The Ramsey Show - App - The Purpose of School Is NOT to "Discover" Yourself! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: August 12, 2020

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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. Anthony O'Neill, number one best-selling author, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today here on the air as we answer your questions about your life and about your money. It is a free call. The phone number is 888-825-5225. You jump in and we will talk.

888-825-5225. Starting off this hour is going to be Donovan in Louisville, Kentucky. Hey, Donovan, how are you? Hey, Dave, I'm doing good, how are you? Hey, Dave. I'm doing good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Okay, so my wife and I are currently in Babysit 2. We have paid off $32,000 this year alone in consumer debt. Way to go. Wow. We're completely free of consumer debt in a pandemic at that. And we now have just her student loan. She's a PA graduate and has $175,000 worth of student loan debt. And it's in forbearance, and we're trying to figure out if it's best to just start paying on it now or go ahead and maybe consolidating those like eight to ten loans.

Donald, let me ask you this. Are you all still working right now? Yeah, I've never lost my job. I had an essential job. She just accepted her first job offer as a PA. Cool. So what's your household income? It will be about $150K now that she just got her job, uh, before that it was around like 80.

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, clearly, you know what we're going to say? Yes. Uh, we want you to start attacking these right now, man. I mean, literally right now and do not trust the government. Um, I want to talk about that a little bit later on with Dave, but I want you to go ahead and just line up your student loans. And here's what you can do is break down the student loans into another debt and into another debt snowball. So break down all of our student loans and tap the smallest one and go all the way to the largest as well. And then even to look into the interest rate, because right now you probably could save some money on the interest if you refi the student loans.

But, yes, I want you to attack those right now. Yeah, here's the math I heard. You paid off $32,000 this year on $80,000 income. Then your income went up by $70,000. Right. That's $100,000 a year, $70,000 plus $30,000, that you might be able to put on $170,000. You could be done in two years.

That's definitely the plan, just to keep rolling, don't stop. So the only reason to refinance would be to get a lower interest That's definitely the plan, just to keep rolling, don't stop. So the only reason to refinance would be to get a lower interest rate than you have across the board on all these, the weighted average interest rate. And so if you were to add up all the interest, it would be a little bit of a, how many student loans are there? I believe, well, I want to say there's like eight total. Is there eight different interest rates? Yeah, they all vary, but I think the average is like 6.5. Okay, so if you could beat 6.5 on average, if that's actually the weighted average as a technical way to do it,

but it doesn't matter, if you could get a 5.5 across the board, it'd be worth talking to like Splash Financial and getting a refinance done. It doesn't cost anything to refinance with them. You don't need to refinance to get rid of the number of loans. Right. Because eight loans totaling $170,000 will pay off exactly at the same time that $171,000 loan, a single loan at $170,000 will pay off. It's still $170,000. It doesn't change that right and so uh you know i

like the smaller ones broken out unless you can save on interest and then i would go to splash and start talking about doing that yeah and anthony you brought up something the um it's in the same subject matter that we've been seeing out there one more time theES Act didn't care. It's an oxymoron. It had so many unintended consequences and such poor implementation. But when you hear, Ronald Reagan used to say it, some of the scariest words on the planet is, I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

Right. If that doesn't scare your socks off, nothing will. Right. Because they're going to screw up Christmas. I mean, they're unbelievable. It's the Island of Misfit Toys up there. So the CARES Act, of course, was supposed to stop student loan interest and collection of student loan payments until September to give people a break due to coronavirus suppression and economic shutdowns and all that kind of stuff. And it has not worked out that way. It hasn't worked out.

So they've stopped interest, Dave, but they're still reporting to the credit reporting agencies that people are delinquent. Now, this is not every single company, but a lot of the companies out there are still reporting negative. And on top of that, Dave, they're still pulling money from their checks, from their bank accounts. So if you had a deal set up where you were having your account drafted because you were in default, they didn't stop that. Nope. Nope.

They were supposed to stop that. And if you didn't pay because you weren't supposed to pay under CARES Act, there's a chance that a reasonably good chance that you're being reported as not as being in delinquent. Yes, you're getting negative dings on your credit bureau report. So if you have a federal student loan, check your credit and call your loan provider and confirm that you're in good standing so you don't get penalized. And all of this might lead you to go ahead and get with splash financial and go ahead and get refinanced now yeah this advertiser that we've got does a great job but

again you don't need to do that if you're not if you don't have a problem and unless you can get a cheaper interest rate but there's no closing costs on this and they can run the refinance of splash financial and you know we're big proponents of these guys they're one of our advertisers and that's the reason we put them on the air was this. Yeah, this is episode number bajillion of why you cannot trust the government. You can't trust the government, Dave. And we saw that when it came to the student loan forgiveness. You know, I did a deep dive and deep study into that.

But the government failed that only one. They only approved one percent of the people to forgive. But Lord, all of them into this particular field or go out to this particular school or do this particular career and will forgive. But only one percent were forgiven. And so, of course, when this came in, I was like, something's going to happen. Well, I mean, the problem is that you they put in place a law and then expected people who were incompetent to become competent. Right. When you look Navient up in the Greek, it means incompetent. I mean, you're just not dealing with intelligent life when you call over there. Yeah.

It's like people's parents are cousins or something. It's unbelievable. Yeah. So, you know, if you assume that a group of people who have misbehaved and didn't give a rip and, uh, you know, trash your credit. We're going to stop doing that because of the cares act.

That would have been a wrong assumption. Absolutely. And you know what, Dave, here's why I like splash financial. If you can refi, uh, their lowest interest rate right now is right around 3.25.

So the national average is right around four, four and a half. Um, and so, and up to about six, six and a half. And so, and up to about six, six and a half. So if you- Like that guy Donovan was six and a half. So you think he could get what? It's three and a quarter. Oh, really? Three and a quarter at Splash Financial. That's their lowest. So of course, you know, they- It's assuming everything lines up perfect. Exactly. Exactly. So it's like, if you can, if it does save you money, Splash Financial is a

great route to go. Yeah. 170000, 3% savings is significant. Yes, sir. Yes, sir, it is. Even over two years. Absolutely. It doesn't get him out of debt. What gets him out of debt is the $100,000 a year going towards it. But a little bit of savings on the interest and no closing costs, that's known as a no-brainer.

Folks, once again, what happens at your house is more important than what happens in the White House. It has more to do with whether you become successful in this life. Absolutely. I have never met a multimillionaire who said, you know, it's all because of Washington. Never once. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. No matter what time of year it is, focusing on your family's financial plan is always a smart move. I get questions all the time about where to start and what to do first. One of the most crucial and affordable first steps to take is to protect your family and get

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It's not that expensive, it's not complicated, and you need to do it now. Anthony O'Neill, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today here on the air. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Matthew is in Oklahoma City. Hey, Matthew, how are you? I'm doing good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve.

How can I help? So my dad passed away here three weeks ago. Oh, my goodness. What happened? Yeah. He died of cancer, liver failure, and kidney failure kidney failure oh man how how old was he uh he was 59 oh young oh my goodness i'm so sorry tough times uh he left me an inheritance of roughly 7272,000. Okay.

Wow. And I just got started in Financial Peace University here about three weeks ago. Okay. Right about the time, huh? Right around the time it happened. Yeah. So he had been sick for a while, huh? He'd been sick for about a year and a half. Yeah. So sorry. Well, so what's

your plan? My plan is to pay off all my debt, buy a single wide trailer, and move into it, and then try and make sure I don't lose the rest of it. Okay. How much debt do you have? In debt right now, with the payoff on my car, which I just bid with Zane last night, was like $12,075 for the car, $300 on a new phone, and $300 to my roommate. Okay. So like $13,000 makes you debt-free. Right. Yes, sir. All right.

Which leaves us about $60,000 to work with. Does that sound right? Yes, sir. How old are you? I am 28. Okay. Well, I like the get-out-of-debt part of the plan. I don't like the single-wide-trailer part of the plan.

Yeah, me too. You want to know why but yes sir because that is going to go down in value right instead of up in value you said you're 28 yes sir okay all right um why would you not buy a home? I've been looking around, and most of the homes that I'm seeing are $100,000 or more. Are you working right now, Matthew? I work for a subcontracted company through Amazon called Southern Star, and I deliver Amazon packages to customers around the state. Okay.

Well, I'm with you paying off the debt down to $60,000. From there, I would start to wonder what your career goals are, and do we need to spend some of this money getting tooled up to go be what Matthew wants to be when he's 49? Because I suspect it's not driving that same truck. Right. Yeah, that's the other thing I discussed with Zane last night was I eventually want to franchise out a Papa John's close to where I live. And I've done the research on that, and the money required for that's about $150,000, roughly.

And in order for me to do that, I'm also wanting to go to college for business management. Okay. Well, let's take the first step, and let's spend some of that money on college. Yeah. And just stay a renter. If you want to stay a renter, if, uh,

until you get your career up and going, if you want to wait to buy a little bit, but let's spend some money on that, uh, and just rent something inexpensively. But no, I would not. And I would not put money in something that's going down in value like a

single wide. What are you thinking, Anthony? I'm thinking the exact same thing. And Matthew, I really want you to hear what Dave said. Like spend some time investing into yourself. The number one thing you can do, especially with an inheritance check, is to be wise with it.

You know, how does it benefit you in the long run? How do you be a good steward of that? So I love the fact that if you're going to maybe a community college at first, just get your feet back into the college game. So that way you're not spending a lot of money and transfer to a four year university. And then after that, I heard you say you want to eventually buy something as far as and buy a business. I like that as a young person, but start small, start growing. And then from there, we can go ahead and look into big goals. Yeah. Set this up to where you're not going to set the money aside in an investment

where you're not going to be touching it. I'd sit down with one of the smart investor pros. I parked 10 grand for education in an account and just a money market account. I'd park 10 grand for an emergency fund over an account and I'd set the other 40 aside for an investment and let that be growing while you're going to school. And, you know, I think that'll get you there. And, you know, let's get the career up and running and then decide what you're going to school, and I think that'll get you there. And let's get the career up and running and then decide what you're going to do. By then, it may or may not be a Papa John's franchise. You may want to open your own thing with the money that the $40,000 grows into.

I mean, you can open a pretty fine pizza place if you watch what you're doing. So very cool. Good for you. Very well done, Dave. I wonder, um, for someone in their twenties who, who is debt free, who has a fully funded emergency fund, would you recommend them looking into a Papa John's like franchise? I get that question asked to me a lot and I'm kind of like 50, 50, like, well, if you pay cash for it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But I wouldn't, I wouldn't open a business with that. No, no, no. Absolutely not. But he doesn't have the money to do the Papa John's franchise.

Right. Just like he doesn't have the money to pay cash for a house at this stage of the game. Right. And someone who has zero business experience, and you go from delivering Amazon packages to running a business and running a whole pizza operation, Papa John's does a good job training their new owners, but that's a pretty high-risk play.

Okay. I would want to take some baby steps in between there, get my feet wet in business, and he's very wise to say he wants to get some classes under his belt on how to run a business. I'd love to just have him manage a Papa John's for a while and just get in there and run one. Go run one for somebody else. And meanwhile, continue to pile up your cash and pile up your cash, and then someday become a franchisee. There's nothing wrong with that idea. We're going to pay cash for it.

And that's up. I would take some interim steps between delivering packages for Amazon and becoming a business owner. Oh, man, I hope millennials are hearing you because, you know, that's what millennials want in today. They want to be the owner. Well, I don't care if you're the owner, but don't start something that of that scale. Yes. Start something out of your living room. Yes. Okay.

And off your card table, like I started this business that way. And so, yeah, the thing is where you can crash in business faster than anything is when you don't know what you don't know. Got you. And there's a lot of things about running a $2 billion business that I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what you don't know got you and um there's a lot of things about running a a two billion dollar business that i don't know yeah yeah i don't know and i don't know what i don't know but going from our business is about 250 million a year okay and going from that to a five billion dollar business in one jump i couldn't that i would mess it up because i don't know what i don't know there's a different skill set level required than what I have today to make that leap.

And you can just shave off some zeros and it's still the same thing. So if you, you know, you start something in your living room, you screw it up, you stub your toe, it's 10 grand. You start a $200,000 franchise and cold. Yeah. And you don't know what the flip you're doing and you stub your toe. It's a $200, dollar mistake yeah okay and so you don't do the incremental steps because um you know and i by the way when i started this business i didn't know how to run 250 million dollar business so i did the incremental steps as the business has grown or as i've grown the business has grown

yes as i've gotten better and more sophisticated more knowledgeable in leadership business acumen and so on strategic thought whatever then i've been able to run a larger and larger and more multi-layered business than when it was me selling books out of the trunk of my car and running a counseling operation out of my living room yes you know and so uh there's no shame we all we got a big sign out here says don, don't despise small beginnings. Yes, sir. Because, you know, but then, you know, take the next step up and the next step up and the next step up. But when you try to reach past your abilities, you pretty much ensure you're going to get your nose bloodied. You're going to crash. Yes.

And so, you know, we don't put a six-year-old into the NFL. Nope. You know, that's what we're talking about. And so you grow physically. You grow in stature, you grow in skill, you grow in speed, you grow in everything, and then you're in the NFL. But it's not like we go from there to there. So good. It's just some wisdom in the incremental growth. Yes, sir.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. show. Thank you. Open phones this hour. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Anthony O'Neill is my co-host and Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, answering your questions today. We're going to talk to Daryl. Daryl is in Washington, D.C. It says on my screen, Dary you're debt free way to go dude yes sir thank you very much dave how much have you paid off paid off about 47 400 cool how long did this take about 13 months good for you and your range of income during that time? I started your program, I was about 78k and I am

about 125k right now. Wow. $50,000 bump in 12 months. What'd you do? Well, it was kind of a long story, but to make a long story less long, I pretty much was about to take another job and they matched that offer for me. And it all happened while I was taking your program, and it was just a huge blessing, Dave. Man, good for you. It's so funny when you start paying attention that I need more money to get out of debt that more money tends to come. That was the most craziest part of it, Dave, I think, right there. So what kind of debt was the 47 000 i had about 30k in student loans about 4 000 on a car about 7 000 on one credit card 4 000 another credit card i had

uh i had to fix my car a bunch of times that was about 500 and my ac fan in my house went out during the debt snowball, so that was another $700. So that was pretty much it. So you're just kind of normal. Pretty much, Dave. You were. Now you're weird. Yeah.

Now I'm weird. What happened 13 months ago got you jacked up? This is awesome. Well, pretty much I have to thank my mom. She's the one that kind of was the catalyst in all this. She's been trying to get me to read your book for years, and I always just said, I'll get to it. But about 13 months ago, I went ahead,

and she got me the Austin Naked book, and I'll never forget that. I was on my way, and I was going to buy a wrench with a credit card, and I'll never forget sitting in the parking lot thinking, I got nothing else to listen to, so I'll listen to buy a wrench with a credit card and I'll never forget sitting in the parking lot thinking I got nothing else to listen to. I'll listen to this guy. And I remember a piece in your book where you just said, it's not your mom's fault. It's not your dad's fault. It's your fault that you're in this mess. And I remember getting so defensive and I was like, who is this guy yelling at me, telling me how bad I am. And then I started thinking, he's right. I kind of need to take ownership of what I put myself into.

And then literally that was the last time I used my credit card, Dave. I went in and bought that wrench. Wow. Put together my little home gym set with it. And that was it. It was game on. I'm proud of you, man. Congratulations.

Absolutely. Hey, Darrell, this is Anthony, man. How old are you, if you mind me asking? I'm 31. 31, man. Congratulations. Absolutely. Hey, Darrell, this is Anthony, man. How old are you, if you mind me asking? I'm 31. 31, Anthony. 31 years old. So what's next, man? Actually, I did see you here a few months ago back in February at Church of the Redeemer.

Oh, yeah. Financial Peace Live. Yeah. Me and my mom went to go see you and Chris Hogan. It was real cool. Just want to say you did a great job at the event. Oh, man. Thank you, man. Feels good. Feels good.

That's back when we had events. Yeah. We haven't had one since then. I'm hurting right now. But hey, man, what's next, bro? I mean, you're 31 years old, young, sharp guy. What's next for you? Right now, just focusing on my career. I'm a

cybersecurity consultant right now in the area um just made manager last year so i'm just trying to stay on path with that um also just trying to focus on paying down my house because i kind of bought the house before i discovered the program so um right now i'm just trying to pay down my house faster and just stack up my money right now. So that's the goal right now. So how does the today you feel different than the 14 months ago you? Oh, I'm just less stressed, Dave. Like I was just floating along with my credit card debt and my student loan debt,

thinking that it was fine. Um, I had a roommate at the time and I was making a little less money to help supplement my mortgage payment. So, um, it was just kind of just walking on ice for a long time, I would say. And then once I started making a little bit more money, but I found your program first. So honestly, I think it was a mixture of just a huge influence of just God saying, hey, I'm not going to bless you with this income until you learn to start managing your money right. Yeah, he looks down and goes, oh, there's a smart one. There's one I can trust. I'm going to give him a little more.

Exactly. So if I can manage 78, I can manage 100, and then so on and so forth. Amen. I feel like once I got that piece down the first couple months, then I got the boost in income, and, you know, the rest was history. It was just game on. It was just extra money to throw at the debt. Very well done, sir. Very well done.

What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? You paid off $47,000 in 13 months. What's the key? I would say there were three that I really hung on to, and it was just to stay disciplined, to stay focused, and to stay on the budget. Those were my big three. The first two were kind of, I've already been kind of keen on those things because I'm very active. I love being in the gym. I love sticking to my diet, my fitness lifestyle. So I just had to apply those principles of being focused and disciplined to my money. And that really helped get me over that hump. But the budget was, oh, my gosh, Dave, that was like the number one thing that changed my life because I had no idea how much money was going out. So once I

finally got my hands around that, it was just an amazing feeling just to know that I was in control for a change. Yeah. When you're in a situation like you were in emotionally and you start doing a budget because you're real serious all of a sudden about getting this done, that budget makes you feel like you got a raise, doesn't it? Yeah. Oh, it did. Oh, for sure. I was like, I can't believe all my money's going here. And I got to actually have more than I thought. And then it was, you know, life-changing at that point. I was like, all right, I can do this.

You single, Darrell? I am. Uh-oh. Yeah. Uh-oh. Well done, sir. Very well done. I love it.

I'll let Anthony talk to you about all that off air. I'm just worried about where this is talk to you about all that off air. I'm just worried about where this is going right now. I'm just saying, a sharp man, debt-free Dave. Yeah, he's eligible now. Oh, man, ladies, ladies are coming for you. She can take him home and show dad. She sure can. But the question needs to be, can he take her home and show mom?

Oh, there we go. Yeah. Because mom is a financial peace mom. There she is. There we go. You have that? I do. You ain't for my son.

You're hardcore, man. I'm just telling you. I think my mom's laughing right now. Darrell, we got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires, because that's certainly the next chapter in your story hero we're very proud of you sir you took control of your life and you prove that you can do anything you want to do when you set your mind to it i'm so proud of you very very very well done daryl in washington dc 47 000 paid off in 13 months making 78 to 125 count it down let's hear a debt free scream three two one i'm debt free yeah

that is what it sounds like when you're free. Amazing. Very well done. You know, the best way to get control of your money is with a budget. There is. And Rachel Cruz talks about this to where we can't get her to shut up about it. She talks about it all the time. But she's like the budget queen. She really is. Which is hilarious because she's the spender among my kids.

But you can even be a spender if you have a plan. Yeah. And so you have to have a budget, give every dollar a name. And he said it, the budget was key. And you jump on the EveryDollar budget app. It's free to download every single month. The best way to do it is with the new Ramsey Plus membership, which gives you all the money products. You go through Financial Peace University. You get the EveryDollar app upgrade, which syncs with your bank, syncs with your spouse,

syncs with whoever you need it to. And that's where you make your budget. And then you track your spending. And then, of course, you've got the Baby Steps app in there as well, where you track your progress as you go. If you're in a position, you want to say never again, never again, am I going to be back here? We can help you.

Do all of it with a free trial of Ramsey Plus. All you do is text the word BEGIN to 33789. Text BEGIN to 33789. This is the Dave Ramsey show. Anthony O'Neill is my co-host today here on the air. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Lisa is going to be up next, and Lisa's in San Antonio.

Hi, Lisa. How are you? Hi, I'm great. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I have a question about my daughter. She's a junior in college

and she's going for a bachelor's in music and she's talented and we encouraged her to do what she wanted to do, to make her own decision about what she wanted to major in. But she came home at spring break this year and, of course, didn't go back because of COVID. They did online classes. And she started having an identity crisis and, you know, thinking maybe I shouldn't be majoring in music because during all of this COVID, nobody's performing. There's no, you know, shows.

There's, you know, all of the people that she looks up to are out of work. And so she's like, well, what should i major in and what should i do and you know i i don't know what to tell her you know she's a smart girl she could do anything and uh just thought maybe you could okay so let me let me clarify make sure i understand what you're saying is going through her head because of covid she doesn't think she needs to be a music major, or just COVID made her stop and rethink the whole career track? Exactly. That.

Because I don't think that there's – I think if you make the assumption there's never going to be performances again, then that's an unwise assumption. I'm not. No, I'm not making that assumption. And she's not either? No, she's not either. And I told her. I said they will always have the arts because that's what, I mean, people love the arts.

It's going to come back. Absolutely. You know, and, but she saw, you know, so many of the, you know, music performers that she looks up to. They're unemployed, and they don't know when they're going to be able to work again. Welcome to the music business. Yeah, and she knows that it's not going to get a paycheck every week. Yeah, Lisa, what does she want to do? Like, could you keep saying music people she looks up to?

Does she want to be an artist as far as a performer, a singer? So she wants to actually sing. Yes. Okay. She is actually, she sings opera right now. I'm not sure that that's what she wants to do as a career, but that's what she's trained as these last two years at college. Gotcha.

And, you know, she couldn't do anything. You know, she plays musical instruments, too, and has done some gigs, like like at restaurants in town. Well, if she's within a stone's throw of finishing her degree, if she was a freshman, that would be one thing, but she's now into her senior year. No, she's a junior. Oh, a junior.

Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, that's two whole years of doing the wrong thing then if you want to. So I think, I think what she needs to ask herself is, you know, what do I want to be when I grow up? And is this degree getting me there? If it's not, it is time to change a major.

Yeah. Yeah. And if it's music, then I would say, what's the backup plan to that? Because if, if let's say the world was going regular right now it still would have took her a few years to really get established in that particular field especially in the music industry i know personally because my brother is a hip-hop artist and he's still somewhat growing and he's been in it for three four years so i would say don't give up on your dreams but what is what's another field that can fuel and fund my lifestyle while i'm building on

that dream okay so would you suggest like she double major in something it wouldn't be bad if she wants to continue on the music but i think the thing is the purpose of school is not to discover yourself yeah the purpose of school it costs two dadgum much right yeah the purpose of school would be to tool put tools in your belt to execute a career path and so if she's determined that i don't want to be an opera singer and i'm being trained over a four-year degree to be an opera singer then that's probably a bad track i mean you know she's getting tools to do something that she doesn't intend to do or doesn't think is viable for her. And so, you know, I think you need to figure out what it is you want to, you know,

Ken Coleman talks about get clear about where you want to go and then get qualified. And I think what happened was, was she wasn't super clear on exactly where she wanted to go other than she liked music. Yeah. So I'm going to be a music major. Just that simple. And then the realities of the music business were just highlighted during COVID, and it shook her up a little bit and made her realize she wasn't sure that's exactly what she – the details of that business wasn't sure exactly where she wanted to go,

so she's growing up a little bit. Yeah. So you stop and pause and say, say okay what do i want to do when i'm 39 years old what do i want to be doing and that's best i can determine right now and let then let's get qualified to do that thing yes if it is music and this music degree qualifies you to do it then fine yes yeah yeah and also too she got to also realize, Dave, we need to figure out, she's a junior, rising junior this year. So now is the time she really needs to identify what is it.

Am I going that route or do I need to change today? This is the time. Yeah. You don't want to go another year into this and then figure it out. And you don't want to finish the degree and then figure it out. So while she's all shook up, let's reset. Steven is in Helena, Montana. Hi, Steven.

Welcome to the Daveave ramsey show hey guys thanks for taking my call sure what's up so my wife and i are 22 years old we just got married last month and she came into the marriage with about 25 000 that was paid to her by her parents because she had worked for them her whole life. Um, and she was never allowed to manage or view her own finances until now. Um, so now we've been in the process of buying a house and combining our finances, um, which led to the discovery that that 25,000 she had turned into 13,000. Um, because her mother quote says she doesn't deserve that much. And now we're at a point where we're about $10,000 short on a home down payment on a place we've been looking at. And so now I'm just going to ask what are the options we have. What's that?

A place you've been looking at. So right now we have an offer in out of place. Oh. And we're about $10,000 short for the down payment because now we have $13,000 less than what we thought. So wait a minute, you've been married two months. Why has the money not moved to your name before now? Well, with the whole COVID stuff, I live outside of that town,

and where her bank is, it's a local bank where she's from. So we just got there. We went on the honeymoon and everything. So by the time we went there, we've actually been married about five weeks. Yeah, so cancel your contract. Yeah. Okay. You shouldn't be buying a house with money you don't have.

Right. You know the money in your hand, and you jump the gun, and now you're trying to be mad at her mother. Her mother's obviously a head case. Right? Okay. isn't she well you had twenty five thousand dollars but i'm not gonna give it to you because you don't deserve it what yeah who says that right so so if for example if her father would lend us ten thousand no no work No. No. Are they married? The parents, yes. Well, why would he loan you $10,000 when his wife won't give you $10,000

that's already supposed to be yours? That's dumber than a rock. He wasn't aware. If he's got $10,000 to loan you, he needs to just give you the money that you're due. And he can deal with his headcase wife. Okay, and then another option is obviously if we can go like an fha on that listen listen you don't need to buy a house

enough for that yeah you don't need to buy a house right now okay you need to get married calm down and get this family debacle straightened out and next spring talk about buying a house okay and you don't need to be borrowing money from daddy and we got to get head case mother straightened out, and next spring talk about buying a house. Okay. And you don't need to be borrowing money from Daddy, and we've got to get head case mother figured out here, and get whatever money you're going to get without a loan into your name, settle down, rent for a little while, make sure you're out of debt and you have your emergency fund in place, and then and only then are we talking about buying a house.

But you're going so freaking fast. You just got home from the honeymoon. I buy a house calm down just slow down a little bit dude this is the dave ramsey show this is james childs producer of the dave ramsey show on your smart speaker you can add our skill by saying, Alexa, open the Ramsey Network skill. From there, you can listen to all our shows. Ask Dave money questions like, how do I invest my money? Or what is the debt snowball? Find out more at DaveRamsey.com.