The Ramsey Show - App - Why Combining Accounts as a Married Couple Is Important (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 30, 2020

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show. It's where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life, your money, your career, your relationships, your mental, emotional health. I'm Ken Coleman, host of the Ken Coleman Show on the Ramsey Network and Ramsey Personality. And joined by my colleague, Ramsey Personality, number one bestselling author, Anthony O'Neill. And we are together for you this hour. 888-825-5225.

888-825-5225. Anthony, how are you feeling? I'm feeling good. You ready to go? This Friday. Fired up? Let's do good. You ready to go? This Friday. Fired up? Let's do it. Let's do it.

All right. To the phones we go. And again, folks, it is a free call, 888-825-5225. Let's go to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Emily is on the line. Emily, how can we help? Hi. So I'm getting married in eight days.

Congratulations. Thank you. So, you know, we've talked about finance and everything like that. We're pretty much on the same page. I'm doing the Dave Ramsey plan. He kind of is, but he's totally on board with doing it my way once we actually get married. We're pretty close to being debt-free. He's pretty close to being debt-free on his stuff.

I still have a little bit of work to do. But my question is that we have a few things, a few goals coming up on the horizon, I guess. The most urgent of which is that we need a new roof on the house, which will be about $6,000. But we also would like to get our family started and also move to a larger house within the next two years. And I was just wondering, how do we order those goals that we have along with the baby steps? All right. So the first thing we've got to figure out is, and Ayo, I want you to speak to this, we've got to make sure that both of them are saying we're combining our debt, even though he doesn't have much. I want to make sure that that's the first thing you all discuss. And are you prepared to say, we're going to combine bank accounts,

and we're combining the debts, and we're working that snowball. His is coming over to yours, or yours to his. I don't care how you guys define it. Is that happening? Yes, we already have plans on the Monday after our wedding to go and do our big town together. Okay, great. Now, how serious is the roof situation for 6,000? Well, we live in Wisconsin, so snow has already come. It probably needed to be done last year, so it really should be done as soon as possible. Okay, so it is in a dire situation.

Do you guys have the cash available to be able to take care of that? Not all of it. We have, well, I have just baby step one. I just have the $1,000. Okay. He has about $4,000 cash. Okay. How much is it going to cost? It's $6,000 to fix the roof.

Yeah. So it wouldn't take us long to get that taken care of. Well, here's the thing. If you do not fix it, what happens? Let's look at that. If you do not fix it right now, cause you do not have the liquid cash to do it. What, what happens? I don't know. We haven't't there's been no weeks or anything like that from it but it's just like it's pretty rough okay all right um so i think that you two just have to sit down and just ask yourself like hey are if you're asking us is it okay to pause the baby subs once we get married and fix the roof absolutely if it is a major issue yes i want you to pause it but then at the same time i think sometimes we can be a little a little emotional and make it a bigger issue than what it

is and so i think it's just a fair question to ask like okay can we finish paying off our debt or can we go maybe another six months without this to save up to go ahead and pay for it cash and while we're still paying off our debt. So I would pose that. If I was your soon-to-be husband, I would say, hey, babe, let's bring a pro out here, have him look at it, have him tell us the truth. Can we wait? And if he says no, then let's go ahead and pause everything, take care of the roof.

If he says yes, let's go ahead and keep moving, and we can stack this up on the side while we're still working the baby steps. Yeah, I agree with that. Second and third opinion, by the way. Get more than one opinion and get more than one quote on that price. And, you know, listen, Anthony's giving great advice. So that's a priority because if you don't fix it, that $6,000 could become way, way, way more expensive. So that's never a bad idea.

888-825-5225 is the number. Anthony O'Neill, Ken Coleman with you on this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show, taking your calls. Let's go to Atlanta, Georgia, where Sarah joins us. Sarah, how can we help? Hi, Ken. Hi, Anthony. Thank you for your time. You bet.

So my husband and I have been married for two years. We're in our early 20s, and I'm a teacher, and he works in logistics. And when COVID hit, he was furloughed for a while and got moved from a salary position to an hourly. And he's working his butt off, but he's working two jobs and just struggling. And I'm trying to encourage him because his parents have offered to pay for him to go to college because he never went. And they also offered to give him money for a down payment on a house one day if he graduates. And I'm trying to encourage him to go back to college and get a business degree because he's interested in that. But he really doesn't want to.

And I'm just trying to decide, is it selfish for me to want that for him? Or is this something I can encourage him to do because he's just afraid he's going to fail like he did when he first tried? Yeah. Well, I don't think that you're selfish. I think what's happened, his parents have dangled a pretty large carrot in front of him and you. And so I think it's the natural response for you to go, hey, babe, did you hear what your mom and dad said? They said if you go to college, that they're going to put a down payment on the house for us. And I think that's very natural. So I don't think you're selfish. However, I think you can become selfish if you, you know, you encourage him, you try

to get him to do something that he really doesn't want to do. And my question would be, be more specific to the best of your knowledge. He doesn't want to go to school because he's worried about failing or he doesn't want to go to school because he knows two things. Number one, he's not a very good student, not a test taker. I wasn't, never have been. I'm just not a great student, not in a traditional school environment. And then secondly, does he want to do something else that he knows in his heart of hearts

he doesn't need a degree? That's my question. Which one is it a or b i think i think it's both he's expressed um because he failed out his freshman year um when he went to school when we were 18 yeah um but he wasn't following the lord and just was making choices that affected that um and so he's very different now but um i think also he has a coffee company, and he wants to do that full-time eventually. So he doesn't really see the need to have a degree to run a company. By the way, he's right. So your husband's right.

He's not going to learn anything in college about running his own coffee company that he can't learn from people who are actually running coffee companies in the Atlanta area. And I know several, personally, in the Atlanta area that have their own coffee roasting businesses and companies. They're entrepreneurs. You know what? You need to listen to your husband's heart on this. He's busting his tail right now, Anthony. He's working two jobs.

He's a fighter. I would tell the parents, thank you. No thanks. And I would also tell the parents, you can still give me the money for the down payment on the house. Why not? I'm just being real. Yeah, sure. If they really want to do that, I actually have no problem with that.

Yeah. That's good stuff. All right, thank you for the call. Sarah, encourage your husband, trust the process. All right, don't move. Anthony O'Neill, Ken Coleman, here with you on the Dave Ramsey Show. More of your calls coming up with more frequency than you know i get calls and emails from people dealing with

the recent loss of a spouse or a parent you can hear the struggle and the heartache that they've been experiencing and at a time they should be, what breaks my heart the most is the strain and tension that they're going through because of money, especially when it's a situation that could have been avoided. If you have a family, it is your responsibility to have term life insurance. It's one of the things you do to say, I love you. And yes, this is an ad for Zander Insurance. But since this is one of the most effective ways I say I love you. And yes, this is an ad for Zander Insurance. But since this is one of the most effective ways I have to get my point across, so be it. For over 20 years, I've been telling you about the importance of term life insurance and protecting your family.

Listen, you need to check out zander.com or call 800-356-4282. I can't say it enough. Protect your family. It's what you're supposed to do. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Welcome back, America. You are joining a conversation about your life, your money, your work, your relationships, your mental, emotional health. We're talking about the whole picture because you matter deeply, and we care deeply about you here at Ramsey Solutions. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague Anthony O'Neill. We're Ramsey personalities.

Both host our own shows, the Anthony O'Neill Show, the Ken Coleman Show on the Ramsey Network. And we are here for you this hour. It is a free phone call, 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. We've got a couple lines still open. Kelly's standing by. So come on and join the conversation. Let's go to St. Petersburg, Florida next.

Alex is there. Alex, how can we help? Hey, how's it going, guys? We are having a blast. What about you? Good, good. Can't complain, man. I have an interesting question, kind of a money-in relationship. So my girlfriend and I are having our second son in January, towards the end of January.

I'm on baby step two, and I've been grinding it out, paid about $20,000 this year so far. I've been really sticking to it. Basically, all we have left is student loan debt, but obviously, that's a girlfriend. So I'm trying to go through it next year we also have the baby coming i've been paying off my debts um now we talked about it but i really want to have a serious conversation with her in regards to it um we already have joint bank accounts together we pay our bills together um but we want to um she's okay with legally getting married, like, at the courthouse and then have the wedding down the road further.

You know, we're okay with that. I don't want to put myself in a bad situation, you know, by financing something when I know I shouldn't. So I'm just kind of torn between, you know, do I save the money for, you know, the baby coming? Do I save the money for the ring at some point next year? My parents did offer my grandmother's ring, but I don't know if I save the money for the ring at some point next year? My parents did offer my grandmother's ring, but I don't know if I should use that for an engagement ring or potentially use that for a wedding ring. So kind of just looking for a little guidance. Yeah, Alex, you have a lot going on right now, man. Let's just be real. Always. Yeah, it's a lot going on. And

the advice on this is going to be a little difficult because one is more so of a of a spiritual thing for me just to be honest you know you all are already acting like you're married and not married and then i want to help you get married and then i also want to help you become debt free and so for me i'm going to go down a priority list for myself you can take this guidance and and chew it up spit out whatever you want. You know, I'm not Dave Ramsey, so I'm not going to yell and scream at you. But the first thing is I think you all need to get married tomorrow. And honestly, I'm not pressed about a ring.

I'm pressed about just getting married. And so if that's taking your grandmother's ring and you all using that. And to me, and the ladies may get upset at me. I'm going to look at the young lady out there. She's with her husband. Rings are just a symbol of the love. And rings are just a symbol of the marriage. Of course, everyone wants a nice ring.

But I'm like, right now, I would rather you live right per my personal beliefs than be so pressed about a ring. So I will go ahead and get married and then set aside money to make sure that you have enough money set aside for your baby that's coming in. And then after that, we're going to be worrying and focusing on a wedding and a ring. Okay, that's just in my personal opinion. I want to get right bringing a baby, not just in a healthy situation, but also into a healthy mom and dad situation. And then there are several companies out there. Man, if you Google them around when it comes to a ring, if you're saying I have to give her a ring, I know of several companies.

I can look one up. I know of a company right now. You can get a ring for like $500, and it's very nice. Hey, can I throw something in here, A.O.? What are you thinking? I just pulled something up, and this is just to take your advice because I think Anthony's straight up right here. But you can get these cool silicon rings.

You know, these are kind of popular now, and they're for people who want to play sports or whatever. But if it's just a ring, I'm going to say, look, I'm looking right here. I've got $29.95. I'm not going to say any company names. I'm not endorsing any of these. But these are silicon rings. They're super cool, and it's the symbol of commitment.

Like Ayo's saying, Ayo, look at this, $34.95, $29.95, $19. They're super cool. And it's the symbol of commitment, like Ayo's saying. Ayo, look at this, $34.95, $29.95, $19.99, $17.49, $12.55. So I like that idea. And then save the grandmother's ring for when you do the official wedding and surprise her with that if she doesn't already know about it. Absolutely. Absolutely. And now, Alice, just go out there and Google.

I'm working on a company right now that I believe that we'll be able to announce She doesn't already know about it. Absolutely. You know, absolutely. And now, Alex, I mean, just go out there and Google, you know. I'm working on a company right now that I believe that we'll be able to announce in the next, you know, month or so that are offering some amazing, cheap, but nice, high-end quality rings. There you go. And so, but right now, Alex, I don't think your responsibility is to save for a ring. And I'm going to say this, and I take ownership of it, because this is just who I am. I think as a man, it's your responsibility to lead right now and to lead your family down the right way. And I think going ahead and tell your wife, let's get married.

Let's do this thing right so we can bring this baby into the world in a healthy way, physically and then also, you're having a son or a daughter, man? Second son. Second son. Second son. So now your son can come in seeing mom and dad

doing his thing right. And then from there, bro, I think whatever's priority after that, you and your wife can sit down and have that conversation. Because you guys are already living together, joint bank accounts, doing life together. Man, go down to the courthouse tonight. Go down to the courthouse this weekend.

Get a nice, you know, affordable ring. And you don't have to tell everybody, you know, but just go ahead and do it right. And then from there, man, listen, you're good. Yeah. And you keep working the baby steps. Yeah. So just, Anthony just gave it to you. And none of that costs hardly any money at all.

I'm even doing ring shopping for you right here live on the air. So just do that. Keep working the baby steps and do the wedding when you can do it. But right now you need to be saving for that baby. Make sure you get the baby expenses and then keep walking the baby steps. And before you know it, you're going to be debt free and you guys are going to be way ahead of a lot of young couples. You can do this.

I promise. Thanks for calling me, Alex. Great question. Really appreciate that. By the way, some of you are listening to that phone call. You're watching and you're going, oh, that's us. That's us. We're not where we want to be financially. We're trying to get out of debt. If you're getting to the end of the month, you have no idea where the money's going. You haven't figured out the plan yet. We want you

to take control of your money and you can do it if you tell it where to go. But you have to have a plan. You've got to be able to tell it where to go. You've got to have a budget. You've got to give every dollar a job every single month. The best way to do this, AO, you know this, is with our new Ramsey Plus membership. It gives you all of our best money products, including the premium version of our budgeting app, EveryDollar. That's where you make your budget, track your spending, and then you can clearly see where all your money's going. And you can try all of this with a free trial. So just kick the tires, see if it works. I got good news for you. It does, but you can at least try it with the free trial.

Never again wonder where your money is going. Start your free trial by texting the word BEGIN, that's BEGIN, to 33789, that's 33789, text the word BEGIN to 33789. Ayo, I love that you took on the relationship issue there, and I think that's important. I think that it's important that people understand. It's not just the, I understand where your spiritual conviction comes from, and I have the same one. But there's also some real relationship wins, and kudos to this young man that even before they're married, even though they're living together, they did combine accounts. Why do we stress that? Why is the combining of accounts and really coming into a union, not just maritally, but also financially, why is that so important? I mean, when you come into a relationship as one, you're joining as one. You should bring

your bank accounts. It shouldn't be Ken and St and stacy it should be together this is what we are doing and i just firmly believe there's a proverb that says when two or three gather and it's better to do it together than it is by yourself and so if you're on one page one mission you can accomplish the one vision that the family has and so i see a lot of married couples, man, that come in and get counseling and some wisdom. Well, I have my money and I don't care. I think he has his money. I've interviewed couples who she doesn't know how much money her husband makes.

And I'm like, how do you not like what? How do you go somewhere? How do you build something? If you don't know what the other half is bringing to the table? Does that create a lot of trust issues when you're talking to these couples that you end up digging in enough and they go, they don't trust each other because they don't know simple

details like that. They don't trust and they sometimes can't, I can say this, they're just not aware. They were never taught to do this. Right. So I'm just like, man, no. If you get married, combine your income, get on the same page, get on the same budget, get on the same vision, and watch God do some works. By the way, he goes into deep dive.

Great conversations that are blowing up on YouTube. Check it out. It's called The Table on YouTube. He's got new episodes every Monday. Talking about relationships, married, single, and money stuff. He's getting real with everyday men and women on this. So you've got to check it out. He's doing great stuff over there.

Again, it's The Table. Anthony O'Neill on YouTube. Go check it out and subscribe. It'll be worth it. All right, A.O., we're going to take a quick break. But when we come back, more of America's Calls. Don't move. This is The Dave Ramsey Show.

The Dave Ramsey Show continues on from our Ramsey Solutions headquarters in Nashville. Thrilled to have you with us. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, Anthony O'Neill, and we're taking you through this hour answering your questions about life. We're going to talk about your money. We'll talk about your job, the career aspects, the dreams. We'll talk about going to college debt-free. We'll talk relationships.

Hey, we're going to talk about your life, and we're excited to have those conversations because you matter deeply. And if we can help you with some clarity, then it is a good day for us. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Anthony, it's time for our Blinds.com question of the day. Blinds.com's 100% satisfaction guarantee means that even if you mismeasure, which would be me, or pick the wrong color, they'll remake your blinds for free.

You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code RAMSEY to get the best deal, rules, and restrictions applied. Today's question from John in Virginia. I'm a junior in high school planning to go to college when I graduate and study electrical engineering. I want to spend my first two years at community college before transferring to a four-year school to avoid taking any student loans. A lot of engineering students I've talked to are saying I should skip community college

because the first two years are vital for networking and getting involved with clubs and engineering projects. And if I miss these two years doing those things, I'd be at a big disadvantage and have a harder time getting internships and jobs. Here's the million-dollar question, A.O. Should he skip community college? Well, let's qualify the voices that are talking to you. I like that. I think that's the first step here, John, and to everyone in the world who's listening right now. We qualify the voices who are talking to you. Engineering students have no right to tell you what you should or should not be doing because they are just like you, students.

Then take away their thing. Let's look at what they said. Well, you're going to be missing out on networking and getting involved with clubs and engineering projects. Well, not really. You can still network by going to community college. But let me tell you what you will be missing out on, debt But let me tell you what you will be missing out on debt. Let me tell you what you will be missing out on stress. All right.

And so should you go to community college? Yes. Now, if you can afford to go to a four year university, go. So right now it's about what's the best route and the best option for you. And right now it sounds like going to community college so you can save out on racking up on all this debt and transferring to a four-year in-state school. That's great. Okay. That's cool. You're not missing out on any major opportunities. And trust me, they're going to be taking the same classes you're taking the first two years of school anyways.

So, yeah, man, bump that. I get frustrated when I hear that. I love that. I think it's always good. Anytime you get advice, always qualify it. You'll get man, bump that. I get frustrated when I hear that. I love that. I think it's always good. Anytime you get advice, always qualify it. You'll get second, third opinions. It's not a bad idea to talk to some successful engineers as well. Absolutely.

Say, hey, this is what I'm hearing from some of my fellow engineering students. Do you think this is true? Is there another way? Those are good opinions to get as well. Great stuff there. Thank you for the question, John. 888-825-5225 is the number. Let's go to Oyinda, who joins us in Boston, Massachusetts.

How can we help? Hi. Can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. How can we help you today? So I'm just having a little trouble deciding on what to do now. I'm currently in pharmacy school. I just started in September and it's being paid for by my parents. I've never really had like any real

passion. So I just went along with whatever life threw at me and I found myself in pharmacy school. Now I've been talking with some people and apparently there's a lot of issues with pharmacy as a career because now the, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it has like a negative 3% decline. I'm wondering, should I stay and continue and finish because it is just a three-year program, or should I leave and try and find something? I think it's a very easy answer.

I'm going to let you answer it, though. I appreciate that you're calling us and asking our opinion, but I think you've already got the answer, but I'll pose it to you this way. Do you want to be a pharmacist? I mean, I don't mind if I do. As I said before, I've never really had a passion doing anything. And being a pharmacist, I'm pretty sure I can do the job and I'll be fine with it for the rest of my life. That doesn't sound very convincing to me, but the fact of the matter is, is you get to decide on this. It's not for me to tell you, but I would tell you that I'm concerned that that's the way you're approaching this. How old are you?

I'm 23. Yeah, so at 23, for you to say something like, well, I've never had something that I'm super passionate about as it relates to a career or work, that's actually not abnormal, A.O. It's pretty normal. At 23, you're still discovering a lot about yourself. And so the process that I teach on the Ken Coleman Show, Oyinda, is simply this. Self-discovery starts at what do you do best? If you were to go around and, excuse me, if I was to go visit in Boston, everybody that knows you, and I said, what has Oyinda always done very, very well?

What task, function, role has she always excelled in? What are her top talents? And then I said, well, what work does she really love to do? You know, what does she always get interested in? And the topic itself is interesting. She loves doing this type of thing. And then what results matter to her? Who are the people she most wants to help? Who are the people that, excuse me, what's the problem

that they have that she wants to help solve? What's the solution to those people's problems? If I asked everybody that plus you, we would start to get some answers and we begin to see a pattern. And so I don't think you should be discouraged nor should you be confused that well since i've not identified anything yet and mom and dad are paying for it i'm just going to go do this because it's very possible that you come through this and you get placed and i think the pharmaceutical world is still a very very stable world and you're and you're 28 29 and you're miserable then what so? So I'm just curious. What would you try tomorrow if you knew you couldn't fail?

If Ayo and I decided we could just kind of go poof and put you in there doing something that you didn't have to even commit to for the rest of your life, but you knew you couldn't fail and you would try this thing first? Because I believe you've thought about this at some point in your 23 years. What would you say? Honestly, I don't know no come on you try something let's put it this way who are the people you most want to help in this world I don't answer I really don't um. I really don't. If I was to help anyone, I want to help maybe kids,

but at the same time, I've never really thought about who I want to help. I have done a lot of volunteering, and I've volunteered my time everywhere. With who? What's the volunteer work that you've gotten the most joy from come on don't think too hard you are over analyzing everything we're discussing you gotta let your heart just answer blurt it out what's been one of the most joyous volunteer activities you've ever had maybe volunteering with animals. Yeah.

Why? Why'd you love it so much? Because they're really simple. Yeah. Okay. They don't have like too many, I mean, you need to take care of them, but at the same time, they're just there to, they're there to, they mostly make you feel better just being around. There you go.

And there's something there for you. So here's the exercise, Ayo. Here's what she's got to do. Here's what's going on. You've seen this. Yep, yep. She does know, but she doesn't know that she knows. She knows.

Because she's never been literally hit with a question like that before. So, Oyinda, here's what I want you to do. Kelly, let's make sure that she goes to my website and gets the Career Clarity Guide. It's a free guide. It's going to walk you through what I just did. So let's give her the link to that, the Career Clarity Guide at kencolman.com. It's free. And you need to walk through that process and you need to sit down with the people that know you best and let them walk through those answers as well because here's what I know, A.O. There is something that she, there are people she wants to help.

Yes. And all work comes down to those three questions. Who do you most want to help? What problem do they have that you want to solve? And what's the solution you want to offer to their problem? So good. You get those answers, now you begin to see an arrow forming, Anthony, to the area in the world, and multiple jobs, by the way, that still accomplish that same thing.

But we overcomplicate it because it seems so daunting. And this young lady, that's a scary thing to answer, but she'll get it. The Career Clarity Guide will help. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You are joining a conversation here on the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Ramsey Personality, Ken Coleman, joined by Ramsey Personality, Anthony O'Neill. And we are here to take your calls. It is a free call, 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225.

You stuck? Scared? It's a relationship question. You've got a money question. You've got a job question. Sick and tired of going into the place you've been going into? Trying to figure out how to get to college without mortgaging your life away, AO and I are here for you. 888-825-5225. All right, let's go to Roanoke, Virginia.

John is on the line. John, how can we help? What's going on, guys? Thanks for taking the call. You bet. So, I'm 24 years old, and my question is is basically should I buy, I want to buy a house but should I build it or buy a house and start to build? I have no debt currently. My MBA, which I'm in right now, is paid for. I work in project controls. I make $65,000 a year. I have $19K in cash currently and about $35K in IRAs.

And currently about 15% of my biweekly check goes to my employer for a $1K. And I was just wondering if you guys would, like, do you think I should kind rearrange how how much I'm putting towards that right now, considering I want to buy a house or kind of just talk through some of that? So, John, what's the what's the time frame? I mean, because let's be real. I mean, you're doing exactly what we teach and you're following the process. Twenty four years old, young man doing your thing. So I have nothing to say on that i mean uh but let me ask you this question when when do you want to be in your house so i currently uh i had an

apartment for about a year uh when i was still working uh in person but now because of you know coronavirus in 2020 um i'm actually teleworking so I didn't re-sign my lease because my parents were gracious enough to let me come home and save money to buy a house or build a house. So I'm hoping in the next year or so I'll be able to do it. Okay, next year or so, all right. How much can you save up within a year? Can you save up 10% to 20% to put down?

Yeah, so that's kind of where i'm uh like drawn drawn right now um i know uh if i you know if i cut back my employer 401k just to the match and then i continue to um basically i'm not really spending that much money now but budget how i can i should be able to get pretty comfortable to either build or buy. But I just know with building, I've heard some of Dave's stuff about how there's some hidden costs that go into that that you don't really see up front. I mean, I built. I mean, everything that I've owned, I've actually built. And Dave, thus far, has done the same thing.

I'm not too concerned about you building or buying your first home. If I was your age at 24 living, I would probably buy rather than going through the process of building at 24 years old. I probably would just go buy like a nice little condo, maybe a nice little townhome or a starter family home right around two to three hundred thousand dollars. I don't know what they're going for there in Virginia. But the key thing for you is just makes you come up with a minimum of 10 to 20 percent to put down. OK, and then you're going to finance that a fixed 15 year fixed rate mortgage. Now, when it comes to building and should you buy, I think that's going to be on your preference. You know, I love building because I'm very analytical and not

analytical, but I'm very anal. So I like certain kind of things in my house. And so I want to tell my builder what to do. But at 24, you may not he may not be that way, Ken, and you can walk into a townhome. I tell young people at 20 in their 20s, rent as long as you can until maybe one, you get married, or two, if you are going to buy, buy something that's going to require less work from you. Because when you buy a house, that's grass you got to cut,

that's water you got to be paying to water the grass. So I would say look into a condo or a townhome because you can eventually pay that off and then end up renting that out. So you can use it as a rental thing down the road but what's your preference john do you have a do you have a preference um you know i've kind of i live in southwest virginia and i uh you know i kind of like the i want you know eventually you know the dream is you know to have some land and you know kind of a little bit more out in the cut, you'd say. But right now, like I said, I mean, I'm not super –

I mean, that's not – that wouldn't be a huge deterrent if I didn't have that, right? Like I don't need technically that, but I'd kind of rather have something a little bit off like the beaten path. Yeah, but I mean the point is you're not itching to build, doesn't sound like to me, not at this point. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I like Anthony's advice.

And for you, it depends on your situation here, but if you can buy a house that doesn't require a ton of work, and maybe you're handy, maybe you're not, but that could be a great investment opportunity that you could roll into the next house because you're already debt-free and you could get that land a little bit quicker. So because you're single. Now, again, I'm not telling you to do this this is not advice this is brainstorming i would i would keep it to limited to just me brainstorming but if you're willing to buy something that is not in terrible shape but could use a little facelift

with some paint maybe a little basic repairs over time. Come on, man. That has some real upside to it, and you put the 20% or more down that AO just recommended. Now you've got something in two or three, four or five years, and you're still 29, maybe almost 30. You've got some tremendous equity when you sell that, and you've been paying it down, and now that puts you in a really good spot. So for a 24-year-old who's debt-free, living at home to save, I would at least consider an investment property, not a piece of junk that's a money hole. But I'm saying something that a lot of young couples may look at and go, oh, that's not perfect, baby.

But a young single guy goes, I can do that, and I can see where it's going to go, and it's a true fixer-upper where now you've got something that gets you that land and that nice house or land that you build on. Yes. Would be. I think that's what I would try to do if I were you, John. And Ken, that's what I just did. You know, I sold my house in Columbia.

Yeah, you did. That's right. Bought a actual townhome that overlooks the city. So I'm building it back up and doing some changes to it. And then I'm going to pay it off and rent that out. Right. You know, so that way now that's in a hot area of Nashville. I mean, it's a brilliant.

Right. And I'm young. I'm single. I don't have to worry about a family. I've got kids. I can do this real quick. So when I do have a family, I have another source of income come again. And so that's why I would say to the young man, you know, if you could do that now, get into it.

You know, by the time you're 35 years old, you've got to pay for a situation. And you're looking at either you can sell it and profit from it or you can rent it out. That's right. Hey, let's go to an Instagram question. By the way, you can follow Anthony on Instagram at Anthony O'Neill. I'm at Ken Coleman. Join us there. We're having a blast on Instagram.

This comes from Zach. He says, I've worked hard to get a couple of scholarships to the state university. I've wanted to go to my entire life, but there's still some that either I or my parents are going to need to pay. My dad wants me to go to a local community college. I don't want to. Can't I just take out a loan for the rest and go to the school I've always wanted to go?

I don't mean to laugh, but he is asking you this question. Can you? Yeah. You could do whatever you want to do. Is it the wise move to take out a loan to go to college heck no uh it's to me respectfully saying it's just the dumbest move you can make um you're 18 years old your dad is telling you need to go to community college your dad is older and wiser than you uh i would say young buck shut up listen to your daddy and go to the community college. And then from there, you will eventually, all jokes aside, you would turn around and tell your dad, thank you.

That's right. At 30 years old. Thank you for checking me and giving me the wise way to go. You know, but can I ask? I don't know why this generation, not this generation, I don't know why this culture is, they hate community colleges. Which, to me, I'm like, what's this status thing, though? And I think it's wrong.

I agree with you. You know what I'm saying? But don't you think that's what it is? They think that, well, I'm less than if I don't go to the big-name college in my state. Man, listen, I just recently had a big-name school, big-name school that I like offer me a scholarship to come back and finish my bachelor's degree. I told him, no, I said, oh, when I go back to school, because I will go back to school eventually, I'm going to go to a small school or like a HBCU because it's like I don't I don't need this big name on it. That school doesn't make me.

That's right. My name is Anthony Bernard O'Neill Jr. My mama and daddy made me. There it is. I love that. By the way, his wonderful number one bestselling book, Debt-Free Degree, available at anthonyoneill.com, wherever books are sold. It's a great, great path and manual that will help you and your kids, parents to get this. All right.

Hey, I want to thank our production team, the radio team, the video team behind the control room there. They're taking care of us. I want to thank my pal, Anthony Neal, for being with me. But most of all, you, America, thanks for joining us. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about an event, product, or service

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