The Ramsey Show - App - When Should I Take Social Security? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: May 8, 2020

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Starting point is 00:00:00 🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Logan is with us in Denver starting off this hour. Hi, Logan. How are you?
Starting point is 00:01:00 Doing well, Dave. How about yourself? Better than I deserve. What's up? I was wondering if I would be a good candidate for the 100% down plan, or if not, when I should get into a house. Okay. How fast can you get there? What's your math saying? Well, currently I'm making $84,000 a year. I'm looking for a house somewhere in the $250,000 range, given the current housing housing here in Denver.
Starting point is 00:01:28 I can save about $1,600 a month right now. I am contributing to retirement as well. That puts me at about 11-ish years, 11 to 12 years to fully have 100% down payment. How old are you now? I'm 23 years old. Okay. All right. 11 to 12 years to fully have 100% down payment. How old are you now? I'm 23 years old. Okay. Well, you'd be 34 with a paid-for house at $250,000.
Starting point is 00:01:54 The houses are going to go up in value during that time. That's a pretty far stretch. What I might do, what I would be tempted to do if I were in your shoes, is do a two-step, meaning why don't we save up and buy a $150,000 condo real quick? You sound like you're single, are you? Yes, sir. Okay. The way you were using your pronouns, that's what I was guessing. But, yeah, I mean, save up and buy you a condo in like three, five years, whatever.
Starting point is 00:02:30 And then sell it and add the money to it to move up. At least you'll get the benefit of two things by doing that. One is you'll have no rent because the condo will be paid for. Or a cheap house. I don't care, as long as it's safe and is in a market where you can resell it. I just want you to be able to sell it again to make the next move when you're 34. You might get there quicker if you did that. Now, of course, your set of math assumes you never get a raise, too, right?
Starting point is 00:03:02 Correct. Yeah, which was not realistic. What do you do for a living? I'm a petroleum engineer. Oh, yeah. You're not going to be making the same 11 years later. Your income has to be on a curve. I mean, if you do a good job and your career continues to grow.
Starting point is 00:03:18 So, yeah, I'm probably going to look at it that way. I'm probably going to say let's do a step into something that's not quite as nice a property as you are considering, or maybe a different kind of a property, like, say, a little one-bedroom condo. The trick is buy something that's marketable, though. And with real estate, sometimes we think we got a bargain, only to find out it's something that's very difficult to sell. And that was why we got a bargain in the first place. And so we end up giving up a bargain when we turn around sell it so let's don't do that reese is in billings montana hi reese welcome to
Starting point is 00:03:52 the dave ramsey show hey dave how you doing better than i deserve what's up well um i talked to you about a month ago um and asked if i was ready to purchase a house. I'm 21. I make $60,000 a year. And I found a house, but I also found a fourplex property. And I was wondering, the fourplex is about twice as much as the house would be. But I was wondering if it might be a good idea for me to do something like that and live in one of the units as opposed to just get a house. It can be. There's two downsides to that. One is that your renters are next door, which means that you have access to them.
Starting point is 00:04:39 That's good news. But they've got access to you. That's bad news. So every time a stinking light bulb goes out, you might get a knock on the door, almost like you're a building manager or something, right? And so it's not a bad idea to have some physical separation from you as a landlord and tenants. So you've got to really learn to set good emotional and relational boundaries where you don't interfere in their space, they don't interfere in your space,
Starting point is 00:05:04 because you're going to see and hear everything. And that's going to be weird. But, you know, it's okay as long as you set yourself up for that and are ready for it. The second problem, in your case, the third problem, there's a third problem. The third problem is you're not used to running tenants, and you get burned if you if you don't learn how to be very fair but simultaneously very firm and so i you know i started running tenants i started running rental properties and having tenants when i was about your age but boy i made a lot of mistakes um i let people get away with murder. I let them stay too long.
Starting point is 00:05:46 I let them tear up stuff. I mean, and nowadays I'm not mean about it, but you're just going to behave in our property, and that includes no cats. You know, you're going to leave if you bring pets into our property. Or the pet is, no, you don't like animals. No, I don't like animals in my house. That's what I don't like. And so it's a $10,000 cat. It'll depreciate a property of $10,000.
Starting point is 00:06:11 So anyway, you've got to learn stuff like that and learn how to be nice about it and firm about it and just, you know, really, really, really fair, really kind, but really firm. The third downside is this. When you buy, when you sell an investment property that is a fourplex, and it is an investment property by definition, it is not an owner-occupied property. Typically, your buyer is not going to be someone that's going to occupy even one of the units.
Starting point is 00:06:40 And so your buyer is always an investor. Investors are always trying to buy it wholesale. So traditionally, duplexes, triplexes, quads have not gone up as fast as the same price range of single family has. Because the buying market is not a retail buying market. It's a wholesale buying market. And so you may not get, in other words, a $200,000, $500,000 triplex, quadplex, is not going to go up as much as an equivalent price range home in a better neighborhood or a good neighborhood. And so that's your downsides.
Starting point is 00:07:21 Tenants next door, number two, you've got to learn how to handle and be a good landlord and handle tenants and work with renters in a fair way where they have dignity but where they pay you or they leave. And you've got to be able to do that by being kind but firm, extremely firm and extremely kind. And it's a process to get to where your confidence level is there that you can do that. And then the third thing is the buyer is a wholesale buyer, so they don't appreciate quite as much.
Starting point is 00:07:53 So all of that said, it's okay to do it as long as you understand all of that and you think it's what you want to do, you're desperate to be in that business. I have never done that, and I've owned a whole bunch of real estate, but I've never lived in a property that I rented at the same time. It's not to say it's evil, bad. I just didn't like the dynamic. I didn't want to be – I wanted that physical separation. It enabled me to be more firm and more fair and more kind and that kind of a thing.
Starting point is 00:08:23 So there you go. Good question. Interesting discussion, Jason. Thanks for calling in. So there you go. Good question. Interesting discussion, Jason. Thanks for calling in. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Business leaders, now more than ever, we need people with the right skills to support our communities, especially the frontline workers who provide resources and care for those most in need. To help, LinkedIn is offering free job posts for healthcare and essential service organizations that need to quickly fill critical roles with the people who help us all. If you are hiring for one of these organizations,
Starting point is 00:09:18 free job posts on LinkedIn can help you quickly find the right people for your frontline. LinkedIn Jobs can help by screening candidates for skills and experience you're looking for and putting your job post in front of qualified people who have what you're looking for so you can find the right person to quickly fill critical roles. To post a health care or essential service job for free, or if you're in another industry and have hiring needs, visit linkedin.com slash ramsey. LinkedIn.com slash ramsey.
Starting point is 00:09:51 Terms and conditions apply. Andrew's in St. Louis. Well, maybe I'm going with Andrew. That's what you had already said. I don't know. I've got to figure it out. Andrew's in St. Louis. Well, maybe I'm going with Andrew. That's what you had already said. I don't know. I've got to figure it out. Andrew's in St. Louis. How are you, Andrew?
Starting point is 00:10:11 I'm hanging in there, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I'm afraid that I believe that the end of my marriage is coming soon. Why? Well, a lot of communication issues, trust issues, mainly that my wife has two times in the past six years just randomly taken my son and just left, didn't tell me where
Starting point is 00:10:39 they were going, and just like stayed in a hotel because allegedly she was scared of me, even though I've never heard her in any way. Have you all been to a counselor? I have on occasion, but not by the screen. Have you guys been seeing a counselor? You know, we keep talking about doing it, and we've been to counseling before, but this time feels different um so um don't bother don't bother if neither one of you want to save it but if you want to save it you know sometimes people can help you rewire your brain it's not a bad thing anyway how can
Starting point is 00:11:19 i help you today well what i what i really want to know is, like, what kind of steps should I be taking for my financial future? I mean, one of the things that we argue about is, I mean, unfortunately, you're a four-letter word in our household. You know, she hates when I bring up, you know, trying to create a budget together. I try talking to her, you know, about like, hey, you know, what's your dream? You know, what do we want to do? Let's set a goal. And with that, let's build our budget so we can, you know, pay off what remaining debt we have and, and let's do something big, you know, and, and she said that I've, you know, destroyed all of her dreams. So I,
Starting point is 00:11:55 I, I, at this point I am fully on board with you and I have control of the money because she does not work and doesn't want to work. She is disabled, but I still think she's capable of working. She's had a number of spinal surgeries, including fusions. But, you know, she can answer a phone. How long have you guys been married? What's that, sir? How long have you been married? If we last, it'll be 20 years on July 21 21st and we have a 13 year old son oh my goodness
Starting point is 00:12:29 and what do you make uh 68 000 okay well the the day that the absolute decision is made not not the legal process but in your mind or her mind, that this is not repairable or done. The day that happens, it turns a marriage into a business transaction. Yeah. And so then you're just dividing up debts, assets, and your income. And, you know, certainly child support with a 20 year there might be alimony uh if you have debts those will be divvied up in some way and uh the decision on
Starting point is 00:13:16 the house will be made and uh these are just transactions in in other words, where our life used to occur. Yeah. But it changes. The switch has to flip to where you go, okay, that is not wise business, and I'm not doing that anymore. Well, she's going to be mad. Well, you no longer care if she's going to be mad. She's now the X. Right.
Starting point is 00:13:42 She doesn't like that. I don't really care if you like it it's not i'm not going to do that anymore yeah and so um you know uh no we're not keeping this house you can't afford to pay for it and you want to stay in it and and my name's on the mortgage so the house is going to be sold you're going to be renting i'm going to be renting and um no we got to do you know whatever it is you look at it and you go, this car does not fit in the situation. We will be selling this car. And so you become the bankruptcy liquidator or the pre-bankruptcy liquidator guy in your own life, you know.
Starting point is 00:14:16 And you go, I don't really want to be liable on this note and this woman sitting over there anymore. I don't want the contingent liability of that. I'm not going to let her drive a car that has my name on the note as an ongoing thing. Now, you would certainly do that with your wife. And see, the problem is the reason I said the day you think the day you have the decision is made 100 percent, there's no chance of reconciliation. Once that decision is made, you're going to take some financial steps that's going to further damage the relationship. You follow me? I do. I do.
Starting point is 00:14:49 And so it's going to get kind of cold and calculated at that point if you're using wisdom. But at that point, you have two concerns, you and your child. Yeah. And I would like to be nice to this other person but i'm they are now no longer my job yeah and so once you decide that or she decides that then then the switch flips and so i would not there's not kind of a middle ground like how can i prepare for the divorce in case we don't reconcile no you really can't because as soon as you start preparing for divorce, it's going to damage the reconciliation. Right.
Starting point is 00:15:28 So you're going to have to make some really tough decisions. And you go, this is why this is going down. It ain't going to be pleasant. Because it's not going to be pleasant for either one of you. How much debt do you guys have? Not very much. In total, about $9,200. How much do you owe on your home?
Starting point is 00:15:47 We owe about $62,000 on the home. Okay. And no car payments. My wife had $7,700 in student loans, but because of her multiple back surgeries, she's one year into a three-year situation where if she doesn't work, then they'll be forgiven. Well, she may not be able to live on child support, so she may be working. She'll have to find a way, I'm pretty sure. That may change.
Starting point is 00:16:13 And I don't know Missouri's rules on alimony. 20-year marriage often opens up the – that's a long marriage, and so it often opens up the door to that in most states, but I'm not an attorney, so you'll have to figure that out. I'll definitely consult one. Yeah, but this is now suddenly a cold transaction, and it damages. So that's why I was asking the other questions. I wasn't just being nosy.
Starting point is 00:16:40 I was trying to ascertain where you are on reconciliation. I think my marriage is coming to an end is different than, ah, I just saw an attorney, we're following this, okay? And so, you know, you've got to decide that. And, you know, you can put some, as you come down to the finish line on something, to the decision, it doesn't have to be where you are now or absolute I'm done. You could say, well, under what circumstances would I not be done? And let's try those three things.
Starting point is 00:17:12 And if we sat down with a counselor and we could change the narrative of this situation, well, I wouldn't be done. And so I'm going to give that one try. It's 20 years in, 13-year-old son. I'm going to give that a try. And then the counselor you you know you get some parameters and you go well you know we're not abiding by that we can't do that so it looks like we're going that ways but let's try this one other thing
Starting point is 00:17:32 and no we're done you know we're going to attend this marriage retreat weekend marriage salvation weekend where people go to get their marriages put back together kind of thing didn't work we're done okay so i'm gonna try this or do that and you know then look for behavior and pattern changes that make going forward real and hopeful um or if you two are just one of you is just completely done and don't even want to try anything then you're not left on the options if if going forward in a mess is your only option most people don't uh without any possible hope of change other than just a lightning strike or something so it's sad though sorry you're facing that open phones at 888-825-5225 our question of the day comes from blinds.com
Starting point is 00:18:21 the number one online retailer of custom window coverings, free samples, free shipping with new promos every month. You save even more. Use the promo code Ramsey. Maggie is in Arizona. Every time I receive a paycheck, I put a large portion toward our mortgage. Each month, I make one normal mortgage payment and two, sometimes three, extra principal payments. I heard on your show the other day that making more than one payment a month isn't beneficial.
Starting point is 00:18:50 Is this the case? Please advise. I'm trying to be responsible and pay the mortgage as quickly as possible. You can send it all in and three different checks during the month, but it has the exact same effect of having sent it all in one check. In other words, there's no interest advantage to sending it in three different checks or one check. They're the same thing. It all happens in the same month.
Starting point is 00:19:19 Or if you send it after the 15th, it's going to happen in the next month. And so there's not any harm in what you're doing, but there's no benefit to what you're doing other than you're chunking on the principle. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Business leaders make your life easier with FreshBooks. Whether you're starting a business or you've been at it a long time, FreshBooks is one of the smartest decisions you'll make this year. FreshBooks is an accounting software designed for people like you that lets you do the things like automate your invoicing and your online payments so you get more time to work on your business.
Starting point is 00:20:10 Try FreshBooks for 30 days free at FreshBooks.com slash of Ramsey Solutions, Jacob and Stephanie are with us. Hey, guys. How are you? Good. How are you? Good. Welcome. Welcome.
Starting point is 00:20:52 And you guys are here to do a debt-free screen. Yes, sir. Where do you live? Knoxville, Tennessee. Cool. Well, welcome to Nashville. And all the way over here, how much did you pay off? $16,000.
Starting point is 00:21:03 Love it. And how long did it take you to pay off 16 000 13 months good for you and your range of income during that time it was 21 at the time 21 000 and you paid off over a thousand dollars a month pretty much yes yeah that's like beans and rice for sure beyond the beans and rice love it okay all right What do you guys do for a living? I teach singing lessons, piano lessons, and I help in a small book binding shop right now. And I'm an IT professional, and I also am a record producer. Okay. And so your income currently between all of that is $21,000. Now it's double that and more.
Starting point is 00:21:43 Oh, okay. Okay. Good. Good. So how old are you two? I'm 28 to 30. And how long have you been married? Almost seven years. I'll let her answer that. Good man. All right. So what happened 13 months ago that lit your fuse and said, Hey, we got to do some stuff, get our income up. We got to do some stuff and get this debt paid off. Marriage. The desire to do more with our lives than just work to death. Because we both spent most of our college career working two or three jobs just to pay off private school while we were in school. But what was the event 13 months ago?
Starting point is 00:22:27 Because I mean, I get the general disgust with I don't want to be stuck here. But there was something happened one day. One day you went, no, not anymore. Right. We actually paid off our debt a few years ago. So it wasn't just 13 months ago. And then since then, we've just really stuck with that plan of not being in debt. We totaled a car a few months ago and we were able to pay cash for a brand new car because we had an emergency fund and a ton of savings left because
Starting point is 00:22:52 we've just stuck with that plan of not going into debt for anything. We pay cash for everything and it's just been awesome. We're able to go on vacations because of it and just live. It's nice. It's very nice. Yeah. Good, good. So how long ago did you become debt free? About three years ago, two or three years ago. We had been saving to buy a house because we just could not stand apartment living.
Starting point is 00:23:18 And saved and saved and saved and put all of this hard work into a house. And then one day we just thought, you know what? I owe my mother, my grandmother, the student loans. Let's just take all the money that we had to buy a house and let's just write a check and pay it all off in one swoop. Yeah. So we did. And then through all these job changes and the blessings that we had,
Starting point is 00:23:36 it wasn't a year later that we were in a house. Yeah. Wow. So we were able to make it back very quickly. Beans and rice. Gotcha. Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:23:44 Very cool. Well, congratulations, you guys. Proud of you. Who was your biggest cheerleader? Our family. Our families, yeah. Yeah. Our families and our friends.
Starting point is 00:23:53 Yeah. Yes. Very good. Love it. All right. Well, we've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires, How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth, and how you guys are going to do that next. That's what's going to happen.
Starting point is 00:24:06 You're on your way. Congratulations. I'm proud of you. Thank you, sir. Well done. Jacob and Stephanie, $16,000 paid off in 13 months. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.
Starting point is 00:24:19 One, two, three. We're debt-free! three we're dead free open phones this hour at triple eight eight two five five two two five way to go you guys great job love it very well done stephanie is in tulsa ok Oklahoma. Hi, Stephanie. How are you? I'm doing well. How about you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I have a question for you.
Starting point is 00:24:54 My husband and I are working baby steps four, five, and six, and we went to set up our will the other day and told the lawyer we wanted to leave all of our net worth to our 19-month-old daughter in case we both died, at which point he just kind of gave us a look and said, you know that that's going to be a lot of money by the time she actually inherits the trust fund. So I was wondering if you had any kind of guidelines of how much money we should be leaving her or at what point do we have enough money set aside for her that we should start looking into giving to other organizations that we care about in our will? I think you need a new lawyer.
Starting point is 00:25:32 He doesn't get to make your decisions about who you're going to give money to, and he doesn't get to shame you for your decision to leave your inheritance to your child. What a butt. I think he was just looking at the value of it like with yeah it's not his it's not his option that's not his job to make a value judgment i mean if you walk in there and you say i have a hundred million dollars and i want to leave it to my 19 year old his job is to say okay let's figure out how to structure that. Not, are you sure you want to do that? I mean, that's not his job.
Starting point is 00:26:11 So the thing is this. Number one, you should not leave all your money to a minor. You leave it to a custodian who executes a trust for the minor. And so that's your best plan of action. And so there's nothing wrong with leaving all the money to your child, but I would not leave it in control of the child or for that matter, in control of the custodian of the child. You would leave it to a trust and the trustee executes the terms of the trust. And then you can say in there, okay, here's $5 million in this account. The income off of this account can be used for the care and feeding of the kid until they are a certain age. Some of the money can be used to buy their first car.
Starting point is 00:26:54 Some of the money can be used for their education. Some of the money can be used if there's a major medical issue. And you dictate what the money can be used for and thereby what it can't be used for. And then you can say at 18 years old or 21 years old, they get X amount. And then you can die. When our kids were minors, we did not have the trust set up for it to all go to their control when they're 18. Instead, they got some at 18, some at 25 and some more at 30. Um, I didn't run it to where they got trust, um, distributions all the way out through their whole life by 30 years old, it was going to be in their control. And, uh, and, but even then we had some guidelines on what their life had to look like for them
Starting point is 00:27:39 to qualify for that. Uh, if we're doing heroin, I don't want to leave my million dollars to fund their heroin addiction. And so, you know, you kind of have to use some guidelines on, on those kinds of that. Uh, if they're doing heroin, I don't want to leave my million dollars to fund their heroin addiction. And so, you know, you kind of have to use some guidelines on, on those kinds of things. And you can put all of that in the form of a trust. Uh, but there's no point at which you are doing something immoral or wrong by leaving all your money to your kids, assuming you're not ruining the kid. And really, when you leave your money to the kid, it doesn't ruin the kid. It exposes that they already stunk.
Starting point is 00:28:16 They were already ruined. It just exposes it when you leave them money. And so, because what money does is it magnifies your strengths and it magnifies your weaknesses. Someone that's a jerk and gets money becomes a colossal jerk. Someone that's kind and giving and gets money, they become a philanthropist. Someone that has a drug problem and gets money, they die from drug overdose, you know, and so on. It expands. It magnifies what you already are good and bad.
Starting point is 00:28:47 And so that's the experience that you're going to have as you build wealth. It's the experience your kids are going to have if you leave them wealth. And so, you know, you want to be sure that their character is in good enough shape that the money doesn't finish off destroying them. But money messes up all your kids. You should never leave your kids money. No, that presupposes that money is evil, and that's an improper theological and philosophical doctrine. It's not accurate.
Starting point is 00:29:21 Money is not evil. People are stupid, but money is not evil. And so when you leave stupid people money, they become colossally stupid. So that's what, you know, you're not ruining someone. You're exposing that they were already ruined. And so I know lots of families who have high-quality, high-character kids and grandkids that are carrying on the blessing of a wealthy family, being an asset to the community, being an asset to each other, because they're high-quality, high-character people,
Starting point is 00:29:52 and the money is exposing that. So, you know, the money's not the problem. The people are the problem. Folks, I love telling you about well-made, well-thought-out products. Today, I'm talking about Grip6 belts. I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of traditional belts. They never fit right, and they're uncomfortable. Grip6 belts are unique. Owner BJ designed a truly modern minimalist belt made of high quality materials with no holes, no flap, and no bulk. And the buckles come in really cool designs and are interchangeable. I personally own these belts in different styles and talk about affordability,
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Starting point is 00:31:22 Jackie is in Atlanta. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Jackie. Hi, Dave. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I don't think I've ever heard you mention this before. My husband and I, all we have left are our student loans, about $30,000 each, so a total of $60,000.
Starting point is 00:31:40 Our household income is approximately $78,000. He will be eligible for Social Security in August. So my question to you is, should we take the early Social Security, which would add about $1,800 extra to our monthly income, or wait until he's 66 when it will go up to about $2,300. Well, obviously, the sooner you take it, if you use it to grow wealth, it's going to come out ahead for you. But if you use it just to consume it,
Starting point is 00:32:23 obviously you end up with less money by taking it sooner, unless you die soon. The sooner you die, the smarter it looks mathematically to take it. But if you invest it or use it to reduce debt so that you can invest, then taking it as early as possible does make sense because you're getting a better rate of return on it than it's going to grow. So it mathematically works out to go ahead and take it as long as you're going to use it to further your net worth by reducing debt and or investing so yeah i'm i'll take it as soon as i can take it in that regard and i'll turn around and invest it because i obviously don't need it misty is with us in california hi misty
Starting point is 00:33:03 welcome to the d Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Great job. I love following your program. I just started probably about six months ago. Cool. And unfortunately, a divorce was dealing with financial irresponsibility, and I know that I have to take my part in it. However, husband chose not to make a house payment for three months, lost a million-dollar house, didn't bother mentioning the word to me about it. Wow. Anyway, fast forward, a police, Prius, came with me out of the divorce, and he's insisting, he insisted that he wanted his name off the title, which makes sense. So yesterday I had a tax return refund because it was pre-dave set up that way. And I had $2,000 set aside to, I have a full emergency fund,
Starting point is 00:33:56 well, the $1,000 to get me started. And I've been paying off my debt, snowballing it and making great progress. I have two credit cards left. They only needed $1,000 for the down payment to keep the monthly payment about the same. Because it is a Prius, I was budgeting prior to the Prius about $350 in gas money per month. And my payment on the Prius to lease it at the time was $350. So you're flipping a lease over to a loan, putting $1,000 down and ending up with the same payment. What's the balance? Yes.
Starting point is 00:34:31 It came out to $22,000. And I have it figured out that once it makes it to the snowball, I have two debts in front of it, $6,000 each. And right now I'm putting $6,000. It will go to $850 because I'll use that extra $1,000 to pay off the current snowball. What's your income? It's about $75,000 pre-tax. Okay. Yeah, you'll be debt-free within two years and the car is less than half your annual income. So you're planning to keep it and pay it off, right? Yes. Okay, good. One of the reasons I chose to keep it is because it's super reliable and it's super fuel efficient.
Starting point is 00:35:08 I live in a really dangerous county. I hate to bring this on the show, but it's Pot Capital, USA. Yeah, super reliable and super fuel efficient doesn't matter if you can't afford it. Right. But you can afford it. You can afford it. But you can afford it. You can afford it. So let's just do it because I like my car, and I can be debt-free, completely not counting the house in under two years,
Starting point is 00:35:32 and my car is less than half my annual income. And so those guidelines make it okay financially to keep this car. Thank you. I was catching a lot of flack from Dave Ramsey followers earlier today. They don't know the guidelines then. I mean, how are they Dave Ramsey followers? Because I've said that exact thing like 50,000 times. So how the crap do they know?
Starting point is 00:35:54 How do they crap Dave Ramsey followers and they don't know that guideline? I don't know. YouTube or where were you hanging out? It's Dave Ramsey Planner Girls. Oh, okay. It's on Facebook. You can just tell them the guideline is real simple. If you can pay the car off in less than two years and be 100% debt-free,
Starting point is 00:36:16 not counting your house, in less than two years, and you like the car and the car, all of your vehicles totaled together is less than half your annual income, and you want to keep it and plow through it. That is the guidelines I've used ever since I've been on the air. 25 years. All right. I mean, 50,000 times I've said that, at least.
Starting point is 00:36:36 So it sounds like somebody's just wanting you to be more hardcore on getting out of debt, but you're going to get there. You have $36,000 in debt, and you make $75,000 a year. You're going to be debt-free in like a year, 14 months at the rate you're going. And so you're doing just fine. You're doing fine. There's nothing wrong with what you're doing here, nothing wrong whatsoever. If you had called me up, well, you did call me up and ask me whether you sell the car. No, you shouldn't sell the car.
Starting point is 00:37:04 There you go. Open phones at 888-825-5225. It is so funny, this stuff we teach. We give these thumb, rules of thumb, these processes, these ways of measuring things. Don't buy a house where your payment's more than a fourth of your take-home pay on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. Put down as much as you can put down, and it's better if you put down 20% because you avoid PMI. These are rules of thumb I've said like a bazillion freaking times. Car and don't own vehicles more than half your annual income, even if they're all paid for,
Starting point is 00:37:34 because vehicles go down in value. Anything with a stinking motor in it goes down in value. And if you have all your net worth tied up in freaking toys, you're a little boy, a little girl, and you're always going to be a broke little boy and little girl that's what's going on and i like cars too i drove a really nice one down here today you know so i'm not against you having a nice car i'm against your nice car having you and so i use these guidelines and i invariably this stuff when people get plugged into this you know what we teach they're like i'm gonna do everything you say but maybe not that one thing i'm like doing dave ish stuff i'm gonna do your
Starting point is 00:38:13 plan ish well why don't you just do your plan and admit that that's what it is and don't blame me for your stupidity okay or you get super hardcore financial phar Pharisee and make it even harder than what we lay out and take a lady like that and just rip her to shreds in some private Facebook group or something, you know, and that's not my plan either. That's not Dave ish. Won't you just call it your plan? You don't agree with that plan. It's OK if you want to have your plan, that's fine.
Starting point is 00:38:46 Mine is the one that 5 million people have used to get out of debt. But you can have your plan. But don't blame my plan on your financial Pharisee self or on your ish. Because your ish is when people half-butt do stuff, and when you half-butt do stuff, you get a half-butt result. You really do. it's not any different than that you've got to decide what is the truth and the problem is our culture has stopped believing that there is a truth and let me just help you with this 100 of you liberals
Starting point is 00:39:19 or conservatives that jump off a building you will will find the sidewalk. A hundred percent of the time, you can't fly. There's a thing called the law of gravity, and that is the truth. If you think truth is relative, try that exercise. The Darwin Awards will be awarded to you. Seriously. Try that. There is a truth. One plus one equals two. 100% of the time. It's not relative.
Starting point is 00:39:52 You don't get to make up your own plan. You don't get to decide that suddenly payday lending is smart for the poor. It's not. It's screwing the poor. It's oppressing the poor. If you own a payday lending operation, you are scum. It's not. It's screwing the poor. It's oppressing the poor. If you own a payday lending operation, you are scum. If you walk in there, you are dumb.
Starting point is 00:40:12 If you defend them, you are scum. They oppress and beat up on poor people. Poor people need to have access to capital. They don't need to get screwed. It keeps them poor. That's the truth. It's not really relative. There's not another It keeps them poor. That's the truth. It's not really relative. There's not another side to that equation.
Starting point is 00:40:30 Except the wrong side. You can just look at this stuff. Car leasing 100% of the time is stupid. Mathematically, it's a calculator thing, people. There's a truth that's independent of your little relative-ish butt. So quit being ish. Decide to be somebody. Either hate everything I stand for and go off and prove me wrong,
Starting point is 00:40:53 or do the stuff we're talking about. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. In the middle of these uncertain times, Ramsey Solutions wants to give you some hope. For the very first time ever, we're giving you Financial Peace University free for 14 days. Go to DaveRamsey.com so you can watch from home.

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