The Ramsey Show - App - Winning Isn't Easy. It's WEIRD. (Hour 3)

Episode Date: February 15, 2019

The show about you

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. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Steve is with us in New York.

Hi, Steve. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? All right. So I'm 28 years old.

My wife is 30, and we have a seven-month-old child. We live in New York. We pay about $1,800 a month in rent. I have about $10,000 left in debt that I'm going to have paid off by summertime, and my wife owes about $100,000 in student loans. It's 50 private loans, 50 on government loans. It's 50 private loans, 50 on government loans. So my question is, you know, when I'm done paying off my $10,000 in debt, does it make sense to try to pay off her $100,000 worth of student loans with her? Or does it make more sense to try to save up some money to move out of the

city where we pay, you know, we live in a one bedroom apartment and pay a lot of money for rent? Move out of the city where we live in a one-bedroom apartment and pay a lot of money for rent. Move out of the city? Yeah, I'd like to get out of the city where I can try to buy a house in the next couple years. Why don't you go rent an apartment out of the city? We do live in an apartment. Oh, you live in an apartment in the city? Yeah, we live in the block. Why don't you move to the area you're talking about buying a house and rent?

We could, but then we'd probably have to pay tolls to get into the city also. That happens if you buy a house there too, sir. Well, I know, but at least at that point, hopefully we would be a little bit more established. No, you won't. You'd have $100,000 of student loan debt under your plan. So, anyway, here's the thing. I empathize with you wanting to buy a house.

I want you to buy a house. It is a key element long-term to your wealth building, but a more key element to your wealth building is to be debt-free. That is a higher data point correlation with wealth building than the whole thing of buying a house. And so I really want you to get a house, but I want you to be out of debt first. So what's your household income? About $140,000.

That's good news. Okay. So what I might do in your situation, because you desire to live outside of the city, and you probably could get cheaper rent outside of the city, you would have increased tolls, which you would also have if you bought outside of the city. And so go ahead and move your life out there and crank your lifestyle down to nothing, and let's attack these debts with an absolute vengeance and get them cleaned up what's your wife's degree in um she does um cat scans ct scans and that's her degree

um the degree is in science okay she got 140 radiology okay so she's got a hundred thousand dollars in student loan debt to get a radiology degree? Yes. And that was a four-year degree? Yes. And it was, I think, another year program for the actual scanning. Yeah, because there's scan techs that just get certifications without a four-year degree, but she's got the bachelor's to go with it, so she's got the ability to move along in leadership and so forth there. Okay, cool.

All right. Well, let's use this income. I mean, you are in New York, and you do have a higher cost of living, regardless of what neighborhood you're in, if you move to the country, so to speak, or not. Not really the country, but you move outside the city in your case, okay? Where you're talking about buying is where I would consider going to rent, and I would rent the cheapest possible thing I could rent so that I can get this debt paid off as quickly as possible so that I can buy a home.

Listen, you don't get a pass on math because you live in New York. When you go across the bridge, they don't give you a little card that says, math doesn't work here. It works there, too. And so you've got to do the same stuff other people have got to do you've got some different challenges you've got a very high cost of real estate but you've got an unusually high income versus average american 140 000 but you're in the top one percent so um you know that's good news but you got high taxes you got a high cost of living and you definitely

got high cost of real estate there. But I think what I would do is try to, because it's going to take you a little while to do this. I mean, how fast can you make it 140? How fast could you pay 100? You ought to be able to do it in three years. That's $33,000 a year out of 140, even with all your heavy but that's uh that's 2,500 2,700 a month uh and that's no nothing going into 401k that's no vacations that's beans and rice rice and beans and you don't need to see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there

and so there's a lot of reasons for you to move out of the city here uh in your case because i think you can get cheaper rent than what you got. So something to think about. But definitely I would tell you to still follow the exact same plan, which is to be 100% debt-free before you buy a home. It's not a popular plan, but most people, and most people don't do it. It's not normal, but normal's broke. Rich is not normal.

Wealthy is not normal. Wealthy is not normal. Wealthy is weird. And if behaviors cause the wealth, then weird behaviors is what you're going to engage in if you're going to be wealthy. You're going to be different. People that are broke are going to look at you and go, what are you doing? There are all these broke people who are going to have an opinion

about your life if you're doing weird stuff. You can count on it. It's how it works. And it's actually a good sign. If broke people are making fun of your financial plan, that means you're on track. Mike is with us. Mike's in Minneapolis.

Hey, Mike, how are you? Great. How are you doing today? Better than I deserve. How can I help? Thanks for having me. So I have a quick question on 15% investing of your monthly income. So currently right now I make just under $78,000 annually, total growth. 17.2% of that, of free tax, monthly dollars is invested,

or excuse me, per check is invested in state retirement, health savings account, and then deferred costs. Wait a minute, what was the third thing? Retirement, health savings account, and then Deferred Comp. Wait a minute. What was the third thing? Retirement Health Savings Account and what? And Deferred Comp. Oh, Deferred Comp. And the OL3B, if you will.

No, Deferred Comp is 457. Okay. For 457. But either way, previous callers, you've commented on them. They've asked a similar question. The answer is it's a state retirement system for me. That's how much I'm putting in. I know you said that you still hold to the 15%, but sometimes you waver on down.

We'll cut that in half or maybe make it 8% or 10% of the value. So is any of this mandatory or is it all going in 403Bs? When you say retirement, is it state retirement where you don't have control of it? Correct. The state retirement system is specific to my agency, and so they invest that. I've got a health care savings account. I can control what kind of funds. There's a limited number of funds.

On the state retirement portion, you don't control the investing? For the most part, I don't. No, there's not a for the most part. You either do or you don't control the investing? For the most part, I don't. Okay. No, there's not a for the most part. You either do or you don't. Okay, I do. I can go in and adjust both amounts. I follow this.

You can adjust what the stuff's invested in, and you're vested. Then it's more like a 401K, right? Yes. Okay. Then I would limit it to 15%. And health savings account does not enter into this equation. It's not part of the calculation. And I wouldn't be doing health savings account until you get your house paid off beyond your emergency fund in terms of the actual funding of the savings portion of it.

Because the use of that is limited to health care. And so it doesn't work well as an emergency fund. And it's certainly not your long-term investment until you've maxed everything else out and the house and everything's paid off. 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 health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ

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Hey, Katie, how are you? Hi, Dave. I'm better than I deserve. Good. How can I help? Well, I've been listening to listening for a couple weeks now, and me and my husband, we're about to celebrate our little boy's first birthday, and we're tired of our debt, and we're ready to throw it out the window, but I need to ask your advice on how to get started. Okay. First, we're about to get our tax tax return and after we pay off some medical bills we're going to have about 2600 um a little over our heads in credit card debt right now and i

want to make a better life for my life i got that part so uh are you behind on bills no we are minimum payments on up to date okay good the only thing we were behind was the medical debt which we've we've just been able to settle with what we're getting from our tax return oh okay so the tax return's gone well part of it's left how much is left twenty six hundred dollars oh that's what's left after you settle that. Okay, so how much credit card debt have you got? Well, we have $21,000 in credit card debt. Wait a minute, your phone broke up. $21,000 in credit card debt?

$21,000 in credit card debt. To one? And student loans, yes, sir. $21,000, correct? Yes, sir. Okay, and how much in student loans, yes, sir. $21,000, correct? Yes, sir. Okay. And how much in student loans? $8,000 and some more.

And how much on your cars? Those are stupid. We owe $25,000 on mine, $25,000, and $30,000 on my husband's. Okay. And your household income is what? Let's see. He makes $35,000, and I make about $27,000. So I get about $63,000, $64,000.

Okay. And your question is what? My question is, with the $2,600 that we have left over, we can pay down and pay off some of our smaller, irritating credit cards and get them out of our lives and get to where we don't have to rob Peter to pay Paul anymore. Or I can put the $1,000 away for an emergency fund and pay the other $1,600 on these irritating debts and might still have to rob Peter to pay Paul a little bit. Okay.

Well, let me tell you Peter and Paul's names. Okay? They're Chevrolet and Ford, and they're sitting in your driveway. That's who's robbing you. Your cars are insanity insanity you owe 55 000 on cars and make 64 000 a year these credit cards aren't irritating you have an 800 pound gorilla sitting in the middle of your kitchen table and and you're worried about a mosquito. Both of these cars are sold immediately.

Immediately. This is asinine. Am I wrong? No, you're not wrong, sir. We're upside down in them, though. Yeah, you got to sell them. I don't care. You got to sell them.

They got to go. And so you need to get Kelley Blue Book down in them, though. Yeah, you got to sell them. I don't care. You got to sell them. They got to go. And so you need to get Kelly Blue Book values on them, and you need to go borrow the money for the difference of the local credit union, and you guys take six jobs, and that's where you spend your money to buy a $1,000 beater because you're about to drive a $1,000 car instead of a $30,000 car. This is nuts. It's killing you.

I don't know how you're breathing. You have $1,000 a month in car payments, don't you how you're breathing you have a thousand dollars a month in car payments don't you yes sir yeah oh my lord yeah well that that's your issue yeah i don't really care about your credit card so we can clear those credit cards up in 20 minutes once we get rid of these dadgum cars but um you need to get on kelly blue hook and find out what these cars are worth and start working to get out of them it'll take it's going to take some time and you're going to borrow the difference and again go to your local credit union go to your bank go to i don't care if you put the difference on a credit card i would rather you have five thousand dollars or ten thousand dollars in debt

instead of thirty thousand on that one car how far upside down are you on that thirty thousand dollar mess it's probably about six or seven underwater. Yeah, good. See, I'd rather you have $7,000 in debt than $30,000. Ding! Just got rid of a bunch of your debt. Do the same thing on the $25,000 and drive a $1,000 car, kiddo. You have destroyed your life with vehicles financially,

and you need to redeem your life. You need to get your life back. All the things you said to me when I picked up the phone about how you have a baby and you want to redeem your life. You need to get your life back. All the things you said to me when I picked up the phone about how you have a baby and you want to change your life and you want to do those things, and it's time for you to do this stuff, and you aimed it all at the credit cards. You need to aim it all at these two cars. These cars got to go. They got to go fast.

They're bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad car. Bad car. Rob is with us. Rob's in Milwaukee. Hey, Rob, how are bad car, bad car. Rob is with us. Rob's in Milwaukee. Hey, Rob, how are you? Morning, sir. Well, it's an honor to be on your show.

You too, sir. How can I help? Well, I read your book, Complete Money Makeover. My wife and I are doing it, and we're sharing it with everybody we know of the great knowledge you share. And several people, including my boss Andrew today, have asked me, why would I want to save up to buy a house of cash when all the while I have to pay rent? That does not turn into a capital or equity for me. And the total rent expense may end up being more than interest I pay on this mortgage in the long run.

Well, if it takes you 12 years to save up and pay cash for a house, mathematically he might have an argument. If it takes you 36 or 40 months to do that, he doesn't have an argument. Okay, so what is your household income? Mine would be probably about $35,000. We're young. I just finished college, and I'm going into the Air Force soon. Okay, cool.

And what about your wife? She has not finished schooling. She's kind of been waiting for me to figure out what we were going to do with our lives, and now I know more. So, to make a long story short, everything financially is going to be exactly as you suggested. We're paying off all the credit cards.

When we get the tax returns back, the credit card is gone, and then it's just my school loans. So, how old are you? I'm only 24, sir. And when you sign up for the Air Force, are they going to go back and pay some of your student loans for you? No, they don't have a program like that right now, but it's the GI Bill that is transferable to spouses that will come in handy

because my wife has yet to finish college, and that I'm hoping will help out with that because she'll get to finish schooling while I'm working for them. Did you already sign the recruiting papers? Yes or no? Yes or no? Yes, sir. You did?

Yes. Okay. All right. Cool. Good. Well, thank you for serving your country. I appreciate that. I'd go back in the recruiting office and tell that guy you really need some more money

because I think they have a program where they'll pay some of your student loans as a signing bonus, so to speak. It's not exactly what it's called in that world. But anyway, aside from that, you're going to be moving a lot in the Air Force as a young person, as an entry into the military, and so you're not going to be buying anyway for a while. Yeah, I know that. Because as often as they move you, you cannot afford to buy and resell and keep from losing money. You don't do it, so it won't work. But in terms of just discussing the theory with your current boss,

who's no longer going to be your boss because you're getting ready to go into the Air Force. But your theory, his theory is that if you – let me use an example of someone else. I had a young guy who's a fireman, and his wife is a nurse, and they're making like 100 between them, and they have the ability to make about 150 between them if they both kick in OT, take on extra jobs and work overtime. They decided to wait four years to buy a house and save $50,000 a year out of their $1,000 to $150,000 and pay cash for a $200,000 house. In an instance like that, your boss's theory falls all to pieces

because they pay cash for a house that's a couple hundred grand they're making a hundred grand they're going to be multi-millionaires while your boss sits on his theory that's what's going to happen now if you were to say i'm going to save two thousand dollars a year for a hundred years so i'd have two hundred thousand dollars you know well then your boss's theory holds water because the interest begins to play into it at that point. The increases in value begin to play into it at that point. But when you shorten the timeframes down three, four, even five years, the interest really doesn't play much of a factor because it's not in there that long and increases in value

don't play much of a factor. But in your case, you're going to be moving all the time. You are a renter for the next decade because it's not going to make sense for you to buy a house in the Air Force as much as they're going to move you. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. 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 grieving, 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 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 In the Ramsey Solutions lobby, Dan and Ann are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? We're great.

We're doing good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. Welcome. Where do you live? We live in Three Rivers, Michigan. Kalamazoo area, right? Yes, right by Kalamazoo. Cool. Good to have you. Thanks for being here. All the way down to Nashville to do a debt-free scream.

Absolutely. And how much have you paid off? We've paid off $67,000. I love it. Way to go, guys. How long did this take? It took about 24 months. Good. And your range How long did this take? It took about 24 months. Good. And your range of income during that time? During that time, it was about $100,000 to $135,000.

Good. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a front desk manager at an orthodontist office. And I'm a tooling sales engineer in the sheet metal industry. Oh, very good. And what was the $67,000? It was for our house. It was our house, Dave. You paid off your house? We did. A $67,000? It was for our house. It was our house, Dave. You paid off your house?

We did. A $67,000 house? Well, that was part of the loan that we had on it, yes. Okay, so what's the house worth? Probably about $135,000 to $150,000. How old are you two? I'm 34. And I'm 32.

You have a paid-for house. We do. You're just weird. And actually, we have three paid-for houses now. Yep, we actually have two rental units as well that are also paid for. That's pretty incredible. You guys are really weird. You're like triple weird.

That's awesome, man. Way to go. How long have you been married? About a year and a half or so. So you started on this before marriage then? Well, that was actually when we took on the debt. And that was kind of my bad, I guess. We ended up, this house that came on the market, it was actually right in our backyard.

Literally in our backyard. And we couldn't pass it up. Yep. So we ended up taking out a loan on our primary residence in order to pay cash for this second rental. And, you know, that's where the money came from as far as our debt. Yeah. So what put you on the journey 24 months ago to knock it out? Stress. The stress of having that debt.

You did not like the feeling of the debt. No. Stress. Actually, you know, we really didn't pay off much of it for the first six months or so. Once we got married, you know, we got back from our honeymoon. You know, I ended up getting your book. I read your book. That was probably the first book I've read in, I don't know, we got back from our honeymoon. You know, I ended up getting your book. I read your book. That was probably the first book I've read in, I don't know, five, ten years or something like that. But read your book, download your podcast, and I would come home every day, and I would just tell Ann about this guy on the radio that, you know, he was helping so many people.

And, you know, I just thought it was game on. Yep, and he travels for a living, so he's listening to the podcast every single day. So every day I'd hear a new Dave story or guess what happened on Dave and listen to this story. So he got me on board through sharing all the stories. Osmosis, yeah. Okay, very good. That works. Good, good.

So you're debt free. We are. Will you ever go back in debt? Absolutely not. What if the house in your backyard comes up for sale? Well, that's the one that we own. Oh, that won't happen. You own it.

Oh, okay. I'm kidding. So be careful. You can wander back in like you did before and just make sure that this is your last one. Because you should have some great cash flow between your fabulous income and now your rentals and everything. We do. And you're young. You've got tons of opportunity ahead of you.

Way to go. Thank you. We also have a bright future ahead as well. So when do we do? In May. Oh, coming up fast. Coming up very fast. That's wonderful.

Well, congratulations. That's awesome stuff. Way to go. All right, guys. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Sticking to our budget and keeping the support of people next to us. Each other, our parents. Our parents were definitely a big part of it.

My parents especially taught me from an early on, if you don't respect money, you'll never have it. Ooh, I like that line. Yep, so we really kept that to heart. Okay, and they came with you to cheer you on all the way down here, huh? Yep, my parents are down here. Nashville trip. to heart. Okay. And they came with you to cheer you on all the way down here, huh? Yep. My parents are down here. Nashville trip. Road trip. Absolutely.

Family gone. I love it. Well, they've got to be proud of you. I hope so. I know they are. We're proud of you. Well done. Thank you.

Thank you. Very, very well done. Excellent, excellent job. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's Every Day Millionaire's book for you. Number one bestseller because you're going to be that. You probably almost are if you add up the value of that real estate. We're working on it. We're working on it.

I've got my apps out, so I keep track of it. Okay, very good. Well, congrats, you two. Thank you. Very, very well done. Congrats on the baby. Thank you. Dan and Ann from the Three Rivers Kalamazoo area.

$67,000 paid off. Houses and everything. 24 months, making $100,000 to $135,000. Man, they're weird. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Ready? Ready.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Love it! Love it, love it, love it! it love it love it well done well done wow wow that's a lot of fun here's the thing the thing about the debt-free screams is they come in every age, every background, every amount, every race, every career type. It's Americana, but it's not really Americana because they're not in debt anymore. And the typical person in America today is in debt.

They've got a student loan that's been around so long they think it's a pet. They've got car payments and car fleeces. They're using their credit card and seventeen thousand dollars in credit card debt and somewhere they remember a discussion over too many beers about how they were using those points to their advantage which is a freaking joke all the money comes in all the money comes in, all the money goes out. When they look at their children, there's a sense of desperation because they look like college student loans looking for a place to happen. When they think about retirement, they get cold chills

because they know they've got no money, and they know depending on the government, which is well known for its ability to handle money, to take care of them is a dumb idea, 78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Normal is broke. And making way too much money to be that dadgum broke. That's normal. And then along comes a 28-year-old, a 24-year-old, a 35-year-old, or a 52-year-old standing across the lobby from me with headsets on doing their debt-free scream.

And they're not only yelling that they're free, they're yelling at you that you should not be normal anymore. You should say, I'm not going to do this anymore. Oh, but Dave, I'm a victim. You're not a victim. Dave, you don't know about the ism that I face. We all face isms. Some of us more than others.

Welcome to life. But there are people that are doing debt-free screams in spite of whatever ism they faced. Sexism, ageism, racism, baldism, whatever it is you face, whatever it is that people mistreat you because of that. Fat shaming. Whatever it is. Whatever excuse you have for your little snowflake self to have your feelings hurt, people do it in spite of that. They do it in spite of that. And you can too. Is it easy?

Well, Lord, no, it's not easy. and you can too. Is it easy? Well, Lord, no, it's not easy. Winning is not easy. They don't interview guys after the Super Bowl, and they go, well, that was really easy. They don't say that. Winning is not easy. I have never met someone who has had wealth and kept it for years.

They've been a millionaire for a decade or more. They weren't get-rich-quick, in other words. They weren't a lotto winner. They're someone that made money and kept it. I've never met one of them that said it was easy. And yet I hear easy payments advertised. In 10 easy payments. You ever had a payment that was easy?

I never had an easy payment. Somebody seems to think they're out there, though. So when are you going to decide that you're going to be weird? Normal's broke, darling. The biggest compliment you can get when you call in on this show is for me to call you weird. Because it means you're not broke anymore, and you're not living like broke people, and you're not thinking like broke people this is the dave ramsey show our scripture of the day therefore my dear brothers and sisters stand firm let nothing move you always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,

because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15.58 Jesse Owens said, We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort. Self-discipline. Self-discipline. When I make myself behave. Do you know how rare that is?

In a culture that's obese? In a culture that is... I mean, because I can't make myself behave. I just like chocolate chip cookies. I mean, it's rare. To find somebody that actually doesn't spend money that they don't have to buy things that they don't need to impress people that they don't really like? Self-discipline.

Self-control. These are things that require you to understand that things like no is a complete sentence. No. It's the ancient word that will set you free. No one's allowed to say it anymore. You're not allowed to tell anyone no. They'll immediately be angry at you if you tell them no

because they have a right. They are entitled. But no. No. No are entitled. But no. No. No. It is a powerful word that will set you free. Your friends want to go out to eat again, and you're broke? No.

No. I really love that smell of that toxic plastic in that new car. Oh, I love it. I want to lease one. No. No. I'm going to go to college and study left-handed puppetry and go into debt, $250,000. No.

No, you're not. I'm going to go out of state and pay triple and go into debt just because I went across the state line. My education will be exactly the same as if I'd stayed in state, but I'm going to pay triple to go across the state line, and I can't afford to do that, so I'm going to go into student loan debt, not for my education, but because I went across the state line, and I can't afford to do that, so I'm going to go into student loan debt, not for my education, but because I went across the state line. And then I'm going to say I went into student loan debt to get an education, and then I'm going to bitch that college is too expensive and rip me off because I was stupid.

No. No. No. I'm going to look at my eight-year-old, and I'm going to teach them self-control by first teaching them control. No. You're going to behave in restaurants. You're not wild animals. We are not raising wolves here.

We're raising people who are going to be good adults. You're going to learn to control your little self, and until you do, I'm going to control you. That's why they call me Daddy. That sounds like child abuse. No, it's not. You sound like a wuss, and you're part of the problem of the culture if you said that. No.

Self-control. Self-discipline. First comes from control and from discipline. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but it yields a harvest of righteousness. Hebrews. No. I'm going to live like no one else, so that later I can live and live like no one else. So that later I can live and give like no one else.

I'm going to have the emotional maturity to delay pleasure. Which is a sign I'm a grown up. And I meet 57 year olds who are still walking around with 12-year-olds inside of them making their decisions. No. It's the ancient word, the ancient word that is seldom uttered in our culture anymore. But it will set you free. And it is a complete sentence. The first thing you do is you push your tongue towards the roof of your mouth,

you blow air past, and you release, and it sounds like this. If you've not used it in a while, try it. It's going to sound funny the first time if it comes out of your mouth. No. It's been removed from several dictionaries. I suspect the politically correct police will have it removed

from our culture, or have you put in jail if you use it soon. No. No. No, you can't do anything you want. No. You cannot misbehave at that level. Not without consequences. No.

Self-discipline. Self-control. It's hard. This grown-up stuff is hard. I wish we could all be little children and there'd be somebody to take care of us, but if everybody's little children, then there's nobody to take care of all the little children. So some of us have to be grown-ups. No. You can't be a child anymore. No. You're 27.

You can't live in my basement. Because an eagle who stays in the nest too long is known as a turkey. No. You have to leave. No. No. You have to leave. No. I love you too much to allow you to sit here and grow no wings and not be who God intended

you to be. God did not intend for you to be a Nintendo expert. You need to leave my basement. Some of you desperately need to love your child enough to do that. No. They can write a blog

about abusive parenting from someone else's basement. No. Isn't it interesting? This whole thing about growing up, and that's what we talk about here every day on the show, directly or indirectly

is am i ready to delay pleasure to win dave i want to change the rules can i change the baby steps no because you can't change the baby steps you don't get to make up new math rules you're not the exception i know everyone's unique but you're not the exception the law gravity applies to all snowflakes they They're each unique, but they all fall down. There are certain laws and certain principles that work every time. One plus one always equals two, and you're not special enough to change that. I know God thinks you're special, but I don't. You're not special enough to change that.

You have to abide by the law of gravity. It works every time. I have to abide by the law of gravity. It works every time. And as soon as I align myself with truth and function in that truth and function according to those principles, the pain starts to leave and the prosperity starts to come. As soon as I start planting corn and I'm not shocked that corn grows, wow, I have reaped what I have sown.

Self-discipline. If you want wheat, you should probably not plant corn. If you want wealth, you should probably not plant corn. If you want wealth, you should probably avoid debt. All the data points tell us that. If you want a high-quality marriage, you should probably not lie to your spouse about hiding money. Duh. Why is this hard? It's hard because we're humans and we like chocolate chip cookies.

All of us have a little kid inside of us and we all push back against that little kid every day. But the more the little kid wins, the dumber we are, the more immature we are, and the more pain we have in our lives. No. Self. Discipline. Dave, you changed my life. No, I didn't. It's not a true statement.

I made you believe you could. And I showed you how, and you went and did it. But I didn't change your life. I didn't pay off any of your debt. I didn't cause you to be an everyday millionaire. You did all of that. You're the hero in the story. And I'm really proud of you.

And those of you that haven't done it yet, I believe in you. I know that you can do it because I know these principles work. And I can't wait to talk to you when you're winning. Because you can do this stuff. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there is ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for the Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over,

but if you heard about a product or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything that is mentioned during this episode in the podcast show notes section. Thanks for listening.