The Ramsey Show - App - You Don't Need a $25,000 Truck to Prosper! (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 31, 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 paint-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thanks for being with us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Kate is with us in Massachusetts. Hi, Kate. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave.

Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So we're new to the whole Dave Ramsey way of life, so we're just starting number two. And my question is, our credit cards are in collections we haven't made payments on them not even minimums so how i have them listed smallest how many of them are they are there that are in collections um right now there's two that are in collections and And you've not paid any payments on them for how long?

Honestly, I think like two years. Okay. Don't put those in your debt snowball. Okay. Is that the only thing that you're that far behind on? Yes, sir. We have other debt, but that's... But you're current on it. You're paying payments on it. You're current on it.

Okay, so you work your normal debt snowball until everything is paid off but your home. How much debt do you have, not counting the two credit cards and collections? Um, we have, uh, 90, nope, $80,000. And half of that, more than half of that is student loans. What's the other half? Okay, most of that is a student loan, and $18,000 is a car loan. The rest is student loans. And what's your household income? Our household income right now is sixty four thousand dollars a year my husband works two jobs police officer and national guard

so i would get rid of the eighteen thousand dollar car okay it's a lot of car as broke as y'all are. Yes, sir, yeah. Yeah, it's one-fourth of your debt, and it's, you know, if everything was paid off, you could have that much car if you paid for it, but it's really a big chunk of your life. How much do you owe on these credit cards that are in collections um one is 13 000 and one is 6 000 okay when you get ready to address them there those are big enough that they're eventually going to sue you little ones won't ever get around to suing you they're eventually going to sue you now you'll have plenty of notice. When they do sue you, you may have to stop your debt snowball a minute and pile up some money.

An old credit card can usually be settled for somewhere around a quarter on the dollar. So meaning a $4,000 lump sum settlement offer on a $16,000 two-year-old credit card, two years since it's been paid on will probably settle that with some arguing and some haranguing and a bunch of whining and a bunch of listening to their crap and all that but at the end of the day if you keep beating on them you can probably settle it for about a quarter on the dollar okay okay so at some point in the process you're going to save up a lump sum i'd like for it to be at the end although you have a pile of debt and not a lot of income. So it's going to take you guys a while to dig through this. So I don't know if you're

going to get by with not dealing with these until all the other debt's gone, like I was originally saying, because you're just going to be there a little while. So if they come at you and sue you, it's not like you have 20 seconds to come up with the money, okay? They sue you. You can mess with them for 30 days. You can mess with them for 60 days. Not threaten to sue you if they actually do it. They'll threaten for two years before they get around to it. Okay.

So you can't. Listen, you could tell a credit card collector is lying if his mouth is moving. Right? All right. So you can't believe all the bluffs and all the carrying on and if you're going to settle it with them you have to get it in writing in writing and it cannot they cannot have electronic access to your checking account because they'll clean you out so when you do get around to settling it about a quarter on the dollar in writing and doing that so if if you're going along in this thing, you've sold the car

and you're plowing through the student loan, and you're two years down into this thing, and now it's four years since you paid on this credit card, and they eventually get around to filing suit, you've got some time while you're doing that to negotiate with them. Stop your debt snowball and pile up the $3,000 or $4,000 and settle with them on lump sum. No payments.

Okay? Okay. That's how you handle them. But you you're gonna have to get rid of that car it's killing you all right tammy is with us in georgia hi tammy welcome to the dave ramsey show hi dave thank you for taking my call sure what's up um i'm having virus remorse um my husband and i back in september purchased a um e-hooking um and my back in September purchased a vehicle and my back story is I am a senior manager with an automotive manufacturer and I receive a car allowance of $800 a month. And so we... Do you get the car allowance whether you buy the car or not? No, you do have to have a vehicle. Either you have to purchase one or you have to lease one in order to keep the car on my own from them yes okay who do you work for

um nissan nissan okay okay so the but the deal they're offering you at nissan is um it's it's maintenance it's everything right everything yes it's a bargain But the deal they're offering you at Nissan is maintenance. It's everything, right? Everything, yes. It's a bargain. This is not a car purchase. This is an employee benefit. It is, yes, sir.

Yeah, I mean, what they're giving you, don't they give you tires, maintenance, gas, everything in the deal? Yes, sir. Yeah, and you can't drive a car that cheap anywhere else. And you don't even have to keep it. You can turn it in one month at a time, right? How long do you got to keep them? You have to keep it like a year. A year, okay.

You got to keep it a year. But you can flip it around every year if you want to. But it's not like a normal car payment or a normal car lease. No, if I worked for Nissan, I'd be doing that deal. Okay, but we purchased a truck. Okay. My thing, I was trying to leave them with my husband after we bought the truck. Oh, I'm sorry. You didn't do the Nissan deal?

Or you actually bought a truck? Or you're doing the Nissan deal for a truck? No. Okay, so we bought the truck. So they give me the $800 in my paycheck every month. Oh, no. Why didn't you do the deal where they pay for everything? That would be leasing it, and I told him,

I said, I have to get the $800 every month anyway. You might as well buy your vehicle, and that $800, they can pay for your vehicle. Yeah, but now you've got a car payment. Now you're in debt. Yes. Yeah. And I'm trying to convince him to sell the truck and get something less. I would do the deal over at...

The lease with them is not a standard car lease. Unless you all have changed your program at nissan it's a it's a it's a rental program that includes all of your maintenance all of your insurance all of your tires everything is built into it and you can't drive a car as cheap as that is their lease program is an employee benefit it's not a lease like a regular car lease and so that's the way i would do it i wouldn't buy a car go into debt and get a car allowance from them. I love talking about companies that know how to do business right. You've heard of Grip6 belts, right? Well, if you haven't, it's the only belt you can get online with no holes, no flap, and no bulk.

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without even knowing you're wearing one. I'm really proud of these guys. Check out this month's special offers from my listeners at Grip6.com. Carl is with us. Carl is in Idaho. Hi, Carl. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Good afternoon, Dave. You too.

How can I help? Trying to be a good family member. My wife and I purchased a vehicle when my brother-in-law ran into some hard times four years ago. And we were working out a plan for him to start paying us back. And since then, the pickup is now totaled. And we paid off the truck cash, so the title's free and clear. And the insurance company came back saying that they'll pay more than what we paid for it. And do we take what we paid for it from the bank and give him the rest to help him get back on his

feet or what do we do the family conflict uh well you don't have any obligation i mean you've already helped him and then he totaled the truck correct so i don't know i mean i guess he just lost his truck what dirt i mean you did this to help him how long ago four years ago so when is it he's going to get back on his feet well he was wrongfully incarcerated by the federal government for two years and now we're trying to help him i'm sorry get out of two of the four years correct so the truck was sitting while he was in jail say that again so two of the four years he's had the truck it was sitting he was in jail uh correct i was using it as a daily driver since there's my vehicle i was paid for it and when he got out handed him the keys and told him not to worry about anything right

now. Let's get you back on your feet. For two years. And for two years, what's he done to get back on his feet? Correct. And the asset is no longer there. No, no, no. I'm asking, did he make progress getting back on his feet during the two years?

So, in other words, did your help that you gave him actually help? Yes, he was able to go get a steady job, and we referred him to you and Baby Steps, and so far he's working his way up, but just a long process. Gotcha. Okay. And so you had a debt on the truck, and the insurance company paid that when it totaled, right? No.

The title was free and cleared, and now we're... How much money did the insurance company give you? Nothing yet, but we paid $18 18 for the truck and they're paying 25 okay so you're gonna have twenty five thousand dollars or twenty five hundred dollars twenty five thousand sorry okay uh why does this guy need a twenty five thousand dollar truck and that was the thing was we offered to help them based on, you know, as an investment for us. They helped us out during times too when my vehicle broke down.

Yeah, but I mean, if you want to help somebody that just got out of jail, you give them a $7,000 truck. Correct. And get them on their feet. You don't need more than that. So, yeah, I mean, I'll take some of this money and buy them a truck. But it sounds to me like if I were in your shoes, I mean, you're asking me what I'd do. I'd go buy him about a $7,000 truck and hand him the keys.

Okay. Because that's a serviceable truck. He can go to work in that, and he can continue to make progress. He's doing a lot of smart things. You don't need a $25,000 truck to prosper um you certainly don't need that to prosper so yeah just give him a nice truck that's serviceable and keep him on keep him moving in the right direction and you want to use some of this money for that and some of the money you got your money back out of the thing so it worked out okay i mean you you said you got 25 out of it you put

18 into it originally so let him have the seven in the version of a truck. But I wouldn't hand him the cash. I'd buy him a truck. Ah, Susan's with us. Susan's in Florida. Hi, Susan. How are you? Hi, Dave.

I'm great. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, my husband and I realized a few months ago that we needed to clean up our debt. So I started, I got a copy of Total Money Makeover. I was reading through it. I'm working on getting the budget put together.

And I'm really ready to dive right in and start cutting expenses and get going on the steps. But my husband's proving to be a little reluctant to change the current lifestyle and everything. I'm just wondering how I can convince him, what kind of tactics should take in convincing him that we should start thinking long-term instead of the short-term. Is he looking at the budget? Yeah, I've been showing him what I've been doing and, you know, what our expenses are, what our income is, and showing him how to break it down into all the different expenses. But he's used to getting a certain amount of money out of the bank for his pocket money each week, and he just doesn't seem to want to think about changing how much he's spending.

Okay. Well, you know, some version of this and I'll use the sarcastic version. Okay. Uh, but some version of this is honey, I don't, uh, I want to be married to like a man that walks with me. I don't want to be your mommy giving you an allowance every week and you whining if it's not enough. So you're going to sit down here with me and we're going to go through this budget together. Like we're two grownups and we as a couple are going to decide on our future you get a vote and i get a vote and then we will decide based on that what we're each getting for pocket money but this you know i'm not your mother right and that's how i that's i've grown reluctant to you know say no to his spending sometimes because I don't want to see the mom.

I'm not going to, I'm not going to not, I'm never going to say no to his spending again. I'm not going to accept that he is not participating in deciding the whole process where we agree together. Okay. You're not his mother. Right. You quit being his mother. Right. You quit being his mother. Stop it. He needs to man up here and be a part of the equation where we make our decisions so our bills are paid and so we have a good future.

Now, we can have a discussion about the path of what that is. But, Mommy, I want to buy something and you won't let me buy something well where you little boy that's gotta stop that's gonna drive you crazy you're gonna get tired of that you're already tired of it yeah how old is this guy i'm both 42 okay and in the household he grew up in, his mother handled the money and his dad brought it in. So that's what was modeled in front of him. And it's a toxic bad model.

Working together as two adults, making decisions together on what we're going to enjoy, what we're going to give, what we're going to sacrifice, what we're going to give, what we're going to sacrifice, what we're going to invest for our common goals that we both agree on, which includes enjoyment and spending, but it also includes thinking together is a grown-up couple with good mental health. But you can't be his mommy anymore. It's got to stop. You're going to get real tired of that. I mean, it's going to, and he's gotten away with it for a long time, so it's got to stop you're gonna get real tired of that i mean it's gonna and and he's gotten away with it for a long time so it's gonna be a little hard break but just go dude i don't be your mom anymore i'm not gonna be your mother anymore i'm not gonna do it i'm not your mommy

i'm not your mommy don't ask me for money i'm not your mommy get in here and man freaking up and you now again i'm giving you a sarcastic version but you got to keep turning up that heat until he hears that honey i need you to be a man i need you to sit down here at the kitchen table as my man and walk with me and we make these decisions together as two grown-up adults i'm not going to be a little princess where i'm whining about what i can't spend and you're not going to be little lord fonteroy over here asking his mommy for money anymore. I'm done with this. And some version of that fight has to occur, and it can be pleasant or unpleasant,

gentle or not gentle. I don't know what it takes at your house. We're hillbillies. We fight pretty hard at our house. But at some point, you've got to man up here. It's growing up, whether you're 52 42 or 22 it's i'm taking control of my destiny i'm going to take this chaos and i'm going to take i'm going to bring order out of this chaos and i'm going to do it as a grown-up oh and by the way there's

two of us here so we're both going to do it as grown-ups. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Do you know who is a prime target for identity theft? Your children. Kids have no debts or credit history. Their personal information is just as easy to get, but the theft could go completely undetected for years. Every day all over the country, young adults are starting down their own path in life by opening a bank account or renting their first apartment, only to find out that they somehow already have credit card debt, a mortgage, or even a criminal record.

It's devastating, but it can be fixed when you have an ID theft protection plan from Zander Insurance. They monitor all personal info for the entire family, and they take over all the work if you become a victim. Best of all, your kids are covered for free on their family plan call them at 800-356-4282 or visit zander.com it's just the smarter more affordable way to protect your entire family and it's the only plan i provide to my team zander.com or 800-356-4282. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, right on the debt-free stage, Thel and Gail are with us. Welcome, guys. How are you?

How are you doing? Good to have you guys. Where do you all live? Columbia, Missouri. Awesome. Welcome to Nashville. And all the way here to do a debt-free scream. Yes, sir. Cool. And how much have you paid off? $139,615.70.

I love it. How long did this take? Two years, 11 months. Okay, good. And your range of income during that time? I would say $54,000. Now we're at about $150,000. Wow, big jump. Yep. Okay, cool.

What do you all do for a living? I help out with middle school administration. My official title is homeschool communicator. Okay. And Gail? I work for a hospital in the patient accounting department. Great. Okay. We had a sizable jump in income in the last three years we got married oh well there's that okay

all right what kind of debt was the 140 000 um i would say primarily student loans and taxes had a little bit of taxes okay who's Who had the most? Right here. Okay. All right. Cool. All right. Because you guys got after this. I mean, that's amazing that you paid. How long ago did you get married?

Two years and 11 months ago? Two years. She's a lot better. Two years and two months, actually. Okay. So you started right before you got married and then finished it up after. Well, it kind of goes back a little further. Actually, when I met Thel,

we had met on Christian Mingle. And one of his profiles was that you had to be in a place that you wanted to be emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually healthy, moving towards that. Okay. Dave Ramsey was all across the profile. Oh my gosh. Okay. I had not heard much about you. I'd had a few people from work mention you. And so when I met Thel, I was kind of at a place where I was a single mom. I owned a home that really was too much house for me. And so I was at a place that I needed to get out from underneath that house. And so Thel walked along beside me and helped that happen. So he had paid off before me about $75,000 after he closed the business. And so I trusted him to help me walk through the process. So that's really how we met.

That's fun. Yes. Very cool. Well, look at you guys, all grown up and everything. That's not part of that original debt that we talked about. Oh, in addition to that. In addition to that debt. So I was debt-free before we officially got married. Yeah. Fun. Very cool. So what do you tell people the secret to

getting out of debt is? You have had a fabulous experience here. For me, I start off by saying it's temporary. Whether it's one year, whether it's 10 years, it's temporary. You have to be willing to take a step down to take a step up. In terms of Christ, I feel as though if we do our part, Christ would do his part. And two more things. You have to be willing to retrain yourself in terms of how to manage money. And the last thing is listening to the show was a big part of it. And what I mean by that is it was like free therapy to me. Every morning, first thing in the morning, I would either listen to the Dave Ramsey show or I would listen to a church sermon.

So that's what motivated me. And Gail, for you? For me, it was making sure that everything that we did was strategic. We thought long-term, not just short-term solutions. So everything from whenever we were dating and we knew that we were getting married, I stopped taking PTO time at work because I knew I'd be paid out to be able to use that money whenever we got married. Every single step of it. I stepped down into an apartment on purpose.

I could have got a townhouse, had more space, but it was every single thing it added to us being able to get here quicker. Death by a thousand cuts. Definitely, definitely. Do it all at once temporarily so that we move forward for our future. And Dave, if I can mention a few more things. For me, and I'm kind of emotional when I say this. After I walked Gail through the process, I actually went home and I picked up a total of five jobs. One full-time and four part-time jobs. Wow. Yeah. So I was working probably 104 hours per week.

What were the side jobs? Mentoring, intramurals, you name it, I did it. Okay. Helping people move, you name it, I did it. Okay. Helping people move, you name it, I did it all. Okay. But the other thing, after walking Gail through the process, I went home, and within six months, I sold all of my furniture, except for my bedroom set, and I actually moved in with two college students.

So, for two years, I lived with college students. Goodness. Yeah. Yeah. So, at the age of 45, I was living with 25 year olds. Yeah. You wanted out bad. Yes, sir. There was no, I mean, you went all the way. Wow. That's crazy. I love it. That's amazing. Good for you. Now that you're there, you went through all of this to get there. Was it it absolutely yes sir absolutely how's it feel great amazing amazing um i tell people all the time and i don't say this to brag basically all

we do now is put checks in the bank yeah because um outside of our normal expenses i mean we don't have any debt i mean we don't have anything to spend the money on so saving for a house yeah saving for a house well you got a new goal. That's right. You're actually have your control of your money. It's your money. Absolutely. Yeah. Well done you guys. So well done. Very proud of you. Who were your biggest cheerleaders? For me, once I moved to Columbia, Jay and Stacy Bryant Wemp, they were a huge part of my life. They worked for the pharmacy that I came to Columbia and worked at. Any chance that I had to do overtime, they were allowing me to do it,

anything that I could do. And then as well as in our forum, church family. For me, I would have to say Christ. My beautiful wife right here, I have to tell the world, I mean, she's definitely a Proverbs 31st woman. I would have to say my good friend Todd Robinson, my principal Bernard Sodom, good friend George Clark, and also Kathy Robinson. Very cool. Yes, sir. Well, good job, you guys. Very well done. Very well done. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. That is your next chapter in your story. You're on your way. Continue to live like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else.

Put yourself in a position to do that. Very proud of you. Great job, you two. Thank you. Thel and Gail, Columbia, Missouri, $140,000 paid off in two years, 11 months, making $54,000 to $150,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

Thank you, Jesus. We're debt-free. I love it. Great job, you guys. Great job. Man, what an incredible story. Very, very cool. So check it out.

And that's how you do it. Six jobs? What? What? Yeah. Well, that's called taking control of your destiny. And it's amazing. People need help doing stuff.

And that always means a job. People need help doing stuff. And that always means a way to make money. And especially with an economy like we're in right now. I mean, this economy is white hot and you know, there is work to be done. And well, there's no good paying jobs. Yes, there is too. There's all kinds of good paying jobs. You're just being a wuss and you're looking for somebody to blame. You're looking to be a victim. Stop being a victim and start looking for something different to do. Hey, you can make $20 an hour babysitting. My God. I mean, really? I mean, go down to Home Depot and get you a leaf blower. Rich people are afraid of leaves. You can make money. There's jobs

everywhere. You can do all, I mean, it's amazing what you can do to turn a dollar. And obviously, Thale has figured out a bunch of them. I mean, he had everything in the world. Every time he looked up, there was another opportunity to make some money, another opportunity to work. And he proved what my grandmother used to say, there's a great place to go when you're broke. To work! It's a sure-fire money-making scheme. But just don't be dumb about it. Why would you take a minimum wage job? Don't do that.

Make twice minimum wage. Three times minimum wage. I mean, pressure wash a driveway. You can make a lot more minimum wage. And there's all kinds of stuff you can do out there. Just go make you some money. And like Thel said, it's just for a short period of time you just you don't have to do this forever you just got to do it long enough get yourself out of debt so you get your life back well done guys well done this is the Dave Ramsey show One of my favorite parts of this show is hearing your debt-free screams.

You guys are our heroes. You've kicked debt to the curb and you've saved for the future. Now we want to celebrate with you. If you have lived like no one else and are currently in baby steps four through seven, well, it's time to enjoy some money. And the perfect place to do that is on board our first ever live like no one else cruise in March. That's right. just a couple of months away but get this it's not too late to book your cabin so don't miss your chance this caribbean cruise is going to be an incredible seven days at sea on a stunning new ship with amazing experiences i'm talking all of our ramsey personalities and other world-class entertainers. We're stopping in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and Turks and Caicos.

It's going to be an amazing, debt-free celebration designed just for you. Don't miss the boat. Head over to RamseyCruise.com today to reserve your room. you ever notice real estate's kind of like money everybody's got an opinion about it that doesn't know what the crap they're doing you ever notice that there's a bunch of doofuses niggeramuses with big opinions about it like you're talking about selling your home and your note your know-it-all neighbor says well the market is so good you'll have no problem selling but what your neighbor isn't telling you that not even a good real estate market can guarantee your home will sell for what it's worth i mean listen i've got a really nice car i don't work on my car now when i was broke in college i carried a toolbox in the trunk of the car

and i can turn a wrench on an old car but if i lift the hood on this car right now i don't even know what's in there that'll make it have to have a freaking computer to reboot the thing you know it's a whole different world i don't diy expensive stuff you don't diy selling your house the biggest factor that goes into selling your most expensive asset your home for top dollar is not a hot real estate market it's an experienced high octane real estate agent they can get the most out of the house in the shortest period of time that means they price the home right they market it they get buyers in the door this is not some monkey with a license that's counting on the market to do their job for them yes any idiot can sell a house in a hot market but they can't sell it fast and they can't

sell it for how much it should go for and everybody goes and gets a real estate license and sally got a real estate license crazy joe down at the church got a real estate license everybody's got a real estate license that does not mean they're good at the business how many houses you sell last year two well that's dumb don't hire somebody sell your largest asset sold two houses because it's your friend that's dumb that's like somebody working on your maserati that doesn't know what they're doing don't let them do that don't lose money by choosing an amateur get an endorsed local provider that's a high-octane, high-protein, proven peak market performer. We do not have ELPs that have sold two houses last year. We don't allow you in the

program. I'm sorry. You have to go become successful before we will endorse you. We don't endorse you so that you become successful, you real estate people. Dave, when can I be your ELP? When you're really, really stinking good and you sell 40, 50, 60, 100 houses a year. That's when we'll talk about it. So don't lose money. Go to DaveRamsey.com, click on an ELP for real estate, endorsed local provider for real estate. Alyssa is with us in Oklahoma.

Hi, Alyssa. How are you? I'm good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I knew you were going to say that. Hey, well, first of all, I was funding here at Dell and Gale's debt-free screen because

that's what's keeping me going. Good. That's what I keeping me going. Good. I'm excited about, but we started our debt snowball and actually our emergency fund in November, but this will be my 90 days of trying to figure out my budget and make sure I'm, you know, dialing it in. Yep. I have been doing though, I've been budgeting paycheck to paychecks. So I'm kind of wondering, is that wrong? Do I need to start switching that to monthly budgeting? That's so I'm kind of wondering is that wrong do I need to start switching that to monthly budgeting I that's all I kind of see and so well you need to do monthly

and paycheck to paycheck both because you've got some bills that only come up once a month and you're missing that when you're doing the paycheck to paycheck yeah I have uh laid out like which ones I need to do the first paycheck and then which ones I need to do the second paycheck. So in a very real sense, you've almost done a whole monthly budget then. Almost, yeah. Yeah. So go ahead and jump on EveryDollar. It'll help you do that if you're not using it yet.

EveryDollar.com, download the app and use it. It only takes about 10 minutes to set it up and get it going, and then you can kind of keep it managed as you go through, and you can watch the checks go through. So, yeah, it is a combination of those two things. You're making the money behave because you've got a plan for it, then you make it stick to the plan. And right now you're doing that by paycheck,

and put a couple paychecks together, you've got your month. And so that's, you've got it but you need to scope back and look at it a month at a time so good question you got this you're doing it love it well done savannah is in missouri hey savannah how are you i'm great how are you better than i deserve what's up okay so my husband and i are working the baby steps and we're almost to step three but kind of planning ahead for baby step four. So all that we have available to us is a 457 plan that I have at work. My plan does have a Roth option. Good. So I'm kind of wondering since he doesn't have anything available to him if it's okay if we just parked all of that money when we start investing our 15% into my Roth 457,

or if we needed to look at a better option like an IRA. I would probably do a couple of Roth IRAs to balance it out, because you've got more options in the open market. The 457 is deferred comp, which just means you're putting off comp. It's delaying your compensation, but you're're doing it and then it's going to grow tax-free so it has the same effect of a 401k but it is technically a little different product but um the options that are available in there i think you could you know pick you up a couple of six thousand how old are you guys um i am 34 and he's 35 yeah i'd pick up a couple six thousand dollar roth iras on the outside it with a good

smart vestor pro and then i'd dump the balance to get to 15 into that 457 and because you've got 8 000 mutual funds to choose from in the open market 457 has probably got 10 or 12 to choose from on average they may have 20 they may have five i don't know somewhere in there though so jason is with us jason's in Minnesota. Hi, Jason. How are you? Good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve.

What's up? Atta boy. I'll just kind of lay out my plan slash statistics here, for lack of a better way to say it here. My wife and I, we did F2U back in September 2018, developed a really good lifestyle with the budgeting and all that kind of stuff, developed good freedom through that, which has been wonderful for our marriage, for our family. I've got three young boys at home as well. Over the course of these two years, we've paid off about $34,000 in two loans with one

car, and then even before that, just an abundance of some medical bills, too, along the way. Good. So you're making progress. Yeah, yeah. It's been reassuring, and it's good to have these goals be accomplished along the way to help motivate the long-term goal in the end, to live and give like nobody else can. So my yearly income, I'm a physical therapist. I make about $70,000 a year.

We have a mortgage on our house. The remaining balance is about $123,000. We have a car loan right now. It's a family minivan, nice, reliable vehicle with about $5,500 left on it. I have $10,000 cash in the bank right now. Wait a minute. Why do you have $10,000 cash in the bank right now. Wait a minute. Why do you have $10,000 cash in the bank? I thought you went through FPU.

I did. Here's the thing. A large portion of that was gifted to us very, very gratefully over the holidays. Oh, good. Okay. So you pay your car off. Yeah, exactly. Is that your only debt left?

Yes, sir. Awesome. You're debt free. I know. I promise, after this house is paid for, my wife and I are going to drive down there. No, I mean, you paid the car off today. You're debt-free everything but the house, right? Yep, exactly, dude.

That's what we told you to do, right? Yep, that's it. Hey, get it, man. I love it. Well done. Awesomeness. Very cool. Rob is with us in Kentucky.ucky hey rob how are you better than i deserve what's up um about 13 years ago i bought a house through bank of

america and it was one of those real legal foreclosure deals and now in the case of a first-time buyer, now that it has gone into foreclosure, the USDA is garnishing my tax returns if I file them. And if I stay at a job for more than five years, then they sign me and garnish wages out of my paycheck. But it was an illegal foreclosure, so I'm trying to figure out if it's better for me to file bankruptcy and completely get that off my debt, along with all the debt that I have in collections, or what's the best option for me to do. Well, if it's an illegal foreclosure, you should be able to set it aside, and you would have to seek the advice of an attorney for that. I don't know how much other debt you've got as to whether you can fight your way through that other debt. But you've got to get this USDA thing off of you one way or the other.

Hopefully you could sue them if it was illegal, an illegal foreclosure, and get that removed. Then if that left you with debt that you could manage, then you wouldn't be bankrupt, which would be excellent. I don't know how much other debt you got, though. Hey, thanks for the call. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know you can now listen to The Dave Ramsey Show on Pandora and Spotify? For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at DaveRamsey.com slash show.