The Ramsey Show - App - The Secret to Debt-Freedom Is...There Are No Secrets! (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 30, 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. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thanks for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

Bo is going to start off this hour, and that's assuming Dave Ramsey knows how to open a radio show. All right, Bo's in Kentucky. Hi, Bo. How are you? Hey, Dave. I'm doing great. How are you? Hey, Dave. I'm doing great. How are you, my friend?

Better than I deserve. How can I help? Big fan, first of all. I got a question for you. I'm a realtor, and a friend approached me who had been considering investing some money in rental real estate. But he's put those plans on hold due to what he termed the Dave Ramsey 5% rule. And so I was wanting to get some clarification from you on that. I don't know what the Dave Ramsey 5% rule is. Well, I didn't either.

So I went to your website, or he pointed me to your website, and found a blog post from January in which whoever's writing it is recommending not to have more than 5% of your net worth tied up in real estate investments. And it seemed to me in looking over the years that – Well, that's dumb, but that's on my website? I'm so sorry. Yes, sir. So it's January – let me get the details so I can get that crap down.

So January 2019? Yes, sir. It's from January 14th – no, I'm sorry, 2020, just a couple weeks ago. A couple weeks ago. Oh, good. That'll be easy to get down. What's it titled? Stupid?

Investing in Real Estate, and it's written in Chris Hogan's voice, actually. All right. Well, maybe Chris was being stupid, so I'll still take it down. Okay. Chris Hogan's voice is like Chris should have read it. So, all right. Anyway, we'll fix that. There is no such thing at Ramsey.

Okay. So, it's a bad blog. I'm sorry. We screwed up. We do that sometimes. We put out thousands and thousands of pieces of content a month, and sometimes we get out of alignment on what's smart and what's not. Listen, dude, I have way more than 5% of my net worth in real estate, way more.

That's what I thought. Yeah, like the building I'm sitting in is $70 million paid for in cash. So, I mean, that alone kind of tilts the dadgum table. Okay? And I bought a whole bunch of real estate, tens of millions of dollars of real estate in 2008 that's now worth 5, 6x what I paid for it. So I've got hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate paid for. So there's no possible way 5% of my net worth is real estate, nor would I recommend that if you love real estate paid for. So there's no possible way 5% of my net worth is real estate, nor would I recommend that if you love real estate.

If you love real estate, you can have all your net worth in real estate except for some cash. You might want to have 5% in cash if you've got a lot of real estate. You don't want to be – a lot of real estate people are stupid and they're illiquid. They have no cash and they go broke because they get slammed. But I love real estate. I don't mind if you've got it all in that.

I wouldn't personally recommend that. I would say you need to have some in mutual funds, some in real estate, but we should not have written things here or suggested things here that are perpendicular with what we actually do. That would, by definition, make us hypocrites. Well, I didn't know you know it seemed surprising to me i told him at first he didn't know what he was talking about but he pulled up his phone and i'm glad you told me because i would have told him he didn't know

he's talking about i know it's perfect yeah and yet it's on my freaking website it's just proof that anybody can screw up so it'll be down by i don't know probably already down so it's probably being done as we speak. Yeah. Hey, man, thank you. Thanks for calling in and straightening us up because, hey, man, sometimes we just screw up around here. That's all right.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. Brandon is in Florida. Hey, Brandon, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, how are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? Terrific. I am, I guess, kind of on baby step six, and the reason why I say kind of on baby step six is my current house that I live in is paid for, and while I was buying this, I had a previous house that I owned when

we bought this house. And I still have a mortgage on that previous house, which is now a rental. And that's the only debt that I have whatsoever at all. And my six months emergency fund has come up to be almost equal to what I owe on that mortgage at the rental. And I am contemplating liquidating my six-month emergency fund and paying off the mortgage. And I wanted your opinion on that. Oh, I think that would be a huge mistake. Okay. Paying off your mortgage is not an emergency. And you leave yourself vulnerable. You're sitting there with no cash and pay for houses. Transmission goes out.

What are you going to do, dig up a bush? I have $10,000 that I keep in my regular checking account, and that's always my, I never go below $10,000. What's your household income? It's been my $130,000. Okay. So what do you call your three to six months of emergency fund? What's a properly funded three months, and what's a properly funded, therefore, six months?

What I have in it right now is $84,000. Now, that wasn't what I asked. I asked what's properly funded. If you make $130,000 and you lived, what's your household expenses to operate your household a month? About $3,000. Okay. Round it to five, three months is $15, six months is $30. Okay. $30 is your emergency fund, not $84.

Well, it's just been sitting in mutual funds ever since I originally set it up. That's fine. I've got no issue with that. But my point is that your question is, should I use up my emergency fund? And you've got $10,000 sitting there in liquid cash for purposes of covering emergencies, and you make $130,000, and your emergency fund should be $30,000, and so you shouldn't take it below $10,000 plus $20,000 is $30,000. So this other account should not go below $20,000.

What's the mortgage? Right now it's $90,000. Okay. And you have $84,000 in the other said account, correct? Correct. Okay. So I'd put $64,000 on it this afternoon, and then I would hammer it over the next three or four months and knock it off.

I've been paying an extra $800,000 on it every single month just trying to work on knocking it off. I'd do more than that. I'd do more than that. It's all you got left. It's all you got left, and you're willing to go down to the nub, man, to do it, so let's go down the nub in your budget and just smack the snot out of those things. What I would do but i'm not taking you below 30k cash position because this is not an emergency you do what you

want to do you ask my opinion and that's what i would do because every time i violate that because it doesn't bother me to do it i i'm not that i mean i don't like high risk stuff because i don't like to lose money but but i can handle handle the emotional tension of being down to only $10,000 in your situation. But every time I do that, crap happens, and I needed $30,000. And then there I sit, looking like I didn't have an emergency fund, and I had an emergency. I looked dumb. So I wouldn't do it. I think you're like sending out an email to Murphy saying saying come screw up my life you know don't do it

don't go below 30 i wouldn't this is the dave ramsey show Business leaders, right now you have the opportunity to take your business to the next level this new year. You can start by hiring the right people to help your business grow. At Ramsey Solutions, we post on LinkedIn Jobs because they are the best at matching the right person with the right job. LinkedIn Jobs screens candidates with the skills you're looking for so you can hire smart and fast. The thing I love about LinkedIn is they look beyond just the work skills and put your job post in front of qualified candidates who match your business requirements perfectly. That's how LinkedIn makes sure your job post is seen by the people you want to hire,

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Do you feel like you've tried to get your finances in order, but you can't get traction? Well, maybe you've tried budgeting. You couldn't figure it out. Maybe you've got huge money goals. Maybe you've got huge money problems. Maybe you need somebody to walk with you. A personal coach. A personal trainer for money.

If that sounds like you, you may want to work with one of our financial coaches. Someone who can help you understand exactly what's holding you back. And we have a network of these coaches that have been trained by us all across the country who are ready to work with you. They're called Ramsey Preferred Coaches, and these financial coaches are trained the Ramsey way. Now, let us help you find the right coach for you. We'll connect you with three top coaches in your area. You can interview them and choose who you want to work with.

It's time to stop trying and start actually winning with your money. Turn your goals into a reality. Find a coach. Text RPC, RPC for Ramsey Preferred Coach, RPC to 33789. All one word, RPC to 33-789. All one word. RPC to 33-789. Wesley is with us in North Carolina. Hi, Wesley.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, about three years ago, I purchased a home while I was in debt and using a VA loan, so I did dumb twice. And I'm a little upside down on the house now. And, you know, I'm currently in Baby Step 3.

The commute is about 45 minutes to my work. I'm also active duty military, and I'll probably be leaving in about two years. So my question for you is, what do you think I should do? Should I move closer, kind of get ahead of selling the house? What do you think? How far upside down are you on it? Well, according to my numbers, it's about $7,000 right now. I've got about $8,000.

Where did you get these numbers? Well, I hired one of your recommended realtors. Okay. They got it on the market? No, no. It's not on the market. Okay, so they gave you an estimate of the value, and their estimate of the value indicates that you're $7,000 in the home.

Yes, sir. And what's the value of the home? What's the value of the home? Sure, the value of the home as it stands right now is $67,000. Okay, and what's your household income? Household income is about $75,000. Okay. $7,000 is a lot of money to get rid of a commute.

And, you know, the good news is in North Carolina, you're in a market where you are seeing some increases in value. It's not going down. It's going up, agreed? Yes, sir. Okay. And you've got two to three years max there before they move you anyway. I'm going to commute a while longer and let this thing come up in value

to keep from writing a $7,000 check when I make $75 a year. Makes sense. As soon as you get where you can break even, I'm out of Dodge. And I'll go rent until they move me. But, you know, I want to try to break even or greater. If it doesn't cost you anything to move, I'd move closer. But I don't want to write a $7,000 check to avoid driving for two years when I make $75,000.

That's a lot of money to you. Agreed? Oh, I agree. Yeah, I hate the commute. It's a bad taste in my you. Agreed? Oh, I agree. Yeah, I hate the commute. It's a bad taste in my mouth just telling you to do this. But, you know, it's a price to pay to get out of the trap you set for yourself. And let's let this thing increase in value. And what I would do is just tell that endorsed local provider to continually check the values.

And as soon as they think we can get out of it, break even, call me, and we'll list it. Let them track it for you. Yeah, I appreciate that, Dave. Yeah, sure. And, you know, it might be 18 months. You know, maybe by next spring it'll jump up. You know, that'd be 10% jump. That's a pretty healthy jump.

But if you can get up there, even if you got real, real close to break even, that's fine. But, man, if I'm making $75,000, to me, $7,000 is a lot of money. So that would be a problem. Hey, thanks for the call. Karen's with us in California. Hi, Karen. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up? Thanks. I am a single mom. I am fully responsible for my child financially, time, everything. And I have about $80,000 left in my debt snowball. My car is 16,000 of that.

I checked on Kelly Blue Book and it's worth about $13,500 to $14,500, and I'm just wondering if I should sell it, if it's going to blow up the log jam. What's your household income? I think this year it'll be about $60,000. What city do you live in in California? I am smack dab in the middle of L.A. Ooh. I am in a rent-controlled apartment, though, so I am lucky that my rent is only about $800 a month. What do you do for a living? I'm a teacher and a tutor.

How old is your child? Two. So she's not in school yet. I have some angels right now who are taking care of her for free wow um so i my child care costs in a month are usually around four to five hundred dollars which in la is that's unheard of a fraction yeah yeah yeah and so yeah you do have angels and you do have a great rent. You do have a lot of debt. Yeah. You make enough this car is not killing me in and of itself,

and I always ask myself the question, does the car set me free? And it really doesn't other than the payment might be outlandish. Do you have a ridiculous interest rate on this? No, the payment is $3 outlandish. Do you have a ridiculous interest rate on this? No, the payment is $320,000. That's not too bad. I mean, it's bad. I don't like it.

But, I mean, it's not like you told me I got a 22% interest rate and I'm paying $500 on a stupid $15,000 car, which that might force you to sell it, you know. But I think you look at your budget. You've been living on the cheap trying to survive because you're the sole breadwinner so responsible you have to square your shoulders and get her done and you're a brave warrior and i appreciate you i think if you do the academic intellectual exercise of the budget in detail you're probably going to find money not because you've been misbehaving and you're

some kind of princess but because i think there's always some juice to squeeze yeah yeah i've got every dollar and there you go i'm still getting used to it there you go yeah you're just early in this process to sell the car now if you call me back and you say man i've been fighting this bear with a switch for two years i can't i can't seem to get anywhere i gotta sell this thing to get out okay that's fine that's fine give her give her a shot then but you're new enough to some of the things we're telling you to do to get efficiencies that i'm gonna delay the car sale because it's gonna bring a lot of pain to you when you sell it yeah um so and then the other question i would ask you the other question i was asking where are you going to be in 15 years i hope not in la anymore okay so let's start making plans yeah maybe sooner rather than later i'm not saying if this year but i i want to aim at

something besides friday and survival yeah and you, that's your first step is survival. We do that. And you've done a great job with that, Warrior. Well done. Okay. But long term, what does the mother of a 17-year-old, what does her career look like 15 years from today? And where are we raising this teenager? And what is our income then and our outgo and

we're prospering and we've set up a great college fund and you're looking at a wonderful retirement ahead of you and what are steps we've got to do in the next five years to be that person 15 years from today that'll sometimes jog you loose on the log jam too. So think it through. Think it through. You've done a good job surviving, Mom. You did a good job. I'm proud of you.

So let's take it up from survival into prosperity. Hold on, and I'll have Kelly pick up. We're going to put you into Financial Peace University, which will give you every dollar plus, and the whole teaching all around you. We're going to walk with you and help you. I'm proud of you. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. plus and the whole teaching all around you we're going to walk with you and help you i'm proud of you this is the dave ramsey show I can't believe 2020 is here.

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How you doing? Good to have you, man. Where do you live? In New York. New York. Welcome to Nashville. Good to have you. Thanks for... What brings you down here? Well, I was kind of in the area of East Tennessee, and I just always... I just, you know, paid off my last bit of student loan in December 30th. So I figured, you know what, this is no other time in my life where it will work out.

So I drove to Nashville over here to get it in. Well, thanks for visiting. So how much debt did you pay off total, sir? $10,000. Very good. How long did this take you? About nine months. But, you know, I was wrapping up FPU about last June,

and then I just, like, you know, let me just, you know, plow through this. Slam, huh? Yeah. Slam it. I love it. So what do you do for a living? I'm an audio engineer, actually. Okay, cool.

What's your income? Well, this last 2019, about $47,000. Okay. So you paid off $10,000, making $47,000 in nine months. Dude, were you working extra beyond that or just living on beans and rice? Yeah, well, you know, as an audio engineer, like one of your previous callers, actually it's a lot of part-time work. And when no studio sessions are booked or no events I'm doing, then I have some free time.

So I took your advice, actually, and you always say how you should deliver pizzas or whatever. Yeah. So right down the street from where I live, there's a Greek restaurant, and I started doing deliveries for them. And the places I delivered to, two flower shops, talked to them, started doing flower deliveries. Wow. And then on top of that, another pizza restaurant, I was in there in the middle of that too.

So you were getting it. Yeah, I mean, the ultimate delivery driver, if you call me. Yeah, absolutely. So what were you making on the side gig doing deliveries, total in a month? Oh, I mean, I could easily make well over $2,000. Yeah, yeah. So you just worked.

Yeah. You just worked. You said get her done. Yeah, I mean, night shift, evening, morning, any day, whatever. So in Financial Peace University, you're going through it, and you're learning how to, you know, the importance of getting out of debt. You're learning how to do the budget. You're learning all of those kinds of things.

And that says to you, I've got to get more money and knock this out. Yeah, that definitely got me inspired to be a go-getter, you know, and watch what I spend, you know. Yeah. How does it feel? Oh, it feels good. You feel like Superman. Yeah.

You knocked it out, man. I mean, I had a couple things come up where I had to put pause, you know, but the thing was on December 30th, I was like, you know what, this is definitely going to happen because I want to walk into 2020 debt-free and just I have a whole new, you know, aspiration with what I want to do. Yeah. And build. Well, and you have the ability to now.

Yeah. Yeah, that's so cool proud of you man well done well done so what do you tell people the secret to getting out of debt is um i mean for me it was like a lot of hard work and um patience you know um i you know i i just went out there and um tried to do anything could. I mean, from being an e-bay-er to, like, you know, picking up, you know, side gigs, whatever it is. You know what I mean? Income, income, income, income, income. And, you know, as I went along, I just.

Good for you. You're a hustler, man. I love it. Yeah. Hustle and grind. All right. Who was your biggest cheerleader? My biggest cheerleaders?

I mean, there was a few, actually, like I feel like, but I had some really good friends, you know. And, you know, my 12-year-old daughter is definitely the inspiration of the time, my why, whatever. And, you know, she actually is very wise, you know, as a 12-year-old and understands, like, you know what? You know, one time she told me, she said, you know, Daddy, you're broke because you spend all your money on me. Like, what kid says that, you know? Yeah, really.

What 12-year-old says that? Yeah, yeah. So, you know, she understands that we had a budget for each weekend of things we could do for fun. And she was great. Well, I met your dad at the break. He's proud of you. Yeah, yeah, definitely my dad's, you know, how I got started originally. Oh, he hooked you up with the Financial Peace stuff?

Well, yeah, I kind of just found an old kit laying in the house and watched the DVDs. And then, you know, the YouTube channel really got me connected. And he instilled in me a lot of foundational things that made it easy for me. He raised a son that knows how to work, so he's a good man. Yeah. Good stuff. You know how to work, dude. We know that about you.

How old are you? I'm 38. All right. How does it feel to be free? It's good man i really can do what i want now and um i know i got a lot of big dreams yeah well you should you should we've got a copy of chris hogan's book for you everyday millionaires because that's the next chapter now you're free now it's time to move on towards millionaire status and um then you can

look at that 12 year old as you walk her down the aisle someday and you'll be able to do a lot of nice things for if you live like no one else later you can live and give like no one else the next decade of your life is going to be amazing absolutely i'm so proud of you well done thank you well done jonathan from new york city ten thousand dollars paid off in nine months making making $47,000. Did you hear the secret? There are no secrets. He worked his butt off. That's how he did it.

Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! I love it. Touchdown, baby. Woo! Life is good. Life is good.

That is so fun. Hey, man. You know, when people start to believe you can win, you do anything to get it there. When you don't believe you win, you can win. You won't even stoop over to pick up a hundred dollar bills laying in front of you but if if you think you can you can win you'll lift a two thousand dollar boulder to get a penny out from under it you know you do anything once you think you can do it it's it's amazing it's amazing how powerful that is, this thing called hope. Proverbs says, hope deferred, put off, not available, hopelessness.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick. People are paralyzed when they don't have hope. When you don't believe you can win and you think the only way you're ever going to be able to win is the government's going to come along and change something, that's the definition of hopelessness. You don't think you're, you know, I see sad tweets, you know, people are being smart, elegant, snarky and stuff, but under it there's a sadness. I'll never be able to win if I don't win, if I don't hit the lotto. Translation, I don't think I can control enough variables in my life. I can't force order out of enough of the chaos in order to make traction and get ahead. I'm stuck. I don't know what to do.

I'm scared. And so I tweet something snarky like, Dave Ramsey's an idiot. The only way I'll ever win is to win the lotto. So I play the lotto every day. And, you know, we all know that all that means is you're a scared little boy. That's all that means. You're just scared. It's sad.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick. But then along comes Jonathan. And it's the rest of that proverb, by the way. But, don't you love the but? I love the but right there. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. But, when desire comes. Wow.

When desire comes. baby when desire comes you deliver the greek food to the flower shop and get a job delivering flowers to the pizza place and get a job delivering pizza to the greek restaurant when desire comes, it is the tree of life. You will not be denied when desire comes. It's the difference in hopelessness which is unbelievably sad, and the amazing passion and energy and ingenuity and creativity that comes out of hope.

When desire comes. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. One of my favorite parts of this show is hearing your debt-free screams. You guys are our heroes. You've kicked debt to the curb and you've saved for the future. Now we want to celebrate with you. If you have lived like no one else and are currently in baby steps four through seven, well, it's time to enjoy some money. And the perfect place to do that is on board our first ever live like no one else cruise

in March. That's right. Just a couple of months away. But get this. It's not too late to book your cabin. our first ever live like no one else cruise in March. That's right, just a couple of months away. But get this, it's not too late to book your cabin, so don't miss your chance. This Caribbean cruise is going to be an incredible seven days at sea on a stunning new ship with amazing experiences. I'm talking all of our Ramsey personalities and other world-class entertainers. We're stopping in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and Turks and Caicos. It's going to be an amazing, debt-free celebration designed just for you.

Don't miss the boat. Head over to RamseyCruise.com the number one online retailer of custom window coverings you get free samples free shipping and with the new promos they run every month you'll save even more use the promo RAMSY to get the best possible deal. Rules and restrictions apply. Today's question is from Elizabeth in California. Dave, my husband and I recently made about $200,000 profit. Wow!

Pre-tax on a home flip. We currently have $70,000 in debt except our home. My husband wants to keep the money in our business account for another project. I want to use some of it to pay off our debt because it makes me nervous flipping houses while still being in debt. Should we go with his idea or just work maybe step two with our income from our actual jobs? I'd pay off my debt today. Still got $140,000 left. Buy a flip with that.

Pay cash for your flips, kiddo. Don't go in debt on these flips because they are elusive they're seductive you will get sucked into the rabbit hole and you will find hallucinogenic drugs in there do not get sucked into the the lure of leveraging on flippers you're going to get messed up because all of a sudden trump burps China does the twist, Mexico throws up a wall. I don't know. Something happens and everything slows down and your flip doesn't flip. And if your flip doesn't flip, it's bad.

If you didn't know, you're stuck with a non-flipping flip. It's a bad place to be. I've been there. And, yeah, pay cash for them. If you pay cash for it, you just sit there and you ride out the rough patch. But if the rough patch causes you to lose everything because you leveraged in, you borrowed into these flips, don't do it. See, I would be out of debt completely, and I would use cash for my flips if I were you.

I don't do many flips anymore. I pretty much buy real estate to keep, and so I sold two pieces of real estate, two, in the last 15 years. I hardly ever sell real estate. I love it, so once I buy it, I just keep it, but I used to do a lot of flips, and if I was doing a flip, the only way I'd do a flip, obviously, it's Dave Ramsey. I would do it with cash. That's the plan. Cassandra is with us in Oregon. Hi, Cassandra. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey. I would do it with cash. That's the plan. Cassandra is with us in Oregon. Hi, Cassandra. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to talk with you. You too. How can I help? Okay, so last September, I bought round-trip tickets to Europe for a solo trip that I want to take. And I bought it on a credit card because, Dave, I have been riding the stupid train for most of my life. However, the very next day, I discovered your show. And I started myself on the baby steps immediately i gave myself plastic surgery i'm like committed to not going

into debt anymore however i still have these tickets that are non-refundable and non-transferable so do i use so i'm able to cash flow if i go but that will also include my baby step one emergency fund um okay so wait a minute let's stop a second okay you have airline tickets that are non-transferable non-refundable yes because highly unusual must have been some kind of deal. What did you pay for them? $500. Okay. And so the question is, in order to protect a $500 investment that I made unwisely prior to getting off the stupid train, so we're not shaming you, okay? I'm just making sure.

Right. I'm recanting what you said, okay? You'd made this decision before, not after you started thinking about our stuff and about being responsible with money i got that so so you get a pass on that that's in the past okay but in order to protect a 500 investment i would end up using my very last dime out of my baby starter emergency fund and come home completely broke yep uh what what do you make a year um so i just um graduated from school um and got my first um

i dove into freelancing writing and then the last four months, I've made $11,000. In the next four months, I'm planning on making double that. Okay. And how much debt do you have? I have just over $70,000. Okay. Well, you're doing really well with your writing. Congratulations.

Thank you. You're monetizing that at a really good rate. Okay. And where are these tickets to? Where's this trip? So it is flying into Paris and flying out of Amsterdam. Planning to be there how long? Two weeks.

How old are you? 28. Okay. All right. two weeks how old are you 28 okay all right so let's kind of run this out um you don't take the trip basically we put five hundred dollar bills in the middle of the floor and we set them on fire effectively correct um And you're making $5,000 to $10,000 a month, and you clean up your $70,000, and you have a fully funded emergency fund, and you save up $5,000 for a proper European trip, and at that point you are 30 years old. Right. Right. Okay. The other possibility is you go now and you come home 1,000% broke,

which pretty much says you're inviting trouble while you're in Europe or at least by the time you get home. Because one thing is for sure, when you take yourself down to absolute zero money, it's like you're asking for it. You know what I'm saying? It's like you're saying, please, God, make my life into a country song. You know, I mean, everything that can go wrong will, right? Right.

Yeah. And so I, you're 28. My son is 28 were he to ask me this exact same question i would say the emotional pain that you're going to feel when you burn these airline tickets is going to drive you through the debt out the other side into an emergency fund into a proper trip to europe and you will never never forget the day that you decided I'm not living like this anymore. Yeah, you're totally right.

Yeah. I love that. Yeah. So I like Paris and Amsterdam. They're both fun. I was in Paris last year. Um, and, uh, I mean, I'm 60. I never saw the place until I was 50.

Uh, so you're going to get there 20 years sooner than me. 30 years, 20 years sooner than me. So not that that matters. That's not necessarily the bar. I'm just saying you'll survive. And the difference is this, okay? When you get where you're not broke anymore, you travel different. Traveling on the cheap is like less than fun traveling in the lap of luxury

is called yeah baby you know and that's living like no one else so later i can travel like no one else so yeah so i'm gonna brag okay not to brag on me but just to show you what i'm talking about when we went to paris we stayed in the four seasons and ate in three of the finest restaurants in the entire freaking world and every one of those meals cost more than almost you know my first car right i mean it's ridiculous but it's a small percentage of my world because i did the stuff early like getting out of debt building the emergency fund having the investments to where now I can do stuff like that on the nice not on the cheap and really enjoy it versus like you know scraping around in the gutters trying to find a nickel while I'm in Paris to get through the subway or something right and so I just I

want you to have this experience but I want you to have a better version of this experience with a better version of you yeah is a better version of you. Yeah. Is that okay? I agree. Yeah, that sounds great. Thank you so much, Dave. Thank you. I appreciate you calling.

I'm honored to get to talk with you through that. And then, of course, you get to decide what to do. Sometimes I have done things that are dumb or I've coached people that have done things that are dumb and the ouchie that i get from the dumb thing propels me through the change the transformation into the wisdom it's like every time i look at that stupid car i hate that car because it was a dumb decision and then when i finally get rid of it i will never borrow money on a car again you know it's that of thing. It's like the dumb thing solidifies the never again thing. And it's really good for us as a part of our transformational experience. Good stuff, Cassandra. Honored to have you in our audience.

You're a rock star, kiddo. You're going to do great. That puts this hour of the day Ramsey show in the books. Hey guys, it's Blake Thompson, Senior Executive Producer for The Dave Ramsey Show. This hour's over, but you can find more great content on our YouTube channel. Catch the most watched Dave Rants, Death Free Screams, and the very popular Everyday Millionaire segment.

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