The Ramsey Show - App - What Is Our Next Step? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 28, 2020

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Starting point is 00:00:00 🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. My name is Anthony O'Neill. Joining me on this hour and co-hosting with me today is the future number one national bestselling author and the future number one national best-selling author and in the future um number one uh youtube show in america um you know i must really love you man to say that you have i'm not gonna pass you up no chance what's it feel like to be a number one best-selling author tell me you get
Starting point is 00:00:57 that call what's that feel like it feels great have you been there it feels great man i mean it really does i mean it really you call your mom No, I didn't have to because she was with me. Okay. Yeah, man. But it's not about me, man. Let's talk about your show that's coming up on Monday. Before we get there, you guys, Dr. D and myself will be taking your phone calls today. 888-825-5225.
Starting point is 00:01:18 YouTube. Good to see you all again. I'm looking at you all here on my laptop. But give us a call if you have any questions in regards to your life um your money anything you know this is a new new way of show that we're doing and i'm loving it so uh but speaking of new shows speaking of a new format uh dr d you have a new show coming out on monday that's right called the john deloney show. That's right. You have Kelly Daniels and James, who also produce and associate produce the Dave Ramsey Show, helping you out. They are running the board. There's only one Daniel, though.
Starting point is 00:01:52 It's Kelly Daniel and James Childs. James Childs. I'm sorry, James. A couple of Childs, one Daniel. That's right. I'm so sorry. James and Kelly are not married. They're happily married to two different people.
Starting point is 00:02:03 That's right. I'm sorry. They are running the show. We are excited to launch the Dr. John Deloney Show. Subscribe to it. Go out on all the podcast feeds. But we are taking live calls. We've got some shows already in the can.
Starting point is 00:02:20 People are hurting all over the country. They're asking great questions. They're asking hard questions and just looking for what to do next. So it's cool. What can people expect? They can expect some real honest, hard conversations about relationships and marriages and parenting and mental health issues. And they can expect me to be honest, tell the truth. We laugh a lot.
Starting point is 00:02:46 There's tears on the show. It's good, man. It's good. I'm excited about it. Man, I hear that through the grapevine you have an anxiety relief checklist on your website, johndeloney.com. Is that true? That's true, my man.
Starting point is 00:02:58 I need to get it. It's anxious times. Well, you're selling a house, trying to raise a new dog. You've got all kinds of things going on. I do, so I'm going to go download that. Now, listen, America, join me. Go to JohnDillonley.com and download this free resource called the Anxiety Relief Checklist. And also check him out on social media, man.
Starting point is 00:03:15 He's like myself. He responds to, if not all comments, the majority of them, at John Dillonley on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. But most importantly, if you are feeling stressed about something, if you're feeling burdened about something, if you have some questions and some concerns and you want someone to walk through this process with you, I want you to email askjohn at ramsaysolutions.com, askjohn at ramsaysolutions.com
Starting point is 00:03:43 or leave a voicemail at 844-693-3291. Again, that's 844-693-3291 for a chance to have your questions featured on the one and only John Delaney Show. I appreciate that, man. Yeah, send me an email, leave your number,
Starting point is 00:03:59 we'll get in touch with you. Kelly Daniel will call you and we will get you on the show. I'm looking forward to getting out there and helping people be well. I'm looking forward to getting out there and helping people be well. I'm looking forward to it too. I mean, I hope to see you rise to the top and just help out a lot of people, man. I appreciate that.
Starting point is 00:04:13 So excited to have you on the team, bro. But, you know, let's go help someone right now, Dr. D. Let's go out to Boston and have a conversation with Sarah. Sarah, good afternoon. How can Dr. D and I help? Hi. Man, I think I need that anxiety checklist right now. I'm a little nervous to be on the phone.
Starting point is 00:04:31 We're nervous too. So it's cool. We're all in this together. Cool. So I've been listening since December and for me and my husband, this has been life changing to go through the baby steps and make a lot of big changes in our, in our life together. And I'm a nice nurse, and I've been thinking about going back to school to become a nurse anesthetist. The cost of the education is about $100,000. I have gone back to school twice already. I have a master's degree. I'm finishing a PhD. So I'm trying to rationalize and wrap my head around going back to school again. I know it's a very personal decision. Um, if I want to do it though,
Starting point is 00:05:10 I'm just trying to figure out the money side of things and making such a huge financial, um, commitment. So my, my question is kind of like, where do I go from here? And how do I wrap my head around making a huge decision like this, knowing what I know from listening to the show and reading the book and avoiding loans. What's your household income right now, Sarah? So the household income is about 170. Okay.
Starting point is 00:05:36 170 in Boston, Massachusetts. So that's, that's doing pretty good. I mean, yeah, that's expensive. We have a five month emergency fund, $20,000. Okay, five months in there. So we're on babysit number three. We have zero debt, right? No consumer debt, correct?
Starting point is 00:05:52 Right, correct. Okay, cool. If you went back to school, what is the financial reward? Will you go from $170,000 to $250,000 to $270,000? Will you go from $170,000 to $170,000? I would double my current income. So I make about 65 or 70 right
Starting point is 00:06:10 now and I would make well over 150 or so. So the financial reward is there. Are you all in a place where you can cash flow this experience? That's the trouble is like the first
Starting point is 00:06:25 year of the program is about $80,000. And I did call the school to ask about like payment plans and kind of what options. They said that almost nobody does the payment plan, but you can pay 25% down and then break it into five payments of $5,000 or $6,000 each month. So it might be possible, but it might not because I can't work during the first year of the program. So I lose my income and I have an $80,000 tuition. Yeah. So here's the thing. It's not that you need the income right now. This is something that you want to do. And so my suggestion is be different. Do not borrow any money to go back to school. Do not rack up any debt.
Starting point is 00:07:13 If this is something that you really want to do, I want you to really do it. But you have to do it without borrowing a dime. Bottom line. Okay. So we have some money in investments and I'm afraid to use it. I don't want you. You're not pulling from your 401k.
Starting point is 00:07:31 You're not pulling from a Roth IRA. You're not pulling from your future. Take care of your present because your future self is going to be upset with you. You've got to figure out how to cash flow this now. Hey, Sarek, let me ask you this. You've got a nursing degree, a master's degree. You're finishing up a PhD.
Starting point is 00:07:52 So this is me being real specific with you, okay? Mm-hmm. What are you trying to prove? Who are you trying to prove what to? Who are you impressing? Honestly, it's all things to know. And this is from a guy with a master's degree and two PhDs. And so I'm asking this very specific question. Who are you running from?
Starting point is 00:08:06 I think the PhD was what I was trying to impress people with. And what I've realized is that's not what you get a PhD for. Right. I thought I wanted to teach. I thought I wanted to be a faculty person. And I've tried that out. Financially, I make less money as a faculty person than as a hospital nurse.
Starting point is 00:08:30 And I want to have a fun, exciting job and be able to work three 12-hour shifts a week and make more money than I make now and be rewarded by it. Yeah, so the deal is, Anthony said it, you can't borrow money and you've got to find out. Ask yourself, what are you doing this for? This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Families all over the country are discovering a faith-based
Starting point is 00:08:55 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 Healthcare Ministries, the Olcheskis were spared from a ton of medical bills.
Starting point is 00:09:21 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. 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225.
Starting point is 00:10:13 Dr. D and myself are in the building today having a conversation with you about your life and your money. So we're going to keep the conversation going and go out to one of my favorite cities, the beautiful city of Atlanta, Georgia, and have a conversation with Renee. Renee, good afternoon. How can Dr. D and I help? Hey there, guys. Hey, how can we help? I have a quick question. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:33 I got a lump sum of money and my question is, should I pay off my house? My balance on my house is about $98,000. So I'm getting different responses. Some people say don't pay it off because of the tax advantage,
Starting point is 00:10:50 but others are like the interest. You know? Okay. It's a nice little help. What's the lump sum, Renee? How much are you getting? From a mother pad, so I got
Starting point is 00:11:05 well insurance policy is like 210 $210,000 sorry to hear about your mom Renee so sorry how's the family doing with her passing? everyone is well alright
Starting point is 00:11:20 well we're going to be praying for you thank you I can't think about that If it was my mother So we're praying for you But let's help you out with this process So you have $210,000 You have $98,000
Starting point is 00:11:37 In your mortgage Is that the only debt that you have? It is So I don't have a car payment Credit cards are paid student loans are gone that's it i love it i love it what's your income literally yeah what's your what's your income right now my income is about 75 000 75 000 are you already investing in stuff in uh right now it's like a 401k into a roth ir? I do have some investments. Good, good, good.
Starting point is 00:12:06 So here's my answer. I think you already know what I'm going to say, right? Pretty sure you do. Well, I watch the show from time to time. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Pay it off. Yes, you're on baby step number six. We want you to pay off the mortgage, okay?
Starting point is 00:12:24 Pay it off. You're going to save more money paying it want you to pay off the mortgage. Okay. You're going to save more money paying it off and just paying the taxes on the house, depending on where you are, then actually keeping the debt and you're paying interest and principal and taxes and stuff. So I want you to go ahead and pay it off this way. Now, you know, Renee, you have no you have no no bills. I mean, you have your regular life bills, but at the same time, you are 100% debt free. Then what I would do is I'll take the other hundred something thousand dollars, John, and go talk to a smart investor pro, see how you can invest some of that. But then here's something I would do with the rest of the money is buy you something nice or maybe go somewhere nice and just get away and just relax a little bit. I want you to be a good steward of it. I want you to go ahead and pay off your house because what I want, I want your mom smiling down. I want her, I want your mom looking down saying my daughter, she was wise with the money that I left her. And I think
Starting point is 00:13:19 that would just honor your mother in the transition process. But outside of the money, are you okay? I am. Good. I am. That's good. That's good, yes. I love what Anthony just said about allowing your mother's legacy to free you from the last thing that you're beholden to, which is that mortgage. And those knucklehead friends of yours that, hey, hang on to $100,000 of debt so you can get a little bit of a tax break.
Starting point is 00:13:51 Yeah, that makes no sense. That's like, hey, I don't even have an analogy for that. Pay off your house. Anthony's right. You're free. You're free. I hope they're listening. I hope they are, too.
Starting point is 00:14:01 Me, too. Hey, give them my number. Tell them to call me. Knuckleheads. That's funny. Good grief. Renee, have you read Chris Hogan's book? Thank you, guys. Hey, no problem at all. I hope they are too me too hey give them my number tell them to call me knuckleheads that's funny good grief Renee have you read Chris Hogan's book
Starting point is 00:14:07 hey no problem at all have you read Chris Hogan's book Everyday Millionaire Renee I have not cool I want you I want you to stay on the line Kelly is going to pick up she's going to give you
Starting point is 00:14:17 a copy of that book and the reason why I want to give bless you a copy of this book oh God bless you too but here's the reason why I want to give you a copy of the book
Starting point is 00:14:24 because Chris Hogan talks about in this book that one of the most common reasons why people are everyday millionaires john is because they have a paid off mortgage and so renee you're on your way to becoming an everyday millionaire uh because you're you're completely debt first you're staying in line kelly will get you that, and I promise you, you will enjoy it. But we are praying for you. We're praying for your family. And I promise you this much, this too shall pass, and you will be honoring your mother in a great
Starting point is 00:14:54 way. So thanks for giving us a call. Keep the conversation going. We're going to go out to Richmond, Virginia and have a conversation with Justin. Justin, good afternoon. How can Dr. D and myself help? Hey, Dr. D. Hey, Anthony. How are you guys doing? Man, we're doing great, man. Thanks for calling in. How can we help? Yeah, so my wife and I are newly married, and we're looking to buy our first house.
Starting point is 00:15:16 Congrats. Saving up for a down payment. We're in step 3B. We're pretty financially healthy thanks to the baby steps. And my parents have offered to contribute some to our first down payment on our house. And they said they were going to do the same for the rest of my siblings. And I feel comfortable and confident taking that money. But I was wondering what we should do. Do we bring it up with my wife's parents, aka my in-laws? I don't want to pin our in-laws against each other, but I don't want them to find out about it in the future and feel like maybe my parents contributed more and have them feel guilt or anything. I feel like
Starting point is 00:16:00 it's just a weird situation a little bit. I don't really know how to discuss it with in-laws or if I should at all. Yeah, I don't think that's anybody's business. If somebody wants to give you a gift, that's a private thing, and there's no reason to announce it, to discuss it. If you feel comfortable that you can take money from your parents and it's one of those no strings attached, they've been good stewards with their money and they just want to bless you, then that's great.
Starting point is 00:16:27 And then that's where that conversation needs to go. There is no reason to bring your anybody else in that conversation at all. Why do you feel why do you feel you need to, Justin? What's what's the thing that's causing you to be like, OK, maybe we should. Yeah, well, my in-laws are also very generous and very good stewards with their money and they really love supporting my wife and I which is great we have good relationship on both sides of each other's parents so I don't I don't want to be in a situation I don't know I feel like you know I don't I don't really know it's just a situation that I hadn't really heard of before or thought I would be in. Yeah, and bringing it up to your other in-laws just makes an unnecessary competition out of a gift, man.
Starting point is 00:17:15 There's just no reason for it. And here's the thing. If your in-laws sit you down and say, hey, we want to give you a big chunk of money for your house, you smile and you say, thank you, what a gift and what a blessing. And you don't need to say, man, this doubles up our gift. We did really good. You just say thank you, right? It's like somebody bought you a pan for your wedding,
Starting point is 00:17:33 and then somebody pulls you aside and says, hey, we scratched some money together, and we know you love this, and we got you a pan for your Christmas, right? I mean for your wedding. You get two of the same gift. You don't say, hey, idiot, I already got that. You say, thank you. What a blessing. And then you take two pants, man. And so if you're in an opportunity to get blessed twice, that's great. Um, but you don't need to be already in a young marriage, pitting in-laws against each other. You don't need to be talking about your gifts that you get from other people with other people. Just let that be between
Starting point is 00:18:03 you and them and then move on, man. Take the blessing. Congratulations. That's awesome. Here's the thing, Justin. If I gave you money as my brother, I wouldn't want you to go tell our sister. I wouldn't want you to go tell one of our close friends. Because sometimes when I give, I just want to be a blessing.
Starting point is 00:18:26 I want to be obedient and just be a blessing. I don't want the whole world to know. And then I do not want everyone to be thinking, oh, well, why did Anthony do that? So with your parents, let your parents be a blessing in silence so that way they can receive blessings also as well from a spiritual perspective. But I because giving helps the giver. Yeah, it does you know i love giving and i'm not giving because i want to be seen or sought after or like oh anthony did that no i just want to be a blessing because i believe it is better to give than it is to receive so allow your parents to be a blessing and then from there that's okay you just be solid you're newly married be grateful enjoy it have a good time and then when your, that's okay. You just be solid. You're newly married.
Starting point is 00:19:05 Be grateful. Enjoy it. Have a good time. And then when your in-laws want to bless you, let them bless you. But right now, no. You have a good heart. Focus on your marriage. Accept the gift.
Starting point is 00:19:16 Keep it moving. This is The Day Ramsey Show. so most people's money problems come from not paying attention. That's why before I spend a dime of my money on something, I do the research and make sure it's going to live up to what it claims. Recently, I got a great pair of sunglasses from a company called Shady Rays. When you're looking for sunglasses, it feels like your options are limited. Name brand sunglasses cost too much, and the cheap knockoffs are ugly and really don't protect your eyes. Discovering Shady Rays is a game changer.
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Starting point is 00:21:00 888-825-5525 888-825-5525 This is the Dave Ramsey having a good conversation I really enjoy being on the air with everyone you know Dave John Christy Rachel Hogan Ken I just love
Starting point is 00:21:18 and I just want to say this to the world I appreciate Dave for allowing us to come in here and to speak to nearly 17 million people to encourage you all to inspire you
Starting point is 00:21:34 all to answer your questions because this is what we do as personalities every single day for a living you know we're not out of cubicles we're out here studying we're out here writing we're out here studying. We're out here writing. We're out here answering your questions. And so we would love to hear from you.
Starting point is 00:21:49 You know, we love talking to people. I love helping people because I know what it feels like to be helped. And so give us a call, 888-825-5225. Let's help some more people, Dr. D. Let's go out to San Diego, California, my home city, and talk to Vincent. Vincent, good afternoon. How can we help? Good afternoon.
Starting point is 00:22:11 Good to hear from you guys. Hey, man. Good to hear from you. I have a situation where I have a long-term goal of buying a second home. So I'm 45 years old, single, no children. I'm a contract worker. So that's the big concern is that the salary coming in is not predictable. I'm a part-time student right now.
Starting point is 00:22:33 And my monthly pay is about $10,000. The only debt I have is my mortgage on a one-bedroom condo. The balance is about $147,000. And the value of the condo is about four, 14 back in Oh six. Get it Vincent. Way to go, man.
Starting point is 00:22:51 Hey, Hey, um, I maintain about 60 K in a manually maintained step CD portfolio. So just so that I can have a predictable five K a month matures. So that's like my covers, my monthly budget for a full year out. And then, um, yeah yeah my goal is again to i'm renting out my condo so that's a second income i have a little studio
Starting point is 00:23:12 that i rent for myself and the goal is to get that paid off the condo and you know get that second place which would become my primary home okay all right all right all right so now normally you know we don't really say purchase home until you've paid off your home and you have a million dollars in net worth as far as with that, but you're already inside of the process. And so for you right now, you have about 60 K you save your portfolio. What do you have in your savings account right now though? Savings is about 50 K. Okay. You got about 50 K and you're doing about 120 K a year and that's gross, correct? And that's real unpredictable though. So that kind of goes up and down to some years at 60, some years it's one 50. So yeah. Okay. Why is there so much fluctuation
Starting point is 00:23:59 there? Yeah. What do you do? So I'm a, I So I work for schools, give some great advice. But, you know, usually it's a six-month contract, eight-month contract, and then I take some time off. I'm in school right now, so that's how I'm using my time off right now. And that's the kind of lifestyle I found to be a really healthy one. So it is kind of a part of the goal is to maintain that lifestyle so that I don't get burnt out too early. Let me answer this question.
Starting point is 00:24:28 You're young, 45 years old. You have about 300 and some thousand dollars in equity. Why not? I'm just asking you this question. Why not sell that house, go purchase your home and then really start building your wealth and then go back and pay cash for something down the road. Like why not go ahead and get yourself established yourself into a home, pocket this money and build, and then go back and buy something. For me, it was always that, that, that, you know,
Starting point is 00:24:58 the condo rental was always a kind of assured second income. And it allowed me to be able to be creative in how I structure my year, you know, so that if I had that eight month contract and the four months off, that four months off allowed me to go back to school or to travel or while I was still young, I kind of feel like while I still have the years to enjoy it, I don't want to wait until 20 years from now to be able to then do the things that I want to do. I agree. I mean, I totally agree with you, Vincent,
Starting point is 00:25:26 which is why if I was in your shoes, I'm selling a home. I'm going to get the equity out of the home. I'm going to put about maybe another $50,000 into a savings account so that way I can have a good cushion because your income is fluctuating. And then after that, I'm going to go buy my house. After that, because you're young, you can build your income is fluctuating. And then after that, I'm going to go buy my house. After that, because you're young, you can build your income back up and then go pay cash for something.
Starting point is 00:25:51 Or if you don't like that option, I would just go ahead and pay off that condo. So that way you have no other debt out there and you can just sit there and just worry about your living expenses. So you have two options. If I was you, I'm going to go the option that we teach. I'm going to say, you know what?
Starting point is 00:26:07 Let me sell this house, pocket the cash, go buy me something and do it that way. So that way I'm buying my investment properties cash. And then now it really starts generating me income. Not only would it generate me income, but it also generates passive income for my kids' kids down the road. Because I'm pretty sure you'll want to get married one day and have some children.
Starting point is 00:26:27 Am I correct? Possibly. Okay. And Vincent, you're talking about security. Do you see what Anthony's saying here about you're trying to assure yourself security with an insecure means? Does that make sense? Right. So you're saying that the sale of the home provides that security. If you've got a home and you've got and you pay it off and you've got no house payment, that is just a more secure way of what you're trying to get at, which is a guaranteed rental income.
Starting point is 00:27:02 And if 2020 has shown us anything, it's that nothing is guaranteed at all, ever. And so you've got debt on a, it feels guaranteed, but it's not, so you've got an unsecure plan on top of an unsecure plan.
Starting point is 00:27:20 Versus, man, just pay it off. Pay it off. And you're playing a what-if games. And you're playing a what-if games without margin you're playing the what-if games without margin. The reason why Dave Ramsey can go out there and play the what-if games is because he's a multimillionaire. So he can go buy a house and take the chance on renters. Well, you and I, Vincent, we can't take that chance. What happens if the renters decide to leave tomorrow?
Starting point is 00:27:41 Now you've got to pay your rent and that mortgage payment and live. So my thing is take the what ifs off of you right now, have the cushion, build a solid foundation. Once you build the margin, once you build your net worth and your income back up to a solid guaranteed situation, then go back and get the real estate because I want you to get some real estate. I want some real estate. I want more land. I want to create a lot more streams of income. I'm right there with you, but I want to do it to the point of I'm not worrying about it. So I would say do that option, Vincent. I mean, that's the best option I would do if I was in your shoes. You're young. You sound sharp. You know what you're doing in life. I love the fact that you're thinking about your future. I love the fact that you're really trying to generate some more income.
Starting point is 00:28:28 But I think right there you're sitting on $300,000 in equity. Man, I would sell that house and then go ahead and build my situation. I'd sell that house tomorrow. Tomorrow? I would sell it tomorrow. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And let me pitch this, Anthony.
Starting point is 00:28:43 You're talking about goals and stability. Here's the deal. 2020 has thrown everybody curveballs this year. And it's shown everybody here's what matters and here's what doesn't. And our good friend Christy Wright, man, she is teaching folks to change losses into learnings and get back in the game now. And if you want to reach next year's goals, take the time right now to create the right goals, right?
Starting point is 00:29:09 So our friend Christy, she's a number one best-selling author. She's brilliant. She's a rock star mom, a rock star wife, a great colleague. She just launched her brand new 2021 goal planner. Having this planner is like having Christy as your personal coach to plan the year ahead. She sits between us, Anthony. She does.
Starting point is 00:29:27 And it is awesome being there, right? Having her as a personal coach just telling us to be quiet and stop laughing so loud sometimes, right? It all starts with Christy's goal worksheet, which you can start on today. This planner itself has the monthly, weekly, and daily calendar sections that you'll love, plus new monthly teachings, action plans, powerful journey, and prayer prompts. All of it. Why am I telling you to buy this today? Because the planner will sell out fast.
Starting point is 00:29:50 It always does. So prepare for 2021. We're just going past 2020. Prepare for 2021 and go after your money, your work, your personal life goals now. Go to DaveRamsey.com and get the Christie Wright 2021 Goal Planner today. You guys heard him. Go get it. Go to Christie.
Starting point is 00:30:06 Actually, go to DaveRamsey.com forward slash store and get it. It will bless your life. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. going out to redding california we're going to have a conversation with chase chase good afternoon how can dr d and i help hi guys thanks so much for taking my calls hey you're so welcome thanks so much for calling in how How can we help? So basically, well, my wife and I are recently married and we recently paid off all of our debt
Starting point is 00:31:11 and we have also saved up our three months of emergency funds. Come on, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. All right, before we get to the questions, man, hold on, I got a question for you. How long y'all been married?
Starting point is 00:31:23 We got married in May, so a COVID wedding. Of this year? A COVID wedding? Yes. long y'all been married? We got married in May. So COVID wedding. Of this year? A COVID wedding? Yes. And y'all paid off your debt this year? Yes. How much debt was it?
Starting point is 00:31:33 It was about $15,000 of student loans. Woo! I love it. And Chase, I got to ask this last question. I promise you, you can ask us a question. How old are you and your wife? I am 23 and my wife is 24. Millennials out here paying off debt.
Starting point is 00:31:50 That's what I'm talking about. Okay, go ahead. And what's your question for us, man? Congrats, man. I'm so pumped. Thank you so much. So basically, now that we have our emergency fund, we want our next step to be to get a house. However, we know retirement is an important
Starting point is 00:32:05 option, especially at a younger age. So we didn't know, should we just be putting all of our savings towards a house? And once we get that down payment, then start doing retirement? Or should we be splitting that effort? We both have company-sponsored retirement. Okay, Chase, Anthony's going to help you answer this question, but I just got to stop for a second. Here's the thing, Anthony. We got a 23-year-old newlywed who just paid off his debt. He's not saying, hey, we're free.
Starting point is 00:32:35 Let's go run around crazy. He said, what's next? We want to buy a house, but we know retirement's important. Right. I didn't know they made 23-year-olds like this. Who is this guy, man? This is a sharp young man who is excited about his future.
Starting point is 00:32:50 And it sounds like he's excited about his wife. And so let's walk through this, Chase. Okay. What is important to you and your wife right now? What's on the vision board for you and your wife right now is it okay we really want
Starting point is 00:33:07 a home because we want a family um or is it a little bit of both we want a home but we also want to invest um or like what's the deep what's the deep thing in in between you and your wife do y'all just want a solid financial foundation like talk to me a little bit right now what's going through your heart and your mind yeah so basically yeah we're wanting to build a family relatively soon and we just don't know if being an apartment is the best option for that but we also at the same time don't want to be starting a family and not being you know have to be so narrow focused on a house that we set ourselves up for trouble in the future. So are you guys going to stay in California?
Starting point is 00:33:51 Yes. Okay, so you're going to stay there? Mm-hmm. Cool, great. So here's the thing. If you were my brother, I'm taking you out to dinner, and I'm saying, bro, congrats. You're 23 years old you're married with zero debt with an emergency fund
Starting point is 00:34:08 nearly 50% of the people in America today cannot afford to pay cash for a $400 emergency and Chase you can times 100 so here's the thing you can do and this is what we teach
Starting point is 00:34:24 you go from babysat 3 to three B three B is you're saving, um, at least 10 to 20% to put down on the 15 year mortgage. Now you could do both at the same time. You can do three B and four. I have no problem with that. If I'm 23 years old, I am investing and I am saving for a home. Okay. There's nothing wrong with renting because if you can invest early on, man, your future is going to be so bright. But then also,
Starting point is 00:34:53 if you can get into a house now, do it the right way, then you can start gaining some equity. So I think right now you and your wife did to ask yourself, what is the priority? If you're saying, Hey, we want to be in a house within the next year two years okay cool there's no problem with you taking two years and not investing and going after after the mortgage but you're 23 so if you all are saying hey by 27 we want to be a homeowner then hey and go ahead and invest and go ahead and start saving up that 10 to 20 to put down but you and your wife have to be on the same page. Either or, you're perfectly fine. Okay, you're perfectly fine.
Starting point is 00:35:29 If you are my sibling at that age, I'm saying, hey, go ahead and do both at the same time so you can reap the rewards of both. If you're a little bit older, near your 30s, obviously, yeah, go ahead and just save up and just stockpile a lot of cash to get into a home. Make sense? Gotcha. Yeah, it does. And Chase, for whatever it's worth, I had a wild, rambunctious,
Starting point is 00:35:52 awesome little boy, 2-year-old, in an apartment for a year. I had to get creative as a dad, but, man, we had a blast. It was just I had to take him to local parks, and we had to learn how to play soccer out in a school field instead of in a manicured backyard. But, man, we had a blast. It was good. So your parenting, I can tell you right now, as a guy who's planning,
Starting point is 00:36:14 as a guy who's not afraid to have an off-kilter COVID wedding, you're going to be a great father. You're going to figure it out. And so don't let that lock you into bad decisions that are going to follow you for decades and decades. Chase, how much did you pay for your wedding? If you remind me asking,
Starting point is 00:36:27 it was a COVID wedding. So I'm curious. Well, it was going to be a lot more, but as everything, they, everything got canceled on us. Pretty much.
Starting point is 00:36:36 It was the only thing we paid for was really the wedding dress. Cause we didn't have, we only had six family members. So it was probably less than $1,000. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you still in love, Chase? Yes. Are you still married?
Starting point is 00:36:51 Yes, of course. Hold on, but what you're saying is crazy. What you're saying is you could actually get married and show the world that you love somebody and you're going to be with them forever, and it would now cost $50,000. That can't be right. Is that what you're saying?
Starting point is 00:37:05 Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't have believed it either, but it was way more special than it ever could have been with the 200 people or anything. So does your wife feel the same way? Yeah. That's the real question. Your wife feels the same way? She does, yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:18 In the beginning, no, she didn't. But now it's like we realize it was so much more special because you could focus on each other, not the event you're putting on. Wow. Chase, you are changing hearts and minds in the United States of America today. So congratulations, brother. Chase, stay on the line, man.
Starting point is 00:37:34 I'm going to bless you. Have you taken Ramsey Plus yet? Have you taken Financial Peace University? I'm not. Okay, cool. I want you to stay on the line. Kelly is going to bless you. Ashley, me and John are going to bless you with Ramsey Plus. I celebrate you and your wife getting married
Starting point is 00:37:48 because, Chase, clearly you and your wife are on the way of becoming everyday millionaires. I really want you to learn this. Take this class. It's going to be free. We're going to cover that cost for you. Stay on the line. Again, congrats. Kelly's going to take care of that. America, I want y'all to hear this. Awesome.
Starting point is 00:38:03 I mean, we have a young person that said you know what instead of me postponing my marriage and spinning the average wedding is about 25 to 28 000 you know for a wedding we're going to get married and spend a thousand because we still love each other and we're going to have a more intimate private wedding not only we're going to do that we're going to pay off our debt not only we're going to just pay off our debt but we're going to call into the dave ramsey show and talk to uh dr d and anthony so we can get wise counsel on what should we do next this is a young person saying i want to do it right and we're going to do it right out of the gate. Out of the gate, from the very beginning.
Starting point is 00:38:46 Okay, do we save? Do we invest? Do we go buy a house? What do we do? You see, when you're not willing to ask the question to someone who has the answer, you'll never be successful. And when you're not willing to sacrifice and pivot and
Starting point is 00:39:01 make changes and default to what's important, not what looks the best. Yes. Because what most folks who are 23 and 24 are going to do, they're going to postpone their wedding. Yep. They're going to spend a ton of money once they open everything back up. They're going to feel so excited. They're going to have a big party.
Starting point is 00:39:15 Yes. They're going to straight run out and buy the house with no percent down, some fancy pants, special loan. They're going to say, hey, we only owe 15 grand of student loans. We don't even have to pay it back right now because the government's going to print some more money for us and so we're good for a while and you're going to snap your fingers you're going to look up and you're going to have two kids you're going to be 30 and you're going to be so underwater you can't breathe that's it you just said it right there man they were willing to adapt, and overcome. Adapt, adjust, and overcome.
Starting point is 00:39:51 And I think if you can do those three things, especially right now, your future is bright. By the time they turn 50 years old, they will be millionaires. And it goes back to what we were talking about with Christy's always talking about with COVID. It helps you decide what is important. And they have decided to focus on planning, love, each other, and their future. It's awesome. Boy, I love getting calls like that, man. Oh my goodness, y'all. This has been fun.
Starting point is 00:40:14 This hour has been fun. 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.

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