The Ramsey Show - App - Why Don't They Teach This Stuff in High School? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: September 5, 2018

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, 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. Josh starts us off this hour in Richmond, Virginia. Hey, Josh, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, how's it going? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'll try to give you the backstory. My wife and I just got married in May. When we got married, we kind of put our debts together and figured out that we had a lot more debt than we thought.

And I'm calling specifically about one debt because it's our car, which is about half of the debt. And I wanted to know if we should sell it or we should keep it because we're upside down on it. So how much debt have you got total? Around $81,000. You have a $40,000 car debt?

Yes, sir. On what kind of car? It's a 2017 Buick LaCrosse. What's it worth? KBB says 24. Good Lord. How are you so far upside down? Rolled negative equity into the deal?

No. So it just depreciated. We bought it new, which was a huge mistake. But it kind of sold me on it. You sure you owe 40? It's 36 specifically. But still, it's a lot upside down. 36 is the actual payoff.

You got that recently. Yes, like today. I made a car payment today. Okay. When did you buy the car? I think it was January of this year. Went down $12,000 in nine months? Yeah, I've looked at KBB probably once a day.

Are you looking at trade-in or private sale? No, that's private sale. Trade-in's even more ridiculous. Trade-in's like $18,000 or something crazy. Wow. I teach you to never buy a new car unless you're rich. Okay. Unbelievable.

Yeah, stupid tax for sure. So what's your household income? Around $100,000. Okay. Unbelievable. Yeah, stupid tax for sure. So what's your household income? Around $100,000. Okay. All right. Yeah, I would sell this car just because it sucks. Yeah. It's horrible.

I mean, there's nothing in this story that makes me anything but want to throw up. Right? Yeah, I mean, same here. But we were talking to our financial advisor, and he was, so our plan, me and my wife's plan, was to sell her car and my car, because her car is worth about $12,000, so it could cover the negative equity, and just lop off around $36,000, $37,000 of debt, like in two transactions. And then we could try to cash flow another car, around $ seven something reliable since you both drive exactly exactly get you a couple

three thousand dollar cars that you pay cash for and then work your way out of debt and then go buy another car yeah and your financial advisor doesn't like that no because he says that we should be focusing on the credit cards because they're 20% and 30%, and the car loan is only $5,000. Well, you'll be able to when you get rid of these car payments. And when you get rid of the financial advisor, you'll have a better plan because he sucks too. Okay. Yeah. Well, then I also wanted to ask you about cash loan the car. Me and my wife are both small business owners, so our income is a little irregular,

and we're going to what we would call a slow season from about December until next spring because we both are in the wedding industry. How much money can you make this fall? Can you get this done this fall? Get you two $3,000 cars? Yeah, we could probably do that. Okay. Because by this time next year, you're done. Get you two $3,000 cars? Yeah, we could probably do that.

Okay. Because by this time next year, you're done. If you make this move, you're done by this time next year. Interest rates are irrelevant. That's why you need to get a new financial advisor, because you're going to do this so fast that the interest rates don't matter here. What matters here is you've gotten stuck into a mud hole, and you've got to climb out of that mud hole.

And it looks like a Buick. Yeah, and that's what I want to do. I just wanted to do whatever could get us out quickest, regardless of what's happening. By the end of this month, have two $3,000 cars, or one $3,000 car. By the end of the next month, have another $3,000 car, before the slow season starts and be done with both of these cars. Sell them as quick as you can. Cool. Okay, yeah, that makes total sense.

Yeah, and then you've got cash flow coming out your ears because you make good money. You just have this car disaster on your hands, and then you cut up the credit cards, of course, and, of course, you're going to plow right through this other $40,000 worth of debt. You can do that in a year if you've got no debt except this, right? Yes, sir. That's it. Yeah, and so I wasn't kidding. By this time next year, you're debt-free if you make this move.

Because of the cash flow implications of this ridiculous car payment on $40,000. Because you've got, what, a $750 to $800 car payment? It's like $600 in insurance, of course, in ridiculous money, too. Yeah, and it's going down $1,000 plus a month in value. Yeah. Holding on to that would be called bad financial advice. Okay. So, right?

Think about it. I think you've got good instincts. If I'm you, I'm trusting your instincts. Personally, if I were in your shoes, my recommendation would be doing what we're talking about and getting some different financial advice. Thanks for the call, man. We appreciate it. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Jeremy's on Twitter. I just turned 25 last month, and I opened a Roth IRA this morning. Single, no kids, no debt. Is my next move to save to buy a house? Yeah, that'd be great. Nothing wrong with that at all. There is no requirement to buy a house, you know, super fast. It's okay if you want to wait a year.

A lot of people get married in their 20s. It's not a requirement. It's just a requirement. It's just an occurrence. And so if you're dating someone seriously or you're thinking that that's in your future somehow or another, if you are a proclaimed bachelor that you are going to be that way for the next five years, fine, buy a house. It's cool.

The only warning I've got for you is when you buy a house while you're dating someone, when you get got for you is when you buy a house while you're dating someone when you get married you will discover you have bought the wrong house she will want a different one and that's not a bad thing it's a normal thing but it's just a thing and so you know sometimes it's not so but most of the time she kind of wants her house not your old house kind of thing so you know there's no rush here it's a good thing to own real estate and own your own home over the scope of your life it is a bad thing to buy a house that you turn around and need to sell very quickly that's a good way to lose money so make sure you're in a stable situation where you're going

to stay in that house three to five years in your mind so are you still going to be there when you're 30 if that's the case then yeah save up for a house buy a house if not if you're not sure because things are kind of in flux and a lot of stuff going on in your life, you're 25 years old, then just pile up some money and get ready to buy a house when things stabilize. There is no, I just feel like I'm wasting money. Well, you are, but you're not because you buy stuff that goes down, you know, that you have to sell and lose money on. That's wasting money too.

So it's okay to have a little patience and just rent for a little while. Rent inexpensively. Don't spend a bunch of money on rent. But, you know, that's the way to do it. Just take your time in this process. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. You know what I've learned after talking to so many people who have been victims of ID theft? They feel violated and they have a sense of fear and intrusion. It can be overwhelming.

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I bought some for my porch off of there. Got a deal on them. You can get an extra 5% off if you use the right place. Use Ramsey as the code word. Blinds.com slash Ramsey. Yvonne in Michigan says, My husband and I have been married a year. No kids.

We have no debt. Just regular monthly bills. We have $1,000 emergency fund. Just starting to save baby step three. And we only make about $35,000 a year, but we're able to save about $700 a month if we stick to our budget. It seems like it will be years before we can make any big purchases like a car or a home. What are our next steps so we can have more financial stability? You're doing them.

I mean, $700 a month on $35,000 a year is not bad. And, you know, in 10 months, that's $7,000. You're going to have a pretty good emergency fund in place, and then you're going to save up for a better car, and then you're going to save up for a down payment on a house. Yvonne, here's the thing. You started fabulously. Married, no kids, no debt. The only negative part of your equation is your incomes are low, or your income is low, one of the two.

And so, you know, I'm going to start working on that career thing and looking at it uh just to kind of give you an example at 35 000 the average household income in america today is 58 000 59 000 right in there and so you know that puts you not half of average but close and so i'm guessing only one of you are working or you both have really entry-level jobs, one of the two, bad jobs. And so we need to get your income up. That's the thing. And I think you probably will. Normal course of events, young couple gets married, their careers blossom, take off, both of you get jobs,

both of you are doing. And if you'll stay away from the debt, keep your emergency fund in place and keep on a budget, every raise you get is going to be pure savings because you're used to living on nothing. And so every raise you get is going to go straight into getting that house or getting that decent car or whatever it is you're doing. So I think as you see your income shoot up, and I'll give you a prediction, in three to five years your income should at least double at least probably triple so just be working on it with that in mind and thinking how we're going to get there and then keeping your lifestyle down keeping your

expenses down and again then that opens up tons of room for giving and for saving. Very, very good start. Jennifer is in Sacramento. Hi, Jennifer. How are you? Hi, Mr. Ramsey. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, my husband and I have been trying to work your steps ever since we got engaged.

We've been extremely gazelle intense, and we are now completely debt-free. We have our Roth IRA started, and now we're trying to look for a home. Good for you. Thank you. I am 26. My husband is 27. And we've been looking for a first-time home, and we've got about $23,000 saved up for a home. Good.

But being in Sacramento, the prices here are crazy. Yeah, you live in California. Yeah. And so I'm just wondering what the price is fluctuating the way they are and rent being astronomical, whether or not we should try to still get a home or should we try to rent for a while. I'm working two jobs. My husband is working two jobs, and the unfortunate part of it is that I am burnt out. Okay, that's fine.

If you slow down on your saving towards a house because you back off of some of those jobs and it takes you another year to buy a house instead of buying it this year that's okay okay but i wouldn't do i don't think we can blame the real estate market on that we're just going to say i'm too tired to work two jobs for a house that's okay that's okay the reason we've been able to save so much is actually our our home situation right now um the second job that i have is i'm a caregiver, and we're able to live upstairs for free, but with doing that, I'm working about 13 hours a day, six days a week. So you would lose that housing if you changed that job? Exactly. So then we would be paying rent rather than being able to save that much.

So we'd be looking at more of another two years. How much are you paid for your job? For the caregiving job? Do you have another job on top of 13 hours a day? Well, it's both. So I work as an occupational therapy assistant, and that's my eight-hour day, and then I come home and I work the night shift. Oh, so they have someone else there caring for the person during the day.

Yeah. I see. Okay. All right. Well, yeah, if you're tired of doing that and you keep your day job and you move out, that's okay. That's okay. You're just going to slow down how much money you save, obviously out that's okay that's okay you're just gonna it's gonna slow down how much money you save obviously you already figured that out you know but that's not the end

of the world the real estate market in california is always volatile and it's always expensive about the only thing you can count on is it's going to change but i'm not hearing anything about the market shooting up or shooting down. It's only going up right now. But that's okay. It's not a big deal. Just, you know, if you can find something inexpensive to rent, you want to get your life back, so to speak, and slow down your house acquisition, it takes you an extra year to buy a house, that's okay. Would you say that would be the smarter plan rather than trying to, let's say, the kind of idea was we would go in to get a starter home, like trying to stay in the mid-250s.

Yeah, get something cheap and get started. But it would be we wouldn't be able to do the 15-year. You need to go down until you can get to the 15-year. Okay. You keep going down in price and up in down payment until you can get to the 15-year. Okay. You keep going down in price and up in down payment until you can get to the 15-year. That didn't change in this discussion. But get the cheapest. I don't mind you starting at the cheapest possible house.

What about if the area is? Well, as long as it's safe. You've got to decide where you want to live. I'm not going to live there. Okay? But, you know, in your situation, what are you want to live i'm not going to live there okay but um you know in your situation what are you willing to do and you know i'm not ever going to recommend more than a 15 year fixed i haven't in 30 years of doing this show of course and i'm not going to tell you to

do something that i think is bad for you in other words because i want because i want you to win i want you to do good but i get it i I mean, you're working like a maniac, and if you want to slow down the down payment process and rent for an extra year more than you thought you were going to because you've had it with this schedule, hey, that's okay. It's not the end of the world. You're out of debt.

You have your emergency fund. You've got your Roth IRAs going. You know, you're doing great. Thank you. You know, it's okay breathe a little and you know if you gotta buy a house you don't have to buy a house right now it's okay you don't have to right now you just don't have to right now kayla's with us in richmond virginia hi kayla welcome to the dave ramsey show hi how are you better than i deserve what's up. So I'm going to kind of give you a little bit of a back story of what happened. A year ago, I was pregnant, just had my baby. He was a high-risk baby, and we had to go in and out of special doctors and stuff like that.

Well, my husband decided to take out a loan for $2,400 so we can keep our place. I went ahead and called today to see exactly how much we owe after paying one year of $306, one year paying on it, and we owe $2,500 still on it. I don't know what to do, and I cannot seem to get this debt down. Is there a local office? No. Okay.

Well, I mean, I would demand to know how in the crap that happened. You obviously got in one of these rip-off finance company loans. It's 30% or something. It's 149% interest rate after I've called them and asked them exactly how much the interest rate is. Oh, how neat. I've never heard of that. How neat. This is what happens when you don't look at what you sign up for. Exactly.

My husband was just trying to do the right thing. No, he wasn't. He was stupid. I mean, who signs up for 149% interest? That was dumb. You know, you have to look at what you're doing. You drive your car in the ditch otherwise. So go get a credit card for $2,000 and pay this thing off with a credit card. And that will only be 18%. And then take three jobs and get on a budget and get this mess cleaned up. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Listen up, my friends at Churchill Mortgage. Want to put some cash back into your pocket? Go to ChurchillMortgage.com today and enter the $3,000 end-of-summer giveaway.

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by making sure they are in a mortgage that doesn't bust their budget. Go to ChurchillMortgage.com today to learn more. And while you're there, don't forget to enter the end of summer giveaway. Call Churchill Mortgage today at 888-LOAN-200 or online at ChurchillMortgage.com. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal Housing Lender 761 Old Hickory Boulevard. But went to the C37027. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Joshua and Andrea are with us. Welcome, guys. How are you? Good.

Doing good. Good to have you. Where do you live? Longview, Texas. Cool. And all the way to Nashville to do a debt-free scream. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Very cool. How much have you paid off? $27,275.97, but who's counting? I love it. And how long did this take?

Seven months, five days. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? 60 up to about 92. In seven months? Well, I just graduated nursing school and I was on orientation. And then once I got off orientation, started picking up a lot of overtime. Got it. Ding, ding. Okay. Start taking off fast. Good.

Good. Very cool. What kind of debt was the, uh, $27,000? Most of it was all mine. Okay. Um, there were student loans loans medical bills and a car uh there was two car loans that were the family members um and then a defaulted gym membership oh that was right too okay wow so how long have you two been married one year august 26th okay

so you got married a year ago, and you graduate from nursing school. Things take off. When you got married, of course, you knew all this debt was there, right? Absolutely, yeah. It was staring us right in the face. So you're kind of waiting to get out of nursing school to start the attack. Yeah, yeah, we were holding back. It was kind of a slingshot effect as soon as we got out.

We were getting after it. Yeah, okay. The debt went up, though, because the week he was to graduate nursing school, and back. It was kind of a slingshot effect as soon as we got out. We were getting after it. The debt went up though because the week he was to graduate nursing school, his car caught fire and burnt to the ground. Oh, that's always that. Literally. And you didn't have insurance on it? Liability. That's all.

So the car's gone. A family member was like, or it was my uncle, he was like, hey, you know, you can, I'll sell you my truck. But he's like, you know, I know where you sleep. So I was like, all right, well, you know, that number one family loan. So we got it paid off. Oh, so you borrowed money on the truck from your uncle. Well, he.

He put it on time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How much was the truck? It was only like, it was $2,000. Okay. So that's part of the $27,000 that got paid off? Yes. Okay.

Very good. So Andrea, you don't get blamed for the whole thing. At least $2,000 of it's over here. Okay. Yeah. All right. Cool. All right.

So you guys were dating before you're engaged. You're talking about this dad. Did you kind of have the plan when we get married, we're going to get out of nursing school, we're going to attack this and knock it out? Was that a discussion prior to marriage or what? We were together seven years when we got married. We're high school sweethearts. He took the class in high school, so he's been following you since he was like 17.

I didn't get on board until about four years ago. Oh, okay. Yeah, it took me a long time. And then really, y'all didn't do anything about it until seven months ago? Correct. Oh, okay. Yeah, it took me a long time. And then really, y'all didn't do anything about it until seven months ago? Correct. Yeah, okay. All right, very cool. But, hey, the high school curriculum set you up.

I mean, you knew what to do. Oh, yeah. And you got an attack mode once you get married and clean it up. How does it feel to be debt-free? Awesome. Oh, my goodness. So liberating. So liberating.

Did you have people cheering you on, saying you should do this? Because you were going crazy for that seven months. Yes. Mostly, yeah, everybody, they did think we were crazy, but everybody was behind us, it seemed like. How old are you two? 25. Oh, wow. You got a great life ahead of you. Well done. Good job to my high school curriculum guys. I'm looking at an example of what happens if you get the thing in high school. That's awesome. Yeah. I just want to give a shout out to Paula Mathis at Gilmer High School, my senior economics teacher. She was the one.

Every student that went to her class went through your high school curriculum. Oh, very neat. Cool. Very cool. Way to go, Ms. Mathis. Well done. Very cool. Way to go, Ms. Mathis. Well done. Very well done. Yeah, we're in about, I think we're in 51, 52% of the high schools now, roughly.

And we've got people sponsoring it and giving it to the high schools, local businesses all over America. And you guys are exactly what we want to have happen. You know, you get married, and if there's debt, you clean it up. And you start out with no debt or whatever it is, and you what to do and you know how to do a budget and you have a plan and that's perfect. So, Andrea, like you said, you joined the game a little bit later because he got the head start in high school. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Because you guys went on this adventure as soon as you got married. Really, it's communication and listening to what your partner is trying to tell you as to the reason why.

For the longest time, Dave, no offense, I didn't even want to hear your name. Oh, I couldn't believe it. Yeah, I'm a cuss word around some people. But I actually sat down and listened to him and just listened to his reasonings. And then he had just amazing reasons and points. So then I just got on board. And it also helped that we went to premarital counseling, too. And our counselor was really into your programs as well.

So that helped a lot. He couldn't get away. I couldn't. You were everywhere. He was everywhere. Everywhere. Long Bear, Texas. Yeah, when we went to marriage counseling, he brought it up in the first meeting.

And her head just went, oh, I hate this guy. Well, he forces me to listen to your podcast the whole time we're in a vehicle, no matter where we're going. That's gross. You're a bad husband. I don't mind it now. I enjoy it, I guess. Turn on some music.

You just got married. Good job, you guys. I'm proud of y'all. Well done. So who are your biggest cheerleaders? Oh, man. Probably just family. Because'm proud of y'all. Well done. So who are your biggest cheerleaders? Oh, man. Probably just family because shout out to my Uncle Dan. He's actually debt-free now as well.

He's been working hard on it. We've had a lot of cheerleaders along the way, just people we didn't really expect. So really just everybody. That's good. There's a lot of people that will just come up and ask us, like, I don't even really know you, but what is this debt-free journey? You know, and we'll just send them straight to your webpage or send them to the YouTube channel, podcast, anything. So how were they following you? How did they find you if they didn't know you?

We had a blog. Oh, okay. And then we also were very active on Facebook about our journey, and we had people sharing all of our updates and our blogs. So we had a little bit of a following. I bet you do. Yeah, that's great. How fun. It was fun.

Good for you. Good for you. Well, that gives you encouragement, too. It also gives you accountability. We've got to do it. All these people are watching. Yeah, that was a big part of it. Yeah, that's worse than my name being around here.

I love it. Way to go, y'all. Way to go. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's retire-inspired book for you. That is, of course, the next chapter in your story. You know how this goes. Oh, yeah. And to be millionaires and outrageously generous as you go along.

And when you make $92,000 a year, you're 25 years old. My gosh, you're killing it. And no debt in the world. Woo! Life is good. Well done, killing it! And no debt in the world! Woo! Life is good! Well done, you guys. Very well done. Joshua and Andrea, Longview, Texas.

$27,000 paid off in seven months. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! We're debt-free! Love it! Yeah, baby! Yeah! Oh, man. Oh, man.

Oh, man. Way to go, you guys. Very well done. That is the second time in the last two weeks that a young couple has come on here and they took the class in high school. And they came on here to do their debt-free scream you know when i wrote the very first book financial peace and i self-published it it was a little blue ugly cover a little light blue baby bird egg blue cover and i'm standing at the back of the room after i spoke at the kiwanis club or whatever it was the the Rotary Club, the very first time I ever tried to sell a book in my whole life, I did this little speech that was too long and real cheesy about debt and budgeting

and the same stuff I talk about now, 1992. I walked to the back of the room to work my own book table, because that was our staff. I was the CEO, the chief everything officer. And the first possible customer I ever had walked up to the table, picked up the book, and said, I liked your talk. Why don't they teach this stuff in high school? And I've heard

it millions of times, it feels like, since then. Well, the good news is, now we do teach it in high school. And in colleges. So any of you educators out there, or any of you businesses that want to pay for the curriculum so your local high school has it,

that's a good way. Because a lot of your high schools don't have the money for it. It's not that expensive, high schools don't have the money for it. It's not that expensive, but they don't have any money. So any of you that want to get involved in making sure this is in your local high school, yeah, we don't need to be at 52%, 51% of the high schools. We need to be at 99.9999%. Every kid needs this stuff, don't they? Wow. See what happens when they get it? I love it.

Get in touch with us. We'll help you. This is the when they get it. I love it. Get in touch with us. We'll help you. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Lee is in Dallas. Hi, Lee. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. How are you? Better than I deserve.

What's up? Okay. So my husband and I are 31 years old. We're on baby steps four, five, and six, but we don't have any kids yet. That's in the plans. We're on track to make over $300,000 this year, and we will be starting IVF treatments very soon, maybe by next month. We currently have $16,000 in our HSA account,

and my husband and I are debating how we should be paying for all medical expenses, but more specifically right now the IVF. I think we should be paying out of our HSA account, but he thinks we should cash flow it and just leave the HSA alone. Well, here's the thing. Any medical expenses you pay for through the HSA are tax deductible, and you are in a 35% tax bracket this year. And so out of every $1,000, $350 is saved in taxes.

So if you do $10,000, it costs you $6,500 effectively because that would have been going to taxes otherwise. Do you have any other things that, illnesses or medical issues that you might end up using the HSA for? No. Then you win the argument. Use it for IVF. Because it's of no value sitting in the account when you could take the tax break. Now, having said that, I would max out my HSA, put as much into it a year as you can put into it, and run all of your IVF and keep enough in there for deductibles. Okay.

Yeah, that was the plan. And right now, I mean, we haven't really touched it at all. It's just kind of been building and building. But now, you know, I see that this is the time that we can draw out of that. Now, be very careful with IVF in terms of the financial part of it. It is such an emotional issue that you guys are going through that people don't shop it. And you should get more than one opinion, learn about more than one program on methods to pay for it, and you will see a shocking difference in pricing from one offering to another. I have heard of people paying anywhere from $7,000 to $47,000 is what I'm saying.

Jeez. And just because they get, you know, it's emotional. They want a baby. And they just go sign up for whatever without looking at it. So I hate to be so mercenary about it, but, hey, I want you to have a baby. You want to have a baby. Let's do that. I mean, God, let's pray and let's have this happen, right?

But shop it. There's no reason to. I mean, you're buying something that's as expensive as a car, a medical procedure here that's as expensive as a car. So go get two or three different places that will give you opinions and you know if you want to pay a little bit more because you feel very comfortable with the competency or track record or process used by uh one doc over another that'd be that's fine i got no issue with that you make plenty of money but all i'm saying is go forward

with wisdom and knowledge because you gathered gathered lots of information in purchasing this medical treatment. Okay? Okay. Thank you for the advice, Dave. Thanks for calling in. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Billy is in Fargo, North Dakota. Hi, Billy.

How are you? Hi there, Dave. I'm doing well. How are you? Better than I deserve. How are you? Hi there, Dave. I'm doing well. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, sir, I graduated college and I got a new job.

And to celebrate, three years ago, I went and bought a brand new pickup truck. Of course. Of course, yeah. And now, three years later, I'm looking at trying to expand my cattle business., I'm looking at trying to expand my cattle business, and I'm sick and tired of paying that large car payment,

and I'm actually six grand upside down on this pickup. And I don't know if I'm in too deep and I need to try and ride it out for the remainder of the loan. What do you owe him? If I need to cut my losses, I owe them $29,000. Okay. No, you're not too deep. You need to sell it. Okay.

What's your household income? $48,000. Yeah. $30,000 truck payment. It's insanity. Most people do this. That's why I'm laughing, Billy. I mean, it's like a classic thing.

Come out of college and celebrate by punishing myself. Yeah. So I have another 98 that I could drive and fix up. Good. Do it. Do it. And I feel like I'm good enough of a grease monkey to be able to take care of an older vehicle. Well, and for a little while, because all you got to do is get the $6,000 paid off,

because you're going to go borrow the $6,000 that you're upside down, right? Who do you owe the money to on the truck? An intermediary. An intermediary? What's that mean? So, a credit union. Oh, okay. That's great.

Go sit down with the credit union, tell them you want to sell the truck, and sign a note for the difference. Okay. but do it in person sit down with the credit union manager and go i make 40 i have a 30 000 truck payment this is insanity i have to get rid of this truck and i need you guys to let me get rid of it and i'll sign a note for the difference and i'll pay off the note within just a few months okay and you get rid of 6 000 upside down that way right yeah and then you when that's done then you save up like crazy and move up out of your 98 and with cash okay never again have a car payment promise me i promise you mr ramsey you have to learn your lessons that way you don't have to learn them twice, okay? You got it, sir. Be good, Billy. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

You know what? I predict Billy's going to be a millionaire. You know how I predict that? It's because a lot of the millionaires we talked to said in their 20s they did something dumb and they quit borrowing money. They quit using credit cards. They never again got another car payment. They did exactly what he did, and that was their one time, and it hurt enough that they said never again. You know, we did a study, a brand-new study, that our team, an outside research firm coordinated with Chris Hogan, our Ramsey personality.

It's the largest study ever conducted with 10,000 millionaires. That's how I know this stuff, because I didn't just make it up. And it is absolutely incredible. You know, the myth says that wealthy people got lucky and made risky investments. The actual data says millionaires weren't lucky at all. They invested in their 401k and built wealth over time. The myth says wealthy people inherited all their money. The truth is the data says that trust fund babies are fairly rare,

like over 90% of millionaires are self-made. They did not inherit their money. Rich people have all high-paying jobs. The actual data says most millionaires never made over $200,000 a year, and a lot of them didn't make over $100,000 a year. Millionaires all come from wealthy families. Actually, the data says most millionaires come from at or below middle-class incomes. Wealthy people have all high income positions nope the data says most millionaires have regular jobs as a matter of fact doctors and athletes did not make the top five professions that our

study revealed that millionaires have here's what some of them said i started in 1969 newly married owning two old suitcases and a 350 vw. I now own two homes and four cars. We're debt-free. We pay cash for anything we want, including cars. If we can't afford to pay cash for it, we don't buy it. Ralph said that. He's worth $1.9 million. Ann, with a million-dollar net worth, said,

I've been a single mom for 27 years. I've built almost all my wealth during that time, even on one income. I did it through discipline and consistency and having a loving, caring family who convinced me that I would make it through. A million dollar net worth. William, 1.5 million said, I'm living proof that you can come from a poor family with terrible money habits growing up, but with education, hard work, and an intentional plan, you can create wealth and change your family tree. You create your own destiny.

Not a popular subject these days, is it? Well, it's a subject we're going to talk about a lot. The book is called Everyday Millionaires, How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth, and How You Can Too. When you pre-purchase it, because it comes out in January, you get the audio book, the e-book, a video lesson from me, and a video lesson from Chris Hogan. We'll be right back. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer, and of course, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener. We'll be right back. Hey, it's Blake, chief production officer for the show.

And here's a little tip for 2018. Go download our revamped Dave Ramsey Show app from the App Store. We're always listening to your feedback and adding new features to make it even better. Check it out.