The Ramsey Show - App - They Paid Off $188,000! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 8, 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 am Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Kevin starts this hour off in Birmingham, Alabama. Hi, Kevin. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Good evening, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? Well, I've got a quick question. Me and my wife just moved back home to Alabama. She is now a stay-at-home mom with our brand new four-month-old. Congratulations. Thank you, sir. I brought a lot of stupidity into our marriage that she's helping me clean up. We have about $18,000 in active debt, which is just a personal loan and student loans. We have about $3,000 in active debt, which is just a personal loan and student loans. We have about $3,000 that's actually in collections.

Her vehicle is paid for, and I have a truck that's got about $3,500 negative equity for me to sell it to get out from under the loan. My question is, we actually sold our house in Florida from where we moved to, and we've got a $24,000 hammer to start. I just don't know, should I just go ahead and clear out all the debt and then work on my truck, or should I get rid of my truck first, because I have a $600 payment that's just hurting us each month? Yeah. So what's the truck worth? The truck is worth $31,000 on private retail, and I owe right at $3,400.

Yeah, gotcha. Pay off. Gotcha. Okay. And what's your household income? It's just me right now, and it's right at $61,000 a year. I bring home roughly $4,500 a month. Okay. So my opinion, if you listen to me for more than 30 seconds, you probably know this,

is that you have too much truck even if it were paid for. Yes. Because you don't want more than half your annual income tied up with things with wheels and motors. And your truck alone violates that. So even if it were paid for, I'd be looking at you got too much truck. So yeah, truck's gone, and we got to replace it, and we got to cover the $3,500. So what are you going to spend on what you're going to drive for the next year and a half or two years while you get out of debt?

You're not going to drive it forever, but what are you going to spend on that get-out-of-debt car or truck? The ones I've been looking at are right around $1,500 to $2,000 because my wife's vehicle is very dependable and it's paid for. And I'm looking at a $1,500 beater to get to and from work. I just drive a bit at the distance. Yeah, I would kick that up to $5,000 in your situation. That's not going to keep you from hitting your goals. And so up to $5,000. In your situation, that's not going to keep you from hitting your goals. And so we need

$5,000 for that. We need $3,500 for the hole that you're in, right? Yes, sir. So we just spent the first $8,300 or so, right? Yes, sir. Okay. And then we've got $25,000 hammer, $24,000 hammer,

$22,000. What was the size again? It's going to be right at $24,000 is how much money we have right now. Okay. The stuff that you have in collections, are you paying payments on it actively? No, sir. Okay. Are they hounding you? Yes.

I've tried to settle with them before, and it just went into a collection status, and they're not. I tried the whole, you know, wait towards the end of the month and kind of hammer at them, and they didn't really want to help nobody. Yeah, I mean, end of the month helps some, but that's just because they're trying to hit their personal goals on collections. You're just trying to help the idiot in the cube that's doing the collections. So it doesn't really help the company. The company doesn't give a rip. But they're just trying to hit quotas because it's a phone room is what a collections operation is, you know,

and they're all sitting there with bonuses and spiffs and whatever. So that's the only thing you got working on your front. So, yeah, they're just not ripe yet. Let them sit there. And then let's just start working the debt snowball with the rest of it, list it smallest to largest. But basically we've got the money to get rid of the truck and replace the truck with a $5,000 get-around car, okay?

Yes, sir. So set aside $9,000. Give yourself a little wiggle room. That's over here. This is the truck exit fund. And then the rest of it, we're going to work the debt snowball with. Collections is just not getting anything because they're not softened up yet. When they get softened up, we'll write them a check.

Yes, sir. Should I be setting – should i set aside any money uh you know which i've read the baby steps put a thousand dollars up and then use the rest on that yep should i put some kind of to the side for the collections when they come or just nah nah if you're out of money when they get there you just go well you guys missed your shot i you. I'll get to you when I get to you. Now you're sidelined by your own idiocy. Okay. So knock out the truck first, get that out of our life, and then work on the debt. No, it's not in the end.

It's at the same time. We just set $9,000 aside. It takes a little while to get the truck sold. Got to get it sold, then you got to buy another one. Meanwhile, you're going to take the rest of that money and work your debt snowball. Okay. That's where I was kind of confused. Because the truck's killing us, so it's got to go.

Yeah, it does. It's just too much, and especially the situation you're in today. The bad news is you guys are going through all this. The good news is with a brand-new baby and a bright future, you got a lot of reasons to clean this up, so you're the kind of guy that will clean it up. You're not going to go like, well, I needed to stop and go on vacation because I'm a wuss. No, you're going to go through and clean it up.

Yes, sir. You're the dude, man. I'm proud of you. Get after it. I love it. Open phones at 888-825-5225. So for those of you that have not tuned in here very often or don't know these details, these folks always throw these baby steps around like they're some kind of gospel or something.

They're not. They're just the most proven effective way to get out of debt and build wealth and become outrageously generous. And this is the goal with money. There's lots of other good goals in life to have, but with money, when we get out of debt, we have money. And the first three baby steps are done with what we call gazelle intensity, which means you are running hard and doing nothing but thinking about staying alive like a gazelle running from a cheetah.

And so when you're broke and in debt like that guy was you're not going out to eat you're broken in debt you have a 35 000 truck with a 600 car payment your butt does not need to see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there as an extra job. You're having beans and rice, rice and beans cleaning up the freaking mess you made when you were a child now that you are growing up.

I'm not punishing you. I'm telling you this is the fastest way out and people that can play with this stuff, the cheetah eats their butt. You don't see gazelles kind of go like, I think I'll run a little. No, they run for their freaking lives. It's not a game.

And they're not going on vacation. They're using every dollar they can find. They're working extra. You're selling so much stuff the kids think they're next. We're cleaning up this mess. And that's baby steps. One, get $1,000. Two, get out of debt using the debt snowball.

Everything but your house. And three is your emergency fund. Most people are doing that in one, two, maybe three years with gazelle intensity. Then you lighten up a little bit and you start your building wealth plan. But when you're in the middle of the mess, you've got no money and you're in debt, you can't afford to go out to eat. You're a broke person. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Families all over the country are discovering a faith-based and budget-friendly way of meeting

health care costs, whether they're anticipated or completely unexpected. For example, take the Olcheski family from LaGrange, Texas. Jeff and Carice had just celebrated the birth of a new baby boy. Shortly after, they had another expensive medical issue come up. They could have faced a huge financial setback. But thanks to Christian Health Care Ministries, the Olcheskis were spared from a ton of medical bills. As members of CHM, they're part of a group of believers who financially and spiritually support each other.

CHM is the longest serving health cost sharing ministry and is a Better Business Bureau accredited charity. It's Christians helping other Christians, and it shared nearly $97,000 to help the Olcheskis. To be a part of Christian Healthcare Ministries, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. Well, growing up in Nashville, I've had the pleasure of meeting some really famous people, gotten to know a few of them, and even fewer of them have become really, really good friends.

John Rich is not only a big famous guy, not only a world-class country music star, but also just a good friend. He married up considerably. He's got two great little boys, and Joan and Sharon just love each other, and we appreciate getting to hang out with these guys. We've done stuff in many, many cities all around America together and hung out doing all kinds of fun stuff. And he sent me an email five weeks ago maybe,

and it had the rough cut and kind of an acoustic version and printed out the stuff as if i know anything about music but he's just trying to mess with me so he sends me this email this song he's working on and i emailed him back and i said i don't know anything about music uh but i do know about the heart and this this song's got heart and it's going to touch the heart and it's absolutely incredible song's called earth to god if you don't know about johnny's uh part of the big and rich scenario three albums number one rider save a horse ride a cowboy big deal one celebrity apprentice one year uh maybe the last one was it the last one uh there was one more after that that's right yeah you were next to the last we were in new york for that night

when you won that and with you guys and so um he's a world-class business guy as well. But this song, Earth to God. It gets back to such a simple thought. You know, the world is so chaotic and everything is so complicated that generally a simple answer is the correct answer. At least in my life, when things are are chaotic it seems like a simple answer is the right answer most of the time and i was looking at our world dave and and going what do we have in common anymore really what is there anything left and yeah the answer ironically is that we

all have the same problem at the same time pretty much whether it's divisiveness or covet 19 or whatever's going on and i had this picture in my head of earth sending an SOS to God, a ping to him, not just America, not just Christians, not just anybody, but humanity. You know, mankind cannot fix mankind's problems. Only God can do that. So I sat down, Dave, and I got a pencil and I thought, earth to God, come in God, like an old CB radio, like you're hailing God. And about 30 minutes later, this song was done. And I've written a couple of thousand songs in my life. This is the only one that I don't feel like I can even claim it because the way it came out was so fast and so immediate.

I felt more like I was channeling this message. And when I hear the recording of it, I feel almost like a messenger instead of an artist singing it. And I've never had that feeling about any of the song I've done. Wow. Very cool. You and Big Kenny did one, Why I Pray. That is also one of my faves. It's in the same genre here.

And it is very, very good. As a matter of fact, I was walking one morning back there when COVID crashed and all that way back about five, maybe 10 months ago. And I sent you a text that morning while I was walking. Cause I, it came up on my, on my shuffle and on my walk, you know, my run, uh, list or whatever. And I said, man, you need to get that song back out there. And instead of that, you did this, which is better.

I mean, not that that song is bad. It's a wonderful song. It's a little different. This one is just really it's a prayer put to music is all it is. And the response from people has been unbelievable around the country. And, you know, tied it in with Samaritan's Purse with Franklin Graham giving all my tithe to Samaritan's Purse because they help people all around the planet regardless of who they are. If they're a human in trouble, Samaritan's Purse because they help people all around the planet regardless of who they are. If they're a human in trouble, Samaritan's Purse helps them.

And the song is really, really impacting people right now. Yeah. Franklin Graham, that organization, we do a lot with them as well. They're absolutely incredible. And you ended up using some of their B-roll from help in the video. The song is powerful. The video changes the way you hear the song and so when you came in when i knew you were coming in i told our guys i said we're not going

to just play the song we're going to run the video on youtube so those of you listening on radio you may pull your youtube so you can watch the video those of you out there in the audience we'll put it up for you uh that are in the live audience here, because the images put a lump in your throat. Yeah. There's no political images in it, none whatsoever, because this song is not about politics. This song is about humans. And so the images you see in the video are from endeavors from Samaritan's Purse. You know, all the big white tents you saw set up in Central Park when COVID broke out, Samaritan's Purse, you know, places around our globe that have tough times. These are images from those places. And I'll go back to it.

Listen, God's right there. All we got to do is say, hello. Are you still there? I want to talk to you. We should talk to him all the time. We don't. I think it's time that our world reached back out to out to him and said hey we need you now more than ever so i guess it's about seven days ago the national prayer march is that about right about a

week ago about a week and a half yeah a week and a half ago you texted me and said hey this thing's going to number one and i'm in dc at the national prayer march talk about what happened there well so i'm standing up there with the capitol building behind me i'm gonna cut you off go ahead i just looked down saw my clock. I want to leave time for this song. Fire the song, and we'll get the rest of it. You got it. Earth to God, come in, God.

I know you're there, hearing our prayers wherever you are. We need you now to send your love down. Take away the pain in your holy name. We ask this now. We need your light. We need your love, we need your love To heal the world you made And save us now in our darkest hour

With your amazing grace Earth to God We're holding on, but not for long. Can you pull us all close to the Holy Ghost and keep us strong? We need your light, we need your love to heal the world today And save us now in our darkest hour With your amazing grace Earth to God Earth to God

Earth to God. Earth to God. Earth to God. Earth to God Come in God Earth to God Come in God Earth to God Earth to God

Come in God Come in God Earth to God Earth to God Come in God Come in God. Earth to God. Come in God. We need your light. We need your love to heal the world you made. And save us now in our darkest hour with your amazing grace.

Earth to God, come in God. Earth to God, come in God. Well, I've seen that thing three times, and all three times I get tears in my eyes. It's powerful. Yeah. And if you haven't seen the video, those of you listening on radio, go look it up. The song is Earth to God. It immediately became a number one on all charts,

a number one in the world that day when you were at the prayer march. Yes. And pretty incredible. So we've got about 20 seconds. Tell me what happened at the prayer march. I performed the song i watched 60,000 people walking almost silently praying uh spot by spot by spot through our uh capital city the praying for our country and praying for our future it was absolutely powerful if people want this song you

can get it anywhere you find your music watch the video 10 my tithe goes back to samaritan's purse john rich the song is Earth to God. I'm proud of you, my friend. Thank you, Brother Dave. Honored to know you. Good to see you, sir. Good stuff. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. I call host today on the Dave Ramsey Show, Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author and my daughter, on the debt-free stage right here in the Ramsey Solutions lobby.

Tim Adagio and Modesta are with us. Welcome, guys. How are you? Thank you. It's good to be here. How are you? Honored to have you. Where do you guys live? We live in Maryland. In Maryland? Okay. Laurel, Maryland, in between Baltimore and D.C. Perfect. Okay. well, welcome.

And all the way down here to the debt-free stage to do your debt-free screen. Yep. How much have you paid off? We paid off $188,000. Good gracious. And how long did this take? 48 months. Woo!

You've been getting it. And your range of income during that time? In our first year of marriage, it was about $122,000. And then this past year, it was about $165,000. Very cool. What do you guys do for a living? So in the beginning, I was a school counselor, and I'm currently doing therapy as a contractor with an organization.

Cool. Good. And I'm a technical consultant. Okay. What type of technical? SAP organization. Cool, good. And I'm a technical consultant. Okay. What type of technical? SAP systems. Oh, yeah. With IBM, working on government contracts.

Of course you are. Okay, well done. So what kind of debt was this? $188,000? School loans. All of it? No, not all of it. School loans, car loans.

And then when we got married, we bought a bed. A credit card. That works. Yeah. That works. I love it. How long have you guys been married? We've been married for over four years. Okay, so you guys started this journey soon after, as newlyweds.

A month after we got married, we got started. Wow. So what caused that to happen so when we were dating um there was sometimes when we would be on the phone and temi had another job he started doing uber and i wanted to spend more time with him so i was like what are you doing and he responded by telling me that babe you gotta live like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else. And you thought, I found the one.

I did not. I was like, what? What are you talking about? I thought it was strange, but he started getting me tuned into the podcast when we started kind of going out and going on dates. And once I heard the first episode, I was hooked. And prior to that, the way I found out about the Ramsey show was at a small African-American Baptist church I was attending.

During the sermon, the pastor mentioned you and your radio show. So the next day on a Monday, I started listening. And I said, you know, once I'm done a Monday, I started listening. And I said, you know, once I'm done with school, I was in college, I had a year left. I said, once I'm done, and I got a job, first thing I'm doing is paying off my school loans. It's awesome. I gotcha. Yeah, that's cool. Very cool. Okay, so where are what is your country of origin? I hear the accent.

Sure. I'm from Nigeria. Okay. And how long have you been in the States? 17 years. Okay. All right. Very cool.. I'm from Nigeria. Okay. And how long have you been in the States? 17 years. Okay. All right. Very cool. And I'm from Togo. Okay.

Both of you are immigrants, I guess is the right way to say it. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. And how long have you been in the States? Over 20 years. Okay.

So both of you have been here a long time. Okay. So is there some kind of theme with the outfits here? This looks like the same material. It is the same material, just matching. I love it. See, I've been married 38 years. I never had matching outfits in my life.

I'm going to have to go for this. I don't know if I can pull that look off. You can try. You can try anything once. I love it. It looks great. Thank you. You get a lot of comments in the booth in here.

They're all going, love the outfits. Very cool. Thank you. We get a lot of comments in the booth in here. They're all going, love the outfits. Very cool. Good stuff. So now that you've been listening for all these years, four years, and you've been doing it for four years, and you've worked your tail end off for four years, what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? I would say the key is to remain focused and to be consistent. For us, part of the challenge was we had a lot of things come up through this process. I just graduated from seminary last year, so we had to cash flow that. We had a cultural wedding

last year as well, so we had to cash flow that. We also had to help family, different family members in between. So, you know, the key is to stay focused, remember your goals, your why, and get after it. Also, I will add one more thing, is have your end in mind. You know, have a detailed plan of when would this be over because then no matter what comes up you know that i uh there's the end in mind and this isn't you know going on forever i think that's a great point because i think some people feel like that baby step two sacrificing to get out of debt is like their forever life right they're like oh and still to this day people are like oh you'll you're you know you guys would be so proud i'm driving like

this like terrible car and i'm like, no, no, no. The goal is to drive a great car eventually because people think that sacrifice is forever, and it's not. And like you said, having that end date, it feels doable. You're like, I can get there. And I would just add that another part is communication.

We were always talking, making sure that we were meeting our goals on a monthly basis. And it really helped us to make sure that we were communicating anything that came up and make sure that we were committing to the budget on a monthly basis. How old are you two? We're 28. 28. Okay. So you came here in your teens in both cases. I was 11. I was 6. Okay, all right. So because I don't know if you realize this, but statistically you have a dramatic advantage

because folks who come here legally from another country and use the free enterprise system and go and kill something and drag it home and be somebody actually have a four times higher likelihood, 4X, of becoming millionaires than one of us good old boys who are homegrown. Because we have more of a tendency to take it for granted, and you're like opportunities right in front of me. Sure, yeah. Now, you were pretty young, so it may have had a little difference with you guys,

but your family even is reminding you that it's out there go get it exactly yeah yeah and uh i suspect anyway yeah and that's that's the uh there's actual all kinds of data on this it's very very interesting so very proud of you guys thank you what that tells me is you're gonna be millionaires i like it this is great well done well All right. I'm curious for you guys real quick. What was the hardest part? I'm a foodie. I love to eat. And grocery shopping was always an argument. Yes.

Fair. Fair. I tried to get in there. I was like, I know stuff's hard. Yeah. She would walk in. I would say, how much did you spend? He'd be like in the back of my mind when i'm heading

to the checkout and i'm like oh boy what's he gonna say today you know what's stopping sorry that's what's crazy at the very beginning we maybe in the first year we said let's try to spend 150 for the entire month on food and we we did it for like two months. That's pretty dang good. That's not enough. Yeah. All right, guys. Well, we're so proud of you.

Thank you for coming all the way to Tennessee to do your Debt Free Scream. You're an inspiration. And this is an amazing number that you pulled off. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires, because as I told you a minute ago, you are statistically destined to become that,

and I think spiritually as well. Well done, guys. Very, very well done. Thank you. All right. It's Tim Adeo and Modesta. She calls him Timmy, just by the sound of it, in case I missed his name up.

There you go. All right. $188,000 paid off in 48 months, making $122,000 to $165,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Love it!

Yeah! Oh, man. That is powerful. That is so fun. And, you know, it's just like someone walking in here with an Australian accent or something else. It just, it makes it that much cooler to have a great accent. For sure. For sure.

But it's always cool when somebody can do that. Those are incredible numbers. $188,000. In four years, they did it. It's awesome. Proud of you guys. Incredible, incredible. They are rock stars, man.

Absolutely incredible. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. It's powerful when people take control of their lives. If you live like no one else later, you can live and give like no one else. Rachel's new book is called Know Yourself, Know Your Money. It's on pre-sale today for $20 and get over $150 in bonus items, including a free coaching call with one of our certified financial coaches if you pre-purchase. Socrates said, the unexamined life is not worth living know thyself for over 30 years we've been saying that personal finance is 80 behavior 20 head knowledge and one of the things you

really put your finger on are not one of the things it is the thing you put your finger on with know yourself know your money is that when we understand ourselves, it immediately helps us become a better version of ourself, and that solves a lot of money problems. That causes a lot of money opportunities to occur. You know, basic, you know, back when I was, you know, teaching Financial Peace University and you're a little girl, we would say, okay, you're a nerd, you're a free spirit, and people would come in and do their debt-free screams with a nerd T-shirt on or a free spirit T-shirt on with their spouse being the other one.

And that wasn't a negative label or a shaming thing. It was just saying, I'm the detail person, and I'm the one that doesn't worry about details and has this thing called a life, and we laughed about it. But all of a sudden, when I gave myself permission to be a good version of the nerd, my wife permission to be a good version of the free spirit, it gave us this leapfrog forward in the money process. And that's what you've discovered and written about in this. Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, understanding not just how to handle money, but why you handle money the way you do has so much to do with you. We talk about personal finance.

It's 80 percent behavior. It's only 20% head knowledge. But that behavior is so hard to change when you're not changing yourself and realizing, oh, wow, this is how I'm wired. Here are parts of me that are probably a little unhealthy when it comes to money. And maybe that's what's caused me not to save or to go into debt. It's been a ripple effect. So, okay, let me see how can I become healthier in general and be able to name, this is why I handle money the way I do. Everything from your upbringing to your tendencies to your fears, there's so much there of unpacking who you are. So taking that time to know this is who I am. This is why I handle money the way I do. And here are parts that maybe I could probably be a little bit more balanced or a little bit more healthier in. And here are strengths of

mine that I have. Here are weaknesses like getting the full picture of you is so crucial. And once you have that, you can win with money faster. You can use that as a tool to use you to use on the baby steps and with your spouse as well. If you're married, if you don't understand who you If you don't understand who you are, you end up just playing guacamole with money because the problem is going to pop up again, and it's not really the problem. It's the symptom. Yep. And the problem with my money is the guy in my mirror. I've always said that.

If I can teach him to behave, he can be skinny and rich. It's a behavior issue. We know what to do, but then there's just the way I was brought up. I'm afraid of this. I've got a toxic version of saver down in my soul or a toxic version of spender down in my soul. I'm medicating something with my spending or something like that. There's nothing wrong with being a spender. There's nothing wrong with how you were brought up.

You may want to emulate that. You may not. And none of this is about shaming you for where you are. It's about becoming a better version of whatever wiring you've got. That's exactly right. Yep. And it's just a deeper dive is really what it is. And gosh, when you can get to the core of that and really say, okay, this is me, this is who I am, and be able to describe it, put words to it, understand it, suddenly you have this level of knowledge and maturity to walk forward. And again, to apply all of that to your relationships,

but specifically with this show and what we talk about is with your money. So knowing yourself and understanding that and knowing your money, it goes so hand in hand. And for so long, at Ramsey Solutions, we always talk about the how, and we're great at that, about how to get out of debt, how to budget, how to invest, how to become a millionaire, how, how, how.

But really unpacking and say, okay, here's really who I am. I'm the person in the mirror, like you said, and I'm the one controlling the money. And the more I know about me, the faster I'm going to be able to win. Exactly, exactly. And so there's this idea that sometimes money problems are covering up the real problem, and they're masquerading as a problem, and they're not really the problem, they're the symptom. And we see that a lot.

I mean, you sitting in this chair. I deal with every other call. All the time. You know, they're like, oh, gosh, we can't get on the same page with my spouse. You ask about three more questions, a little layer deep, and you realize, oh, no, there's some marriage issues there. It's coming out as a money issue, but there's some deeper stuff there. And to be able to know that and work on yourself there, I mean, it's just huge. I mean, it's so big.

And all of our data from 30 years indicates that when you do that when you quit playing guacamole with this stuff and you go okay i can't be a toxic version of that and win yeah and there's just something it sets you free yes it sets you free it's called i think it's called growing up but but you know it's maturing yes you know and so you know when you're sitting down with a marriage counselor and you go oh that's why i do that it's thaturing. Yes. And so, you know, when you're sitting down with a marriage counselor and you go, oh, that's why I do that. That knowledge sets you free. You have this, oh, moment. This, oh, oh.

Yes, that's right. Light bulb over the head thing going on. And it accelerates your progress and increases the probability of your winning with money. Yes. And I think tying both the psychology of life and money is what I did really with this manuscript. And it's like, I mean, it just opens up this whole new way of looking at money, this whole new way. And so that's what I'm excited for people to read.

I'm like, we've never really put content out. Like you said, we scratched the surface with Nerd and Free Spirit, Spender Saver. But there's like a whole other world there. And so being able to dive into that, something so brand new that we've never done before is really, really exciting. And I really believe that this content is going to help people, again, not just win with money faster, but their journey through life with their money, their relationship with their money can be even healthier once they know themselves. Pre-order online at DaveRamsey.com. Know yourself, know your money. I promise you it will cause you to accelerate in your in your

journey the and it'll smooth out some of the road in the journey that's been bumpy and if you want to just check out the money quiz that's not a bad idea find out if you're a spender or saver if you're scarcity or abundance or how you're coming at some of these things text text the word, it's free, text the word money quiz to 33789, money quiz to 33789. The book is on sale now. It comes out in January and we'll send you, of course, $150 worth of stuff, including the eBooks, including everything else. And so, you know, check it all out. It's absolutely incredible. You can get it at DaveRamsey.com. Let's go to Michael. Michael is with us in Indianapolis.

Hey, Michael, how are you? I'm great. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Yeah, so I just had a quick question about, I should preface all of this with saying that I am 100% permanent total with the VA, and I'm wondering how you plan for retirement and go through the baby steps with a guaranteed income through life. Okay.

You're 100% disabled? Is that what you said? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Cool. Are you married?? Yes, sir. Okay. All right, cool. Are you married? I am, yes.

Okay. Well, why would you settle for your disability income being your only income? Oh, I do not plan to. I was just wondering how do we go about, you know, as we're in Baby step two now we're almost done but you know the baby steps with um you know we have certain education benefits for our children things like that like yeah you've got great benefits for the kid the kiddos are covered really um fabulous unless unless congress changes between now and the time they get there which i sure hope they don't you've certainly earned those benefits a thousand times over. So really, you know, Baby Step 5 is not going to have much.

You probably do want to have some cash in addition to military benefits for the kids just to have, you know, be able to create the things around college that maybe those benefits don't cover. But it's not going to require a lot. And you don't have as much need for retirement, saving 15% of your income. So if you want to save a little bit less for your income there while you get Baby Step 6 done, but let's assume you finish Baby Step 6, your kids are in college and we've got that taken care of, we want to have piled up cash in addition to Baby Step 4, meaning

build wealth. So I'm not going to, I mean, it lowers some of your needs in some of these areas, but it doesn't do away with addressing those issues. And I wouldn't rely on the benefits 100% on any of these issues. My prayer is that it would never change for someone in your situation, but we don't know what Congress is going to do. Never do we ever. Never do we ever.

Do we ever, do we ever. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about an event, product, or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes section or head over to DaveRamsey.com and click Dave Recommends. Thanks for listening.