The Ramsey Show - App - Why Shacking Up Is a Bad Move Financially (Hour 1)

Episode Date: April 9, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions Broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thanks for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Katie is starting off this hour in Fort Worth, Texas. Hi, Katie. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I have a question about dealing with a debt collector.

I moved out of an apartment eight months ago. Since moving out, I've not heard anything from the apartment about owing anything to them. And then last week, I got a letter in the mail from a debt collector saying that we owe $573.49 to these apartments. So my question is, what is my best plan of attack for this? Do I need to dispute the debt with the debt collector? Do I need to call and try to negotiate a lower settlement or just not respond at all and let it pass the statute of limitations whenever that is, seven years. I'm not sure. I've read a lot online, and I'm just getting a lot of conflicting information.

So when you left the apartment, did you not get a release from them that they signed off on the condition of the apartment when you moved out and they signed off on the fact you weren't breaking the lease and did you get your deposit back or did you break the lease and move out in the middle of the night no uh we did not break the lease we uh followed all the notification protocols and all that for moving out um and our deposit was actually only 250 dollars so it wasn't a large deposit anyways. Why was it not returned if you followed the protocols? Well, I believe the issue was replacing the carpet.

So when I walked through the apartment, they at that time didn't say for sure if we would owe anything above our deposit. And so my understanding was that I would be contacted, you know, if that were the case, if they were going to say that we owed more than our deposit. The proper way to do this is get everything signed off on the day that you do the walkthrough. Right. You need to settle it that day. When you lift it up in the air, you lift yourself open to get your throat cut, and that's what's happened. So they put $700 worth of carpet in it.

They're trying to charge you for another $500. Right. Above your deposit. You think that's where the $500 came from? Yes. Did they say that, or do you know that, or you're just guessing? Actually, we still live really close to these apartments, so I drove over there last week and talked with them about this,

and it was because of the carpet. But my issue is that they never contacted us, and I asked them, I said, did you send a certified letter? No, she said, we're not required to. No, no, they can just turn it over to collections if they want. None of that matters. The bottom line is that you did not close out your apartment deal properly, and so you got stuck with a $500 carpet bill.

You got $500? Yes. Pay the bill. You owe it. That's what I thought you might say bill You owe it That's what I thought you might say You owe it And part of it is Part of it's stupid text

Because you didn't close out the thing right I mean when you leave an apartment You need to get in writing The condition and what you're liable for And what you're not liable for Not we'll contact you later If we decide we're going to screw you. Right, yeah. Okay.

Lesson learned for sure that way. That's a $500 lesson, but legally you owe this because you did not get it signed off on when you left. And, you know, you're not going to get out of it. You're not going to, you know, you could whine and carry on and flop around or whatever, but it's going to follow you and haunt you. You owe it. It's $500. Pay it.

That's what I would do. Ronnie's with us in New York. Hey, Ronnie, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Good.

So basically, I've been following you for a while. I currently have $7,000 in credit card debt that I'm working on. And I've been doing a lot of research, and everyone is telling me that in addition to paying off my debt, that I should get a secured credit card. And I know how you're going to feel about this. Why? To build my credit. Why?

I know. Everyone's telling me that this is the way to go. Everyone's broke and stupid. Why would you listen to everyone? Everyone runs the worst financial planning firm in America. Why would you listen to everyone? I know. I really want to get my credit score up.

Why? Because I want to get an apartment. You can't get an apartment without a credit score? I don't know. I mean, the one that I have now is not so great. I know how you feel about credit cards, and I'm not really comfortable with getting another card when I'm already trying to pay off the ones I have.

Yeah. Yep, I agree. The whole credit score thing is a scam to get you to continue to borrow money. The only way you get your credit score up is to borrow money. Why? So I can borrow money. Why? So I can get my credit score up. Why? So I can borrow money. The only way you get your credit score up is to borrow money. Why? So I can borrow money. Why? So I can get my credit score up.

Why? So I can borrow money. Why? So I can be a dog chasing its tail my whole life. Right. And that's what you're doing. So don't get caught up in that. There are apartments that will only rent to you with a credit score.

That's true. But there's plenty of them that will rent to you without a credit score. So you think I should just focus on paying the collections and doing that instead of just getting another one? Yes. Okay. Thank you so much, Dave. Thank you. Bob is with us in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Hey, Bob, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you, Dave. I just turned 62. Cool. Happy birthday. Thank you very much. What should I do with Social Security? Well, how's your health?

Wonderful. Okay. Disgustingly healthy. Good, good. Well, the longer you live, the better it turns out for you to take it later. If you take the money that you make on Social Security between now and 65 and invest it the income that that lump sum would create would offset the fact that you're getting less money from 65 on because you took it beginning at 62 so if you're going to take the money at 62 and spend it um mathematically that's not going to

work out for you uh unless you have to have it eat, in which case you would do this to eat. Do you have to have it to eat? Not at all. Okay. So it's just a mathematical equation for you. Correct. Okay. You see what I'm saying?

If you take it between now and 65 and those 36 months of payments are in an account that's invested well, it will make you more than you lose from 65 on because you began at 62. Obviously, when you begin at 62, you get a lesser amount for your whole life, right? Correct, 75%. Yeah, 75%. Yeah, but the three years of investments should offset that. If I start taking Social Security now, will there be a limit on how much money I can make? There's not a limit on how much money I can make? There's not a limit on how much money you can make, but there's a limit on how much

you can make without being taxed on it. And so you'd have to check your tax guy on that. But it doesn't say you're not allowed to make the money, but it's whether or not it's taxed is what it comes down to. Hey, thanks for the call. 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?

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Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. So I was looking because I'm going through FPU with my church right now, and I'm sitting down with my accountability partner and planning stuff, and my student loans came up, and a lot of the repayment plans are taking like 10 years to pay off, but I don't want it to take 10 years because I don't want to stay in the military for 10 years or even have that over my head for 10 years. So what are ways to pay that off quicker that are smart and intelligent? Well, what we teach is a process called the debt snowball. After you've got your first

$1,000 saved, then you attack all of your debts, including your individual student loans. Don't look at it by category. You look at it by individual loans, and you list them smallest to largest, pay minimum payments on everything but the little one, and attack the little one with a vengeance. Now, how much student loan debt do you have? $30,000. Okay, and what other debts do you have? As of right now, I've got like a $600 credit card debt that I'm going to work on getting paid off, but those are really my only debts.

Okay, and what is your income? About $2,00 a month okay and you're single and in the military yes sir thank you for serving how old are you 24 dave okay so the military did not help by paying off some of the student loans when you signed up or did not cover you going through school how did you end up being the military at 24 with student loan debt i went to bible college right out of high school um almost failed out and decided i needed to join the military for discipline ah okay all right so 2300 a month month, but housing is included above that and food is included, correct? Yes, Dave. Okay.

All right. So, well, I mean, what I look at is not the repayment plans. I just look at the shovel-to-hole ratio. Your shovel is your income. Your hole is $30,000. And so how quickly can I pay $30,000? Well, if I do it in two years, it would be $15,000 a year. Okay?

If I did it in three years, it would be $10,000 a year. $10,000 a year is $833 a month. You can do that. Right? I mean, I would probably have to have that give it all intensity. Yeah, I mean, what are you spending your $2,300 on if food and housing is provided for you? That's what I'm trying to figure out, Dave. Yeah, you need to do a budget.

You need to do a budget, and all of a sudden, getting out of the student loan debt becomes a priority. So if you did $833 a month, you're out in three years. That's $10,000 a year. Three years is $30,000. Okay. If you did $1,200 a month, you'd be done in three years. That's $10,000 a year. Three years is $30,000. Okay. If you did $1,200 a month, you'd be done in two years. So, I mean, you start backing it out like that, that's your repayment plan. It's called Dominic.

It's not trying to get on some program or something else. Unless the military has some kind of a signing bonus and you re-sign or something regarding paying off old student loan debt. And if they have something like that, a program like that, that the branch that you're serving in has a system like that and you've got a re-up option and you want to do that and you want to stay in the military, then that's what you would do. And obviously, if you come out of the military, the same formula applies,

only you would, you know, when you've served your term, if you decide to come back into civilian life, you know, obviously you'd have housing and food coming out, but you'd probably be making more than $2,300 too. So that's what you're looking for is just running a formula like that and lay out a budget. And a budget is just you have to give every one of those $2,300 a name. Every one of them needs a name.

Every dollar needs a name. Our budgeting app is called EveryDollar for that reason. And you can lay it out on that. It's very easy to do, and it's free. Again, thank you for your service, sir. All right, Allie is with us in Cleveland, Ohio. Hi, Allie. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Hey, what's up? Okay, so I have a question. I bought my house about a year and a half ago when I was 21, and now my boyfriend also has a house, and I'm supposed to be moving in with him this summer, and my question is if I should rent out my house or if I should sell it. Okay. So are you getting married? I'm not engaged, no. Okay.

All right. Well, I would advise you against that for a lot of reasons. There's a lot of data points that indicate that people who are married have a much higher propensity to succeed in every area of their life. There's all kinds of research that backs that up and avoid poverty and so forth. Just playing house doesn't work. You own a home. You've been responsible. You've been financially responsible beyond your years already.

And you've already got a life going here. And so I would suggest um i mean i've got kids older than you so i'm grandpa dave here right but uh papa dave's what the grandbabies call me but i'm just saying if i'm talking to a 21 year old version of one of my kids and i'm going to say listen what's the formula for success in life shacking up's not on the list okay it's not it's not your it's not the best thing for you emotionally physically spiritually financially career there's no data points to say that anything is good here except you get to have sex on a whim that's the only thing that's

available to you that that's good you know that's a positive right but everything else everything else lines up says this is a bad plan um and here you are selling your house or talking about put a renter in your house for a guy that won't even put a ring on your finger so does that sound like papa dave to you yeah that sounds like papa Dave. And I had another question. Okay. So I'm just on Baby Step 4 now, which is saving for retirement, correct? Mm-hmm. Okay, so I work for a school district, so I get money put away for that. But also, should I be putting 20% away of my own income as well? No, it's 15% in Baby Step 4.

15%. And anything of your income into something, yes, I would put 15% away for retirement. Above your emergency fund and you're debt-free except your home, right? Mm-hmm. And you're a teacher? No, I'm a custodian. Oh, okay. Very cool. Good for you.

Okay, what do you make? About 60. And you're 20 years old 22 22 rocking it way to go very strong i like it i like it good for you well done you got a lot you got a bright future ahead of you let's just make some careful choices um that that uh make the uh young man be a young man okay okay just focus on keeping paying my house down and... Yeah, I just live there and y'all can date. And if the romance continues and it moves towards marriage, then obviously when we get

married, we'd be in the same house and we can decide which house to live in. And he owns his own home too? Yeah. Oh, that's excellent. Okay. Well, in the event where you were to get married, I would sell one or the other and live in the one that you choose to keep. Okay.

But that's only after marriage, okay? Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Dave. Thank you for the call. We appreciate you joining us. Open phones this hour at 888-825-5225. So President Clinton's domestic policy advisor was a guy named Bill Galston.

They did a bunch of marriage and living together research, among others, just to let you guys know that I'm not just completely crazy here. Okay, here's what they found. If you do three things, the probability that you will end up in poverty is almost zero. If you marry before having a child, and if you have your child after age 20 you stay in what's called the success sequence you graduate with at least a high school diploma and you marry before having children then you the chances of you being third being a millennial in poverty, 97% of the people who do that do not end up in poverty. 97%.

Only 8% of the people, I'm sorry, 79% who fail to do all three will end up in poverty. So there's a lot of data that indicates that doing things in the right order, old-fashioned, I know, some of you don't like it, I don't care, I'm not here taking a poll, I'm here to help you. Only 4% of homes with a married mother and father are on food stamps. Only 4%. 21% of people living together are on food stamps. These are all kinds of data out there that indicates this doesn't work. Well, we both have good jobs.

Yeah, yeah, right. You're trying to figure out some way to beat a system that you can't beat. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. The last thing I want you to feel is buyer's remorse, especially when you offered thousands more on a new home to win a bidding war. If I've taught you anything, it's that blindly throwing money at a problem is a stupid plan and something you'll regret for years. The key to avoiding this rookie mistake is to call Churchill Mortgage and

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Our coaches come from all kinds of different backgrounds, and we're looking for people who simply have a willingness to learn and a heart to serve others. Our financial coaching team is giving away $10,000 worth of free training, including Financial Peace University memberships throughout the month of April to celebrate Financial Literacy Month. We're going to kick off the giveaway during a live webinar on how to become a master coach this Thursday, April the 11th at noon Central Time. If you want to register for the giveaway and watch the webinar on how to become a financial coach,

master, trained coach, you would simply text the word COACHING to 33789. That's text the word COACHING to 33789. Open phones this hour at 888-825-5225. Susan is with us in Baltimore, Maryland. Hi, Susan. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up? I'm 59 years old, 59 and a half, and I have no retirement savings. And I just read your book last week on vacation and realized that I'm really behind. Okay. Are you working? Yes. What do you make?

Last year I made $198,000, and this year I'm pacing closer to like $160,000. Good for you. What do you do? I'm in sales. Good for you. You're obviously good at it. What are you doing with all your money? Oh, my gosh.

Lately I've been trying to save it. Where is it? Because I have it in a savings account. Oh, how much is in your savings account? $40,000. But you made $200,000. I know. I know.

How long did it take you to get that $40,000? It took me probably about a year and a half, the last year and a half. Where are you spending all your money? I... Don't know. I blow money. Yeah, I can tell. I'm just wondering where. You got a bunch of debt?

No, I did, but I have no debt now except I have a lease on a car, and I owe like $7,000. Finish that up. Pardon me? I act now except I have a lease on a car, you know, and I owe like $7,000. Mm-hmm. Finish that up. Pardon me? I said in order to finish that up, $7,000. Okay. All right.

Yeah. All we need to do here is just start having a plan. Here's what you're doing, and I'm a salesperson too. I grew up in a salesperson's household, and I can sell ice to Esclose. I love selling. I think salespeople are great, okay? But here's what a lot of us that are salespeople try to do we try to out earn our stupidity and you can't make enough to blow like you've been blowing yeah it's got to stop you got to have a plan if you're smart if i hired you and i said i'm going to pay you a hundred thousand dollars a year to manage this woman's money you could manage this woman's money and make it behave.

But you just hadn't bothered. Right. It's just kind of an intellectual laziness, if you will. You just hadn't bothered. So it's just time to get serious about it. I'm sure you wouldn't be selling $200,000 worth of commission or $180,000 worth of commission if you weren't setting sales goals, right? Yes.

And when you set sales goals, why? Because what you aim at is what you hit, right? Right. And what you've been doing is aiming at nothing, and you've been hitting it. Right. As far as the retirement part goes. So it's time to sit down and lay out a good budget. Jump on everydollar.com and get that going jump into

financial peace university and go to the classes and learn how to handle money uh and sit down with smart investor pro and let's get your retirement jacked up but you need to be saving i mean you make a lot of money you can save a hundred thousand dollars a year and still have a great life i mean that'd be incredible i mean what if you work 10 more years to age 70 you saved a hundred thousand dollars a year you realize you'd have about two million dollars if you did that and that that but all that's going to be that's you're making 200 paying your taxes and you know living off the rest right dumping a hundred a year in maybe you don't do that much maybe you do more maybe you do less i don't care but the whole point is you're going. Maybe you don't do that much. Maybe you do more. Maybe you do less. I don't care. But the whole point is you're going to have to get intentional and focused and set goals like

you have with sales, but you're going to do it on the money part. And when you do, that will absolutely work for you. So you can also do some calculations on Chris Hogan, 360.com. He's got the R I Q tool, the retire inspired quotient. You know what your retirement IQ is, then what you got to aim at, what you got to do to get there and so on. But you can do this. So if I were you, I would jump on and check out Chris Hogan stuff at Chris Hogan, 360 dot com. I would, you know, get in a financial peace class. I would sit down with a smart investor pro click smart investor at Dave Ramsey.com and lay out a game plan with one of those investment professionals to where you start investing very, very heavily, very, very quickly.

And you're just going to cut your lifestyle back, like, substantially, because you're just blowing money like you're in Congress. Clay is with us in Columbia, South Carolina. Hi, Clay. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you, Dave. And I want to thank you and your team for everything you've done. You really have me energized about being intentional with my finances.

Good. I'm pumped. I'm reading all the books and really into it. My wife and I have very different spending and saving behaviors, and I'm trying to get her on board and take FPU with me, which has been a bit of a struggle. Why? One concern I have about...

Why does she not want to go to FPU? Well, I think it's the budgeting part. Okay. But one concern I have about the Oblip system is the safety risks for carrying around a bunch of cash. So my question is, how do you feel about using low-fee reloadable debit cards as a replacement for the cash in the envelopes? Why would you do that? Did you know that there are no crooks who have x-ray vision and can look into your purse

and see that you don't have 14 maxed-out credit cards and instead you have a handful of cash? Nobody knows that. My wife has been carrying cash for 30 years in an envelope system. I've been carrying cash for 45 years in my front pocket, and I've never been robbed ever. And I've never lost the money ever. Okay, well, that's a good point. I was just thinking about someone shoulder-surfing her and seeing that she has cash and obviously making a quick grab.

It can be done. You have to use common sense, but they'll do that for your credit cards too. A purse thief is going to be a purse thief. The cash does not increase that, and you're not carrying around ten thousand dollars i mean you're carrying around 500 bucks to go to the grocery store or something when it was in the food envelope it's not like it's going to break you or make you you got bigger problems than cash versus prepaid because you're missing one of the main data points of people who build wealth and that's been on the same page with your spouse yeah and i'm working on that yeah i on the same page with your spouse.

Yeah, and I'm working on that part. Yeah, I mean, the rest of this stuff is minor details. I don't find anybody that didn't become a millionaire because they carried cash envelopes. And I don't find anybody that didn't become a millionaire because they chose to do prepaid debit instead of cash envelopes. I do find lots of people that don't become millionaires because they're not on the same page with their spouse. So you're asking the wrong questions on the wrong issues.

You're dealing with little bitty tiny things that don't really matter while you need to get the big things solved. And here's the thing on the budget. Here's what Rachel says about a budget. And you can tell your wife this. A budget is not constraining unless you want it to be because you're like grown-ups i'm not coming to your house and going to do your budget for you and make you live on it you're going to do your budget so all a budget is is a spending plan it's permission to spend on some categories without guilt and without being a child.

So the only limitations you have by doing a budget are the ones you put on yourself. Lots of people choose to put limitations on themselves so that they can win. They live like no one else so that later they can live and give like no one else. But I'm not coming to your house. You're the one who's going to put the limitations on you if you do it all. It's up to you and up to her. She gets to decide.

She's got to vote. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you are here. Sarah is with us in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Hey, Sarah, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. How are you today? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I have a question. My husband and I are both in our early 30s. We have followed the baby steps. We are completely debt-free besides a home, and we are currently working

on paying that off as well as working on our retirement. We've been investing 15%, as you suggest. I'm wondering if there's any point you quit investing in traditional IRAs, things that you can't get to later, if part of our retirement goal and plan is to retire prior to 59 1⁄2. Yeah, it would be called bridge investing is what we generally call it, and it would not be instead of your IRAs. It would be in addition to your IRAs. How much do you owe on your home?

$175,000. And what's your household income? $185,000. Wow, good for you. And you said you're how old? My husband is 35, and I'm 31. Way to go. Wow. Good for you. And you said you're how old? My husband is 35 and I'm 31. Way to go. Okay.

Okay. Well, your home will be paid for in about seven years. Right. Or less. Or less, yeah. And at that point, if you'll just take your house payment for 10 years and invest that, if nothing else, in non-retirement mutual funds, you'll have a pile of money to be able to, quote, retire early. Here's the other thing about retiring early.

Like if you wanted to retire at, say, age 50 instead of age 65, okay, what that generally means in the real world is that I have enough money to not have to do this job anymore. It doesn't mean you're going to produce zero income for the next 50 years. Okay. Almost no one does that. It's because it's kind of a hollow existence. I mean, you can go fishing or you can go skiing or whatever you want to do,

but there's only so much of that that you can do. You can only play so much golf to where you start to realize, okay, you eat enough lobster, it tastes like soap. I had a friend of mine sold his companies for about $8 million years ago when he was 32 years old. And by the time he was 34, he was fat and bored of fishing and got back in the business and lost his weight and got back to trim and you know he just got it it's just you know he thought he thought the end goal was to

quit working and it's not it's to have the choice to quit working or have the choice to work at what you want to work at that's the end goal it's not like you have to work 80 hours a week going forward but you know a lot of people have an encore career that are financially independent that make more doing that than they ever did in their regular career that got them to the point of financially independent you're making really good money so all of that to say yes you would build some investments after you finish paying off your house that are non-retirement investments to enable you to have those choices. Maybe at 50 years old or 48 years old, 15 years from today, you want to start a business and you want a million dollars set aside.

You'll be able to do that with what you've got, the kind of income you've got, the kind of discipline you've got, the fact that you're being intentional at 34 years old. You're just going to win. You're going to do it. You're going to be everyday millionaires. You are on the way. And I'm going to send you a copy of the book, and it'll show you the 140 statistics in Chris Hogan's number one bestselling book.

It'll show you exactly where millionaires come from, and they come from doing the things you're doing and asking the questions you're asking. That's how I know you're on track. That's where all the data shows us. It's not a made-up thing. It's not a philosophical thing. It's not the power of positive thinking it's that when you plant corn you should not be shocked that corn grows you reap what you sow and you are sowing good seed right now so hold on i'm gonna send you a copy of the everyday millionaire book you're on

your way mike is in dallas texas, Mike. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I don't want to take too much of your time, but I know how you hate credit cards. So I have a credit card with Bank of America right now. Well, it's been closed for a while.

And it's all about over $26,000 on it. And it looks like now they're trying to, I guess, sue me for the money now. How long has it been since you paid them? I want to say probably in the 2017. It's been a while. All right. so two years. Yes, sir. Okay.

Yeah, they're going to sue you. Yeah, on $26,000, they're going to do that, sure. Yeah. What do you make? I'm just trying to see what my options are. What do you make? Well, me and my wife together, about $130,000. Okay. Why have you been unable to pay them, making $130,000. Okay. Why have you been unable to pay them, making $130,000?

Life just took place, and it kind of went into a snowball effect and just kept adding up to the interest and everything. Minimum payment was almost like $400 just for the minimum payment. $400 is $4,800 a year. You make $130,000. Why were you unable to pay them? Bad. Management. Bad management, yeah.

Disorganized, not paying attention. And so you ran the car in the ditch. Is that right? Pretty much, yes, sir. Me too, brother. I did that too, except I did it with more zeros than you did it. So I know how you feel. So are you ready to straighten up your whole life and use this credit card as the reason to look at the whole thing?

Absolutely. Because you make enough to fix this mess pretty quick. Okay. So how much other debt have you got? That's really the biggest debt. I mean, I have my mortgage and everything. How much do you owe on your cars? Don't owe me no cars. It's free and clear.

Both cars are free and clear. What are they worth? 2010 Camry, probably maybe $10,000, I guess. That's the miles on it. The other one is an old beat-up car. Okay. All right. So where do you think, if you were going to guess, that all your money is going?

I would say one is daycare and probably my mortgage and student loans. How much do you have in student loan debt? Myself, $70,000. My wife, over $100,000. Ah, okay. There we go. That's starting to make some sense. So what we need to do is the two of you, you and your wife, sit down and say, our life is full of stress and sucks right now, and we need to fix it.

Are you willing to do that? Yes, sir. You think she is? Yes, she is. Okay. All right. Then we can walk you right out of this, all right? Because $200,000 changes your life.

You make $130,000. So how long does it take to get $200,000? Well, three years of $ of 60 000 gets you pretty close that would put you living on 70 000 not counting taxes okay you put any money in your 401k right now yes sir we're gonna we're gonna stop that we're gonna completely focus on these debts we're gonna get on a written budget and you're not going out to eat again you're not going to see the inside of a restaurant unless you work there you're not going on vacation anymore you're broke and getting sued by bank of america so it is time to straighten things up do you agree with me yes sir okay if y'all are willing to do that i'll show you exactly how we have a class called financial peace

university it is nine weeks long and we plug you into a one-year membership of Financial Peace Online, which has all of the audios, videos online, plus the follow-up class, Legacy Journey, plus the budgeting software, budgeting app, the world's best, called EveryDollar, that connects to your bank. It's EveryDollar Plus. It's about $600 worth of stuff I'm giving you for free because I have been where you are, scared and broke, and I don't want you to be there anymore. But you're going to have to do a lot of hard work in the next three years to become debt-free,

no payments at all. And I'm going to show you how, okay? Yes, sir. If I do that, will you go to the class? Yes, sir, I will. All right, here's the good news. In Texas, they cannot garnish you your wages. So all they're going to do is put a lien on everything and a lien on your house.

They can't even do that in Texas homestead laws. So you're living in the perfect state to keep them stiff-armed away from you. You don't have to panic about the lawsuit. But you do need to start paying them $3,000 or $4,000 a month so that in 10 months, this debt is completely gone. And it goes away. And it never bites you again. And then we'll start working on the student loans. So hold on, Kelly will pick up. We're going to get you signed up for Financial Peace University and take care of you, brother. You call me if you need some more

help. I've been where you are. I know what it feels like to be ashamed and scared. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. This is James Child, producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. Once again, you made The Dave Ramsey Show one of the top five most downloaded podcasts last year. To get your daily dose of motivation and inspiration, subscribe to Dave.