The Ramsey Show - App - When You Sow Discipline, You Reap Success (Hour 3)

Episode Date: May 31, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Kara is in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Hi, Kara.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Thank you, Dave. And thanks for being a blessing to millions of people. Thank you. We truly appreciate it. Thank you. One of the questions that I have is my husband and I own a construction business, and I work full-time also.

So our income is pretty good, but I want to know, we have some debt yet, including our house, and I'm putting 30% of my 401k into, or of my income into 401k. Do I stop that and put it towards our debt, or do I keep it at the 30%? Because I'm 42 right now. My husband is 10 years older than me, so he's getting closer to retirement age. How much is in your 401k now? About $50,000. Oh, so you just started all this.

Okay. Yes. All right. And what's your household income, taxable income? Taxable income is about $240,000. Way to go, kiddo. Awesome. You guys are killing it.

And how much debt do you have, not counting your house? Not counting our house, about $50,000. Okay. All right. Something's wrong. You're not putting 30% in your 401k unless you did it for one year. Yeah, I just started, you know, probably about one year ago. 30% of $200,000 is $60,000.

You said you had $50,000 in there. Yeah, my job that I work at is only $48,000 a year. Oh, 30% of your income, not your household income. No, no, no, sorry. Oh, okay, now I'm catching on. Okay, all right, that makes a difference. It makes the math work anyway. Okay, now, so here's what we have figured out. I'm catching on. Okay. All right. That makes a difference. It makes the math work anyway. Okay.

Now, so here's what we have figured out. The number one wealth-building tool that your family has is this wonderful income of yours. Okay? Yeah. The whole income, the $240,000. Okay. That's your wealth-building tool. The number one thing that keeps you from using it to build income or to build wealth is you give it to someone else called debt so what we have figured out many years ago and it's

worked beautifully the most efficient way to build wealth is to first become debt-free and then have an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses in place so that then with no payments, man, you can pile the wood on the fire. Okay. You can get with it. Okay. So really what this takes you is one year. You pay off $50,000 and put $40,000 aside in an emergency fund in one year making $240,000.

Right. How much is your house payment? House payment is about $1,500 a month. We have been making $3,000 monthly payments. Stop. Stop. Make $1,500 payments. Stop the 401k temporarily.

Let's completely focus on the $50,000 worth of debt and kill it really fast. If you completely focus everything on that, you see how fast 240 will pay off 50, right? Right. Okay, boom, it's gone. Then we build an emergency fund. Now we're ready to really start putting 15%, not 30, but 15% of your whole 240 away for retirement. And that's a whole lot more. And you're going to pile up so much wood on this fire, it's going to burn. You're going to be a millionaire in no time. And that's called whole lot more. And you're going to pile up so much wood on this fire, it's going to burn.

You're going to be a millionaire in no time. And that's called baby step four. Baby step five is saving for your kid's college. And six is you reach over with any other money we can find. And you should have some other money because you're making good money. And start paying off your house. Right. How much is your balance on your home?

About $210,000. Okay. I predict it will be paid off in five years if you do what I'm teaching you. Okay. The other question I have is how do I budget? See, my husband owns a construction business. I got you. So he's a spec home builder.

So when he sells a house is when we get our income from that. So it's really hard to budget what we're going to receive for income each month. Okay. The way you do that is you do a prioritized spending plan, and you list all of the things you need to spend money on from most important to least important. I'll help you with that. The first one is food. The second one is lights and water.

The third one is your house payment. And so on, down the list. And then we're going to get down to that $50,000 worth of debt real quick. And we're going to start pounding on stuff. And then when the money comes in, you go down the list in order of priority, most important to least important. Now, you do have a set amount that you know you're going to make. You're going to make your money, and he's always got some money coming in every month.

Yes. He doesn't have any zero months, does he? Once in a while he does, but not very often. Yeah, so I think you can budget on some of his money and your money a traditional way, which is just giving every dollar a name before the month begins using your every dollar budget, but then you just do a prioritized spending plan with his big lump sums that come in. Is he building these spec houses on debt? Yes, he is.

Yeah, okay. I grew up in the real estate business. I've been in the real estate business for 40 years, 40 years. The people that go broke most often are developers. The second most often are spec builders okay it only works when it's working this market turns upside down and he's sitting there with six houses and payments on them you're broke it's an all or nothing game so what this last step of your equation is for him for you guys to start building a house or two with cash

and then all of them with cash. Okay. I want you to work to become your own line of credit with wealth. Okay. Let me tell you what that will do. Okay. Your spec building will change. You'll be better builders and you will never take a price cut

because you don't have to sell it when it's paid for. Right. Your business will become more profitable, not only because you're not paying the bank interest on the construction loans, but because you're not having to play the dance with the bank while you're trying to build a house. Right. And so that's your five-year goal, to start being a cash spec builder. I don't mind you being a cash spec builder.

I don't mind you being a spec builder, but spec builders that are bank-owned, you don't make it. You don't make it through the downturns. Very often, you know, you either just go out of business or go bankrupt completely, one of the two. And I don't want that for you. So I want you to get ready for the next downturn because it's not if there's going to be a downturn. It's just when and how deep they are. Sometimes they're a bump.

Sometimes they're a valley. But you have to prepare for the good times and the bad times and stay right on top of it. So good questions. You guys are doing beautifully right now. And so, I mean, these are hot times. It's good times in Sioux Falls. Obviously, you're selling a lot of houses, making a lot of money. Let's make hay while the sun shines, meaning let's get out of debt,

get your retirement really building up, get yourself in a position where you can build every other house with cash and then every house with cash on the spec basis. That's a really strong position to be in, the way it'll change your life a lot of friends that have made that transition after they went broke the first time the second time they did it all with cash or they become custom home builders with other people's money and never borrow money again that's the way the way to build a home builder right there this is the d Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down?

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over 35 years, and our members have shared over $2.5 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. Thank you for joining us. We're glad you're here. Orville is with us in Amarillo, Texas. Hi, Orville. How are you? Hey, Dave. I'm doing well.

How are you today? Better than I deserve. What's up? I'm a single male. I just found out about you, and I dove into your podcast, and I downloaded every dollar, and I get paid tomorrow, and I'm ready to get financial peace and hit the ball rolling here. But I want to go back to school, and I'm trying to figure out where that

fits in with all this. I'm making $24,000 right now before taxes, and that's not where I want to be. Okay. How much debt do you have? $8,000. On what? That is with a car, some medical bills, and a personal loan for $1,500. gotcha and you're working 40 hours a week yes sir okay good for you how old are you i'm 24 24 all right and uh do you have a degree now uh nothing past high school okay you said back to school so i didn't know what that meant yeah i apologize did you start Did you ever start college? I had tried to get started a while back with FAFSA, but I ran into some problems with W-2 issues, so I had held off on it. Okay.

And just never got back to it. Gotcha. Okay. What do you want to study? I'm going to get my EMT paramedic. Okay. How long does that take, and what does it cost? It's going to be a four-year class.

The basic and the intermediate, the first year of it, I can do locally at one of the ambulance stations, and it's going to cost me about $1,500 for all that. And then the next three years, I haven't priced it out yet. Okay. All right. And you can do all of that while working? Yes.

What are you doing now? I'm a meter reader for the city. Okay, cool, all right. Well, the good news is you don't have a ton of debt, and the education you're talking about is not super expensive, at least the part you figured talking about is not super expensive at least the part you figured out okay right so 1500 plus 8 000 so like ten thousand dollars changes your life yeah does that make sense i mean you're dead you're debt free and got the first two years

of emt for 10 grand did i do that math right? Just the first year. Okay, so $1,500 for the first year, $1,500 for the second, right? Yes, sir. Okay, so it's $10,500. Okay. Did I do that right? $3,000 and $8,000, $11,000. $11,000.

Okay. Okay. It makes you out of debt and does the first two years. Okay, so what we need to do is figure out how we get $11,000 the fastest possible way. Right? Yes, sir. And then that gets you need to do is figure out how we get $11,000 the fastest possible way. Right? Yes, sir. And then that gets you able to do both.

The good news is you can deliver pizzas four nights a week and make $1,500 a month. In 10 months, you are debt-free and have the money to do the EMT. And that's just with getting a second job. Exactly. Now, maybe pizzas aren't your thing okay i don't care what it is right but my point is a thousand dollars a month for 11 months changes your life and you live on your day job yeah or cut into your day job start doing your budget and but make more and spend less and let's get this 10 11 000 together really quick um this is very doable within 12 months you would be debt free you'd be debt free

and have the money to do your emt thing and the good news is you could probably go and start the emt thing and while you're doing this right i, how many nights a week is that? Let's load it up. It was three nights every week for three months for the first semester, and it'll be the same thing for the intermediate. So what I just took away from you was your social life. That's fine. I mean, because you're going to give up something to hit these goals you have the problem with the problem is the problem with goals is not what you're willing to do to get to the goals it's what you're willing to give up to get to the goals that's what always

that's what always messes you up i mean it's easy to lose weight but you got to give up chocolate chip cookies you know it's easy to you know i'm saying there's something you got to give up that's harder than the go than the things you have to do to hit your goals so all you got to do is just start doing the math like i'm laying it out and i think you're going to have a i think you're going to have a very successful career as an emt thank you sir and you're going to get there in about 12 months from today you're going to be well into your first year. But just go work your butt off, man. You're 24.

You've got lots of energy. Life's good. And just tell your friends, I'll see you in a year. Elizabeth. Elizabeth is in Orange County. Hi, Elizabeth. How are you? Hi, Dave.

Doing okay. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I just have a quick question. I've been applying for like a reception job at a car dealership and just kind of trying to land my first job. And I know the real money is in sales. So my question is, can I be a successful salesperson without pushing this financing ideology on people?

Because I do share your same philosophy about always paying cash and never financing. Well, everybody's got a definition of pushing, okay? And so you're not going to be a successful car salesman if you only sell people cars for cash. You're going to struggle with the selling of cars, okay? That's not pushing, though. I mean, if you're looking at somebody that's taking out a five hundred dollar car payment and they make twenty thousand dollars a year that's just immoral right and i couldn't participate in that ethically if i were you

um so you know you can hold yourself to whatever level of standard you want but the question you've got to ask yourself is, are you bringing great harm to someone in the transaction? Now, I don't believe in debt, and I teach people not to go into debt. So it would be very hypocritical for me to take credit cards in my bookstore, which we don't. Okay? We take debit cards. That's all. And so as an example.

But I have to hold to that standard. But I've got a friend that owns a pizza joint, and he takes credit cards for pizzas. And he doesn't believe in debt. But somehow we're pretty sure that buying a pizza on a credit card is not going to ruin somebody's life. They've got other issues if that's ruining their life. You know what I'm saying? And so we endorse churchill mortgage to take out mortgages on houses but we want you to pay them off as fast as you can and that's

consistent with our advice here but we also tell people not to do adjustable rate mortgages and you know we ask churchill if they come from us if the lead comes from us please do not sell them an adjustable rate mortgage you know and um but but you've got to decide where in there so there are car dealers that are you know my cousin's a car dealer he's a chevy dealer and he does a great job i've got several friends here in nashville that are car dealers and uh own big big companies and um you know people in that business some of them will they'll loan money to a dead person, you know, and finish them off. And then other people are very conservative and careful, and they want the customer to not be harmed by the transaction so that the customer comes back to them later and buys their next car there.

And if you're that person, I think you're doing that ethically if you want to be in that business. I don't think everybody that sells cars is evil, you know. But I think you have to do it with a matter of, I'm going to treat other people well, you know, instead of just making the transaction happen to the detriment of the customer. And that's what you've got to think through. And if you can keep that balance, then I don't, I wouldn't yell at you as your friend for being a car salesman.

Again, I don't think there's anything wrong with selling cars, huh? I love car salesmen. As a matter of fact, I buy a lot of cars. So, but, um, you know, and you can make good money selling cars right now. The market's real hot. You can make really good money, a lot more than being the receptionist. That's for sure. So, um, it's something something to look at but if all they're doing and they want you to make the sale and uh you know and turn a blind eye to what you feel is ethical and what

you feel is proper and what you feel is uncaring towards people and that kind of thing then no i wouldn't i wouldn't sell cars for that organization. But there's other organizations that, you know, are much more reasonable in their approach to that. Hey, thank you for the call. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Lavinia. Lavinia is with us. Hi, Lavinia. How are you? Good. How are you? Good.

How are you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve. Where do you live? I live in Huntington Beach, California. Whoa. Bit of a haul across the nation to do a debt-free scream. Welcome. Thank you.

Good to have you. So how much debt have you paid off? I paid $107,000. All right. Well done. And how long did this take? It took 35 months. Look at you. And your range of this take? It took 35 months.

Look at you. And your range of income during that time? Between 64 and 77, depending on overtime. Cool. What do you do for a living? I work as a staff accountant for a law firm. Good for you. Wow. So the $107,000 might be a master's in accounting? No, it was my mortgage. Your mortgage? Yes.

You paid off your house? I did. How old are you? I'm 30 years old. And you live in California? Yes. That's illegal. You're not allowed to pay off your house in California.

It's against the law. Yeah, it is a condo, but, you know. But it's yours. And it's mine. You are 30 years old with a paid-for condo in Huntington Beach, California. I am. Woo! I love it!

Well done! Thank you. Well done! Oh, that's amazing. And did it in three years. Yes. And so you came out of school with no debt. Yes.

How'd you do that? I went to a local school that, you know, was definitely reasonably priced and my parents were able to afford most of it. And, you know, and I worked through college as well to to be able to pay it. Some of have a feeling you're not afraid of hard work. No. A lot of overtime. Yes. And so are your parents wealthy? Is that how they paid for your education? They're not wealthy. I mean, they started, they came to America with, you know, absolutely nothing from Romania. They escaped communism and came to America with absolutely nothing. My dad started his own business.

Of course he did. Yes. And, you know, and now their net worth is over a million dollars. I call that wealthy. Yes. And now their net worth is over a million dollars. I call that wealthy. Yes. But it was with pure hard work. And they don't feel wealthy. And my mom shops, we just came from Ross. And you know what I mean?

So it's not like they're definitely not. But they were able to help you with school. They were. And they were. And there's six of us. So they were able to help with all six of us. Wow. A lot of kids to feed. So what kind of business did your dad have, or does he have? He has a granite tile and marble installation company construction. I love it.

This is a great story. It is. Your family story all the way leading into you being 30 years old with a paid-for condo is a great story. This is a great American dream. Come here in one generation become millionaires and raise a daughter like you wow yeah well done well done mom and dad i love it how does it feel to not have a payment in the world you have to feel like an alien it's definitely um it's so different because you know for three years i i did almost nothing. I didn't go out to eat.

I didn't buy any clothes. I did literally almost nothing that was not bare necessity. So now it's just such a different feeling once you get used to that, to be able to walk into stores and not think about it, not worry about it, and not plan it. And even though that is what I like to do, I still live on a budget, but actually having money in that budget for these categories. Now, that's permission to spend.

Yes, exactly. Exactly. And it's just such an amazing feeling to just be able to do it and not have to think twice. Amazing. Do you know anyone in your age group in your neighborhood that you run around with that's even close? No. Not even close.

No, I don't. You're amazing. I don't know what I can think of right now, but no. You're amazing. You're a rock star. Well done. I'm sure your mom and dad are just bursting with pride. They are.

Brought them with you to be your cheerleader. They came down from, where do they live? From Michigan. From Michigan. So they drove down here from Michigan. And to be here, they were my biggest strength, my biggest support. Obviously with and through God, all things were possible, but they were my cheerleaders the whole way. So they decided to come here and cheerlead for me as well for this

moment. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. It's as good as it gets. So when people tell you this and they look at you like you have one eye in the center of your head because you're 30 years old and debt free, that's so unusual. And they say, how did you do that? What do you tell them the key to getting out of debt is? Well, I think that the key is definitely learning to sacrifice. And the reason why I did it and I did it as hard as I did and I worked as hard as I did to do it was because I wanted to be an example of what it means to sacrifice and showing people my age, people with the social life, and you can still have a social life, you can still do fun things, but learning to sacrifice is something that's going to help

you in the long run, no matter what you do and where you go. So, you know, when you have a family, when you have kids, you know, people think that as soon as you get married or as soon as you have kids, you're just going to automatically become a good spouse or a good mother or a good father. But if you didn't train yourself to sacrifice in areas of your life, you're not going to be able to just instantly, you know, flip the switch and start to do that. So not only did I, you know, I didn't necessarily have to give up restaurants, but I wanted to be able to do it so that if somebody asks, you know, is it really possible to not go out to eat? I can say, yes, it is, because I've done it, and I didn't even have to do it, but I still did it. So, you know, I gave

up restaurants and then it became a fun challenge. So I decided to also give up, you know, sugar and chocolate, which is insane to me, but I gave up those things for a year. I gave up, you know, junk food. I gave up just, I wanted just to keep challenging myself and testing myself and seeing what else I could do. Honestly, it was such a rewarding experience. The sacrifice and learning what you can do and who you can become has just been so amazing and so fun, really, too, as well. When you figure out that you do control your own destiny and then you go about the business of doing it, it gives you power in so many areas of your life. Yes. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Amen. But when you figure out that when I take these actions, when I so discipline, I reap success. When you figure that out, it allows you to control any area of your life. And, you know, bad stuff's always going to happen. Good stuff's always going to happen. There's blessings and there's curses. There's things that happen in our lives. But you've got control of all the variables.

Well done. Thank you. Very, very, very well done. Thank you. What was the hardest part for you? Well, I think just, you know, everyone around you is buying things constantly. And so what I did was I made myself a debt-free treat list. So, um, the hardest part was, you know, people are getting the latest garments, the latest, you know, shoes or whatever. And so,

um, so, you know, to, to strengthen myself, empower myself through it, I would just make this long list. I mean, I had maybe 30 things on there that I could buy as soon as they became debt-free. That's a good idea. Yeah. Well, and the crazy thing is, is that once it was over, I actually, I mean, I bought maybe five of them. And, you know, some really nice things, an espresso machine, my first gun, and things that I was really excited to buy and I love. But really, once you did that for three years or sacrificing for three years and continually saying no to yourself, it doesn't become as urgent to have all the things on the list.

You know, in that moment you want it, but now... The fever goes away. Exactly. That's it. Exactly. The fever goes away and, you know, and now it's like, okay, well, I'll wait for my massage chair. I can wait another six months or whatever it is. Your story is incredible.

I'm so proud of you. I know your mom and dad are. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's retire-inspired book for you. That's the next chapter in your story for sure. You're going to be a millionaire and outrageously generous as you go along. Your mom and dad changed their family tree, and you're walking proof of it, and you get to continue that tradition. So well done.

Very, very, very well done. All right. It's Lavinia from Huntington Beach, California, 30 years old. Her condo is paid off. I don't believe this. This is amazing. $107,000 paid off in 35 months, making $64,000 to $77,000 a year. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt free well done well done man that one had layers to it if you didn't hear all the layers you weren't listening wow this is the Dave Ramsey Show. our scripture of the day proverbs 22 6 train up a child in the way he should go

and when he's old he will not depart from it you know a lot of people don't realize but that's proverbs 22 6 you know what proverbs 22 7 is go. And when he's old, he will not depart from it. You know, a lot of people don't realize, that's Proverbs 22.6. You know what Proverbs 22.7 is? The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender. What if we just took the numbers out and read it straight through? Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old, he'll not depart from it. The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender. Hmm.

Interesting. Teach your kids not to borrow money? I don't know. Maybe. Walt Whitman produced great men, and the rest follows. Yes, it does. Well, here's an interesting thing. I just saw this the other day.

The National Association of Realtors reports that 80% of the people who do not own a home want to own a home. Home ownership is still a big deal. It's still the American dream. But most people that don't own a home out of those 80%, they don't think they can. Well, maybe they can't today. I always tell you not to buy a house when you're broke to get yourself out of debt, build your emergency fund, and then save your down payment, getting yourself ready to go, right? We always tell you how to do that. But there's a way to step-by-step getting yourself positioned to buy a home and to do it in a way that works, in a way that's fun, in a way that the home is a blessing to you.

Check out one of our financial peace classes. Get with one of our endorsed local providers in the real estate business, and they'll show you how to get yourself ready to be a homeowner because it is a big part of your long-term wealth building plan to be a homeowner. Now, I tell you not to buy a home. It'll set your wealth building back if you buy a home when you're broke. It'll slow down your financial progress, not speed it up. When broke people buy houses, it makes them broker.

That's why they call them mortgage brokers. Broker and broker and broker. But the truth is that owning a home long term is an essential part of a good, strong financial plan. It's in all the millionaire data as a matter of fact. When we study millionaires, we see paid off homes in there as part of their great net worth. Michelle is in Kansas City. Hi, Michelle.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. My husband and I are in Baby Step 7. We're debt-free. Our house is paid off. Our annual income is approximately $143,000, primarily most of that coming from my husband's income at $106,000.

My question is in regard to life insurance, term life insurance. Our net worth at this point is approximately $1.2 million. and wondering, I'm feeling some insecurity about if you were to pass away, that the income stream would be significantly reduced, leaving me with two minor children ages 16 and 13. Okay. Well, what we want to do is have his income to be replaced by investments that are already there or by investments that are put there from life insurance or some combination of that.

Okay? Okay. And so if he's making $100,000, you know, we take 10 to 12 times that, so you need a million dollars in investments making 10% to create $100,000. Does that make sense? Yeah. I mean, right now we have about $850,000 in retirement and about $184,000 in an investment account

and $170,000 in a savings account. Okay. All right. And $170,000 in a savings account if it were invested and $185,000 were invested in 185 were invested retirement you can't get to if something happened today you're too young right right he's i'm i'm 49 he's uh 55 yeah but if he dies today it's 10 years before you can get to that 800 grand correct without penalties okay now you could get to it $800,000 without penalties. Now, you could get to it, but you're not going to starve, obviously,

but we're trying to create an income for you. You'd have $300,000 or $400,000 to invest, but you're right. You would be coming up short. So I might pick up $500,000 or $600,000 on him for 10 years, 10-year term or something like that. You see what I'm doing? I'm going to take your $170,000 or $180000, plus $700,000 or $500,000 invested. We'll get you by easily with no pain at all until you turn 59 1⁄2,

at which point you've now got access to the income off of that other $800,000. And, oh, by the way, by then the kids are grown and gone. Right. And so it's just you then, and you're sitting on a couple million bucks. Right. He currently has about $200,000 in life insurance through his employer, but I've challenged that that's not quite enough. And he says, well, you know, we seem to be doing okay.

You know, why do we need more? And it's just my own insecurity about will I be protected. The math thing is all it is, okay? If your insecurity is a feeling that's illogical, then, you know, we can argue that away. But I think you have a point mathematically. And so it's just show, you know, just sit down and show him and go, what I've got to do is I've got $170 in the savings, which really should be invested. That's too much sitting in savings. And then $185 sitting over here that I can get to until I'm 59 and a

half by the way during which time that 800 will become to me and it'll double if you leave it invested okay so by the time if we get you to 59 and a half the kids are grown and gone you're going to be a wealthy widow I mean you're going to be fine okay but uh not where we want you but that's you're going to be in great shape financially so the the point is you got 200 000 from three different sources 170 185 and 200 that's 600 grand you follow me so if you want to put another couple of hundred thousand maybe 500 000 with that it's not a bad thing. And it doesn't cost that much as long as he's healthy. Is he healthy?

Overweight. That's going to be very costly. It's going to be very costly then. Obesity in your late 50s is tough. He can get it, but it's going to cost a lot of money. And so, you know, you do have 600,000000 to work with without touching the $800,000 to make it 10 years. And so that's a $60,000 income if all of that's invested without touching the $800,000 and your income. Okay, so you're not going to be exactly where you are now, but what we're talking about buying,

you can go price it and decide do you want another $400,000 or $500,000. There's a mathematical case to be made to what you're saying. The question is, is it worth what you're going to have to pay with him being overweight? Right. You just price it out with Xander. Go to Xander Insurance and look at it and put his weight down and see what he comes back. It's just expensive. When you're overweight or you smoke, your life insurance doubles.

I think that's his concern. He doesn't smoke, but the weight could be an issue. He might not be able to get it, depending on how overweight he is. Price it out and then make the decision based on the numbers, not based on a feeling. Okay. Your feeling is based in logic. I will back you up on that, okay? But let's just take this all the way to ground now and get the facts in front of us and go,

okay, I'd really like to have another $300,000, but I'm not going to pay $30,000 a year for it. Screw that. I'm not doing that, okay? Do you think that's out of line? that no i made that up okay i just i'm just saying but but it but if it comes out as three hundred dollars a year well buy it shut up you know yeah so you know you just look at it and you make a value judgment and go how much risk uh because worst case we know you and the kids are okay you know you've got a million four plus a paid four house today today right way to go by the way excellent job thank you what a great job you guys have done

what what kind of careers um he's in health care management and um i'm i'm a social worker okay so how long ago did he start his 401Ks? He has been a saver all of his life, probably from his early 20s. How much of this was inherited? About $80,000. Okay. So you guys are everyday millionaires. You started with nothing. Yeah. Yeah. Way to go. I'm proud of you. Excellent job.

And now you're doing what you've been doing all along, which is just being intentional and thoughtful and logical and careful. And these are the people that build wealth. Because the reason you're asking this question is how you got here. That's very well done. You're a classic model for this. Thank you. Thanks for letting me ask you some questions. That puts this hour of the Dave 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, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for the Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about a product or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything that is mentioned during this episode in the podcast show notes section. Thanks for listening.