The Ramsey Show - App - Top Real Estate Agents Are Worth the Money (Hour 3)

Episode Date: October 8, 2018

The show about you

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones this hour at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Rom is with us in Salt Lake City. Hey, Rom, how are you? Hey, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. How are you today? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Kind of saw that answer coming. But yeah, so I'm in kind of a tricky situation, I would call myself. So I recently graduated with my master's degree in 2017, May, and I had about, put together, it was about $45,000 in debt. And I haven't, I've never heard of you until like two months ago and somehow with my own like knowledge about money and all those things I kind of paid that off in 13 months good and yeah I was making about $75,000 and and I kind of paid it I was living basically living like the advisors you give people you know like being work and the extras I put in 15, 16 hours a day for like eight, nine months, and I paid it off.

I'm kind of really proud about that, actually. Yeah, you should be. You should be awesome. Way to go. Yeah. But the next thing I'm going to tell you, I think it's going to make you a little mad on me. But, yeah.

So while I was working this job and all these extras, I used to take the bus. It used to be a long ride and it used to be very tiring. So once I paid off my loan, I went ahead and got a very expensive car. And it was kind of, I was under the impression that, you know, I was okay rewarding myself because I worked so hard, that kind of a thing. So like I said, I make 75 to 80 and the car is worth about $30,000. And once I start the car, I start listening to your show. And ever since I've been doing that, I've been feeling really, really bad about it because, you know, one of the things

you say is that you should never get yourself into debt and that's exactly what I did. How can I best help you today, sir? Yeah, so my question is, I have a couple of questions. One, do you think I should sell the car? What's your household income? Seventy-five still? Seventy-five to eighty. And you make thirty?

Oh, you owe thirty. I'm sorry, you owe thirty on the car? Okay. How quick are you going to pay it off? I mean, if I really put my money in, maybe a year, maybe a year and a half. It might be more like a year. Yeah. You're single, right?

Yes, sir. Okay. When you make $75,000 or $80,000, paying off $30,000 in a year is doable. You just got to not do anything else, right? If you're not willing to sacrifice enough of your lifestyle to pay it off in a year, yes, I would sell it. That's up to you, though, how quickly you want to clean up. Do you like the car?

I love it. What is it? Mercedes 300. Which 300? C. C? Oh, that's a great car. Yeah. I love that car.

Yeah. Well, I mean, there's nothing wrong with keeping that car. You just have to have a plan to pay it off very, very quickly to justify it. It's less than half your annual income in value, and you can pay it off in less than two years. You're right. I wouldn't have bought it, but you're there now. And so if you want to sacrifice a bunch of your lifestyle to pay it off very quickly, then, yes, I would keep it. But it's not the end of the world if you want to sell it.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that either. There's not a wrong answer there. Keeping it and saying I'm going to take two years to pay off $30,000 when I make $85,000 and I'm single, or $75,000 when I'm single, that's just, no, that's not okay. Not okay at all. Amy is with us in Akron, Ohio. Hi, Amy. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I have kind of an issue going on. My father-in-law recently had a stroke, and so he has been in a nursing home for about a month and a half. My husband and I are on baby step six. So we were actually thinking of looking into buying a new house that might have an in-law suite so we could maybe do home care at our house with him.

We're kind of just trying to figure out what would be better financially if we should pay off our house now, which we owe about 90, on, or buy a house. The one that we kind of were looking at on Zillow was like around $300,000. And what's your current home worth? It's probably like $150,000. Okay. So you're going to move up $150,000.

Yeah. And you're using his moving into the father-in-law suite as the justification for doing that. But obviously, the whole house, the increase is not all about the father-in-law suite. Correct, yeah. We were going to upgrade our house within the next few years anyway. What's your household income? It's about $250,000. Okay.

You can afford it if you put it on a 15-year fixed or less. Right. I'd prefer less because I don't want you every time you almost get paid off to start 15 years over again. That kind of defeats the purpose, right? Right. The purpose would be to become debt-free. So is he financially obviously not able to care for himself? Obviously, there's no other family members.

My husband has a brother um we're kind of just in a better situation i guess to to take something like that on um my father-in-law does have a pretty he has a decent amount of money so he um he we could keep him in a nursing home for a little while until the money runs out i I guess. Sure, sure. Well, I mean, you may want to sit down. Is he capable of making decisions with his stroke? He is, yeah. He's mostly there mentally. Physically, he's had a lot of it.

So how much money do you say he's got a fair amount of money? He's probably got like $300,000. Okay. Well, I mean, you could make a deal with him that if you got your half of the inheritance prior to his death, that you would agree to care for him until his death. Okay. And go ahead and get your $150,000, and then you can just about pay cash for this house. Yeah.

Okay. And, you know, you would want to clear that with the brother as well. Everybody needs to be on the same page. This is the kind of stuff that pisses people off. So you have to be real careful with it and go, okay, you're still going to get your half, buddy. But we're taking ours now, and we're going to care for him, and we'll take care of him. But that's a heavy commitment on your all's part. Right.

In other words, if I were in your shoes, the way I would want to analyze that would be if you reach a point being at home and your husband's at work and you don't want to do this care, that you guys would be willing to write the check for the in-home care nurse. Yeah, I think that we would probably still need a nurse to come in to handle some of it. Good, good. That's good. Well, I mean, you can decide how you want to do this, but that's one way you to handle some of it good that's good well i mean you can decide how you want to do this but that's one way you could put some of the money together and not have to do a

complicated thing where he owns half the house and then you have to deal with your brother-in-law when he dies because he now owns half your house or half of half of your house or some kind of crap like that i don't want to get into all that that. That's a nightmare. Or you can just buy the house and just go, we make $250,000, we can afford it, and we're going to put it on 15-year, and, you know, he can use his $150,000 to buy the in-home care. However you want to do it, that's the way to do it. There's nothing wrong with that. I would have in my mind, you know, just your exit strategies being, you know,

if he gets really in bad shape and you have to put him in a nursing home, how are we going to handle that? And then number two, we've got to get brother-in-law. Everybody needs to be on board on this. Everybody's got to feel good about this. We may have to have an in-person meeting with dad sitting there telling everybody what he wants to do. It's his money, his life. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. I get asked all the time, when in the baby steps is the right time to buy life insurance? My answer is typically now. Life insurance is not part of the baby steps

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

Term life insurance is inexpensive and your family needs this no matter where you are Thank you for joining us. Majeed is with us in Los Angeles. Hi, Majid. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Okay. So I'll just give you just some background information about me. So I graduated high school a few years ago, and I decided to go to community college. And while I was in community college, I worked. I went to work. I did about like 30 hours a week and I'd also go to community college and it wasn't an issue. And now I transferred to a university. I'm in my first semester right now. And classes are just, you know, just a little bit harder. So my question was, do you think I should quit my job

and focus more on school for these last two years, or do you think I should just try my hardest and just do both? What are you studying? Accounting. Okay. I've got a finance degree, and I worked 40 to 60 hours a week while I went through school in four years at the university level. So, um, uh, it's doable. Um, you are, you know,

you are doing a lot of studying and not a lot of partying for sure. Um, the, um, how are you paying for school? Um, I go to, I get grants and also, I also with the money from work. Okay, so you're not going into debt? No, no loans. Okay, so if you quit work, how would you pay for school? I have some money saved up from working for the past few years.

I think it'll probably like $12,000. Probably last me a year, year and a half. No, I think I keep working. Okay. If it costs you a half a point on your grade point average. Yeah, that's what I worry about, my GPA. Yeah.

I graduated with a 297. I missed it by, I missed Magnet by three one-hundredths of a point. I'm still pissed 30 years later, but, but, but you know what? I have never had a single caller ask my GPA before they asked my advice. And I actually have never gone on a job interview where they asked my GPA in my entire life ever now and if you're wanting to go to work for one of the top accounting firms in the entire world they might ask your gpa and you might actually be in competition or gpa might actually matter on your very first job but after that it won't um and it has a whole lot more to do with did you learn how to do accounting than what your gpa is and will you work hard while you're at work and that kind of stuff. And so what are you doing for work right now? I work at a bank.

Okay, good. Yeah. Okay. I might poke around in the accounting field and see if you can get on with one of them making about the same kind of money. One of them might actually pay for your degree. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. It wouldn't hurt anything to ask around and see if you can make a job change

and make about the same money and get free tuition or something. That'd be very cool on top of it. But, you know, you're not working 100 hours a week. You're working 30 hours a week, 20 hours a week. You can do this. That's very doable. Most people work when they're in school. It's not that unusual really by the way when i

do an event i was just in san francisco this week and we're doing an event we sit right chris hogan asked the audience there's 3 000 people there how many of you worked when you were in college i mean it's like 90 of the audience raised their hand now maybe the people that didn't work when they're in college don't listen to my show i don't know but it appears that most people work when they're in college don't listen to my show. I don't know. But it appears that most people work when they're in college. That's what it looks like. And so I think if I'm you, I'm going to continue that route. Good question.

Thank you for joining us. Larisha is with us in Houston. Hi, Larisha. How are you? Hi. I'm doing well. Thank you for asking. I had the pleasure of talking to you, and my husband and I were in Baby Step 2,

getting out of debt. And now we are in what you call baby steps three B, saving for the down payment on our home, which we finished. And so we're looking right now at about 15 percent or about 12 percent down. Our household income before bonuses and stipends is about $125. After bonuses and stipends, it's about $132. And so I'm trying to make sure that as we're thinking about, like, how much house to buy, that we are understanding the – I think you recommend a fourth of your take-home pay? Exactly. Okay, perfect.

And so I wanted to make sure that, like, right now we're – I've played with a million mortgage calculators, and right now we're kind of looking at about $2,100 a month in terms of, like, a reasonable, comfortable amount. On a 15-year fix. In my mind, I feel like that's such a big number. Yes, sir, a 15-year fix. Yeah, it is a big number. It's a lot bigger number than you're paying now.

But if that's a fourth of your take-home pay or less, and you are debt-free with your emergency fund in place, you have the math spread to prosper if you continue to budget and stay on track. But, again, that's not what you should do. That's the most you should do. So you can do less if you want to um or you could put it on a shorter term if you want to and you know i'm gonna buy less house at 2100 and pay it off in 10 years there's nothing wrong put it on five years i don't care i mean you can do a lot of stuff but the most i would ever tell you to do and and I don't even do that because I don't borrow money at all,

for anything ever is a 15-year fixed rate where the payment is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay. Luke is with us in Dallas. Hi, Luke. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

So my wife and I have been listening to you for many years. Actually, my dad got me listening to you when I was a young kid. Stupidly, I did not take your advice, and I have student loans. And we are considering taking a cash-out refinance on our house to knock out the high-interest student loans and then start paying the debt off on the house because it's at a much lower interest rate. And how much student loan debt do you have? Right at $48,000. Okay. And what's your household income?

It fluctuates between take-home $40,000 to $60,000. So I own my own business. So last year we did 65. This year we're looking at probably doing, I'm probably going to bring home closer to 42. Okay. I don't know what you've been listening to on this show, but in 26 years I've never told someone to do a refinance cash takeout to pay off their debt ever, except to avoid a bankruptcy or a foreclosure and

you're facing neither and so uh no i've never told anybody to do that okay and the reason is very simple you make enough money to pay this debt off in a couple years um you're going to work like a maniac you're going to have to have no life but then you're going to be debt free except your house and then you can work on paying off your house from there, and of course, start working on your retirement and the other baby steps that we walk people through. But you can't borrow your way out of debt. And if you pay this off within two years, the interest rate on this becomes mathematically irrelevant because you're going to pay it off so fast.

It's not like you're keeping it for 30 years. It's a two-year thing, and really it's not $48,000 for two years. It's more like $20,000 for two years because halfway through, you're going to be halfway through it. And so, yeah, you guys need to get on a budget, really, really tight budget, very careful, very dialed in, cut your lifestyle to nothing, do everything you can with your business to increase your income because you need to clean up the student loan debt.

I agree with you on that part. But no, I don't tell people to borrow to get out of debt. You can't borrow your way out of debt. It doesn't work. You can't dig your way out of a hole. Digging out of a hole is an oxymoronic statement that we all make. We say, I'm digging out of a hole. You're not digging out of a hole.

If you dig out the bottom of a hole, it gets deeper. You can't dig out of a hole you're not digging out of a hole if you dig out the bottom of a hole it's deeper you can't dig out of a hole you have to fill in the hole that's how you get out of a hole climb out of a hole maybe but you don't dig out of a hole unless you're digging to china you know it doesn't work so no you can't you can't you can't borrow your way out of debt and that's the same exact situation so So you've got to stop that. You have to break that cycle, put a line in the sand, and say we're not borrowing money ever, ever, ever, ever. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options?

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billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Ronnie and Veronica are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hey, Dave. How are you? We're doing good. Welcome.

What city do you guys live in? Houston, Texas. Welcome. Very cool. Welcome to Nashville. And all the way here to do a debt-free screen. Hey, Dave. How are you? We're doing good. Welcome. What city do you guys live in? Houston, Texas. Welcome. Very cool. Welcome to Nashville. And all the way here to do a debt-free screen. Yes, sir. How much have you paid off?

$75,000. Woo-hoo! And how long did this take? About 17 months. Good for you. And you're... Go ahead. We were doing the pay the bare minimum up until we took the Financial Peace University. And then that kicked in into overdrive.

Yes, sir. Very cool. And your range of income during the 17 months? $110, that kicked it into overdrive. Yes, sir. Very cool. And your range of income during the 17 months? 110 all the way up to 130. Way to go. And what do you guys do for a living? We're both in sales. He's in the dental industry, and I'm in the oil and gas industry.

Oh, great. Very cool. Good for you guys. What kind of debt was the 75K? It was a combination, mainly all student debt, student loan debt. And then we also had a car note that we had one year left, and we paid it off in three months. Woo-hoo! All right.

Knocked it out. Okay, so you're going along and paying on debts and just kind of living life normal, it sounds like. And then 17 months ago, you got into Financial Peace University, and that caused you to push the pedal on down to the floor and get going. Yes, sir. So what started that? How did you end up in class? Well, her uncle actually was hosting a Financial Peace University class, and he tried to get us over to his, but they were about 45 minutes from us. And we decided, well, we'll just look for one locally. And we found one at our local parish,

which was a mile down the road. So we couldn't say no to that. Well, I basically had to drag him to class that first session. The truth comes out. Okay. Who's uncle? Your uncle? It was my uncle.

Your uncle. Okay. He got you started, but then you find one close by, so he's got no excuses. Yep. That's right. And my brother and sister-in-law also went through the course, so that kind of motivated us as well. Did they go through at the same parachute hitter with your uncle? No, it was a different one.

Okay, all right. So everybody's in different places but going through at the same time. Yep. All right. Very, very cool. Well, Ronnie, I'd be like you. I'd be like, you want to do what? Yep.

And so how did you talk Ronnie into going? It was like, you know, I think I really thought we needed a third party because all he wanted to talk about was paying off our school debt. But he thought he knew how to do it. But it was hard to hear what he had to say about it. And so I felt like we needed a third party just to get to get him to class with me. I just needed to hear, let you, you know, speak to him. He had a plan that you both could agree on. Yes.

Well, and you're both in sales. And I've been in sales my whole life. And one thing about salespeople is we always think we can out-earn our stupidity. We think if we just make a little more, it'll be okay. Yep. Because you know you can make a little more when you're selling. You know, I just got to make a little more. That's all I got to do.

And for years, my income would go up and my debt would go up. And it was just like i had to change something so so ronnie uh what did she say that talked you into going the one thing she just said hey we've got to get on the right page where we were both on opposite ends of the spectrum you know she was the spender i was the nerd i knew how to develop spreadsheets but i didn't really know how to go about paying this all off. We needed some strategies. Something you could both buy into and be on the same page. Being on the same page is a big deal. When we first got married, Dave, we were all about buying

a house. We got married in 2016. We were looking at houses. We were ready to buy and then we realized we're up to debt in our eyeballs like we can't even afford it oh yeah it's a shock yeah so we got to do something absolutely do something okay so the spreadsheet nerd who needed a strategy goes to the class and what did you come out with ronnie where you had a what light bulb moment did you have aha moment where you went oh you know Dave it's it's amazing when you go to this class you it's a big support group that I think everybody really needs to be a part of and because we lived in a very high-end area and it was just amazing how much debt everybody had and we're like wow like you know there's a big support group and you know this is a great way let's start with the baby steps and we're like, wow, this is a big support group, and this is a great way. Let's start with the baby steps.

And we did that. We had a bunch of savings saved up, and we used a lot of that to kickstart our gazelle intensity, and it really helped. How much? We had about $10,000. Okay. That was hard for a nerd. It was.

It was. Write that check out, clean out that savings account. It takes your It was. Write that check out. Clean out that savings account. Oh! Yes, sir. It takes your breath away. So, Veronica, the spender goes to class. You wanted to go to class, but then you get in there, and there had to be a moment where you go, I'm not sure I like this. Well, it wasn't so much that I didn't like it.

I just felt like I needed, like I said, strategies to help me because I didn't want to be in debt either. And I just felt like there was just a huge cloud over us all the time. So what was your biggest takeaway then where you went, aha, I see that now? Everything about it was awesome, honestly. I think it was realizing our roles and with him being the nerd that he is and then me just coming to my senses and saying, you know, is this material thing something that I really need to have? And using the envelope system really helped me and map out our budget

and, you know, this is the amount of money we need to pay for our groceries. This is, you know, this is how much we can give to the church. And this is how much we can give people for gifts and whatnot. And so I just needed a layout. And once we implemented those steps, you know, we were just, let's do this. You sound a little bit like Rachel. Rachel Cruz says that a budget is permission to spend.

I love your daughter. She's amazing. Yes. Permission to spend. Okay. spend okay yeah yeah and that's exactly what it is it's i there were some times when i just felt like we didn't have any money that's the mindset i had to give myself was okay we don't have money for this but you know it's there if we wanted it but you know when it comes down to the budget but once i said it i let it control me that's right yeah. Very, very good.

Okay, so we know Uncle was a cheerleader. We know your brother was a cheerleader. And you had the community that you got plugged into were cheerleaders. Who else was your biggest cheerleader? I think, I mean, we're really close to our families. And my family, all of them are very supportive of us. We both come from five brothers, or not five brothers, five kids from each family, so two brothers and two sisters.

So we come from a big family, but they were all supportive of us, really, and our friends as well. Very cool. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is now that you've done it? I think the key thing, Dave, is being on the same page. You know, communication is key. And, you know, we went to the Money and Marriage last week, and we were listening to a lot of the other couples. And none of them have gone through the financial piece,

but they've gone through a lot of seminars. And I think if they had gone through the seminar or the Financial Peace University, they would really get on the same page, and it would just really explode once they get through that and follow the steps. Yeah. And just, you know, writing down our goals was really important for us to do. And once we had that, you know, we're very goal-driven, especially being in sales. Yeah, you've got to be.

Once we, you know, we have that target and we wanted to hit it. And so just staying focused and dedicated and disciplined really, really helped us. Well done, you guys. I'm very proud of you. Very well done. You're a sharp couple. Thank you. Les and Rachel at that marriage and money thing are, it's virtually stand-up comedy

because they're both a couple of cut-ups. Yeah. They really are funny. And they're both funny in the green room, too, by the way. But, I mean, it's the same thing. So, wow. Well, well done. Well done.

We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired. I want that to be the next chapter in your story, that you're now millionaires and you're well on your way. And then, of course, outrageously generous as you go along. Very, very well done. I'm proud of you. All right. generous as you go along. Very, very well done. I'm proud of you. Alright, Ronnie and Veronica, Houston, Texas. $75,000 paid off in 17 months

making $110,000 to $130,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. 3, 2, 1. We're debt-free! Oh, that is fun, fun stuff. Man, that's about as good as it gets right there. Life is good.

All I needed was a strategy. All I needed was a strategy. All I needed was a strategy. We've got to get on the same page. We've got to get on the same page. Communication and a budget. You hear it over and over and over again, don't you? So tonight, you turn off the television, you put the kids to bed,

get out the credit cards and a pair of scissors and have a plasectomy, and you and your spouse sit down, open up the EveryDollar app, and do your first budget. Because you work too hard to be broke. You work too hard to be broke. You deserve better. Well, it's time you went and got you some, baby. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. our scripture of the day

Ephesians 4 to be completely humble and gentle be patient bearing with one another in love. That's something a whole bunch of you out there right now this week could breathe in. Some of you, based on your political beliefs on one side or the other, are completely misbehaving. You're acting like butts. And you need to stop it. You're just misbehaving.

Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient. Bearing with one another in love. Well, these issues matter. I don't doubt that these issues matter. But you can do the right thing the wrong way. And a bunch of you are misbehaving.

You're just being nasty. And a bunch of us are getting sick of your nastiness. Nasty conservatives and nasty liberals. We're sick of you. Stop being nasty. It's time. It's time.

There's lots of other ways to solve problems without being a jerk. Quincy Jones says, be humble with your creativity and graceful with your success. Well, tens of thousands of people have already purchased this brand new book, and it's not even out. It comes out in January. Everyday Millionaires by Chris Hogan. How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth and How You Can Too. The book is based on the largest study

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You'll get the book in January, and if you buy it early, we're going to give you $50 worth of stuff with it. You get the $20, or you get the audio book, the Everyday Millionaire's audio book. It'll come out in January as well. The Everyday Millionaire's e-book, that'll come out in January as well. Immediately, we'll send you a video lesson from Chris Hogan called How to Retire Inspired, and one from me called It's Okay to Be Wealthy. And we'll show you the process. Richard is worth $1.2 million.

He says, being intentional with money through budgeting, saving, and investing, anyone can be a millionaire today. That was not your broke brother-in-law that said that. That was a guy worth $1.2 million. His opinion matters. Kalani is with us in Hawaii. I'll get all these out. Hi, Kalani, how are you? Good, Dave.

Thank you very much for taking my call. Sure. How can I help? I'm wondering what advice you have to make it in a place where the cost of housing is so astronomical. You have to make an astronomical income. Right. Because you don't get a pass on math if you live in Hawaii, California, or Manhattan.

Math is still math. And so if you buy something you can't afford, it'll still bankrupt you, right? Right. So the problem is dramatic for a guy like you who probably is a native Hawaiian and probably your grandfather and grandmother were, and it's all you've ever known, and yet the housing prices on the islands have made it where a regular working man can hardly afford to live there. Exactly. It's like Silicon Valley, right? I mean, you can afford to work in Silicon Valley, mean you can't afford to you can afford to work in

silicon valley but you can't afford to live there you have to live the 45 miles away an hour and a half commute to be able to afford a house there problem is you can't move that far out because you have this thing called an ocean you can't move that far out of town it gets wet yeah but i i don't know i mean are there areas? I know Oahu and Maui, and of course the Big Island's got its own issues right now, but a little volcano action. But I know Oahu and Maui are outrageous. Are the other islands?

I think so. I mean, I think each island probably has pockets of places that, you know, somebody could afford. But the problem is typically, like you said, it's like an hour and a half commute, even though we're on an island. And you only got to drive 15 or 20 miles. We have the worst traffic in the nation. Yeah, it's a two-lane road. It's a beautiful view, but you get to enjoy the view, yeah. Right. Or the neighborhood is not, you know, you might not necessarily want to raise your kids there. Right.

Right. Okay. So there is some options along those lines. Then, you know, there's not a magic answer to it. What I don't want you to do, and that's why I started the answer the way I started it, what I don't want you to do is just give yourself permission to do something that's harmful to you just because it's expensive and you throw up your hands and go, well, it's just the way it is and Dave Ramsey just doesn't understand.

Well, it's not me. It's math. I mean, math is still a problem. When your house payment is 60% of your take-home pay because real estate is expensive, you're going to go bankrupt. I mean, you're not going to make it. Your kids aren't going to college. You're going to struggle financially.

You're going to struggle. You can't keep that from happening. And so you've got to bite the bullet into a neighborhood you don't love, a commute you don't love, or make some other arrangements. Or honestly, truthfully, what happens is, I used Silicon Valley as an example because I was just reading an article about it the other day. The number of people that have left is absolutely amazing. And then they're having to bus, they're busing service workers in

because they can't afford to live there. They bus them in. And, you know, some of the ski resorts face the same thing. They build housing for the workers because it's the only way they can get somebody to stay there because you can't afford to live in Aspen and work in Aspen as a ski patrol guy, right? You can't afford it. It's too expensive. Right.

And so it's the same kind of an economic issue on these microeconomic situations. But, you know, you cannot – it's almost impossible to live on the island of manhattan and make less than 100 grand you know it's just mathematically very tough and so you end up crossing one of the bridges um and living out in one of the other boroughs um and in order to get your costs down enough to actually survive and live your dream of being there. So hopefully you can find a way to mix in the neighborhood idea and the commute idea enough to get a value that works. What do you do for a living? I am a firefighter as well as part-time I'm a flight attendant.

Okay, cool. And are you married? Yes. What's your wife do? Right now, she pretty much stays at home with the kids. How many kids? Two. We got two under two.

Oh, fun. And what's your household income? Yeah. About $5,000 a month take home on average. It kind of fluctuates on my part-time job kind of fluctuates depending on how much i yeah i work or not that sounds low for a firefighter have you got a lot of stuff coming out of your check um on the really it's about i think my deductions are about 30 come out i mean do you have other junk like insurances or something coming out of your check? No.

Okay. I don't. All right. Well, Oahu is a major city, and so you're not exactly in a rural environment here. So I was just guessing. I didn't know. Right. I run into firefighters who make $100,000 all over the place.

Oh, yeah. In Hawaii, you have to be a captain, which is a promotion. The way for me to be. Yeah. All right. And are you doing three days on, four off, or that kind of a routine? Yeah, three days every other day and then four days off. You know, I might, instead of being a flight attendant,

I might look at a part-time business on the side. You might make more than that than on the flight attendant stuff. A lot of firefighter guys I know have great side hustles that they make almost as much as they do at the fire hall, and they're really fabulous. They get in the construction business, the painting business, or something like that, and they make really seriously good money. But, hey, man,

I'll try to help you all I can. I'll put you guys into Financial Peace University, the one-year membership that includes the nine lessons that a class. Hold on, I'll have Kelly pick up. We'll send that to you.

It's great to talk to you. I wish I had a magic wand to make this work for you, but it's a tough, tough answer is what it is. Thanks for calling in. That puts this hour of the day, Ramsey Show, in the books.

We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, guys, this is Blake Thompson, Chief Production Officer for the Dave Ramsey Show. This hour's up, but you'll find more on our YouTube channel, where we have over 6 million YouTube views each month. You can find debt-free screams, millionaire hour clips, Dave rants, and so much more. Go check it out.