The Ramsey Show - App - You Have Decide to Stop Doing Things That Aren't Working (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 11, 2020

Debt, Retirement, Insurance, Home Buying Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thanks for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Andrew is with us in North Carolina. Hi, Andrew.

How are you? Hey, Dave. Thanks for having me. Certainly. How can I help? I just came across your videos a couple of days ago, and I kind of bought in almost immediately. Finance has been an issue in my family for the past several years.

I just live in paycheck to paycheck and feel like we're poor all the time. So I'm in, and the only hang-up is I go into my wife, and I tell her about it, and I tell her plans. I say, hey, this is what we need to do. And she's all fine and well with it, except we have a vehicle issue. We're planning on growing our family, and we have one small compact vehicle and one SUV that's questionable at best. It has its days where it doesn't start up, and the last thing she wants to do is be stranded on the side of the road

with a vehicle that doesn't start. And so the last thing I want to do is take out another loan when I'm trying to do that snowball. So I want to get your opinion on what we should do. How many kids have you got? I got one daughter, but we're looking to expand in the next year or two. Okay. So you got some time.

Got a little bit of time, yes. Yeah. But I don't know how long the SUV has. Yeah. But the small car will carry one kid. Small car carries one kid, yes. Yeah. So until you got two kids, you don't have a problem.

Right. The problem is that based on what I've calculated, I've tried to calculate a schedule of payments for all our debt, and it doesn't put our debt being paid off for probably another four to five years. And so that kind of puts us – that's where the hang-up is. What kind of debt have you got? I've got about $60,000. On what? My wife's student loans, the other car, and credit cards. What do you owe on the car? The car's about $6,000, and the student loan's about 50. What's your household income?

My gross income is 90. I work for a city, so it takes out the pension program. So it's a little less than that. Your wife does not work outside the home? Correct. She's a stay-at-home mother. Okay. All right. What's her degree in? home? Correct. She's a stay-at-home mother. Okay. All right.

What's her degree in? Mine. Hers? She's got a marketing degree. Great. She needs a side hustle that she does from home. I agree. I think she would agree, too. She's, you know, she just graduated.

She could probably mess around helping some people on a consulting basis and bring in $15,000, $20,000, $30,000 bucks. I don't even know where to start with that. I mean, do you have any suggestions? Has she actually worked in the marketing field, or she just got her degree in it? She just got her degree a couple years just got her degree uh a couple years ago okay but she's never had a job in that field correct okay all right don't know exactly where to start off the top of my head but the good news is she's got some knowledge that is valuable

and um and um it might be she plugs in with some existing marketing firms and does some remote part-time work for them. Okay, so start finding some marketing firms in your immediate area. What part of North Carolina are you in? Charlotte. Oh, good. It's a great market. Okay. Yeah, there will be some marketing firms in that area

that could probably use just her market her base marketing knowledge and it's literally something she does while the baby's asleep i'm not suggesting she not be a mommy if she wants to be a mommy i'm with her okay but the good news is she's got a marketable thing that'll help here okay that that's thing number one that comes to mind thing number two that comes to mind is this andrew. It never works out exactly like you think it's going to when you first find this stuff. It's either worse or better. And I think it's better than you think it is. $60,000 is not four years.

$30,000 a year for two years pays it off. You make $90,000 a year for two years pays it off. You make $90,000. Right. We also just recently purchased a house that's probably a little more than you recommend as well. So what's your house payment? $1,900. Yeah. Okay.

So now we know why you have a car problem right yeah okay she's gonna have to earn some income you may have to earn some income and you guys need to be on beans and rice rice and beans and not be traveling and not be um going out to eat and all this other stuff you need to get this mess cleaned up and uh when you guys start doing all of that i think you can be out of debt in two years, and I think that's going to be before a baby comes, and I think you'll be able to save up and buy a little better car for cash. It won't be a car you keep around a long time,

but it'll be better than the broken-down SUV you've got today. And you limp through until then. But I think you're done in two years. You're going to have a really wild two years, but I think you can make it. So what I want you to do is I want you and your wife to go through Financial Peace University. It's our nine-week class and a one-year membership to a full suite of things, including community that you get plugged into, EveryDollar, our budgeting app, Plus, which connects to your bank and helps you to update and run everything, and the whole bit. So hold on on i'll have kelly pick up we're going to get you guys signed up for that

you're brand new to everything i think this is going to be harder than you thought it was but i think it's going to happen faster than you thought it was which solves the car problem you don't have to make a car decision today. There's no reason to. All you need to work on today is getting out of debt. And then if and when a baby is on the way, we'll talk about stopping and saving up and buying a little better car. But I think you're going to be out of debt before that all happens.

I really do. Depends on what she makes on her side gig, but she needs one starting today. Ready, set, go. Hang on. Kelly will pick up, and we'll get you guys signed up for that. The Ramsey Network is pretty much everywhere. We're on YouTube, SiriusXM, podcasts everywhere. The Chris Hogan Show on millionaires.

The Ken Coleman Show on your careers and living your dream job. The Christy Wright Show equipping women in their passions when it comes to business and everything else, Rachel Cruz Show, helping you take control of your money, the Entree Leadership Podcast, helping business owners become better leaders, the Borrowed Future Podcast, the eight episodes that reveal all the dirty secrets of the student loan industry, and, of course, the Dave Ramsey Show.

We're everywhere. Click DaveRamsey.com slash show, get signed up, or look at Alexa and say, or Google Home and say, play the Dave Ramsey Show. I just activated it in some houses just then. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. In today's world, technology and innovation are crucial for any company's success, but the primary focus should always be on you and meeting your needs. That's why you get the best of both with Zander Insurance and their term life plans.

Zander uses time-saving technology like over-the-phone applications, voice or electronic signature, text message updates, electronic policy delivery, and even plans with no medical exams to speed up the process of getting you the protection your family needs. One of the reasons I've endorsed Zander for 20 years is they never skimp on service. They are committed to serving you, whether you want to do business online or need that personal touch. You pick your path. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Zander will guide you through the whole thing, keep it simple, and find you the best rates. That's Zander.com or 800 for yourself why blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings you get free samples free shipping

and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code RAMSY to get the best deal. Derek is in Florida. Hey, Dave, all debt that was reported on Credit Report has been paid off, but a recently received mail about an older debt account that I do recognize. The letter said because of how old it is, they can't sue me, nor can they put it on my credit report. They're just wanting to settle the account.

My question is, should I pay this debt? Yes, you owe it. It's a moral obligation. It's nothing to do with your credit report or your legal. Now, the reality is you're going to end up settling it because it's very, very old, and there's been a whole bunch of stuff added to it, legal fees or made-up collections fees or piles and piles of made-up interest or some of it real interest or whatever. So it's hard to put a finger on exactly what the reality is of your obligation.

But I would definitely settle it with them, and it clears your name. It clears your obligation but i would definitely settle it with them and it clears your name it clears your obligation and if you can come to an agreement on what you know it's a very interesting collection letter though we can't sue you we can't put it on your credit bureau because of how old it is but please give us something that's an unusual collection that letter um kind of weak but it's not real scary you know boo right but uh you know i i like it because it's probably going to work uh you know because they're i guess they're appealing just to your morality to your integrity. And so, yeah, I would pay it. I would pay it to clear it.

I sure would. Hey, thanks for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Shawna is in Michigan. Hi, Shawna. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you, Dave?

Better than I deserve. What's up? Okay. So I just recently, uh, with my husband decided to listen to some of your principles that are tried and true. Um, we have gotten our thousand dollars in our savings account and we're starting to work on our, um, debt snowball. And I find myself quite overwhelmed. So my background, I'm actually a physician and I paid for myself to get through my undergrad in medical school. And at that point, not blaming it on anyone, but didn't get great advice, was kind of told, you know, take out the loans, you need money to live, and you're going to make enough money one day you'll be able to pay these off. Well, I'm learning now that I've

been out for five years that that's not necessarily the case, and I have $297,000 in just my student loan debt. And you just lived on that? Yeah, well, it started out at about $200,000. And over the years of deferment through residency, it's grown. So you're an MD for five years? Yeah. What do you make? About $300,000 a year. Did you say three hundred thousand

yeah okay so why have you not paid your loans off um i don't know so we're also building a house which we started that why you're broke i know well my dad died unexpectedly about a year and a half ago, and he was really young, and it wasn't really the plan for me to kind of take over responsibility for my mom. But that's what happened, and I'm sorry. It's okay. So why are you having to take over your mom? She can't take care of herself? She's retired, and she has some rheumatological disorders and has some issues with movement. She's not to the point where, like, she needs a caretaker,

but we made a decision that we wanted to have her move in with us because we wanted somebody to be looking out for her. And we looked for a home where she could live with us that had a mother-in-law suite, and we couldn't find anything with a first-level, like, mother-in-law suite. They were in a big corner. How long before the house is completed? It will be completed in July. Okay.

And what did it cost? $800,000. For a mother-in-law suite? We're building a brand new house. So we're going to be selling our current house. And we're building a brand new house so we're going to be selling our current house and we're building a house that okay and what will your current home bring uh probably about 350 is it paid for no of course not um what do you owe on it uh around 200 so you're barely going to get out of it? Right. So you're taking out an

$800,000 mortgage? Right. For a mother-in-law's week? Yeah. So for $600,000, I think we could have found another way to take care of your mother. right um okay does your husband work outside the home he does good what does he make um he makes about 40 to 50,000 a year okay so you have a 350,000 income with an 800,000 mortgage and 297,000 in student loan debt. Did I get all that right? Yeah. That's when the smoke clears. Okay. Now you have to decide if you're going to continue doing these things that aren't working. If I was your patient and i was behaving this way you would box my ears you would say dave if you keep this up you're going to kill yourself if i was your patient and i was doing something contrary to every possible medical

solution correct correct? Correct. Dave, if you keep eating chocolate chips by the bushel, you're going to kill yourself. Dave, if you keep whatever it is, right? If you meet patients that are misbehaving in the care of themselves, and if they continue on that, you can look at them and say, you're going to kill yourself, can't you? Yep.

That's the conversation I'm having with you. Can you feel it? Yep. You have to stop. You make plenty of money, and you guys completely misbeaved with it and so you need to stop buying stuff and get on a beans and rice rice and beans scorched earth budget you are not a doctor you are a broke doctor you are one over one million dollars in debt yeah yeah good news is you got a really big shovel and as soon as your brain wraps itself around what you have to do to clean this mess up you're

going to mathematically be able to clean it up really quickly but it is so far from the way you've been living for the most of your life that it's you're going to have to completely retrain your method of thinking aren't you yeah you're going to be extremely frugal extremely intentional and thoughtful with every penny and there is nothing else is going to be bought i don't want to hear any other rationalizations in your life about buying something ever again you guys have got to stop this you should have been rid of the student loan debt and of course you shouldn't have built this house these are two i mean you should you know easily with 350 000 income if you just figured out something for your mom and stayed in that house for a little

while we could have cleaned this up really fast as it is this house is going to slow it down some but i still think you can do it i know you can do it mathematically but you and your husband need to sit down and say okay we've been sleepwalking through this like we're a couple of zombies and we're gonna have to actually get our hands around this make every one of these dollars behave we're gonna download the download the EveryDollar app and get in Financial Peace University. We're going to make every one of these dollars behave because $100,000 a year out of your income will clean this up pretty quick. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. 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.

I'm talking weightless. And the buckles come in really cool designs and are interchangeable. I personally own a number of these belts and they're so comfortable you forget you're wearing it. Plus these guys have a great story. BJ Minson started Grip6 on Kickstarter from his garage in 2014 and now sells hundreds of thousands of these American-made belts to customers all over the world. As a mechanical engineer and a minimalist, BJ took his dislike for heavy, bulky leather belts that never fit right and created the perfect belt, a high-quality, minimalist belt that gives the strength and support of a belt without even knowing you're wearing one. I'm really proud of these guys.

Check out this month's special offers for my listeners at grip6.com Bottom of the hour, which means it's time for a debt-free scream. Coming up from Houston, Texas, Mujahid and Angel. Hey, guys, how are you? Hey, Dave. Hey, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve.

Congratulations. How much have you two paid off? A hundred thousand dollars. That works for me. How long have you two paid off? $100,000. That works for me. How long did that take? Four years. It took us four long years, but we did it. You did it. That's what's important. It's not the time, it's the finishing. And your income range during that four years? So we started out at $70,000 and went up to about $120,000. Cool. What do y'all do for a living?

He is an insurance adjuster and I am an educator. Very cool. Very cool. What kind of debt was the $100,000? Okay, so $72,000 was my student loan, $5,000 was his, $18, 18 on a car, about a personal loan, $1,000, and about $5,000 in credit card and miscellaneous charges. So you were kind of normal? Yes, but now we're not. Now you're weird. I love it. Yes. What happened to you two five or four years ago? Well, we had a similar story like you, Dave. I built a real estate

portfolio. Everything was going great, so great. I said, well, I'm going to quit my job. And lo and behold, a few months later, Hurricane Katrina hit. We were living in New Orleans, and so it destroyed our portfolio. We tried to rebuild. Lo and behold, the recession came, and that was kind of the nail that kind of went into the coffin. So we lost everything, Dave. We went from homeowners to renters. We went from children in the private school to public schools, two cars to one car, and we just struggled along for years. I guess the turning point was I got a call one day, went to work in

our one car that the water had been turned off. And so we decided to move some money from somewhere else. My wife had to walk several miles to the water company because we wanted them to turn the water back on before the children got home. And so when that happened, we like, no. As you would say, I had it. That was a wrap. And so that's when we just found you. We started working the plan, and things started changing. Yeah.

Yes. Wow. That's a big turnaround, guys. Yes. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. What do you tell people the secret to getting out of debt is?

Oh, for me, I think the biggest thing is a plan and being disciplined. That is so, so important. I would have to agree. The only thing I would add is psychological warfare. We did a lot mentally to combat. When you have a $72,000 student loan and you throw $10,000 at it, which is a lot where we come from, and it's still looking at you, $62,000 is real intimidating. Like you never did. It's like hitting Tyson in the face and he turned around even more upset. It's like nothing ever happened. So what we did was we began to just

recognize the first number. So when we owed $50,000, we called it five. When we owed $40,000, we called it four. When we owed $30,000, so on and so on. And we came into a rhythm. We said, when we reach two, we're winning. When we reach one, we've won. When we reach zero, we've done.

And we just kept psyching ourselves up all the way to the end, and we was able to close it out. That's how you do it right there, we done. And we just kept psyching ourselves up all the way to the end, and we was able to close it out. That's how you do it right there. Well done. So much so we're in a great position now. Oh, Dave, we led our first FPU class last night. Wow. Wow.

Well, you're professionals now. You ought to be able to do that. We had 30 people in attendance, and I got to give a shout-out to Steve Gilmore. He's on your staff, our advisor. He's super helpful. Anything we need, he got our back. And then I want to give a shout-out to all the people that signed up to join our class and to our local spiritual leader, Dr. Abdul-Haleem Muhammad,

who gave us permission to host it in the building. Wow. Very cool. We are honored to have you guys. That's amazing. Very good job. Excellent. How fun is this? So while you were doing all of this,

while you were doing all of this, you're down in the thing, man. You're grinding through that 72. You're grinding through the other stuff it's hard who were your biggest cheerleaders not the two of you outside the two of you well that that's the thing we we tried to keep it just between us and we were very very prayerful and you were a big influence we would listen to the dave ramsey show absolutely constantly and we actually went to more than one pfu class just in that in those four years just to

stay motivated now i will say during that time dave um it wasn't what happened was like i said we went through hurricane katrina and a family took us in. And we built a solid relationship with this family, like brother and sister. Their children grew up with our children. So they were celebrating their 25th anniversary during our journey. And we had to make the decision to go or not to go. That was the hardest thing we had to make the decision to go or not to go. That was the hardest thing we had to decide. So we decided to stand our ground, and it hurt us to this day,

but we're glad that we are where we are right now. We stuck it out. Yeah. Stay focused. Wow. Very cool. Well, congratulations, you guys. We're proud of you.

Very, very, very well done. Very well done. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. That is the next chapter in your story. That's where you're heading next, without a doubt. Very cool. Congrats, congrats, congrats. Thank you.

All right. It's Mujahidit. I can't get it right. And Angel from Houston, Texas, $100,000 paid off in four years, making $70,000 to $120,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Bismillah. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

Well done, guys. very cool you can hear the energy the excitement in their voice how fired up he was to get here but also that's what got him here you can wander into that you can't wander out you got to get sick and tired of being sick and tired and it requires some passion you have to get mad that you have been victimized by these ridiculous banks these ridiculous sally mays these ridiculous car companies you allowed it to happen it's your fault i'd allowed it to happen. It's your fault. I didn't allow it to happen. What happened to me is my fault. But just the same, they're out to get you, and they got you. And you got to get mad about it.

You got to say, that's it. This is not a morally neutral position. This is a position where you become angry. You become disgusted. It's visceral. That's get you out of debt that it's not an intellectual exercise this is a that's what this is that gets you out that's what moves the needle nothing else does you can't just fix the math you can't't just tease. It's not a brain tease. It's a fired up and wired up and causing things to happen.

And that's what leads people into building wealth. That's how you become millionaires. That's how you change your family tree. That's how you be in a position that you can be outrageously generous when folks need your help. And those guys did it. They did a wonderful, wonderful job. That was a powerful call. Very, very, very well done.

And, guys, you can do this. Yeah, you've been listening to me. Some of you have been listening to me a long time, and you've not been doing it yet. You've been listening, but you hadn't heard. Now it's time for you to hear it. This is your time. I'm talking to you. You have the power to change your life.

You have the power to change your family tree. You have the power to live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. And only you have that power. I can't make you do it. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Our Scripture of the Day, Philippians 2, 3-4. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility. Count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Ronald Reagan said, The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in, we'll talk about your life. Robert is with us. Hi, Robert, in Idaho.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, thanks, Dave, for taking my call. Sure, what's up? So I work for the fire department full time. And thankfully, our public retirement system here in Idaho is one of the best run in the country. But at this point in time, we have about four or five options from what I've been told when it comes to retirement on how we can take our retirement. And I only know about two of them. One is basically they will do the math, figure out what your retirement is going to be.

And you can take it as a, you can take your whole retirement as it would be. And then if you pass your spouse, it just stops. Or they have a 50% contingent annuitant where you take about half of your retirement. And then if you pass your wife continues to get the same amount. Exactly. Uh, of course, sitting around the kitchen table with fire guys the other day, uh,

somebody brought up a point and I want to get your opinion on it. His plan is to reach when he retires is to take his full retirement and then kind of back that up with a five, a 10 and a 20 year term life insurance policy for his wife. Good. Like a $1 million, 5-year, $1.5 million, 10-year. Yeah, he'll come out better and she'll come out better. He'll come out better and she'll come out better that way.

You don't have a lump sum option, right? No. Okay. Thank goodness we're a defined benefit not a defined contribution so it's lifetime yeah but the question then is do you have any other money saved well yeah i'm contributing about 18 to my 401k and uh how old are you i own a handyman business on the side i'll be 45 in june okay well you should have plenty of money in your 401k to take care of her the only reason you need the only reason you need to back the only reason you back in our retirement the only reason you backfill with term insurance is if she's not okay

okay and so well we we have an option when we retire we can buy up to 48 months of service to increase our retirement and most of the guys that have been retiring have been using a large chunk of their 401k to buy you service bad deal no no that's a really bad deal you'll make money off your four more money off your 401k than those well those four years of service so um no i would keep my 401k invested in good mutual funds let it continue to grow, live off of the pension. And if there's enough in the 401K that the income off of that lump sum will take care of her, then you don't need to backfill the loss of your pension upon your death with term insurance because she's okay with the 401K money. Uh, so real quick on, uh, I, I'm probably going to get yelled at here, but, uh, um, I, I took a

401k loan out a few years ago, uh, paid off some debt with it. And, uh, I also just refinanced my house, uh, to a lower rate. Um, unfortunately I didn't do the 15 year. I went back to a 30 year, uh, but we're not planning on as soon as the kids are old enough and I retire, we're selling the house. Um, but we, we took some cash out in the refi. Would it be best to, instead of having that in savings as an emergency fund, what are we best to pay that towards my 401k loan? I did that just because i i was able to pay off higher interest things and i'm paying myself back at a lower interest rate and with the money that they anticipated i could lose in the market was less than what i was going to pay an interest on the other loans yeah could

lose in the market it's a different thing than did lose in the market so all of that's bs the uh what you've got to do is get this 401k loan paid off as fast as possible. Treat it like a credit card debt. It needs to go away. And then you need to get yourself on a budget and start paying your mortgage as if it's a 15. Even if you have a 30, just pay it like it's 15 and it'll pay off. And let's get the house paid off and get the 401k cleared as soon as possible. How much do you owe on that stupid 401k loan? Right now, I think it's around $15,000. Oh, good, good.

You can clear it up real fast. And we have 10 in savings. Yeah, you can clear it up real fast. Would you take that 10 and pay it towards it? Well, yeah, you're in baby step two. You're in debt. And so you need a $1,000 beginner emergency fund, puts nine towards this. Then you need to attack that with a vengeance. And when that's gone, rebuild your emergency fund puts nine towards this then you need to attack that with a

vengeance and when that's gone rebuild your emergency fund and then that gets you back to baby step four which is where we talk about all these other investing things that you don't need to be doing any of until you get this mess cleaned up you made and then start paying your house like a 15 so you get your house paid off in 15 you'll be 60 and you get and you don't have anything owed on this 401k you keep putting 18 in that 401k there's going to be plenty there to take care of her if you were to die ahead of her and leave her without the pension but you left her with 750,000 bucks in a 401k which is what you're trending towards really fast here you have 20 years probably to invest in that 401K. I don't know what your retirement time is, but that's the deal.

Hey, good questions. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Okay, why do you not borrow on your 401K? You never borrow on your 401K. The logic he used is faulty. I'm going to make more. I'm going to pay myself the interest at 5% or 6%,

but I unplugged good mutual funds that were making 10% or 12% in order to do that. That's why you don't do it. The second reason you don't do it is when you leave your company, and you will leave your company when you quit, when you get fired, or when you die, everyone leaves their company. When you leave your company, not if. The loan is considered an early withdrawal, and if you do not repay it in 60 days, you get hit with a 10% penalty plus your tax rate, 45% or 50%.

You don't get hammered. Too much risk, unplugging good investments, never borrow on your 401k. That's the thing to remember. That was never. It wasn't like sometimes it never is a good idea. Hope I wasn't unclear. Daniel's with us daniel's in virginia hi daniel how are you good sir how are you better than i deserve what's up uh just have a quick question uh me and my wife are completely debt free and we're about a month away from uh finishing baby step three and we're hoping to start on Baby Step 3B after that. My question to you is, how do you

feel about buying a piece of land to use as the down payment for a construction loan to build a house instead of buying a home in the future? That'd be fun. You're just going to buy a piece of ground and wrap it into a construction loan.

You ought to do it all simultaneously, actually. Okay. Why would it be in the future? You just do it now. You're saving for a down payment on a house you don't own a house, right? Right. Yeah. How old are you?

So, I am 23, and my wife is 20. Okay. I've built several houses. I grew up in the building business. I grew up in the real estate business. Uh, I wouldn't do that if I were 23. Building a house is a complete pain in the butt. It will test your marriage. It will test your temper. It will test everything. And if you're not a good project manager and you've not walked through that kind of stuff before, it is not going to be fun. And so you can do it if you want to do it, but I'm just telling you, it's harder than it looks, and it's not all peaches and cream, baby. And nothing ever goes like it's supposed to go.

It's slower than it's supposed to go. The weather, everything, it's a pain in the butt. It can be fun. I'm a world-class project manager. It's the kind of thing I like to do, and so I love running these types of things, but I'm an old guy, and I've done this a bunch. So you can do it if you want to do it.

I wouldn't do that as my very first home purchase. I just get me a sweet little house somewhere and make it simple and just work on my marriage and work on building some money up and later on do a land deal. If it was me, that's what I would do. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey show in the books. 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, Christ Jesus. This episode is over, but if you heard about an event, product, or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes or head to DaveRamsey.com. Thanks for listening.