The Ramsey Show - App - Where Do You Want to See Yourself in 20 Years? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: September 24, 2019

Saving, Home Buying, Career, Budgeting, Retirement   Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

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. This is your show. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Tyler starts off this hour in Pittsburgh. Hey, Tyler, how are you?

Dave, I'm good. How are you doing? Better than I deserve, sir. How can I help? Thank you for taking my call. So I have a question. I am a couple of months removed from paying off about $90,000 in student loan debt in the past 18 months. Why do you do that?

Thank you very much. And my question is, so I haven't been contributing to my 401k as of yet, but I'm fortunate to be employed for a company that contributes 10% of my income to my 401k. Not a match, but just a straight 10%, whether I contribute nothing or to the max. Hallelujah. Yeah, so it's pretty good. My question was, I know you recommend 15% towards retirement. And I wanted to know, given that they give the flat 10%, should I do 15% on top of that or 5% of my income to make it a cumulative 15%?

Because I also want to start saving up for a down payment on a house. Okay. Well, once you finish what we call Baby Step 3, which is a fully funded emergency fund, that's when this question would come into play. And then you could say, well, I'm not going to start retirement at all while I save for a house, or I'm going to start at 5% while I save for a house. As soon as you get your house down payment in the bank, we call that baby step 3B, saving for a house. But as soon as you get your house down payment in the bank, then you will put in a full baby

step 4, for 15 of your income going into retirement because the money that they're putting in is not putting any strain on your budget at all and by the way neither does 15 of your income and so i want you to contribute 15 of your income the beautiful thing is i mean you going to have a pile of money going in there. It's awesome, you know, once you get going. And you're young. How old are you? I'm 26. Oh, yeah.

So you get that house down payment saved up, and then you're going to be putting 15, and they're matching, or they're not matching, but they're contributing 10, and all of that is your money. I mean, you're a millionaire by the time you're 40, dude. I hope so. I mean, I'm assuming by then you're making six figures. What do you make now? My flat rate is $120,000.

You're already making six figures at 26 freaking years old. What do you do? I'm a physician assistant. Oh, good for you, man. I've been working like crazy as much as 20, 30 days in a row, 12-hour days. So I'm actually, with all the overtime I'm working, to the chagrin of my girlfriend, I'll probably make $170,000 this year just because I'm trying to get the student loans knocked out. And you did.

And you did. Yeah, probably by December I'll have them knocked out. But I'll probably cut back the amount I want, and it should be closer to 120 moving forward there. The highest correlation data point, one of the highest correlation data points we find among the wealthy people is not that they are high-income earners. It's that they're unbelievably goal-oriented.

You have set the goal and become a physician's assistant. That is no small hurdle to leap that you jumped. Then you set the goal and worked like a crazy man again to pay off the debt. That is no small hurdle to leap. The rest of this, dude, once you know how to do those two things, and you know how to work like you know how to work, and you've got an income like you've got, you're going to be in such good shape. I'm so proud for you. I can see the 36-year-old you so clearly, and you're going to love him. He's awesome.

Way to go, man. Proud of you. Very well done. Open phones at 888-825-5225. John is in Richmond, Virginia. Hey, John, how are you? I'm fine, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve.

How can I help? I have two quick questions for you related to buying a house and baby step number six. My quick financial background, my wife and I are in our mid-30s. We've got one toddler. My wife just got a promotion, so before taxes, we're going to be taking in about $290 a year. That's combined. Touchdown. We have no debt.

We've got about $60,000 saved for a down payment on a house, $30,000 in the emergency fund. We're contributing to the 401K and my little man's college. I also invested in the stock market about 10 years ago, and I have about $130,000000 in E-Trade account where about 30,000 is basis and 100 would be long-term capital gain if I sold it today. So my question is, we're moving to a different state because of my wife's promotion and with her new job track, we're going to be moving about every five to six years.

And we were looking to buy, I was thinking about renting because we were not going to be moving about every five to six years. And we were looking to buy, I was thinking about renting because we were not going to be there for that short of a time. But one of the benefits that my wife's company gives is they'll pay closing costs for buying the house as well as selling it when we have to move her company again. Makes it a no brainer. Yeah. So my two questions are, one, should I sell what I have in the E-Trade stock to bump up my

initial payment? And two, should I I know Baby Step 6 is about paying off the house. Yeah, should I be doing that early, even though I know I'm going to be leaving in five to six years? Sure. Well, you don't know anything, but you think you are. Yeah, sure. Absolutely. And you got $200,000 in addition to the sale of your house six years? Sure. Well, you don't know anything, but you think you are. Yeah, sure. Absolutely. And you've got $200,000 in addition to the sale of your house to put on this.

You've got $60,000 laying around doing nothing, you just said. And then you've got $130,000 in the E-Trade, so that's roughly $200,000, $190,000, on top of the sale equity from your house. And, yeah, you pay off the house. Here's the thing. When you pay off that house, when you pay off the house in that city, and then you move and you sell that house, they're going to give you a check. You're not spending the money.

Right. You're stabilizing your life. And one of the key data points, again, that we find when we study wealthy people is they get their homes paid off. Because with a paid-off home, their life is stabilized, their relationships change, and they make different career decisions, and there's a different level of stability um i mean we've just done detailed research 100 of the foreclosures occur on a home with a mortgage you know it's just it changes your situation when you don't have a mortgage and uh it changes so many parts of your life that you didn't even realize it touched so yeah get it paid off as fast as you can, even though you likely will be transferred and are moving.

Because you're going to sell that house, no closing costs, and then you're going to put all that money in your pocket, and you're going to go do it again. And every time you do this, it's real money, too. Have you ever noticed, folks, when you spend money that's yours out of your bank account or real cash in your hand, that you make different purchasing decisions than if you use borrowed money to buy something you ever notice that

that's true of a house too by the way so when you get ready to buy a five hundred thousand dollar house and you got five hundred thousand dollars in your bank account and you go well i'll just get a mortgage and then you end up getting a six hundred thousand dollar house or a seven hundred thousand dollar house and that's what happens but if got that, if you got to take the money out of the bank account to buy the house because you don't borrow money anymore, you're like, I think we're going with the cheaper chicken. Yeah, I think we are. Yeah.

It's you make different decisions when you pay cash for stuff. You just do. It's not about being cheap. It's about being wise. You get it paid off, dude. Get it paid off as quick as you can. You're doing so good, man. What great income. Wow. Touchdown, baby. Pr as you can. You're doing so good, man. What great income.

Wow. Touchdown, baby. Proud for you. 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 healthcare costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major healthcare costs. Christian Healthcare Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry. A Better Business Bureau-accredited organization, CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually

supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for 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, America. We're glad you're with us. Alex is in Little Rock, Arkansas. Hi, Alex.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, I have a question. I wanted to see what you would do in our situation. My husband is about to lose his second job, which is the only thing that's been keeping us afloat. And I'm not really educated, and I can't seem to find a job that pays me more than minimum wage.

I just don't know how we should go about finding better-paying jobs. Okay. What is his second job? His second job is he does the Bob truck at his work, but it's like a second job. He makes, like, $22 an hour when he does that. Okay. So it's kind of like overtime at his work. Yeah, because he usually does not dispatching there so what's he making his main job during the day

he makes he works at night and he uh before taxes he makes fourteen hundred dollars every other week and after taxes it's like eleven hundred so not very much yeah how many kids you all got? We have two. Okay. All right. Yeah. And how much debt have you got not including your house? We have probably $12,000 on our car, $2,700 on furniture, and $1,200 on a credit card, $800 of which was a loan to my dad that he's supposed to be paying back. You're broke and your husband is working overtime to pay bills you can't afford to pay and you loan your dad money.

Yeah. That was dumb. Yeah, I know. Okay. So we need to cut up the credit card and never use it again. We've got to get you on a written budget. Okay. So we need to cut up the credit card and never use it again. We've got to get you on a written budget. Okay. On the short term, you know, it is just finding another extra job short term,

and it could be a lot of different things. The good news is there's a lot to do in Little Rock. And then on the long term, what I would both of you do is, how old are you? We're only 21 and 23. Okay. So I would ask myself, what do I want to be when I'm 41 that makes, instead of making $35,000 a year, that makes $100,000 a year? Okay.

What do I want to be? What makes me smile when I think about doing that that pays well? And that's part of the reason I'm smiling. Okay. Sometimes people say, well, living your passion means you have to be broke. No, living your passion usually means you're not broke, actually. You find something that you really are passionate about, and you become world class at that. So let's say that you wanted to be X, Y, or Z when you were 41, and he did too.

You sit down and talk about that tonight by the way um then you start asking yourself okay what is keeping me from doing that and the what you led with was you said i'm not educated okay yeah if you don't just generally need to be quote unquote educated but you might need some training in a particular field to be a certain thing right young man i was talking to earlier in the hour went and became a a physician's assistant a pa okay and um you know that's a pretty heady pretty academic field of study i mean it's just right next to being a doc right and so he's dropped some serious brain power into that and some serious money into doing that but it also took him about six or eight years to become that and now he's making 120 170

a year now i'm not saying you need to go do that but if you said that's what i want to be then you immediately would know i need to get trained in that area but another example might be that your husband says hey i'm pretty good with computers i've always wanted to get in technology. You don't need to get a four-year degree to make a hundred a year in computer world, in the world of programming and so forth. And so he might go learn some programming at the local tech school. He might get in some programming groups where he's mentored. He might get some of the Microsoft cert, certification programs, and those kinds of things. We hire lots of tech people here at six figures and above that have zero college, but tons of tech certifications because that proves in that world that they know more than actually having a four year degree in information systems usually.

So anyway, you find out what it is you want to be. And you say, what are the steps to become one of those? Do I need to go take some classes? Do I get in an apprenticeship program? You know, I don't know. Maybe, you know, I remember many years ago, my mom, who was a high school graduate, decided she wanted to be in the real estate business. And you know what you have to do to be in the real estate business?

Pass the real estate test. That's all. Now, some states are now requiring an undergrad but most states you just pass the test and then you get a job selling real estate and you go out there and you're the best real estate salesperson in the world and lots of those folks do not have four-year degrees and so uh that make big money in that world as a matter of fact so it's just but it's what are you wired up to do and what do you want to be someday and the good news is you got plenty of time to do it but let's let's aim at something because if you aim at nothing you're going to be 41 and making

what you're making now okay you'll be stuck yeah stuck is no fun okay and it is also no fun being broke all the time so you gotta work you gotta work part-time jobs in the meantime you gotta pay the bills right now, right? And if you can get your income back up, you can probably keep this car, but otherwise you may have to get rid of this car because car payment is killing you. You've definitely got to cut up the credit cards, and you've definitely got to quit giving other people money. You're freaking broke, okay?

You're not in a position to do that right now. I hope someday that you've lived like no one else, and then you're able to live and give like no one else. But no more of that. No more of that misbehavior. And so your husband apparently has a CDL, commercial driver's license, so maybe he can drive something else. Maybe he could get on with somebody else at night or during the day,

or maybe there's some dump trucks that need to be driven. There's a lot of construction around Little Rock right now. I don't know. I'm just making this up as I go. But you need some part-time income, and you need a long-term goal, and start taking the steps towards that long-term goal. Hold on. I'm going to send you a copy of a book called Start that will help you with that process.

John is with us in Oklahoma City. Hi, John. How are you? I am truly better than I deserve. How are you, Dave? Just the same. How can I help? My wife and I, we've been married less than a year. We got out of debt, and lo and behold, a month later, she came up to me and told me that she's pregnant. Yay! Yeah, that threw me for a loop, But my question is, we're on baby step three, and I'm just trying to figure out,

do I need three, four, five, or six months' worth of expenses in my emergency fund? Baby on the way. I think six would be a good target, don't you? Yeah. You can always crank it down later if you wanted to, but, I mean, it's not like you could have too much money in your emergency fund. Actually, you could. But, I mean, right now, all this is is comfort food, man.

I mean, this is meatloaf. You just got some money sitting there, and it makes you feel good, right? And so it's not about the calories. And so just load up on it, and let's pile it up. And you got nine months to build a really big fat juicy emergency phone and then you can do something with some of it if you want to and crank it down a little after baby and mama come home congratulations man this is awesome proud for you tristan is with us in el paso hi tristan how are you i'm doing pretty good blessed for the situation I'm in. How about yourself? Just the same. How can I help? Well, my issue was I was a federal firefighter with the Department of Defense,

injured on the job, pending back fusion surgery. It took Department of Labor four months to start paying me, so I boosted my savings, ran up some credit cards. I ended up losing one vehicle, got repossessed. And then I got caught in a cross-collateralization clause with a local credit union, which I had known nothing about. They wanted me to do a money buyback loan for the Jeep. And they said if I didn't do that, they were coming to get my wife's minivan. My wife, then they came and repossessed my wife's minivan, then tacked on my credit card I had with them.

And they said, you owe us $60,000. If you don't pay us, we're going to take you to court and get the money. So I ended up having to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy myself. My wife wasn't on any of those debts. They were all in my name. That was the only option I had because I'm on workers' comp. And I get $3,020.75 every 28 days. My wife doesn't have any income now, but I was able to get her in.

I'll tell you what, I want to hear the rest of your story and see how I can help you. It doesn't sound like you've been having no fun for a while. Hold on through this break and I'll help you. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. All right, we are talking with Tristan, who was injured on the job, and the net result was $50,000 in debt and into a bankruptcy and trying to figure out how to start again. I know that's a quick summary of what you already told me, Tristan, but that's where you find yourself now.

You're coming out of a Chapter 7. Right, Chapter 7. When was your meeting of creditors? Meeting of creditors was March. So you're done. Like 7, so I'm done, yeah. The meeting of creditors. So you have no debt, right?

You have no debt unless you had IRS or student loans. Correct. And my wife's the only one with student loans. I have no debt, right? You have no debt unless you had IRS or student loans. Correct. And my wife's the only one with student loans. I have no student loans. My wife, she ended up getting a little scholarship to become a realtor, so she's in class as we speak for the next six weeks, and she'll be able to obtain her license. Okay.

So how can I best help you today? I just don't know from my point. I mean, I'm on that workers' comp. I'm 33 years old, and I might have to go on federal disability myself, you know, get out of that. How I can, I mean, I had a 730 credit score, you know, and then I had to file this bankruptcy and it totally put me into the dump. And then I'm always in pain because my back, I have to get a fusion. My lower extremities decrease reflexes and they twitch on their own because of myopathy squeezing my spine so what a horrible thing that's my question to you is i don't know how to dig myself out of this how to build my credit back up well i don't want to build your credit back up credit credit is what

causes your file bankruptcy we don't need to be in debt again debt is no fun that didn't help you here so what we do need to do is try to build some wealth and get some margin so that, and you've got the current income, plus you're either going to qualify for these other incomes, you know, the Social Security and federal and so forth, which will add to it. I mean, you could have a pretty decent disability income there. Now, the question you want to ask yourself above that, and you're obviously dealing with a lot of pain, but you can start asking yourself, is there anything I can do that I can make more money than this disability will pay me?

And the answer to that is yes, there probably is. But if you can look through the cloud of the fog of pain and see it, obviously you're not going to be doing something where you're lifting with a back like yours. But, you know, but you've got a good mind. I've been talking to you for, you know, two segments now, and you're intellectual. You know, you're articulate. And so I think you can do a lot of things with your mind that don't involve your back and that you could maybe even run some kind of a business where you control your hours.

So if you're having a really bad pain day, you just don't work that day, you know, that kind of thing. But you could control some of that with some kind of a thing that you're using your mind to create income. That would be your long-term thing. But as far as bouncing back, you know, let's get the incomes going, whatever they are, whether they're disability incomes or self-employed incomes or a new career income that doesn't involve the disability. And then with that income, let's rebuild our lives. And that's what Sharon and I did, Tristan. I mean, we just said we're starting over.

It's been 30 years since our Chapter 7 bankruptcy. And we said we're going to learn from the bankruptcy. And so what are we going to do? Well, we're not going to borrow money anymore. It didn't work for us. The borrower is slave to the lender. And we're always going to have savings, lots and lots and lots of savings. In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil.

And we're always going to live on a written budget where every dollar has an assignment. No one gets anywhere big accidentally. No one accidentally becomes wealthy and stays wealthy. Now, sometimes someone accidentally buys a winning lotto ticket, but that is not a proven method to begin to build wealth. What a proven method to build wealth is you do it on purpose with a plan. And Jesus said,

don't build a tower without first counting the cost lest you get halfway up and you're unable to finish. And all who see you begin to mock you and say, this man began to build and was unable to finish. And that's what happened to me. I built a tower, a house of cards with no good plan. And it came crashing down, shock of shocks, you know know and so you learn your lesson you say you know i'll never be in a position again where the credit card where i got cross-collateralized twice in my bankruptcy so i know exactly what you dealt with there pisses you off at a whole new level and you know i got i got dealing with banks and all their little tricks anything they could pull to um you know to take me down and take me out. And I'm not bitter. I'm just really bitter.

And so I hate banks. Only time I go into a bank is put money in there or if I'm going to buy the bank. But other than that, I don't want to go in there. So, you know, I don't want anything to do with those people anymore. I'm never going to put myself in a position that if someone comes to pick up my car, it's because it's broken and I called them to come get it. It's not any other reason they're coming to get my car. And they did that before. And it's no fun seeing, you know, someone tow your stuff off because the borrower is slave to the lenders. I'm never going

to be in that position again. And I'm always going to be in a position to give and be charitable because there's always somebody that needs help. And, you know, you just start having some things that you say never again and always. Never again am I borrowing money, and always I'm going to do a budget. Never again am I going to be in a position that this bank tells me what to do, and I'm always going to be generous, and I'm always going to save. And you just put yourself in a position to do those things. So hold on. I'm going to send you a copy of the book, The Total Money Makeover, which is the plan that we have used to show millions of people how to come from where you are, where I was, or from better places, but all of us heading to a better place financially. Living like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else.

You've been through a real tough time. You financially got your teeth kicked in, and you've been medically hurt. I mean, you're hurting. That's two big blows, and it knocks the stuffing out of you. But you can come back. You can come back, and we'll help you. We're here to help you. Hold on.

I'm going to send you a copy of the book. Adam is with us in Columbus, Ohio. Hi, Adam. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How are you today? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Hey, just a quick question. First thing, to take my call on everything you've taught us to do. Me and my wife are set to complete Baby Step 3 this month. So my question is in regards to retirement. I just started a new job and I'm not able to contribute to my 401k for a full

year. And fully funding my Roth only gets me to a third of the 15% recommend what about her hers um she will fully fund her 15 will be fully funded with a roth and her five percent that her company matches okay go ahead and put more in hers just put more in hers yeah load hers up you're not trying it doesn't matter whose name it's in because we're married and you have rights to each other's money morally, relationally, and legally. Okay? If you get divorced, you get her 401K, half of it.

I mean, that's how it works. So, you know, so load it up. And the household income between the two of you, what do both of you make together gross before taxes? $145,000 a year. Okay. And so we take 15% times that, okay? And that gives us $21,750, okay? And so you can put, how old are you guys?

I'm 31 and she's 30. Okay, you can put $5,500 each in your Roth IRAs. And so that's $11,000 of our $21,750. So we need $10,750 going into her 401K. What does she make a year? $52,500. Okay. She probably could get $10,000 into her 401K.

Okay. And you'll be there. And then next year, if you want to balance it out a little bit and back hers down and put some over in yours, that's fine. But the goal, you see what I'm doing? I didn't ask about the individual thing until I had to to get to the money. But we're talking about $145,000 household income times.15, and that's your baby step four. Then how can we cause that to happen anywhere in the house

that keeps the government's hands off of it? And in your case, it's Roths and W wife's 401k should be able to get you there. I think it will. I think it will. I'm pretty sure it will. And then next year, when you qualify for being there a year at your work and you can start your 401k, you can back hers down a little bit, crank yours up a little bit, especially if there's a match over at your work and that kind of thing.

But for this year, that's what we'll do. Hey, man, life is good. You got a good income. You're out of debt. You're saving money. You're in of debt. You're saving money. You're in the top 4% of the public. It's a low bar, but you're in the top 4% of the public. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Emily is in Casper, Wyoming. How are you, Emily? I'm good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I'm calling for advice and a little bit of grace.

Okay. My husband and I have had many smart years with our finances but recently have had a couple dumb years um and so we just have the baby steps all jumbled up um we're feeling cash poor and i'm wondering if we should downgrade in car to pay for some necessary home improvements. Okay. So do you have debt? Just the car. And we also have our house paid off. So that's what I mean by we're all jumbled up.

How much do you owe on your car? $14,500. Okay. Do you have any money saved? I have in my emergency savings $8,400. Okay. And what's your household income? About $90,000 to $100,000.

My husband's salary is $75,000, and I'm self-employed, so I make $20,000 to $40,000 depending on the year. And what are the home repairs? and I'm self-employed, so I make $20 to $40 depending on the year. And what are the home repairs? Our deck is falling off. It's all rotten and needs replaced. For summer barbecues, we wouldn't even let more than three people stand on it. Okay. So we could save all winter and then replace it in May,

but if I pay off the car and then fund my emergency fund, I won't have enough to pay for a deck next summer. And we're just feeling like we're sick and tired of being sick and tired of feeling like we don't have enough money to even put a deck on our house. Yeah. How many feet off the ground is the deck? It's tall, so we have a walkout basement, so it would go up above that. Okay. So it would be an elevated deck. It's one story in the air. Yeah. Okay.

Yes. That's really dangerous. Okay. It is. Don't let the kids go out there. Well, I mean, you can do whatever you want to do. You've been doing whatever you want to do. I know.

So it's your choice to do what you want to do. If you called me for advice, then I'm going to tell you to do what I would do, but that's not what you've been doing, and you're already aware of that. And why would I do it that way? Because I think that is the shortest path to wealth and living like no one else so that later i can live and give like no one else and instead of screwing around being a dog chasing its tail trying to get these things out of order and then wondering why my money's not working exactly yeah so i mean you guys can decide you

make a hundred thousand dollars a year you're not stupid people but if you want to do your plan then it's okay i'm not mad about it you can do whatever you want to you get all the grace you want you know grace is everywhere right but if you want to if you want to do if you want to do what we teach then what you would do is follow the baby steps which means you would take seventy four,400 out and put it on this car, leaving $1,000 in your emergency fund, and you're in baby step two, and you get the car paid off. As soon as the car is paid off, you build up your emergency fund.

And as soon as the emergency fund is built up, then you take the yellow tape off the back door and you put a deck on there. But that's what I would do if I grew up and if I woke up in your shoes because that is the shortest path to me being wealthy. But if you want to do your plan, I'm OK with that. Let's do your plan. It's not the shortest. I want to do your plan.

I just my husband is hoping to get him on board. But what I was wondering, if he wants to do his plan, he can do his plan. But that's not what we teach. And the reason there's a reason behind what we teach is it takes us, it's the shortest path to getting where we want to do. See, the problem is that we run around doing what we want to do right now, and the right now robs our future. Yep. And there's always a right now, isn't there?

Sure is. There's always a rotting deck somewhere in our life. And at some point, you've got to go, you're going to wait a rotting deck somewhere in our life and at some point you got to go you're going to wait rotting deck and when i get to you i'll get to you i may take a sledgehammer and knock the thing in the backyard and use it for firewood but and seal off the back door with a two before until i can get there you might be a redneck if but you know but that's what we did and you know but we decided we cared more about never being broke again than making a hundred thousand dollars a year and looking up and got i got nothing i got a car payment and eight thousand dollars and i make a hundred thousand dollars a year my deck is rotting. I don't want to live like that.

So at some point you got to realize you can do your plan, but your plan sucks. You know, you guys can do it. I'm not mad at you, but what is going to get you to where you want to go? That's the question you and your husband need to sit down and ask yourself and ask each other, you know, and yeah, you can do whatever you want to do. It's okay. We'll still be friends. It's all right. I'm not mad at you. I got friends that do whatever you want to do it's okay we'll still be friends it's all right i'm not mad at you i got friends that do that kind of stuff all the time one of them brought his new lease car up to the house the other night to show me you know let's just look at it it's a

great car thinking to myself you're an idiot but you know it's just you know but i love my friend but i'm not you know it's a dumb idea to lease a car so you just got to decide what you want to do and i'll celebrate with you whatever you want to celebrate. I'm good. Doesn't make me mad at all. Hey, thanks for calling. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Thomasina is in Knoxville.

Hey, Thomasina, how are you? I'm great, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I was calling. We're kind of in, I guess guess what you've called baby step 3b where we're debt free and we have our three to six months of expenses and we're trying to save

up to buy a house great yeah and um well we kind of we had a really bad year we had a baby in may and then he only lived about a month oh Oh, my God. I'm sorry. Yeah, and it was a hard pregnancy. I had a lot of bed rest, and then our family had to be separated because we had to go to Cincinnati to the children's hospital. And I was up there for about three months, and my kids and my husband were at home for most of that. So I kind of reached a point where now that all that's done i'm wondering if we should take a little bit of the money that we've saved not our emergency fund but

our money toward you know other savings to maybe take like a small family vacation to kind of reconnect with our other kids i would i would just like i went to spend that money that's okay but it's just listen so hard to save it it's okay you you can get more you But it's just like I went to spend that money. That's okay. But it's just, listen. We worked so hard to save it. It's okay. You can get more. It's a good thing for your family to heal, honey. Y'all are hurting.

Yeah. Well, and that's my husband. I mean, you know, he loves your plan. That is my plan. You're not off my plan. You're not off my plan doing that. The only thing you're saying is we're going to delay buying a house just a little bit to take a vacation and just spend some time hugging each other.

Yeah, and that's pretty much what I wanted to do. And we talked back and forth, and he said, well, you know, I don't know, and there's not a step in there for this. No. See, here's the thing. After baby step three, that's when gazelle intensity stops. You've got your emergency fund in place, and you're out of debt. That's where you are.

Then you started doing other goals. Okay? After baby step three, other goals go back and forth. You can save for a house. You can start four, five, six. You can do any of that kind of thing in there. You can save up, buy a couch. You can go on vacation.

Any of that's okay. And you do let your foot off the gas a little bit on the intensity, meaning you're not beans and rice anymore. Okay? So you can enjoy a little bit. But everything that you enjoy, we all know this, means some of my other savings goals are not going to be hit as quickly. If I was saving for a car and I go on vacation, then I'm not going to buy the car as quick.

If I'm saving for a house and I go on vacation, I'm not going to buy a house as quick. If I am saving for a vacation and I buy a house, I'm probably not going on vacation, I'm not going to buy a house as quick. If I am saving for a vacation and I buy a house, I'm probably not going on vacation. You know, so it's just, you know, you're just making choices at that point. And that's where you are. So you're right dead in the middle of our plan. You're doing exactly what we teach. And all I answer here is what would I do if I woke up in your shoes? I would delay my home purchase just a little bit by whatever number of months it takes

to replenish that amount of money. And I you guys will be spiritually emotionally relationally well served to fill your gas tank with a little time together away from this crazy world that you're living in this year thanks can i just say that we we are so glad that we did your plan that we had the money to do what we did. Because actually, without that, our emergency savings amount, we could not have gone to Cincinnati. We could not have funded that. And we would probably have spent the rest of our lives wondering,

well, what if we couldn't afford it to go to that hospital? No regrets. No regrets. That's awesome. Right. That's awesome. I'm so sorry that you guys have been through this heartbreaking thing. Yeah.

Thanks for calling. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. 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.