The Ramsey Show - App - When Your Success Eliminates Your Family Member's Job (Hour 3)

Episode Date: February 13, 2019

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Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where cash is king, debt is dumb, and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Open phones at 888-825-5225. This hour, 888-825-5225. Jenny is in Detroit. Hi, Jenny. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks so much for taking my call. I really appreciate it. Sure. What's up? My husband and I are wondering if we should go ahead and pay off our home. We are 34 and 35. We're completely debt-free. We're investing approximately 10% towards our retirement, saving for our boys'

college education, and have a non-retirement investment account. And I'm just wondering tax implications of taking from that to pay off the remainder of our home. So what do you owe on the house? We owe about $103,000. Okay, and how much is in the non-retirement investment account? Approximately $222,657. Wow, very good. Where'd that come from? Well, my husband and I are both widows,

and unfortunately my husband didn't have such a great experience with money with his late wife but my husband and i went through cancer and i've gone through widowhood completely debt free and so a lot of that money is from his life and life insurance oh okay all right and so it wasn't taxable when it went in there. How much has it grown while it was in that account? Well, some of it was used to pay for my son and I's first home after his death. So $250,000 went into it to start in 2013. Right, but I'm saying of the $200,000, how much of it would be considered taxable growth if you start taking money out? I'm not exactly sure of that number.

What's it invested in? Mutual funds. Okay. All right. Well, you can get a basis from your mutual fund company, and the money's been there longer than one year, right? Correct, yes. Okay. Yes, I would pay off my home, and the maximum you would have would be 15% on the amount

that that $100,000 has grown. Okay. Okay? So if the account has, let's say that, let's just make up a number, okay? Let's say that that $200,000 that's in there has a basis on it of $180,000, and it's grown $20,000 to $200,000. Then that means that that $100,000 has grown by about $10,000, so you'd have like a $1,500 tax bill.

Okay. And that's probably about the maximum you're looking at, and I doubt you're even looking at that. But you can sit down. You can call the mutual fund company or email them, and they'll give you the basis on the shares that you're selling, and that means anything above the basis that you sell it for is going to be taxable at 15% gain, and I still would do it. I'd still pay off the house tomorrow.

I'd be debt-free, 100% debt-free. You're in a great position, and from this point forward, then you can build wealth and get with your Smart Investor Pro, get some investments going, and you'll be on your way. So, well done. Daniel is with us. Daniel is in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hi, Daniel.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. I hope you're doing well. I am, sir. How about you? I'm doing good. Doing good. So the wife and I have been married for about nine years now, and we bought a mobile home when we first got married with the plan on saving money. So our goal was to stay out of debt, and we paid off this property. And since then, that's been paid off. We have paid off all of our vehicles, all our credit cards. Everything has been paid off. Way to go.

We're focused on saving money. So with the money we saved, we purchased an $80,000 piece of land, uh, that's close by the home in a, in a slightly better area. Um, we paid that in cash and that is paid for now. Uh, so we're back to saving up money again, and we're trying to figure out when would be the best time to go to the next step and start looking at a house. Because I think the problem is we really enjoy not having a house payment.

Amen. But we know this is in a better area, and we've since had a child. So the piece of ground that you're living on with the mobile home, what is that worth? It's worth $60,000. Okay. And you have the other piece of ground that you want to build on that's worth $80,000 and it's paid for. That's correct.

And how expensive a home would you build? How much money do you need to build the house? Well, it needs to be at least 1,600 square foot, and the price in this area is averaging 100 square foot. So we're thinking about $160,000. We're not looking for anything big. Okay, so we got $60,000 from the sale of the one you're in in order to get towards that goal, right? And then have you saved any other money yet towards the building?

We've saved about $20,000 now, and we plan to continue to save. Our original thought is if we save, let's say, $80,000 over the next year, year and a half, maybe put 50% down on this property and leave us $80,000 left to finance. What's your household income? About $75,000. Okay. And how are you going to save $80,000 in one year making $75,000? It's probably going to take a little longer than that now that you said it to me.

Yeah. Yes, I've got to, I guess. Okay, here's our spectrum, okay? There's one end and the other end and anywhere in between, okay? On one end of the spectrum, I don't yell at people for taking out a 15-year fixed where the payment's no more than a fourth of your take-home pay. On that basis alone, you could start building today with a construction loan, and it turns into a mortgage for $160,000, okay?

That's not what you want to do. How much money have you got in savings right now? You said 20. I've got 20. Okay, so now? You said $20,000. I've got $20,000. Okay, so it would be a $140,000 loan, right? And then you would just turn around and beat on that thing and pay it off as fast as you can. Oh, by the way, we're going to sell the property you're in when you move out into the new home, and we would throw that $60,000 at that remaining $140,000.

And so I've got $80,000, and I would pay that off over the next three or four years, right? And you could probably pull that off. That's one end of the spectrum. The other end of the spectrum is wait until you've got the money to build or get within $60,000 of the money to build, and you put your house on the market, your property on the market, and sell it to get the last $60,000 and finish your building.

You might have to rent for a little bit, or you might have to move into a partially finished house or whatever situation you've got there to pull that off. But, you know, you save up and pay cash, and that's probably a three-year affair or more to do that. So I don't care which one you do. Oh, by the way, you could do kind of in the middle. You could save up a bunch of it, get the building started, sell yours, take out a small mortgage and pay that off in like two years,

you know, that kind of a thing. So anywhere in between there, you're going to end up with a paid-for property, living in it five years from today, if you keep working on the plan you're working on, whichever of those you choose. And I think that's wonderful. So anywhere in there is going to be just great. Well done.

Good thinking. But be selling the property where the trailer is, the mobile home is, as part of the program. If I'm you. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. There's nothing smart about smartphones if your wireless plan is blowing your budget each month. Pure Talk USA offers smarter wireless with unlimited plans starting as low as $20 per month. You never pay data overage fees, and we never turn off your data. No contracts, no hidden fees.

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Hey, Aaron. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you, sir? Better than I deserve. What's up? I'm in kind of a crossroads, and I wanted your opinion. I have an opportunity to advance in my company, but there's one problem.

My brother works for the same company. He's been there for almost as twice as long as I have, and if I accept the position, or if I get the position, it will put him out of the job. Whoa. Because I will become a boss, and he cannot work for me.

Okay. And he cannot work for you by company policy? That's correct. Okay. Can they not move him to another department? No, I'd be over the whole store. Okay. He would have to change stores.

How big a company is this? About $78 billion, I guess. Huge. Okay. Alright. And who has offered you this position? I've not been offered yet. It's pretty clear that I'm going to get it, though.

Okay. Who are you having these discussions with? My superiors. Okay. Do they know about this? Yeah. They know that it could possibly put another one of their employees out of the position by promoting it, yes. And they won't make an exception?

Not due to company policy, no. Well, company policy is not a federal law. You can make an exception to company policy. That's ridiculous. I mean, why would you want to promote somebody who would put their own brother on the street? That's dumb leadership on their part. I mean, they're asking you to be willing to cut your own brother's throat, right?

That would be correct. Yeah, that's ridiculous. He would be able to move to a different location, but that's about 30, 45 minutes away. He'd be able to transfer stores, but not in the same store. And he's been in that same store for a while. 13, 14 years. I've been there for almost seven. And so what about you taking a different store? I thought about that.

That's kind of a tough one for me. Okay. We would both be in the same situation. We both are based in the same city, and they're both commutes if we were to stay with the company. Yeah, but, I mean, this is not your brother's fault. And he's been there longer than you, and this is this company being stupid. It really is. So I would go back to your supervisor and say, I can't do this.

I'm not going to cut my own brother's throat. I'm just not going to do it. And so you guys need to make an exception to your policy in order to promote me. And then I would ask him, why would you want a leader running one of your stores that would kick his own brother in the stomach? I mean, I don't want that guy working for me. You know? And so you don't want to be that guy. No.

No. This is stupid corporate culture is what this is. And the leaders above you need to make an exception to this uh to show that they have character i mean i get that you wouldn't hire i don't hire uh siblings i don't hire family members here and we have our policy is almost never because occasionally i do but it's about one out of a hundred times, because it's fraught with danger. It's very difficult for you to lead a store with your brother there. I get that.

Would your brother work for you? No, he would not. He wouldn't want to? No, he wouldn't want to, especially him being there twice as long. So this is going to hurt his feelings is what you're saying. Yes, that's 100% correct. That's actually where I'm at. I don't know if I should do what's best for my family or.

Okay. That's a different discussion then. Okay. So, you know, your brother should wish for your success, not be envious of your success. And if he can't do that, then that's on him. But that's different than, hey, we can all get along, but this company is too stupid to make an exception. That's a different rant on my part then. That's now back on your brother so um but i still even though it would hurt his feelings i mean if you could go

in there and he chose to not work there because you were the leader then that's his decision but for you to force him out because of company policy i wouldn't do that and so i i tell you what i would do let me try let's start again then now that i've got this extra information again go back to your supervisor and say i think if you will make an exception to this policy that you won't have to when you promote me he will leave and go to another store or he will quit. But that's his decision. You didn't boot him onto the street. Do you see what I'm saying?

Yes. He's got to decide. He's going to man up and not be a jealous little brat about his own brother succeeding, right? Yeah, that one. And if he doesn't want to do that, if he wants to stick his lip out and go, well, just, you know, because I've been around here breathing air longer than you, I should have gotten the promotion. Well, if you should have gotten the promotion, dude, you would have gotten it. So that's not, but you take that job with the option for him to stay there,

knowing you and your supervisor, knowing that he likely won't, he'll likely move to another store or quit, right? Yes. You think he'll just quit? Yeah, I think he would. He would just get mad and quit? Yeah, he would.

He's kind of arrogant, but yes. Yeah, this is the guy that burns down his own neighborhood to protest, right? Man, yes. Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to show you. I'm going to quit my job. Oh, Lord. Well, see, those are his problems.

You're not responsible for his problems unless you create them by putting him out of a job. But I wouldn't put him out of a job. If he chooses to. Even he chooses to benefit my family. No, even if it would benefit your family, I would take another store and I would commute to not cut my own brother's throat. But you're not cutting his throat if you've worked it out to where he can stay there, but he chooses not to. See, he's still going to get pissed if you take another store.

Because he's just that guy that doesn't want anybody else to win if he's not winning. Right? That's correct, yes. Yeah, so he's still going to be pissed. He has had missed opportunities that he has not taken advantage of

in his past at the same company. Yeah, and he's going to be mad no matter what happens because you're going to go get a store. And I'm not going to not take the promotion just because he's going to be mad. That's not the issue. You see where I'm drawing the line? Yeah.

And so I would ask my supervisor, I'd say, Listen, I really want to take this promotion, but I need some help. I need a, on the slim chance that he would stay i need a temporary or a long-term exception to this policy and let him stay but i'll give you a real high probability he's just going to quit or he's going to want to move to a different store because he won't work for me and uh and but otherwise you're putting me into a position that i booted my own brother into the street without him making the choice and i can't be that guy and i think you have that conversation and you say you would want me to be that kind of a leader

that cares about not only my family but the team that that I'm leading. You want me to lead well and be concerned about the well-being of the team. You wouldn't want me to be a leader if I would cut my own brother's throat. I wouldn't want you to be, even if it benefits your own family. But again, if he gets mad or he gets his feelings hurt and he makes some dumb decisions, that's his fault. That's not yours. That's different than through no choice of his, he gets put on the street. There's a different line there in the sand. So that's a difficult one to work through, but it's an interesting discussion.

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Tom and Melissa are with us. Hey guys, how are you? Good. Hey, Dave. Welcome. Where do you all live? Farmington Hills, Michigan. Just outside of Detroit.

Okay, the Detroit area. Welcome to Nashville. And all the way down here to do a debt-free screen. Yes, sir. How much have you paid off? $141,179.27. Love it. And how long did this take?

Five years and two months.27. Love it. And how long did this take? Five years and two months. Wow. And what was your range of income during that five years and two months? $81,000 to $93,000. Cool. What do you all do for a living? I work in a tree and lawn care industry. And I'm a manager in a retail place.

Great. Good for you guys. So what kind of debt was this $141,000? Well, we had three credit cards, a home equity loan, a boat loan, a truck loan. And our house. You paid off your house, too. We paid off the house. I love it.

I'm looking at weird people. Yes. Yes. Definitely weird. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Very cool. So what's this house worth? Around $140,000 to $150,000. And you own it? Yes. So what's this house worth? Around $140 to $150.

And you own it? Yes. It's yours? It is ours. No payments? No payments. No mortgage? Look at you.

I love it. Way to go. So I'm guessing you worked the baby steps and paid off your other stuff in baby step two, and then the reason for the five years and two months is you then got onto baby step six, right? Yep. Well, we drug it out just a little bit when we first started we were doing a little bit davish and the first 71 000 that we did we did that in in 40 months oh okay when we got down to the house and we looked at it it was we ended up

doing the last 70 000 in 22 months we almost doubled our rate and just got it going that's backwards yes i love it that's great we had just got it going. That's backwards. Yes, a little bit. I love it. That's great. We had to get it going. Once you see the finish line, though, you can sprint even if you're tired.

Exactly. Yeah. Well done. So what got all this started five years ago? Well, originally, we were driving along. We had our new-to-us truck

and our boat and everything. We were just going along, living our life, you know, happily thereafter using debt and credit cards and saw a billboard advertising you on a radio station locally, so I turned it on the station. We were listening. I'd heard of you in the past,

but I really didn't listen that much. You were talking about getting out of debt and the total money makeover. So I ended up getting the audio book, and we went on vacation a week later. We were driving up into northern Michigan, got the truck, got the boat, and my wife was sleeping while we were driving. And I had kind of a panic attack because I all of a sudden realized how badly we had gotten into debt. Yeah.

And we were literally driving up there to look at a bunch of pieces of property because I'd concocted a scheme where we're going to go buy another piece of property. It would take us down to about $25 a month left over if we did buy the property. Wow. And so we drove around, and I'm kind of telling her. She still is sleeping a bit through most of the audio book. But I tell her a little bit, and we look at a place, and we liked them all. But I told her, no, no, it's not the one, not the one. Let's just get home.

Basically, we got home, wrote out the debt, and got on the plane together. And my wife, she's the best wife ever. She was go for it. Let's do it. Very cool. So from then on, it was game on. But you were a little slow on your intensity until you pushed through the other debts. And you kept the boat and paid it off.

You kept the car and paid it off and everything. But then after 40 months, you get all that done. And then you look up in 22 months, boom, we knock out the house. Yeah, basically we saw that we lacked on our intensity and that we could have done way better. And when I was looking at what was left, I thought, well, you know, it'd be really nice to actually pay the house off while I was still 45 and she was 40. And I just pulled the number out of my head. I thought we could do it. We wrote it out. It seemed doable and it was go. We sold the things we could. We had garage sales, Craigslist,

anything that we can get rid of. And we made it with two weeks to spare and hit the goal. Good for you. Well done. Very well done. Okay, so folks are listening and this might be their first day, like that first day when you had that kind of a panic attack thing. What do you tell them the key to getting out of debt is? Definitely being together on a budget, being on a plan, writing it down. Five years of being on the budget. Wow.

We did it every month. And that's what that stack of papers is. That's your budget for five years. Exactly. This is five years of everything since we got on your program. Love it. And this was just the countdown of getting through everything. Keep that and show that to your grandkids.

Because that's when your family tree was changed right there. Yeah, this is it. And I'd say sacrificing on the things that are easy to get rid of, cable TV. We did a few other things just to save some money. I heat the house with a wood-burning stove, save some money in Michigan. Wow. It's a lot of cutting woodurning stove. Save some money in Michigan. It's a lot of cutting wood. Wow.

Very good, you guys. Very good. So you don't have a payment in the world. How does that feel? It feels awesome. It's awesome. Yeah, very cool. I would also tell people just stay away from the easy credit.

And though only three credit cards were in our journey here i dug through the filing cabinet this is a stack of 43 credit cards that we'd collected since we were married wow and uh canceled them out get one here there the just wanting to to hey 10 off you can go buy something at the store here it is it's just too easy you got to stay away from it it's not easy to pay it off but it's easy to get in it. Exactly. It's definitely easy. And this is not how you get rich. You don't get rich by cheating them and getting the points.

And like you say, it's having the money in your pocket. Yeah. Well done. Good job, you two. Proud of you. Very well done. Excellent, excellent work. Well, we've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you,

Everyday Millionaires, because that's where you're going to be now. You're heading that way, making $93,000 and no payments in the world. Nothing to stop you now, man. You're on fire. Well done. Well done. All right, Tom and Melissa, Detroit, Michigan, $141,000 paid off. That's their house and everything.

Five years and two months, making $81,000 to $93,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! We're debt-free! Oh! Love it!

Well done, you guys. Beautifully done. Beautifully done. Beautifully done. Very, very proud of you. Good job. All right, let's go to Amber in Los Angeles. Hey, Amber, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave.

Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, first off, I just found you a week ago, so I'm very, very new. A little background is I've been married for seven years with three kids, together for 15. I'm 30 years old. I thought I was really good with money. We had moved back and saved and paid off, got married at age 23 with our daughter, saved $50,000. His little sticky situation, my husband's family said they wanted to buy houses for all their sons.

And they told us, you know, save your money. We're going to purchase this house, and you guys can move into it. So we stayed in a garage with my one-year-old daughter. We got married, paid cash, put my husband through school. He got his associate's degree, paid $25,000 cash. We saved. We didn't do anything. So I thought I was really good with money.

The money that we saved, the $50,000, they told us that they would put our name on the house within a year after we moved in to this house that they bought. Why didn't they put your name on it before you moved in? I was 23, and I should have listened to my grandfather, but I did not. I just went off the trust of my husband's family and what my husband said, his dad. So you moved in. Did you put money into the house? Yes. It was a two one-bath. We added a master bedroom. To a house that's not in your name? That's not in my name. Oh, crap. Yes, and with the promise that it was going to be in our name, I said, I don't even want it put in my name without, you know, just a gift,

because that's what they were saying, it was a gift. But I said, we'll pay you, like, we'll pay you, you know, or we'll buy it off of you, whatever, you know. They just said, no, no, no, don't worry about it. So we added this stuff on. And, you know, sticky situation, ugly situation, never. We'll do that again. Okay, so before I run out of time, what happened? We added back house as well.

So anyways, the house is never going to get in our name. They basically are not putting it in our name. Okay, so you're going to have to move and start your life over, right? Well, the thing is that obviously they bought it at the time where it fell, so they bought a really cheap house. So our mortgage is only $1,500. Your mortgage isn't anything. You don't have a mortgage.

Sorry, rent. But I've always wanted to be a homeowner. I feel like they stripped it away from me. I put my sweat and tears into that. Yeah, but you've lost this house because your husband's family's crooks. You're just going to have to move and start again. You can't just stay there. This is ridiculous. Our scripture of the day, Isaiah 43, 1 and 2.

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. Booker T. Washington said, Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.

Amen. Amen. Good stuff. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com, the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. You get free samples, free shipping. And with the new promos you run every month, they run every month, you get a deal. Use the promo code RAMSY and you'll get the best possible deal.

Josiah is in California. He says, my question is, when saving for a home, should I invest in the stock market or just park the cash in the bank until I have enough for my 20% down payment? Josiah, if you study the cycles of the stock market just a little bit, the history of the movement of the market, you'll find that if you leave money alone invested in mutual funds at least five years, you stand a very, very, very good chance of making some money. If you leave it alone only three years, about two out of three times you'll make money. That means you have a one in three chance of losing money.

And so short-term savings for one, two, three years, I do not use mutual funds. I don't recommend you use mutual funds because it's too difficult to lose money while you're saving towards a project or a down payment on a house or whatever we're talking about here. So if your game plan is going to take longer than five years, then yeah, you might try some mutual funds for your long-term investing. But if it's going to take less than five years, no, I would not take the risk. I would simply pile it up in a bank account.

You're not going to make anything on it, but you're not going to lose anything on it. Alicia is with us in Buffalo, New York. Hi, Alicia. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Okay. So my fiancé and I together, we have a total of $300,000 in student loan debt and then like $60,000 additional debt. When are you getting married? Well, that's the thing i personally have been trying to postpone it because i'm just petrified of even thinking about a wedding when we have so much debt to deal with um okay let's break it up let's break it up then because we don't have debt until we are married so how much student loan debt do you have?

I have about $260 worth of student debt currently, and I have two more years of my doctoral program. What are you studying, pray tell? I know. I'm getting my doctorate in nursing. Your bachelor's? You're getting a Ph my doctorate in nursing. Your bachelor's? You're getting a Ph.D. in nursing? It's a doctorate program, so it's different. It's like more clinical than a Ph.D., so it's really a nurse practitioner program, but just to the doctoral level.

Why? Because I wanted to further my career. I wanted to make more money and have to work less hours. But a nurse practitioner, you could get a lot quicker, and you would be in exactly the same setting, right? I'm sorry, say that again? As a nurse practitioner, you could get that a lot quicker, and you'd be in exactly the same position with your career, wouldn't you? Yes.

I mean, it is a nurse practitioner appointment. Yeah, but how does a doctoral above nurse practitioner further your career? It just gives me, you know, different options, and they're currently working on trying to move all of the nurse practitioners to doctoral status at a certain point. Yeah, but they're not right now. That's not happening right now. Okay, so.

A lot of schools in my area, that's pretty much what all they're starting to offer is the doctoral. They're getting rid of a lot of the master's programs for that reason. So, anyways, yeah, so, and I mean, I'm so deep in it that it's either waste all the money that I already have. No, it's not wasted. You've already got enough to be an RN, don't you? Well, yeah, I mean, I worked as an RN for quite a while before I started this program. Oh, I see. And that was the $260,000 in debt?

Well, so I was young. I was a single mom for a long time, so I, you know, put myself through. I got an associate's, and then I got a bachelor's. All $260,000 in debt to be an rn yeah i mean i was a little you know confused on what i wanted to do when i was young and then i figured out that i wanted to do this okay you know no i would not get a doctoral while you're 260 000 in debt as an rn you can work 100 hours a week if you want to and you can make bank and clean up your dadgum mess you have a huge student loan debt and you're just piling on more i mean you have a mess kiddo and you're not doing anything except making a bigger mess

because the difference in your income after you finish this doctoral program and what it is today isn't squat. Right. So you're just collecting degrees at this point. Well, I'm kind of in a position where, like, it's not like I can stop and come back to it later. Yeah, but you said you had two years more to go. Yeah. So you're going to be $400,000 and something in debt. Is that what you're telling me?

It would probably be an additional $25,000. $25,000 in two years. So you're going to be $300,000 or 25,000 in two years. So you're going to be $300,000 or so in debt, and you're going to have a doctoral in nursing. Are you working while you're doing this? Well, it's not really a program that you can work in, but I do work, you know, it's a per diem, but I work, you know, varying hours. But, I mean, I bring home after taxes probably about $4,000 a month from that,

you know, to try to compensate. So I'm just trying to figure out should I, I mean, I'm kind of in a place where I have to finish because if I don't, I can't transfer somewhere later on. It'll be like nothing. Graduate schools only transfer like six credits at most, and I'm halfway through the program because it's a bachelor's to doctorate. So work 1,000 hours and pay cash from this point forward,

but don't go further in debt. You've been on a suicide trip here. I mean, this is a mess, and it's not your fiancé's. It's yours. I know. What does he make?

So he makes about he makes $50, and I make between $45 and $ and $50,000, sometimes a little bit more. What does he do for a living? He works at a bank, and he's, you know, I mean, he has plans to elevate himself through there. And how long have you been engaged? How long have you been engaged? About a year and a half.

Okay. Well, I think you guys have got to decide what you're going to do, and I can't decide that for you. This is your life. You're going to have to make your calls. If you are going to get married, I would just go ahead and do it. If he's willing to take this on, and the two of you are willing to work your way through

this debt together, but I don't think you can sit around and say, I have to clean this up before we get married. You're not going to get married for a decade if you do that. And so I think if you're going to get married, you should go ahead and get married. And the two of you take your $100,000 income, don't go further in debt, and then begin to attack the debt and claw your way out from there and that's what i would do so hey thanks for the call appreciate you joining us open phones at 888-825-5225 that about puts this particular hour of the dave ramsey show in the books thanks to james childs our producer kelly daniel our associate producer and phone screener. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. We'll be back 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. 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.