call.

She started her extra side hustle to get out of debt. Walking dogs. 110,000 last year. Walking dogs. Quit her job. She now walks dogs. She's in Manhattan, granted, where people pay a lot to have their dogs walked because you have to walk them a ways to find anything green.

But, I mean, seriously, it's just still $110,000 to walk dogs. It's not a bad thing. And she loves dogs, by the way. And now she really loves them. So isn't that weird? I mean, I don't guess you're probably going to make 110 000 in some markets walking dogs but isn't that weird her side hustle turned into a big hairy deal so she does not have one small paycheck per month now so a side hustle could turn into a big deal

and check out christy wright's business boutique if you're thinking about starting a business like that. She can help you. Equipping women to make money doing what they love. Katerina is with us in Birmingham. Hey, Katerina, how are you? Hey, Dave. I'm doing good. How are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, so I'm kind of piggybacking off of that last question, actually. But I'm 23 years old. I'm making about $30,000 a year on baby step number two, trying to pay off $30,000 in debt. And my time estimate right now for paying that off is just not as fast as I'd really like it to be, even tightening down on everything that I can. So I was wondering what advice you'd give to me on pursuing a career

and trying to make more money. Probably that's the best route to pay this off faster. Yeah, yeah. So I just feel a little stuck and a little lost. Okay, I understand. Yeah, because if we project today's numbers with no raises into the future, it takes a while. So the only way the the future gets

more exciting is with raises and it's raises at the job or raises in a different career or raises due to extra jobs right right need more money like 30 grand a year more so we got 60 and all of a sudden that student loan's gone in like one year yeah we doubled your income so how are we going to do that what do you what do you do now? So I work in customer service with a startup tech company that has a lot of opportunity for growth in other departments. It's definitely something I'm looking into. Good. Did you get a degree? I do.

I have a degree in international studies. Okay. And what was your intention when you got that degree to use it for? What were you going to do? Honestly, I was just interested in the studies, the actual education, the classes I was taking, and so I didn't have a dead-set career path. Okay. Is your company, your startup, are they doing any international work at all?

No, no. I was in international business before I took this job. This job is a lot. It was better for me personally. So I was working in international business. What does better for me personally mean? More engaged in the work, actually. Even though I had the title of international business.

What were you making? The same. The same amount. Okay, cool. Well, the good news is you've recognized that your company has some opportunities because it's an exploding startup with exponential growth. And so you've just got to ask some of your leadership team to say, okay, I want to add all kinds of extra value. I want to blow your mind with what a great team member I am so that I can rapidly go

through this place and become what you want me to be. Teach me, mentor me, show me what to do to blow your mind. How can I add value to this place that, you know, and let me sit in on some meetings that don't have anything to do with me and I'll try to help and I'll learn stuff and just be scratching, clawing, growing, scratching scratching clawing growing scratching clawing growing talking and and not over promoting yourself but just find out listen if you own the company and you had a young lady that was getting after it that was making 30 grand and you had a position open up that paid more she'd earned her right because she was getting it done you would promote her because she was adding value that's you we're talking about so just you know how

do what you would want somebody to do if they worked for you to get noticed and it wouldn't be running your mouth all the time it'd be actually doing stuff and causing wonderful things to happen all around you does that make sense yeah and talk to them about it ask them how can i do what have i got to do i i you know i got a 700 folks working here i got a bunch of 25s and 26 year olds and i run into them occasionally one of them says hey you know what have i got what's the best thing to do around here how can i do this and i'll just say hey listen you know you know just be stellar at what we're asking you to do and a little bit more. And people will notice.

Because most people, as you've probably already figured out, most people just don't work hard. If you just work hard, like come five minutes early, leave five minutes late, work the whole time you're there, don't check your Facebook all day long, you know, that kind of stuff, you just actually work while you're at work, You stand out from that most of the time. But if you do that while asking the leadership team, how can I add value? What can I do? What can I do to be bigger? Five years from now, I want to be running this place.

You show me how. Ha, ha, ha. And wink. And they will go, oh, this one's got something going on here. We need to pay attention to this one. And you'll probably double your income there in three years. If the company is growing and the opportunities are there and you're bringing it, what classes have I got to take?

What books do I need to read? Who do I need to be tomorrow so that I'm worth more than I'm getting paid today? You've got to be somebody different. You're going to make it. You're going to do just fine. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. hey, you've got to be somebody different, you're going to make it. You're going to do just fine. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Our Scripture of the Day, John 8, 32.

And you know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Virginia Woolf said, if you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people. Now, this would be true. Self-awareness, that'd be where we start yeah there we go open phones at 888-825-5225 kevin is in seattle hi kevin how are you good dave how are you better than i deserve what's up well i think i know the answer to this question but i thought i'd get your opinion anyway okay we've been on your program since last May and we paid off about 40K since then. We're on pace to pay off between 50 and 60 in that first year. And we bring home about 110. And I've heard you say in the past that you stop all retirement

investing, which we've done temporarily, but I've also heard you say that you don't want people out of retirement investing for too long. With what I owe in student loans, I'm looking at between five and seven years based on what we've been able to pay off this first year. Do you have a recommendation? How much are your student loans? I don't know if I want to tell you that. All right, I'm bracing myself a lot of stupid tax days how much 291 okay and what do you all do who's the doctor or lawyer i'm a physical therapist okay and then my wife works as a project manager for a software company and your household income is uh we figure we bring home about 110 it might change a little bit she just went through a layoff and then a new hire, so we're still kind of in limbo with what she's actually going to take home,

but we figure about $110,000. Sounds low. For a physical therapist? Yeah. What's a physical therapist make in Seattle? It depends. I mean, I'm pulling in probably $75,000 right now. Okay, so she's not making a ton as a project manager then.

Okay. No. She wanted a certain type of project management job when she got laid off, and so she has one that pays relatively well for what she wants and with other variables with our daughter and getting her to and from daycare and things like that. Gotcha. Okay.

Reasonable quality of life and so on. All right. So $300,000 with $110,000. reasonable quality of life and so on all right so 300 000 with 110 that's a mess yeah i guess but i think i know the answer but yeah i i i might you know what i'm probably gonna to do is that's too long. I mean, seven years, five years is too long to be out of retirement. You know, three to four covers 98% of the cases we deal with. You can be debt-free in three to four because there's a trajectory change in the income.

There's, you know, you're learning to manage tighter and tighter and be more and more careful. All the things tend to, you know, create critical mass around this issue when you focus on it. And 98% of the people we deal with are debt-free, not counting their home, in three years or less. Three and a half years, something like that, four years max. But, I mean, this five to seven, and you really are at a five to seven unless some things change in your income structure uh so and i'm driving for uber on my spare time and i'm doing some other things to bring that up too but yeah five years of doing five years of doing that's a long time uh most of the time the part-time job thing is a two or three year thing it's working like no one else so later you can work like no one else so that's going to get older than crap too you know after a while but um so what i would do is um

let let's lean in as hard as we can because we can't predict the future exactly uh let's lean in as hard as we can for 36 months and see where we are if at 36 months you're sitting in exactly the same place in terms of not not not the debt but i mean the trajectory of this hasn't changed and you've got another 36 months then i'm probably i'm gonna step up and start my my emergency fund and my uh move towards you know while we're doing this last 36 months that's just too long to be out of that retirement account, okay? But here's what I'm thinking, and I don't have anything to base this on. The only thing we're sure of is change.

We just don't know how much change. And I think we can be fairly assured both of you have good careers. You're in a good market. Seattle's a good market. So you've got some upward trajectory on your incomes. But right today, we don't see kind of the hockey stick trajectory. We don't see the steep curve up. Like your income's not going to double in three years or something like that.

We don't think. Okay? But let's work hard on this for 36 months and revisit it and see where you are. If it's within striking distance then, because some positive things have changed, then stick it on out, right? But if it's exactly, I mean, if you're running on about the kind of curve that we're on today, I probably would, the last 36 months. Let's call it a six-year program for a minute.

Does that make sense? Yeah, can I ask a follow-up question? Sure. Would you still do that 15 at that point after those 36 months no no probably that's a good question this comes up so off so rarely that i don't really have solid pat answers i have to think about it but yeah yeah i probably wouldn't because i do want to finish this up i just don't want to abandon retirement have you got a match uh we don't have matches with my company we have profit sharing and so the company is putting some

into my account right now i'm just not contributing anything right but i was going to take you at least up through the match like if you had a six percent match or something yeah yeah i'm probably going to keep one either yeah i'm probably going to keep it under 10 until I finish this up. Okay, so you think under 10 after that 36 months, and then if we're still on the same trajectory, then do 10%. But if something happens and you go from 110 to 175, shut up and finish this. I know the answer to that question. Yeah, you see my point.

But if you're going from 110 to 115 to 120, that kind of a thing, then you probably are on that track. Your math is probably correct then. But I've got to tell you, it's unusual. What's unusual is how much you overpaid for your degrees. That's what's unusual. Yep. Lots of taxes, I know.

Yeah. It's just you got hammered. You just got led down the primrose path, and you got thorns sticking all in you now. Yeah. So I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're facing this. The good news is you're a bright guy, and you guys will get through it. You'll work it out.

How old are you? 31. Oh, yeah. You'll be there. You're going to be fine. You're going to be fine. It's just, you know, you're not going to be stuck forever. Your life is not ruined.

It's just you don't fit the, you know, 98% of our case studies. That's all. Well, you can still do it. You can still do it. It's just going to be hard. And oh, well, you know, you can do it. Hey, thanks for calling in. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Jarrell is with us in Qatar. Really? Yes, sir. What's up? How are you? Good, sir. Yourself? Better than I deserve.

How can I help you? Well, I'm moving to El Paso, Texas, and I'm currently baby step 3B. I am trying, well, basically I was going to go to the area and buy, but now I'm thinking about renting since I'm in the military. I'm not looking to buy a house for the next five to ten years, so where would I put my money for Baby Step 6? Just a mutual fund. Just a mutual fund.

If it's five or six years, I probably would use something that's, when I'm saving for real estate estate which is essentially what you're doing only i'm doing it for investment um i use uh just an s&p 500 no load fund when i'm parking it for a short window like that because the commissions up front matter more on a short term and um and i don't want a ton of volatility and the the S&P, of course, follows the market. So a standard and poor 500 index fund, no load. And that also gives you what's called a low turnover ratio, which means you're not going to pay much taxes on the growth until you pull the money out to buy the house.

And then you'll pay taxes at a capital gains rate of 15% on your growth at that point. And so, yeah, that's cool that's cool absolutely man look at you hey thanks for serving your country brother i'm glad you're listening to us obviously podcast because i don't not aware of my radio station in qatar right now are we on american we could be on the american thing anyway anyway whatever thanks for listening we appreciate it and thank you for serving your country open phones at 888-825-5225. Matthew is on Twitter. Dave, can you make an every dollar app for the government?

It seems like they could really use it. Well, there's two problems with that. One is they wouldn't use it because they don't have any intention of reining in spending. And problem number two is there is not a computer smart enough in the world to offset that much stupidity. We fixed Congress with an app? Oh, wouldn't we all get that app? That puts us out 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 to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's Blake, Chief Production Officer for the show, and here's a little tip for 2018. Go download our revamped Dave Ramsey Show app from the App Store. We're always listening to your feedback and adding new features to make it even better. Check it out.