The Ramsey Show - App - Your Life Is an Emergency Waiting to Happen (Hour 3)

Episode Date: June 10, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. We're so glad you're here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Bianca starts off this hour in Reno, Nevada.

Hi, Bianca. How are you? Hi, Dave. Good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So, for the last few years, I did a whole lot of stupid. I just found you about a month ago, and I'm on Baby Step 2. For right now, I bought a property that's 40 acres in the middle of Nevada, and I am building a cabin here, but I'm on Baby Step 2. How do I go about allocating some money so I can continue building the cabin that I'm living in right now?

Okay, so you're single? No, I'm married. Oh, okay. So what's your household income? $92,000. Cool. And how much debt do you guys have? About $40,000. And you don't much debt do you guys have? About $40,000.

And you don't owe anything on the cabin or the land? I owe $14,000 on the land. And the cabin, I got a pre-made exterior, so it's about $3,000. Is that included in the $40,000? Yes. Okay, so $17,000 on the cabin and land and $23,000 on everything else. Yes. Okay. And how much do you need to complete the cabin?

I would say probably at least $20,000. Okay. So $60,000 makes you debt-free with a completed cabin? Yes. And you make $92,000? Yeah. So how fast can you get... I have a whole bunch of debt with high interest and stuff,

which is kind of making it slow going on my snowball. Not really. You make $92,000. Okay. 92 minus 60 is 32. Mm-hmm. Not counting taxes, which we have to count taxes, but if you lived on 32 for one year, you would be debt-free

and have the cabin finished. That's probably unrealistic okay so let's just say you did it in two years okay but how do i set that up on my budget like do i take some money out every month and put it on towards the cabin or well let's just let's talk it through for a second. If we need $60,000 over two years, that means we need $30,000 a year. That means we need $2,500 a month towards our program, which includes fixing the cabin and being 100% debt-free in two years. So you need $2,500 a month.

You can do that, make it $92,000. As a matter of fact, you need to do better than that. That's pretty lame. I want you to jack that up. Let's say we did say we did 3 000 what's your take-home pay right now um 2 800 every two weeks okay so 5600 bucks a month okay yeah and um can you live on $2,600, not counting your payments? Yes. You can. I actually, this last weekend, I just calculated not counting the payments I need around $3,000 a month.

Okay. It's pretty close. All right. So let's keep working on that. But let's say that we put $2,500 to $3,000 a month. Okay. It's pretty close. All right. So let's keep working on that. But let's say that we put $2,500 to $3,000 aside. Now, if we have – I'm just going to play with some ratios here for a second. If we need $20,000 for the cabin and we need $40,000 for the debt, one-third of your money is going to the cabin and two-thirds is going to the debt. So if you did $3,000 a month, you put $2,000 on the debt and $1,000 towards the cabin.

Every month. Every month. And that would mean you'd have to live on $2,600. How big was your tax return last year? It was $2,000, but I adjusted that. About $2,800 is is already adjusted so i don't get a tax return next year you're on it good oh good job good job okay have you stopped your 401k yes good good you're on it you're doing good well done so stupid is in your rearview mirror i see wisdom out the windshield you're doing good thank you yeah

you're really doing good okay so somewhere whatever number we come up with or you come up with divide it by three and put two thirds towards your debt and a third towards your cabin and live on the rest so if you can figure out a way to put 3 000 into this program and live on 2600 which you haven't quite got that yet. You started working on your budget, but you might get there. Or maybe you can pick up some extra hours. I don't know. Whatever.

Salaried, unfortunately. Yeah, well, but you know what I'm saying. If we can figure out some way to add a little bit to the equation, you've already done some good moves here. And maybe you can't but if you bet you know say okay we can't do anything this month because we need we need two thousand dollars to do the next thing well you save for two months you put a thousand dollars a month and now you got two thousand dollars and you do the two thousand dollar item on the cabin meantime you paid off four thousand dollars worth of debt two thousand each month okay so three thousand bucks a month going into this program makes you debt-free in a finished cabin in 24 months.

That's doable. That's doable. You can do that. I mean, because you're already in this. If you hadn't started the process, I would just say, wait, and let's get out of debt, and then go do the cabin. But you're square in the middle of it. So that keeps progress moving along, albeit gradually, on the cabin and allows you to really attack the debt. And every little bit of income that goes up, you know,

just start throwing it at this program and do two-thirds, one-third, two-thirds, one-third, two-thirds, one-third. And if you look up and you go, okay, we got the cabin far enough. I'm ready to stop on it until I knock out the rest of the debt, then reach over there and smack on that debt for a couple months. It'll be done. Then come back and, you know, dress up the cabin or whatever at that point so you can you can decide some give and take on this some ebb and flow but generally speaking you need 60,000

bucks over two years making 90 that's 30 a year that's 2,500 bucks a month you can do this this is very doable congratulations you have turned the corner you're on your way i'm proud of you open phones at 888-825-5225 thank you for being here america we appreciate you being part of the program today brianna is part of the largest ramsey community on Facebook. It's called the Ramsey Baby Steps community. And Brianna says, how do I figure out how much is a good amount to spend on groceries for a family of five while still eating foods with some nutritional value? Well, you shop with coupons.

You shop looking for deals. You never shop when you're hungry. You always shop with a plan. And impulsing is costing you more than buying nutritionally. Grocery stores are the best merchandisers in the entire world of retail. They can sell you some crap. That's why they call it Whole Foods. It's a whole paycheck.

So they're really good at this stuff. So lay out your budget. Give a shot at it. And then back it down. Give a shot at it, and then back it down. Give a shot at it, then back it down. Overfund it for the first couple months and make sure your family's eating. But you don't have to go crazy. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down?

Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs. Christian Health Care Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry. A Better Business Bureau-accredited organization, CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and

spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years, and our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Rose is in Sacramento. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Rose. Hi, how are you? Better than I deserve. How can I help? I am currently living in California and I'm retired and I'm having a difficult time surviving here on my income. So I am considering selling my house and moving to Arizona and purchasing one there.

I am currently about $319,000 in debt. $254,000 is my house $254,000 is my house. $2,000 is the IRS. And the $65,000 is credit cards. So I'm just wondering what you think about that plan. And I stand to make about somewhere between $130,000 and $170,000 profit selling the house. It just depends on how much it goes for. So with that, I would pay off all my bills and then buy another one.

I'm just wondering what you think about that and if there's anything that I haven't considered. How old are you? I just turned 63 yesterday. Okay, cool. And you have completely retired? Yes. Okay. And what is you have completely retired? Yes. Okay. And what is your nest egg other than this house and your income?

It is zero. No income? Oh, I'm sorry. Right now it's $3,065 a month. Or $36,780 a year. Gotcha. Okay. So we're going to move to Arizona. We're going to have a $36,780 a year. Gotcha. Okay. So we're going to move to Arizona.

We're going to have a $36,000 income at 63 years old, and you don't have any money, but you're debt-free. Right. Okay. All right. Where I need to get you to, and so here's what here's where my brain the gears are turning over my brain while we're talking okay where i need to get you to for you to have a great life is a paid for property as soon as possible because that's going to stabilize you

even if it takes till 70 to do it okay that's fine with me i don't care what did you used to do um i would work for the telephone company okay all right and then after i retired uh things got bad and um i had had a fiance who had a stroke and so i uh was working then i took another job after my i retired from the phone company but then i got laid off from there and so now I'm his permanent caregiver. And I just spent a lot of money flying back and forth to see him and that kind of thing. So that's why I'm where I am now. So he's with you in California? He's with me now, yes.

Okay, all right. So you burned up some of your savings doing all of that travel and stuff? Yes, yes. Okay, all right. And how old is he he's 65 and he would make this move with you absolutely okay all right all right so gonna struggle to do much on 36,000 dollars anywhere but it'll be a less of a struggle in arizona i agree with you because you don't have going to struggle to do much on $36,000 anywhere. But it'll be less of a struggle in Arizona, I agree with you, because you don't have the tax base or tax trouble there that you do in California. And generally speaking, things are cheaper. I mean, depending on where you're talking about in Arizona,

certainly you can get into the high-rent district over there, too. But so, you know, what we've got to do is just think about how you're going to make it on 36 000 i really need to try to in my mind i'd like to help the math here a little bit can you do some work once you get there um it's difficult because i can't well i would have to hire somebody to be with him. And it's a situation where if I did anything, it has to be something where I can set my own hours. And he has no income. He does. He's got Social Security and a little bit of retirement.

But what I'm trying to do is get myself independent so I don't have to depend on anyone else. Well, you're independent, but you have a full-time job that you don't get paid for taking care of him right so that's not exactly independent yeah exactly that's that's my problem yeah so i mean it's kind of like if you're gonna uh take care of him then his money ought to be in the equation okay and he does help okay he does help so um in paying the house payment and that kind of stuff because we need to get this house paid off. If he predeceases you, how are you going to make it? That's what you're concerned about. Right.

And mathematically. And so, you know, you lose his income with that, and you don't have a paid-for house by then, and you get $36,000000 income and you're 72 then, that starts to be a real problem. Because the problem with housing is if you can get in an ownership thing, you've got to fix payment other than your property taxes going up. Right. But if you're renting, it's going to go up every year for 30 years until you're 93.

Yeah, I have no plans to rent. Yeah. Well, you don't have a down payment. But I will, though, once I sell my house. Oh, I thought you said you're going to make $170,000 off of it. Oh, you've got $63,000 in debt is all, right? Right. Okay, so you'd have $100,000 to put down.

Where are you talking about going in Arizona? Tucson. Okay okay have you shopped what you can buy for a hundred absolutely well for a hundred not for a hundred but um i you can pretty get a pretty decent house for under 200 i can tell you that much oh i definitely know that in tucson yeah i'm wondering if you can't pick up a little condo of some kind as your first step for $100, $100 and a quarter, get in there and get settled with no payments, then start chunking money aside to move up in-house for cash.

Well, one of the problems is I have to make sure everything is accessible to him. I'm going to have to do some rehab and a house would just make it a lot easier. Yeah, except for the part that you don't have the money to pay for it. Yeah. Well, yeah.

That part kind of bothers you, yeah. So, yeah, let's put down it. I mean, I want to get you where you can get this house paid off or buy it for cash. That's the thing. So, yeah, it all sounds like a smart move overall. You're just running with a really, really tight line here. There's a thin line on this. This ice is not very thick.

So not like there's a lot of ice in Tucson. But anyway, it's thin ice you're walking up on in terms of the math on this. So buy something super-duper cheap, kiddo. Like even if it makes you a little uncomfortable, it's going to be less uncomfortable than not being able to afford it because he passed away that's the that's the squeeze you're going to get in if you get big eyes on the house a little bit so i want to keep you down under 150 so we can get that other 50 knocked out asap that's where i want you to be i'd love for you to just pay cash

just from a math standpoint and uh i get that you need accessibility but i mean there's first floor condos available they're out there and so something to think through obviously you can't renovate the exterior of a condo that would not be allowed but um so let's just keep this on the cheap and that gives you options and you don't get in a position where you lose the one asset you got left. Yeah. I think this is a move you make. Cost of living goes down.

You free up a cat, bunch of cash. You get debt free. You cut up your stupid credit cards. You get on a tight budget. You live on a written budget from this point forward. Don't you ever run up another dime of debt ever for anything and don't justify it and don't use emotion to rationalize it you can't do it because you got nowhere to go if you do this again so good question good question i think you go forward

with this you're you've got it thought through uh there's just some details there that need some polishing thanks for the call open phones at 888-825-5225 if you could change someone's life this summer maybe save a marriage or teach someone how to change their family tree or just stop living in a like a rat in a wheel paycheck to paycheck that's what financial peace university coordinators do all the time they are unsung heroes they're normal folks who've helped over five million almost six million people learn how to pay off debt spend wisely become wealthy be outrageously generous and change their family tree learn how you can be a coordinator with our free webinar that's coming up this wednesday at 1215 central time take the first step in helping your community text the word webinar

or text fpu webinar to 33 789 that's fpu webinar to 33 789 this is the d Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Thomas and Randy are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hi, Dave. Hey, Dave, how are you? Better than I deserve. Welcome, you two. Good to have you. Where do you live?

We're from Charlottesville, Virginia. Awesome. Great town. Love it. Well, welcome to Nashville. Thank you. And all the way here to do your debt-free scream. Yes.

Yep. Great job. So how much have you paid off? We paid off $172,000. Woo-hoo! How long did this take? It took us 25 months. Wow.

And your range of income during that time? We started at $78,000 and all the way up to $97,000. Okay. Cool. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a general manager of a roofing company. I'm a finance manager for a nonprofit. Great.

Cool. Okay, so you had to have some savings or you had to sell something? We sold a rental property. Ah, okay. What did it sell for? It sold for, it was like $120,000. Okay, so then you cash flowed the other $50,000 or so. That's correct.

Plus about another $10,000 having our daughter and some house emergencies. Yeah, okay. All right. Very cool. Very cool. Neat. How long have you two been married? Three years.

All right. So a year into your marriage, you said, okay, this ain't working. Something's got to happen. Tell me your story. Yeah, so we both came into the marriage with some student loan debt and some other things. I brought a lot of other like credit card debt and we both had car loans. And we got back from the honeymoon late April, started doing life together. And somewhere around December, we were like, OK, we've got to buckle down to do something because

it's not going to work. This is not how we want to live the rest of our lives. And so we started on the process. We weren't really gazelle intense at first. So you knew about us? Yeah, we heard about you from my sister and a couple other places. And so we just started listening to the podcast every day. We came and saw you in person at Thomas Road Baptist Church. We were living in Lynchburg at the time. Yeah, okay. Yeah, and then we found out that we were pregnant with our daughter, Carter, who's here with us today. Game on.

Now it gets real. Yep. So then that's when we really punched through the intensity. That's when we sold the rental property and made some big moves to get there. Very cool. So you said, okay, if we sell that, then we'll have that cash flow, and we can tear into the rest of this and knock it out. You can see the end that way. Yeah, absolutely.

Very cool. Very cool. Very cool. Good for you guys. Well done. So what do you tell people the secret to getting out of debt is? Definitely budgeting is huge. Being a finance person, I was definitely the nerd and always tracked my spending, but I never made a plan at the beginning of the month.

Whatever was left, I would maybe put it towards debt. But once we started doing every dollar and making a plan before the month started, telling our money where to go, just like you say, it made a huge difference. Yeah, very cool. Who were your biggest cheerleaders? Well, our parents were there cheering us on, saying, hey, this is a great thing. I think it's definitely something that you should go for. And then we had some friends of ours in Charlottesville. They're in our church group, Tyler and Jessica. We've got a picture of them.

And they are doing the plan along with us. They're still trying to get out of debt, but they're hitting some good goals and having some victories along the way. And so we were there to cheer them on. They were there to cheer us on. Okay, very cool. So you formed your own small group, yeah. Yeah, you well you should man that's you gotta get people around you to tell you can do it because everybody's gonna tell you you can't do it yeah everybody's there's a bunch of whiners in the culture you know they just stand around and eeyore is their spirit animal so you

gotta get positive people around you anybody tell you you're crazy um not until we were finished and we posted our success on instagram then all of the detractors came out and yeah it's kind of late now it was nuts we did it you know what are you gonna say now we did it yep wow way to go you two very well done very very well done i'm so proud of you thank you good stuff good stuff we got a copy of chris hogan's book for you everyday millionaires you're gonna be one yep can you tell oh yeah you can see it can't you how old are you two uh i'm 30 31 okay and you brought uh you brought the baby with you and baby's name is carter carter and how old is carter now she just turned one oh she's precious oh he's cute cute kid love it very fun way to go you guys way to go how's

it feel it's awesome so freeing yeah yeah it's a huge weight just lifted off i mean yeah endless possibilities changes everything it does way to go you guys all right thomas and randy and look harder charlottesville virginia2,000 paid off with the sale of a rental property and $50,000 of a cash flow plus some other stuff. 25 months, making $78,000 up to $97,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

We're debt-free! Way to go go you guys that's awesomeness proud of you very very well done life is good sarah's in hartford connecticut hi sarah welcome to the dave ramsey show hi how are you better than i deserve how can i help i have a question me and my husband are on baby step number five and six right now we um started your program last year and paid off sixty seven thousand dollars great um yeah um so right now like our next goal or dream in mind is to relocate down south, and I'm thinking we're thinking more Tennessee. For a while we were talking about waiting because my husband's pension plan and my insurance, I work with the state, we have a good insurance,

but I think we heard you say don't worship at the altar of a bad pension plan. So I think that kind of shook us a little bit and say okay i think he's right so we brought that down to like a five-year plan so anyway we owe 141 000 left on our house right now um do we you're gonna wait five years to move i don't want to why but that's like i'm wondering if i will because in my if i do my math and i if I, well, because if I do my math, and I'm saying five years only, because if I do my math, it would take me a little about five years to pay off the house. So? So I'm wondering, do I pay off my house, or do I save for the move?

Pay off the next house. Okay. What's your house worth? About $213 right now so if you sold it and took that equity and bought a home where you wanted to live and then paid off that house in the exact same period of time meanwhile you're living in a place you want to be why would what would be wrong with that nothing i mean if you're gonna pay off 140 in another state or you're gonna pay off 140 in a state where you don't want to live, you might as well go ahead and move.

Now, I wouldn't go further in debt. Right. Yeah, we cut up every credit card we have. No, I'm talking about your mortgage balance. Oh, okay. When the smoke clears, your mortgage balance needs to be the same or less than it is now when you land in the other property. Okay. And then the math is exactly the same, assuming your jobs are the same or less than it is now when you land in the other property. Okay. And then the math is exactly the same, assuming your jobs are the same.

Right. Well, yeah, that's one thing. My husband's a firefighter, so we're looking at probably a $10,000 decrease in pay. Then you would want to decrease your loan balance on your mortgage when you move. But you're probably looking at cheaper housing depending on where you're moving. Right, yeah. Hartford's fairly expensive. Yeah, we're not a fan.

Yeah. Well, I mean, it's a beautiful town, but it's a fairly expensive. It's a lot of taxes. It's an expensive place to live, but it's a beautiful area. And obviously, rich history. So where are you thinking of moving exactly? We have family in Tennessee right now. Where in Tennessee?

Right around Murfreesboro. Okay, just right here by us. Okay. Yeah. Well, I think you can look at the average house price in Rutherford County, Murfreesboro, and the average house price in your county. Just average price. Just ask the average price. Just look up median or average price, and you'll probably find it to be substantially less in Murfreesboro, Tennessee than it is in Hartford, Connecticut.

Right. And so you likely could live in a better house for less money is my point. Even if he took a pay cut, you still would be um you know if you had a hundred thousand dollar mortgage uh instead of a hundred and forty thousand dollar mortgage and he took a ten thousand dollar pay cut you're gonna be just fine you following me yeah and you're gonna it's probably gonna be a bigger house than what you're in that's that's what i'm saying even though you bought less house price and you end up with less debt but you have a less income you have less cost of living so you know it's all it's all going the right way

everything's fine i think it's a move you make sooner rather than later like before christmas if he can get the job this is the d Ramsey Show. our scripture of the day, Isaiah 64, 8, Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter. We are the work of your hand. Jason Morant said, You're not obligated to win, you're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can do every day.

Celestia is with us in Tucson, Arizona. Hi, how are you? Great. Good. My question is, my husband and I just paid off our student loan. Great. And we have one debt left. We owe $10,000 to Wells Fargo.

My husband has called them three times and offered to settle at 20%, but they're refusing that. They say 40%. I'm wondering, is it reasonable to hold out for 20% or should we settle at 40% and pay it off today? Okay, so how old is the debt? It's about six years. Six years? Yeah. how old is the debt it's about six years six years yeah you've not paid on it in six years

um i think actually we have paid on it within that time but i i don't know the details my husband's taking care of it i'm calling for him because he can't call today okay so he has more of the details but this is i mean how long do you think it's been since I'm calling for him because he can't call today. Okay. So he has more of the details, but this is... I mean, how long do you think it's been since they've gotten any money from you? Maybe four years. A long time. Was it a credit card?

Yeah, yes. Hmm. And you offered them $2,000, and they came back and said $4,000. Hmm. And you offered them $2,000 and they came back and said $4,000. Correct. Just a one phone conversation? Three. Three calls. In the last two weeks?

Probably the last three months. Three months. Hmm. And you have $4,000? Yes. Okay. If you can get it in writing, I'd take care of it. But it must be, the offer must be in writing.

Okay. And I don't think you're dealing with Wells Fargo. If it's a four-year-old debt, they have sold it to a debt buyer, and that's who you're dealing with, who probably paid a nickel on the dollar for it. And you're offering them 40 cents on it, or they're offering you 40 cents on the dollar. But if you've got the money and you can clear the debt, there's no shame in that. It's not a bad thing.

Be sure before you give them any money you have in writing that says, this $4,000 settles this debt in full. All obligations after that are zero, okay? And do not give them electronic access to your checking account when you're settling a debt. Okay. All right. I have one more quick question.

Is that okay? Sure. So when we get this paid off, we will be done. And I'm wondering if it's okay to pause between baby slips two and three. Is that normal and take all the money we've been using for that snowball and splurge a little? Or should we just roll it right into... I would do that. I would do that only after you get your emergency fund in place.

Because if you splurge a little and you have a transmission going out on your car you're screwed and then the splurging would look stupid okay what about vacations like this i would not i would i would not do vacations i would not do vacations i would not splurge i would not whine i would finish and have an emergency fund because it's going to bite you kiddo and you can do whatever you want to do you're you're grown-ups i mean you're allowed to do you're you're legal you're allowed to do whatever you want to do but you're asking me and i'm saying if you not by even if you're debt-free walking around with no money and savings for emergencies you are sending out an invitation that says,

hey, Murphy, come mess up my life. If it can go wrong, it will. I have noticed that most often when I am broke is when crap breaks. Stuff seems to work better when I'm not broke. It's the weirdest thing. So no whining, no thumb sucking. Put on your big girl pants and finish the program that's what you got to do and it's good for you when you're sitting there with ten thousand dollars in the bank and you don't have any payments then you're ready to go splurge a

little bit and if something breaks you got ten thousand dollars you know if some kind of a problem happens that that's it's after baby step three that you let your foot off the gas, and you can go back out to eat, you can go on vacation, you can buy a couch, you can do whatever as long as you pay cash for it. But until you get there, your life is an emergency looking for a place to happen. Christopher is with us in Kansas City. Hi, Christopher. How are you?

Good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I got a question. Me and my wife are about to start baby steps four and six, and we were wondering if we should put more on the house and not as much, not the 15%, because of the retirement I have and the amount of money I get put in there from my company.

Nah. 15%. Yeah. Yeah. You're still going to get get there what do you owe on your home okay 250 000 cool what's your household income 220 000 you're gonna get there you're doing great man how old are you 33 dead god man you're killing it you're killing it yeah now here's the thing okay so five percent is ten thousand dollars a year if you cut it from 33. Dead go, man. You're killing it. You're killing it. Yeah. Now, here's the thing. Okay, so 5% is $10,000 a year. If you cut it from 15 to 5, you save 10 grand. 10 grand does not move the needle on your $250,000 debt. What moves the needle is the fact that you're freaking paying attention now.

Yeah. Yeah, well, like I said, I get 25% of what I gross into my retirement. If you cut this back from 15 to 10, that is a savings of 5% of $200,000, which is $10,000. Does that sound right? Yeah. $10,000 a year does not change how fast you pay off a $250,000 house. What changes that is that you're a stud and you guys make $220,000 a year and you're focused on paying off the house. So you're going to be putting 50, 60, 80 grand on this house.

It's not this lousy 10 grand that's going to make the difference. It's the fact that you guys are dialed in. Very, very true. Okay. So it doesn't help. It's when you actually, what I'm doing here is, I figured this out a long time ago on this show, and I figured it out in my own life, too, so I'll just teach you what I did, okay? What happens is you're probably a math guy like I am, aren't you?

Yeah. Yeah. And what happens is we start thinking about percentages, and we forget to back out what it really does in real dollars. And when you pull out the real dollars out like I just did, you go, oh, that's nothing. I can't even buy a freaking Happy Meal with that. That's not the thing, right? You know?

Yeah. Like I have people call me up, and they go, hey, I want to transfer my credit cards from 18% to 14%. I'm going to save 4% on how much? $4,000. How fast are you going to pay it off? In six months. When you back it out, the interest saved won't buy a Happy Meal. But it sounds like it's a big deal because it's a ridiculous interest rate,

and they're lowering it. But it's the same thing. You see, you get caught up in the actual percentages rather than looking at, it's $30, you know? It's not even enough to do it. So yours is not $30. Yours is $10,000. It's a legitimate amount.

But you make so much, man. You're killing it. So yours is not 30. Yours is 10,000. It's a legitimate amount. But you make so much, man. You're killing it. Way to go, Christopher. You guys are great, man. God, man, you're going to have a freaking paid-for house in no time, and you're making bank. I love these everyday. Hang on. I'm going to give you a copy of Everyday Millionaires.

You're going to be one. Yeah. Hey, by the way, if you are an everyday millionaire out there, if you have a net worth of a million dollars, we want you on the show. We're getting ready to do another Millionaire Theme Hour, me and Chris Hogan. And we want to talk to you, regardless of how you got your wealth. I don't care if you're a trust fund baby. I don't care if you hit the lottery. I don't care if you worked your butt off for 25 years.

Now you're an overnight success. I don't care. Email us and tell us you're a millionaire. Put millionaire in the theme hour or in the subject line at DaveOnAir at DaveRamsey.com. DaveOnAir at DaveRamsey.com. No spaces, no dashes, and you'll get straight through. Put millionaire in the subject line. Tell a little bit about your story if you want.

Kelly will get in touch with you. We'll get you set up to be one of our callers. We want to interview you and ask you how you did it. It's one of the most popular segments we've ever done on The Dave Ramsey Show, where we have actual real millionaires, not your broke brother-in-law with an opinion, on the air and have them tell you how they did it. Isn't it amazing how many broke people have opinions about money? That's like me having an opinion about how to grow hair on my head.

That's dumb. You know, don't listen to those people. It doesn't work. Hey, this is fun. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. Thanks to James Childs and Kelly Daniel in the booth. I am Dave Ramsey. 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. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about a product or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything that is mentioned during this episode in the podcast show notes section. Thanks for listening.