The Ramsey Show - App - You Become Who You Hang Around With (Hour 3)

Episode Date: May 12, 2020

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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. My co-host this hour, Ramsey personality Anthony O'Neill, number one best-selling author of the book, Debt-Free Degree. Also the author of the newly released Quick Read, which is 64 pages long. And, of course, that's called Destroy Your Student Loan Debt, the step-by-step plan to pay off your student loans faster.

Our phone number is 888-825-5225. Tony's starting off this hour in Texas. Hi, Tony, how are you? Hello, how are you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve, man. Thank you. What's up? There you go.

A few questions, man. You know, I've been struggling with this the last couple of years. I owe everything I have. I'm about $150,000 in debt. I have trouble sustaining a job, man. What do I do? I owe a side-by-side, a mobile home, about $40,000 for the mobile home, 12% interest on that. On my side-by-side, I owe 7% interest, about $18,000 for that. On my two pieces of land, the one with my mobile home on, the one I live on, I owe about $40,000 with that, and it has 12% interest on that. And another piece of land that I owe about $20,000 on, and I don't owe no interest on that.

Don't know really what to do at this point. Are you working now? No, I start my new job on the 25th of this month. You said you've had a hard time keeping a job. Why? Don't know. I just, not because I get fired or anything like that, but just can't, you know, go to work. Don't know what the problem is. I mean, I'm sorry, you can't go to work.

What do you mean? I just happen to leave the job. I mean. You up and leave the job? Why would you walk off from a job? I don't know, man. Yeah, you do. So.

I mean, that's random. Yeah. So here's the thing. Here's the thing, thing dude there's two sides to the equation yeah the income side and the outgo side and um you know creating when you can go create an income with this thing called work, you are your most powerful wealth-building tool. How old are you? I'm 35 years old. Okay. All right.

Did you graduate from high school? Yes, GD. Okay. And what kind of jobs have you walked away from? I'm talking $2,000 a week jobs, anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000. Doing what? Doing what? I build foundations for, like, transmission lines and substations.

And this last job I was on, we rebuilt a fish hatchery okay so you've been doing construction work and you've been making a thousand two thousand dollars so you're making 50 to 100 grand a year depending on how much you work yes okay was your dad a hard worker um yeah yeah he was a hard worker? Yeah. Yeah, he was a very hard worker. Okay. I'm curious why that didn't rub off.

Yeah. Yeah. Tony, here's the thing. Here's the thing, man. I'm going to say this. The common denominator is you. It bothers me at 35 years old, you're my age, that you don't know why you don't have a job.

So before we can even address the income part, you got to get a job and keep a job. I mean, at the end of the day, you know, because you can't get an income if you won't stay on the job. Yeah. Let me, here's the thing. You become who you hang around with. And so my guess is, is that maybe you've been hanging around with people that are acting the same way. And so you may need to choose more carefully who it is you spend time with.

You speak like the people you hang around with. You work like the people you hang around with. You read the same books, watch the same TV shows, the people you hang around with. We work like the people you hang around with. You read the same books, watch the same TV shows of the people you hang around with. We all do. We know this about little kids. That's why we don't let our little kids run around with a juvenile delinquent, because you know your kid's going to be a juvenile delinquent. You run around with

who you run around with. My guess is that you've kind of gotten caught in this thank God it's Friday, oh God it's Monday culture a group of friends that think that way they live for the weekend and uh you know party up all their money all on the weekend and make absolutely no progress and and so it's up to you you can do what you want to do but you called nast so when you want you ask i'm obligated to tell you

so i think you've got um you know if i'm you if if i were uh your older brother i put my arm around your shoulder and kick your butt absolutely and cause you say hey man you're gonna have to discipline up here you're going to have some self-discipline and stick with some of these good jobs and then once you've got that steady income because you stay on the job, you don't just wander off, which is so random, man. You don't just wander off. Then, you know, you can say, okay, which piece of land do I want to keep? Which one do I want to sell? And then let's pay off the one I'm going to keep, sell the other one.

If we're going to live in this mobile home, let's get it paid off. And that's a first step. Then maybe we build a house on that property someday because the mobile home is not a good long-term investment no neither is the side by side for that matter and so you know you get this stuff paid off and if you're going to have toys and stuff like that you got to have them paid off and that means working and you work like a crazy man to hit those goals. And, you know, what if you had zero debt? How would that feel?

That would feel great. But that's going to require a lot of steady, consistent work. And so, you know, you might want to look around and go, hey, who in my life, what supervisor have I had that had his crap together? Or what friend have I had that seemed to have his act together? And then sit down with them and say, man, would you walk with me and help me get dialed in on this because I'm struggling with this. Sometimes you need a good man in your corner to push you along.

But, you know, until you get that diligence thing up, you're going to struggle. Struggle a lot, too. I mean, here's the thing, Dave. If he was making $2,000 a week, that's $6,000 a month living in Texas. That's good money. Yeah. Good money. I mean, so it's the mental to me.

But you and I have both known people like that when we were growing up. Absolutely. I still know people like that. Yeah, me too. Me too. But they're not my close friends. They're not at all. Because I've become who I hang around with.

Yes. So, hey, dude, check out a good church in your area. You may find some guys there that will walk with you too. Yeah. And that might be good for your heart. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. We're all going through challenges, and our lives have been impacted in ways we've never anticipated. If we learned anything, it's that change is constant, and having a plan is crucial to our family's livelihood. This is why I talk about term life insurance every day.

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at home in some states a lot of us in states in states like Tennessee are back to work, by and large. And so a lot of different things happening all around the nation. About a month ago, a little over a month ago, we did something for the first time that we've never done in 30 years. We allowed folks to start coming to Financial Peace University online free for 14 days, a free 14-day free trial to the Financial Peace membership. You get a free 14-day trial of all of our digital content,

which includes all nine lessons of the Financial Peace University. I mean, this is the thing that six million folks have been through, six million families have been through, and showing you not only how to get out of debt, but how to build wealth and how to live with outrageous generosity. Anthony's one of the teachers, Rachel Cruz, Chris Hogan, and me. And it walks you right through the baby steps. And, of course, you get EveryDollarPlus as a part of the free trial,

which is the world's best budgeting app connected to your bank, and the new Baby Steps tracker app. And you can track your progress there on the app or on your desktop, either one. You're going to follow through. This is the premium product. It's everything bundled into one here. And you're getting a free trial for 14 days. Over 70,000 people have taken this free trial in just over 30 days. That's pretty wild, you guys.

So if you've got friends or relatives and you've been talking to them about Financial Peace University for years, trying to get them to do it, tell them to, because this free trial is not going to last forever. We're not going to do this. This is in response to the crisis and in response to the, you know, folks being at home and rather have them watching this than some crazy stuff on the TV, right? So, you know, some of you, this is the time, this has been your wake-up call. This crisis has been your wake-up call. And so now you're ready to get out of debt. Some of you, this is the time. This has been your wake-up call. This crisis has been your wake-up call.

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This is in response to where we are right now. And as I said, we've had over 70,000 people already do the 14-day free trial at Financial Peace University. You get a free Financial Peace membership for 14 days. So DaveRamsey.com slash hope. DaveRamsey.com slash hope. And this is going to let you know you're going to be okay. You can be confident about your future because you're controlling the controllables, and we're seeing pretty amazing things happen. The folks jumping in.

We really are, Dave, and you know what? I was in a crisis a few years ago, a long time ago, Ashley. I don't know, about 15, 16 years ago, I was homeless, sleeping in the back of my car. And I remember a couple of years after I got out of the back of my car, taking Financial Peace University, a 13 week course, and I had to pay for it. And it was when I took that Financial Peace course that I felt solid about my future. And this is long before I knew you, long before I met you. And I just want people to know that the fact that this is free and the fact that you can get this wisdom from Dave Hogan, Rachel Cruz and myself use this chance to change your future because I am where I am today. I'm sitting next to Dave Ramsey because of the class, not because of Dave, because of the class. And I said, hey, I want to change my future. And today I'm debt free.

And today I'm able to do things that I want to do and bless and give, um, as much as I want to bless and give because of the wisdom and knowledge. So take advantage. I've, I've been sending this to so many people, people been asking me, Hey, how do I become debt free? Hey, jump on this ASAP because I don't know when my mentor and boss is going to take it down, you know, because for it to be free for 14 days, they can take the entire thing, Dave. So we're not making any money off of it. So this is awesome. DaveRamsey.com slash hope. Financial Peace University, 14-day free trial.

Campbell is with us. Campbell is in Louisiana. Hi, Campbell. How are you? Hi, Dave. Thank you very much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So a little bit of background on us. I am 23. My wife is 21. I am a Ramsey baby and had her drink the Kool-Aid as well. So no debt and have never had any. We have a fully funded emergency fund and some money set aside for a future down payment.

We are moving for me to go to graduate school this summer, and we're juggling the rent versus buy decision. I think we just have some anxiety about getting a mortgage, never having been in debt um that doesn't sit well with me but at the same time um the 300 400 margin or markup between um owning a house and the monthly payment versus renting um we're just looking to you for some advice on what you would tell um yourself to do the likelihood of you staying in the city where you do graduate work is zero. Right? When you finish your graduate work, you're gone, right? Or are you moving to? Yes, sir.

Columbia, South Carolina. We'll be there for four to five years while I work on my doctorate. Yeah. When you finish your doctorate, you're probably not going to land there. So it's a really good time to rent, dude. Yeah. Yeah. It really is.

I mean, it's just you just when you get you got enough things to worry about without being a homeowner during this time and when you get ready to leave and take a job you're not going to be stuck with a house there then and um i mean if you want to buy if you're going to be there four years you can buy i don't care but it's there's nothing wrong with renting because there's a very high likelihood you're going to leave when this is done. And don't feel the pressure, man. You and your wife are young, and I know several young people right now who are saving up to pay cash for a home, Campbell. So if that's something that you want to do, that's honestly what we would prefer. But there's

nothing wrong with doing a mortgage down the road, as long as you do it the way that we teach it. But if you and your wife say, hey, we don't want to take on a mortgage debt, we want to save and pay cash. There's nothing wrong until you turn 30, 32 to save up and pay cash for a house. But don't feel pressure because you're paying a little bit more rent because I promise you this much. A house being a homeowner is more expensive than renting a home. Okay? So I'm rooting for you. Go to school. Get the education. Columbia, South Carolina was where I was born.

So it's a beautiful city. Enjoy the city. Rent like Dave said. And then when you all settle down, no debt at 23 and 21. Give yourself a good 10 years, man. I think you all can save up. You've done great, man. It doesn't even take 10 years.

I mean, as soon as you finish this degree, you're going to land a professorship somewhere and you're going to know where you're going to live. And I would buy then. That's what I would do. But there's not a there's not a I mean, if you're going to be there long enough, if you want to buy, but you're just adding problems to your life as a homeowner and getting ready to sell the house as you move to the final destination after your PhD, which it sounds like you're going to complete that by 27. Yeah. So you're going to be a homeowner then. And it's not like we're saying never buy. That's not the point.

Hey, good question. You guys are great, man. I'm glad you got the great start you've got. Absolutely incredible. Jenny's with us in Indiana. Hi, Jenny. How are you? Hi, I'm great. How are you? Hi, I'm great.

How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, my husband and I are really kind of struggling to figure out whether or not we should list our house and move. We're on baby step number five. We have been for quite some time. Right now, our mortgage payment is really comfortable.

It's about 16% of our take-home pay on a 15-year mortgage. But we kind of have this unique opportunity to potentially buy my brother's house. It's about 10 minutes away from us, and they would be staying in the same neighborhood. And so our kids would be close to cousins. It's the neighborhood we want to be in long-term rates are good right now it'd be for sale by owner so we'd be saving some on the house but it would be the payment would be 30 percent of our take-home pay on a 15-year fixed mortgage so it feels like a big jump for us and we're just feels like a big jump for us, and we're just... It feels like a big jump because it is. That's why it feels... It is.

It feels like a big jump because it is. I wouldn't do it. We've never recommended you do 30%. You know that, right? I do know that. And part of it, we feel like we have quite a bit saved for retirement already. So it's just, I don't know. I would not take on a house payment that was 30

percent of my take-home pay on a 15 year fixed i would not do that unless you've got a huge income increase coming soon to where it's going to end up being 25 shortly Folks, since you're spending more time at home these days, why not make the most of it? Now, I know not everyone has the means to do a full renovation, but thanks to our friends at Blinds.com, there are some small changes you can make to help improve your home. Blinds.com makes it incredibly simple to shop top-quality blinds, shades, and interior shutters from home with easy online ordering and free shipping right to your door. Listen, window treatments are a simple project that you can do that really benefits the look and feel of your home.

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Jordan is on the line in North Carolina. Hi, Jordan. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. How can Anthony and I help? Hey, Dave. How are you doing? Great, man. What's up?

So my wife and I, we're on baby step number two, and we bought a home about a year ago. And the HVAC system on it is about 15 years old, so it's older than dirt, and it's on the fritz. And the maintenance company that I've had come tune it up recommended about $1,000 worth of work to be done on it. So I know it needs a lot of work, and it's 15 years old, so I'm hesitant to spend that much money on it. And we've also got old gutters that aren't working properly um so since we're on baby step number two i'm wondering where budgeting for these fixes fits in only if they're an emergency well if you were to believe the people that looked at the HVAC system, they would say it is an emergency. They just say there's things getting into the system that, you know, it's not good to be breathing in. And then also the gutters, I mean, you would have a gutter guy tell you it's an emergency too because they don't function at all.

So we're getting water all around the foundation. You can see it's spilling over any time it rains. But, Jordan, you know they're going to tell you that, right, just to get your business. For sure. Is it still working? Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, at least the gutters are working, but the HVAC system is working.

So clean the gutters out and buy some black plastic pipe for $5. I'll get them cleaned. I mean, just redirect them. You can do it. Go to the depot and get you some black plastic pipe. They're as old as the house, so they're designed differently than what you would get for gutters now. So they sag and you can't really do anything about them at this point. So you bought a money pit.

Maybe. I mean, well, gutters aren't too expensive, but I'm definitely comfortable waiting. But I didn't know if maybe I should budget. Okay, so how much debt have you got? About $18,000. And what's your household income? About $110,000. And so how fast are you going to pay off $18,000?

Definitely within the year. We just refinanced and so came into some money to pay off some of the loans this month so still trying to figure out the budget but definitely within the year hopefully quicker hopefully like six months yeah i would think six months yeah okay these things don't make it six months that's true yeah okay okay well i was just yeah you know it's all about perspective here's the thing here's the thing okay at the end of the story you've it's all about perspective here's the thing here's the thing okay at the end of the story you've got your debt at the end of the story either way you're debt-free and you have got new gutters and a new heating and air system that you pay cash for right

that's the end of the story when when both of these things are accomplished the exercise here is what's more important than the actual decision okay and the exercise is i've got to learn to control these purchase decisions and make them fit to my goals rather than to the heating and air company's goals and so i'm not saying you don't need gutters or don't need a heating and air system um but but there's something happens when you say i'm gonna force myself to wait and knock this debt out and then i'm gonna do this stuff because that's the right order to do it now again if your family is is cold in the winter you've got to have a heater okay that's not what i'm saying but um you know once i decided i was getting out of debt everything was on hold until then and there's something there's a good thing that happens in you and your wife's character and in how you're approaching

this when you say i'm just not fixing crap right now i'm not going to find any reason to spend any money unless i have to to survive and so if i'm you i'm putting these things on hold for six months i'm gonna attack this 18 000 with a vengeance knock it out tighten this budget up tighten it tighten it tighten it tighten it and then as quickly as i can i'm gonna do those gutters because they're gonna be the cheaper of the two and then i'm gonna have that heating and air right behind it and i might even do those things before i did my emergency fund even but i'm i But I'm going to make myself have the discipline to not go the normal route. Because the normal route is what keeps people screwed their whole lives.

Yeah, you're right, Dave. And you know what, Dave? You said something key there, discipline. So discipline is the bridge between where you are and where you want to go. You want to be debt free. So you got to have discipline today and say, you know what? Hey, this is where I'm at. I want to be debt free.

I'm not going to do this. I'm going to go ahead and take care of the priorities, which is get out of debt. And then I'll attack that. I met a young lady just the other day, Dave. She said, hey, I was living in my apartment for six months with no couch, no bed. I was sleeping on the floor because I wanted to become debt-free. I'm like, now that's determination, and that's discipline. But, you know, and everybody looks at that and says that's weird.

But here's what's happening is you're saying, I'm going to live like no one else, so later I can live and give like no one else. Yes, sir. Because you can always find something to do. These are both valid expenditures that he's got. Absolutely. It's valid to fix these gutters. It's valid to do the heating and air.

Yeah. And, yeah, you're right. The vendors will tell you you're going to die of black mold if you don't fix these two things immediately. You know, you're a bad parent to your children or whatever, all this kind of crap. But just not that way. All right, Jonathan's in Indiana. Hi, Jonathan. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Hi, Anthony. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, I'm in Baby Steps 4 and 6, and I decided I wanted to get my teeth straightened. So I made a bad decision I want a company to use. I went back in February.

I purchased it up front and paid $1,500. It was a steeply discounted price. And come May, come yesterday, I get an email from this company saying, we can't give you the product. We can't give you the kit that you ordered, and we can't give you a refund. And they're continuing to take in new customers. So they're telling me I can't get a refund, and they're not going to send me the product,

or they don't know when they can send me the product. I just want my money back. I just want to get your thoughts on what I might be able to do to get my money back from this company. I have no idea. I mean, obviously you can harass them until they acquiesce. You could hire an attorney, certainly do that as well. But, I mean, there's not a magic wand that makes companies that are immoral suddenly be moral.

And, you know, I wonder what is behind all this. They're continuing to take customers in and take their money but they're not able to provide the service and the kits that's pretty much fraud if that's the case uh and so um you know if if this is somehow if they're if they've had a business disruption because of coronavirus and you can be a little bit patient and then get your kit a little bit later, then that's not a problem. I mean, if it's a little bit of a delay, that's going to be easier than pushing all this through. But if you bought the thing and they say,

look, we can't deliver it when we thought, we can deliver it three weeks later, your demand for a refund on that basis is not good. I wouldn't give you a refund just because you're throwing a fit. You just changed your mind after you made the purchase there. But if they're saying we're not going to give you the kit ever and we're not going to give you your money back, well, obviously that's legal action then. That's the other end of the spectrum.

You're going to have to come down on them. And so I guess you can just talk it through with them. But you can't just decide, you know, I want my money back after you made the purchase unless they've got a money-back guarantee. But, again, it has to do with the degree and the length of time that's involved as to whether you're going to get into a legality or not. And another option maybe is to go through the bank, Dave, and maybe charge a chargeback dispute. Just dispute that on their bank. Depending on how you paid for it. Exactly.

Yeah. So if you did it through your debit card, that may be another option to consider. Yeah. That would be a possibility there. But again, you've got to have a legal standing even to do that. Yes. It can't be that, well, coronavirus, we can't deliver the kits for, you know, three weeks later than we thought, and so you're throwing a little hissy fit

and want your money back. Oh, dude, have a little grace. Yeah. They're doing the best they can do. But if they're saying, you're not getting your kit, we're just going to take your money and steal it from you, then that's a whole other issue. And so you've got to decide where this is

and where your heart really is here on this. And I get customers over here both ways, some that are very reasonable and some that just decide to be butts. And we generally fire them as customers. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. folks i love telling you about well-made well-thought-out products today i'm talking about grip six belts i don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of traditional belts. They never fit right and they're uncomfortable. Grip6 belts are unique. Owner BJ designed a truly modern minimalist belt made of high quality materials with no holes,

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conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy. There you go. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Andre is with us in Texas. Hey, Andre, how are you? Hey, Dave, how are you doing today? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, so I recently graduated college, actually, like, really recently this month. I'm an international student, but with all this

coronavirus crisis, my country is actually closed. And so, you know, I've been looking to some options of, you know, what I can do in the short term until this whole thing, you know, at least settles down. So, you know, Airbnbs, I think are too expensive. They're like around $1,500 to $2,000 a month. So I was actually considering, you know, moving to a short-term apartment and kind of just waiting it out. So my question is, you know, I've heard about your 25% rule where, like, you should pay for rent that's, like, under 25% of your take-home pay. That's a long-term issue.

You're in a crisis. Yeah. What's your country? El Salvador. Okay. And so what's the projection on them letting you come home? Well, I think they're going to keep the airports closed for at least until, I've heard, until July or August.

But then again, you're going to have to go to like a, I guess like a little hotel or something like that somewhere random to stay there in quarantine. And I can't do that because I work from home. I have, I'm a freelance designer. And so I can't do that. So what's your income running? Right now around $120,000 a year.

Okay. Why don't you just go rent an apartment? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So my question was, you know, I've had some options. You know, I have some options running low, maybe like $700 a month. But then again, like, I work from home, so I don't want to feel like I'm, like, I don't know, like cluttered or, like, I don't know. So there's some more expensive options around, like, $1,000, but I don't know if that's, like, too much or if I should save.

You know, I'm debt-free, so I don't know what the next steps to me are. Yeah, it sounds like you're going to be here a year to me. Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. Maybe, like, six months. Okay, so you need to find here a year to me. Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. Maybe like six months. Okay, so you need to find something you can rent for six months. Yeah.

If you found something for $1,000 a month and you're making $10,000 a month, that's going to be okay. Yeah. Okay. I mean, your take-home pay is not $10,000. I mean, I don't know exactly how you're taxed in this situation, but, I mean, if you're making $120,000 a year, that's $10,000 a month. You spend $1,000 on rent. That's not going to be the end of the world. Make sure you don't sign a lease that's going to run longer than you think you're going to be here because that's going to cause you a bite off the back end of this unless it's got some kind of release clause or something. I mean, you can sign on one year lease as long as you had the rules under which you

could break the lease and not get harmed in the process. But wow, what a bizarre situation for you. And most apartment complex, they are allowing you to do a six month leave. Now you will have to pay a little bit more in a monthly payment. But even if he goes up to twelve fifty a month, that's still below the twenty five percent. Yeah, way below. Yeah. So you're still good there man yeah

wow that's pretty amazing that you're doing that well straight out of school well done sir very cool all right gabe's in texas hi gabe how are you doing well dave how are you better than i deserve how can we help awesome so i have a question about student loans. It's a mixture of a mathematics question and kind of a familial question. So 150K total, 7K in my name, and then the rest in my parents. There was never an official agreement about me paying it off, but I've been helping for the past few years since they're in their 60s and going to be retiring probably in about a decade or so. But with so much left over, I'm wondering, like I've been doing really well myself saving the past three years.

Do I just throw all my savings at it and then aggressively pay it off in the next 18 months, which I think I could do? What do you do for a living? I'm a designer, so I'm in tech. I make about $110 a year. Wow, good for you. How old are you, Gabe? 28, or 29. Okay, so you're going to pay the $7,000 off immediately, right?

I could do that, yeah. The portion that's in your name needs to be done right now. You got money in savings, you said? How much? I have about 130 total, 30% in retirement, and the rest, just under 100, is liquid. Where do you have it at? I'm confused. So you have like $90,000 in savings, in a savings account, and the rest is in retirement.

Is that right? Correct. Okay. Oh, yeah. All right. Well, you write a check today and pay off the seven. That's not in question. That's your debt.

Yeah. And then you've got to decide, am I going to take on this other debt and treat it like it's mine? Yeah. Is that a yes or a no, Gabe? It's unclear because it's under my, it's a parent plus. I understand. I understand. You do not owe the money legally. Right.

Right. Nor will you ever owe it legally. Do you want to pay it? Do you want to pay it off anyway? I want to help them. Absolutely. I don't know if I want to pay off the full amount because basically I'm saving for a house and a wedding in the next couple in the next couple of years. And if I do aggressively pay it off, I'm basically punting all that at least probably four or five years down the line. No, you're not. You make $110,000. Yeah, man. And you've already almost got enough to pay it off. Yeah. Gabe, what are your parents saying? Are they saying, we want your help? Or is this something that you're actually stepping up and saying, I want to help? They want me to help as much as i can but it's not on me it's kind of like whatever i can contribute okay so i want that otherwise let's

put a dollar amount on this how much do you want to give your parents on their loan yeah i mean i'd like so oh by the way i have been for the past three years contributing about 650 a month toward it but i feel like if i do that that's seven thousand dollars a year you're gonna write a check today and pay off your seven thousand dollar loan okay period that leaves us like eighty something thousand dollars to work with for the uh wedding the house and we're gonna i'm gonna throw them a chunk and i'm gonna be done yeah or or i going to take the whole thing on, and I'm going to knock it out really, really fast with your fabulous income.

Because that's where your $90,000 came from. You've been saving like a maniac, and instead I'm going to pay debt like a maniac if you're taking this on. So how much of the $143,000 that is remaining are you going to pay? Let's just say half. Okay, $70,000. I would write them a check today. Done.

Now, you've got nothing hanging over your head anywhere. You make $110,000. Use the same intensity that you've been using on all these other issues to build up your wedding fund and your house fund, okay? Right. And that did not cost you four years. It cost you about a year yeah right how quick you're going to put 70 grand back if you have no bills at all making 110 as a

single dude yeah uh yeah i could do it in in under two years there you go then yeah you could do it in 18 months or one year absolutely you know You know, if you had to, okay? So if I'm you, I want to get to say, Mom and Dad, I'm willing to pay half of this, and I'm just going to do it today. And the rest of it's going to be on you, and I'm going to feel zero guilt about it. Okay? Yeah, that makes sense. And then that sets you free from whatever moral obligation you felt like you had. You obviously have no legal obligation, and you don't even have a handshake obligation.

You just want to help mom and dad so they're not stung and stuck, and then they're going to have to step up and knock out the other 70. Agreed? Agreed, yeah. Just for the past few years, I just felt in between. Yeah, the unknown is what's killing this deal for me. Right. You know, this is paint or get off the ladder thing and make a decision.

And that clarity then and the cleanliness of that clarity is going to help the relationship with them. Then they know what you're going to do, so they know what they got to do. Yeah. It's good for them, too. Yeah. So good stuff, man. Great stuff.

You're a good man to step up and do that. That's very cool. Definitely. I'd write those checks, and then I'd rebuild that savings. Hey, thanks for the call. Anthony, thanks for hanging out. Dave Ramsey, America, thanks for having me. Good stuff.

Thanks to James Childs and Kelly Daniel in the booth. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace Show app today.