The Ramsey Show - App - When You Start to Care, You'll Become Assertive (Hour 1)

Episode Date: November 29, 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'm Dave Ramsey, your host. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225 that's 888-825-5225 claudia is with us in sarasota florida hi claudia how are you hey dave doing well thank you so much for taking my call i'm excited to talk to you

you too what's up awesome all righty okay so to talk to you. You too. What's up? Awesome. All righty. Okay, so I just started listening not too long ago. I kind of catapulted myself into, I guess, Baby Step 3B. I have about $10,000 for emergency fund savings, $37,000 just regular savings. I make about $75,000 a year, it looks like. What is regular savings? Oh, just, you year, it looks like. What is regular savings? Oh, just my savings account, rather than money in anything else, like a mutual fund or anything like that.

Okay. And what's that being saved for? So basically a house. Oh, okay. You get your 3B. Okay. Yeah, 3B. So that's your house savings okay. That's your 3B. Okay. Yeah, 3B. So that's your house savings fund.

It's not regular savings. And the other one is your emergency fund. Okay. Because every dollar really needs a name and savings, too. Because if you have a regular savings account, that means it doesn't have a job. And you know what it'll do? Nothing, because it doesn't have a job. Okay.

How can I help? That makes sense. I got you. Okay. Love job. Okay. How can I help? That makes sense. I got you. Okay. Love it. Okay. So I'm just wondering at this point, just because I have a lot of unknowns as far as if I'm going to be moving in the next year or two, being that is house savings, wondering

and not sure if I'm going to stay renting or if I'm going to even get engaged or have to save for a wedding. Wondering if I can kind of budget myself so that i can save start saving for retirement and then also be keeping putting money into the house savings and all that sure you can do whatever you want to do you're you're at baby step 3b and 3b involves saving for a house but some people stop all retirement and save for a house and some people put some into retirement and save for a house. And some people put some into retirement and save for a house. And some put 15% full baby step four and still save for a house.

So you can do any of the three of those as long as it's a temporary thing. You just don't want to permanently, you know, stop your retirement. It's a temporary thing to stop your retirement. And so you're fine there. And it's okay to say this money is in limbo right now on the short term because it might be wedding, it might be house, depending on what happens. Because basically we could say there's a lot of change coming in my life. I may move, I may get married, and I'm going to need money for all that change. Yeah, that's kind of where I'm at.

I'm like, I just was figuring out what the best thing was for me if I can kind of budget myself where it's like, all right, keep stocking away the money. Here's the thing. Let's say you piled up $50,000, not $37,000, and then you spent a little on the wedding, and you put the rest down on the house, and five years from now you just have your emergency fund and you're doing 15 of your income into retirement that's exactly

where you'll end up but this money causes you to walk through the transition of marriage and house buying and those maybe city moves and those kinds of these that might be moving all that kind of stuff because you'll walk through that without any uh possibility of debt so just pile it up it's a temporary fund though it's not a it's not a permanent pile it up. It's a temporary fund, though. It's not a permanent methodology for handling money. It's because you've got these transitions coming up. Sarah is in Calgary. Hi, Sarah. How are you? I'm good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up? It's a pleasure to talk to you. I just kind of have a general everyday kind of question for you. And actually, I was wanting to talk to Christy but

you'll do um so how do I find okay so I'm a very timid and shy person by nature and I'm trying to grow like my side business and I just find myself sympathizing with like say my client and then ending up forgiving them, like, and it'll work for free. And it's just this really silly habit that I have, but it's my nature, I guess. No, it's not your nature. It's not your nature. You just don't care enough.

Well, I... Do you have children? I don't, no. Okay. Do you have a pet? I don't. Okay. Do you have a pet? I don't. Okay. Are you close to your mom?

Yes. Not geographically, but emotionally? Yes. Okay. Let's pretend you were standing beside someone in the mall. And as you're walking to the car, a guy walks out with a knife, and he's moving towards your mother. You would not call me up and say,

it's just my nature, I'm not assertive. You would start throwing crap at this guy and screaming and kicking and hollering because he's getting ready to kill your freaking mother. You care. All of a sudden, you would care. You just don't care enough. You think this is a game. You think it's of a sudden, you would care. You just don't care enough. You think this is a game. You think it's a hobby.

It's a business. And these people are mistreating you when they don't value your product. You need to put a little more value on you, and then you'll get assertive. Then you'll get assertive. You know, you've got to value you. Let me just tell you, i view this stuff that we manage around here as i am a manager for god and so when you try to screw this business and steal something here i think you're trying to steal god's money and i will rain hell down on you if you think

you're going to steal god's money from me while i'm managing it i will bring the heat i will bring the heat. I will bring the wood. Why? Because I care. I care. I take my stewardship seriously. I am given this to manage. When someone works on my team, I got their back because they're in my life for a reason. I got their back. And you come after one of my people, I'm going to come after you. Why?

Because I care. Not because I'm a jerk and not because it's my nature to be assertive so actually it is my nature to be assertive i mean spiritually you know conflict is my spiritual gift but but aside from that you can the thing is you if i don't care i you know i don't care if my football team loses then i'm not mad when they lose right i just don't care i'm ambivalent because they lose all the time you know i don't care if my football team loses, then I'm not mad when they lose, right? I just don't care. I'm ambivalent because they lose all the time. What is it? I mean, where is it that you do that?

Where is it you reach the point that you're ambivalent? It's because you don't value the thing. And if you value it deeply, like if somebody comes after one of my grandkids, let me just tell you, there's going to be harm, and it's going to be them, not my grandkid. And it's not because I'm a BA or something or I view myself as that, but, you know, because I care so deeply about it. So I want you to care deeply about you. Care deeply about this product and service that you're taking to the market to the point that you view anyone that's trying to take advantage of that as, oh, you shouldn't have gone there. You shouldn't have gone there. You'll be instantly assertive when you care.

And all it is is you're just playing with this. It's like you're playing a hand to go fish, and you lost a hand to go fish. Oh, well, it's no big deal. Well, it isn't a big deal if it's not a big deal, but if you want it to be a big deal, it's going to have to be a big deal. And, it isn't a big deal if it's not a big deal. But if you want it to be a big deal, it's going to have to be a big deal. And that's where that comes from. So you're just a sweet person. You're a very sweet person. And there's nothing wrong with being a sweet person and caring deeply,

which will make you place value on what you do, how you do it, and whether or not you get paid. Because that's where the value comes from is you actually have to believe it and care that you're worth it. I'm worth every penny when you advertise on this show, because I make these companies millions of dollars, and they pay me millions of dollars, but slightly less than they take in, I'll tell you that. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM,

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is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. Hi, Chelsea. How are you? I'm good, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? All right. Well, I've got a different kind of question. We have a unique situation with my husband's job. We travel full-time in an RV. We have for five years now. He's usually, this year's not so typical. On a normal work year, we're off for two to three months.

And during that time, we file for unemployment until his company has a new job to send him to. He makes about $63,000 a year. So we're working on baby step number two, but I keep going back to number one, just thinking, you know, $1,000, that is not enough to make us through those off months. So I was wondering if you have any suggestions, if we should just treat it the same. No, you need to stop your baby steps. Okay. You've got an impending layoff.

You have storm clouds coming over the horizon. And it's very predictable. There's a greater than 50% chance of it. Agreed? Oh, yeah, it's very predictable. There's a greater than 50% chance of it. Agreed? Oh, yeah. It's guaranteed. Okay. Yeah.

So, I mean, this is coming. It's like the company announced to you that they're closing down and you're going to lose your job in May. I mean, you do not work your baby steps when you're in that situation. All you do is pile up cash and get ready to weather the storm. Now, if you're comfortable with the fact that you will get reemployed within three months, then set aside three months of expenses and then start your baby steps. But this is not really an emergency fund. This is more of an unemployment gap fund.

Other emergencies you can cover with $ a thousand dollars and go back to work in your regular stuff and don't use that three-month gap fund to fix transmission in the car okay it's not an emergency fund it's an employment gap fund it's all that's all we're doing it for and then you restart and start your baby steps you know know, back again. But in the meantime, just stop everything. I mean, just every ounce of dollars you can squeeze out of your life, you pile in an account to get ready for the storm. And then once you've got the umbrella bought, you know, then you go back and you go ahead and you do your, you know,

you can go ahead and start your baby steps again. But you've got a very, very predictable event that's coming here. It's like Christmas is coming. We've got to get ready for it. You know, you've got a very very predictable event that's coming here it's it's like christmas is coming we got to get ready for it you're not going to save money it's coming you know and so this is this is happening and um and really if you drain that down and then get re-employed then stop everything if he loses his job stop stop everything. Stop paying extra on anything until he gets his new job or gets reemployed or however that works, okay, in your situation. But you're exactly right. Your instincts were correct.

Andrea is in Logan, Utah. Hi, Andrea. How are you? Hi. I'm okay. Thank you. I just wanted to thank you for all you do. You've been a big blessing to me. Well, thank you. How can I help today?

Okay. Well, to cut to the chase, I'm recently coming out of a marriage, a 12-year marriage. And during that time, I co-signed with my husband on some student loans. And what's really an ugly twist in this whole thing is he's in jail at this time, and he's unable to pay his, you know, his share of the student loan. So naturally, because I'm a cosigner, I assume the responsibility. I'm just wondering if there's any way that I could possibly not be you know given that given the situation and that i'm you know i'm now uh i i have kind of a not as good of an income obviously since he's not working and and i'm trying to work that out and everything but i was just wondering if there's any way out of that wow your life has been an adventure. What's he in jail for?

Theft. How long will he be there? You know, I don't know. He has his sentencing next month, but, you know, it's just been a real rough few years. So you have a divorce that's final? Yes. And in the divorce decree, you were told, or he was told to pay these bills, but he can't because he's in jail, or what?

What's the divorce decree say? Well, that's the thing. I mean, it's pretty much there. I'm just waiting I talked to the banks about that No, no, no, stop I want to ask you What does your divorce decree say

About who is responsible for these student loans? I haven't received it yet It's that new of a situation It's that recent Is the divorce final or not? Not quite. Almost. Okay.

Probably next week. But, I mean, the divorce papers that you signed said who's responsible for what debt. Yes. Yes, that he would be responsible for his student loans. Okay. That's what I'm asking. And then do you have any other debts? No, I do not.

And how much student loan debt is there? So the one that I signed on, the smallest one is about $2,700. I'm working on that. And the next one is about $13,000. Okay, so there's $15,700 in student loan debt. And you have no debt other than your co-signing on these, correct? I do not. And how many children do you have?

We have two. And how old are they? Eight months and four, four years. And what are you doing for a living? How much money are you making? I bring in about $1,500 a month, which is not very much. It's about $248 I pay toward the student loan. No, stop.

I'm not worried about student loans. I'm asking what you're making. What are you doing for a living? Oh, I work at a hospital right now. Doing what? Yeah. I work as a nurse technician. Good. How old are you? Yeah. What's that?

How old are you? I'm 32. Okay. All right. You have been through hell, kiddo. And let's just lay things out on your strategy for your life going forward. I have a 32-year-old daughter, so I'm going to be your dad for a minute here, okay? Please do.

All right. So here's what you're going to do. You've been through hell, but that's in the rearview mirror. You have job one is to take care of you and these kids. Student loans are way down on the list of things to worry about. I'm not worried about them at all right now. Okay? You're making $1,500 a month in Logan, Utah, with two babies.

If you feed them and keep the lights on and keep a roof over your head you're doing a pretty good job kiddo okay that's job one food lights water shelter living on a budget and under control that's job one i'm not worried about these student loans. You can call them and tell them you're not paying them right now. Tell them to jump in the creek. Okay? Okay. Because they may take your tax return money at some point later in the future, but right now you have two babies to feed. You don't have any money. You're feeding the babies. Okay. And just don't worry about that. Now, I do want you to get around to getting them paid because I got a feeling he's going to be in jail for a while, the way this sounds.

Yeah. Yeah. So, but we've got to, first things first are you and the babies. You take care of you and the babies first. Now, we're settled, okay? Next step is, what are we going to do to make some more money? And what is our career path to where when you're 42, you're making $118,000 instead of $18,000 a year? Somewhere along there, you're going to reach over and pay off those student loans after you get moving, okay? Okay.

So here's what I want you to do. I want you to go get into Financial Peace University membership. I'm going to give it to you as my gift. Okay? It costs you nothing. And I want you to go to that class, and I want you to get some of those people around you, and you tell the pastor at that church where I'm sending you, or the coordinator that's coordinating that class, your story, so they can come around you and make sure you've got all the support you need while you're going through this.

You've got to have family right now, kiddo. Hold on. Kelly will pick up, and we'll take care of you. You got to have family right now, kiddo. Hold on, Kelly will pick up and we'll take care of you. You call me if you need more help. I know you're scared, but we're here for you. You ever mess up your bank account with something like Black Friday or Cyber Monday? Well, you don't need to do that. No kidding, Dave, I know that. Well, I mean, how do you keep from doing that? Well, the way you keep from getting lost is you have a map.

And your map in the money world is called a budget, where you tell every dollar what to do before it leaves. Instead of it all left and you go, I'm lost, I'm broke, I'm overextended, oh my God. Well, don't do that. No, instead, you need a dadgum map. You need a game plan. You need the little blue line showing you how to get to where you're going, and you drew the blue line. You're in charge of this.

But if you don't tell your money what to do you will always wonder where it went and that includes christmas i mean christmas doesn't take a math doesn't take a day off because of christmas math still works you're not in congress you don't need to spend money you don't have it's that simple you're spending money like a drunken congressman out there in the mall, man. It's nuts. So if you're going to spend money, that's fine. I want you to enjoy Christmas.

I love Christmas. But I don't, I mean, don't let the January you be pissed at the December you, you know? Five million budgeters are using every dollar to keep from running their car in the ditch. It's the best budgeting tool, the most robust, most elegant budgeting tool out there. So go to EveryDollar, download it for your phone, you can get it on desktop, I don't care, it's free, and get a plan. Takes about 10 minutes, guys. It's part of being a grown-up.

Adults devise a plan and follow it, and children do what feels good. I don't care about your feelings. It's time to be a grown-up and time to make this money behave. You're not four years old. Akeem is with us in Atlanta. Hi, Akeem.

How are you? Doing good. How about yourself? Better than I deserve, sir. How can I help? So I am around about $90,000 in debt. Oh. And I finished Baby Step 1.

I got my $1,000. Good. And now I'm looking at what else I can sell to kind of get this snowball rolling. And my car note is around $500. It's $495. And I want to sell it, but I'm kind of upside down on my own. And I also use it to do Uber. And so I was looking at other stuff to sell, and it's kind of the same thing.

My camera, I'm a photographer and i want to sell my camera but i needed to take pictures and so i would just kind of see if i need some advice of shot like refinance my my car how much do you owe on your car um so i owe 18 So I owe $18,000. And it must be a high interest rate, is it? Yes, $8,700. Okay, $18,000. And what is the car worth? Have you looked it up on Kelley Blue Book on private sale?

It's $14,000. So you're four in the hole. And what do you make a year? 40. What do you do? I'm a graphic designer. Okay. And how much have you made taking pictures? You know, it's kind of range.

But off the side... In the last six months, how much money have you made from photography? In the past six months, I have made around $5,000. That's pretty good. It's a nice little side business. That's probably better than Uber, isn't it? Atlanta's a pretty busy city.

But I'm saying by the hour, you're making more with photography than you are driving, right? Correct. Yeah, that's what I mean by better. So Uber's wonderful. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. Go do it. And so you have an $14,000 car, and you make $40,000. Are you single?

Yes. What is the rest of your debt? Student loans? Student loans, correct. What's your degree in? Graphic design. I have a bachelor's in fine arts. Are you allowed to do

side work in graphic arts? I pick up clients here and there, but doing Uber kind of takes away a weekend. Again, I'm not dissing Uber, but I think, again, I'm not dissing Uber, but I think you use your chosen profession, freelancing on the side,

and get on a bunch of these sites and get these jobs, start bidding on these jobs. I think you'll make more doing that than you will Ubering per hour. Because what I'd love to see you do is just get your income up and keep the car. The car is not completely out of bounds. It's not going to give you some kind of big change, but I want you to plow through the $14,000 real fast.

What are your smallest debts? I have a motorcycle. What do you owe on that? $800. What's it worth on that? $800. What's it worth? I mean, it was in a motorcycle accident. It was my fault.

So I'm, like, stuck paying on it. I have to have it. Oh, so it's totaled. Yeah. Is it gone? No, I still have it. What's it worth as it sits? I haven't really,

when I looked it up in County Blue Book, they gave me, was it two grand? But it's torn up, right? It's torn up. Yeah, so, I mean, if you could get the 800 bucks out of it, you'd be great, right? Correct, yeah. So is that for sale yet?

It is, it's a breakfast. Do what now? It's on Craigslist? It's on Craigslist. Do what now? It's on Craigslist. Okay, good. Yeah. Good. Yeah, so start going through and doing that. What you need to decide is where you can make the most money as a side hustle per hour and then do a lot of those hours. I think that's graphic arts out of what you told me, but I could be wrong.

It might be photography. It could be Uber, but I don't think it is. Mm-hmm. And then I want you to roll up your sleeves and start, you know, you sell the motorcycle. What's the next smallest debt? It's my credit card at 2K. Okay, cool. You got it cut up yet?

Yeah, it's cut up and gone. It's going hard, but I did it. You're doing it, man. You're on fire. You got the motorcycle for sale. You're thinking about selling the car. You're working. You're doing it, man. You're on fire. You've got the motorcycle for sale. You're thinking about selling the car. You're working. You're doing all those right steps.

You just got to get them real focused and real organized and bear down on it. Okay. Yeah. Hit the hustle and grind button, right? Yeah, that's right. I'm a little bit afraid that you're just running out and doing Uber instead of concentrating on growing the other two businesses, which might be more profitable for you as side hustles. Correct. It's kind of hard to just, you know, getting the business for photography, getting the business for graphic arts is the hardest part.

And I think you focus on that a little bit. And because I think you can make twice per hour what you're making on uber and your uber is like your default button and you just fall back into that because you don't want to go try to gather up the business yeah yeah so let's do a little bit of self marketing here believe in yourself you're probably good with that camera you're a visual arts guy you're probably great with the graphics you're a visual arts guy it's what you do you're creative and um and so i think you can make the most money that way. Do a little bit of marketing of yourself there and push that out there. And let's try to double your income this year with the side hustles.

And you do that. You put another $40,000 on this $90,000 in two years, you know, a year and a half, you're going to be done with everything. Student loans, car payments, credit cards. You're just getting started, though. You're going to do this. You're really going to do this, Akeem. I can tell.

Hold on. I'm going to send you a copy of the book, The Total Money Makeover, if you don't have one. And make sure that you get lined out there. Make sure you stay on this track because you've got this thing going, man. You have done a great job, a really, really good job. That's exactly what it is. Thanks for calling, sir. Listen, you hear all the signals with that guy?

Those are the signals you look for in yourself. He's willing to do almost anything. He's sick and tired of being sick and tired. He's cleaning up the corners of his life the old motorcycle is laying in the basement been laying there for a year probably right getting rid of that thing maybe i need to sell the camera maybe i need to sell the car maybe i need to work what can i do and he's really starting to really this is what happens when you make it the thing it's getting out of debt is not just getting out of debt. It's about I'm going to get control of the money segment of my life. I'm going to tell money what to do instead of the lack of it always telling me what to do.

When you start using these kinds of words and sentence structures around this discussion that shows your intensity, that shows the fire in your belly, that's when we know you're going to make it. That's how I know he's going to do it. He's got the stuff, man. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm going to talk to you. Well, you too. Thank you for listening. How can I help? So recently I received an inheritance from my grandfather and my parents. And my situation has changed quite a bit from when I first started listening to you because I was married at the time

and we had a really good income and we went through Financial Peace University and did really great. But fast forward a decade later, I'm in a new situation, a new relationship. I brought in quite a bit of debt into this relationship and my boyfriend at the time is supporting me while I finished my internship for graduate school. The plan was once I graduated, I would start paying off on my debt. But so now I'm trying to decide what do I do with the inheritance. It's only $15,000. It wouldn't even put a dent in one of my student loans. So I'm trying to decide, do I put it in a money market account? Do I put it in a CD?

Because I definitely want to try to be smart with my money this time, and I want to make sure that I have kind of a safety net if I do find myself, you know, back on my own again. And I don't get the job that I anticipate getting when I graduate. So I guess, you know, I wanted to reach out to you and see what your thoughts are when you do get a little extra cushion, but it's not enough to cover the existing debt you already have. Well, if you were working the baby steps, you would apply to the debt. But right now it's on hold while you're in school and you're broke, right? Yes, sir.

And so you're not working them right now. I wouldn't be if I were you. I think you're wise to do that. So what are you studying? I am studying clinical mental health. I'm working towards my license to be a professional therapist. Got it. And when will you studying? I am studying clinical mental health. I'm working towards my license to be a professional therapist. Got it. And when will you graduate?

I graduate in May. Oh, good. Good. And is everything paid for through May? As far as my daily expenses or monthly expenses? No, your education, your tuition. Yes. Currently, my boyfriend and I are paying cash for it.

Okay. Do you work? I have a couple of side jobs. I'm a tour guide for my city, and I babysit, but it basically covers my car insurance and gas. Otherwise, he covers all of our expenses. He's paying for your tuition. Yes, sir, and the intent that I will, when I finish, I'm going to set something up to pay him back. But he is floating me right now while i finish because it's pretty much a full

time seeing clients commuting assignments research it's 40 plus hours a week that i put into it you're going into debt to your boyfriend yes no what will it cost to finish school if you paid for it? It would pretty much drain my inheritance. It would take about another six or seven grand to finish. Of the 15? Yeah. I don't think I want you in debt to anybody.

I don't want you continually going in debt with $15,000 laying in your account. So I would pay cash for myself. Now, if you're married, it's completely different, but you're not married. Right. No. If you're married, his money is your money, his money is your money. But you're not married, so you're borrowing money from this guy. That's just bad. Okay. I'm not going to tell you to continue that. I would use the money

to not add any more debt to your situation. Finish your degree and then start your baby steps which is to begin to clear up all your debts which is your existing student loans plus your debt to your boyfriend. And you'll start to clean those up when you graduate in May, get licensed, and get your real therapist job at that point and start making some money. But no, I'm not going to put money in an account and borrow money from your boyfriend. No, not a chance.

Kevin is in Springfield, Mass. Hi, Kevin. How are you? Good. Yourself? Better than, Kevin. How are you? Good. Yourself? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I started listening about a month ago to you, and right before I started listening,

I bought a $30,000 truck. Ouch. I'm on step two already, the baby steps. Cool. And when I started, I was $186,000 in debt. Wow. Not counting your rent. steps. And when I started, I was $186,000 in debt. Wow. I was searching for ways to sell the truck, even though I had bought it only a couple of weeks ago. In the meantime, I ended up crashing the truck and totaling it. Oh, wow. Which between the truck and other items I've paid off,

I've actually reduced my debt by $33,000 between totaling it and other items in the past month that I've already paid off. Okay. What's your income? $120,000 a year. Good for you. And does the 186 include a home? No. Okay.

So what is it, student loans? Like you said, I've never met a debt I didn't like. So it's personal loans, home improvement loans. Everything in the world. Okay. All right. Cool. Well, the good news is you make good money and that you're now paying attention to what you're doing.

You're being very, very careful. And you've got to decide what you're going to do. So you're trying to buy a car now, right? No, I actually had a second vehicle um my question is what in the steps um what do i or what step is it okay to start saving money for a vehicle do i have to weigh all the way through step seven or no no no no through three i want the foundation laid in your life and then you start buying things and start you know it. So basically, baby step one, two, three, where you get out of debt and have your emergency fund in place is scorched earth.

No life until you get an emergency fund in place and you have no debt. You're going to be there pretty quick because you're so intense and you're so intentional. But once you have that emergency fund in place, then baby steps four, five, six, retirement, kids, college, paying off the house earlier, simultaneous. And right in there is when you start saving up to go on vacation again or, you know, you might go out to eat again after that. And, you know, you may buy a couch or a car or whatever, and you save up and pay cash for them as you go. And all that does is slow down how fast you pay off your home. But that's fine.

But to not have an emergency fund fully funded and to be in debt, that's an emergency, the whole thing is. So you've just got to be game on until you get past that. So I would drive the beater that's in the driveway until you get through baby step three, and then I would begin saving and move up in car. So, hey, good question. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

You jump in. Doug's in St. Louis. Hey, Doug, how are you? Hey, I'm doing good, Dave. And yourself? Better than I deserve. What's up? Great.

Well, hey, I got a question for you. My wife and I are in a Chapter 13. We have two and a half years left. I'm on permanent social security disability. I've lost both my legs and working with prosthetics now, but my wife's a nurse. Between the two of us with the disability and her, we make about $83,000 a year. We're just trying to find out, does Financial Peace University, would it work effectively for us? Please try that while

we're in the chapter 13 yeah what it's going to lead you to do is treat the chapter 13 like one large debt okay and it'll be the last debt you paid and so you can you can dismiss earlier than two and a half years from the 13 by paying it out early you need to work that in conjunction with the chapter 13 trustee but right the total amount that amount that is still owed in the two and a half years, if you just added all that up and said that is one big debt, and that's your largest debt at the bottom of your debt snowball, even if it's not the bottom of your debt snowball, make it the bottom of your debt snowball.

Okay? Okay. But, yeah, because you might get out. I don't know how much is owed in the 13 still or what other debts you've got. But as an example, you could, say, finish in a year and a half, a year early. And you just have to coordinate that with a Chapter 13 trustee and work that with them. And they're actually some of the most competent people in the bankruptcy system are the Chapter 13 trustees. They actually have a clue, most of them.

And they can walk you. I'm sorry. They can walk you right through how to do it. I had a little bit ago. She's on full-score disability as well. Just this last week, I had $59,000 in student loans forgiven by the government, too, as well. So just to let her know on that three-year monitoring thing, they're sending letters out right now to whoever has the loan,

and they're totally forgiving them. Just make them zero, and they will report to the credit bureau as well. That's reported at zero? Yes, it reported zero or charged off. They haven't said which yet. Okay, cool. That's great news. Good. Well, I'm sorry you guys are facing all that you're facing,

but that's how I would address your 13th. Hey, thank you, Doug'm sorry you guys are facing all that you're facing, but that's how I would address your 13th. Hey, thank you, Doug. Appreciate you joining us. That puts this hour of The Dave Ramsey Show in the books. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know you can now listen to The Dave Ramsey Show on Pandora and Spotify? For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at DaveRamsey.com slash show.